Disclaimer: Avengers, Hunger Games, and all other elements belong to their relevant owners; I merely borrow them to write this story
Feedback: Always a pleasure to receive.
AN: Another chapter completed with some important assistance from David Knight; his ideas for Octavia's storyline in particular have been of great assistance.
Falling Hope, Rising Threat
Waking up to find herself in a white examination room was still an uncomfortable experience, but at least this time around Clarke had a range of advantages, including knowing where she was and who she was with. A quick glance around the room was more than enough to confirm that Katniss, Anya and Thor were in the room with her; the other three appeared to be asleep, but Katniss was already moving and she had a strong feeling that Thor had convinced Anya to pretend that they were still affected by the tranquilisers until everyone else was awake to hide their enhanced physiology from their enemies.
"Guys?" she said, deciding to exaggerate her apprehension until she and the others were ready to act. "What happened? Where are we?"
"Back in Mount Weather, Miss Griffin," a familiar smug voice said from a radio, which confirmed Clarke's worst fears.
"Cage," she said, letting out a growl as she turned her attention to a more thorough assessment of the room itself, soon noticing a large mirror on one wall. "Let me guess; you're behind there?"
"Correct," Cage replied smugly. "Care to introduce us to your new associates? I mean, I recognise your partner in escape from our cameras, but who are the other two?"
"Katniss and Blake," Clarke replied, briefly wondering why Thor had chosen that as his alias when making their plans before getting her mind back on the matter at hand. "What do you want with us?"
"Mainly your 'assistance' in talking down some of your more… unconventional associates outside," Cage explained, Thor and Anya carefully moving their arms as though searching for weapons while Katniss let out a low groan.
"'Unconventional associates'?" Clarke repeated; she had a feeling Cage was referring to the other Avengers, but she wasn't going to give away any names until he told her something explicit. "You spend the better part of the last few years terrorising them by acting like a bunch of vampires who can't even be bothered draining them all at once, and now you're worried about them?"
"Hardly 'worried', Miss Griffin," Cage replied. "It would just make things easier if you convinced them that attacking us would serve no purpose but inflicting more death-"
"And letting you continue like this also causes more death; it's just more drawn out that way," Clarke retorted.
"Maybe we should see how your new associates feel about that," Cage said, his tone hovering on that frustrating edge where it was hard to be sure if he was being threatening or thought he was being 'funny'. "After all, why should they get caught up in our own little vendetta…?"
"Little… vendetta?" Katniss's voice cut in, Clarke looking back to hide her smile as her new team's leader groaned and slowly sat up from the bench she'd been lying on. "You're killing people…"
"Only to ensure the survival of this planet… Katniss, is it?" Cage said. "After all-"
The sound of someone knocking urgently against something on the other side of the window prompted a brief murmur of frustration from Cage, but any chance of wondering what that was about ended when Clarke clearly heard the radio being turned off, followed by the faint sound of a door opening as she strained her ears.
"OK…" she looked uncertainly at the other Avengers. "What do we do now?"
"Wait," Katniss said with an awkward shrug, winching as she glanced over at Thor and Anya to confirm that they were both looking at her as well. "We have to let the others do their thing before we tip our own hand."
Of all the times for something like that to happen, Cage thought to himself as the door opened and a security officer rushed in.
"Mr President," the man began to say only to be cut off by Cage's glare.
"Whatever you have to say had best be of the utmost importance for interrupting me at this moment," Cage hissed.
"I'm sorry sir, but you had to be made aware of this," the guard replied, his voice trembling in a manner Cage wasn't used to hearing from his men. "It's the savages, they're gathering at our gate-!"
"We are safe in the Mountain away from their feeble, primitive weapons; even the people of the Ark can't breach us," Cage scoffed. "What could make you tremble before-?"
"Loki's daughter!"
Cage blinked at the man's words. "What did you say?"
"A young woman wearing an outfit that greatly resembles Loki's costume in the historical records," the guard stammered. "She's not just- we heard about- she's led the savages right to our doorstep!"
At that moment, all thoughts of taunting Clarke and her fellow captives fled the President's mind, focused instead on his new need to have eyes on the front gate to see this for himself. As he made his way to the command centre, he got on the radio and told the guards to get behind the door and have their weapons hot. He wanted them ready to gun that girl down if she somehow brought it down.
It was all but impossible that the girl really had the power to do what she claimed, but when reports of survivors in space had long been dismissed until a few weeks ago, it was best to be absolutely certain of even the most unlikely possibility…
Even at her most daring, Lexa had never imagined that the day would come when she would be standing outside the gates of Mount Weather with any confidence that this was the day that the Maunon would fall. She was still privately uncertain what the identity of Octavia's father had to do with the way the other 'Avengers' had reacted to her joining their efforts, but for the moment she was willing to put that aside so long as Octavia continued to fight for them.
In any case, having witnessed the young woman's powers, Lexa was curious to see what else the young woman could do, particularly when alongside such unusual weapons as Johanna's axe and the complex suit of armour worn by the man who called himself 'Peeta'. Admittedly, she also wondered what made the old man who seemed to wear parts of Peeta's armour and the small girl in black consider themselves 'Avengers' when they were explicitly not taking part in this fight, or why so much emphasis had been placed on the old man carrying Thor's hammer in his unarmoured hand, but as with the question of Octavia's father, this was not the time for her to consider such questions.
At the moment, the other two Avengers were waiting in the flying vehicle that the heroes used for transportation, along with the leaders of the Ark. The rest of the Skaikru and Lexa's own Coalition forces were gathered a short distance from the large entrance, leaving Lexa to stand with the other remaining Avengers as they faced the door to Mount Weather.
"Ready?" Peeta glanced over at Octavia.
Without a word, Octavia put her hands out to her sides. At first Lexa was unsure of her plan but then saw snow falling from her hands as if it was coming from the skies. When Octavia threw her hands forward and streams of ice erupted from her hands, the grounder commander took a step back reflexively yet could not stop the awe showing upon her face for a moment. It was a matter of mere minutes until Octavia had frozen the door solid as well as part of the mountain that the door was attached to.
Octavia then stopped shooting ice from her hands, allowing the wisps of cold to subside, before offering her hand to Lexa. "We should not be here for what will happen next."
Opting to trust the young woman, Lexa took the offered hand and allowed Octavia to lead her a distance away closer to their people but still away. As she let go of her hand, Lexa looked at Octavia, whose face was no longer calm but now showing all of the rage and emotion she had to have kept bottled up, releasing that emotion with an incredible scream of grief and rage, projected outwards into a single unfamiliar word.
"FENRIS!"
No one understood what that meant, but suddenly Lexa could hear the howl of a wolf. She wondered if it belonged to Octavia, but barely had time to question what a single wolf could do in their current campaign before the ground beneath their army shook as she heard something massive coming towards the mountain. There was another howl and a great burst of air that took everyone's attention to the forest behind them, just in time to see a beast leap out of the trees. Far larger than any animal seen by anyone on Earth, the wolf landed squarely in front of the Commander, Octavia, and the other Avengers.
For a moment, Lexa stared up in shock and fear at the sight of the massive beast above her. It was like something out of a child's nightmares, where elders would tell stories to disobedient children of great beasts that would gobble up youngons that did not follow the rules. She could already hear her people raising their weapons, ready to move, but looking at Octavia inspired Lexa to raise her hand, an immediate gesture to her people to hold their positions.
Octavia was still standing, and the wolf, which Lexa now assumed was the previously called Fenris, was looking at the other woman in an obedient manner, as if it were a trained dog or hawk. Evidently, despite Lexa's initial concerns, this was Octavia's beast and it obeyed her will.
A fact that was soon reinforced by Octavia's next action as she pointed to the frozen door.
"Break. It. Down," the young woman said, each word dripping with pain and hate.
Fenris picked up on its mistress' pain, and its manner became greatly agitated, as it understood who were Octavia's friends and identified their new enemies. Growling, the Asgardian wolf ran full steam at the frozen ice, leaping into the air a short distance away from its target, twisting its body to use as a battering ram against the door that had withstood nearly a hundred years. When Fenris collided with it, it shattered into a thousand pieces.
"Damn…" Finnick nodded from just behind Lexa, looking at the shattered door in approval.
"I could've done that, y'know," Johanna glanced over at Octavia as she gave her axe a brief spin.
"I guessed," the dark-haired half-human smiled at the one-armed woman. "I just decided using Fenris would be more dramatic than hacking it down with a big axe."
"And would you mind clearing up exactly where you found a giant wolf?" Peeta asked.
"Remember how I said I had to go back to Asgard to act on a feeling?" Octavia pointed over to the obedient Asgardian beast.
"That's what you went to get?" Finnick raised a surprised eyebrow. "How did you end up taming something like that in a few hours?"
"All Heimdal would say when we found him, in a forest miles away from any form of civilization, was that I would have to speak to my uncle about his origins," Octavia replied, a genuine smile on her lips as she looked over towards Fenris affectionately. A look that was seemingly returned by the wolf. "He has been rather eager to listen to me, but Heimdal wasn't having as much luck with him; think he was glad Fenris left Asgard with me, to be honest."
"Not that I don't get why he kept some of them, but I'm not the only one wondering how many damn secrets hammer boy has, right?" Johanna muttered.
"I'll be sure to ask him, once we end this." Octavia walked towards the shattered door, Lexa following behind her with the radio. As they reached the door, the two women would see the long open path stretching before them, Fenris standing in front of them and half a dozen Mountain men, in their protective suits, holding trembling guns in their hands as they tried to aim at the wolf. Fenris growled and one of them opened fire, causing the rest to follow suit, only for Fenris to shield Octavia and Lexa with its body, the expended bullets prompting a more ferocious growling from the beast before the guards ran out of bullets with no sign that the wolf had actually taken any damage.
"Play. No kill," Octavia commanded. With a nod, the wolf leapt into the fray as it began to attack the frightened men Cage had sent as a first response. Octavia looked back to Lexa, holding her hand. "May I have the radio back please?"
Wordlessly, Lexa handed it back. Octavia hit the send button on the radio.
"Can you hear this, Cage?" She raised it in the air, allowing for the screams of the guards to be heard by everyone on the other end. "This is the sound of my wolf playing with the men you sent on a suicide mission. Do you believe me now, you pathetic little man, when I tell you who I am?" She allowed for a dramatic pause. "You've taken something from me that can never be replaced. So now, I am going to return the favour. I am going to take all that you hold near and dear from you. When Fenris is done playing, I will interrogate the survivors to know what other traps you might have. They will tell me where you are and then I will make my way down you."
"To everyone living in the mountain, my issue is with your President; if you value your lives, then remain in your rooms. I have no wish to kill foolish humans that know no better, but to anyone that tries to stop me, I will end their lives, and my only mercy will be that it will be a swift death." She deliberately paused, allowing the people in the mountain to let that sink in before she spoke with as much venom and malice as she could put into her own voice, which given what they had was not that hard. "But there is no escape from this for you, Cage. There is no way out. I am coming for you, I will find you and when I do, I will end you. This is my vow to you, Mr. President."
Wordlessly, Octavia handed the radio back to Lexa and watched with grim satisfaction as Fenris 'played' with the soldiers of Mount Weather. Octavia clenched her fists as she looked on and felt herself understanding her father more than ever now.
For what they did to you, Bell… I am going to make them suffer.
In the control room, Cage was standing in utter shock, unable to believe either the sound of what Octavia had just said over the radio or the sight of the security cameras showing what that monstrous wolf-thing was doing to his men around the gate. Even with that evidence, it wasn't until he saw her attire on the monitor that he finally believed it; he had truly offended the daughter of Loki.
Already he could hear the men and women around him speaking in hushed whispers. That was the only thing that was getting past the fear in his mind. The knowledge that his own people were becoming afraid of her, that they were considering her words…
Specifically, the knowledge that the guard on his left was reaching for his gun when there was no external threat nearby.
Without any hesitation, Cage pulled out the side arm he kept on his person at all times and shot the soldier in the head before the guard could pull his weapon on him in some pathetic attempt to hand him over to the Asgardian (or whatever she was) in order to spare his life. As if that would solve our problem now, he thought in disgust. He saw everyone in the room turn their gaze towards him, all of them surprised and some of them fearful, likely wondering if he had gone mad.
"I understand things look bad. Believe me, I do," Cage said, trying his best to keep his voice from trembling; regardless of his own fears, he needed to project strength in this situation. "I had no way of knowing that she valued one life so much. But this is far from over. We have a weapon at our disposal that can kill her."
"She's already said the bio-weapon we used on the condemned won't affect her!" one of his lieutenants shouted.
"I'm not talking about using that weapon," Cage said eerily calm. "I'm talking about him."
That statement inspired a new wave of terror among his gathered forces.
"You can't mean…" another lieutenant stared incredulously at Cage. "He'll kill us all! We've kept him locked up for so long-!"
"Evacuate all our people to the levels below his dock," Cage ordered. "It will allow the invaders to think we are taking the alien's threat seriously and perhaps lower their guard. The Abomination will kill the majority of our enemies with just his fists and if all goes well he'll kill the Asgardian witch; considering that reports state that the Hulk once beat Loki himself, the Abomination should be able to handle Loki's daughter. Once that's done, we will use Tsing's weapon on him; he's served his purpose now that Tsing nearly has the answer to us going out into the world, so we don't need to worry about keeping the Reapers around for long." He stared at the room. "Now move! These are orders from your president!"
Scared and frightened, the people in the room began to give orders to others. Nodding, Cage decided to take an escort with him back to Clarke's cell. The spy that the spawn loved was one of the 100, which meant Clarke probably knew him and perhaps knew the woman. He needed as much information as possible to bury his enemies in order to retain his position and if he had to shoot Clarke Griffin and her friends full of holes in order to get that information then that was what he would do.
Nothing would stop him from being the saviour of mankind.
"Leave it to Octavia to make a scene," Raven stated, the young mechanic now standing alongside the remaining Avengers, even if things were anything but calm. The Grounders were in utter awe of the hybrid child, with her seemingly magical power over ice, her superhuman strength, and her ability to control the largest animal any of them had ever seen…
For a culture that centred around warriors, Octavia had virtually instantaneously become someone that all of her soldiers could respect and see as a peer. For Raven it was a total reverse of how Anya and her clan had viewed the 100 months ago.
"Well," Finnick smiled, looking around the Coalition army with a slight smile, "looks like even our detractors are a bit more willing to talk now."
"Advantage of tossing a big wolf into the equation," Johanna smiled. "Guess it's like they said in the old days; 'speak softly and carry a big stick', and we just showed them we can deploy the stick as well as speak softly."
"Yeah, that's probably right," Raven sighed, looking over to her left, where the people of Camp Jaha were basically in silent chaos. There were already whispers and murmurs could be heard about, but the phrase 'Loki's Daughter' was a prominent topic.
"Guess it was too much to hope Octavia's reveal during her little speech there wouldn't have spread," Peeta said, Raven grimly shaking her head in acknowledgement. He noticed a bald middle aged man wearing an Ark Guard uniform being the most vocal opponent towards Octavia. "Who is that?"
"Denby. One of the older and definitely one of the more rougher members of the Guard," Raven answered, her tone showing she didn't care much for the man. "Ever since word got out about O, he's been trying to get anyone to listen to him about remembering what Loki did during the Battle of New York. He's really starting to rile our people up."
"Before the world ended, we were invaded by beings from the stars and they were led by one man: Loki! He brought death and destruction upon New York, thousands died! One of my ancestors died from what happened!" Denby could be heard, sounding much more vocal than Raven had ever heard him sound before. "Now we find out that the girl that should have never existed is his daughter?"
"What difference does it make who her father is?" one of the Grounders said, fed up with this conversation. "The Maunon's gates have been broken! No one has ever done that! We can get our people back!"
"Do you turn your backs to a snake?" Denby retorted. "You people don't remember the history of the old world so I'll say it as many times need be; Loki nearly brought an end to the world and we should expect no less from his daughter. She's probably got in her head to use this entire situation to her advantage and pick up where daddy left off. He came here the first time because he wanted the world; why should we believe she's any different-?"
"OK!" Peeta stepped forward, firing a quick repulsor blast into the air to try and calm down the conversation. "Firstly, this girl hasn't even shown that she wants to take charge of anything right now, and secondly, do you really think we'd let anyone take over the world after we spent the better part of the last year trying to save it?"
"And what good have you been! The Avengers of old all died and couldn't save this world from Armageddon!" Denby replied, looking over them with disdain. "You're all practically children. You have no idea of our hardships or any comprehension of the past-"
"Right, because I clearly lost my arm and got entrusted with an axe that used to belong to the King of Asgard because I was screwing around playing games," Johanna cut him off, waving her artificial hand in the man's face.
"And as for the original Avengers failing to save the world, I'd like to hear exactly how they're expected to stop a superhumanly strong psychopath from setting off nuclear missiles after he killed or mutilated half the team the first time he attacked them," Finnick added.
"Oh, and on the topic of us not knowing about the past, you might want to talk with our tactical advisor once this is over," Peeta cut in, indicating the quinjet behind the assembled army with a smile. "Let's just say you'll be very surprised to see him…"
"In what-?" Denby began, only for the debate to suddenly be cut short when Octavia and Lexa walked out of the mountain, Fenris following them like a loyal puppy. Octavia looked over the entire assembled forces for a moment before her attention focused on the Arkers present.
"Me?" She glanced over at the Avengers.
"Pretty much certain people not liking your dad," Raven shrugged.
"Right," Octavia said, glaring over at the Ark residents. "Firstly, it doesn't matter who my father is; that's not your problem." She turned back to the gathered Collation soldiers. "And it doesn't matter that we were fighting one another, or the fact that either side can't trust each other completely. That is still not our problem." She stepped to the side to indicate the mountain with a sweeping gesture. "They are our true enemy and our true problem! They just murdered twenty-five people- a mixed group of both of our people and even some of their own- to make a goddamn statement! They want to show us they can do whatever the hell they want and not suffer the consequences, because we'll suffer for them. If we don't stop them now, if we don't end this now, then everyone you care or love will be taken from you, just like my brother! It's time to stop talking and end this, once and for all!"
"Exactly," Finnick affirmed, stepping forward with a resolute smile as he raised his trident above his head. "We are the new Avengers of a new world order, and the identity of Octavia's father should not affect her willingness to fight alongside us against this new enemy! We are Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and we have come together at this time to face a threat that has decided we are nothing but cattle to them just because they don't like being stuck inside! If the daughter of the man who inspired the Avengers to come together chooses to stand with us, I say that we have only one course of action; she will fight alongside us as the newest of the Avengers!"
"Precise-!" Peeta began.
"Don't listen to them!" Denby cut him off, looking around the assembled army as though they were missing the point. "Her father was Loki! Put aside how he managed to get on our home and knock up some woman to give birth to her!" The bald headed guardsman had his gun held up, pointed at Octavia. "That psycho alien was a monster! He nearly enslaved us all! He probably helped sabotage the Ark! People we have lost over all these years could be because of him!" There were murmurs of agreement coming from the people from Camp Jaha, with Denby looking confident as he looked back to Octavia hatefully. "How could we ever really trust an alien like her when she's likely to stab us all in the back?"
The girl in question simply walked towards him without a care in the world, practically daring him to fire on her. Johanna took a step forward, but Octavia discreetly waved her down with one hand even as she shot a grateful glance at the other girl for her attempt to show support.
"Because if I wanted you dead, Denby, the moment I manifested any of my powers, I'd have killed you for what you did to me," Octavia responded, glancing around to take in the moment when the look of the crowd changed from following Denby's rage to straightforward curiosity, as well as the obvious shock on the older man's face at those words. "What? Did you really think I would have forgotten your face? Yours, as well as the faces of the other guards that welcomed me to the Skybox, when you all nearly beating me to death for the simple crime of existing?" She could hear the murmurs from all people when she spoke that. The look on Denby's face was all the evidence anyone needed to know she wasn't lying.
"Don't believe a word this alien says," Denby said trying to defend himself. "You know the rules! Only one child per family! No exceptions! Those are the rules we had from the start!"
"But does it say anywhere in those precious rules that you and your fellow guardsmen could curse my mother for giving birth to me instead of having me aborted in the womb? That you could curse her name and call her a whore in front of me, unable to do a thing?" Octavia returned. Having the opportunity to strike back at one of the people who had chosen to take their frustrations out on her during those early days of her imprisonment and had abused their power as guards of the prison facility, it felt cathartic to say the least. "That you all could laugh and proclaim how great it was that my mother got what she deserved, spaced out of an airlock to die a horrible death in the vacuum of space. That I was the reason she was dead!"
"Excuse me?" Johanna looked at the guards, hands tightening around Jarnbjorn.
"You said that to a traumatised kid?" Raven practically spat.
"But… she didn't even have a choice in any of that!" Peeta yelled, actually raising his face-plate as he stomped over to look Denby directly in the eyes. "You can't seriously blame her because her mother just decided not to kill her!"
The Grounders, who did not understand everything that was spoken, had gathered enough to prompt them all to glare at Denby as if he was evil as the Maunon. There were even people who had come from the Ark that were looking at him in disgust.
Denby shook his head in disbelief, but before he could say anything, two members of the Guard grabbed him, which surprised Octavia. Sergeant Miller came in front of him and pried his weapon out of his grasp.
"Sarge!" he protested. "You can't possibly believe this alien over your own kind!"
"She's only half alien," Miller said, looking at his subordinate with a look of utter disgust. "And from where I'm standing, she's more of a human being than you are; as Iron Man said, whatever your own thoughts about her existence, you can't blame a kid because her mother just decided not to have an abortion." He looked to the others. "Take him back to Camp Jaha, in restraints, and throw his ass in the brig when you get there."
"You're insane!" Denby snapped. "You're all insane!"
"No, 'insane' is a man holding onto grudges when the people he's actually mad at died years ago," Johanna put in, stepping forward and swinging her axe towards Denby's neck, pausing just as the blade touched the skin before she pulled it back and walked up to stare him directly in the face. "And an 'insane' person wouldn't have stopped that axe before it made contact."
Miller nodded in silent agreement at Johanna before the two of them stepped back, leaving Denby to be taken away by another pair of guards.
"The Mountain has dictated to us for far too long," Lexa cut in, raising her voice to speak to her people. "Their weapons have been greater than ours, but now we have something they do not: the Avengers. Many of you have questioned why we should allow these outsiders into our affairs, much as you asked why should we treat with Skaikru as allies." She looked pointedly at Octavia. "The Azurwicha has just shown us the reason why. She has proven her worth to us. She has broken down the door that has kept us from striking back our common enemy for so long. She made the Maunon we faced inside give us valuable information about their forces within. But most of all, they fear her." She saw the look upon her people when she mentioned that the Mountain Men feared Octavia. That was as strong a response as any. "With the Azurwicha aiding us, our lost brothers and sisters will be avenged and those loved ones that are still held behind those walls can be freed. Today, we fight as one people. Today, the Mountain falls!"
"Oso throu daun ogeda gon Maunon!" a Yujleda Grounder declared, getting some praise.
"Azurwicha!" another Grounder, this one from the Trikru clan, said suddenly, the chant being swiftly picked up by the rest of the Coalition soldiers. "Azurwicha! Azurwicha! Azurwicha!"
"Uh… liking the chant, but what does it mean?" Johanna looked uncertainly at the other Avengers.
"It means 'the Witch of Ice'," Octavia said, having understood the meaning from the start.
"Not bad, but how about we use 'Azure Witch' as your code name?" Johanna said.
Octavia's smirk was all the answer needed.
Sergeant Jefferson arrived with his escort of four, hoping to get the doctor removed from her lab before Cage's plan went into effect.
I cannot believe we're going to actually unleash that monster, he thought before walking into the lab. "Dr. Tsing, we need you to come with us, the president has ordered this floor to be evacuated."
"I couldn't care less what Cage is planning."
The escort guards looked at Tsing in shock, the doctor surprisingly unconcerned as she continued to furiously analyse almost indecipherable computer results. "It doesn't make sense. I ran simulations hundreds of times, I went through all of the notes on the weapon, none of them ever said anything about this. Granted, much was lost in the holocaust, but still…"
"Doctor, what you are saying is nonsense!" Jefferson said, trying to forcibly remove the doctor from her workstation only to find guns pointed in his way by other guards in the room. He also noticed another pair of guards taking a box with them, leaving the room as if nothing was wrong. "What in the world is going?" the man asked in a horrified tone.
"This is called making the best of a horrible situation," Tsing said in a detached tone. "The moment that Asgardian knocked down our front door, it certainly sealed our fates. Well, Cage's at least. We might be able to convince her to spare our lives, maybe even see our side of things. She may want intelligent life rather than the savages." She looked over to the section of her lab that held her restraint table. "Oh, I never thought unexpected results could be so fortuitous."
Unexpected results he asked himself as he looked over to where the doctor was looking at he felt his heart stop. "But that can't—" He stuttered, trying to get the words out. "I was there. I saw what it did. There's no way..."
"I know. It's absolutely frustrating," Lorelei stated and Jefferson could see that her tone was no longer detached but very much excited and that the look in her eyes was almost predatory. "And such an incredible discovery that it's why I sent guards carrying another crystal to another area. I've already had them round up another twenty Grounders place them in a confined space and then throw the crystal inside. I need to know if this a replicable result or if this was simply an anomaly."
Jefferson felt dread, that the idea of simply sacrificing the natives they had captured so easily meant nothing to this woman. But looking at the guards around her and the prize in front of him, he knew why the others in this room had chosen through their lot in with the doctor.
"What… do you need?" he asked uncertainly.
"Protection and a little bit of peace and quiet while I run a few tests," Lorelai replied as she walked towards her subject with a syringe in hand, reaching out to pat his head tenderly. "If you could ensure those men I sent return with the results, that would be very much appreciated."
Jefferson said nothing, only nodding as he took two of his men with him but hung back to look over his shoulder when he heard the doctor's voice. "Twenty-five people were left to die in that room, and they are all stone or dust now, but not you. No, you broke from your stone prison like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. You are the biggest mystery I've ever had, so I must ask: What are you Bellamy Blake?"
The young man in question simply gave a look of defiance towards the woman, refusing to answer.
"Oh well, I suppose we'll do this the old fashioned way," Tsing stated with all the warmth of an arctic wind. "I won't cause any permanent damage; I have no intention of sharing Cage's fate at the hands of a wrathful Asgardian sorceress. But as I have learned, discovery requires experimentation, and before I give you up I will learn just how you survived."
As he heard that statement, Jefferson wondered who the true monsters really were.