Chapter 1: Intentionally Dropped
"Toss that one up here," I say to Raven, the second youngest and best mechanic on the Ark. She tosses up the part in her hand, and I catch it easily in one hand, using my other hand to help hold myself in place, as I'm hanging upside down on the roof while I work on fixing a couple of the upper parts of the doors connecting two stations.
"I'll never be able to figure out how you can just hang up there like that," Raven shakes her head. The truth is that, while I'm a year younger than her, we're both equally matched in our skills in mechanics. The only thing that puts me a rank above her is that I'm flexible, agile, and small, so I can weasel my way into just about any spot. As a result, I've had to climb through air ducts, and stranger small spaces, multiple times.
"Magic," I say simply. The same thing I say whenever someone asks or wonders how I do something.
"River," a new voice says from behind us. I look over my shoulder to see Bellamy Blake looking particularly uneasy. I haven't seen the boy smile since his sister got caught and arrested, but this seems like a new level. "I need to talk to you. Alone," he adds, glancing at Raven.
"Sure," Raven says, clearly annoyed. "I'll go check for a new work order or something." She turns and walks away.
"What's up?" I ask Bellamy once she's gone. He glances around.
"Come here," Bellamy waves me down, pacing a few strides back and forth.
I sigh, "Hold on." I take a few minutes to put the part in my hand where it goes, make sure it's secure, then reattach the panel covering it all. Hopefully, that'll fix the doors. If not, I'm going to have to dig deeper to find out what else is wrong. I drop down from the wall, punching the button that should close the door. It does. So I turn to Bellamy, "What's going on? I haven't seen you this jumpy since they caught Octavia."
I remember the night they caught his secret sister perfectly. I helped keep watch as we snuck her out of their room and out into the Ark to attend the masquerade party. I'd even gotten the mask that she wore that night. When the solar flare happened and guards started checking people, there was no way out, no way for Bellamy to get his sister back to safety.
"Oh gods, don't tell me you have another secret sister you're hiding, because if you do and you haven't told me, I'm going to kick your ass," I put my hands on my hips, looking up at him. Bellamy's about a foot taller than me.
"No, it's Octavia," Bellamy says quietly. "It's all of them."
"All of them who?" I ask, shaking my head slightly in confusion.
"The prisoners," he says, dropping his voice and stepping closer to me. Someone passes, and we both watch them come and go before Bellamy turns his focus back to me and continues, "They're going to send them to the Ground. Today."
"Crap," I whisper, interlacing my fingers on top of my head. I have friends who are prisoners right now. Octavia, Jasper, Monty...hell, even Finn. He screwed us all by hooking up that space walk for Raven, but even I had to admit he was trying to be a nice guy by doing it. And in the end, there's no way he could have known how detrimental it would be to the Ark. Even I wasn't supposed to know about the life support shortage. "Wait, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet," Bellamy shakes his head. "I have to get onto that dropship though, River."
"Yeah, you're not the only one," I sigh.
"What? No, there's no way you're coming," Bellamy instantly denies.
I scoff, "It's cute how you still have these moments you think you can stop me. I'm getting on that ship, Bellamy. I have more friends going down than you do, I am not letting them go down alone."
"And what do you think you can do for them, Mermaid?" he snaps, using the nickname he gave me as soon as he found out my name's River. And that was before he even found out about my fascination and near obsession with water. "You're a 15 year old mechanic."
"And you're a janitor," I shoot angrily at him.
"Trained by the guard though," he snaps right back at me. "At least I can shoot a gun. Have you ever even held a gun before."
I don't answer, fuming angrily. He knows damn well I've never held a gun before. He never even let me touch his, before he was demoted as far as he could go. Finally, I ask, "If you have no intention of letting me help, what exactly are you doing here?"
"I need to know how to get onto the dropship. You know every inch of those things."
"Yeah, and there's no way to sneak on without the guard, and there will be a guard, busting you at the door. So good luck saving your little sister now," I hiss at him before turning and walking away, leaving Bellamy just standing and watching me go. We'll both get onto that drop ship. Bellamy will do whatever it takes to protect Octavia, so I'm not stupid enough to think for even a moment that he won't make it on.
Won't he be surprised when he does, and finds that I have too?
"Everything okay?" Raven asks when I find her in Mecha Station.
I nod, not speaking because whatever I said would have to be a lie. I lean against the wall near her work bench, where she's reconstructing some part that I don't bother to look too closely at. "Hey, what's the quickest way to get arrested?" I ask idly.
Raven snorts, thinking I'm joking, "Shooting the Chancellor, probably." Now there's an idea... Raven checks her watch. "I'm starving, I'm going to go grab something to eat. You coming?"
"Not today," I shake my head. Raven knows about my habit of skipping lunch - I actually very rarely eat lunch - so she doesn't protest or complain, just tells me she'll see me later and leaves me alone. I wait until she's gone, down the hall, away, and not able to see what I do or where I go.
So I leave Mecha Station and start walking. The first guard I pass, I slip his gun right out of his holster without him even noticing. I may not have held a gun before, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to work on. Or how to steal one. As I continue to walk, I glance around, making sure nobody's watching. But backs and faces are turned away as I check to see if the weapon's loaded, then slide it in between my denim overall shorts, keeping it still gripped carefully in my hand.
It doesn't take me too long to find Chancellor Jaha. He's arguing with a guard, something about his son, Wells. I don't bother listening. I just wait, lingering back a few feet, until the argument comes to a close and the guard leaves, starts walking away.
"Chancellor," I say with the mock-seriousness that I always have when greeting Chancellor Jaha.
"Hello, River," he greets, distracted and stressed. "What can I do for you?"
I shrug, leaning against the wall near him. "Nothing anymore. You know, though," I tip my head to the side slightly, "You really should have recruited me to fix the life support."
"River, we've been over this before..." he starts.
"Yeah, I know," I nod. "I'm not even supposed to know what's going on. So I can't help. But, you know, if you had recruited me to help, I'd have a reason to stay. But now," I shrug, "now I don't. So, I get to do this," I pull the gun out and point it right at him, releasing the safety catch.
"River, what are you doing?" Chancellor Jaha asks, no longer so distracted.
"Whatever it takes," I say simply. "Pulling the trigger. Literally, and figuratively. I had to go back eventually." I squeeze the trigger, and the gun goes off. I don't aim at any part of him in particular, but it doesn't really matter. I don't need to. All I need to do is fire, and I'm gone. But the bullet does hit its mark, somewhere in the Chancellor's chest. Maybe it kills him. I don't know, and I don't have time to stick around and find out. Because the guards close in on me and arrest me, and just like that, I'm headed to the Ground.