Chapter 18: The City of Light, Part 1

Lexa stared into the dirty and cracked mirror. The black paint around her eyes was freshly applied and she adjusted her shoulder armor as she checked her reflection. She was the Heda, leader of her people and today she would fight for them once more. Only this time, she did not fully understand what she was fighting. Narrowing her dark eyes, Lexa stared down her reflection: she shall show no weakness.

With a sharp turn on her heel, Lexa walked firmly to where her sword hung by her bed. She was hooking her belt when the door to her chambers opened. Lexa allowed her lips to form a smile when she saw Clarke stride confidently in. Clarke, too, was dressed for war. Instead of a sword by her side, Clarke carried two pistols in the holsters on her hips. Lexa knew there were additional blades in Clarke's boot and up a sleeve.

A wild thought suddenly flitted across Lexa's brain: she needed to teach the girl to properly fight with a sword and knives. After this, after they finally had peace, she was going to train her. The thought of sparring with Clarke brought a smile to her lips. She tried to hide it, but Clarke was quick to notice.

"What?" asked Clarke self-consciously.

"I'm thinking about the future," murmured Lexa honestly. She had to have faith that they would get through this.

Clarke didn't know what to say so she opted to say nothing. Instead she fingered her pistols and waited for Lexa to join her at the door. When the Heda did walk up to stand beside her by the door, she was surprised that Lexa didn't immediately leave. Instead, Lexa reached up to cup Clarke's face with her hand.

"I want us to have a future, Klark kom Skaikru," said Lexa earnestly. The hand on Clarke's cheek slipped around the back of her head to curl around blonde hair. Lexa pulled her forward gently and kissed her lips.

After she returned the kiss in earnest, Clarke replied, "We will. I promise." And she meant it. But now they had work to do.

They walked to the throne room together where Lexa had gathered the representatives from her Coalition including Clarke to represent Skaikru. Trikru had sent word of Azgeda organizing troops under Queen Nia's nightblood, Ontari, but that wasn't the worst news. Seen with Ontari as she led her warriors toward Polis was Thelonious Jaha. Jaha and ALIE had their army and they were coming for Polis.

According to Raven, ALIE was after the Flame. Just as they had suspected, the same person had created both ALIE and the Flame, or as Raven had been referring to it: ALIE 2.0. Clarke knew that Lexa was bothered by the revelations. Clarke had been surrounded by technology all her life, even if she had never seen anything like ALIE before. But for Lexa, Titus, and the other grounders, it was a hard concept to really grasp.

But Clarke firmly believed that the Flame somehow preserved the memory of the Hedas that came before Lexa. From what Raven had told them, the City of Light held on to the people who entered it. That if you died in the real world, you continued to live in the City. But Lexa had not wanted to discuss it and Clarke didn't want to push her.

The representatives were in an uproar and Titus was having difficulty controlling them. Even the presence of Lexa didn't stem their shouting and arguing. Although the Grounders had no problem standing against the Sky People, Azgeda was a differed issue. Some were insistent that because King Roan was not part of those marching upon Polis, these grounders could not call themselves part of the Ice Nation. However, there were still those who thought that attacking fellow grounders at the word of Clarke and her people was treachery against their coalition.

Lexa tried to listen to both sides, but even Titus was unsure of how to advise her. Taking a seat in her throne, she made her decision and raised her hand for silence. Speaking firmly so that there would be no misunderstanding, Lexa declared, "Those who march against Polis march against their Heda. When I removed Queen Nia from power, I did not declare this usurper Ontari to take her place. If our people have sided with the Skaikru leader, then they are traitors to our coalition."

There was some murmuring, but no one outright defied their Heda. Lexa continued, "However, it has been told to me that Ontari and her followers may not be of their own minds. The Skaikru leader Jaha discovered a technology unknown to us. He is using it to control not only the people of Azgeda, but of Arkadia as well. I need to ask of you something that I have never before: do not take the lives of those who march against us."

This announcement caused most of her council to protest. Of course they would follow their Heda into battle, but jus drein jus daun. To ask them to fight an unknown technology without deadly force was asking a lot. Perhaps too much. Clarke knew that Lexa had faith in her people, but they really had no idea how to defeat Jaha and ALIE. Lexa's people were the only thing standing between the advancing army and the flame that resided in Lexa.

"You trust too much in Skaikru!"

"They deceive you!"

"Jus drein jus daun!"

Lexa stood, drawing her sword suddenly and cried, "There has been no blood to avenge! We will defend Polis until this matter can be settled, but it will not be with a blade or arrow! Do you challenge my order?"

One of the nearest representatives moved to the middle of the room and took a knee. His head was bowed in reverence, but his fists were clutched as he said, "We wish to serve you, Heda, but you cannot ask my people to die for you without being able to defend themselves."

"Then go," barked Lexa, her eyes narrowed with irritation. But Lexa knew this could happen. "I only need those who are loyal."

The man stood tense at her words, but did not flinch at the implication of not being loyal. He replied just as crisply, "I will stay to defend you and I offer my personal guard to help hold Polis, but I will send my warriors to defend our lands against the threat of Azgeda and Skaikru. There, they will be able to shed the blood of our enemies without your permission."

Even Titus said nothing to this proposition. He had warned Lexa that the other clans would not allow their own to be slaughtered without taking lives themselves. Even after Clarke had explained that Ontari and the other Azgeda were unable to stop themselves, Titus had taken the position that any grounder would die rather than be taken under ALIE's power and that killing those in her control would be a mercy.

But this offer of a small defense, if her other representatives saw this as an option as well, could be tactfully advantageous. A few good warriors had done as much damage as armies in the past. And perhaps they would not be seen as great of a threat to ALIE and less would have to die. In that moment, Lexa felt the brush of the past commanders in her mind. This was the right choice, just as her ascension had been, just as the peace between the clans had been, or the decision to betray Clarke to rescue her people from the Mountain Men, or even trusting Clarke and her people again had been.

"So be it," she ordered. Her eyes flickered over the other representatives and she could see them murmuring to themselves. Another representative, this time a woman, knelt next to the first man and offered the same. One by one, her people knelt before her and swore their loyalty.

-BREAK-

In the depths of the tower, Raven huddled over a computer with Monty and Jasper next to her. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with a new knowledge of how ALIE and her City of Light worked. Titus had given them the book that Becca had written and Raven had utilized the tools at her disposal to work her way into ALIE's algorithm.

"What does ALIE need the flame for?" asked Monty curiously as he watched Raven work.

"She sees it as the perfect version of herself. She needs it to complete her mission to save mankind."

Jasper raised an eyebrow and asked, "And saving mankind is a bad thing because?"

"Because ALIE's version of saving the world involved blowing it up," answered Monty, eyeing his best friend with apprehension. With the task at hand, Jasper had been more focused and like his old self than ever before. But Monty knew how tempted he had been by the City.

"I think I know what to do!" exclaimed Raven and Monty pulled his eyes away from Jasper to look at the screen. "There's a kill switch, but she's got it protected. I don't think I can stop it from here."

"Then what? It's not like we can just go to the City of Light and flip the switch…" muttered Monty, but then he saw the look in Raven's eyes. "No…that's impossible! ALIE will just override anyone who takes the chip and then she'll know our plans!"

"Not if Lexa takes the chip," replied Raven, her eyes wide with a plan. She reached out for the bloody chip that Clarke had removed from her neck only a few hours before and set it next to the brand new one that Murphy had brought to Polis. Her fingers then rushed back to the keys.

Jasper frowned. "But wasn't the whole idea to not let ALIE get the thing in Lexa's head? I mean, wouldn't you just be giving ALIE exactly what she wants?"

"And even if ALIE didn't take over Lexa, how would Lexa know what to do? She's never even seen a computer, let alone understand how one works!" reasoned Monty, sure at this point that either ALIE or the EMP had done permanent damage to Raven's brain.

"I can alter the chip that you fried with the EMP. It won't work perfectly, probably only for about an hour, but because it's damaged, ALIE won't be able to take over the person who is using it. Clarke can go into the City with Lexa and we can help from here. Together, we can destroy the City of Light!"

"You're sure it can work?"

"Give me ten minutes and then we have to get to Clarke. Trust me, I know what ALIE can do," Raven unconsciously touched her bandaged wrist. "We have to stop this before anyone else gets hurt."

Monty nodded and rushed to the door where Bellamy and Miller were standing guard. He briefly told them of their plan. He knew that if this was going to work, they would need to barricade themselves to protect Lexa and Clarke. Miller ran ahead to gather the others while Bellamy waited for Raven to finish.

Finally, Raven grabbed Jasper's hand and pressed the two chips into it, saying, "Give the damaged one to Clarke and the other to Lexa. Monty and I will stay here to monitor their progress and help them the best we can."

Carefully, Jasper tucked the precious chips into his pocket and raced for the door to send Monty back inside. Before either could say good luck, a door at the end of the hallway was thrown off its hinges and slammed to the floor with a great clatter. Bellamy raised his rifle to focus on the doorway and managed to keep it steady when Kane walked thought it with two grounders at his side.

"Hello Bellamy," he said calmly, raising his had to signal his followers to stop. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Neither do I," came Bellamy's chipped reply, never lowering his weapon.

Kane sighed and shook his head, "We don't need the guns. The reason you are resistant to the City is that you don't truly understand it. I wasn't sure at first either, but together we can accomplish so much and ALIE can show us how."

"That's not really you saying this."

"Put the gun down, Bellamy," Kane warned, his tone quickly growing darker. "Let's all go to Lexa and explain ourselves. That's all we want."

"No," said Bellamy and without turning his eyes away from Kane, he said to Monty and Jasper, "Monty get back in there and barricade the door. Jasper, go!"

Monty glanced at his best friend, trying to convey his best luck, before shutting the door and the sound of a thick metal bar falling into place could be heard. Jasper backed away from Bellamy slowly first, and watched as Kane drew his pistol and pointed toward them both. "I'm warning you one last time to stop!"

"Run, Jasper, and no matter what, don't look back!" shouted Bellamy as he started to step toward Kane and the grounders who were drawing their own weapons. Bellamy's eyes met the dark gaze of the ALIE-possessed Marcus Kane and knew what was about to happen before saw Kane's finger tighten around the trigger.

Jasper didn't stop running when he heard the gunshot.