"Marcus," Abby breathed, reaching him first. "How? I thought Lexa was holding you as a sort of hostage."
Jason narrowed his eyes, his gaze moving from Kane to the silent treeline. "Did she have a change of heart, or is this just another message she's sending to us?"
Marcus shook his head, as he spoke up, "Lexa let me go," Kane said as he looked from Jason to Jaha, then back at Jason again, his gaze lingering on him with a heavy, somber weight. "She sent me with a final word. The army in the woods isn't there to attack. They are there to witness. The deadline hasn't moved. Blood for blood, or the alliance dies before the first brick is laid."
Jason leaned against the gatepost, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, she sent the 'sensible' one to tell us we're still screwed. How very traditional of her." He looked at Kane, his brow arching in a silent challenge. "I assume you didn't just come back for a shower, Marcus. What's the verdict from the great beyond?"
Kane looked at the ground, then back at the command group, his expression was grim. "She wants Finn. Now. If he isn't at the gate by the evening, the 'witnesses' become an execution squad for the entire camp."
"She'll invade and kill us all," Bellamy said, his voice tightened up as he gripped his rifle closer to his chest.
Jason looked up again at the morning sun and let out a long sigh, 'That bitch is cold,' he thought to himself, a dark flicker of appreciation crossing his mind despite the stakes. 'Well, that's what is needed to survive in this world. Touché, I guess.' He pushed off the gatepost, his eyes scanning the horizon where a thousand spears waited. 'Now that she has played her move,' he mused, 'hmmm... I wonder what I shall do about this whole mess?'
—-
Inside the command center, the air was thick with a new kind of desperation. Marcus and Kane stood hunched over a map, their voices were low as they discussed the scale of the force surrounding them.
"The army is massive," Marcus noted, his finger tracing the perimeter of the camp. "They've placed warriors at every strategic point. There are scouts in the trees and riders on the paths. They've made sure that if Finn even thinks about running, he won't make it a hundred yards."
Abby looked between them and shook her head, "What now? We can't just sit here and wait till the evening."
"I've spoken with Lexa," Marcus said, trying to inject a note of diplomacy into his weary voice. "She seems like the reasonable type, in her own way. If it's possible for us to give a suggestion of our own on how this will be handled with care, she might listen. We need to show her we take our own laws seriously."
Jaha looked down, a heavy realization settling behind his eyes. He seemed to understand exactly where Marcus was leading.
"What suggestion is that?" Clarke asked, her gaze darting between the leaders.
Jason, who had been sitting in the corner whittling a piece of wood with a hunting knife, didn't look up at first. The shavings fell to the floor before he finally spoke up, "Put him on trial, if I'm not mistaken," he said with a hint of disinterest.
He finally looked up from his work, his eyes locking onto Kane. "So, tell me... what will the sentence be if he's found guilty? Hmmm? Seeing as you can't float him down here." He paused as a dark, knowing smile that didn't reach his eyes touched his lips, "Oh, I know."
He held up the piece of wood he had been working on, testing the sharpened point with his thumb before pointing it directly at Kane, "A bullet to the head."
"Wait, what? No!" Clarke shouted, stepping forward. "No, we are not killing him!"
Kane said nothing, his silence acted as a grim confirmation. Jaha looked at Clarke with his expression hardening, "Clarke, it is better if we do it our own way. It's mercy compared to what the Grounders have in store for the boy. If we don't provide justice, they will provide agony."
"We can't do it!" Raven snarled, lunging toward the table and pointing a finger at Abby. "I don't care what kind of 'polite suggestions' you give them. We are not handing him over to be carved up, and we are not killing him! He's one of us!"
Jason looked at Raven, his expression was one of seriousness and a deadly calm. The casual whittler from moments ago was gone, "Be that as it may," Jason began, his voice dropping into a low, resonant tone. "For this alliance to work, we need to give them something in compensation for what has been done. We can't just wish the blood away with good intentions."
He stood up, the wood shavings falling from his lap and onto the floor, "Look at how volatile this situation is. According to what Lincoln told us, this isn't just about Finn anymore, is it?"
Abby frowned, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the back of a chair. "What are you talking about?"
"This is a test of their leadership as well," Jason said, pacing the small room, "They want to see if their Heda has what it takes to make the tough choices and actually go through with them. Lexa is on trial out there just as much as Finn is in here."
"What?" Clarke asked, her voice small.
"If she can prove she's strong enough to demand justice, then good. Her people follow her," Jason explained, holding up two fingers. "If she can't? Well, we might have two problems. One: a Grounder civil war that will undoubtedly reach our gates. Or two: they kill her and replace her with someone who, let's just say, isn't really fond of me."
Kane's eyes sharpened. "Indra."
Jason nodded. "In which case, we're still affected. Any thoughts of an alliance are broken before the ink is dry. And another point is that this works perfectly in favor of the Mountain Men. They can just swoop in and pick up the dregs that are left after we've finished slaughtering each other, exactly like they did to us after the battle at the drop ship."
"We can't let them kill him, Jason," Raven said again, her voice thick with unshed tears.
"There has to be another way," Clarke pleaded, moving closer until she was right in his space. "Please, Jason. We can't... they will tear him apart. They'll use the thousand cuts. He doesn't deserve that."
Jason looked down at Clarke, seeing the raw desperation in her eyes. He let out a long, jagged sigh and muttered, "I'm sorry, Clarke. But we might not have a choice."
"Excuse me," he added abruptly.
He turned on his heel and walked toward the exit. He didn't glance at Raven, whose face was twisted in a look of pure betrayal. As the heavy canvas flap of the tent fell shut behind him, he heard her voice, sharp and wounded, echoing through the fabric.
"You bastard!"
Jason didn't stop. He stepped out into the harsh morning light, his jaw set, already looking toward the treeline where the real storm was brewing.
——-
Outside the command tent, the air was thick with a toxic mix of fear and judgment. Jason stepped into the sunlight and immediately spotted Finn sitting in a dusty corner. He was alone, a hollowed-out version of the boy who had landed on Earth. People shuffled past him, throwing sharp, lingering glances at him, their eyes filled with blame, as if sacrificing him would save them from the terror of being slaughtered by the grounders.
The sight didn't sit well with Jason. He didn't like the mob mentality, even if the mob was technically right.
He spotted Bellamy and Murphy standing a few yards away. "Hey," Jason called out.
Bellamy walked over, his expression weary. "So? How'd it go in the lions' den?"
"Oh, fantastic," Jason replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Everyone's being completely rational and definitely not screaming at each other. It's like a group therapy session, if the therapist was a high-functioning sociopath and the patients were all armed." He tilted his head toward the side. "Come with me."
He looked at Murphy. "Keep watch on Finn for me, will you? Make sure the 'good citizens' of the Ark don't decide to start the execution early."
Murphy shrugged, leaning back against a metal crate. "Sure. I'm already the camp pariah; what's one more job? What are you going to do?"
Jason looked down at the sharpened piece of wood still in his hand, his thumb tracing the jagged point. "I'm thinking," he said darkly. "Bellamy, let's go."
He headed toward the medical wing, his stride purposeful.
Engineering Room
Raven slammed a heavy wrench onto a metal workbench. The sound echoed like a gunshot through the engineering bay.
"Hey! Wow, wow! Calm down, will you?" Wick said, jumping back and holding up his hands. "The equipment is fragile, and I'm even more fragile."
"How could he?" Raven snarled, her chest heaving with fury. "How could Jason just sit there and talk about 'civil wars' and 'tests of leadership' while Finn is waiting to be slaughtered?"
Wick blinked, adjusting his glasses. "Uhh... what's happening?"
"They're planning on giving my friend to the Grounders, Wick! They're talking about putting him on trial just to kill him themselves!"
Wick let out a long, slow sigh. "Oh. You mean Finn." Seeing the fire in her eyes, he lowered his voice. "Look, okay, from what's going around... I heard he did something really bad. Like, 'massacre' bad."
Raven scoffed, her voice came sharp with defensive anger. "As if the Grounders wouldn't have done the same! They've been trying to kill us since the second the 100 hit the dirt. They started this war!"
"Yeah, because the 100 landed in their territory, Raven," Wick pointed out gently.
"They didn't know!" she shouted. "And Finn didn't mean to do what he did. He was out of his mind looking for Clarke. He was trying to save her!"
Wick rubbed the back of his neck, looking at her with a mix of pity and pragmatism. "Raven, I'm not supporting the Grounders. I'm really not. But the fact is, Finn murdered two people. Unarmed people." He stepped closer, his voice dropping. "Be honest. If Jason hadn't gotten there when he did, if he hadn't stopped Finn right then, do you honestly think he wouldn't have killed more? Do you think he would have stopped until the whole village was dead?"
Raven opened her mouth to argue, but the words died in her throat. She turned away, her hand trembling as she gripped the edge of the workbench.
"That doesn't mean we just let them kill him," she whispered.
"They will tear him apart, Wick!" Raven's voice cracked, her eyes wide with the horror of what she knew was coming. "I know the Grounders. I've seen what they do. They won't just kill him; they'll rip him apart, flesh from flesh. He doesn't deserve that. No one does."
Wick looked at her, his expression softening with genuine sympathy, but his voice remained grounded in the brutal reality of their situation. "Well... what's the alternative, Raven? If we keep him, they kill everyone. If we give him up, they kill him. Is there a third door I'm not seeing?"
Raven didn't say a thing. She stood there, her jaw working as she fought back the urge to scream. "Shit," she hissed under her breath. "Excuse me."
She rushed out of the engineering bay before Wick could say another word. He watched her go, leaning back against the workbench with a heavy sigh. "Okay then," he muttered to the empty room. "Back to work."
Raven moved through the camp like a stormfront, her eyes scanning the crowd until she spotted a familiar l jacket. Jason was stepping out of the medical wing, deep in conversation with Bellamy and Octavia. Bellamy was nodding at something Jason had just said, "Jason!" Raven yelled, her voice cutting through the ambient noise of the camp.
As she stormed toward them, Bellamy caught Jason's eye and gave a sharp nod. "That's our cue to leave," he muttered.
"How helpful of you," Jason replied, his voice laced with dry sarcasm as he watched his backup abandon ship.
Octavia offered a small, sympathetic smile as she followed her brother. "Hey, you're a big guy, Jason. Handle it."
Bellamy let out a short laugh, moving away just as Octavia gave a quick wave. "Hey, Raven," she said softly as they passed each other, but Raven didn't even blink.
Raven marched straight up to Jason, her chest heaving. "What was that about? What are you planning with them?"
Jason looked down at her, his expression shifting till it was unreadable. "Oh, nothing major. Just telling them to be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary or anyone trying to cause trouble with Finn. I told them to check the perimeter, too. Witness or not, those Grounders sitting out there are basically a loaded gun pointed at our heads. I'd like to know if someone's finger is on the trigger."
Raven didn't look convinced. She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a low and looked at his eyes searching for something. "Are you really thinking of allowing this trial? Are you really going to let them vote on whether or not to kill him?"
Jason let out a long, weary sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking past her toward the tents where families were huddled in fear. "Raven... do you know how many people are in this camp?"
"More that a hundred," she snapped. "I know the headcount."
Jason nodded slowly, his eyes locking back onto hers with a deadly seriousness. "Right. And do you know how many fighters we have? Actual people who can hold a line when the screaming starts?" He didn't wait for her answer. "And more importantly... do you have any idea how many Lexa has sitting in those woods?"
Raven didn't speak, her jaw tight as she stared at the dirt.
"They outnumber us, Raven," Jason said, his voice was flat and calm. "I mean, sure, we have guns. We'll kill a lot of them if push comes to shove. We'll make them bleed for every inch of this camp. But eventually? They'll overwhelm us. They'll swarm the walls, and they will kill us all. Every last person you see walking around right now."
He stepped closer, his shadow stretching over her in the morning light. "It's basic math. We have maybe forty people who can reliably fire a weapon. Lexa has hundreds, maybe thousands, of warriors who have spent their entire lives training for this. And for what? For just one life?"
"JUST one life?" Raven exploded, her voice echoing off the metal hulls of the station. "That's Finn! That's your friend! How can you say 'just' one life?"
"Exactly!" Jason cut her off, his voice rising for the first time, sharp and commanding. "Which is why I know he wouldn't want that to happen. He wouldn't want to be the reason we all die, Raven. He isn't a martyr, but he isn't a coward either. He wouldn't want the blood of a hundred innocent people on his hands just so he could live another day."
He let out a breath, his expression softening into something weary. "There's nothing more I can do at this point. One way or another, someone is going to die today. I'm just trying to make sure it's the person who actually pulled the trigger, not a kid hiding in a tent."
A single tear escaped Raven's eye, tracing a path through the grease on her cheek. She looked at him with a look of pure loathing. "You're a cold-blooded son of a bitch, Jason. I hope when it's your turn, someone does the math on you and decides you aren't worth the trouble."
She turned and bolted away. Jason stood unfazed, his face a granite mask. He looked up at the sky and whispered, "Shit." He looked around the camp once, sighing heavily before turning back toward the command center.
He didn't notice Clarke standing in the shadows of a nearby corridor. She had heard everything, her face pale and unreadable. Raven, however, had caught a glimpse of her blonde hair before disappearing into the engineering bay.
——