The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 132

"I'm Raven Reyes, professional explosion maker and your personal hell at your service."

Cage doesn't seem particularly impressed by her introduction, though I definitely am.

"So you're telling me you not only made it past firewalls that have kept us safe for over a century, but you have a way to shut down our fans before our technicians can stop you?" Cage asks, obviously not believing her.

"If your abysmal security system is any indication of how good your technicians are, then yeah, I'm good. I could override your card key scanners when I was five." She snorts.

"I don't believe you, little girl." He says.

Raven glares at him with a fire in her eyes that would make the most hardened warrior shake in their boots. I know how she hates being dismissed and underestimated like that.

She returns to her keyboard and taps furiously, pressing the last key with an angry flourish. Raven glares back up at the screen, smirking when the lights flicker wherever Cage is.

"What-?" Cage breathes out, looking up at the ceiling with alarm.

"Just a thank you gift for being such an upstanding douchebag." Raven says sarcastically. "Believe me now?"

She presses another couple of keys and the flickering stops, revealing a thoroughly alarmed looking Cage. He composes himself, running a hand over his slick, greasy hair.

He looks back at us, still looking like he believes he has the upper hand. He smirks. "That's a neat trick, but that doesn't mean you'll stop the fans. Now, I have no doubt that you can, but I don't think you will."

"Why do you think we would not do it?" Lexa asks, her calculating gaze on him.

"You would kill us all." He says, almost conversationally. "And it won't be instant. Radiation will get in and we will all get radiation poisoning. We will be in agony with boils forming on our skin until we finally die, painfully and slowly. And I don't think you want that to happen."

"Why not?" Octavia asks, taking a threatening step forward. "You lost your humanity when you started using actual people as living blood bags."

"Oh, but not everyone likes that we do that. We have a resistance, people who won't get treatment." He rolls his eyes. "They'll just end up dying because of their morals. Not to mention the innocent children here."

I purse my lips, hating the unknowns of our plan. Not knowing if Plan Daedalus will work is the one weighing the heaviest on my shoulders. Octavia gives me an unhappy look, knowing that we're being backed into a corner here. He isn't backing down. If anything, Cage is gaining confidence.

That's further confirmed when an automated voice says, "Lockdown procedure initiated."

The door clicks and Lincoln, who's closest to it, heads over to check. He tries to turn the knob but isn't able to. He turns around and shake his head at our unasked question.

"We are locked in." Lincoln confirms our suspicions.

"You can't leave now," Cage brags. I know we can if we want to, we have Raven. "Take my deal or die in that room. Die and know that I've killed everyone you love."

Crap, the missile. How did I forget that? How are we supposed to destroy that? How can we stop it?

I crouch down beside Raven. "Is there any way you can redirect where it's pointed?"

"Maybe." Raven starts tapping away at the keys, her fingers practically flying over them. "Yeah, that's much easier than trying to stop it. But where do we aim it? There are villages everywhere!"

I shrug. "Space?"

Raven stops and stares at me for a second before she resumes typing at an almost dizzying speed. "Clarke, I swear I could kiss you right now. You're a genius!" She says, grinning. She starts talking to herself, muttering. "It'll need more power, definitely. It won't have enough fuel or oomph to get up there, it's not designed for that. I can't just have it go kablooey somewhere random if it falls back to Earth."

"What is she doing?" Cage demands.

"Okay, so not into space but just far enough outside the atmosphere that it won't kill a ton of people or fall back before it goes boom. Alright, I'm adding more fuel to the rocket. More power to the thrusters instead of the aiming system..."

"You have two minutes to decide. That's how long your friends at your camp have." Cage says, evidently annoyed that we haven't answered his question.

I ignore him. "Tell Bell to check the seals again. We might have to do this."

Octavia nods and grabs the walkie talkie and starting to speak into it.

"Sir?" Someone offscreen says hesitantly.

"What?" Cage barks.

"Someone's tampering with the rocket, we don't have control over the aiming system anymore." The nervous person says.

"You what?" Cage snarls. "Get control of it again, then!"

"We can't, not in the time we have. Their coding is extremely good, better than most of our coders."

"Then do something!" Cage demands.

"I-we'll try, sir."

Cage glares at us, at a smirking Raven as she continues typing. "That's it!" He growls out. "Make your decision! Twelve people for those caged savages."

"No deal," Lexa says calmly. "Take our deal, Cage, and your people will not die meaningless deaths."

"Never," he declares.

"Raven," Lexa says. She looks up from the computer. "Is everything for Plan Daedalus ready?"

"Yeah, we're good. See that lever? Pull that and.." She makes a "ch" sound, running a finger across her throat.

"Mochof (thank you)." Lexa says. She looks back up at the screens.

Cage scowls at us, rage in his eyes. "You're bluffing. You won't do it. You'll kill innocent people!"

"Just like you have, but you are worse." Lexa says lowly.

She makes her way over to the lever, placing her hand almost casually on the round ball part. I'm practically frozen where I am, unable to do anything but watch. The fears, the doubts rise up in me, choking the breath out of me. I really hoped it wouldn't come to this.

Cage's eyes widen at her movement. "You won't."

"I will. I am Heda, I would do anything for my people. You do not think my decisions have not killed innocents before? I have to weigh those risks against the reward. And in this case, the reward outweighs the risk."

"You won't," Cage repeats. His voice cracks, seeming almost afraid.

"I will. Take the deal and your people live."

"No. No." He shakes his head vigorously. "No deal. We will die without their bone marrow. We would just have to take more of your people for our blood supply."

"No deal?" Lexa asks to confirm, raising an eyebrow.

"No deal."

Lexa nods to herself. "Then may the Gods understand, and forgive me." She pulls the lever.

Whoa, that was... Super intense. A lot of stuff happened! And hey, next chapter DEFINITELY we're going to hear what Plan Daedalus was! ;) And yay, a slightly longer chapter! Can you guys believe that I actually forgot about the missile for a bit? Eh, it worked out in the end. Go forgetfulness! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!