Bellamy listens through to the end without interrupting. "Right," he says eventually. "So let me see if I've got this straight. There are a bunch of people who live inside Mount Weather."
"Yes."
"They hate us. For some reason," Bellamy continues.
"Pretty much," Octavia confirms, though she does shoot a glance at Clarke.
"They took Murphy and Drew," Bellamy states. "And you reckon they want to take the rest of us. So you told the Ark to come down as far away as possible, which means that instead of landing among our friendly neighbourhood Grounders, they'll be surrounded by savages. And you're planning to go north with the Commander to stop said savages from killing our people."
"I'm going too," Raven says helpfully. She's sitting next to Finn, although not leaning on him like she used to. "Apparently, making bombs is a really useful skill around here."
"And I'm going because Clarke's going," Wells says firmly.
"And I'm going because Raven's going," Finn echoes.
"Great," Bellamy says, not caring. "You're very supportive boyfriends, good for you. And you want me to -"
"Fill everyone in on what's going on," Clarke says, still wincing at the 'boyfriend' comment. "And with Monty and Jasper's help, keep in touch with the Ark. Contact us and let us know if anything changes. Make a list of which people are expected to come down in each station so we can try and keep track of everyone. That kind of thing."
"What about O?" Bellamy frowns.
"I'm going north as well. Because Indra's going," Octavia says challengingly. "She's my Fos."
"She's your... wait, what?" Bellamy wheels to face Clarke, glaring. "You let her become a warrior? I thought we agreed -"
"That she'd be my assistant," Clarke says coldly. "Luckily I don't need one anymore." She relents a little at the look on Bellamy's face. "Come on, Bellamy, this is Octavia. She's going to do dangerous things and risk her life anyway, you should at least let her get the skills to defend herself."
"Exactly," Octavia says, apparently having no issues with this description of her. "And I'm an adult in Trikru terms, anyway. You can't stop me doing what I want to do. And I want to learn to fight."
"Fine," Bellamy growls, "Then learn to fight here. Don't go north."
"I'm going, Bell," Octavia says, her voice final.
He glares. "Then I'm going too."
"No, you're not," Clarke says, just as hotly. "You're the closest thing our people here have to a leader. Right now, you're keeping everyone in enough control to stop any of them getting arrested. We need the Grounders here to like us."
"If you think I'm going to let my sister run off into a warzone just so you can play politics -"
"That politics is the only thing giving us somewhere to run to!" Clarke says fiercely. "If things go badly up north, we're going to need to fall back to Polis. We might even need to turn up at Polis with hundreds of our people in tow. The people of Polis need to be willing to let us do that, so I want absolutely nobody to screw anything up between now and then. Perfect guests, do you understand? That's what I need you to do."
"If I stay, Octavia stays," Bellamy says flatly. "And if Octavia's going, I'm going. That's it."
"I'm going," Octavia says mulishly. "Whatever happens. I'm not leaving Indra." Clarke's glad she didn't mention Lincoln, since Bellamy already looks furious. "I'll run away if you try and force me to stay."
"Then I'm going too," Bellamy says again forcefully.
"No, you're not," Clarke says, wondering if she should either force Octavia to stay or allow Bellamy to go. She's sure Octavia, Lincoln and Indra would all disapprove of the first choice, and equally sure that Lexa will be horrified by the second one. Lexa's already grudgingly accepted Finn, it's not fair to make her put up with Bellamy as well. "I need you to be a leader, Bellamy. I need you to take care of our people."
"One of the others can do it," Bellamy says impatiently, "Miller, maybe."
"No," Jasper says unexpectedly. They all turn to look at him in surprise. "Don't know if you've noticed, dude, but only two people ever got the rest of us criminals to do anything. You, and Clarke."
Monty chimes in after a moment. "And Clarke has to go north, I've heard the Commander and the others talk to her, she's the only one they're going to listen to. So she can't stay here."
"That leaves you," Wells says to Bellamy, an edge of distaste in his voice. "I don't like you, but they do. They'll listen to you."
"Clarke's right. She knows what she's doing. Come on, Bell," Octavia says finally. "I'm an adult. I can take care of myself. Please, can't you just trust me?"
"It's not that I don't trust you," Bellamy begins, and Clarke knows from his defeated tone of voice that they've already won. "Fine. All right. But," he turns to look at Clarke again, "If anything happens to my sister, I'll kill you. Understand?"
"I understand you'll try," Clarke replies, meeting him stare for stare until he blinks and looks away.
After a second, he gives a bitter huff of laughter. "Right. Sure."
Clarke wonders if this is the moment to bring up Diana Sydney and Shumway, both of whom are still locked up on the Ark with everyone else Shumway flipped on. Clarke had recommended they be floated for their crimes, though not without a twinge, hoping that executing them would make getting Bellamy's statement moot. Her mother had told her they needed to show mercy, and Diana Sydney and her people were being watched carefully and that would be enough. (Clarke does wonder what they'll do with them now though – it's not exactly like they have the facilities or spare resources to hold them forever, any more than they would have before they decided to come to the ground.)
However, Clarke suspects there's more going on than some abstract attempt at 'mercy' that the Ark has never shown before. Diana Sydney and her people are popular, and right now Jaha isn't. Floating people could always be excused before as necessary for the survival of the Ark. Now they know the ground is liveable. Bellamy accused Clarke of playing politics, but she's got nothing on Jaha – she thinks he's trying to paint himself as the saviour of the Skaikru, and executing a bunch of people would contrast sharply with that. So Jaha will wait until they get to the ground, and get Bellamy's testimony, and probably even hold a proper trial, and all those things which the Council have never bothered to do before. All the things they never even bothered to do when they were sending children to the ground to die.
Octavia knows that Clarke based her accusations on knowledge she shouldn't have, but all Bellamy knows is that Jaha survived since Clarke mentioned talking to him – he gave a slight sigh of relief at knowing he hadn't killed Jaha, and that was all. He's so settled in his new life here that he probably doesn't think of the Ark's 'justice' as being relevant to him anymore. It's probably not the right time to bring up Sydney or Shumway.
He breaks the silence again. "I can't believe Murphy might be dead."
"I never met the guy," Raven says with a shrug, and Clarke realises with a shock that that's the truth. This Raven was never shot by Murphy, never tried to give him to the Trikru in place of Finn. "Or any of the other ones, for that matter. So it doesn't really seem as real to me. I'm sorry for your loss, though."
Bellamy gives her a half smile, clearly uncomfortable with her sympathy. "I'm fine. I wasn't really close with Murphy or Drew, although we were sort of friends the first few days here. It's just... shit, I kind of understood people being killed by that fog stuff. But killed on purpose, murdered..."
"Oh," Clarke says, surprised. "Didn't I mention – well, the fog is done by the Mountain Men as well. Along with these cannibal psychos called Reapers, who you really don't want to meet."
"I see," Bellamy says, an unpleasant tone entering his voice. "And they're after us. So how do we kill them?"
"Right now, we're more concentrating on surviving them," Wells says dryly. "When the Ark gets down -"
"When the Ark gets down, they'll be exactly as useless as they've always been," Bellamy says shortly. He rubs his eyes, clearly annoyed. "Listen, I have a class pretty soon, judging by the sun. Can we continue this later? How many days are you guys staying?"
There's an awkward pause, which Jasper rushes to fill, "Well, me and Monty are staying for the foreseeable future. They're letting me try and make bombs! And Monty's gonna -"
"We're leaving tomorrow," Clarke cuts through his chatter ruthlessly. "Raven needs some time to go through the tower's electronics – I'm actually not sure why she's not doing that now -"
"Spent all last night going through them," Raven says. Now that she mentions it, Clarke can see the circles under her eyes. She feels guilty. "Mostly a load of crap, but some useful things. Well, useful-ish. Stuff like an EMP isn't exactly useful with no technology to knock out that isn't buried under a mountain. But I can definitely make as many radios as we need, maybe some timers or even triggers for bombs if you like. Grenades, perhaps."
"Right," Clarke says, wrong-footed. "Uh... so Raven's sorted. I'll send some gonas to carry anything you need, if you tell them what to take," she addresses Raven, then moves back to Bellamy. "We need to keep moving. The Mountain Men have missiles, and the last thing we want is for them to decide to shoot them at Polis, which they might do if Lexa or I stay here long. Besides which, I'd like to reach the area where the stations are most likely to come down with some time to prepare." Of course, there's almost no chance of the Maunon figuring out how to send a missile at Polis. They need a spotter. But she also can't discount the possibility that they'll figure out a way – Polis is a large, stationary target, after all.
"Lexa or you?" Bellamy says shrewdly. "You think they're targeting the two of you?"
Octavia flicks a glance Clarke's way, then says, "Yeah, from what we overheard the Mountain seem to have decided that Clarke and the Commander are our leaders. They think taking them out will cripple us."
Bellamy snorts. "Of course they do." He gives Clarke a half-grin. "Guess they don't know how tough we are, huh, Griffin?"
"You know you're lost without me, Bellamy," Clarke lobbies back at him.
"Okay," Bellamy looks out the window at the sky. "I really need to go now. O, you know where I live, right?" Octavia nods. "I stop teaching at sunset. Be there then. We'll have a goodbye dinner, okay? And a nice long talk." From Bellamy's expression, Clarke suspects the talk will be more like a long lecture. He turns to the others. "Uh, Spacewalker, Jaha's kid, mechanic chick, Princess, I guess I probably won't see you before you go."
Clarke can tell from his voice that he chose those names specifically to distance himself from them. "I guess you won't," she says. "Keep in touch via the radio."
"Don't get my sister killed," he says back. Then, after a moment's pause, adds, "Don't get yourself killed either, Princess. I really don't want to have to be the one mediating deals between the Commander and Jaha."
"Trust me, I wouldn't leave a job that important for you anyway," Clarke says, with a smile to show she doesn't really mean it.
He surprises her when he moves, hugging her awkwardly for half a second before stepping back, an embarrassed expression on his face. "Yeah. Better not."
Then he's out the door. After a second's pause, Octavia follows him, presumably to catch him for some last-minute comment.
"Maybe we should come with you guys too," Jasper says into the sudden silence. "I don't know, but he seems kinda tense. You guys are much nicer."
"You don't want to stay here and make bombs?" Clarke quirks an eyebrow.
"You have no idea what my bomb recipe contains," Jasper says, making a disgusted face. "It is nothing like baking a cake."
"Plus there's the offside chance he might accidentally blow up Polis," Monty adds. "It's a good thing I'm helping out with plants, instead of something which involves staying in the city." Jasper sticks his tongue out at him.
"We'll probably need the bombs," Clarke says firmly. "And look on the bright side, staying here you'll get beds and baths."
"Wait, we won't?" Raven says playfully. "What did I sign up for?"
"A week-long trek through icy wastelands filled with violent warriors," Jasper says brightly. "And that reminds me, I'd like to formally retract my offer to go with you."
"You would," Finn grumbles.
"No one asked you to go," Raven says to Finn, an edge of ice in her voice.
"No one had to," he says quietly. "If you go somewhere, I go. That's the deal, right?"
"I thought so," Raven replies, and now her voice is just sad.
Wells jumps in, transparently trying to change the subject. "This city is really impressive, Clarke. Especially the tower we're staying in. I can't believe it survived the bombs."
"Me neither," Finn says, shooting Wells a grateful look. "It's stupid to say it makes me feel like we're higher up since we came from a space station, but it really does."
"It's the awareness you can fall," Monty says, nodding. "Makes all the difference."
Clarke looks at him. "I'm going to miss you," she says honestly. "You and Jasper. Try not to blow yourselves up, okay?"
"Always do," Jasper assures her, and gives her a quick hug. He flushes red immediately afterwards and Clarke hugs Monty as well.
"Yeah, please try and be here when we get back," Wells says, and Clarke remembers they spent time together in TonDC while the rest of them were in Polis.
"How about a deal, if we are, then you try one of my concoctions," Monty proposes.
"Yes! Good idea!" Jasper enthuses.
Wells steps forward and hooks an arm around each of them, as affectionate as Clarke has ever seen him be outside of her, Jaha or Finn. "Do you mean alcohol or drugs? You know what, never mind, I don't care. I'll consider it."
"That means no," Jasper grumbles, but then disentangles himself from Wells to hug Finn as well. "No way I'm getting up early tomorrow to see you guys off, so this definitely feels like goodbye time. Bye, Finn."
"Yeah, bye," Monty adds, giving an awkward pat to Finn's shoulder instead of a hug. "We'll see you soon. Right, Clarke?" he turns towards Clarke.
She has to clear something out of her throat and blink quickly several times before she's composed enough to respond. "Yeah. We'll see you soon."