"Shit."
"Yeah."
"Shit."
Ethan stares across at Kane, hands on his hips like a disappointed dad.
Every update only seemed to bring bad news.
Octavia had warned the grounders before Arkadia's attack took place, but instead of giving up their homes, they were motivated to fight back.
That means the crew Pike took out had no idea they were being led into an ambush and now Monroe is hurt and the land is poisoned.
Not only does Pike now suspect a traitor to be amongst them (his sole guess being Kane) but Lexa's ordered a blockade around Arkadia, with orders to kill any Skaikru found past it.
With a lengthy sigh, Ethan drags a hand through his hair and replaces his hat, flipping it backwards. "Okay," He pinches between his eyes, "No word from Octavia?"
"No, not yet."
Kane sits behind the desk, chin tucked on top of his clasped hands. There's a stressed furrow between his brows.
Twisting his lips together, Ethan glances at the partly open door and clicks his tongue. They can't talk about a plan if there's even a chance of someone overhearing, so he shuts them inside with a click, twisting the handle a few times to ensure it was unlocked.
Kane watches from his hunched position in the chair, curious, but enough known from Abby not to question Ethan's recent antics, he doesn't pry.
"Listen," Ethan drags a tongue against his dry lips, and doesn't look directly at Kane when he suggests, "I know you've changed since the Ark, with a bit of a holier than thou attitude, but if we don't stop Pike now-"
"If we kill Pike we end up just like him. That's not how we do things."
Ethan clenches his jaw, nostrils flared. "Maybe we need to change our ways."
"What happened to you, Ethan?"
"I almost died is what happened, Kane!" He replies, shakily, trying to contain his rage. "Multiple times by the hands of those two. Murphy and I lost four months of our lives for Jaha's fascist ass and when we finally made it out, Pike got involved."
"I know you, Ethan. I know you hated the idea of murder. You stood up for what was right." Kane shook his head, trying to catch Ethan's eyes from where he was pacing. He sighs through his nose, "Abby told me what happened to you and your mother. Self-defence got you wrongly imprisoned, but this - what you want to do now, it wouldn't be self-defence."
Ethan pauses at this. It was one thing for Abby to have believed him this whole time, and for Murphy to trust him without question, but now Kane?
He presses a hand against his eyes until he sees black, and then blows out a controlled breath. "This is different. You know how Pike was, even before we landed."
When a so-called teaching lesson abruptly twisted into something malicious. Ethan remembers Pike beating on Murphy, blaming the boy for his father's death.
"There is no coming back for Pike and Jaha. No redemption. They need to be gone before they ruin anything else."
"Who's to say that means killing them?" Kane crosses his arms and leans back, the chair squeaking with him.
Finally, Ethan meets his eyes under the dim lighting, twisting his tongue against the back of his teeth. His brows furrow with a sudden idea, "You're right. . . actually." He glances at the door and steps closer. "We don't have to kill Pike, we just have to take him away from Arkadia."
I want Pike dead.
Shut. Up.
Kane stands, slowly, nodding along. "Right. . . and the guards he surrounds himself with?" He kneads his fingers against his chin.
"Cause a distraction." Ethan smirks, grabbing the back of the chair to lean against, "That rover they're gonna use to attack the grounders at the blockade - they'll have eyes on it if they think you're planning to stop them."
"We get someone from engineering- Sinclair. I know he's willing to help."
"And we cause a scene." Ethan nods.
"There won't be enough of us to distract the guards for long." Kane shakes his head, dragging a hand through his hair. He stops, pointing at Ethan, "Unless they arrest Sinclair and we cause a breakout for the ill grounders."
Ethan frowns, "There's grounders in lock-up?" His eyes widen and he leans forward, "Is that where Lincoln is?"
Kane bobs his head and stops his pacing to lean on the desk, "He fought back when Pike refused to help his people."
"Considering the guy was killing grounders for information, I'm not even surprised. He just can't kill 'em here 'cause he'd cause an uprise." Ethan clears his throat when a flicker of Alycia threatens to choke him up.
Kane rifles through the drawer to his cupboards, "If it works. . . I'll take Pike." And pulls the baton free.
Ethan's turned away, nodding along. Which makes it incredibly embarrassing when he hears the familiar buzz of electricity in the air, shooting down his spine just with the sound of it.
He jolts, hard, knocking into Kane's chair, tripping over his bad ankle and catching himself against the desk when the former fails to keep him upright.
The pain doesn't follow whatever disobedience he'd given, and Ethan sucks in a sharp breath.
oh.
His wide eyes follow Kane up until he slowly and purposefully tucks the weapon back into the drawer, showing his empty hands and looking just as stunned.
"Jesus christ, Kane, warn a guy." Ethan tries to laugh it off, a hand pressed against his chest where he can feel his racing heart.
He pushes himself away from the desk and swallows with a touch of difficulty when he turns his face away to put the chair back where it was.
Kane squints across at him, calculating his stiff movements, "Sorry." But again, despite the curiosity - worry - clawing at him, he doesn't pry. Abby might gut him if he accidentally caused another one of Ethan's breakdowns.
Ethan waves him off, "That Rover should have enough power to break through the front gates. It's a steady path from there on. Good enough?"
Looking up and meeting his stare head-on, Kane takes a moment to really think about what he's planning to do.
Then, narrowing his eyes, he nods. "Done."
0o0
I feel like yesterday's chapter was very small, and kind of a filler, so I'll post this as well for y'all :D
I am on a ROLL with writing new chapters lately, ever since getting back into the plot its been easier and im very excited omg, so many more chapters to come
Next chapter hopefully tomorrow!