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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

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The 100 rewatch: episodes 3x11-3x16

This post contains reviews of the following episodes:

3x11 Nevermore

3x12 Demons

3x13 Join or Die

3x14 Red Sky at Morning

3x15 Perverse Instantiation, Part One

3x16 Perverse Instantiation, Part Two

And with this, I’ve finally finished season 3. It took much longer than I planned, because I got behind with these write-ups due to actual work, and had to write a bunch of them at the same time. But the good thing is, since, like so many other fans, I’ve already seen 6x01 and 6x02, I can now give myself more time to finish my rewatch - two more weeks, before 6x03 premieres. 18 days should be enough for 26 episodes, I hope. It’s also a good thing that I’ll be able to talk about the first 2 episodes of season 6 in my season 5 write-ups.

In these posts, I spoil all of the first 5 seasons, but I won’t talk about season 6 before it officially premieres.

3x11 Nevermore

More literary allusions: after Dante, we get an Edgar Alan Poe reference – and of course an episode focusing on Raven Reyes would be named after a quote from “Raven”.

Timeline: This episode starts pretty much immediately after the end of 3x10 (Jasper, taking a rover to save Raven and run from Arkadia, runs into Clarke) and takes place during one night, during which our group of friends stay at Niylah’s place and try to free Raven from ALIE’s control, while ALIE is trying to find out their whereabouts, because she wants to find the second AI, which is contained in the Flame/chip that’s currently in Clarke’s possession.

This is where the season finally has a big upswing in quality, and it really helps that this one and the following episodes are focused on the original characters from season 1, whose bonds with each other have been developed since the start of the show, but who have mostly been apart, not just physically and emotionally but also narratively - as part of different storylines – during the first part of the season. It also helps that it’s so focused and that it is not all about the plot, but about the characters’ emotional states.

The interactions between Jasper and Clarke are just as unpleasant as you could expect, knowing that Jasper blames Clarke for Maya’s death and for pretty much anything ever, which he does throughout season 3 and at least some of season 4. It’s understandable and annoying at the same time – he’s being very unfair most of the time, but he’s also in a bad place, struggling with mental illness, so I can’t really blame him.

Just as Jasper is blaming Clarke for everything, Octavia is blaming Bellamy for pretty much everything, and that also continues throughout season 3 and a lot of season 4, but I’m struggling more with this – after all, Jasper may say harsh things to and about Clarke, but he hasn’t beaten her up. Octavia sums up Bellamy’s actions in season 3 this way: "You were hurt and you lashed out, because that's what you do"… which is not wrong, but it’s also ironic she says that, because who does that also remind you of…?

Jasper also has a moment where he calls Bellamy out (which is a really rare thing for him, since he’s usually focused on blaming Clarke, except for an occasional moment when he blames Monty), when he gets annoyed with Bellamy for trying to calm him down and telling him not to get angry, and reports: “When you are angry, people die” Which reminds me of Bellamy’s angry words to Clarke in 3x05: “When you’re in charge, people die”.

There’s also the 4th time, by my count, that Clarke’s friends tell Clarke she doesn’t have the right to give them orders (Bellamy, Raven and Octavia did that at various points in season 2) – this time it’s Jasper. But while Clarke normally does have a tendency to take charge when there’s a problem, this time it makes perfect sense for her to be telling them what to do since she’s the only one with a clue what’s going on.

Good thing Clarke noticed one of the Delinquents’ wristbands at Niylah’s place in 3x01, since they turned out to be crucial for disconnecting the chip and ALIE’s influence from Raven (through some technological mumbo-jumbo I won’t even try to understand). But until they do, ALIE uses the opportunity to use Raven to taunt the others and try to torment them emotionally by trying to get to what she thinks are their secret fears and insecurities, so they would lose their cool and maybe reveal theie location to ALIE. However, since ALIE has never been inside Clarke’s, Bellamy’s and Jasper’s minds, this has to mean that the things ALIE!Raven says are at least partially the things Raven has thought about her friends or that Raven thinks would be a good way to hurt them. And while Raven normally wouldn’t say such hurtful things, she can certainly be b*tchy at times and say harsh things to her friends – but this is way exaggerated beyond what normal Raven would say.

When it comes to the actual things ALIE!Raven says to taunt them, the first two things that always came to my mind were: it’s all kind of sexist? Just compare the way she tries to undermine Clarke’s confidence - telling her she’s “poison” to everyone who gets close to her, including blaming her for Finn’s death not just because she mercy killed him but because she previously “broke his heart” (because it’s a woman’s fault when a guy does awful things because of his feelings for her, even though she did nothing wrong and definitely never wanted him to do any of those awful things? Let’s blame her “feminine wiles” or whatever instead of the guy who chose to do these things?) to how she tries to do it with the men – calling Jasper weak and calling him out on failing to save his girlfriend; trying to undermine Bellamy’s sexual confidence (that was the first thing she went for, but it didn’t seem to do anything), later implying that Bellamy is in subjugated position to Clarke and is taking her orders? Which is BS. If she wanted to make a case for Bellamy being a “follower”, citing his relationship with Pike would have been a much better argument. But what’s worse for a man than to be taking orders from a woman, right? I choose to interpret that as ALIE being sexist or thinking that sexist ideas are what humans believe in, so that’s how she should get them, because otherwise I’d have to think that either Raven is sexist (which I don’t think is true – in spite of her bias in how she blamed Clarke for Finn’s failings, which is more of a reflection of her blind spot regarding Finn and her bitterness over him falling in love with Clarke and loving her more) or that the writers are.

And secondly, while some of what she said may sound like “harsh truths”, it’s actually mostly very skewed, unfair or just pure BS. I would hope that there aren’t many people take these things literally. But, unfortunately, I know that there are portions of the fandom who do take some of it as gospel truth, in spite of what source is comes from. I think (or at least hope) that there that there aren’t many people who really think Clarke is to blame for her father’s or Wells’ or Finn’s or Lexa’s deaths (blaming her for Finn’s death especially gets me angry, because of all the reasons above and because she has already been blamed for that and for Finn’s murder spree in season 2, which was the biggest bull*hit ever and angered me the first time as well). And whatever Jasper is, he’s certainly not a coward, as ALIE!Raven calls him. But I can see a lot of people in the fandom agreeing with her when she says “we’ve all lost someone – you don’t see us falling apart” – which is an unfair argument as people simply react to trauma differently; some people break, but that doesn’t make them weak and annoying, and some people can endure and soldier on, but that doesn’t make them insensitive. Or, for instance, she blames Bellamy not only for deaths he directly caused, but also those he indirectly caused (the culling) and even his mother’s death – because he tried to do something nice for his sister. This is a small child’s – or an android’s - view of how morality works – only the consequence of actions matter, not the motivations, intent and whether you even know what would happen, or whether your action was good or bad in itself, all it matters is what the result was. (Which is, for instance, why small children can’t understand why an attempted murder is a worse crime than accidental killing.) But some fans will cite statistics from the 100 wiki as to how many deaths this or that character “caused”, directly or indirectly, as if context and motivation don’t matter. And then there’s another thing that a lot of fans definitely take too literally…

“A good little knight and his queen” – This line is interesting for more than one reason. First off, it’s the first time anyone in the show has ever tried to define the relationship between Clarke and Bellamy in any way – except for the general reference to Bellamy as one of Clarke’s “friends” or her “people, and vice versa. (The fandom, reviewers, people working on the show may talk about them as friends, best friends, platonic partners, non-romantic soulmates at the moment, etc. but on the show, Clarke and Bellamy have never actually defined their relationship or put it in words what they are to each other. Most of the time, neither do people around them. ) And it’s a romantic reference – “knight and his queen” invokes the Courtly Love tradition. (The other time someone on the outside – in that case, not a close friend, but someone who’s just met and observed them – puts a label on their relationship, it’s Diyoza in season 5, who assumed Clarke was Bellamy’s girlfriend.) In case someone missed that, ALIE!Raven also taunts Bellamy by comparing his feelings for Clarke and his feelings for his now dead girlfriend: “Too bad you were never that devoted to Gina”. Bellamy says she has no idea what she’s talking about, so he may not be thinking of his relationship with Clarke in the same terms, though, not at this point. I don’t think he has really defined what Clarke is to him, at this point. (He doesn’t stay silent and look guilty, as he does in season 5 when Octavia calls him out on loving Clarke.)

But there’s also the implication that Bellamy is supposedly subjugated to Clarke and is a “follower” – (“She has just returned and you’re already taking orders”), which a lot of people in the fandom have cited (usually to bash Clarke and Bellarke). And I’m asking, when? How? This may be what Raven/ALIE senses Bellamy fears or is insecure about, maybe what he really is insecure about – but I really don’t think it’s the objective reality. Bellamy and Clarke have always had an equal relationship; sometimes they work together and consult and support each other, other times they disagree and even get into conflicts, and things don’t go as well then. They were co-leaders in season 1; in season 2, Bellamy got demoted, but that wasn’t because of Clarke, it was because Kane and Abby and the other adult elite from the Ark came down and took over. Clarke only had some say because she was the Chancellor’s daughter. Then Lexa, and with her the rest of the Grounders, saw Clarke as the leaders, which allowed Clarke to take the power away from her mother – and Bellamy was already on his mission in Mount Weather at the time. Mission which was always his idea and his plan and that he insisted he wanted to. (Something that many fans, oddly, tend to forget.) Then she left and he was the one who was looking over the Delinquents, though with Abby and Kane as the official power in Arkadia. (Which was the objective reality, even if Bellamy had wanted to challenge that status quo, he didn’t have Grounders behind him to stage a coup like Clarke did in season 2.) ALIE!Raven even asks him if he’s upset that he doesn’t get “credit” for the “genocide” at Mount Weather – I think he was upset because he wanted to share that responsibility, but Clarke kept taking it all on herself. But as to the reason why Clarke was called “Wanheda” and considered her the only one responsible – that’s simply because Grounders saw her as the leader in season 2, and Grounders tend to assign all responsibility to just one person that they see as the leader (because they can’t imagine a power structure that isn’t as hierarchical and based on obedience as theirs is). Bellamy was in subjugated position to the Chancellors, and one can certainly argue he started acting like a follower in season 3 with Pike, and to the lesser extent Kane previously, but Clarke? She already came back in 3x05, and she couldn’t Bellamy to do what she wanted, at all (she had much more success with getting Lexa to do what she wanted). And now that Clarke is back again… well, as I said, the fact is that she’s the only one (except Raven) who knows what’s up with the chip and the Flame and what to do, so it makes sense for people to listen to her. (And in season 4, when Clarke is the leader in Arkadia, she is consulting with Bellamy the same way he did with her in season 1, when he was more in the semi-formal leadership position.) Frankly, I think this is something similar to the phenomenon of people thinking that women dominate conversation if they talk 30% of the time, let alone 50%, because women being in power = shocking, conspicuous, OMG, let’s all talk about it. But Clarke was shown listening exactly at this point, so she may have been thinking, is this how Bellamy, Raven and the others see her, as someone who just goes around and gives them orders and acts like some sort of a tyrant?

Also, regarding the “knight/queen” thing is a pretty big oversimplification of their relationship, since Clarke has done at least as many things to save/protect Bellamy as vice versa, (Not to mention, if we’re talking Courtly Romance, the Knight’s “subjugation” to the Lady was basically a poetic convention, a pretend thing, not actual social reality – in reality, it was the Lady’s husband who usually had all the social power.)

Bellamy was the only one out of the three who did not lose his cool, no matter what ALIE!Raven was throwing at him – and she kept throwing various things and changing tactics. But he later showed anger when he left the room, so at least some of it was actually upsetting him. I would say that most of all, it’s the guilt over his recent actions and killing people, because that’s what actually bothers him - making mistakes that cost lives, causing deaths, failing to save people. I don’t think he loses much sleep over the rest.

But ALIE gets lucky because, while Bellamy didn’t crack, Niylah overheard the part about his role in the killing of Lexa’s army. And, as she told Clarke earlier in the episode, her father was one of the warriors who were killed – but Clarke claimed that none of them had anything to do with it. So not only does Niylah find out one of Clarke’s friends she brought with her was one of the people responsible for her father’s death, but she finds out in a really bad way – so it’s no surprise she loses it and lets ALIE see her, which lets ALIE know where they are.

I was a bit uncomfortable the first time I watched season 3 with the way Clarke was treating Niylah – not that it was ever malicious or callous, it was the situations she was in, but she was kind of using Niylah whenever she needed something, first she found a place to stay when she was roaming around on her own, some comfort and casual sex in 3x01 when she was only able to get intimate with someone she had no stronger feelings for, then she left without goodbye, and only returned now that she needed help with Raven and brought a bunch of friends, and then lied about Bellamy because she was scared they wouldn’t be let in (understandable, but not right), which Niylah called her out on. And Niylah just told her she lost her father recently, but Clarke is instead spending all the time worrying about how Bellamy feels and trying to comfort him. But to be fair, at least Clarke never pretends to feel anything stronger than she does – Clarke may be manipulative, but she’s never using love or sex or friendship for that purpose. Instead, she gets people to do what she wants by appealing to who they are – like telling Niylah she knew she isn’t someone who would let an innocent girl (Raven) suffer. And I feel better now that we know Niylah was eventually pretty chill about all of it, as we see in season 4, and didn’t expect anything from Clarke emotionally that she knew she couldn’t give her (if she had some feelings of that kind in season 3, she certainly got over them), so no one was getting hurt.

Bellamy being confronted with Niylah was a very important moment for him, because seeing someone who lost a loved one because of him made him confront his guilt the way he hadn’t before – not just saying “I’m sorry” to Niylah (an apology which she wasn’t ready to take– though later she seemed to not have a problem with him, though we’ve never really seen them talk to each other again since), but to really question his whole mindset and change it. This is where he realized “I was just trying to save my people” is not a good enough justification, if you end up hurting/destroying other people. It allowed him to progress beyond that mindset.

Another callback to season 2: “What do you do when you realize you may not be a good guy?” – Bellamy questioning everything he had believed in. He was where she was before. And Clarke’s answer is Abby’s line “Maybe there are no good guys”.

Like Bellamy, Clarke also gave an apology that wasn’t accepted – to Jasper, for Maya’s death.

Bellamy/Clarke moments in this episode are quiet, subtle and, at first, somewhat awkward. It’s the first time they see each other after their last, explosive confrontation, and at first, they just stop in their tracks and look at each other. If this was Clarke from seasons 1-2, I would have found it weird that she wasn’t even somewhat upset with Bellamy over the way he treated her that last time, but she’s been much mellower this season and more forgiving in general, and after she forgave Lexa for a massive betrayal in just a couple of days, it’s not surprising that she’s not showing any anger at Bellamy. Especially since she is still worrying whether he is still angry at her, feeling bad that she hurt him by leaving after MW, and feels relieved that he doesn’t act like he hates her. They are not ready to talk about any of it, but while they’re wrapping each other’s wrists, the physical touch looks a lot more meaningful and feels like the first step towards reconciliation (and visually recalls and feels like a contrast to the handcuffing scene).

After being freed from ALIE, Raven smiles at Jasper and apologizes for the things she told him. (We don’t see her apologizing to Clarke or Bellamy, though.) Those two have always had a sweet friendship.

Speaking of sweet friendships, Octavia and Monty’s friendship never got a huge focus, but it has some of the nicest moments between Octavia and anyone. These two go on a mission to the dropship to get an important piece of technology, and run into Monty’s mother, chipped and determined and almost unstoppable, the way chipped people are, due to not feeling any pain. Monty has always been the unsung hero of The 100, but season 3 is when we really get to see his quiet strength and heroism. He suffers some of the biggest losses and has to make one of the biggest sacrifices, when he is forced to kill his mother to save Octavia.

Earlier, Octavia wanted to leave and said she feels like she has no home because she lost Lincoln, who was her home. But Monty reminds her of the bond she shares with the rest of the original 100. This bond was something that was severely tested and almost broken for all of them. He gets through to her – in the end, she changes her mindset and tells the others that they will survive together.

But Monty and Jasper’s friendship is still in a bad place, and this time, Jasper tried to offer Monty comfort for his mother’s death, but Monty didn’t want to accept it. Maybe he felt angry because Jasper is always showing his pain, while Monty swallows it and soldiers on.

When Octavia thanks Niylah before leaving, it’s the first little signs of the friendship between Octavia and Niylah, which is going to develop in season 4.

They come pretty close in this episode to destroying the Flame (and this is not the last time this happens – see: fake Flame-smashing scene from season 4). What saves it is Clarke not wanting to destroy it because “it’s Lexa”. Kind of? I’ve never been sure how exactly the Flame is supposed to work, but this is another thing that the fandom tends to take too literally – a version of/remnant of Lexa may be in it, but so are Becca and a bunch of other past Commanders, so whatever it is, it’s not exactly a person, or not one person. In any case, it’s fortunate they didn’t destroy it this time, since they needed it to defeat ALIE, but at that point, they still weren’t aware of it. But there was also the fact that they needed it to expose Ontari and get her away from power – another good reason for Clarke to not want it destroyed.

Body count:

Hannah Green, killed by her son – another character still “alive” in the City of Light.

Rating: 9/10

=====================================================

3x12 Demons

I like the way the opening scene plays with the horror genre tropes. It happens at night, Miller tells a creepy ghost story to Harper and Bryan, and then they all get abducted in what looks like a scene from slasher movie. In fact, the entire episode plays out a lot like a slasher movie, with creepy atmosphere and an initially threat/monster abducting the characters one by one.

Most of the episode is about Emerson’s attempt to get his revenge on Clarke by watching him kill her friends before killing her. It was always obvious that letting Emerson go would result in him returning to cause more trouble, and kill more people (poor Sinclair was the victim - RIP). But at least he’s finally dead. All the leading figures of the Mount Weather regime were evil, but none of them were as annoying as Emerson had become by season 3. I have zero sympathy for his obsession with revenge, because dude is a major hypocrite. Here he was doing things like using his dead son’s toy/music box (IIRC) as a distraction and symbolically, because it’s supposed to make Clarke feel bad for the deaths of the children at MW, including his son. I kind of wish someone had told him that they feel sorry for his son but not at all for him, which is how I feel. Dude, you were killing and torturing people in cold blood for years and tried to kill all of Clarke’s people, and you have the gall to blame them for defending themselves when you pushed them into a corner and left them no choice? F*ck off.

Emerson again says that Clarke “murdered 381 people” – which is a wrong number, but as I realized after 3x06, the writers were clearly lazy and didn’t bother checking the numbers of Mountain Men still alive by the time of season 2 finale.

Before the whole Emerson thing goes down, our heroes go back to Arkadia, now completely empty. They find Lincoln’s body and his things.

Clarke explains the whole Nightblood and Flame thing for everyone and why they have to look for Luna to achieve both goals – expose Ontari and remove her from power, and defeat ALIE. Octavia finds a drawing in Lincoln’s sketchbook that includes a drawing of the map to Luna’s place.

Becca’s journal, which Clarke took with her together with the Flame, proves useful, as Raven reads it and starts figuring out how to activate the Flame. It has a password, as an actual computer, and Sinclair is the one who figures out, thanks to his knowledge of Latin, that it’s Ascende superius” – “Seek higher things”. This proves especially important later when Clarke uses the Flame to kill Emerson, because it kills non-Nightblood people it bonds with. (BTW, the Flame looks creepy AF when it starts connecting with someone’s head – it looks like the computer version of a parasite or the Thing.) So, in a way, Sinclair gave Clarke the means to kill his murderer.

Raven says that the Flame’s program got degraded over time and that parts of it have been lost. This may be a way for the writers to try to explain the plot holes such as, why did the Grounders lack all of Becca’s technological knowledge? But then we later see that Madi does have some other Becca’s memories…? Also, it’s weird that this has never come up since.

In any case, we know from 3x11 that Clarke genuinely thinks, at least at this point, that Lexa is really in the Flame, and this episode and at a couple of other late season 3 episodes have moments when she tenderly looks at the computer chip (she even says “Sorry” to it in 3x15 after not being able to find it a host), and little moments when Bellamy notices her looking at it. It’s only been about 2 or 3 days since Lexa’s death (and the rest of season 3 finale takes place over a few days, so the season 3 finale happens less than a week since her death), so that wound is very raw.

Just like with the Flame, there’s some debate over whether people are still “alive” in some way in the City of Light. When Monty wonders if his mom is still alive, Raven says “that depends on what you think is alive”.

A lot of nice relationship moments in this episode:

Seeing Octavia grieve, Jasper tells her he knows how she feels. It’s the first time they’ve interacted since 3x02, when she was offering him comfort.

Sinclair and Raven try to save each other (and trying to save Sinclair is how Raven gets caught).

Even though Bellamy and Clarke have not really made up yet, they work together and reaffirm the trust and care they have for each other: Clarke entrusts Bellamy with taking the Flame to Luna, because she plans to offer herself to Emerson for their friends. She says blames herself for letting Emerson go and feels responsible for Sinclair’s death, and says she won’t let anyone else die for her mistake – which is almost the same as what Bellamy said earlier in the season (when she was not around) “I won’t let anyone else die for my mistakes”. But Bellamy, of course, says there’s no way he’s letting her risk her life herself, and this time he does suggest something else when she asks him to give her another plan, to attack Emerson while she distracts him. But unsurprisingly, this fails the moment Emerson uses Bellamy’s ‘weakness” and threatens Octavia’s life.

How many times throughout the show has Clarke offered her life for her the lives of people she cares about? How many times has she saved them? Count this episode on the list.

Before Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper leave to find Luna, while the others stay in Arkadia, they have a funeral/cremation for Sinclair and Lincoln, Bellamy says “Your fight is over” in Grounder speak.

The B-plot takes place in Polis and is mostly about Murphy and Emori.

Emori has learned that Murphy was Ontari’s new Skaikru “Flamekeeper” and believes that he’s running a really good scam. He kind of tries to explain to her that things aren’t exactly like that and that Ontari is crazy (“and coming from me, that says a lot” – good line), but doesn’t tell her the whole story or or the fact that he’s her sex slave.

Memori have sex for the first time (that we know of) – in Becca Pramheda’s shrine.

They have a talk about Becca, and it turns out that Emori had no idea how Commanders were made, Murphy had to explain it to her. I find this really hard to believe, that ordinary Grounders would know so little about their whole tradition/religion/succession rules.

Unfortunately, Emori has already been chipped, so their relationship is, at this point, mixed with betrayal, because chipped people would do anything ALIE tells them to. It turns out that Jaha is planning to chip Ontari. Murphy’s hatred for Jaha resurfaces as he hopes Ontari would kill Jaha, but she instead almost kills Murphy for revealing her secrets to Emori and this way to Jaha. Murphy is locked up again, while Jaha wins Ontari over, convincing her that he can make her a “real Commander”.

And with this, all our season 3 villains have fallen by the wayside as ALIE becomes the one and only threat.

Body count:

Sinclair, killed by Emerson

Emerson is FINALLY dead, killed by Clarke using the Flame as a weapon, which connected to him and made him bleed internally (certainly an original way to kill someone!)

Rating: 8/10

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3x13 Join or Die

This is by far my favorite season 3 episode, and this is in large part because of the flashbacks. I always love getting flashbacks to the life on the Ark before the timeline of the show (so far, there has been four such episodes – the previous ones were 1x03 with Clarke’s flashbacks involving her father, mother, Wells and Thelonius Jaha; 1x07 with Bellamy’s flashbacks about his relationship with Octavia, going as far back as her birth; and 2x08 with Raven’s flashbacks that showed her relationship with Finn, what really happened with the ‘spacewalking’ and how Finn ended up imprisoned, and Sinclair deciding to give her a job as mechanic in spite of her health issues).

But this time they don’t only help give more insight into Pike and who he was as a teacher of “Earth skills” on the Ark, they are also a nostalgic look into the past – very recent past, technically, as they set only six months before the present day due to the show’s compressed timeline, but it feels so distant. It’s a reminder of just how much everyone has changed, including the show itself. Nothing highlights the difference more than the brilliant show motion scene in the last flashback, with the Delinquents walking towards the dropship, set to the Koda slow, plaintive cover of “Radiactive”. It’s one of the best uses of music on the show, with a stark contrast to the energetic, poppy original by Imagine Dragons, which played in the Pilot when the kids landed on the planet – and which seemed to promise a relatively light-hearted teen soap.

Quite a few of the dead Delinquents made a comeback in the flashbacks: while Finn was not there (he was presumably in another group, since 98 students in one class would be too much), we see a lot of minor characters like Roma, Dax, John Mbege (died in season 1), Fox (season 2) and Monroe, who died very recently in season 3. (There’s one other guy called Jones, but I had to look him up and we never saw him die.) We also get to see Octavia, Jasper, Murphy, Harper and Miller with their season 1 looks and remember the way they used to be then, which is a stark contrast in the case of Jasper and Octavia.

There’s also non-chipped, rational Jaha, Kane and Abby at the time when they still didn’t get along because Kane was a bit of a d1ck back then.

How convenient that there were 99 teenage prisoners they were initially going to send to Earth, two weeks before the Pilot (including Clarke, who was in solitary still, as she had been for a year, because Jaha didn’t want to risk her telling the population the truth about the Ark dying) - so when Wells got himself arrested for something so he could follow Clarke, just a day before they were to leave (just how much more obvious he could be?), he made up the nice round number of 100.

Some people have argued that Pike’s flashbacks should have happened much earlier in the season, so viewers would get a more complete and sympathetic picture of him, but for me, they only confirmed what I figured in the first place, that he is a fighter and was someone who genuinely wanted to protect his people, but that this eventually led him down a dark path. You can see his basic character traits in the flashbacks – that he wanted to protect the kids so much that he begged Jaha to let him go with them, and his final and main lesson to the kids – to “keep fighting at all costs, against all odds” is very much in character. You even see him resorting to questionable methods in desperation – like hitting Murphy to get all the kids to fight against him, in order to teach them to stick together and fight, since he wasn’t allowed to tell them the truth that they were going to be sent to the ground, and they didn’t take anything seriously since they didn’t know the truth. (Ironically, he decided to play the role of a villain in that ‘graduation’ class to spur them into action.)

The last flashback also includes an unconscious Clarke being carried onto the dropship, while Kane has a moment when he’s nice to Abby and tells her he’s sorry about Clarke; and Bellamy barging in pretending to be a guard and dragging a random girl by the hand - which happened to be Roma; the same girl who would later become one of his friends with benefits and a part of the group who went to rescue Octavia and died at the hands of the Grounders in 1x06, which Bellamy felt guilty about, because he knew she only came along because of him. The last flashback is a reused shot from the Pilot, with Clarke awake on the dropship, and brief glimpse of Wells

The flashbacks were nicely intertwined with the present day scenes, which highlighted the contrast between the characters as they were then and now – e.g. between the old Kane, and the new, idealistic, bearded and Jesus-like Kane, who gets literally crucified for refusing to take the chip. ALIE observes that Kane is strong (as she had previously said about Raven), and Jaha agrees: Yes. Always has been”.

The initial attempt to have chipped Abby seduce and manipulate Kane into taking the chip fails, because Kane knows her well enough to see the difference between chipped Abby and the way she is when she is herself. He withstands torture, but eventually caves in when Jaha threatens to kill Abby. Threatening loved ones is one of ALIE’s methods to get people to do what she wants – that’s how she got Abby to take the chip (to save Raven’s life), it’s how in 3x14 she gets Luna’s husband to take the chip (by threatening Luna) and how in 3x15 she tries to get Clarke to tell her the password, to save Abby’s life, but that time she failed.

The scenes in Polis were generally horrific, with ALIE’s army of chipped, almost mindless slaves, blood in the streets, and crucified people. The cinematography was interesting: ALIE’s red dress deliberately stood out in, while everything and everyone else was in muted greenish-yellow colors.

This is where the unlikely alliances of everyone not-chipped start, with the really unexpected partnership-by-necessity between Indra and Pike. But first, after they found themselves in the same big cell with Murphy and a few others, Indra starts having her revenge by doing the “300 cuts thing”. Pike is also being himself and going “so get on with it” and enduring it, as she apparently does quite a few cuts (but conveniently, those are mostly surface cuts across his chest and not the horrific scenario Lincoln described in season 2 as something that would happen to Finn; actually, we didn’t see that scenario – mutilation, gorging eyes, etc. – with Gustus, either, for obvious reasons, it’s CW) that didn’t disable him, before Murphy and another Grounder woman changed Indra’s mind (just as she was about to kill Pike) and convinced her that they need Pike, as a strong fighter he is, to fight their way out and fight ALIE’s chipper army. Murphy asks Indra: “Do you want revenge or do you want your people to survive?” and she decides she wants both, but “I’ll get my revenge but not today”. Getting that pragmatic is a sign how much character development she’s had since she was introduced in early season 2.

(But since Indra used a rusty nail she pulled from the wall to cut Pike, realistically he was going to get an infection if Octavia hadn’t killed him in the S3 finale.)

Meanwhile, Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper find the way to Luna’s place but are confused since it’s a beach with some rocks, but with some luck and help from Lincoln’s notebook, they find a way to signal Luna’s Boat people. They spend most of the episode on the beach before Luna’s people show up, but it is an opportunity for some important character moments.

I was glad to see that Bellamy has finally had enough of Octavia’s constant blaming, and that he stands up for himself a bit, by reminding her of the fact that he came to her and offered help to get Lincoln out, and she declined it. But as he starts to say: “If you had trusted me...”, he stops himself, probably realizing what he’d be saying and that it’s the last thing she needs to hear - that Lincoln’s death was partially her fault. It is much easier for her emotionally if she just blames him instead. So he just turns and walks away, while Clarke is looking at him, concerned.

I think that their confrontation in 3x05 made Clarke realize how hurt Bellamy was because she left, and chose to deal with her Mount Weather trauma on her own, instead of letting him support her emotionally and supporting him emotionally, so she is now very attentive to Bellamy’s emotional needs, and she now believes they can only get through their traumas together. It’s a bit funny that Bellamy starts by trying to act tough and telling her he doesn’t need her help, even calls her Wanheda and tries to talk as if he did in 3x05, but as she just keeps looking at him in the same caring, compassionate way, it all falls away in 2 seconds and he starts confiding in her about his problems with his sister. This is a dynamic that continues well into season 4 – Octavia still blaming Bellamy, Bellamy unhappy over it, Clarke trying to comfort him about it.

Bellamy says “Forgiveness is hard for us” – and some may see it differently, but I think he means himself and Octavia. Clarke has, in fact, become one of the people who forgive fastest and most easily, and she rarely even holds grudges the way she did in season 1 (against her mother, Wells, Finn to an extent). Octavia definitely finds it hard to forgive; Bellamy is debatable. He can hold grudges, but he’s also shown an extraordinary capacity for forgiveness. But at the same time, that does not have to mean full forgiveness. After all, he already has had a pseudo-parental relationship with Kane – but he’ll still throw it in Kane’s face in season 4: “You floated my mother”. The fact that by season 5, not only is Murphy one of his best friends, but Echo is his girlfriend, says a lot. But it did take him 3 years of being stuck with her on a ship with just 5 other people to forgive her. He forgave Clarke at the end of season 5 pretty quickly, as soon as he realized how she felt about him – but whether it is full forgiveness in his heart… that’s another matter. Back to this episode – he tells Clarke “I was so angry at you for leaving… I don’t want to feel that way anymore”. It’s not that he’s not angry anymore, but that he tries to work on not being angry. And he’s certainly right about his relationship with Octavia, as she is the one person he is refusing to forgive as of the end of S5.

When the Boat people turn up, their Captain calls them “Skaikru are Bringers of Death” – which is something we saw a Grounder say in season 2. So, that term (which I’ll never stop rolling my eyes at, since it’s obvious that Grounders had lots and lots of death in wars between clans and at the hands of Mountain Men way before any of the Sky people landed) has been a thing for a while, we don’t know how it started – maybe because of those llares that ended up burning a village. But how did the Boat people hear it, when they seem so isolated from everyone?

Octavia is the first to go with it and take the pill that makes people lose consciousness (but that, as far as they know, may as well be a poison) – saying “I trust Lincoln”. Jasper does it next and says his repetitive catchphrase “See you on the other side” (which he first said in the Pilot, and which will never sound again after you have seen 4x11).

Sorry, but it’s almost funny – these Bellamy/Clarke scenes are some of the most romantic-looking stuff I’ve seen: the incredibly intense and long hug, where both of them seem to lose themselves in the physical comfort of it, and which only ends because Luna’s people interrupt them; the way they drink the potion at the same time, gazing into each other’s eyes and repeating their catchphrase “Together”- “Together”(it’s the second time they are using it, the first one was in the season 2 finale). It’s almost as if the people making the show are running some sort of a social experiment to see how far they can go and still have many people argue “What? It’s just how BFFs act with each other!”

Luna finally makes an appearance, after being talked about since season 1. The rising music and everything in the scene makes it look like it’s going to be a big moment where she says yes to Clarke’s suggestion to take the Flame and become the next Commander, but she flat-out says “no”.

The episode ends on the reveal that Luna’s people live on oil rig. (Which is the second time that an episode ends with a reveal that a Grounder location is actually something we recognize as a piece of modern technology.)

Timeline. The present day events seem to take place over one day, as most episodes of The 100 do –they start during daytime (when Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper get to the beach), continue during that night (which the four of them spend on the beach) and it’s morning/daytime at the end of the episode when they wake up on the oil rig. Most of the action in Polis scene takes place during the night. Which should mean that it’s been about 3 days since Clarke reunited with her friends, or about 19-21 days since the start of season 3.

Flashbacks: The first flashback is set six months before, which is two weeks before the Pilot. This is the first time we get a clear info on how much time has passed since the 100 first landed on Earth. The last flashback takes place at the time when the 100 plus one are on the dropship, five and a half months before the present day action. Season 1 probably lasted a little over 3 weeks, season 2 even less than that, then there was a time jump of almost 3 months (86 days) between the seasons, and with the 3 weeks that season 3 has lasted – it makes up almost 5 and a half months (a little less, actually).

Body count: An unknown number of people in Polis-(some are seen crucified, blood is in the streets) – presumably the 3% who refused to take the chip, so it depends how many people lived in Polis to begin with

Rating: 10/10

===================

3x14 Red Sky at Morning

According to The 100 wiki, the title comes from an old saying that goes:"Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning". I suppose that’s a way of saying, dangerous waters ahead for our characters?

Luna was one of the most interesting and charismatic characters on the show, and her Boat People are a refreshing new addition – as the first Grounder group we see that doesn’t have the warlike way of life and doesn’t believe in Blood must have blood and all that stuff. They’re unique so far, almost like an isolated hippie commune, who accept orphans and try to help people in need, and maybe the only community in the show that seems like they’re living a good life.

Clarke and Luna discuss Lexa briefly, and Clarke says that Lexa was “special, she was working towards peace”. I get why Clarke says that, since she had fallen in love with Lexa and Lexa died just a few days ago, but it’s a pretty simplified and idealized picture. Lexa only worked for peace for the last few days of her life, after Clarke convinced her; before that, she spent most of her life and rule adhering to the traditionalist views of war, and revenge, ruthlessness in service of your people – so it’s ironic that Clarke is saying that to Luna, who had rejected violence all on her own when she was a little girl.

Luna’s history, which we learn here, is also fascinating – that she was traumatized by being pitted against her own brother in the Conclave and killing him, and then ran away from that terrible custom not because she was afraid of losing, but because she knew she would win – killing other kids and getting to be the next Commander. Lexa was the one she was supposed to meet in the next round, which I guess was why Lexa was reluctant to talk about Luna.

Clarke’s decision to force the Flame onto Luna is something that initially quite upset me, because it’s obviously wrong and a serious violation. I was agreeing with Octavia, who was against it. Bellamy wasn’t too happy about it, but since he (just as in Mount Weather) couldn’t come up with a better plan when Clarke asked him to, he agrees with Clarke’s decision. This is one of the reasons why I don’t understand why so many fans argue that Bellamy convincing Madi to take the Flame in season was OOC, which was motivated by the same things that this was – a pragmatic move to save your people by making a new Commander who will have the authority among Grounders to oppose a tyrant.

Well, this time, the Sky people did end up being the “Bringers of death” – because ALIE was following them, and found the Boat people that way, which resulted in several deaths – including Luna reliving her trauma and having to kill her husband Derrick, after he had been chipped (which he agreed to because ALIE made other chipped people torture Luna).

A minor in-character moment: Bellamy is naturally the one to immediately look to the little girl, Luna’s daughter, and make sure she’s safe.

Jasper meets a new love interest, only to lose her immediately because of ALIE. This brief moment of hope and the way it is crushed made his emotional state even worse and more vulnerable – making him take the chip (which is only hinted in this episode and revealed in the next).

I used to like Luna a lot (I still do quite a bit), and I was upset when she had her sudden character turn in 4x10, going from her non-violent philosophy to “everyone should die”. But now on rewatch, her flaws are more obvious to me. She gives good anti-violence speeches to Octavia (immediately reading Octavia and summing her up: “You know only of fighting and death”) and she makes good points to Clarke that she has become too ruthless, too ‘end justifies the means’, which is indeed a problem with how Clarke has changed because of everything she has had to do. But when she said: “You believe that to defeat an enemy that will stop at nothing, you must stop at nothing… How is that different from blood must have blood?” – I was thinking: but it is different… because one is about revenge, which is not necessary, and the other is about doing whatever it takes to save the world and stop an absolute disaster, such as ALIE making everyone into brainwashed slaves. By refusing to get involved, Luna is basically shirking responsibility and letting the rest of the world go to hell, even though she has the power to save it, because she doesn’t want to get her hands dirty again. She prefers to keep her moral high ground and judge others, like Clarke, for ruthless things they do to save people and the world. But Clarke is the one trying to save the world. Maybe Luna’s eventual turn is not so out-of-character after all – it was the ultimate expression of her judgmental views of people: either they are perfectly good and don’t engage in violence or any ruthless actions out of necessity and desperation, or they don’t deserve to survive and should all die.

Seeing the outcome of this plotline – after pretending to agree to take the Flame, Luna makes the group drink something to lose their consciousness and sends them back to the shore after the boat has left – makes all of this like a huge waste of time. After all the build-up, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia are left where they started, wondering what to do to stop ALIE. But knowing Luna’s role in season 4, the story had a purpose.

In Arkadia, Monty had two huge things happen to him: the beginning of his relationship with Harper, and having to “kill” his mother for the second time.

Marper would become one of the healthiest and happiest romantic relationships on the show, but it starts more or less out of the blue, with very little build-up (except for Monty defending Harper in season 1 when Jasper called her “low hanging fruit”, and a few scenes of Monty caring about Harper’s life in season 2). Harper decides to make a move and Monty is pleasantly surprised and goes for it. It seems like a “we could all die, so let’s have sex” kind of thing. But Harper says in bed that she hasn’t felt happy and safe in a long time.

Raven is determined to find a way to shut down ALIE for good, instead of waiting for Clarke to come back. It’s personal for her at this point – she even tells ALIE “I’m coming for you!” But Jaha again has an idea how to get to people – by using Hannah against Monty. (Jaha has been a huge asset to ALIE because he understands humans, which ALIE probably does not by herself.) But Monty stays stronge even after his mother’s consciousness tells him “I love you” – he says “I love you, too” and deletes her code. This is probably one of the two best scenes in this episode.

But just as Raven was preparing to hit the kill switch, ALIE withdraws, It’s one of the rare moments when Monty loses his temper (and they all happened this season – the last one was after he had to kill his mother in 3x11) and takes it out on Raven, blaming her and asking her if she wants to take the chip again.

The best moment in this episode and one of the best lines belongs to Emori. Unlike her brother and Gideon, she did not change her body in its digital version in the City of Light. When Jaha tells her she could correct her defects, she replies “I would, if I had any”. She has not internalized ableism, her disability is something she accepts as a part of herself – she just would love to change the fact that the world treats her as an outcast over it.

Timeline: It has been two days since 3x12 (Harper says: “Two days no one has been trying to kill us”), so I guess it’s been 20 to 22 days since the start of season 1.

Body count:

Shay, because all of Jasper’s love interests must die.

4 people in Polis controlled by ALIE: 2 killed by Indra, 2 by Pike,

4 Boat People controlled by ALIE, killed by Luna – including her husband/partner Derrick and the Captain

A Polis sentry who got to live on in the City of Light. Interesting that everyone in the City of Light modern clothes, including the Grounders – though the guy still has the Grounder tattoos.

Arguably, the consciousness of Hannah Green

Rating: 8/10

=========================

3x15 Perverse Instantiation, Part One

I prefer this first part of the season finale to the second, because it has some strong and tense emotional scenes, especially between Jasper and Monty, and between Clarke and Abby.

Roan is an interesting character, and it’s fun to see him again. He has an fun dynamic with Clarke and Bellamy, and there’s even a rare light-hearted moment when Bellamy shoots and lightly injures Roan to make sure he’s not chipped – taking an opportunity to get him back for the knee injury in 3x02 – and Roan comments: “Now we’re even”.

The fact that Clarke is now ready to put the Flame into Ontari shows just how desperate she is to stop ALIE. After the Luna plan failed, she thinks she can either do that, or go looking for another Nightblood throughout Grounder villages. But the latter might make ALIE destroy another community and they could still fail.

But plans keep failing – the plan they come up with fails because Jasper is chipped and ALIE has all the info about it. Roan gets injured and everyone is captured by Jaha and ALIE’s other slaves. The plan was for Clarke to tell Raven the kill switch, but now that it failed, Raven wants to find a way to kill ALIE herself.

In Arkadia, the reveal about Jasper being chipped comes right after a too-good-to-be-true scene in which Jasper seemed happy and at peace and apologized to Monty for all the trouble he had caused. But he was happy only because of the chip. ALIE-controlled Jasper goes on to stab Monty and knocks out and takes Harper hostage, trying to stop Raven in her plan to shut down ALIE. Monty, Raven and Harper have to find a way to defeat their friend.

Jasper reveals the full depth of his hopelessness in this speech where he says to Monty: “They sent down here to see if the Earth is survivable… from what I can see, it is not” and starts listing all the Delinquent deaths that happened since they landed. (Some of what he says is factually wrong – he’s skewing facts the same way a Clarke hater fan would: for instance, he says Clarke killed Dax, when it was Bellamy, and it was in self-defense after Clarke saved Bellamy’s life; he also says “death by Clarke” as a cause of death of Atom and Finn, not mentioning that both were mercy kills.)

Clarke is captured and tortured by ALIE, chipped Abby and Jaha, trying to make her tell them the password that ALIE needs to access the Flame. Clarke tries to do the “mom, I know you’re still in there” thing, but it doesn’t work – you can’t just talk down a chipped person.

After Clarke withstands torture, Abby tells ALIE that she was right when she pointed out that Clarke is more likely to break if someone she cares about is tortured or threatened: “Her friends are her weakness… Start with Bellamy Blake”. This is the second time it’s been implied that Bellamy is Clarke’s “weakness” – since 2x09, when Clarke first heard that “Love is weakness” and tried to not let her feelings for him interfere in leadership decisions, so she wouldn’t be “weak”. Abby is right that a danger to Bellamy’s life is the easiest way to get Clarke to agree to something – as we’ve seen in 2x12, 3x02, and later in 4x05. Clarke is terrified and in tears at the prospect of Bellamy being tortured or possibly killed if she doesn’t give up the password. But it never comes to that, since Murphy, Pike and Indra come at the right moment and save Bellamy and the others.

Instead, Abby decides to threaten/take her own life to make Clarke fold, so she hangs herself. It’s a very intense, emotional scene, where Clarke is crying and begging her mom to stop, but somehow manages to stay strong and not give up the password, knowing she would be condemning the human race to being brainwashed and enslaved.

Octavia showed concern for Bellamy when they were about to take him away, which is one of the very few times she shows warmer feelings for him in season 3b and 4.

There’s some snark between Murphy and Miller, and then Bellamy and Murphy have their first conversation since season 2. It’s kind of awkward, because Bellamy doesn’t trust Murphy yet and is confused as to why Murphy is doing anything heroic. Murphy is like ‘you’re welcome” – but he should understand that saving people doesn’t mean you don’t have to apologize for the crap he did in the past (and he will realize that and start really trying to do better in season 4). He compares Bellamy’s concern for Clarke for his concern for Emori, saying “You’re not the only one trying to save someone you care about”, but he’s still doing putting on the antiheroic, cynical front, saying he will stop doing the right thing after this.

The reunion between Bellamy and Pike also may be slightly awkward, since Bellamy turned him over to the Grounders the last time they saw each other, but Pike doesn’t seem to particularly care about this. He’s still his old self, but now focused on the new threat (or rather, the threat whose importance he failed to realize back in Arkadia when he was in power and Jaha started preaching about the City of Light, but Pike doesn’t tend to question himself or look in the past, as Bellamy does).

There’s a lot of fighting in this and the next episode, but at moments, it was hard to see what was going on, because it all took place inside the tower, in half-dark.

Indra has finally started using guns! She also gets to fight chipped Kane and saves him.

Bellamy tells everyone to try to not kill any of the chipped people, but Pike and Indra don’t care about that and kill them anyway. Bellamy only does it when he’s forced to in order to save Murphy’s life, even though it is obviously difficult for him now and that he feels bad about killing someone again.

Octavia can’t stop thinking about killing Pike, even though Indra tells her they have to focus on fighting ALIE’s slaves instead. Octavia again expresses how hopeless she feels without Lincoln, saying “he was my home”.

As they finally get to the throne room, Murphy saves Abby, while Bellamy gets the Flame, but the plan to put it into Ontari can’t work because Jaha hit her on the head with a hammer ,which left her braindead.

Is this the only time in the entire show when an episode has ended with “TO BE CONTINUED”?

Timeline: This episode seems to take place over roughly 24 hours – during daytime, night, and the daytime of the following day. Which means, by my count, it’s been 21-23 days since the start of season 3.

Body count:

9 chipped people: 1 is killed by Roan, 5 by Pike and Indra (2 Grounders, 2 Arkadia guards, 1 Delinquent - ?), 2 Grounders shot by Pike, 1 Arker shot by Bellamy

Ontari is braindead, which made me incredibly relieved the first time I watched season 3.

Several other people were injured – Roan was shot and injured, Pike and Bryan were by Kane, Jaha shot by Bellamy (again!), but all the major characters except Ontari survived.

Rating: 8/10

==============================

3x15 Perverse Instantiation Part Two

This is the only The 100 season finale I’m not a big fan of. The first time I watched it, it was one of my least favorite season 3 episodes. The fact that, after all the tensions and complicated conflicts in the previous part of season 3, everything turned into “let all fight together against the evil robot” felt dull and anticlimactic, and it didn’t help when so much of the finale was Matrix-lite. After all, it’s not like the viewers were ever in any doubt if they were going to defeat ALIE or not. Yes, we could guess they were going to defeat the Mountain Men in season 2, but what was shocking was how they had to do it; season 1 finale wasn’t that surprising, but the shocking part was what Clarke had to do to save the Delinquents. There was no real sense of danger in this fainel. The only thing I really found exciting was the reveal about the upcoming Praimfaya.

I liked it a bit more this time, but not much more, because I didn’t expect anything from it this time, so I could focus on the good moments.

After all the talk about how only people with Nightblood could take the Flame, it feels like a bit of a cop-out that, as it turns out, one can temporarily bond with it if they simply get a transfusion of black blood – though, of course, it’s still a risk. And of course it’s Clarke who takes it upon herself to have a transfusion from Ontari, take the Flame and take the chip in order to defeat ALIE.

The Matrix-lite scenes in the City of Light were moderately OK, but nowhere near as good as many other virtual reality storylines I’ve watched. It was a nice touch to see Clarke having the hair and clothes more like those from seasons 1-2, instead of the ugly Grounder-style pseudo-dreadlocks (WTF was that even about?) and an equally ugly dress that looks like a cheap reject that no one wanted to buy at a Goth clothing store, which she has been wearing throughout season 3. But there’s just not enough interesting things happening:

Clarke sees a bunch of people who don’t see her, I liked the part where Clarke meets Jasper eating an ice-cream.

Then they see her, after ALIE alerted them, and she is chased by them.

Then Flame!Lexa appears, fights them and saves her, and they kiss and Clarke tells her “I love you” for the first time. It says a lot about how messed up Clarke’s love life has been, that she’s only ever said ILY to people who are about to die (Finn) or already dead (Lexa). The only time she’s managed to say ILY to someone who’s alive and likely to stay alive was not romantic - it was to Madi in season 5. I used to think this Lexa was very OOC, because she was much warmer, nicer and more open than real Lexa was ever when alive. But I suppose Flame versions of people are different – maybe that’s what Lexa would be like without the role of Commander, without power and responsibility.

However, where are all the other Commanders? Why do we only see Lexa and Becca? Aren’t the others at all interested in what’s going on with ALIE? Also, for some reason, Flame!Lexa repeats the line about her spirit choosing wisely – even though it doesn’t make sense. Her spirit didn’t choose anything – Clarke chose to have the transfusion and the Flame and the chip so she could save the day. That line never made sense once we learned about the Conclave, anyway: previous Commanders didn’t choose anything, it was a bunch of kids fighting and killing each other.

Then Clarke meets Becca and ALIE and they have a talk, which is supposed to be the climax of theseason, but I still find Becca to be an insufferable megalomaniac and don’t care about her. Clarke argues with ALIE about pain and happiness, and that pain should not be removed, as ALIE believes – one must overcome it. Clarke admits that she tried to run away from pain, and this should be a great moment that rounds up her season 3 arc. This would work if Clarke had a great, well developed arc in season 3 about learning to overcome her pain, but unfortunately, I don’t see it. She did start off running away from everyone and ended up getting back and acting more like her old self, but what was in the middle felt plot-driven and ships-driven more than it was about any deep characterization. I see really good character arcs for other characters in season 3 – Bellamy, Jasper, Monty, Raven, even Octavia, but Clarke, not so much.

In the real world, Octavia lets her desire for revenge overtake the need to fight the chipped army, and gets Pike in danger, before Bellamy saves him. Bellamy has two conversations that are supposed to be resolutions of his character arc in S3. To Octavia, he says that she shouldn’t let the desire for revenge overtake her, and that his own “need for revenge” made him to awful things. But that line doesn’t work, because that’s not what actually happened – back in 3x04-3x08, Bellamy was not motivated by revenge. At no point was he like “Grrr, Grounders killed my girlfriend, now I want to kill them!” No, he was motivated by the desire to protect his people in a better way, and his fear that trusting the Grounders again would make him fail them and make the same mistakes that he did when he trusted Echo in 3x03.

The talk between Pike and Bellamy is better-written. They argue about whether they chose to wrong side – and Pike says it wasn’t the wrong side and brings up the likelihood that the Grounder army would have attacked Arkadia the moment Lexa was killed and Ontari took over. Which is a good point. That’s the thing with Pike, he makes some good points, but his solutions are all too extreme and unlikely to ever lead to any positive outcome, just a constant cycle of war and violence. Pike doesn’t question himself or feel guilty, which is a huge difference between him and Bellamy, who thinks of the people he killed and replies that all he knows is that he has to live with the things he has done.

One really bizarre minor moment is when Abby makes Murphy massage the heart of his braindead former rapist, so the transfusion could work. And hey, how funny is it that we literally get to see Ontari’s black heart?

In the final moments of fighting, there was a mayhem where Pike saved Octavia’s life, while chipped Kane almost strangled Bellamy. After ALIE is defeated, everyone is relieved, except Jasper, who is again in pain and desperate, while Monty tries to comfort him, and they apologize to each other for the violent things they did to each other while Jasper was chipped. Clarke tells Abby to go to Kane (she’s picked up on her mom’s new relationship pretty quickly – maybe she had already figured out before that something was going on there). Clarke and Bellamy have a moment, but he sees that she doesn’t seem like someone who has saved the world, and she replies that the world is not saved, because she’s learned about Praimfaya from ALIE.

And then the last moment of the finale is Pike about to make some sort of a gesture of respect/”you fought well”/bygones, and Octavia stabbing Pike. It says a lot about how bored I was with this finale the first time I watched it, that I was glad this happened even though I didn’t hate Pike or want him dead. I was simply glad to see at least one character not singing Kumbaya like everyone else was doing. I didn’t want all the tensions and conflicts of season 3 – even if they were badly done – to be simply forgotten because the evil robot was defeated. And Octavia was being in character; that’s who she is, and you always knew that’s what she was going to do to the person who killed Lincoln. In hindsight, it was a necessary moment in Octavia’s arc. I’m neither upset nor happy about Pike’s death – he simply had Pike “had” to die not because his crimes were too bad for him to live (I mean, come on, even Echo, who was worse and less developed, got to survive and get a so-called ‘redemption”…) but because Octavia would never spare him.

Timeline: the entire episode lasts a few hours, and season 3 on the whole between 22 and 24 days, at most.

Body count:

Four chipped Grounders, 2 shot by Bellamy, 1 killed by Pike, 1 shot by Abby (I took this from The 100 wiki, there’s no way I would have noticed how many people were being killed in all that mayhem.) This is the first time Abby has killed someone.

ALIE, terminated by Clarke.

Ontari, braindead and then presumably dead-dead after Murphy stopped massaging her heart.

Pike, stabbed by Octavia.

Rating: 6/10

11 notes · View notes

ogbellarke · 6 years ago

Text

tagged by @rogue-hope

1. What Station on the Ark would you be from?

either hydra station or agro station

2. What would you get arrested for on the Ark?

honestly stealing

3. Would you take off your wristband when you landed on the ground?

heck yeah, screw the adults that decided the 100 were disposable

4. What would the necklace Finn would make for you look like? (Clarke: deer/Raven: a raven duh..)

i wanna say a shark or a puppy

5. If you could resurrect any MINOR character who would it be?

wells jaha, 100%. he deserved so much better than the bullshit he went through

6. Create a squad of 5 characters to go on missions with. Who are they?

bellamy, clarke, jasper, harper, miller

7. What Grounder Clan would you belong to you?

flokru or azgeda

8. What would your name be in Trigedasleng? (example: Octavia=Okteivia…just make it up!)

kc = kaycee?

9. Thoughts on Finn? Some people hate him, and others love him, so I’m curious

i’ll be honest, he seemed cool and like he was real smitten with clarke but then you find out he’s a piece of shit so yeah screw that guy

10. Be honest. How willing would you have been to take the chip without knowing all the horrible things it does?

tbh no because even though life sucks, i wouldnt want to forget everything

11. What character do you relate to most?

clarke and jasper

12. What character do you like the least?

yikes a bunch. finn, l*xa, eggo, octagon after s1

13. Describe your delinquent outfit. (Would you wear something like Murphy’s jacket with the spikey red shoulder patch or have a trademark like Jasper’s goggles? Be creative, yet practical)

plaid shirt, jeans, vans, some kind of symbolic necklace

14. Favorite type of mutant animal?

the butterflies but i want to see more of the sea creatures

15. What would your job be on the Ark?

a teacher, i guess

16. Would you have willingly pumped Ontari’s heart if Abby asked?

fuck her but to save everyone, fine, but it’s definitely not willingly

17. If Lexa wasn’t Heda, but she was still alive then who would have made the best commander?

roan or luna

18. How would you act if you ate the hallucinogenic nuts like Jasper and Monty?

im an affectionate drunk so maybe the same with the jobi nuts?

19. How would you have dealt with Charlotte’s crime? A more John Murphy approach or Bellamy Blake approach?

she’s just a kid, lock her up and throw in some cbt

20. Who should have been the Chancellor, if anyone?

clarke and bellamy as co-leaders. the only time shit goes right in this show is when clarke and bellamy are working together

21. Would you have been on Pike’s side like Bellamy or on Kane’s side? Or Clarke in Polis?

kane’s absolutely.

22. Mount Weather had a lot of modern commodities. (example: Maya’s Ipod) What is the one thing you would snatch while there?

music, absolutely.

23. What would your Grounder tattoos look like? Hairstyle? War paint?

ocean wave sleeve tattoos, double dutch braid, and idk winter soldier type war paint

24. Favorite quote?

“you may be the chancellor, but i’m in charge.” “what’s wrong with a little chaos?” “i lost the horse.” “you are the most beautiful broom in a broom closet full of brooms.” “you saved my life. and you may be a total ass half the time, but i need you.”

25. If all of the characters were in the Hunger Games, who would have the best shot at winning?

ugh octavia probably. but murphy, miller, and bellamy would team up and kick ass. raven would be in the trees waiting it out. clarke wouldnt want to hurt anyone, she only would as a last resort. monty and jasper and harper would also team up, they’d be the smart ones storing food and water.

26. Least favorite ship? Favorite canon ship? Favorite non canon ship? NOT INCLUDING CL OR BC OR BE

excluding cl and be? least favourite is anyone with finn. favourite canon is marper and briller and memori and zaven :). favourite non canon is princess mechanic and minty.

27. A song that should be included in the next season? If there had to be another guest star like Shawn Mendes on the show, who would you want to make a cameo?

hozier, obviously. or florence welsh.

28. What would you do if you were stuck in the bunker with Murphy for all that time?

hope whoever was there last left their netflix account open.

29. Your an extra that gets killed off. How do you die?

taking a walk in the forest and accidentally going into trikru territory.

30. A character you’d like to learn more about and get flashbacks of?

i wish we could’ve gotten more. but currently, i would like some of miller and murphy.

31. A character you’d bang?

bellamy in s1 before he fell for the princess. otherwise, harper or raven.

32. Would you stay in the Bunker? Go up to Space? Or live on your own in Eden?

eden would be number one. but space is cool.

33. In the Bunker, would you follow Octavia? What would you do to pass the time underground?

quiet rebellion against octavia. but i’d adopt a bunch of orphans to keep me busy

34. What crime would you commit in the Bunker that lands you in the fighting pits?

stealing food or medicine.

35. Up in Space, who would you bond with first? Who would be the most difficult for you to get along with?

bond with raven or harper first. and e*ho would be difficult to get along with

36. How long do you think you would last on Earth by yourself?

omg i have zero survival skills so not long at all

37. When the Eligius ship lands what do you do?

spy for a bit then try to make peace with a few friends in the trees with snipers to watch my back

38. Favorite Eligius character? Least favorite?

shaw and diyoza are obviously the greatest and mccreary is obviously the worst

39. Would you Spacewalk?

if i knew it was safe, absolutely, that sounds lit.

40. Would you prefer to eat Windshield Bugs, Space Algae, or Bunker Meat?

space algae, the lesser of all evils

41. Would you start a war for the last spot of green on earth? What would your solution be to avoid it?

god, everyone’s first instinct is war as if that’s gonna solve anything. i’d negotiate a way for everyone to live there peacefully.

42. Would you rather dig out flesh-eating worms or stick thumb drives into bullet holes?

bleh, neither but i guess thumb drives in bullet holes

43. Are you willing to poison your sister for the Traitor Who You Love? What would you do to stop Octavia?

my sister is real cool, but if octavia were my sister, yeah. you can’t work stuff out with someone who always thinks they’re right and in charge. honestly, i’d’ve killed her, not a little poison that’ll wake her later.

44. Would you go to sleep in cryo or stay awake like Marper?

cryo, i wanna see the future. but i understand why marper did it

45. Who are you waking up first to explore the new planet?

clarke, bellamy, raven, shaw, murphy, emori, miller

woo that was fun. tagging @biondebeauties @space-delinquents @the-most-beautiful-broom

#tag games #the 100

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moonaskingtostay · 7 years ago

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I was tagged by @tracylorde !

1. What would you get arrested for on the Ark?

I have no idea. I anger easily when I’m stressed, and the Ark was a pretty stressful environment, so I guess I could see myself losing my temper and assaulting someone ?

2. Would you take off your wristband when you landed on the ground?

No way. Nothing could justify condemning to death all the people living on the Ark. Also, Bellamy was acting like a douche in the first few episodes, so I would have gone against him just for the sake of annoying him, because I’m petty.

3. What would the necklace Finn would make for you look like? (Clarke: deer/Raven: a raven duh..)

A panther.

4. If you could resurrect any MINOR character who would it be?

Anya, she was cool and interesting and I’m in love with Dichen Lachman and also she should have banged Clarke.

5. Create a squad of 5 characters to go on missions with. Who are they?

Clarke, Bellamy, Raven, Miller and Emori.

6. Minty or Briller?

Briller ! I’m still sad we lost Bryan, I really enjoyed his character.

7. What would your name be in Trigedasleng? (example: Octavia=Okteivia…just make it up!):

I don’t think my name would change. Maybe it would lose an e ? Like just Morgan. I think Clarke’s name in Trigedasleng is Klak, so I guess I could lose an r too. Mogan ? ... yeah that’s ugly as fuck

8. Thoughts on Finn?

Meh. I was sad when he died but mostly for Raven and Clarke’s sake. He’s just not the type of character that I really enjoy or pay attention to. I also despise love triangles and he was the cause of that stupid plotline in season 1. Actually I hate it so much, that the terrible Raven/Finn/Clarke love triangle to this day remains the main reason season 1′s my least favorite season of the show.

9. Be honest. How willing would you have been to take the chip without knowing all the horrible things it does?

No, I’m really paranoid, I wouldn’t take the chip without knowing exactly what it is. I’m just really not a trusting person, everything and everyone is shady until proven ... un-shady. Is that a word ? If it’s not, I’m making it a word. You’re welcome, engligh language.

10. What character do you relate to most & what character do you like the least not including the obvious ones like Pike, etc…

I don’t know ... It’s hard to relate to these characters, in a fully honest way, because they have to go through really extreme situations, and I can’t be sure I would act like them. But ... I don’t know. Maybe Monty ? Or Clarke ?

And the character I like the least ... I don’t usually have really strong negative feelings against any character on the show. It depends on their storylines, like, if what a character does is boring to me, I’m going to lose interest and I’ll find them less likable. For instance, last season my least favorite characters were Roan, Octavia, Echo and Illian because their storylines were not very engaging.

11. Describe your delinquent outfit:

Black pants, black tank top, black bomber jacket, black boots.

12. Favorite type of mutant animal?

The Invisible Giant Water Snake from the pilot.

13. What would your job be on the Ark?

Probably a teacher.

14. Would you have willingly pumped Ontari’s heart if Abby asked it?

I’d do anything for Clarke.

15. If Lexa wasn’t Heda, then who would make the best commander? Anya ! She was smart, respected among the grounders AND she wasn’t against forming an alliance with Skaikru. If I have to pick a character who is alive, probably Indra or Gaia.

16. If you were a grounder, then where would you live and who would be your mentor? Well, I have to live by the ocean or I die on the inside so ... Whatever clan lives by the ocean ? Not Floukru, because I’m not really into their isolationist ways, and I’ve lived on an island before, and it’s not that great. I don’t think I’d want a mentor, I believe in getting shit done by myself.

17. How would you act if you ate the hallucinogenic nuts like Jasper and Monty?

Based on my self-loathing & guilt issues, I think my hallucinations would be like the ones Bellamy had, like a best-of of all the people I’ve let down in my entire life telling me how much I suck.

18. How would you have dealt with Charlotte’s crime?

Oh boy. Well. She was very young. I don’t think locking her up would have helped. Maybe for a few weeks, to calm things down at camp a little. Then I would have kept an eye on her, checked on her every day to try and determine if she was a danger to herself and/or others. I don’t know. It’s a difficult question.

19. Who should be the Chancellor, if anyone?

Kane’s fine.

20. Mount Weather had a lot of modern commodities (example: Maya’s Ipod). What is the one thing you would snatch while there?

Running water.

21. Do you think you’d have caught the virus spread through camp or would you have been immune like Octavia?

I rarely get sick, so maybe not.

22. What would your grounder tattoos look like? Hairstyle? War paint?

I don’t think I’d want a tattoo, so maybe I’d be a spy, to avoid being marked by my clan ? If I had to get a tattoo, it would probably be something discreet. I got a triskellion necklace when I was a kid that I’m really attached to, so maybe a hyper-stylistic triskellion on my neck or something.

Short hair.

No war paint, I wouldn’t be a warrior.

23. Favorite quote?

“You don’t ease pain. You overcome it.”

24. Can you forgive Murphy for his actions? How about Bellamy?

As a viewer, yes.

25. If one of the characters was in the Hunger Games, who would have the best shot at winning?

Clarke. She’s sneaky, plans ahead but she’s also good at thinking on her feet, always remains calm and collected. Raven would have a good shot too, but her temper would be her downfall.

26. Least favorite ship? Favorite ship? NOT INCLUDING CLEXA OR BELLARKE.

I don’t have strong opinions on ships, honestly, so it’s kinda hard to pick a least favorite one but ... I guess whatever happened between Octavia and Illian last season was ... not offending or anything but pretty much a waste of screentime.

My favorite would be maybe Kabby ? Again, I really don’t care about the romantic subplots.

27. A song that should be included in the next season, like when Radioactive was?

I would loooove a Fallout reference, like Skeeter Davis’ The End of the World, or I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire. Or Clarke could have Pistol Packing Mama as a theme song. OR DION’S THE WANDERER. OK NOW I WANT THIS BADLY.

28. What would you do if you were stuck in the bunker with Murphy for all that time?

Play video games. It was a cool bunker so it had video games.

29. Opinion on Emori? Roan?

Emori’s cool. She really grew on me, and I like that type of character, you know the outsider, she was rejected by her society but she survived and became really strong and resourceful. I admire her.

I don’t care about Roan.

30. Would you want to be an extra that is killed off in a brutal way?

Nope.

31. A character you’d like to learn more about and get flashbacks of?

Gaia !

32. A character you’d bang?

I’d bang everyone.

#the 100 #I did the thing !

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theolivechickken · 6 years ago

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Spring Break pt. 1

March 8

Bussed to Salzburg airport, snatched the window seat even though my assigned one was an aisle, and flew EasyJet Airlines out to London Gatwick Airport! When we arrived, we spent a lot of time trying to contact Michaela to see if she wanted to ride the train with us into town. While we were waiting, we stopped inside the convenience store at the airport and picked up some salt and vinegar chips (crisps?) to snack on. She made it to the airport not long after we did, but got caught up in customs and passport check so we wished her luck and hopped on the train to head into the city. Helloooo expensive transportation (and everything else in general). We checked into Safestay at Elephant and Castle and unpacked our bags in our purple room.

Afterwards, we had a late lunch/ early dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant next door. We all ordered chicken pho and drank mango black tea with passionfruit boba. Super cozy for this rainy day. We explored the Asian market connected to the restaurant and I fangirled at any food that I recognized. There was still some light out, so we walked down the street of our hostel to see what was nearby. We ended up turning down East Street Market which was nestled in a black community. Several individuals were closing up their street shops, but a few were still opened for business. Aubree went in to see if she could find some natural hair products for her curly hair. Patrick and I continued down the street and eventually made our way back to the crew. He went on to visit Sharon across the river, so Raine and I stayed with Aubree as she excitedly went in to get her eyebrows threaded for a cheap price. Turns out the lady nearly ripped a chunk of her eyebrow hair out but hopefully it grows back quickly.

It was lightly drizzling outside, but the wind really made the rain fly at all directions. We went back to the hostel to rest and try to decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the night. It was a hoot and a half to find a place that sold oyster cards for public transportation. Finally, we hopped on a double-decker bus and rode it to the CLF Art Cafe. Raine discovered the place via google and was expecting live music/ a DJ with some good night life. But it was pretty dead in the area and the art club was located in a multiple story building tucked in an alley behind scaffolding. I guess we showed up too early but got free admission (??) to the art club lounge/bar area downstairs. We told Patrick to come through and waited around for him to show up. It was cool and lively in the room, and then people started moving furniture around to create a dance floor.

Definitely an interesting scene. I kinda liked that everyone was being weird and dancing to some off-brand 80s inspired synth music, but it wasn’t really the scene we were looking for tonight. Patrick eventually made it, but he couldn’t find the entrance to the place. Aubree went out to look for him and they both got stuck outdoors since you needed a wristband at this point for entry. Raine and I went upstairs to try and hear the kind of music the DJ would be playing, and we ran into two girls coming down the stairs telling us “IT’S SO DEAD DON’T GO but you should totally go in with us.” We had a quick conversation with these fellow Americans and then dipped to find our friends.

Chicken Soup McDonald's for the starving soul. We were on another level of being starving, delusional, and overall confused from the whole night, which lead to us dying of laughter in the McDonald’s and back out on the streets to the bus station. Don’t know why everything was especially funny, but I swear I nearly peed my pants from laughing so hard.

March 9

Why do our roommates hate us? They’re so loud in the morning :(( One guy was trying to pack his bag, and the other was blowdrying his hair IN THE ROOM while we were still trying to sleep. Oh well, I guess it got us to wake up and start our day. Hopped on the tube from Elephant and Castle and took it to Borough. Super excited to stroll through Borough Market for some free samples and street food! I love the hustle and bustle of this big city, and I absolutely love markets. Patrick and I got some hot tea with ginger, and Raine and I got prawn wraps. They did not hold back on the shrimp either. It wasn’t one of those sad seafood wraps where they throw in two pieces of shrimp and call it seafood. NAH. Oodles and oodles of shrimp (with lettuce and sweet-spicy Thai sauce) piled into this warm tortilla heaven. Also got some fresh cherries to share (which reminded me of home and the cherries that my Lola always puts out on the table).

Next, we rode the tube to Buckingham Palace. Our stop was right at Green Park, so we made ourselves comfy on the muddy grass (rip my jeans but I managed to save them by rubbing out the mud with saliva) before walking to the Palace to meet up with Amy and her roommate Victoria. We shared the cherries and sat in the company of some good ol’ Beatles tunes.

AMYYYY wow I missed you. We had fun walking around with our new additions to the squad. At the park, we squared up with a GIANT goose and also saw a majestic swan in the river. We made our way over to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (but rip Ben since he's under construction till 2021). Aubree and Raine went back towards the hostel to meet up with Ollie and Tom (the Londoners we met in Prague). Meanwhile, Patrick, Amy, Victoria, and I spotted a telephone booth, a guard on horseback, and a police squad investigating a suspicious car. We paused by the London Eye and ventured out to the London Tower and London Bridge. The bridge was really neat! The floor had a section made out of glass, so you could see the traffic driving through underneath. Trippy.

We made our way back to Borough and had dinner at Honest Burger - honestly one of the best burgers and rosemary fries I've ever eaten. We all went back to our own hostels to rest for a bit before going back out to meet Aubree, Raine, Tom, and Ollie at Spoons. Later, Pat and I walked through Chinatown and joined Sharon, birthday girl Madison, and Michaela and her Redlands volleyball friends at O’Neills. Perks of being small at the club: no perks. Just elbows to your face or drinks nearly spilled on you, and you're too short to see anything half the time. All in all though it was a fun night, and then Sharon lost her phone so the mood turned sour. BUT then the girls found her phone since someone turned it in! It was a wild rollercoaster ride. We all walked to the tube and went our separate ways. Our connecting metro was closed, so Pat and I ended up walking the rest of the way to our hostel through the light rain and a quiet neighborhood.

March 10

Aubree and Raine came back to the room at 4am to discover Christmas music being blasted on Pat's phone and me drowning out the sound with my snore. Morning came with a hot mess and a crime scene: we think Pat's phone was stolen by the girl who slept in the bunk above Aubree and checked out early that morning. She also managed to leave her red panties in place of Pat’s phone. Weird flex, but okay. Pat was bummed, but he also handled the situation really well. We still went out to brunch at Spoons with Sharon and tried an English Breakfast. Unpopular opinion but it was kinda bland and sad.

Holy wind batman. Almost Vienna status but not as cold. Pat and I went to the British Museum and literally traveled through time and history. People are amazing and crazy and how did we manage to come so far in such a quick span of time? We viewed so many arts and artifacts in the 3 hours that we were stuck in a time machine. My feet are feeling it man but I'm still out here having a good time.

Took the Tube to Camden Market to meet Aubree, Raine, Matt, Cousin Sam, Jack, Will, and Milky. We went to a bar that had a DOG! And tried the somewhat citrusy Punk IPA. We also went to the Blues Bar for burgers and live music. Had a great time hanging out with this jolly group of guys. At one point, Milky was telling us the story of how he saved his fish that was swimming upside-down. The trick? "I feed my fish peas. But not a whole pea cause that’s too much.” Someone please test this out and let me know if this is true.

March 11

Checked out of Safestay Elephant and Castle and went down the street to Bagel King for breakfast. It’s definitely not not what we thought it would be. The bagels were weirdly fluffy and the cream cheese just didn’t seem right.. But the mango-guava juice was pretty tasty. Patrick and I said our goodbyes to Aubree and Raine, and headed to to the train station. We managed to pool our our coins together for one ticket (how was it exact??? AMAZING luck) and then paid for another with a card. Yay for getting rid of the pounds in my pocket.

Things seemed to be working out, but the train we needed to be on was delayed. Actually, all the trains are delayed??? We rushed to find a platform with a train that would take us towards Gatwick. Hopped on one train which detoured to East Croydon and hoped for the best. The cards were in our favor and the time was too since we had plenty to check in, get through security, and even eat lunch at Nando’s.

Barcelona we're coming for you :)))

So we arrived in the evening and waited around for Pat's bag to finally roll out to baggage claim. Managed to catch the sun setting as we rode the bus into the city. Barcelona makes me feel like I'm back home in LA. Maybe because of the smog, traffic, and large open freeways, or the desert scenery, trees, and beach?

Walked from La Plaza de Catalunya to HelloBCN Hostel. Hello major tourist street with people trying to sell you random souvenirs. Poor Pat has reached his limit. Apparently our hostel reservation never went through. Luckily the reception guy was really cool and they still had two beds open for us to stay for our planned days.

Stressed, but he still had the spirit to go out into the city for some food. We found a casual restaurant nearby that had tapas. Not the dinner I was really expecting, but it was still fun to try some tapas. We had Patatas Bravas (basically french fries with a creamy spicy dipping sauce), chips and guacamole, and Moroccan chicken skewers to share.

#Studying Abroad #Spring Break #London #Salzburg Semester

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promptistrashqueen · 8 years ago

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Only Bad People1 (SWCDB3)

Part 1 Part 2

Today is my birthday, and I'm riding high Hair is dripping, hiding that I'm terrified

Prompto took a deep breath, gripping the obsidian edges of the counter. He stared at his pale reflection, blue eyes blown wide, in Noctis' bathroom. He only managed to appear even whiter against the black and white color scheme and his panic kicked up a gear. His wet hair dripped into his eyes and he forced himself to count his airflow, two short inhales and one long exhale, until his heartbeat calmed and he could think straight.

It had been weeks since his...mishap...with Noctis' organization and he was finally healed, the last of his injuries his missing fingernails. Tiny new ones were starting but he was still wearing the special covers Ignis had ordered him to protect the sensitive skin. In those weeks so much had happened to him that he was having trouble believing it was real, that this was his actual life.

He wasn't unhappy, quite the opposite in fact. Living within the walls of the Lucis Crime Syndicate (a title Prompto imagined with big capital letters) had a unique set of rules he was still learning to navigate while holding onto himself. He was standing over the sink now because he knew once he dried himself and dressed that he would have to address THE ISSUE, as he had dubbed the inked lines on his wrist. Regis had been content to let Noctis handle it, until it became evident that Noctis had no intention to ever do so. Prompto had been grateful for the reprieve Noctis had offered him though, allowing him to heal and make the decision to talk about his past in his own time and Prompto had promised them both he would talk that day.

He shook his head once more, droplets splattering the mirror, now or never. As he rubbed the towel through his hair he thought back to meeting Regis for the first time.

Noctis' smile didn't reach his eyes when he stepped into his, well their, room and Prompto was immediately on edge.

"Hey Sunflower."

Prompto couldn't help but blush at the greeting, Noctis had taken to calling him the endearing nickname a few days prior, as he gave a little wave. His worried look must've been askance enough because Noctis took his hand, remaining standing beside the bed.

"My father will be here in a moment, he was very insistent he meet you," Nocti's thumb rubbed circles over Prompto's skin, "just be you, he can be intimidating as hell but you're made of tougher stuff."

Prompto snorted in disbelief, staring now at the door as he and Noctis both stayed quiet. Footsteps, even and firm, were their warning before the door opened again revealing Noctis' father, Regis Lucis, head of the most powerful crime syndicate in Insomnia, hell probably in the world. Prompto was surprised to note the man seemed to favor one of his legs as he neared the bed, though it didn't change the sound of his steps notably.

"Prompto Argentum. I'm sure you know who I am."

Regis didn't extend a hand but Prompto wasn't worried about that since his only good hand was still in Noctis' grasp. The cool appraisal in Regis' gaze made him a little uncomfortable but he was used to being looked at with judgement and just gave the man his signature new-person smile.

"If I didn't sir, I'd be as oblivious as Noctis."

There was a moment of silence and then Regis laughed, even as Noctis glared at his lover.

"Noticed that did you? I'm sure you've been keeping him on his toes more lately. I must admit he's certainly been more focused on getting things done quickly, I imagine, too spend more time with you."

Prompto felt his cheeks color but refused to drop the older man's gaze as he deadpanned.

"So he's moving at the peace of a concerned turtle now?"

Noctis shrugged helplessly as his father glanced at him in surprise,

"Well, he's certainly got your number Noct. Now...I'm leaving tomorrow for some negotiations with Cor but I'd like to have dinner with you both tonight, provided Prompto is feeling up to it?"

They shared a look and Noctis nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah, we'd like that...I guess that means I ought to start teaching him protocol though..."

Prompto is pulled from his memories as he steps out of the bathroom fully dressed in some of the clothing Ignis had bought him. It feels odd to be dressed like Noctis usually is, a white button down and charcoal three piece though, Prompto has opted to forego a tie and his top buttons sit open. Noctis looks up at him from his seat near the door and it takes him a moment to speak.

"Damn, I should have Ignis shop for you more."

Prompto sticks his tongue out at his soulmate, feeling the need to do something silly with all of his tension.

"You just want me to dress like you, newflash, I'm way cooler."

Noctis just scoffs but, there's an underlying warmth that makes Prompto smile and bump his shoulder good-naturedly. His smile fades though as he tugs nervously at his jacket, the door opens and Gladio nods to them. Prompto doesn't hold anything against the large man but Noctis has been cold toward him anyways and Gladiolus only talks to them when he has too. That's something else Prompto supposes he ought to try and facilitate a change in, since it is in part his fault. Now though he has a different challenge to face as they walk down the dark paneled hallways to the large formal dining room on the ground floor.

In his time in the manor Prompto has secretly decided that it must've been built by maze-enthusiasts as there is no real sense to any part of the layout, except the kitchen and dining room being placed together. He is glad for his exploring though, it allows him to walk now without focus and Noctis doesn't break the silence that enfolds them. Too soon they are pushing open the heavy walnut doors and depositing him in front of Drautos, Cor Leonis, Cid (who Prompto is less afraid of) and Regis.

The men look at him and Noctis for a long moment, gesturing them to sit only after Prompto clears his throat uncertainly and glances at the empty chairs. He isn't sure if it's better with him seated but, at least this way his legs won't give out. He folds his hands on the table in front of him, his usual wristband is gone, baring the black ink on his wrist. He sees Noctis' gaze dart to it as well as the other men and he cringes a little, sure they notice the angry redness of it where he cannot help himself scratching at it sometimes. There's a burn mark at the edge too, from a teenage tantrum when he attempted to burn it off of himself but was stopped by the pain.

"Weak," the old doubt hisses to him but he lifts his chin and ignores it.

I'm not in the swing of things But what I really mean is Not in the swing of things yet

The room is silent except the breathing of its occupants and Prompto realizes they are all waiting for him to speak, so, swallowing hard, he does.

"Um, I guess I should start at the beginning?" Regis nods once and Prompto licks his lips.

"I wasn't born in Insomnia...I'm from Imperium. The Nifs run the whole city, like you guys do here I guess, only when I was a kid the leader wasn't...The guy was a sadist and he liked just grabbing random people off the street and screwing up their lives. My mom, she got nabbed on her way home from work and they sold her to the highest bidder. Whoever he was, he's my father. I was born and they let my mom take are of me until I was old enough to talk. She knew they'd kill her once I could form sentences so she tried to teach me not to speak around anyone else, I was so little though, and I failed her. They took me away form her on my fourth birthday and I never saw her again. They tried to make me hate any of the other families, especially the Lucis' and they gave me their mark really early. I guess they thought if I was raised one of them I'd be loyal and useful...It's kinda dumb how I got away from them really. This guy named Izunia, he took me for a walk and let me wander too far away. I got really lost, I was not quite five, and started crying. I think he thought it would be a good punishment since I kept asking him questions about things I saw, but there was a couple walking down the street who came to help me. I kept telling them I didn't wanna go back and they saw the barcode...Like I said, the Nifs run the place so everyone knows what it means. They didn't turn me over though, I don't really know why, they just put me in their car and told their neighbors they were going camping for a night. I don't know how they did it but they did it for me, they brought me here and started a new life. I took their last name, Argentum, and everything...They died in a car accident my sophmore year of college."

Prompto blinks the wetness out of his eyes remembering the kind people who were his truest parents, even if they didn't always have a lot of time for their rescued son. He didn't say that he'd thought their accident was suspicious for a long time, figuring it was old news anyways. Noctis pressed a hand to his arm and Prompto smiled at him a little before they both turned to look at the older men, waiting.

The four of them leaned together and conversed in low voices that Prompto could only just make out. He didn't try to listen in though, letting the sound of his accelerated heart rate drown them out as Noctis leaned over and pressed his forehead to Prompto's temple silently. After what seemed like hardly anytime at all the four men sat back, Cid and Drautos looking relaxed. Cor seemed a bit tense around the eyes but not hostile. Prompto looked to Regis last and found a warmth behind the mans taciturn exterior that gave him hope.

"Well, Mr. Argentum, I hardly think you're a threat if everything you've told us is true and regardless, you and my son are fated. We will look into your story of course, to double check, and until we are clear you will remain under mild surveillance. I'm afraid that means you will have to continue living here for a short time. Noctis has already informed you of the expectations around meals and the training you are to receive as well as our confidentiality enforcement so I do not think I need to say more. I'm sure we will have enough proof of your statements by the end of the week if not sooner. The both of you are dismissed."

Prompto, in his relief, doesn't think twice about protocol as he pushed his chair back and stands with a smile and a bit of a bounce. He is at the door when he realizes his mistake, looking back to Noctis who stands by the table and inclines his head toward his father regally. Regis just looks lightly amused at Prompto's misstep and so the blonde doesn't try to fix it, just catches Noctis' hand and pulls him outside for a short walk in the garden.

"It's ridiculous that you even have a garden."

Noctis just smiles at him and shrugs in a "what do you do?" kind of way that makes Prompto roll his eyes. He winks at Noctis and pulls out his phone, snapping pictures of them both surrounded by the summer blooms.

Hey, promise I can stay good I'm little, but I'm coming for the crown I'm little, but I’m coming for you

Noctis raps the door to his father's study with sharply timed precision, his suit impeccable and not a hair out of place. He doesn't know why Regis has called him but assumes it has something to do with the confirmation they had received of Prompto's story. He doesn't think it needs more scrutiny but, he is learning to pick his battles,courtesy of one talented photographer. Regis calls for him to enter and he steps into the room that has seen so many heavy conversations the air seems saturated with them.

His father is in full King mode, as Noctis coined it. His brow is heavy and he motions for his son, his negotiator and deal-maker, to have a seat.

"I have a contact who tells me that Kilidare Mitchell is planning to defect from Nifs suppliers. He and his partner Fillian have the tightest control over weapons trade with the northern nations and a reputation for being two of the most valuable assets out there. They've even been hired, at various times, to help the governments of multiple nations and they personally guard the Oracle Lunafreya Nox Fleuret when she travels to meet dignitaries in their native lands."

Noctis nods, he is used to making deals with these sorts of men and has heard a lot about Kilidare in previous dealings. They have kept an eye on the man for some time, both to guard against his movements and to spot a time to sway him to their side. A time which had apparently come. Regis doesn't need a reply and simply continues,

"I don't know why they are thinking of making the change but they have agreed to a meeting with you the day after tomorrow...I have been cautioned that they put high value on personal relationships and prefer to work with others who have at least cursory respect for that. I have it on authority that they are also very personable and warm, disarmingly so, and you are not the best at dealing with such things. Given the nature of their own relationship I thought it might be for the best to send Ignis and Gladiolus-"

He paused at Noctis expression and allowed a slight curl of his lips,

"I am not as blind to happenings in my own home as you would like to believe Noctis. I wish them their happiness. As I said I thought to send them, but thinking on it I don't believe that anyone who does not know the two of them would believe it. Gladiolus has a reputation that preceeds him and he and Ignis are, frankly, too good at what they do. I need someone who is unintentionally charming and who can talk to people, and I need you to handle the business side."

Noctis looked suspiciously at his father and set down the glass of water he had picked up from a proffered tray.

"So, who are you sending with me?"

Regis idly looks at his hands, letting the silence stretch. Eventually he engages his son again and his expression and tone leave no room for argument.

"Prompto, of course."

#Promptis #Somebody who can do both #Prompto #Noctis #Fanfiction #Part 3

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destructiveshade · 6 years ago

Text

Lightspeed: Chapter 8

As they stepped into the light of the new Earth, they discovered that the world wasn’t so bad after Hitler won the war. Everyone was behaving themselves at least. They didn’t see any cops around, so maybe there was no crime. But that’s when it happened. They watched a man, obviously poor and homeless judging from the way he was dressed, steal a purse from an unsuspecting lady in a market-place. But nobody called for the cops. Nope. An alarm went off, and everyone, except for the thief, immediately dropped to the ground and put their hands on their heads. Then a drone with a very large gun attached to it showed up and proceeded to mow down the thief. Just ripped him to shredded with the large automatic weapon attached to its body.

“What the fuck?” Zxan whispered under his breath.

“What was that?” Alyss whispered to him.

“I don’t know. Neo?”

“It seems their societies law is governed on the fact that if you break the law, you die.” Neo stated.

“That’s fucked up.” Zxan whispered.

“He wanted to die.” Alyss stated, more than questioned. Zxan knew she was using her gift to figure this place out. “Everyone here has a certain number on their uniforms. That seems to indicate some sort of hierarchy, but we’d have to see where each individual lives to determine whether five is the best or one is the best.” She said. Then she thought about it a little longer and stated, “One is the best. But it’s only for positions of high authority. And zero is held only by the dictator, who have all been direct descendants of Hitler.”

“So what’s the plan here? We could set them off by doing anything.” Zxan stated. Alyss thought for a moment, while they sat in a dark alleyway.

“We should go out, only at night. We’ll use our suits’ camouflage function and we’ll do our own investigation while the city sleeps.” She finally said. “Neo, can you track Ms. Curren and her abductor’s tracks?”

“Yes, Ms. Rodriguez. Bringing it up on your wristband right now.” Neo responded as her wristband lit up, projecting an interactive 3D map of the city with a bright green line running through it.

“So this is the path they took?” Alyss said.

“Yes, Ms. Rodriguez.” Neo answered.

“It looks like it stops in the middle of this tower, here.” Alyss said, zooming in on a large tower in the center of town. Zxan watched patiently, then a thought struck him.

“Neo, is it possible that Ms. Curren is from this Earth?” He asked.

“Yes, sir. It is entirely possible. But we cannot be certain without Ms. Curren.” Neo answered. Zxan nodded. Then he made a decision.

“Alright.” He started, grabbing Alyss’s hand. “We’re going to do your plan. But, we’re not going to go directly to the tower. We’re going to investigate every building they entered. If they left this Earth, then they for sure were looking for something here. And we need to figure out what it is and what it has to do with Assia Curren.” He finished, and Alyss just nodded.

“We should wait here.” She said. “We don’t want to be seen.”

“You’re right.” Zxan said. Then he pulled Alyss close to him so he was holding her while they sat in the alley. He kissed the top of her head. Then another thought struck him. Why would they stay in the alley? They should stay in a hotel, where it would be much more inconspicuous.

“Babe, lets go to a hotel.” Zxan said.

“Why?”

“Because it’ll be less suspicious if we were seen in a hotel than in an alley.” He explained. Alyss nodded. “Neo, bring up the closest hotel.” There was a beep and Zxan’s sunglasses showed him a path that would lead them to the nearest hotel. They picked up the backpack and they began walking.

“Wait, Alyss, we have no money.” Zxan said with fear.

“I have a plan for that.” She said with a grin. Then she bumped into a lady that was holding her purse very loosely. It was knocked from her hand and the contents spilled when it struck the ground.

“Oh! I am so so sorry ma’am. I was not watching where I was going, I’m so sorry.” She exclaimed as she dropped to her knees to help the lady pick up her money and make up. As she was helping pick up the money, she had her wristband scan all of the big bills. When they were finished putting everything back in the purse, Alyss apologized again and then left with Zxan.

“I got it.” Alyss said. “But we need to find some trash. But not food.” Then they spent the next thirty minutes picking paper products out of a dumpster. When they were finally done, they took it to a nearby public restroom and locked the door,

“What are we doing with this stuff?” Zxan asked.

“Just watch this.” Alyss said, then nanobots flowed from her wristband to make a fixed glove on her hand that had a tube on the top that led to her finger tips. With her left hand, she put the paper into the tube, which produced a whirring sound and then money began to print out of the other end of the tube. After she printed $3000 worth of Earth-2 money, she stopped and the nanobots flowed back into her wristband.

“Alright,” She started, “let’s get going.” Then she grabbed all the money and they walked out of the bathroom and went to the hotel. When they got there, they rented a room and they locked themselves in the room until nightfall, catching up on their sleep before continuing their mission.

Zxan woke to his alarm ringing, indicating that they need to get up to investigate into the disappearance of Ms. Curren.

“Zxan! Shut off the alarm.” Alyss moaned, obviously still tired and very grumpy.

“Alarm off.” Zxan said, and his watch chimed once and then stopped ringing. He dragged himself out of bed and to the bathroom to pee. While he was in there, he heard Alyss getting out of the bed.

“Babe, I need to shower.” She said.

“I’m almost done.” He said back. Although, he had no idea why she didn’t just shower before their nap. He left the bathroom and put on his clothes, followed by the earpiece he had grabbed from Wayne tower before they left. As he waited for Alyss to get done showering, he did more research on Earth-2. He found out that the dictator to be, Robert Hitler V, was planning to change the way the world worked. He wanted to get rid of all the bias and illegality of specific ethnicities. He wanted a more diverse world again.

When Alyss got out of the shower, she got dressed and put her gear on.

“Are you ready to go?” She asked him.

“Of course. I’ve been waiting for you, babe.” He responded. “Let’s get moving.”

And with that, they donned their suits, activated the camouflage function, then snuck out of their room through the window. They flew to the first building that Ms. Curren was dragged to. When they got there, they softly landed on the roof and entered through a vent. While inside, they ran into a security guard that was roaming the halls, but they stood still against the wall, and the man didn’t even see them.

“Babe, this function is so cool!” Alyss whispered with excitement. “The way the nanobots bend the light to make us appear invisible! It’s amazing.”

“I know babe, pretty dope.” Zxan replied, knowing that nobody could hear them through the sound-cancelling tech the nanobots provided. As they searched the building, they realized that the men that abducted Ms. Curren didn’t take anything from this building. They exited the building the same way that they entered, leaving no trace that they were ever there. They moved on to each new building, looking for clues to what the men were looking for, but at each building, they found nothing.

The sun started to break the horizon, so they cut off the investigation and flew back to their room at the hotel. After they entered the room, they let their suits retract into their wristbands, and they picked up the backpack and money. They left the hotel, walking to the largest building in the city. The only place they didn’t have a chance to investigate the night before.

On their way to the building, Zxan accidentally bumped into a large man that was carrying a wooden chair. The man must’ve had a loose grip on the chair because it fell from his hands and shattered when it hit the ground.

“Hey! What the fuck?!” The man shouted at Zxan, who was already on the ground, trying to gather the pieces.

“Hey man, I’m sorry, okay? I can pay for it.” Zxan said, standing up.

“Oh, you’ll pay!” The man yelled, cocking his fist back and grabbing Zxan’s collar with his other hand. “I demand trial by combat!” He yelled.

Zxan acted fast, sending two punches into the man’s stomach. The man dropped Zxan, and gasped for breath. When he finally caught his breath, he ran at Zxan and jumped into the air, bringing his knee up to make contact with Zxan’s face, but he missed. Zxan moved out of the way quickly, but not so fast that they would think he was superhuman. He grabbed the man’s legs, and yanked them to the side, causing the man to fall face first onto the ground.

He let out an audible grunt as he hit the ground, then he stood up, looked at Zxan, put his fists up, then ran at Zxan again, who dodged every one of the man’s attempted blows. The man was exhausted.

“Are you done?” Zxan asked patiently.

“How are you not sweating?” The man asked Zxan in return, breathing heavily.

“I have a very intense training regime.” Zxan answered, then asked again, “Now, are you done yet?”

“Not even close.” The man replied with a grin. Then he grabbed dirt and threw it up into Zxan’s eyes. He let out a grunt as he wiped his eyes, but the big man was on him, punching him in the chest and face. The big man only got there punches in when he felt a very painful knocking on the side of his head. Right before he lost consciousness, he realized that it was Zxan’s fist, thudding against his temple. His last thought was, ‘How can he be that fast?’ Then everything went black.

Zxan pushed the limp man’s body off of him and stood up. He wondered why there were no alarms or police bots showing up. As if reading his mind, Alyss answered his question.

“The man declared trial by combat. By law, the police bots, nor any other citizens may interfere. And the winner, nor the loser can be punished after the outcome for that incident.”

“What the fuck kind of rule is that?” Zxan asked. “Are they fights to the death or just til one person gives up or gets knocked out?”

“It’s determined by the person being challenged, meaning you.” Alyss answered.

“What do they do with the bodies?”

“It looks like they just leave them here.” Alyss said, looking around. After Zxan had won the fight, everyone had lost interest and went about their business. Zxan sighed.

“Well, we can’t just leave him here.” He said to Alyss.

“If we move him, the bots will show up for sure.” She said, pulling Zxan’s arm before he could touch the unconscious man.

“Then get away from me and I’ll make sure I escape.” Zxan started, “I won’t leave him here.”

He looked at Alyss determinedly and she knew there was no stopping him, so she backed away from him, bending into the crowd. Zxan bent down and picked up the sleeping man and carried him over to a shop sitting under an awning. He laid the man down carefully, then the alarms went off and everybody instinctively dropped to the ground, placing their hands on their heads. Zxan, on the other hand, activated his suit, which flowed over his body, covering him from head to toe. He walked over to the center of the plaza, and stood there, squaring up to the Bot, who began to issue orders.

“Lay down your weapons and come peacefully or I will be forced to fire on you.” It announced. Zxan did nothing. It started again.

“I repeat, lay down your weapons and come peacefully or I wi-“ The bot was cut off by a laser cutting through it, causing it to blow up. The people underneath the bot screamed, expecting to be doused in melting metal. Their screams soon died down when they realized the pain wasn’t coming. Zxan had used his super speed to grab the pieces and trash them in a dumpster. Three more bots showed up, all toting very large guns. Zxan turned his mic on, and began speaking.

“Everyone needs to vacate the area. This will not be pretty.” He said, then with a soft beep, his mic shut off. Everyone got up and ran out of the plaza, leaving Zxan alone with the three bots.

“You have broken the law, and you will be punished. We are the Prosecutor, Jury, and Judge. You have been found guilty and are sentenced to death.” Said the bot in the middle.

“Alright, you got me.” Zxan said through his mic as he put his hands in the air. Then his suit formed wings and and thrusters and he lifted easily into the air, matching the bots in height. “Let’s dance, shall we?” He asked the bots.

“We do not dance, we serve justice.” The bot said.

“It was rhetorical!” Zxan shouted back, then shot plasma at the three bots, who dodged the plasma bullets. He brought his laser up and fired it towards the bot on the right, cutting through the gun, causing it to fall off. As the bot veered from the weight loss, it bumped into one of the other ones, causing that bot to veer directly into the path of a barrage of plasma that Zxan had fired. They melted straight through the metal and destroyed the inner mechanics.

There was only one bot left, and it was armed with a shield as well as a gun.

‘I’m going to have to get closer.’ Zxan thought to himself, then dropped to the ground. His wings retracted into his suit and he ran, as fast as he could, at the police bot. Right at the last moment, he switched direction and ran onto a wall, then jumped from the wall onto the bot’s top. He used the laser to the cut a hole in the top, and then reached his plasma pistol into the hole, and fired a shot off. The plasma melted the cables so fast, the bot didn’t have time to activate its coolant. It fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Zxan got off of the bot and stood up. The people who were watching didn’t know whether to applaud or cower in fear. They didn’t know the mysterious man’s true intent. But, as they were looking at him, they watched him turn invisible. It looked like a ripple, starting from his feet, traveling to his head, and within moments, he was gone.

Zxan ran over to the nearest alley and deactivated his camo, then let his suit flow off his body and into his wristband. He walked into a nearby shop and grabbed a cloak, dropping a $100 bill not he counter, leaving the shop owner a profit of 500% on that specific cloak.

He pulled the hood deep over his head, and then walked out into the busy streets. He avoided the police bots that were looking for him and found his way back to Alyss, who was also looking for him. He walked up behind her and said,

“Don’t say anything, just keep moving towards the building and we’ll enter through the front door and be safe from the bots.”

“Zxan, that was stupid. All that to keep a stupid man off of the street?” Alyss said, anger obvious in her voice.

“Yes. He didn’t deserve to be left there.” Zxan replied as they walked towards the tallest building in the city, the last place Ms. Curren left any traces of her existence in this dimension. They walked the remaining couple blocks in silence, occasionally ducking into alleys to avoid the bots.

When they reached the building, they entered through the front door. They were startled when they were met by a floating bot.

“Welcome to Robo corp. Would you like to see our newest model for your home?” The robot asked.

“Uh, sure.” Alyss responded.

“Follow me, I’ll show you.”

They followed the bot to the elevator which took them to the 31st floor.

“This is our newest product on the line. It is friendly with kids, and can handle any mess that you throw at it. It also comes with a security feature, to protect your home from intruders.” The bot kept explaining as they looked at a floating robot. The robot looked harmless enough. Like a small butler but without legs. It had a display screen that displayed a face that could change to express it’s mood.

“C’mon,” Zxan whispered to Alyss, “do it already.” She nodded and brought her watch up and she pushed a button on it, causing the guide to shut down and crash to the ground.

“To the 67th floor.” Alyss said. And they rushed out of the room, taking the elevator to the 67th floor. After they reached the elevator, they pushed the button with the big 67 on it.

“Alyss, if we get caught, there’s going to be hell. We need our suits, okay?” Zxan said.

“Okay. But if it gets too crazy, we bust out of here and get far away.” Alyss said. Zxan just nodded, then let his suit wrap around his body. Alyss followed suit. They left their helmets off for the time being. Zxan leaned down and gently pushed Alyss’s chin up with his finger. Then he kissed her, pressing his lips against hers.

“I love you, Alyss. Nothing will ever change that.” Then he let his helmet form around his head. His HUD popped up and scanned the building. The 67th floor was crawling with security bots and men that were armed with heavy machine guns.

“There’s multiple targets on the 67th floor. All heavily armed and waiting for our arrival.” Zxan said through his mic so that Alyss could hear him. “They know we’re on the elevator.”

“Well, then this is where the fun begins.” She said, knowing that was from one of his all time favorite movies. He looked at her, and his helmet retracted.

“God, I love you, Alyss.” He said, then their helmets both formed around their heads. They scanned the 67th floor.

“We have to catch them by surprise.” Zxan said, then pushed the emergency stop button. The elevator screeched to a halt between floor 63 and 64. “C’mon, babe.” He said, then opened the hatch in the elevator ceiling, and jumped up through it. Alyss followed him, and he closed the hatch behind them. Then his wings and thrusters formed and he flew up to the 68th floor elevator door. He pried it open and held it for Alyss, who flew through it then touched down on the ground. Zxan followed her in and touched down also.

Then he led the way to a maintenance closet and motioned for her to enter. After they were in the closet, he cut a hole in the floor with his laser, then dropped through it, landing in another closet on the 67th floor. Zxan patched into a secure comm channel with Alyss and said,

“Activate your camo and follow me. Under no circumstances are you to deactivate your camo.” Then he and Alyss turned invisible. They exited the closet and snuck down a hallway until they were directly behind the enemy line that was facing the elevator doors. He deactivated his camouflage and turned his mic on.

“Excuse me, I think you guys lost something.” Zxan said, mocking them. The sudden and strange voice must have scared them because half of them jumped. They all turned around, in shock, to see their enemy leaning casually against a wall, in the hallway, behind them.

“What is your business here?” A man, who looked to be in charge, asked.

“I’m just looking for someone.” Zxan said truthfully.

“You won’t find them here. So leave now or die.” The man responded.

“But you don’t even know who I’m looking for.” Zxan said defensively.

“We do not care who you’re looking for. You need to leave, last warning.”

“Your barber should’ve given you a warning about that haircut cause dude, you’re never getting laid with that hair.” Zxan quipped. Which made the man angry.

“Open fire!” He shouted to his men, who proceeded to open fire. None of the bullets landed though, Zxan was too quick. He pushed all the bullets upwards and then ran around the room punching the men in the faces with such force that they went across the room in a bunch of different directions, half of them were knocked unconscious by the force of the punches they received. In the blink of an eye, the only men left standing were Zxan and the man in charge.

“Looks like that went well.” Zxan said, surveying the room. The men who weren’t unconscious were too afraid to move. The man in charge never even saw the mysterious intruder move, but his men were all over the room and he was unscathed by the barrage of bullets that should have ripped him to shreds. Then, after he blinked, the mysterious stranger was standing in front of him, face to face. Well, face to mask. He looked the stranger over, the entire suit seemed to be connected, all one piece. Is it possible that this is the man’s real form. If so, then he’s not really a man at all, is he? The man felt a gust of wind, then the stranger was back leaning against the wall.

“Looks like you dropped something.” Zxan said which brought the man’s attention to himself. That’s when he noticed he was standing in only his underwear.

“What are you doing to me?” He screamed at Zxan. “How could you be doing this?”

“It’s really not that hard. You’re so easy to mess with.” Zxan said. “Anyway, I have to go, but you’ve been an amazing audience! I’m here every Tuesday and Thursday, come check me out in the lobby!”

Then he was gone. He ran back into the closet, and activated his camo. Then he retrieved Alyss, who had watched the whole thing go down.

“The signal came from over here.” She said, leading the way to a remote room on the opposite side of the building.

“Neo, scan for traces of Ms. Curren.” Zxan said.

“Scanning… Putting it up on your HUD.” Neo said, then patched the security feed into Zxan’s helmet. Zxan watched the video feed dated two days earlier. The video depicted Ms. Curren being dragged into the building to level 67. Then two of the three men she was with proceeded to demolish the entire room, until they found what looked like a computer chip.

“Pause,” Zxan started, giving Neo instruction on the video. “Zoom in on the computer chip… Identify.”

“Sir, it appears to be part of a technology that is too advanced for these people to have created with their current technology. But it is also undeniably from this Earth. Almost as if someone traveled back in time to give it to them.” Neo explained.

“Okay, so why did those men take it?” Zxan asked.

“Unclear, sir.”

“Thanks, Neo. Play.” Then the video resumed. He watched as the men took the computer chip, then one of the men started pushing buttons on the backpack that one of the other men was carrying. Then there was a bright flash, and the four of them were covered in a dome of light. The dome collapsed in on itself in a brilliant flash of blue and Ms. Curren and the three men were gone.

“Zxan! Come, quick!” Alyss shouted. He went running to her position and found her being held at gunpoint by a large man covered in heavy body armor. Her wristband was lying on the floor, leaving her defenseless.

Zxan switched his mic on, “Let her go and we’ll talk.”

“Do I fucking look stupid to you?” The man asked.

“Well, yeah, kind of.” Zxan answered. The man twisted Alyss’s arm behind her back, causing her to cry out in pain. “Wait!” Zxan shouted. “Just wait, okay?” He said, then let the suit flow over his body and back into his wristband, exposing his body.

“Just, please don’t hurt her, okay?” Zxan said, trying to calm the man down. “What’s your name? And why do you want us?”

“I am Zork. And I want your technology. I could use that in my… profession.” He said with a twisted grin.

“Just let her go and I’ll give it to you. Please just let her go.” Zxan pleaded.

“You’ll give it to me now or she dies.”

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