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chapter twelve.
fix her favorite toy.
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The ride through the woods is so silent that it hurts. June knows Jasper doesn't want to talk to her or Clarke, especially. She still took a few peeks over her shoulder to check Raven, nearly butting heads with Clarke each time she looked, because Clarke was leaning in between the two seats. June wasn't as angry with her as Jasper, but there was still a large part of her that was mildly upset. Clarke left at the time she needed her the most and then chose to stay at Polis instead of with her people, and June still doesn't know why all because they haven't had a chance to talk with the absence of her.

Much to June's disappointment, Clarke tried to break the silence. "One of you, please, talk to me," she pleaded. The last time someone had spoken, it was Jasper, who actually really screamed wildly into the radio at Miller and Sinclair where they were hiding in a cave, anxiously waiting for the return of their other friends.

"I saved both of you," Jasper muttered without looking away from his path. "It's more than you deserve." June felt her eyes water, and she furiously blinked it away. She should be used to all the comments by now, but it still sent another jab at her heart. June knows Jasper isn't wrong anyway. It isn't like she doesn't deserve it.

"My mother let them shoot at me," Clarke desperately attempted to understand.

"I can see the appeal," Jasper retorted harshly. "Stop talking and look for the cave, Sinclair said it'd be around here somewhere, otherwise just ask June and leave me alone."

Clarke goes silent at the words thrown at her, but June can feel her eyes staring directly at the back of her head. "Okay, Clarke," she began, turning around and immediately wincing when her wrist connected to Jasper stung. "We're going long story short. Jaha came back, handing out chips that control people, take their memories and pain because of some computer chick named ALIE. She was in Raven's head. Still is, and we're going to help her."

Although Clarke looks confused, she nods, sure that's all she's going to be told. Then her eyes dart to where June and Jasper had their arms outstretched, handcuffs around their left and right wrists. "And that?" Clarke questioned with a motion of her chin.

"Our unfortunate event, thanks to Jaha," June finally finished. "But back to you... What's happening in Polis? I thought Kane said Lexa was going to keep you safe after the peace treaty."

Just like that, June watched Clarke's face morph into agonizing grief, all because of the one question about Lexa. She knows immediately what happened, and her mouth tasted sour, pity and regret filling her system. She wasn't sure if, at the time she had known Lexa, there was something between them, but just the sorrow Clarke is showing answered it enough. As soon as June parted her lips to apologize, Clarke pulled herself together and shook her head. "Don't," she whispered. "It's fine." June knows it wasn't, but she let it stop there.

Suddenly, Jasper heaved a sigh of relief as they came around some trees. "The cave's out there!" He announced, slamming on the breaks. June lets out a small noise of pain and surprise after Jasper opened the rover's door and started crawling out, giving her no choice but to scramble over the driver's seat and follow before she falls or gets her arm ripped out. Jasper hurried to the back of the rover, and June opens the door for him so he can reach in and scoop up Raven, feeling her chained wrist press against Raven's back again while they race side by side to the cave with him calling out. "Need your help!"

The first person June sees is Bellamy. He doesn't look the same as the last time she remembered, struggling to process when she had last seen him. He's not trying to hide his sadness anymore, the emotion is shown just in the way he stands. His face is littered with scars and bruises, ones June doesn't recognize, that are seemingly fresh. Before she can ask, Bellamy is already hurrying to take Raven's limp body out of Jasper's arms once he sees the cuffs connecting them. "You have to get her inside before she wakes up," Jasper informed him.

"Were you followed?" Bellamy asked as he adjusted Raven in his grip, gesturing for the rest to follow him. June recognized everyone as those who had escaped Arkadia before Lincoln gave himself up, including Monty.

"Maybe - I don't know," Jasper stammered out. As Miller ordered Harper and Bryan to stay on watch with the rover, the rest pile inside, Clarke calling to Octavia who had looked ready to leave.

As soon as they enter, Sinclair, who had been sitting alone, jumped up at the sight of Bellamy carrying Raven. "We need to clear some space," Clarke eased him. June makes a move to help as Sinclair rushed to brush aside stray items, but is stopped when she feels the cuff dig into her blood-stained wrist again, and she sighed, tired of being stuck. Raven is gently laid down on piles of leaves, semi-propped against the cave wall, causing her head to loll to the side.

"What happened to her?" Sinclair asked in worry as he crouched next to her, observing Raven's state closely.

"I told you on the radio. Raven is not Raven anymore," Jasper exasperated. "None of them are. Jaha's been chipping everyone."

"Jasper's right," Clarke confirmed calmly when the rest look at him like he's been drinking again. "June was there too, and I've seen it with my own eyes."

"I don't need your help, alright!" Jasper angrily snapped at Clarke, jabbing a finger in her direction, unintentionally yanking June, who winces again.

It's Bellamy who noticed June's pain and the injury around her wrist that was probably scarring by now. "Alright, stop dragging June around like a rag doll, take it easy and explain," he instructed.

Glancing behind him, Jasper's eyes flickered up and down June, seeing the ache in her features along with her wrist that matched his own and slowly nodded. "Jaha is using the chips to control people," he started. "You swallow the chip and changes you, you forget who you are and you see this thing ALIE... Only she's not really there." He gestured with his free arm to Raven. "She made Raven slit her own wrists. We were trying to get it out of her head, and we were trying to help her but..." Jasper trailed off.

"Okay," Sinclair said gently. "Let's help her now. Did she say how?"

"She was working on building something. She needed one of our old wristbands, but Jaha destroyed all of them," Jasper responded, unsure.

"It was to fry the chip out of her head," June added on, explaining to Sinclair, the engineer. "She said it wouldn't damage her brain stems."

Clarke's head shot up. "Wait a second," she stopped them, searching through the pocket of a pouch around her hip, retrieving a box. She slid the top off, pulling out a tiny chip that was a translucent blue with the infinity symbol, identical to the ones June remembered Jaha having, but not exactly the same. "Does it look like this?"

"Not exactly," Jasper replied.

Suddenly, the girl they all thought was unconscious leaped up, throwing the blanket around her aside. June can hardly blink before Raven is in a standing position, punching Sinclair straight in the face and knocking him over, bolting for the outside. "Stop her!" June shouted, for the first time dragging Jasper behind her.

"Don't let her get away!" June hears Clarke shout too from where she had sprinted ahead with the group to the guards outside.

When June is outside, her sight is full of the darkness from the night, and she saw Raven screaming wildly as everyone takes turns trying to hold her down. "I can't see anything!" She was screeching to who they could only assume was ALIE as June runs towards them, her free hand sinking into her pocket and pulling out one of the sedation drugs. While Raven is distracted trying to free herself and screaming, June shoved her arm through the mingling of bodies and jabbed the bottom of it to Raven's neck, jamming her finger on the button to release the needle in her skin and plunge the medicine into her.

June pulled it away when Raven's screams die and she falls silent, eyes shutting. Her body becomes limp, unconscious, only being held up by her arms. "Reaper stick," June explained breathlessly. "But we can't keep drugging her."

"We have to go. Now!" Clarke suddenly exclaimed anxiously.

"Why?" Bellamy questioned. "ALIE doesn't know where we are."

"Because I know where we can get a wristband."

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The same trading post June, Bellamy, and Monty had followed Clarke's trail too with Kane and Pike is the one where Clarke was positive they could get a wristband from. June trusted her, not questioning why, only sitting in the back with Jasper on her other side. He seemed tense from the small area they were squished into, being forced to press against her due to the chain connecting their wrists. June stays quiet the entire ride there, not pointing it out, only speaking up in question with a single word when she noticed Sinclair staring at her from the seat across. "What?"

"Just wondering how that happened," Sinclair admitted, motioning to the handcuffs.

June smiled tightly. "Oh, we've never been closer." Despite the situation, she couldn't help but joke and Jasper made a huff with his head turned.

"Here it is," Clarke announced from the passenger seat. June leaned forward, glancing out of the front. She recognized the woman they had seen last time, the tall girl with dirty blonde braided hair - Niylah, her mind clicked. She's not as beat up anymore, and instead of a nice greeting, she's hostile, holding a sword in one hand with a threatening stance. "I'll talk to her," Clarke suggested, opening the door.

"I'll come with you," Bellamy offered without leaving room for argument, putting the rover in park and opening the driver door.

"Thought you said she was a friend," Octavia mentioned with bitterness.

"We'll handle it," Clarke promised, stepping out with Bellamy. "Just stay here."

June and Jasper work together to make way out of the rover in a struggle of trying not to twist their scarred wrists or trap anyone in a circle. She wants to help Sinclair carry Raven, or at least make sure she's alright, but she's stuck in place. A piece of cloth is tied around Raven's eyes, courtesy of Octavia, and she's assisted into being propped in Sinclair's arms whose startled when she starts to stir groggily. "She's waking up!" He called to Clarke and Bellamy. Then lowered his voice to them. "We have to get her inside."

Even if Niylah doesn't agree, June knows they don't have another choice. She sees she's right when they rush as a group to the shelter, Niylah reluctantly out of their way because of Bellamy. He's holding her at gunpoint. June is hit with disgust at the sight, but she can only helplessly shake her head and follow everyone in, bringing Jasper with her.

"I told you, my mom was here. If she was chipped, ALIE would know," Monty panicked to Clarke as they walk inside. Merchandise and supplies are no longer thrown around like June remembered, now neatly put in place.

"That's why we're putting her in the back," Clarke said shortly, snatching a few ropes off a shelf. "Through there," she instructed Sinclair in front, shoving aside a curtain.

The lighting is dimmer in the small room. Candles are lit, but only a few, and a bed is in the middle of it all. Raven is gently laid on it as she fully awakes and starts swinging her limbs, attempting to hit anyone in her way. Sinclair managed to catch one of her wrists before she hits him and pins it to the metal headboard, beginning to tie it with the rope Clarke gave him. With her free hand, Raven reaches up to rip the blindfold off, panting heavily. Her eyes land in the empty space in front of her, brows furrowed as she listened to nothing. Everything stopped, nobody moving or speaking until she suddenly lashed out.

"Where the hell am I?!" Raven shrieked, her free arm and legs starting to thrash around with more desperation than before. Everyone breaks out of their daze to run and hold her. "Let me go! Let me go!" She screamed, trying to break free.

Jasper beats June to it, the girl being dragged behind him as he hurries to tie down her other arm. June knows she's pretty much useless, but she uses her other hand to press down on Raven's kicking leg to the bed, the other outstretched in Jasper's direction. "Raven, stop fighting!" Octavia demanded, struggling to hold her tied arm still.

Suddenly, the arm Jasper had been having issues tying breaks free and punched him in the face. He nearly topped over, June hurrying to pull away and steady him. "Why is it always me?!" Jasper exclaimed in frustration. Monty raced to replace his spot, working much faster.

But Raven is making is much more difficult than it already is. A mixture of screams from her with her limbs flying in every way and shouts of frustration from the others become a swirl in June's head, nearly causing it to ache. At last, Sinclair finished the last knot around Raven's ankle. "Got it!" He declared, stepping back. June releases a breath, backing up with the rest who all watch in terror as Raven doesn't stop.

It isn't Raven, June tells herself, but she's still horrified as she witnesses Raven pulling as hard as she can at the bounds, causing them to dig painfully into her skin and leaving red marks already. "Let me go!" She snarled through gritted teeth, the bed springs squeaking as she bounced. Enraged, Raven's nostrils flare, all animalistic as she screamed in a dark growl that June had never heard her do. "Let me go!"

The back of June's free hand presses against her nose, tasting acid in her mouth. "What is that thing doing to her?" She whispered brokenly.

"No," Clarke protested before asking the award winning question. "How the hell do we get it out of her head?"

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The wristband Clarke was given by Niylah made a thud as it bounced on the table. "Niylah said we can work in here, so how do we do this?" June eyed the object wearily. Her and Jasper were still connected, unable to find an object that would break them free, but that would come when they had a second to catch their breath. It didn't seem like that moment was coming any time soon.

"We think Raven wanted to use this wristband to generate an EMP," Sinclair explained before mumbling. "Which is freakishly brilliant."

"Meaning what?" Bellamy urged.

"A targetted electromagnetic pulse could destroy the chips circuitry. We could use this to send an EMP along Raven's own nervous system. Just need to reverse the polarity, a wire for external input and attach of battery," Sinclair told her. June knew the short version after listening to Raven. Electricity up short circuits and they can say good-bye to the chip turning Raven into a savage.

"But what would that do to her?" Clarke asked worriedly.

"Well, EMPs don't affect our bodies," Sinclair answered. "But I don't know the mechanics of how this chip integrates with her brain."

June shook her head. "ALIE knows it'll work. Raven said she's her favorite toy."

Bellamy nodded. "This was Raven's plan, she wouldn't do it if it would destroy her brain," he agreed.

The drape Octavia was behind was moved aside and she entered with a grave look. "Depends how bad she wanted it out," she drawled. June looked over, slightly hurt at the words, but she knows she's right. She had seen Raven in that state, frantically freaking out, wanting that damn chip out of her head no matter the costs.

"Regardless, without an electromagnet, this is just talk," Sinclair cut in.

"Where do we get one?" Clarke questioned.

After a beat of hesitation, Sinclair tried to meet their eyes. "The Ark." Immediately, Bellamy tensed and June looked at him in dismay. "Every station had a pulse inductive thruster - "

"Arkadia's out of the question. You heard them," Bellamy stated firmly.

"Look, none of us want to end up like Raven," June attempted to reason. "But if we don't have another magnet..." She trailed off.

For a moment, everyone looked as defeated as June, until Monty swooped in and saved the day. "We use the dropship," he announced. "It has PI thrusters just like The Ark."

"That's good," Sinclair complimented, more bright than before. "Okay, I'll go salvage the magnet."

"Uh, no." Monty hurried to stop him. "You should stay with Raven and figure out how this thing works. I'll take the rover, be back by the time you finish the device," he offered. Sinclair doesn't seem as if he liked it, but he nods, allowing Monty to pass.

"We don't know how many people are chipped, Monty," June said, taking a step, only to be stopped when her chained arm hung behind her back. "You shouldn't go alone."

Monty's eyes dart to the handcuffs and an amused smile appeared. "If you're offering, I don't think you'd be much help with one hand."

Lips twitching into a faint smile, June prepared to reply, but Octavia beats her to it. "I'll go with you," she said, adjusting her sword in the sheath around her shoulder. When Bellamy looked to her, mouth open to object, his sister glared darkly at him. "Don't." Then Octavia leaves the post without another word, Monty following her, unsure.

All June knows when she shares a somber face with Clarke is that this is going to be one hell of a night.