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chapter nineteen.
this is only the beginning.
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        June had already been through ALIE's taunting once. It was impossible to block out then, and now, it was just as hard to do so for Jasper. He isn't going to give up trying to get into the control room. Jasper decided to list all the people in the dropship camp that they've lost since landing in different gruesome ways. He was rambling, attempting to break them. "John Mbege... Sliced throat. Roma Bragg... Spear to the chest, not as lucky as me. Finn Collins... Death by Clarke. Dax... Death by Clarke. Atom - "

"This should do it." Raven's quiet mumble makes June turn her head.

"Acid fog... Then death by Clarke. Trina and Pascal... Gone."

Raven plugged in the last cord into a box connected to their computer. June knew it was their last chance after she screwed up to get into ALIE's system. She held her breath, hoping, praying, before lightly pressing her thumb on the button of the computer, terrified she was cursed and would break it just by touching it. After all - June's heard the words before, so much that she believed them herself. Everything she touches burns.

June half-expects it to break under her touch but the screen lights up, numbers and letters of green flashing across. She positively beamed as Monty pumped his fist in the air victoriously. "Yes! You're in! It worked!"

She feels Monty's hand slap her shoulder in encouragement. A grin spread over June's lips as she breathed a grateful sigh of relief. "We're in," she corrected him. The three of them did it - together. It wasn't just her or Raven.

"We still have to get the kill switch without ALIE finding us," Raven reminded them after she snapped out of her own daze of amazement. June decided to let her handle that. She slid the keyboard to Raven so she could immediately go to work.

"Connor and Myles... Choked on plastic, thanks to Murphy. Drew... Ninja star to the face." He let out a short, emotionless laugh. "That was a good one."

June remembered that. She remembered all of them. People she was supposed to protect, ones she promised they'd be safe. They were just kids, all of them. She didn't forget their names, their faces, the last time she saw them. June let out a breath she didn't know she had started holding. It was like remembering them again brought a sudden weight to her chest that felt heavy no matter how many times she breathed. As she watched Raven lost in her mission, June decided to list a few names of her own. Not the way Jasper had, but to remember them, to honor the people she once knew and loves, no matter the faults -

Allison Thompson. Hunter Thompson. Wells Jaha. Finn Collins. Maya Vie. Gina Martin. Lincoln Kom Trikru. Jacapo Sinclair...

It was comforting, something June didn't expect. Only until there's suddenly a female voice in the place of Jasper's. "Why'd you guys lock the door?" It's Harper, asking, curious and clueless.

It sends June into a fit of panic, causing her to jump out of her seat at the same time Monty does. He beat her to the door and pressed the speaker's button. "Harper, do you see Jasper?" He whispered. June hoped she could sense the alarm in her voice.

There's the sound of skin hitting skin before Harper lets out a cry of pain and hits the ground. The second that June sees Monty's hand lower to open the door after calling Harper's name, she launched forward, seizing his shoulder and yanking him back. "Don't," she warned him. "If he gets in here, it's all over for us."

Knowing that June is right, Monty breathed in deeply and took a step back. Harper's a guard. She's a fighter. She can handle it, they think, that is, until Jasper pressed an object against the door. They can only make out the outline of a shadow. It's a gun. He must have swiped it off of Harper and it's a clear threat. "Jasper," Monty hissed back into the speaker. "If you hurt her..." He trailed off, the warning clear.

"I know you care about her," Jasper began calmly. "All you have to do is destroy the machine, and she'll be fine. I promise. I don't want you to lose anyone else."

Distract him, June thought. If he's talking, he's not hurting - or killing - Harper. She quickly released Monty and nudged him aside to press the button herself. "Jasper, Harper's your friend," she reminded him despite knowing it was useless. She's only keeping his attention on her. "You don't want to hurt her - you don't want to hurt any of us."

"You're right. I don't want to hurt her. But it won't just be me... Her blood will be on your hands too."

He's right, and June knows it. She shut her eyes for a second and considered all of her limited options. There's a part of Jasper, while under the chip, that still feels a loathing for her. And with ALIE inside of his head... ALIE needs her, or Raven, gone. If they were, it means ALIE wouldn't be destroyed. June uses that as an opportunity. "Jasper, I know ALIE wants you to break us so she can get to me or Raven." She paused and cleared her throat. "So how about it? Me for Harper?"

There's a sudden snarl from where Raven is sitting. "No, June - " She started to scold, only to be cut off.

"Listen, I'll come out. Take me instead of her. You can slap me around, kill me if you want to - just leave her alone," June pleaded, ignoring Raven in the background.

"Like hell you are, June." Monty grabbed June's upper arm and tugged her back as Jasper considered her offer. "Can you stop running into the crossfire, thinking you need redemption for everything by saving everyone else?" He demanded. "It's a stupid plan. ALIE wants you chipped or dead - "

"So?" June held her hands out. "Better me than Harper!" She tries to keep her voice low enough that Jasper doesn't hear them.

"He's right, it's stupid," Raven insisted. Her eyes had briefly left the screen to narrow in their direction, blazing with anger that June is offering to sacrifice herself yet again. "I'll restrain you if I have to. You're not giving yourself up."

There's another tap at the door to grab their attention, along with a slight groan. Harper must have woken up. "Guys, you're running out of time," Jasper cautioned them. "What's it gonna be? Raven's machine... June... Or Harper?"

"Don't give it to him!" Harper exclaimed furiously before she's crying out after being struck again.

June yanked away from Monty to respond. "Me, Jasper. You can have me," she promised.

She turns back around to see Monty looks desperate, glancing around the room as he tried to figure out a plan. "Just keep him talking," he finally whispered before grabbing his handgun. June knows they don't really have to speak. He's going to follow her, to stop Jasper from killing either her or Harper.

While Raven takes over, limping to the door, June and Monty sneak out of another hidden exit, careful to lock it behind them. June can hear Monty keep his footsteps quiet and slow from behind her so Jasper can't hear him as they round the hall, Monty hidden behind the corner, careful to not startle Jasper. The scene is exactly as June expected it. Harper is sprawled on the ground, clutching her bleeding head, with Jasper above her.

There's a faraway look in his gaze as he speaks into the speaker. "Raven, your chances of reaching the killswitch again are less than two percent. I've added additional security. I know the digital signature of the chip that Hannah gave to Monty. The moment you use the portal to interact with anything within my code, I will know. I will find you." He's speaking so robotically in a way that June had heard before with Raven. It isn't him talking. It's ALIE.

"Jasper," June speaks up. His head swiveled to meet her eyes as she holds her hands up in surrender. He blinked a few times as if coming out of a trance. "You know we can't give up that machine."

"But you're willing to give up yourself?" Jasper shot back. He cocked the handgun, finger pressed on the trigger. For a moment, June thinks he's going to point it at Jasper. Instead, the barrel points at her. "Tell me, June. Are you really willing to die and let all of your friends die for a two percent chance?"

"What do you think?"

Jasper can barely process the new voice belonging to Monty when he revealed himself, gun held up and took the shot. The bullet flew by June and made a home in Jasper's leg. Harper, having pulled herself together, swung her leg around and swiped Jasper off his feet, knocking the gun from his hand, before effectively knocking him unconscious. June gasped out, forgetting all about how she just survived yet again when there was a gun pointed at her. She rushed to Harper's aid, helping the girl up. "Are you okay?" She checked.

The blood from Harper's head wound isn't bleeding too bad and if she was concussed, June supposed she wouldn't be able to stand so steadily. She nodded back. "I'm fine."

The door to the control room had slid open and Raven observed what she had walked into after checking out June, making sure she was alright. "Good thing there's no pain in the City of Light," she commented. Otherwise, Jasper would be in a hell of a lot of pain.

Although, that may change when they finally put an end to ALIE. Harper stayed with them this time after they tied up Jasper to a chair and turned him away from the monitors so he couldn't see what Raven was working on. ALIE's code was just in front of them, being divided as the mechanic hacked into it.

"I don't believe it," she suddenly breathed out.

"What?" Monty eagerly questioned. He leaned over her shoulder to get a closer look. "Did you find the kill switch?"

"Don't answer that," Harper quickly argued. She tilted her head in Jasper's direction. "ALIE can hear us." June glanced over her shoulder to see that Jasper had woken up. He was staring blankly at the wall, silent.

"I'm reading her code, Harper," Raven dismissed. "ALIE already knows."

"Knows what? What're you talking about?" Monty anxiously pressed on.

Raven paused like she thought over what they were seeing. She let out a breath before replying to tell them while pointing at one of the screens. "Clarke is in the City of Light."

June swore that she can feel the minute her heart sunk like a rock in her chest. That was nothing like she expected. They didn't talk it over in their plan. She knew things went wrong with ALIE knowing everything but with them improvising their way through the trap, wouldn't Clarke going into the City of Light be the worst decision? Did ALIE somehow get to her? June voiced her worry. "Did she take the chip?"

"She would've had to, but..." Raven said slowly, shaking her head. "ALIE's running a flush sub-routine to find her. Sending Clarke's code out to everyone."

"Like how we tackle viruses," June finished for her.

Raven nodded. "Exactly. ALIE wouldn't have to do that if she could control her. It's like Clarke is running a different program."

Maybe there was only one way that was possible. It was Monty who figured it out. He leaned forward and whispered in hopes that Jasper couldn't hear him. "Did she put the Flame in her head?"

"You don't have to whisper," Jasper called to them boredly. ALIE was speaking for him once more. June could tell by the same robotic tone that gave her a cold shiver. "I'm aware Clarke has merged with the other AI. Thanks to her, my code is now updated to Version 2.0 of my program." His mouth clamped shut as did his eyes before he tilted his head back.

As if they didn't want to know the answer, Monty took a deep breath. "What happens when ALIE is updated?" He asked.

Raven swallowed and pressed her lips together, struggling to say something. June hasn't worked with AI's before now but she knew it herself. "She'll delete the killswitch," Raven at last stated. "And we won't be able to stop her."

"So find the damn killswitch," Harper demanded.

Their friends depended on them. If this didn't work... June didn't want to think about it. She could only hope that it would as Raven started rapidly typing, dark eyes focused on the flashing screen. The numbers started to morph into a raven, the bird, its wings rose high as it was surrounded by a circle of letters. June could see Clarke's name nearing it but slowly. Something was holding her back.

"Come on, Clarke," Raven whispered as if the girl could somehow hear her. "Trust me."

"She does," June reminded her softly. Clarke wasn't just a leader, although she was a damn good one. She was their friend. She trusted them as much as they did her. June may have questioned Clarke's decisions a few times but she could confidently say she never once doubted her faith and what direction she led them. It was all up to her now. Clarke could do this.

"How will we know if she did it?" Monty questioned.

A cracking voice whispered from behind them. "She did it." June looked at Jasper again, seeing him slowly raise his head, her heart hurting at the sight. It was like a flip was suddenly switched. It mattered to her that he was right, Clarke did do it because he was feeling pain. June knew she placed her hope in the right person but she could hear Jasper's cries of sorrow like everything was hitting him all at once even from her spot.

"Jasper?" Monty quickly dashed away from the monitors and to his best friend. He crouched, eyes desperately attempting to meet his. "Listen to me..."

"I was finally happy," Jasper choked out. June knew it wasn't her place of all people but she wanted to correct him. It wasn't happiness, not really. Jasper didn't feel anything, no physical or emotional pain. That's not happiness. She can't correct him. It isn't the time. June was the cause of most of his agony. She could at least spare him this.

Monty went to work on untying the knots that held Jasper to the chair. "Jasper... I know this world can suck. But at least it's real. We can get through this together," he advised gently.

The promise shared between them was private but it still made June smile as they exchanged a few more words quietly. She took the moment to look at the screens. They were blank, wiped off of any slate, meaning only one thing. It was over. Clarke really did it, and ALIE was no more.

"Sorry I stabbed you," Jasper apologized to him.

"Sorry I shot you," Monty replied.

Jasper smiled through the tears. "I didn't feel it," he weakly joked. It felt good to laugh and really mean it. June could feel the bubble of joy and relief in her chest rise and make its way out of her throat.

Wincing, Jasper had to lean on Monty as he stood, the pressure on his leg with the bullet hole suddenly painful. He put his arms around Monty, hugging him tightly, crying into his shoulder an apology again as Monty patted his back, reassuring him that it was okay. When Jasper slowly released him, he turned to look at the three girls. "I could use a drink," he confessed to the small group.

"We all could," Harper agreed. June didn't realize how much she needed one until now. The release felt so light, so breathtaking in a way that she could actually breathe again. It was the best she felt in a while, she thinks, sending a thoughtful gaze to Raven. Almost.

"This round's on me," Jasper offered.

When he took a step, he grimaced, hand falling to press against his leg. June looked away from where she was staring at Raven when she noticed. "Wait, Jasper, let me help you," she tried as she stood to reach him. "I can bandage your - "

"No, no," Jasper dismissed June without looking at her. "I got it." She was saddened for a moment as he left, staggering out of the control room with a limp in each step. She knew it was only a matter of time.

"He'll come around." June sank back in her seat when she heard Raven speak, a smile dancing on her lips.

June weakly smiled back before leaning over, pressing her forehead against Raven's shoulder. The girl curled her fingers around June's blonde hair, her nails gently digging into her scalp to comfort her. It brought ease to her, here, with the girl she loved as they held a victory over their head. At least, that's what June's faith told her. It was finally time for her to rest, to lay her weapons down and catch her breath.

Or so she thought.

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END OF PART THREE.