Terms and Conditions

                                    

                                          
Clove, amongst other young Arkadians, had recently been recruited to join the guard detail. Monty had mentioned to her that Bellamy recommended her to Pike personally. He also happened to drop the fact that Bellamy was not concerned about Clove going against Pike because of her "occasional lack of moral compass" and tendency to "not really care about what's going on."
                          
"Ouch," Clove had responded to Monty. "I'm offended." Of course, Monty assured her that he meant it in the best way possible, which led Clove to the conclusion that the best case in that scenario was, in fact, still bad. 
                          
Walking through camp, Clove resorted to kicking every pebble she saw to keep herself entertained until she got into the main building and was surrounded by dull, grey metal. She finally came upon a door and then scoped out the area before heading in. 
                          
"Not that this is a priority," Clove began as soon as she shut the door behind her, "But somebody should totally work on getting art on the walls of this place. It's so dreary. I feel like I'm prison... Again." 
                          
"Nice of you to join us, Clove," Harper teased, pointing at the box pulled up beside her for Clove to sit on. 
                          
"I miss anything?" 
                          
"Not too much, they just got to Pike's office," Miller informed her. 
                          
"The walls have ears," Pike's voice came through the radio and Kane hushed the three of them. "We can't afford any more assumptions about who's a friend and who isn't, not your oldest acquaintance. Not your husband, wife, or lover. We're fighting two wars now, and the more dangerous one is here inside this camp. We can't prove it yet. But Kane and his accomplices passed information to Octavia. I know none of you signed up to investigate your neighbors. But Monroe and Lacroix died because the traitors in this camp sold them out to the Grounders. Whoever did that will be hunted down and exposed for what they did to their own. For what they did to us. Now you get whatever resources, whatever personnel you need to make that happen. Dismissed."
                          
"If they're gonna play that game, we need to play it too," Kane spoke. 
                          
Harper and Clove shared a confused look. "Meaning?"
                          
Kane stood up from his seat. "We don't meet here again, for starters. We change our patterns. Forget our habits. Take a different route through camp each time we go out. Assume that there are eyes on us at all times."
                          
"Or we could just shock-lash Pike's fascist ass and hand him to the Grounders," Harper offered.
                          
Clove pointed at Harper and nodded. "I agree. Get it done and over with."
                          
"No. That would be murder. Not to mention treason," Kane paused. "And that's not who we are."
                          
"I could be," Clove shrugged. Kane eyed her and the girl held her hands up. "What? It's for a good cause." 
                          
"She might be right," Miller voiced. "Maybe that's who we need to be."
                          
Kane shook his head. "Not yet."
                          
Miller rubbed his face and sighed. "All right, then what's the plan?"
                          
"I need to try to talk to him first," Kane answered. "He could do the right thing still."
                          
"But he already thinks he is doing the right thing," Clove pointed out. "And if you talk to him first he's probably going to suspect something." 
                          
"I know," Kane spoke. "But if we don't try and do the right thing first we aren't much different than they are." 
                          
Clove definitely thought otherwise. Pike and his crew wanted to murder people for now good reason; simply because of an illusion of reality they created in their minds. They wanted to murder one person to prevent Pike's inevitable war crimes and save hundreds of lives. She was certain that murder was perfectly acceptable in this situation.