Finn froze the moment he saw Jason.
Jason didn't waste a second.
"I'm here to talk to Raven," he said flatly.
Raven looked up from where she was hunched over a table, crafting more bullets with the focus of someone holding the camp's life in her hands.
Finn blinked. "Right… uh—I'll see myself out then."
He slipped past Jason and left, head lowered.
Jason watched him go… then shifted his attention back to Raven. She had already turned back to her work, fingers moving swiftly, shoulders tight with tension.
Jason walked closer quietly while observing her until Raven let out a long, annoyed exhale.
"…What?" she muttered without looking up.
"Oh nothing," Jason said casually. "Just watching you work is all."
"Not now, Jason," Raven grumbled.
Jason hopped up to sit on the corner of her table. "Well if not now, then when?"
Raven paused, glaring at him with that sharp dark stare of hers that could cut metal.
Jason's smile faded a little. He saw the exhaustion carved into her expression, the pressure weighing on her shoulders. The stress Finn had just left behind.
"Raven…" he said softly. "You need to breathe, you know."
She scoffed. "Not really an option."
He leaned forward slightly.
"You're doing more than anyone here. More than half the camp combined. You've already kept us alive with nothing but scrap metal and brilliance."
He reached out and touched her hands gently.
"You built a bomb out of a tin can, Raven. This camp can't do without you. You're allowed to stop beating yourself up."
Raven slowly stood up, Jason still holding her hands.
His voice softened even more.
"Don't let the pressure crush you. Even if it's there. You're already doing your best… more than your best."
Something in her eyes melted at that, something raw, something hurt that Finn had left bleeding in her.
And she stepped closer.
Then she kissed him.
Hard.
The shock hit Jason for half a second… then instincts took over. He grabbed her behind the neck and pulled her in, kissing her back hungrily. Raven let out a soft moan against his lips as her body pressed fully against him, her breasts flattening against his chest.
They finally pulled back, Raven biting her bottom lip, breath shaky.
"That was…" Jason murmured.
"Very much needed," Raven finished.
Jason smirked. "Well, that's one way to thank your local emotional-support delinquent."
Raven laughed and he wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her another soft peck that she gladly accepted.
She rested her forehead against his for a second.
"Okay… why were you here in the first place?"
Jason straightened.
"I have an idea. Or… more like—I want to steal the Grounders' ideas and use them against them."
Raven blinked. "Huh?"
—————————————-
A few hours later, Bellamy, Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Jasper, Monty, and most of the camp gathered near the center, murmuring among themselves.
"Why are we all here?"
"What's going on?"
"Did something happen?"
Jason stepped forward.
"You all know the threat we're facing," he began, voice carrying over the restless crowd. "And you all know how severely overmatched we are."
Silence fell.
He walked slowly across the dirt, gesturing toward the woods.
"They have the numbers. The experience. And believe it or not the weapons. Yeah, we've got guns, but we're low on ammo. We don't have real firepower. And the terrain? It's theirs. They've lived here their whole lives. We're the ones out of our depth."
Bellamy crossed his arms. "Not to point out the obvious, but we already know all this, Jason. What's your point?"
Jason's lips curved into a dangerous smirk.
"My point is… we make the terrain ours."
Confused murmurs spread.
"We take the very thing that gives them the advantage and we steal it," Jason said. "We turn their hunting grounds into a battlefield where we decide who walks out alive."
Octavia was the first to gasp.
"Oh my God. You want to build traps."
Bellamy's eyes widened. "You want to copy the Grounders' traps and use them against them?"
Jason laughed loudly, clapping his hands once.
"Ding ding ding! Twenty points for the Blake siblings."
The crowd chuckled lightly at that with the tension briefly breaking until Murphy folded his arms.
"How exactly are you gonna trap them," Murphy asked, "when it's literally their trick?"
Jason's grin sharpened.
"Oh, Murphy… it might be their trick," he said, "but that doesn't mean they're gonna survive it when we implement it."
Murphy raised a brow.
Jason kept going.
"The method matters. The placement matters. The angle matters. The trigger mechanism matters. You can have the same trap in two different locations and they'll have two entirely different results. And unlike the Grounders, we're not using traps meant to slow prey down… we're using traps meant to kill."
Clarke nodded slowly.
"Well… what are we waiting for then? Let's begin."
Jason smirked. "First things first, we need tools. Bellamy?"
Bellamy straightened.
"Everyone with a knife or anything sharp, bring it here. Now!"
Within seconds, kids rushed forward putting down knives, scraps of metal, sharpened stones anything.
——————————
Jason, Bellamy, Finn, Clarke, and Octavia entered a tent. Jasper and Monty stayed behind to sort the tools.
Finn spoke first.
"This all sounds good but how are we building these traps? And what traps exactly?"
Jason cracked his knuckles and began.
"Alright. We start with the classics."
"First trap will be a Spring-Spike Whip Trap. A rope is twisted like a bowstring between two trees. Sharpened spikes embedded into a bent branch. Once they trip the wire, the branch releases shooting out and impaling anyone in front of it."
He mimed the movement with his hands.
"Instant kill if placed right. Aim for chest level." He then raised two of his fingers
"Two we can make a Drop-Log Spike Trap. A heavy log carved with holes. We insert metal spikes or sharpened wood inside. Hang it on a rope system above a trail. Tripwire releases it and the log drops vertically or swings depending on the angle."
Octavia winced. "That'll crush skulls."
"Exactly," Jason replied with a nonchalant shrug before raising a third finger.
"For number three a pitfall Trap with False Floor. We get a few of the others to dig pits at least three feet wide, four feet deep. At the base with a sharpened stakes. Over the top? A false floor made of thin branches and leaves. Step on it, down you go. Impaled instantly."
Finn blinked. "That's… brutal."
"Welcome to survival," Jason said simply before raising a fourth finger.
"A spike Mat Trap (Cover Trap). Hmmm, this is literally a bed of spikes angled upward, hidden under leaves. One wrong step and their foot gets destroyed. Forces them to stop or limp, making them easier targets." Bellamy winced at that and Jason merely glanced and ignored the disturbed look which they were all giving him.
"Next we make an overhead net snare with spikes attached. A rope nets tied to branches, dropping onto a group. But with us? We tie spikes into the net ropes. When it falls, it pierces anything under it."
Raven muttered, "Holy… that's messed up."
"Next up is the Spring-Loaded Splinter Cannon." Jason said with a mad man grin in his face.
Octavia blinked. "A what?"
Jason schooled his features to make himself appear normal as if the thought didn't make his body tingle with excitement… 'yeah something is wrong with me'.
"A small log hollowed out. Fill it with sharp wooden splints. A tension-based plate inside. Tripwire pulls the stopper and splints shoot outward like a shotgun blast."
Finn stared at him. "You're a psycho."
Jason shrugged.
"Just creative."
By the time Jason finished, they were silent.
Octavia whispered, "…damn."
Raven nodded. "Yeah. I know. That's wow."
Bellamy after a few seconds chuckled. "I like it."
Finn snorted. "Yeah, of course you would."
He looked at Jason, almost accusing.
"So that's it? You've just been thinking of new ways to kill things?"
Jason rolled his head slowly and sighed.
"When a wild animal gets pushed into a corner, it does things it normally wouldn't. They've pushed us to this point. We didn't choose it."
Raven crossed her arms. "He's right."
Finn looked at her like she'd betrayed him. Raven ignored it.
Clarke nodded.
"Well… it's something. At least we can give ourselves a chance."
Jason smirked.
"Exactly."
——————————
Hours later the camp turned into a construction zone.
Kids chopped trees.
Others sharpened wooden stakes.
Murphy was cursing as he dug pits while Bellamy carried heavy logs shirtless.
Murphy looked up.
"Hey, this isn't your plan, Bellamy. Why're you doing what Jason says now?"
Bellamy paused, glancing toward Jason who was high up in a tree, pulling a rope tied to a drop-log trap.
"Because Jason's done more for this camp than even I could've," Bellamy said simply. "He's made things easier… safer. He's earned that."
Murphy raised a brow.
"Shouldn't you take command?"
Bellamy shook his head.
"I don't need to. We already have someone who can do it. And Jason still treats me as an equal. Even though everyone sees him as the leader now."
Murphy gave him a look.
Bellamy stepped closer, voice dropping.
"But hear me, Murphy. You pull anything stupid? Don't worry about me… worry about him."
Murphy blinked.
Bellamy smirked darkly.
"Because whatever he does to you… will be way worse for your health."
Bellamy walked away to help with the spring-loaded traps.
———————————
Jason pulled a rope tight, shirt off, muscles flexing under the afternoon light. Sweat ran down his torso, dirt on his arms and yet he looked like he was enjoying all of it.
Clarke passed by Raven and noticed the way Raven was staring at him openly and hungrily even.
Octavia walked over smirking.
"Careful, Raven… you're drooling."
Raven didn't even look away.
"…hallelujah."
Octavia choked on a laugh.
Raven finally turned, glaring playfully.
"You shouldn't look, though. You have Lincoln."
She then turned to Clarke.
"And you have Finn."
Clarke opened her mouth but Raven cut her off.
"It's nothing. I'm over that."
She walked away.
Octavia scoffed, watching Jason again.
"Yeah… I wonder why she's over him."
Clarke followed her gaze to Jason who was tying rope knots on a branch with fast, practiced motions.
The answer was obvious.
NIGHTFALL
By the time night settled, torches lit up the camp.
Forty percent of the traps were done.
Spikes lined the forest edge.
Drop-logs hung ominously in branches.
Pits were camouflaged so well even Clarke almost fell in twice.
The forest no longer belonged to the Grounders.
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