After the entire situation of finding him and Octavia asking to lend her his sword, which he gracefully did.
The group then continued their tracks towards Mount Weather.
Markus did though ask Jasper and Monty of events that occurred after he passed out.
And as he thought, the events of the first episode with the river and snake hadn't occured.
After he passed out the others had went out of their way to find a safe place to rest and wait for him to come to consciousness.
As for the monster deer? That had been left out hanging by the roots.
He'd have to go back for it, hopefully whatever mutations it had underwent would make it resistant to spoiling and decay.
He wanted to study it and see what made it tick, or simply just use it for food that the 100 will desperately need in the coming days.
So with that thought he and the others kept moving, and before he knew it they had reached the river.
" What? There wasn't supposed to be a river here." Clarke told them, bringing up her map to double check.
Markus seeing this also walked up to her and studied it before nodding.
" Well we are definitely in the right place, I guess a hundred years is a long enough time for the geography to change, with the bombs and all." He told them, staring at the river in suspicion—wondering whether the snake would be hiding there.
" Yeah—wait, you can read maps?" Clarke asked, raising a brow at him.
" Is that so much of a surprise?" He asked in amusement." I taught myself actually, after getting skyboxed some of us before getting sent down here were taught earth skills and i took to learning geography in hopes it would help me live longer."
" Oh..." Clarke muttered, having not been part of the 100 that had been taught by Pike.
" So what now? Anyone down to take a dip?" Octavia asked, staring at Markus as she made way to take off her jacket.
" Woah there O." Markus quickly grabbed her, stopping her actions." We don't want a repeat of yesterday, what if there's a giant piranha down there just waiting to chomp at any unsuspecting prey?"
Octavia looked at him then at the water and smartly putting the jacket back on.
" Then how do we cross?" Wells asked.
" Risk it and swim across?" Finn suggested.
" Nope, not doing that." Markus said, still adamant on not getting in the water." Plus, do any of you even know how to swim?"
" I mean it's not that deep." Jasper told them, jabbing a stick down the water and to the bottom before bringing it back up for everyone to see that it was only a metre and a quarter deep.
' Why the fuck are they so adamant on going into the water? Is the world trying to stay within canon or something?' Markus incredulously thought, feeling a headache setting in.
" Still no, too dangerous." He stated once more.
" Which brings us back to how are we crossing then smart guy?" Wells asked with a snort.
" Well, anyone of you awakened any telekinetic powers or the ability to fly maybe?" Markus asked but inside his head he was doing something else.
Ever since they reached the river he had been keeping his 'flora senses' up to the maximum, wanting to know immediately when a grounder was within range.
But since his flora sense only covered a maximum of 34 metres around him he wasn't really sure whether they had already found them like they did in canon or not.
" I have an idea." Clarke chimed in seeing that no one had any convenient ability to get them across, looking at the vines that dangled down the trees.
' Oh here we go again.' He thought with a sigh.
" Let me guess, create a vine rope and swing over the other end?" He asked already knowing the answer.
The only answer he got in return was a smile from Clarke before she walked up to the vines and started pulling on them.
" Well then, let's get to it." He muttered before joining her in creating a strong enough vine rope.
~∆§∆~
It took only 20 minutes for them to create the vines, between threading them together and typing them on a tree above the river.
Markus knew that he could have just created a vine bridge to get them over but he didn't, firstly he didn't know whether the grounders were watching them or not and didn't want to show his capabilities to them.
And once they were done they stared at it.
" So who's going first?" Wells asked staring at the dangling thing.
Markus mulled over it for a moment, knowing very well what was gonna happen.
' Ah fuck it, this could net me Talent Points anyway if I don't die.' He thought before walking up.
" Okay then, it's decided, I'll be right behind you." Clarke told him, earning a nod from him.
Stilling his nerves he got ready, grabbing the vine rope and backing up.
" See you on the other side." He told them, not letting it show that inside he felt like he was preparing for a war.
And so with nerves of steel he started running and just as he jumped, still holding on to the vine he felt it.
Another life source in the foliage behind him moving fast, too fast as they up a tree not too far away from the others.
" Fuck." He muttered, halfway as he felt the grounders movements through the echo with the tree they set up on.
And just as he touched down his eyes widened, every muscle in his body springing to action to swerve and dodge to the side even as the others cheered on his successful travel to the other side of the river.
Then he heard a loud whistle then a pain in his left arm as spear sliced through the side of it and lodge deeply on the ground.
Immediately after almost barely dodging the spear Markus turned, his focus straight at where the spear came from.
And there, standing on a thick branch was the grounder dressed fully in black staring at him.
" Markus!"
He heard the scream but didn't register it, holding both arms out at the grounder.
And to his surprise the grounder had enough senses to try to run but it was too late as branches all around them shot at it, lengthening and coiling around him.
' Gotcha bitch!'
The others quickly noticed what was going on, their eyes darting to the sound of branches groaning and seeing the grounders silhouette.
Just as Markus was about to celebrate catching the grounder as the branches had coiled all around them he felt something, a pressure.
The grounder was trying to escape, using pure brute strength to try and break through the branches and almost succeeding as cracks appeared on the branches.
' How is he so abnormally strong?!'
Stilling himself he focused, pouring more power now into it.
First he changed the material structure of the branches, strengthening them by inducing the branches and even the entire tree to take on a stronger material composition he had scanned off a few stronger trees.
That seemed to help as the pressure lessened until he felt nothing as the grounders crashing around ceased and he laid there, dangling in a coccon of blackened branches.
He thought of leaving it there but a darker part of him wormed up inside him.
—To Be Continued.
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