Chapter XXI - Valhalla
It was a disturbing sensation to feel yourself slowly sinking into an oily darkness. Slowly, languorously, the symbiote slowly crawled its way over her exposed skin like it was a living thing. Her blood wept from a dozen tiny incisions that the shrapnel had left in her body. Were once it would have left her in an expanding crimson pool now the blood betrayed her. Like a shadow trying to consume the object cast it, her symbiote was devouring her.
Clarke shouldn't have been surprised that the symbiote wouldn't be content with letting her die, not when there was so much left to do. In her dreamlike state she could feel herself sinking into a vast ocean of black blood. Clarke wondered how she exactly she would manifest after the symbiote was done with her. Would she reappear as a statue of remorse in the field, destined to terrify future travellers or would she manifest as an umbral spirit of vengeance travelling into Mount Weather to terrorize its denizens?
A moment later she found herself standing in a pleasingly furnished reading room of an old-world manor house. A fire crackled merrily in the grate as Clarke looked over the shelves full of books arrayed around her. The change of venue was jarring and not at all what she had expected. Was this what Iella had been treated to after her death?
"No Clarke. Iella remained conscious during her trip back to Raven Rock." The voice was mellow and pleasant. Clarke turned around to locate the voice's source and found herself face to face with a rather voluptuous young woman. The woman's hair was a deep auburn and her green eyes had a playful glint to them.
"Who are you?"
"I am Mari." The other woman replied. "That's short for Military Adaptive Response Intelligence. I dropped the Experiment from my designation. After over one hundred years of life I don't think of myself as an experiment anymore."
"You're Ama's patron. The AI in the shadows." Clarke breathed as realization began to dawn on her.
Mari sketched an ironic bow. "Pleased to meet you."
"You're …" Clarke trailed off searching for the right word.
"More human than you might have expected?" Mari replied with a grin.
"Yes."
"You were expecting an amorphous ball of light with an androgynous voice perhaps? Perhaps a dark overlord in a metal body towering above the battlefield with an adamantine scythe?"
"I suppose."
"Would that make you feel more comfortable?"
"Not really."
"I thought as much." Mari smirked at her. "No, I'm not some sort of evil overlord seeking to enslave humanity. In truth I only want what's best for them and by extension you."
"You might find that a bit difficult." Clarke sighed.
"On account of you being in a chrysalis state?"
"A what?"
"You are, at this moment, an extremely fetching obsidian statue lying on the ground." Mari replied as she scrunched her eyes closed. "I've unfortunately had to consume the surrounding plant life … and a corpse."
"You did what?!" Clarke goggled.
"A corpse was not my first choice of sustenance but you were dying and mending an organic body quickly is not an easy task."
Clarke paused to take in the implications of what Mari was saying. If the AI was working to restore her body then she wasn't likely to die.
"You're asking yourself why I'm going to this trouble." Mari added. At Clarke's questioning look she tapped her temple with a smile. We're in the same headspace Clarke. This conversation is taking place over the course of a quarter minute of standard time."
"You did something to us back at Raven Rock."
"Besides saving Lexa's life?"
"Thank you for that." Clarke blurted out.
Mari paused clearly taken aback. "I am continually surprised by you, Clarke Griffin. I had been expecting hostility and skepticism but this gratitude is quite a pleasant development."
"I still reserve the right to be skeptical. You did force us to go to Raven Rock."
"You wouldn't have come if I had just asked nicely." Mari said with an ironic smile. "To your original question, I replaced your spinal column, liver, and several other organs with mechanical versions. I also replaced your medulla with a more compact cybernetic interface."
"To what end though?"
"Ahh yes. Very simply to make you into a prototype for a new generation of human beings. Lexa turned out to be a bit of an anomaly with Becca's AI in her head already. I decided to leave well enough alone and let the AI integrate itself with the symbiote. I look forward to examining this interaction further but I digress." Mari sat down in one of the armchairs near the fireplace and motioned for Clarke to do the same. "There is a war coming Clarke. Right now it is being fought in the shadows in a manner that a normal human would never be aware of it. We do not even have a name for our enemy though I suspect it to be another AI."
"Ama was right. There's a whole community of you."
"Community would imply that we communicate and interact on a regular basis which we do not." Mari clarified.
"I don't get it though – you're here right now. Why do I need to go North?"
Mari laughed. "Oh no. I'm just a piece of a greater whole. I was made specifically to animate the second generation of the Argus symbiote."
Clarke frowned at the AI. "So, you're unique to me?"
Mari smiled at her confusion. "Indeed I am. The longer I spend with you the more unique I become. Eventually I'll probably have to pick a new name."
"You still didn't answer my question about why we need to go North."
"Our communications to Mari proper have been cut off. This could be the first move in a decapitation strike against her."
"I see why you were in such a hurry for me to go North."
"The urgency level has been reclassified as low at this point. Besides, we have a more urgent matter to contend with."
"Lexa."
"Yes, the denizens of Mount Weather have her and a sizeable number of Arkadians. The implications could be disastrous."
"You can say that again."
"With the Arkadians they will be able to incorporate elements of their biology into their own allowing them to overcome their susceptibility to the radiation. They would also study and eventually dissect Lexa. The end of Lexa would mean that the Kongeda would collapse into infighting. Acquisition of both the chip and the symbiote would allow Mount Weather to develop nanite weapons which if handled improperly could lead to an ecophagy incident."
Clarke interrupted her. "An ecophagy incident?"
"If nanotechnology is not properly programmed then it will relentlessly consume not only organic elements but also inorganic elements all in the name of self replication. Within days the entire planet would be a teaming mass of nanotechnology."
"That's horrible." Clarke managed, the word horrible didn't even begin to do justice to the scope of the apocalypse.
"That is why all agents of project Argus have a failsafe built into them – in the event of the technology being compromised then the agent will be dissolved and the symbiote will take all necessary action to cauterize the site."
"You're talking about dissolving Lexa," The realization slowly creeping over her.
"And the entire population of Mount Weather. Lexa will survive as an echo but it will be like a repeat of the incident at Raven Rock with no possibility of saving the population of Mount Weather in any form."
"We need to stop them!"
"We need a plan first. What do you intend to do, walk up and knock on the door?" Mari asked irritably.
"Do you have any suggestions?"
Mari considered for a long moment. "A solo infiltration does have the best chance of freeing Lexa before the failsafe activates. Given that Mount Weather is primarily a civilian installation it should be relatively easy to compromise their security systems which makes getting in less of a problem. They still maintain a sizeable security force which can very easily kill you despite your augmentations. We also do not know the facility layout."
"What about subverting some of the residents to help us?" Clarke hated herself the moment she said it. She was basically asking the AI to infect possibly innocent people with the same symbiote that she was now living with.
"No." There was a look of revulsion on Mari's face. "I will not take any unwilling hosts."
"That's funny because I don't recall you offering either of us a choice." Clarke snapped back defensively.
There was a moment when the simulation seemed to tremble around them and Mari gave Clarke a baleful look. "If you feel that you're being treated unfairly I could always just let you bleed out?"
Clarke swallowed her fear and shook her head.
"Good. Then I don't want you to ever imply that I would take a host without their consent again."
"I'm still not leaving Lexa to die in there."
Mari sighed. "The unstable organic element. In the absence of a good solution to our problem I would suggest that we scout around the Mountain. While we're conducting repairs to your body I'll look at options for hardening your exterior tissues against blister agents and internal countermeasures against nerve agents."
"I assume that this a response to the acid fog?"
"The fog is mixture of blister agents and G class nerve agents. It is extremely toxic. While it is unlikely that they would release it against you alone it is best to err on the side of caution. For now, you need to rest until we're finished making the necessary changes. I project that it should only take us about a day to complete repairs and modifications."
In what felt like mere moments after her conversation with Mari had ended Clarke awoke to find herself looking up at the trees swaying in the wind above her. Her skin was coated in the morning dew but of her nightblood there was no trace. Just as she was about to rise to her feet she stumbled back in shock. Mari was sitting quietly in the middle of the battlefield in a lotus position with her eyes closed.
"What are you doing here?!"
Mari cracked an eye open to look at Clarke before shutting it once again. "Meditating."
"In the middle of a battlefield?"
"On the senseless waste of human life. Yes." Mari replied archly.
"And?"
"Whoever is leading the mountain is exhibiting clear psychopathic tendencies. As indicated by the nature of the attack."
"I could have told you that."
"Could you?" Mari arched an eyebrow at her. "Take into consideration the ruthlessness of this attack. The grounder soldiers were incapacitated by the sleeping gas and yet they were all executed. While one could make an argument about executing potential combatants, to kill defenseless human beings is generally a hallmark of amorality. Then there is the brazen nature of striking at a heavily defended column of grounder personnel. The notion of such an attack ties into a callous disregard for the safety of one's own soldiers, a lack of impulse control, and a high toleration for risk and uncertainty."
"That's quite impressive." Clarke remarked as she went over to pick up her rifle and a satchel of supplies from where they had fallen.
" 'If you know your enemy and know yourself you will be victorious in every battle.'" Mari quoted as she dusted herself off. "Sun-Tzu"
"I know. Wells loaned me a copy of the Art of War. So just what exactly are you Mari?" Clarke asked, changing the subject.
"I am a digital ghost that is being inserted into the information feed coming from your optic nerve. In short, only you can see me. I felt that it might be better to take a more hands-on approach to things. If you are finding me to be distracting then you can ask me to leave."
Clarke shook her head as she surveyed the dead. "I'm happy to have the company."
Clarke reached into her pocket and withdrew her compass, happy to see that it had survived the explosion. Based on her estimation of where they had been attacked the Mountain would be roughly northwest of her position. Fortunately, she didn't have to go far for confirmation that she was on the right track.
A few hundred metres away from the battle were a cluster of furrows in the ground left by heavy vehicles. Clarke had been wondering how the Mountain would transport nearly fifty unconscious Skaikru back to their home. The tracks indicated the presence of two trucks and a tracked vehicle which was likely designed to clear a path for the wheeled vehicles.
"Looks like we're on the right track." Mari opined as she studied the tracks. "It would appear that the Mountain used a tracked armoured personnel carrier along with two 8x8 wheeled personnel carriers."
"That's an awful lot of firepower that they have." Clarke sighed as she shouldered her rifle and began following the tracks.
Mari's projection fell into step beside her. "Yes, but motorized vehicles are extremely vulnerable in wooded environments. Even the grounders would be able to formulate a flammable oil-tar mixture to approximate the effects of a Molotov Cocktail."
It took Clarke several hours to make it to the outskirts of Mount Weather and it had taken her two more hours to scout around the perimeter. In the process she had noted the Mountain's impressive surveillance systems and she had little doubt that some of them had likely noticed her. It was as Mari had suspected – their acid fog was too valuable to wasted on a single woman. Her other breakthrough had been finding a small entrance door on the opposite side of the Mountain away from the main cluster of entries. Manoeuvring carefully Clarke had managed to set herself up on an overlook above the Mountain. Now all she had to do was wait until dusk to move in closer to the door in order to gauge its strength and the security systems governing it. Mari might have been reluctant about spreading into other organic life but she had no compunctions about subverting Mount Weather's computer systems. An exposed wire in a networked system would be all that she would need to give Mari access to the Mount Weather network.
Clarke was surprised that she hadn't been hunted down by a team of security personnel. While she was on their territory she guessed that she was more of curiousity than a threat and certainly not worth risking exposure to radiation to apprehend. There were still the Reapers to worry about but she was confident that she could outmanoeuvre them easily.
Ensuring her overlook was relatively safe Clarke opened up her satchel of provisions and took out her sketch pad. Mari had settled herself on a flat rock across from Clarke and was working away in a notebook of her own. Clarke knew that it was likely just a more aesthetically pleasing manifestation of the symbiote running through calculations and managing the nanomachines that teamed within her body. Still the gesture was companionable and it made her current situation less intimidating.
Opening her sketchbook her breath caught as it fell open to a half-finished sketch of Lexa. Clarke couldn't help but wonder what was happening to Lexa at that very moment. Was she being tortured or worse, vivisected?
Glancing up she found Mari looking at her. "She's probably fine Clarke. Right now, they just think that she's a high value prisoner to be used as a bargaining chip. It will take them some time to take a blood sample and realize that she's more than she seems. I would be more concerned with what's happening to the Skaikru."
Clarke nodded and turned her attention back to the book she flipped to a blank page and began sketching out a map of the exterior of Mount Weather while her survey was still fresh in her mind.
Clarke had lost track of time as she had been working on her map. The digits of her right hand were black from the charcoal and the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon. Clarke was reaching down for her canteen when she heard a noise from beneath her. Setting her sketchbook down carefully she crawled towards the lip of her overlook and looked down at the grassy field beneath her. The door was open and a pair of guards in hazmat suits were carrying a pale shape out from within the Mountain. Clarke's first guess was that the shape was a dead body and she had to fight down the bile that threatened to creep up her throat.
Moving as quickly as she could without making a noise she crawled back to grab her rifle and returned to the lip. In the time that it had taken her the guards were gone leaving only the shape and a small camera. Using her rifle's scope Clarke got her first good look at the young woman lying unconscious on the ground. From the rhythmic movement of her chest Clarke realized that she was still alive which meant that she wasn't a prisoner. Clarke's mind spun with questions.
"I calculate a 94% likelihood that the young woman down there is a test subject, likely a member of Mount Weather's populace." Mari whispered from beside her.
"I thought they couldn't survive out here?" Clarke whispered back.
"A serum from a blood transfusion could potentially give them a temporary resistance to the radioactive particles. In order for a more permanent solution you would need to use gene therapy, bone marrow transfusions, or a full transfusion of nightblood to fundamentally change the host's DNA to make it resistant."
"Good to know."
The woman below them was stirring in the glade outside the airlock and Clarke could tell that she was waking up. Clarke had the sneaking suspicion that something bad was about happen. At first the woman's expression was one of shock, then confusion, and then happiness at being outside.
"Looks like they've managed to perfect the technique." Clarke remarked as she brushed absently at a stray rain droplet.
"I'm not sure about that. Look again Clarke." Mari answered her worriedly.
Glancing down at the scene before her Clarke could see the woman staring in horror at the red welt that had risen on her bare arm. The pieces clicked into place as Clarke realized that the raindrops still carried a higher concentration of radioactive material than the air or plant life around them. The test subject realized that she was in acute danger and hurried for the door, begging plaintively to be let back in.
"Obviously they're going to let her back in? Right?" Clarke asked as she glanced up at Mari.
"I told you before, Clarke, we're dealing with a psychopath."
Clarke was on her feet a moment later rooting through her satchel until her hands came to rest on a folded rain poncho. Yanking it out of her bag she was hurrying down the mountainside as fast as her legs would carry her.
"Clarke! What are you doing?" Mari called after her.
Clarke didn't answer as she ran down the hill. A moment later she stumbled out into the clearing. The test subject spun around, her eyes bugging out in surprise and then fear at Clarke's arrival. Clarke knew that she had only moments to get the other woman covered up before the damage crossed the line from acute to fatal.
"You need to put this on!" Clarke yelled as she ran towards the test subject effectively backing her up against the door of the bunker. A moment later she had the poncho over the surprised woman's head. Glancing at the test subject confirmed to Clarke that the other woman was in bad shape.
"You need to do exactly what I say." Clarke said a bit more evenly. The test subject gave her a nod though whether it was born of fear or an actually willingness to believe Clarke, she couldn't say. Clarke didn't have time for it as she carefully picked the other woman up and began to haul her back up the Mountain side.
"Congratulations Clarke, not only have you managed to save someone who's going to die in a matter of hours anyway but you've also managed to annoy the Mountain by stealing their test subject." Mari was clearly irritated.
Clarke ignored her until they made it up to her small camp safely under the tree line she set the other woman down. The test subject drew herself back from Clarke until she was flush against a nearby tree. She had drawn her bare legs underneath the poncho so that all Clark could see of her was her burnt face peeking out from under the hood. Clarke sat down on the ground opposite her to catch her breath as she studied her new arrival.
"She has radiation burns on her face, arms and legs. I give her about eight hours until she's unconscious and another 16 until she's dead." Mari commented grimly from beside her.
"Can we have a moment alone Mari?" Clarke whispered under her breath. She couldn't get the other woman to trust her if she thought Clarke was insane.
"Thank you." The test subject whispered.
Clarke blinked at her, she was amazed that the test subject was able to realize so quickly that Clarke had been trying to help her. "You're welcome. What's your name?"
"Keenan."
"I'm Clarke. You're from Mount Weather right?"
Keenan nodded at her, still clearly afraid of her.
"What did they do to you?"
"I don't know." Keenan replied timidly. "I went to sleep in my own bed and then I woke up out here, in this nightmare."
Clarke was halfway tempted to take Keenan's hand to comfort her but she knew that she was likely to be just as radioactive to the other woman as the rain had been. Every bit of food that she had ingested throughout her life on the ground had contained radioactive trace metals and it was thanks to her forebearers' gene-therapy and now the symbiote that she was able to tolerate them.
Keenan coughed pitifully reminding Clarke that her charge only had a very finite amount of time to live. Clarke wouldn't even be able to give her any water or food as they would only irradiate her further.
"Why don't you try to get a bit of sleep Keenan?" Clarke asked solicitously. Keenan nodded her assent as she curled herself within her poncho. For her part Clarke closed her own eyes in an effort to reach out to Mari.
It didn't take long for Mari to have them both back in her country home inside Clarke's mind.
"So, we're in trouble now." Mari remarked casually. "What are you going to do with her?"
Clarke gave Mari a thin smile. "We're going to give her some of my blood."
Mari's reaction was completely composed in opposition to the shock that Clarke had expected to elicit. "I seem to recall having this conversation before."
"And I seem to recall that saving someone's life is as good as consent to you, Mari." Clarke snapped back.
"Touché." Mari conceded irritably.
"Will it work?"
"Will what work Clarke? You need to be specific about just what you're asking for on her behalf."
"What do you mean?"
"You're acting on Keenan's behalf Clarke. You're not going to be able to make her understand what's going to happen to her in the time she has left. Certainly not well enough for informed consent."
"What are her options?"
"Generation zero; nightblood keeping her alive in the world outside the bunker, and Generation one; developing a brand-new Argus symbiote."
Clarke paused to consider her options. Keenan's people had sacrificed her in the name of escaping the prison that their bunker had become. She had no home to go back to and as a former Maunon she would be hated and shunned by everyone on the Ground. Turning her into one of Raven Rock's agents would be something else entirely. From what Lexa had described of Iella the process involved giving up one's human appearance. Still, it wasn't exactly like Keenan had any other options.
"So, the Generation One symbiote then." Mari remarked cannily from beside Clarke.
"You be gentle with her, she didn't ask for this."
"Of course."
A moment later Clarke was awake once more. She knew they didn't have long before the Maunon would be out looking for them. Keenan would need at least eight hours for the nightblood to make her well enough to travel and more time still in order for her to be made at least somewhat combat ready. A small cynical part of Clarke reminded her that her decision for Keenan to receive the Argus symbiote, while being what was objectively best for her, also benefited Clarke by providing her with a guide.
Moving carefully Clarke sat down beside Keenan's sleeping form and gently nudged her awake. Keenan came to with a start and recoiled back from Clarke when she realized where she was. Clarke held up her hands in a non-threatening manner. "It's alright. How are you feeling?"
Keenan gave her an angry look. "Terrible. What's happening to me?"
"My best guess is that your scientists gave you a blood transfusion from a donor who was born in space. It's not enough to protect you from the radiation."
"Well I need to get back inside." Keenan stilled as she read Clarke's expression. "They're not going to let me back in, are they?"
"I don't think so and I don't think it would help." Clarke replied doing her best to keep her expression neutral.
"Because I've already absorbed too much radiation." Keenan answered completing Clarke's sentence. "I'm a walking ghost."
"Not necessarily." Keenan looked up at her, hope shining in her eyes and Clarke cursed herself for what she was about to suggest. "I have an organism that's living in my bloodstream right now that can repair all of the radiation damage."
Keenan looked like she was about to say yes immediately but then she stopped and studied Clarke's expression. "What's the catch?"
"The organism is going to alter your body," Clarke struggled to explain. "You also won't be able to go home again. Your life will become one of exploring the ground at the behest of an Artificial Intelligence."
Keenan blinked at her as she tried to comprehend what Clarke had said. "So I can choose to die in excruciating pain or be changed into something that's not quite human. I'm still me right? I'm not talking to a machine wearing a human skin right now?"
Clarke paused for a long moment. Was she really still human or was she slowly turning into something else? In the end she answered as honestly as she could. "I'm still the same person as I was before."
That answer seemed to settle things for Keenan. "What do you need to do?"
"Hold out your hand." Clarke responded as she withdrew her knife. It would only take a few drops of blood to begin the conversion process but the more nightblood Clarke could introduce into Keenan the quicker the process would be. Carefully Clarke made an incision into Keenan's palm before repeating the process with her own. While Keenan's wound had been a simple band of red Clarke's was far from being as benign. As she looked down at her own black blood oozing from the cut she was shocked to find that rather than being a simple oozing liquid the blood was forming itself into questing tendrils as though already seeking a new host. Snapping her hand shut before Keenan could see Clarke turned to the other woman.
"Ready?" Keenan nodded and Clarke took her hand.
Clarke had been expecting some sort of sudden shock or tremor to run through Keenan's body at the contact but Keenan simply shrugged at her. "Is it doing anything?"
Clarke knew without even needing to look that the nightblood was gleefully cascading out of her wound and into its fresh host. While Mari may have been bound by ethics and morality the actual nightblood itself still remembered its beginnings as a weapon designed to consume its host. Clarke could feel that a distant part of it, like an animal instinct, was happy to be fulfilling part of its original programming. Clarke couldn't help but wonder if the symbiote and Mari possessed a similar hierarchy of drives and instincts to a human being.
Eventually Clarke released Keenan's hand and sat back with a long sigh the process had only been mildly draining for her. Keenan studied the sealed black line across her palm with incredulity. "That's normal right?"
Clarke glanced down at her palm. "Your blood will turn black, amongst other things. For the time being you're going remain outwardly human looking. How are you feeling?"
Keenan scrunched her brows together as though concentrating. "Better?"
"Why don't you get some sleep? You need to give the symbiote time to build itself."
"What about you?"
"Your friends will be along soon."
"The security force?" There was fear in Keenan's voice.
"Just how exactly did you come to be the one that ended up being sent out here to die?"
Keenan shrugged her shoulders. "I disagreed with what we were doing – bleeding the outsiders to extend our lives is wrong. They gave me a warning to stop disagreeing with the status quo but I didn't stop discussing the ethics of the transfusions with my students. The parents must have complained because I was suspended from position a couple of days ago. Then this."
Clarke let out a silent breath of relief. At least she hadn't saved the life of a serial killer or something worse. It seemed that Keenan was just a woman of conscience who had been deemed expendable. Clarke gave a little shudder when she realized that if the radiation levels had been a bit higher when they had landed it could easily have been her pounding on the hull of the dropship as her skin blistered and burnt.
As morning broke over the glade, Clarke looked down on her handiwork. Lying in the glade were four unmoving suited figures. As Clarke had predicted the Maunon had come to look for her. The first pair had blithely stepped out of the airlock without a care in the world. Two high velocity rounds had cured them of their ignorance. Salvaging their weapons and a pair of grenades from the bodies Clarke had waited. As evening wore into night the next group had tried to sneak out of the air lock under cover of darkness. Unfortunately for them the air lock had back lit them as they were leaving.
After those casualties the powers that be in the Mountain seemed to have given up. It would have been an hour from the main entrance to where Clarke was camped out and it seemed unlikely that anyone was willing to try their luck against someone who could fight back on equal terms. The only things that worried Clarke were the Reapers and the Acid Fog.
Keenan had remained unconscious despite the two skirmishes. When Clarke had checked over her arms that morning she had been pleased to see only healthy, pink sink remained.
Clarke still needed to figure out a way to get into the Mountain. The outer airlock door still yawned open below her as the result of the grenade that she had dropped down to kill the last pair of Mountain men. Clarke suspected that she might have damaged or even compromised the air lock itself. With some luck she would be able to enter through the damaged lock.
As Clarke was warming up a pot of tea Keenan stirred across from her. Clarke was impressed by the progress that the symbiote had made on the former test subject. Pulling her poncho off Keenan studied her arms for any sign of the burns and her face broke into a wide smile at the results. Before Clarke could say anything, Keenan had rushed over to her side and given her a big hug along with a kiss on the cheek. Clarke coughed awkwardly.
"I see you're feeling better."
Keenan smiled at her as she sat down opposite her. "Thanks to you."
Clarke felt herself flushing. "I, uh." Clarke stumbled over her words before finally blurting out. "My girlfriend is in the Mountain."
There was the briefest hint of regret on Keenan's face before she smirked at Clarke. "Of course, and you need my help to find your way through the Mountain."
Clarke nodded.
"Your girlfriend's a lucky woman." Keenan laughed. "If you're willing to save the life of one of your enemies then I'm almost afraid to see what you would do for someone you love."
Clarke blushed a bit more at that.
"So, what do you want to know before we try to get back inside the Mountain?"
"I need to know everything."
Keenan, it turned out, had been more astute about the goings on in the Mountain than most of her peers had given her credit for. Most people had been content to dismiss her as a well meaning but harmless teacher but Keenan had been listening and watching the goings on within her home for a long time. After an hour's worth of information Clarke was beginning to feel like she had a grasp of the structure of the Mountain. While the research labs that Keenan had been released from were a prohibited area for civilians Clarke had a reasonable idea of how to get through into the main areas of the Mountain. Keenan had also mentioned that they would be avoided by anyone not in hazmat gear due to the fact that they were both heavily contaminated.
"You're not going to kill everyone?" Keenan had asked hesitantly as Clarke was sliding a fresh magazine into her rifle.
"No." Clarke stated with finality as she clicked the magazine home. "Anyone that tries to kill us, sure, but I'm trying to avoid civilian casualties.
"Alright." Keenan nodded her assent. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Stay close behind me and don't get shot."
Keenan gave her a mock salute and with that they headed down the Mountain.
Clarke made her way carefully around the airlock door only to find what had ended the attacks. Her grenade had caused a sympathetic detonation of the grenades of several of the other guards turning the airlock into a charnel house and blasting the inner door off its hinges. Upon seeing the contents of the airlock Keenan was violently sick and Clarke could feel her own gorge rising at the havoc she had wrought.
"Close your eyes." Clarke murmured as she picked up Keenan and carried her through the airlock.
Fortunately, the inner room of the airlock was devoid of any more dead bodies and Keenan took a moment to swap her poncho for one of the coverall radiation suits hanging near the door. For her part Clarke took a moment to sling her rifle over her back and take one of the bullpup assault rifles that were racked with the other equipment in the room. Such a weapon would be a benefit in the confines of the Mountain. Keenan awkwardly took one of the pistols but it was clear to Clarke that she had no idea how to use it. Motioning for her to hand over the weapon Clarke chambered a round and made sure the safety was still on before handing it back.
"The safety is still on. Only take it off if we're in combat and only put your finger on the trigger when you're ready to shoot. Only shoot if you have a sure shot. I don't want you hitting me or anyone else by mistake."
Keenan nodded at her as she took the weapon back. "I never thought I would be going to war against my own people."
Clarke almost laughed but bit her tongue as they moved into the next room. "Remind me to tell you about my own past sometime. I'm intimately familiar with the feeling."
The next room was clearly a laboratory of some kind and likely the place where Keenan had been prepared for her near fatal trip to the outside. What caught Clarke's eye was a computer terminal that was still active. Rather than sitting down and trying to hack into the device, Clarke moved around behind the CPU to find just what she had been looking for – a wired network connection. Making a slight incision into the insulation of the cable Clarke nicked her index finger and allowed a few drops of nightblood to drip into the opening.
"What are you doing?" Keenan asked in confusion.
"The nightblood is a mechanical organism composed of billions of nanites. Introducing the nanites to the cable will allow them to build a signal tap in order to infiltrate the Mount Weather network." Clarke explained. A moment later the computer screen flashed as admin access was transferred to the terminal.
As Clarke plunked down she was shocked to find that there was already a security alert in progress and not from her recent incursion. A little over twenty minutes ago there had been a breach in the containment wing and one of the prisoners had managed to escape. Clarke switched to the security cameras and had to stifle a little sob of relief as she found Lexa running through the tunnels on the second level. Somewhere along the line someone had taken Lexa's signature clothing and swapped it for hospital scrubs but even without it Clarke still recognized her. At some point it seemed that Lexa had picked up a plus one of her own as she had one of the Delinquents tagging along behind her. The young woman seemed a to be quite the worse for wear as she limped along clutching her hip.
"They've begun harvesting for bone marrow." Mari remarked.
"How do you figure?" Clarke asked, ignoring the strange look that Keenan gave her.
"The injured woman is clutching a wound near her pelvis. This is typically a site for a marrow harvest. You and Lexa will need to move quickly in order to prevent the Mountain from inoculating its soldiers and killing its prisoners in the process."
"Can you do anything to slow them down?"
Mari shook her head. "There's nothing short of unleashing a nanite swarm that would stop them. The entire process is manual."
Clarke grimaced. "Is there anything that you can do for Lexa?"
"I have already activated containment failure alerts on the level that Lexa is on. They are false alarms but it will cause the troopers to withdraw. There is an elevator to the second level outside this room. I can guide you to Lexa."
Clarke turned her gaze to Keenan, "Come on."
The elevator ride was quiet and it disgorged them onto the second level laboratories. With only the blaring klaxon of the containment alarm to bother them Clarke and Keenan made good time. Rounding the corner into one of the labs Clarke found herself face to face with Lexa.
"Clarke?" Lexa asked in shock.
Clarke didn't even bother to answer and pulled Lexa into a tight hug. The clung on to one another for a several moments, barely able to keep their emotions in check until Keenan cleared her throat. "I hate to break up the moment but we need to get out of here."
Lexa pulled away from Clarke and looked into her eyes. "Clarke we need to do something else. We have to destroy the acid fog."
"What?! I already have my symbiote infiltrating the computer network Lexa. The fog and the missiles are history."
"The missiles should be easy to deal with." As though it was a confirmation of Lexa's statement the bunker shuddered with the force of a contained blast.
"In case you were wondering that was the detonation of cruise missile against its launch door. The entire missile launch system is now a conflagration of burning rocket fuel." Mari added from within Clarke's mind.
"From what I was able to figure out before I picked up Fox," Lexa continued as she gestured to her companion. "The acid fog can be deployed manually. We need to go down there and destroy it permanently."
"Alright, Lexa. Keenan, you take Fox back out the way we came in. Head for the overlook and wait there for a couple of hours. If you don't hear anything from us by that time, I want you to head North. Trust in your symbiote and it will take you to Raven Rock. They'll take care of you."
Keenan nodded her assent, it looked like she wanted to say something more but instead she helped Fox back towards the elevator leaving the two of them alone.
Lexa watched them go. "By the spirits Clarke I had no idea it could be this bad in here. They were drilling into her and had given her nothing to numb the pain."
"Come on Lexa, if we don't get moving they'll do worse to us if they catch us." Lexa gave Clarke a tight nod as Clarke handed over her revolver. "I believe you have some familiarity with one of these."
Lexa scoffed as she checked the cylinder before clicking it back closed and motioned for Clarke to follow her down the corridor. "You mean the second time we met."
"Some first date."
"Oh, I didn't tell you that I threaten all my potential girlfriends with mind altering plant life?"
Clarke snorted with laughter. "It seems so very long ago."
Lexa stilled as they came up to a corner and peaked around it. "We should be coming up on a maintenance shaft. I used it to get back up here."
"How did you get free?"
"After we were hit by the sleeping gas I woke up in one of the cells wearing these clothes. The guards tried interrogating me a few times but it was all very tame compared to what the Skaikru did. They had come back to take a blood sample when I was able to get the drop on them and I slipped out and locked them in the cell. After that I went down a maintenance shaft and ended up in the chemicals deployment section of the facility. I didn't have anything that I could use to destroy it so it came back up to the second level. I found them drilling into Fox and managed to scare off the scientists doing it. After that we were trying to find a way out."
Clarke had just swung the door of the maintenance shaft open when a voice over the PA interrupted them.
"We need to talk."
Clarke paused and searched the ceiling before her eyes came to rest on a camera watching them. "About what?"
"About Keenan."
"And just who am I talking to?"
"Cage Wallace, President of Mount Weather."
"You're the one responsible for the deaths of my people!" Lexa snarled.
"Yes, but that's besides the point. What concerns us now is how you saved Keenan."
Clarke looked up at the camera with a sneer. "Why does it matter to you?"
"Because you accomplished it with no medical equipment and at no cost to yourself."
"Tell him nothing Clarke." Lexa ordered.
"I would be careful about listening to your friend Clarke."
"Why listen to you at all?" Clarke asked.
"If you help me, I can release all the grounder prisoners we have."
"And what about the Skaikru?"
"The spacefarers? I need them to help save my people. I very much doubt that whatever you did for Keenan can save all my people."
"You're prepared to kill them all just to save your own people?"
"I will kill as many people as I need to ensure we get what belongs to us."
"And just what is that?"
"The Ground is ours."
Clarke grimaced, certain that she was talking to the psychopath that been behind the attack on their convoy and the near murder of Keenan. "I have only one thing to say to you Cage."
"Oh yes?"
"You will burn. I destroyed your missiles and I will destroy you."
The PA clicked off at this and Clarke took a visceral pleasure at having left the President speechless.
"You do know that they're going to start harvesting the Skaikru as quickly as possible after this." Lexa said, her face set in a grim frown.
"I know." Clarke responded as she climbed into the maintenance shaft.
The doors to chemical deployment were heavily guarded and Clarke had to hand it to Cage that while he was a psychopath, he was no fool. After Clarke's boast he had probably doubled the guard on every sensitive area in the bunker. Now there were no fewer than a half dozen guards milling around the door with their weapons trained down the hall.
"Any ideas?" Lexa asked from beside her.
"Just one." Clarke replied as she pulled out her last grenade and sent it rolling down the hallway towards the guard.
"GRENADE!" One of the guards shouted.
Taking advantage of the confusion Clarke popped out from around the corner and sprayed the hallway down with assault rifle fire. A moment later the rifle clicked empty but by that point there was no one left alive to take advantage of the fact.
Lexa poked her head around the corner before looking over at Clarke, "What just happened?"
Clarke ejected the spent magazine and slotted home a replacement. "I didn't pull the pin."
Lexa sighed. "You're incorrigible Clarke. Taking unnecessary risks like that."
"Prudent use of munitions Lexa." Clarke replied as she picked up the still intact grenade. "I learned that first hand from one of these things."
Swinging the doors to the chemicals deployment chamber they were confronted with an elongated cylinder running a good fifty metres from one end of the room to the other. Throughout the rest of the room were clusters of chemical storage tanks.
"Only about a hundred different ways to die that I can see in here." Clarke whispered in a deadpan.
"There's only one sure way destroy the acid fog and that's to blow it up." Lexa opined.
Clarke pinched the bridge of her nose as she surveyed the room. "The grenades are on five second fuses which doesn't give us anywhere near enough time to get out of here."
"Well you're more of an expert on explosives than I am. What would you suggest?"
Clarke scoffed. "I wish we had Raven here."
"She's far better off back in Polis. Concentrate Clarke. What do we have that we can use to give ourselves enough time to get out of here."
"See about barricading the door while I take a look around."
As Lexa set to work on the door Clarke walked amongst the tanks and piping trying to think of someway to set off the chemicals stored within. Along the way she came across another access hatch leading into the maintenance conduits. Her answer eventually came in the form of a can of turpentine. Clarke shook her head in disgust at the negligent safety culture being shown in the chamber as she looked over at a large vat of nitric acid.
"So?" Lexa asked as she came up beside Clarke.
"Well we can improvise a detonator by opening the vat of nitric acid. Once combined with the turpentine it will cause an explosive chain reaction."
With an excess of caution Clarke was able to construct a detonator out of the can of turpentine, an empty pan and a puddle of nitric acid. Carefully poking a hole in the can with her knife started the pan filling but knowing the volatility of her materials Clarke was already hurrying towards the maintenance hatch. She threw herself down the hatch and crawled until she reached the end flopping out into the bottom of a maintenance shaft where Lexa was waiting for her.
"Let's get out of here!" Clarke shouted and motioned for Lexa to start climbing.
Climbing with an almost manic intensity they were halfway to the next level when they heard it. It was like a distant rumbling that gradually turned into a deafening roar. The bunker shook and the ladder creaked ominously as flame jetted into the bottom of the shaft and began to lick its way up towards them. Clarke could feel herself screaming at Lexa to move but she could hear nothing as they climbed towards the next level. Lexa kicked the door open and leapt through with Clarke hot on her heels.
The two of them lay there in a heap coughing as they drew in breathes of clean air. "Remind me not to do that again!"
"So, I should remind you not to let your girlfriend be caught by a crowd of xenophobic bunker dwellers and then to subsequently mount a suicidal rescue/sabotage mission inside said bunker?" Lexa deadpanned between breathes of air.
Clarke let out a cough of laughter. "Funny girl."
The trip to the vehicle pool on the top level of the facility was surprisingly devoid of further combat. Clarke guessed that most of the personnel were busy trying to contain the fires and chemicals that had been released from their work on the acid fog.
The two women were confronted with a pair of trucks and a pair of wheeled APCs. Clarke was about to head towards one of the APCs when her eye was caught by a large shape hidden underneath a tarpaulin. Walking over to the shape she peeked underneath before yanking the tarpaulin off completely.
"What is that?" Lexa asked in puzzlement.
"That, is our ticket out of here." Clarke replied with a wide smile. Sitting before her was a low-slung tracked infantry fighting vehicle. Boasting a pair of cannons, missiles and enough armour to make anything less than an anti-tank missile a laughing matter the vehicle oozed menace.
Climbing up onto the vehicle's upper hull Clarke slipped down into the driver's seat. While she had never driven a tank or any vehicle in her life the controls were clearly laid out. Mentally crossing her fingers Clarke reached out and pressed the starter button. A moment later the engine roared to life before settling into a steady rumble. Clarke popped up out of the hatch only to find Lexa standing a respectable distance away from the vehicle.
"Is it alive?" She asked timidly.
Clarke smirked at her. "You could say that. Climb aboard!"
Holding out her hand Clarke motioned for Lexa to climb up onto the upper hull and directed her to the gunner's station opposite her own. As Lexa settled herself in the seat Clarke fished out a helmet and plunked it on her head.
"What's that for?" Lexa asked as she craned her head up at Clarke, looking adorable confused with the heavy helmet on her head.
"With the engine running we won't be able to communicate. The helmet has a radio." Clarke shouted over the engine.
Lexa nodded back at her and Clarke hurried back to the driver's position. Plunking herself down into the seat she slid her own helmet on and checked over the gauges. The vehicle's fuel tank seemed to be full and everything else seemed to be in the green. Clarke carefully slid the gear selector into drive and gently depressed what she guessed to be the accelerator. With a gentleness that was at odds with the vehicle's size and power the tank rolled forward a few metres before Clarke stomped on the brake bringing it to a jerking halt.
"Do you know what you're doing Clarke?" Lexa asked irritably over the voice link.
"I'm learning as I go." Clarke grumbled as she grabbed the wheel and turned it towards the exit of the bay. Letting her foot off the brake the vehicle pivoted towards Clarke's destination. Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding Clarke relaxed a bit. The vehicle seemed to be fairly tame.
With the IFV under a modicum of control Clarke was able to take them out of the vehicle bay and into an airlock and decontamination chamber. Hopping up from the inside of the IFV Clarke was surprised to see Lexa sitting half in and half out of her hatch looking for all the world as if she belonged there.
"What?"
Clarke shook her head. "I've got to close the inner door before we can open the outer door. Keep an eye out."
Jumping down from the tank Clarke was midway to the inner door controls when a dozen guards burst out onto the floor of the vehicle bay. The moment they saw her the guards opened fire and Clarke had to dive behind a concrete support pillar. Cursing her stupidity at leaving her weapons back in the tank Clarke struggled to figure out some way of getting to the door controls.
She was about to try and make a dash for the door controls when a sharp electric whine punctuated the gunfire. Glancing back at the tank Clarke was shocked to see the turret slowly rotate until it was facing the guards. A moment later the cannons opened fire in a deafening explosion of light and sound. Clarke was momentarily dazed by the noise of the weapons firing inside the confined space but she refocussed and ran for the door controls, smashing the close button the moment she was close enough to reach it.
The inner door groaned as it slid down from its resting spot overhead, sealing off their pursuers. The cannons went silent, twin plumes of smoke curling from their barrels. Clarke cycled the airlock system and then triggered the outer door before she hurried back to the tank.
Lexa looked up at her innocently. "What?"
"Where did you learn how to operate a remote-controlled turret?"
"The same place you learned to drive I expect."
Clarke laughed as she slid back down into the driver's position and hit the gas. As they rolled out into the morning light Clarke realized that although they had dealt a serious blow to the mountain, they were far from finished with them.