Trigger warning: mention of rape.
Chapter 53
"Monty, get me to the command centre!"
"Four levels down. Out the infirmary, turn right, end of the corridor, stairs down to all the floors," responded Monty.
"Okay," said Adara, taking off at a run through the door and into the corridor towards the stairs.
"Guide me, Harper," came Octavia's voice. "Got it. Adara, I'm on my way with Miller. The Commander has things in hand."
"Got that," said Adara, running down the stairs. "Next move, Monty?"
"Through the door and left. Half way down on the right is the command centre." Adara ran faster. She burst through the door and flung herself to the floor as bullets pinged off the wall above her. She rolled around the corner and knelt in a continuous move, taking her bow off her shoulder at the same time. She put an arrow to the bowstring, drew back and steadied her breathing before peeking around the corner and shooting. "One down." She quickly nocked another arrow and fired that. "Two."
"Three," said Octavia from the other end of the corridor. "Four, one left." Adara got up and ran around the corner to see one of the mountain guards aim at Octavia. She didn't even think, she ran and took him down before he could fire. They rolled around and he tried to bring his gun to bear on Adara, but she punched him in the face and grabbed his wrist and banged it against the wall making him drop the gun. She headbutted him. He went down and stayed down. Octavia went to kill him.
"No! We leave him to the Commander's justice," ordered Adara. Octavia nodded and tied him up.
They moved towards the command centre. The door was unlocked and the command centre was empty. They went in.
"Monty, how do I send a message mountain wide?" Monty told her and she pressed the button on the mic.
"This is Adara Toril, leader of the Skaikru. The mountain has fallen. The Commander of the twelve clans is now in charge here and will formally charge the leaders and military of Mount Weather with crimes against her people. Throw down your arms and surrender. Those who do so, will be held for trial. Those who don't will be killed. The civilians are safe. Your families - your children are safe. Surrender now."
Adara turned off the mic and turned to Octavia.
"Think that'll work?"
"God, I hope so. We need this to end." Adara was about to reply when a voice came over the radio.
"Mount Weather come in, Mount Weather come in. This is Charles Pike. Chancellor Jaha has been arrested along with Diana Sydney. With Shumway dead, I'm the only one of the original group left. I've recruited some others but I'm now in charge. I need instructions on how to retake control of the Ark." Adara and Octavia were furious.
"Adara, we heard and recorded that. I'm contacting Kane and replaying it for him. He'll deal with Pike," said Monty.
"Thank you, Monty. You're an angel."
"Yeah. A guardian angel," said Jones with a laugh.
"Kane, you need to hear this," said Monty, talking to the Ark. Adara tuned Monty out as he dealt with Kane and Pike.
"Commander?"
"I'm here, Adara. You have done well. We are taking the rest of the soldiers to the cages."
"Good. Miller? Stay here with Octavia. Monitor things from here and help Monty." They both nodded. "Lock the door behind me."
"Where are you going?" asked Miller, speaking for the first time.
"Back to the infirmary to make sure Murphy's okay." They both nodded and Adara left.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
In the infirmary, Clarke, Nyko and a dozen other healers were still working on the injured. Adara went up to Clarke.
"How's Murphy?" Clarke looked up from bandaging a warrior's arm. "He's stable. I was able to operate on him by contacting the Ark and getting my mom to help me."
"Good thinking. Glad he's gonna be okay."
"Yeah."
"How are the rest? Do you need more help?"
"No. We've done all we can for the worst off, Now it's up to them. The rest are just walking wounded."
"Good. I'm going through there to see the Commander," said Adara, pointing to the harvest chamber. Clarke nodded and returned to her work. Adara clapped her on the shoulder as she went past her.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
In the harvest chamber, the Commander was staring at the cages. Adara walked up to her side.
"Hard to imagine the size of those cages, isn't it? No room to stretch out, only sitting with your knees up and your head canted to the side if you are tall. Not even much room to move," said Adara. The Commander turned to her.
"Are you reading my mind?"
"No. I just looked at them the first time and I never realised what the word cage meant. I was assuming that the cages would be tall enough to stand up in. That the people in them would be crammed in. I didn't think they would be this small. Barbaric doesn't even begin to describe it."
"Yes. The size of these cages is something you need to see to believe."
"Maybe some of them should be kept as a reminder of what they did to your people."
"We will always remember, Adara. This mountain shall never be forgotten."
"On the Ark, we were told of times when people said the same thing but within two generations, they were at war again. They never learned the lesson because the next generation didn't believe the stories of the war. They had no concept of how things were. Commander, If people see the cages, they cannot dispute the cages nor their size." The Commander thought about that and then nodded.
"You are wise beyond your years, Shaman Adara."
"Wisdom is not restricted to the old, Commander, nor the experienced."
"True." A commotion sounded as the door to the room burst open and several warriors were manhandling several guards inside.
"Strip them and put them in the cages!" said the Commander, pointing to the empty cages. The warriors pushed their captives to the cages. The guards were protesting all the way.
"You can't put us in there! That's inhumane!"
"Says the people who did it to outsiders!" yelled Adara.
"Who are you?" one of them asked.
"Sky prisoner," Adara said, crossing her arms defiantly.
"Sky prisoner?"
"Yeah, you know, the ones who you were going to kill for our bone marrow." The guards looked scared. "Yeah, you remember now."
"You can't do this to us, we're civilised people!"
"No. You're barbarians. You slaughter those who are not like you and you kill those you want to for their blood. How many people have you captured and drained of their blood just because you think you had the right? You didn't have the right! You should have died. I would not take a life to save my own unless in battle! That is the true mark of a civilised person!" Adara ranted at them. "These outsiders as the civilians call them have been your saviours. They saved you - against their will, I grant you - but you still think of them as savages. You still treat them like their lives didn't matter. How many families have you torn apart because you didn't care? Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews all captured and lost to their families. How many children have you stolen? How many people have you killed? HOW MANY?!" she yelled, incandescent with rage. Sterling and Fio pulled her back from attacking the guards.
One of the guards looked to the Commander.
"Do something. She's out of control! You have to stop her." The Commander stepped towards the guard.
"I don't have to do anything. You have no idea of the damage you have caused outside. We were peaceful until your people started taking ours. Now we are the warriors you feared, all because you took our people. As for her," she said, pointing to Adara. "She is not one of my people. She is the leader of her own people. She is the leader of the prisoners sent down for you to kill. I have no control over her actions - yet."
"Yet?"
"If she wishes, her clan can join the others under my command. Until then, she is an ally, as are her people. They have proven themselves to me. They want to find a way to live in harmony with us. I admire them." The Commander then walked away leaving Adara and Fio with Sterling all looking at the mountain men like they wanted to kill them. The guards and leaders all looked scared. Adara smirked and turned about and left.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
When the dust had settled, all the guards and leaders that hadn't died in the fighting, had been put in the cages. The civilians had been kept safe and were still being kept safe in quarantine. Jasper and Maya were staying with them. The civilians were shocked when they had found out the truth and outraged that their leaders had perpetrated such a crime on innocent people. They were also ashamed to have the outsiders blood in them now. They didn't know what was going to happen to them, but a lot of them didn't want any more transfusions.
The Commander's warriors were roaming the corridors, making sure that no-one escaped or was in hiding. Octava and Sterling were keeping an eye on the prisoners along with several Trikru warriors. Miller was sitting just outside the door. He still had no idea about the cages in the previous life so all he had to go on was the conditions inside the mountain. He couldn't believe the size of the cages. Stuffed inside like something shoved into the back of the cupboard and left. He thought it was only right that they suffer the same conditions. He was slowly trying to come to terms with it.
Murphy was asleep in the infirmary. The bullet had been taken out without any more damage. He would survive, but it would be a long time before he was fully fit.
Clarke was also asleep. She was sleeping on a bedroll on the floor. Unbeknown to her, Anya had put a guard to watch her. Anya wasn't going to let the Commander's beloved get into trouble. Anya herself along with Indra were directing the sweep on the complex and counting how many of their people had made it and how many didn't. They sent a group out to cut down some trees to use for funeral pyres for their fallen warriors. They would be cremated at dawn. It was going to be a long night.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
A warrior ran down the corridor looking for his Commander, but he couldn't find her. He saw Adara talking to Anya though.
"We found a clanswoman with a child locked in a room near that storage room you were in. She's Floukru and says she was taken six years ago. The child is a newborn." Adara and Anya froze in horror at those words. Crap! Adara hoped like hell that the woman was okay. She doubted the woman had consented and now had a child as a result of it. Adara and Anya ran after the warrior as he showed them the way. Adara vowed to castrate the bastard when she found him!
There in the room, was a woman who was approximately 25 years old and she had a newborn baby in her arms. Anya knelt in front of the woman.
"You are Floukru. What's your name?"
"Isla."
"You were captured six years ago?"
"Almost seven."
"And were you forced into mating?"
"Yes. The man who did this was the leader's son."
"Cage? Cage did this?" Adara asked. The woman looked at Adara and her tattoo.
"Yes, Heda. He is the father of my first child."
"FIRST child! How many have you had?"
"This is the third. She is the child of one called Emerson, as is my son."
"Emerson! I'll kill the bastard!" Adara said, getting to her feet. Anya caught her by her arms.
"Adara! No! Leave him to the Commander's justice!"
"But he-!"
"No! This is another example of the barbaric ways of the Maunon. They will all pay for this!"
"I'm not the only one," Isla said. That stopped both women in their tracks.
"How many more are there?" asked Anya, keeping her fury in check in front of the woman.
"I know of at least three other women who were used like this, and they all said that there were at least another four they knew of when they first got taken." Adara closed her eyes, how many women had been abused like this? How many children were now immune to the radiation because of their rape?
"Are the other women still alive?" Adara asked, fearing the answer.
"One is. She was taken to the leader's sons office just before the alarms started." Adara stood up.
"Monty!"
"Yes?" Monty answered.
"You still got cameras in Cage's office?"
"Well they're off at the moment. You've got Cage so we don't need them right now."
"Turn them on and guide us there."
"Why?"
"Just do it, Monty. You'll see why when you do."
"One sec and… Oh, fuck! There's a woman tied to the desk, completely naked!"
"Get us there, Monty. Several of the clanswomen have been raped."
"Where are you?"
"The corridor just left from where the storeroom is."
"Turn right into the corridor with the storeroom and then go straight ahead until it joins up with a larger corridor. Second door on the left is stairs up. Go one floor up and through the door. Turn to the left and down that corridor. Door at the end is Cage's."
"Got it. Anya, you coming with me or staying here?"
"I'll stay here. You go get that other woman." Adara nodded and set off.
"Commander?" Adara said into her throat mike.
"Here."
"We have a situation with some clanswomen. They've been raped. We've found a Floukru woman who was caught by the mountain almost seven years ago. She's got three children, Commander. Two are Emerson's and one is Cage's. We need to do DNA checks on the kids and see who's part of the clans. Clarke will know what I mean."
"Are there any more women?"
"I'm on the way to Cage's office right now. Monty saw a woman tied up in there."
"I'll send Anya to help."
"She's already with the other woman - Isla."
"Okay, I'll send Octavia and a couple of my female warriors."
"Thanks. Tell Octavia it's one floor up from the storeroom and Monty can give her directions."
"Okay. I'll do that now." The Commander cut the connection as she contacted Octavia and told her what was going on. Octavia agreed to meet Adara outside Cage's office.
Adara got there first and waited until Octavia and the others arrived.
"I am Jora kom Floukru and Isla is my cousin."
"There's another clanswoman in there and she's naked and tied up."
"Let's go," said Octavia.
Adara put her hand on the door and felt for any other person in the room other than the woman. She then opened the door and walked in. She took out her knife and cut the ropes tying the woman down to Cage's desk and Jora took off her jacket and covered the woman with it.
"You're safe now," said Adara.
"No, I'm not. He'll come back and get me, he always does," said the woman, absolutely terrified.
"No, he won't. We caught him and put him in the same cages your people were held in. He can't harm you anymore." Hope flared in her eyes and just as quickly dimmed.
"I can't believe that."
"If I show you, will you believe that?" The woman thought about it and nodded.
Octavia was turning on Cage's computer. When she had she got Monty to show the harvest cages with their new guests.
"There, see? Cage is locked up with some of the others who did this," said Adara, pointing to the screen. The woman looked and she saw Cage in a cage. She smiled.
"He can't get me?" Adara shook her head. "What about my children?"
"How many do you have?"
"Two, both girls."
"Do you know where they are?"
"No," she said, sadly as she shook her head.
"Do you know who the father or fathers are?" She nodded.
"Both were guards. I don't know their names, but I'll never forget their faces."
"Okay. We can check the guards to see if they are in the cages. If they are not, it means they've been killed in the fighting."
"Can we go now? I don't want to be here anymore."
"We'll take you to the Commander, okay?" the woman nodded and as Jora helped her to walk, they set off back down to the infirmary and the Commander.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Monty sat back once the fighting and the rescue of the woman and other clanspeople was over and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Raven and Atom were beside him and had watched the action on the cameras. Kane and Clarke's parents were listening in as well. Harper and Jones were still watching cameras in case they spotted any hiding guards.
"Well, that was exciting." said Raven.
"Yeah, but I wish I could have helped them," said Atom.
"This was basically a Trikru operation masterminded by Adara. She's our leader and shaman. She'll be respected by the clans now. They've all done us proud. We can stop hiding and hopefully start living."
"You really think that?" asked Monty.
"Yes, because it was our people that got inside the mountain. It was our people," Raven said, pointing to Monty, Harper and Jones, "who were able to turn off the acid fog, open the doors and guide the warriors to where they needed to be. Us, not them. If they don't see our worth now, then we'll pack up and leave. We'll find somewhere we can live in peace."
"We respect you," they heard the Commander say. They looked at the cameras and saw the Commander looking into one of them. She knew she couldn't see them but they could see her. They had forgotten that their mics were open and everyone with an earwig could hear them. Adara stepped up beside her.
"Thank you guys, I couldn't have done this without each and every one of you, that includes all of the hundred." Adara was choked with emotion. She was proud of her people and proud she had their backing.
Anya and Indra looked at each other as they heard the exchange between the Skaikru and they both agreed with everything Raven had said. The Skaikru had proven themselves and put their lives on the line for complete strangers - all because they wanted to right a wrong. They would treat them with respect. They had earned it.