Disclaimer: The usual. I don't own anything.
They had setup the radio system in one of the tents to protect it from weather and other prying eyes in the camp. People took shifts listening in the radio for any kind of communication. It was a boring job, but it was the only one they were tasked to do. And it kept them away from other grounders until the tensions runs its course.
Jasper was sitting in the chair next to the radio, bored out of his mind. It was the most boring thing he has done since they landed. There was nothing to do but sit and listen to the static noise coming from the radio. But at least he had a task. Others were just sitting around, waiting for the grounders to ask them to do something.
The grounders didn't trust the delinquents. They didn't let them help out around the camp, in fear of something happening. And Jasper understood that fear. The delinquents feared the grounders when they arrived at the camp. And now the roles are reversed. Jasper couldn't understand how killing a bunch of innocent villagers would be useful in anyway. And he feared death when they were told about the attack. Grounders are not known for their mercy. He was surprised when they showed restraint, because of the commander.
Clarke has been leading the delinquents successfully. Jasper was glad to have her as the leader for their camp. She has a natural quality as a leader and she is skilled in diplomatic dealings based on the way she has been handling the commander. But Jasper missed Bellamy. They were not close before. When Bellamy left the camp, Jasper was sort of glad because he found Bellamy to be intimidating. But the Bellamy that came back to the camp was a different person. More friendly, more mellowed out, he laughed with them and let himself be free with them. Jasper was friendly with the Bellamy that saved his life.
He was feeling guilty when they came into TonDc and ran into Octavia. He knew how much Octavia loved her brother and he had a part in the reason he died. He felt the need to own up on his role at Bellamy's demise. He confessed that to her at the first chance he got after Clarke told her about Bellamy. Octavia, even in her grief, forgave him. She told him that it wasn't his fault and Bellamy would have done that, because it was who he was. It eased his guilt a little to let himself be normal.
But at times like this when he is sitting alone with no one else to keep him company, he kept trying to think of ways he could have reacted that would have given the chance for Bellamy to survive.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the change in the static noise on the radio. He listened in, carefully.
"…unde…nge…arrow…cess…nde" The words were coming out garbled. Jasper didn't know what to do. He was not a technical person.
He put his head out of the tent and looked at the closest Delinquent sitting next to the tent.
"You. Quickly get Monty or Raven. And Clarke. Hurry." He shouted with urgency. The kid scrambled to his feet and ran.
Jasper went back to the radio and kept listening.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon, all three people he requested arrived at the tent at the same time.
"What is it Jasper?" Clarke asked, worried.
"Listen." He said and waited for the voice to repeat.
"oun…ger…arr…pri…" The voice was still breaking up in the transmission.
"Let me take a look." Raven said and pushed Jasper out of her way as she positioned herself in front of the radio. Jasper got up from the chair to give her some room and stood by with Monty.
Raven kept tweaking the dials in the equipment.
"The broadcast signal is in the wavelength as before, but not exactly the same. Let me find the right frequency." She told others as she kept adjusting the dials. The words became clearer and clearer as she adjusted.
"It's a girl." Jasper exclaimed.
"We can hear it. We know it's a girl." Monty teased, laughing at Jasper's expression.
"There." Raven said. The voice in the radio was clear now.
"Bone Marrow. Princess." There was a pause. Then, "Grounders. Danger. Bone Marrow. Princess." The words kept repeating over the transmission.
"It's in a loop." Monty stated. Raven nodded in confirmation.
"What does it mean?" Jasper asked, not understanding the meaning of it.
"Yeah. And why does it say Princess?" Raven asked, looking at Clarke.
Clarke stood there; shock evident in her face.
"Only two people call me that." She whispered, but everyone in the tent heard her.
"Finn and Bellamy." Raven answered. Clarke broke from her shock and looked at her.
"Yeah. The message must be from Finn." Clarke said. Message from Bellamy made lesser sense. At least she knew Finn was alive. And if the Ark survivors were in the mountain and she sent Finn to get them, he must be with them. He must be trying to send out the message. That made the logical sense to her.
"What does it mean though?" Jasper asked the obvious question.
"It's a message to me. It's a warning, I think. Danger is obvious. Grounders could mean that the grounders are in danger or we are in danger from the grounders. I think it meant the former. I don't know what bone marrow would mean though." Clarke decrypted the message.
"Should we share this with the commander?" Monty asked. Clarke looked at all the faces in the tent.
"I don't see any reason to hide it. It would keep us in their good graces and we need a place to survive for now." Clarke suggested. Others nodded, agreeing with her.
"I'll inform Lexa about the message. Jasper, keep listening." Clarke told him. She left the tent towards the commander's tent.
The guard at the entrance of the commander's tent saw her and straightened up.
"I need to talk to the commander." Clarke told him.
"Commander's not available now. You come tomorrow." The guard told her.
"It is a matter of urgency. She will want to hear this." Clarke said, refusing to go away. The guard stared at her, and realizing she won't leave, he stepped into the tent. Clarke stayed outside.
"You can go in." He told her when he stepped outside. Clarke stepped around him to go inside the tent.
Lexa was not in her commander's attire this time. She was sitting in the chair, relaxed as she waited for Clarke to come in.
"What is it Clarke?" She asked, the harsh commander tone missing in her voice.
"We just got a new message in the radio." Clarke said and Lexa stiffened, looking at Clarke with more focus.
"What did it say?" Lexa asked.
"That's the thing. It wasn't a communication. More like a message that is being broadcasted. It's on a loop." Clarke said.
"By who?" Lexa asked, confused as to who would send a message from the mountain.
"Remember Finn? The guy I told you about? The one I sent to meet the Ark survivors to bring them to the dropship? I think it's from him. He must have been taken in with the rest of the Ark survivors and he must be trying to reach out to me." Clarke told her, embarrassed.
Lexa noticed the way Clarke hesitated before telling her and the embarrassed look she has after she did. Lexa knew there was more to the story.
"Why do you think it's him? And why do you suspect he was sending it to you?" Lexa inquired further.
"Does it matter?" Clarke asked, not willing to delve into details.
"It is, if you expect me to believe the message." Lexa stated, point of fact.
Clarke sighed. She didn't have any choice. "Only Finn and Bellamy called me princess. And the message said princess." She revealed.
Lexa smirked when she heard it. She could tell that Clarke was embarrassed to be called that. "It suits you." She commented.
"The message said grounders were in danger." Clarke said, wanting to change the focus of the conversation. That worked, because Lexa's smile went away.
"What kind of danger?" Lexa asked, wanting more information.
"I don't know. The message was very brief. It could have something to do with bone marrow. But what and how, we don't know yet." Clarke answered her.
"Bone marrow?" Lexa asked, confused. She wasn't familiar with that term.
"Yes. It's a medical term. Something in your spine." Clarke explained.
"What does it have to do with us?" Lexa asked, not understanding the relationship between them and the medical thing Clarke explained.
"It's not clear. We need more information." Clarke said.
"What did the message say exactly?" Lexa demanded to know.
"It was only four words. Grounders, Danger, Bone Marrow, Princess. Those words are being repeated in a loop." Clarke told her.
Lexa spoke something in Trigedasleng that Clarke didn't understand. But from the way she spoke and the anger she was showing, it was probably curse words.
Lexa looked at Clarke after she got control of herself.
"Find out what it means. See if you can get anymore messages. We need to be ready if the mountain is preparing to attack." Lexa told her.
Clarke nodded and left the tent, walking back to her people. By the time she got there, word has spread about the new message and Finn being with the Ark survivors.
"Is it true? Did we get a message from the mountain?" Octavia asked her when she arrived at their area.
"Yes. We still don't know what it means." Clarke told her. She was concerned that they may never know what it means.
"Maybe we do. Come with me." She asked and Clarke followed Octavia. She took her to the corner where Lincoln was sitting with the rest of the delinquents.
"Tell her what you told me about the tunnels." Octavia demanded Lincoln once they were close enough.
Lincoln smiled at Clarke politely. Clarke smiled back.
"Octavia wanted to know what Bellamy saw in the reaper tunnels." Lincoln said. Clarke recognized what they were talking about. She remembered Bellamy mentioning about the caves, but he didn't explain what he saw. And she didn't ask.
"Tell her what you have seen." Octavia hurried him. Lincoln looked at the girl and then back at Clarke.
"I found my people almost dead, being sent to the reapers by the mountain men." He told Clarke.
"Sent? How?" Clarke asked, confused.
"There's a shaft in the tunnel that comes from their complex. The bodies are dropped through the shaft into a cart that the reapers use to transport them." Lincoln explained.
"And these grounders are not dead?" Clarke asked for clarification.
"They are near death. They cannot be revived. Their bodies are burnt with some kind of sickness and their blood is drained. We have tried bringing them out of the tunnels, but they never survived." Lincoln said with sorrow.
Something clicked in Clarke's brain when she heard it.
"Wait a minute. Did you say the bodies were drained of blood?" She asked to confirm. Lincoln nodded, noticing the change in her when she heard it.
"What is it Clarke?" Octavia asked, curious.
"Only reason for them to drain the blood is if they needed it for some reason. And what produces blood cells? Bone Marrow." Clarke exclaimed. Octavia wasn't following it, but she understood that Clarke had solved some kind of mystery.
"Did the burn marks look like boils? Was the skin charred or did they look red and irritated? Did they look like lesions?" Clarke asked, switching to doctor mode.
"They looked like boils. We have seen smaller ones in child in young age. But not on adults. I don't know what lesion is." Lincoln explained the best he could.
"Do you know what it is?" Octavia asked. She knew Clarke was close to identifying it, based on the expression in her face.
"I think it's radiation sickness. I need a body to examine and confirm." Clarke answered. She looked at Lincoln.
"Do you think we can go to the tunnel and back? I want to examine a body." She asked.
"Are you mad? The reapers are down there." Octavia exclaimed.
"I know. But we need to be absolutely sure. We can't lose face in front of other clans if we provide the wrong information." Clarke told Octavia. Octavia knew it was true, but she didn't like it.
"What do you want me to do?" Lincoln asked.
"Ask Indra for permission for both of us to sneak into the tunnels. We can get one of the bodies and I can inspect it. Then we can go to Lexa with the full information." Clarke told him. Lincoln nodded in agreement.
Clarke waited with Octavia, while Lincoln went to talk to Indra.
- 100 -
It didn't take long for Lincoln to return.
"Indra gave permission to leave the camp. But only us. She didn't want to risk letting the mountain men know what we are up to." Lincoln told Clarke. Clarke nodded in agreement. It has to be a quick and quiet mission.
"I'm coming with you." Octavia said.
"No, my love. You can't. We need to move quickly and only Clarke and I are needed. Look after your people here." Lincoln spoke in a soft voice. Clarke saw Octavia cave into his request. She knew she wouldn't have been able to do the same with Octavia, no matter how much reasoning she used.
"Let's go. We need to be back before nightfall." Lincoln said, looking at the sun shining in the middle of the sky. They only had half a day left.
Clarke picked up a rifle and moved with him towards the gate. She let Octavia explain to the group where she was going.
Once they were out of the gates, they moved quickly through the jungle. Lincoln was moving fast and his long legs took him through the path quickly. Clarke had difficulty keeping up with her shorter legs. She wasn't used to moving like that in the forest.
They came to the stream in a short while. She could see the tunnel up ahead. It was closer to TonDc than the dropship camp.
"Wait here. I'll bring back a body for you." Lincoln told Clarke.
"No. I should come with you. You need backup." Clarke argued.
"You don't know the tunnels like I do. There could be danger around any corner. I need to move quickly." Lincoln said, not willing to risk Clarke's life.
"All the more reason for you to have backup. I'm coming." Clarke stated, not willing to argue about it any further.
Lincoln sighed and let her come along. They both walked into the cave.
"Keep quiet and stick to the darkness. Reapers can hear you." Lincoln whispered. Clarke nodded, even though she knew Lincoln couldn't see it in the darkness.
They walked slowly through the tunnels. Clarke could see lights around the corners, and the tracks running criss-cross through the different paths in the tunnels. She knew she would be lost if she came that way without Lincoln's help.
Lincoln grabbed her arm suddenly. Clarke paused when he did. He pushed himself to the wall as close as he could and Clarke did the same, hiding herself behind his frame.
Up ahead, Clarke could hear footsteps. The sound became louder and louder as they came closer. She could hear loud voices come with the footsteps. It sounded like yelling and frustration.
Clarke peeked her head around Lincoln's body when she heard voices. She saw grounders, who look similar to those she saw at TonDc, but as Bellamy explained, more feral. Angry. They were mad about something. She saw them walk straight toward them. Clarke was worried about being discovered, but they took a right turn into the split tunnel. Lincoln and Clarke peeked closer to observe from a distance.
They saw a locked door at the end of that tunnel. The reapers banged at the door impatiently. There was a noise and the reapers stood back, away from the door. Clarke observed as the door opened. Guards walked through the door with rifles in their hands.
"Where are the prisoners?" Clarke heard one of the guards say.
She couldn't hear what the reaper answer. Whatever it was, the guard wasn't happy about it.
"You bring prisoners, we give you juice. That's the deal. No prisoners, no juice." The guard waved a syringe in front of the reaper. Clarke can see the reapers getting agitated by it.
The guard stepped back and looked at another guard who pulled out some kind of device. Before the reapers got close, he activated it.
Clarke heard a loud sonic noise echo through the tunnel. It was loud, but it didn't hurt her eardrums. But it had a completely different effect on the reapers. They were in the ground, crying out in pain at the noise.
The guards went back inside the door and it locked inside. The reapers were on the ground in pain.
"Now's our chance." Lincoln said and moved quickly across the tunnel to the other side. Clarke followed him closely behind.
They found the cart under the shaft as Lincoln said. It seemed to have been recently emptied, as Clarke found a couple of bodies inside. Lincoln reached in and pulled one of the bodies out. Clarke quickly checked for pulse and didn't find any.
"Check if the other body is alive." She told Lincoln, who did as he was told. He pulled back and shook his head negatively.
Clarke looked at the body she had at her feet. As suspected, the body had blisters and needle entry points.
"Let's take him back." Clarke said. Lincoln lifted the body to his shoulder and carried him. He led the way as Clarke followed him.
They crossed the tunnel and saw the reapers were still on the ground. Clarke couldn't wait to discuss about what she saw. She had a lot of questions she needed to ask. But she remained quiet as Lincoln instructed before, as they escaped the tunnels.
Once they were outside in the clear across the stream, Lincoln carried the body as they moved along quickly. With the extra body weight, Clarke was able to match his speed as they travelled.
"What was it back there?" Clarke asked, the question burning in her head.
"It's the way mountain men controlled the reapers." Lincoln answered her.
"They're drugged?" Clarke asked.
"I don't know the details. I have seen them in that state before. They get pleasure from what the mountain men provide. They need it. They die without it. We have tried bringing back one of the reapers before. It didn't work. He died." Lincoln explained.
"Wait. So, the reapers are not born that way. They are made that way?" Clarke questioned. She felt that she wasn't getting the whole picture.
Lincoln paused and looked at her.
"The mountain men turn some of the captured grounders into reapers. We don't know how or why. Once they turn, they are not who they were before. All they need is what the mountain men provide. They die if they go without for prolonged period of time. It is a painful death." Lincoln elaborated what he had learned from others and what he had seen. He started walking again. Clarke walked next to him.
"Maybe my mother can come up with a cure to take them off drugs. If we have the sample of what they are being given, it may help find a cure." Clarke said hopefully.
"That is not our current priority. We need to get to the mountain. We need to destroy their weapon. We need to find the way to that." Lincoln pointed out.
"I agree. But, if the mountain men are controlling the reapers, we need to ensure they can't use them against us when we get close to the mountain." Clarke said.
"You may be right." Lincoln agreed.
"I will talk to others and see if we can come with a way to take them down." Clarke suggested.
They moved the rest of the way in silence to the camp.
- 100 -
TonDc was buzzing with chats and murmurs, when Clarke and Lincoln arrived with the dead grounder with them. Most of the grounders at the camp didn't know what was happening. They saw a dead grounder come with the Sky person and the grounder friendly with them. It didn't bode well with others. But they kept it to voicing their displeasure and didn't act on it.
Clarke brought the body to their side of the camp. Lincoln placed him away from others and Clarke got to work. Other delinquents kept their distance, but peeked to see if they can see anything.
"Do you need a hand?" Jasper asked Clarke when he got close to her.
"I'm almost done." Clarke answered him back. She dropped the tweezers she was using to inspect the needle puncture.
"I can confirm that this person was drained of their blood and the injuries in their body are caused by radiation sickness." Clarke told the group, waiting for her to finish.
"What does that mean?" Someone asked her.
"It means I have an answer to the commander now." She answered cryptically. She moved quickly to the commander's tent.
When the guard saw her approach, he said "you again." As a way of warning.
"I have the information commander was looking for." Clarke stated, no time for argument.
The guard must have noticed the urgency in her voice. He quickly stepped in and stepped out almost immediately.
Clarke, not waiting for him to tell her to go in, walked straight inside.
"Twice in one day. What is it now?" Lexa said, looking concerned at Clarke's serious expression.
"Did you hear about Lincoln and I going to the reaper tunnels?" Clarke asked her.
"Indra told me. I wouldn't have allowed it, if I was asked before. But it was Indra's prerogative in the matter." Lexa answered.
"I needed to go to confirm my theory." Clarke said.
"Your theory?" Lexa asked, confused.
"Yes. Theory on why Bone Marrow was mentioned in the message." Clarke said. Lexa realized what it was about.
"Did you find out?" She asked eagerly.
"Yes. I needed one of the bodies discarded by the mountain men to confirm. Lincoln helped me procure it." Clarke explained.
"What did it tell you?" Lexa questioned, still not getting the answer she wanted.
"The bodies were drained of their blood and it had signs of radiation sickness." Clarke told her.
Lexa didn't understand what Clarke was trying to say.
"Is it some kind of blood ritual?" She asked, confused.
"No." Clarke said, frustrated she wasn't explaining properly. She took a breath and tried again. "When the war destroyed the ground, the planet's radiation went up. We survived up in the sky for it to go down to survivable again. Your people lived through it. Your bodies changed to accommodate the radiation. Your blood can absorb the radiation that the planet has now." Clarke explained.
"How did your people survive?" Lexa asked. If the grounders survived by the change, the sky people didn't go through that.
"We faced higher radiation living in space. Our body adjusted to it just like yours." Clarke told her.
"Ok. I still don't see the connection to the blood." Lexa said. She was getting lost in the explanation.
"The mountain men must not have built that resistance living inside the mountain. They were not exposed to the radiation. They must be using your people to filter out the radiation sickness they experience. They must be using your blood to purify themselves." Clarke theorized.
Lexa's eyes burned with anger at the thought of such barbaric action.
"What does Bone Marrow have to do with it?" She asked, still not clear on that part.
"Bone Marrow is what produces the blood cells needed for the filtration. They must have realized that using the bone marrow will let them stay cured without needing to filter every time." Clarke explained.
"I will kill every single one of them in the mountain. Jus drein jus daun (Blood must have blood)!" Lexa seethed in anger. Clarke was terrified at the commander in that moment. But she didn't show it in her face.
"We should stop it. We will find a way to stop it." Clarke assured her.
"How? We still don't have a solution for the fog." Lexa said, pointing out the futility in the assurance.
"We are trying to communicate with the person inside. Maybe they can help." Clarke suggested.
"Find a way Clarke. That is your clan's responsibility." Lexa ordered. Clarke realized she was talking to the commander and not the friendly leader from before. She nodded and walked back, not willing to argue.
She went back to her people and explained to them what she discovered. They were disturbed at the thought of what the mountain men were doing. They were worried for their own people in the mountain as well.
They had nothing else to do but wait for the messenger to communicate back.