Warnings for plans of genocide, involving bone marrow harvesting, murder, humans in captivity, child endangerment and general thoughts of death.

Chapter 5

No way out

Maya had noticed Clarke going missing about an hour ago. She had heard from the guards that Clarke had fallen and had hurt her wrist. But even if it was an accident, which was common for children to have? That sounded…oddly intentional on Clarke's part. Especially since only two days ago, Clarke had questioned Maya about the scream she'd heard in the vent.

Which led Maya to go to the infirmary and see if Clarke intended to do any digging. She'd had her answer soon. She had entered the infirmary and had seen the unscrewed vent face.

Maya's heart had fallen, and quickly, to make sure Clarke wasn't caught, had grabbed the vent face and had grabbed a screwdriver that she knew was nearby, climbed up on top of the shelves and had screwed the face of the vent back on. She had known that she had enough time to do that and to go get Clarke, since she knew how long that vent shaft was that Clarke currently was climbing through.

She had then put the screwdriver back, happy that Lancaster was asleep and not seeing any of this, and had raced down to the lowest level of the mountain, knowing that Clarke was going to crawl out of the other side of the vent and find the prisoners.

Maya reached the bottom of the mountain and got out of the doors, into the lowest level and where the Outsiders were being held.

And Maya found Clarke, just like she had expected.

There the girl was. Between the rows of cages stacked up on top of each other. Clarke was facing one of the top cages, speaking to one of the Outsiders. Maya knew that English was a common language of the Outsiders. They called it "Gonasleng." Dante and Tsing had…failed to mention to Clarke that the Outsiders spoke English, because they had preferred it that Clarke didn't know that they could communicate with her, and tell them the extent of what the Mountain Men had done.

Maya recognized the young man that Clarke was talking to, as well. That was Lincoln. He was one of the few Outsiders willing to talk to Maya. He trusted more than the other Outsiders did. She knew he looked younger than he was. He told her his age a few days ago. He was twenty years old.

Maya saw the look that Clarke was giving her right now, and her heart plummeted.

"How could you?" Clarke asked, after looking at all the cages, staring at Maya as if the older girl in front of her was a stranger.

Maya tried not to cringe. She had known that Clarke would find out one day. She had hoped Clarke wouldn't. But it had happened.

Clarke knew now.

And she couldn't stomach the sight of Maya. It hurt Maya to watch. Clarke had become somewhat like a little sister to Maya.

And she'd hoped that Clarke wouldn't find this out, since she knew it most likely would be inevitable.

Maya knew that there were organizations through this country and the world that were trying to form superhero groups that would stop horrors, like what the Mountain Men were doing to the Outsiders.

But they weren't moving fast enough. That was why Outsiders were dying by the hundreds as weeks and months went by.

Maya had heard of various organizations trying to form these groups. Amongst them was an organization that called itself, "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

Yes, a long name and it needed to be condensed, without question. But they also appeared to be ineffective, as they had no superhero warriors in their team.

Maya and Clarke and a few others in the mountain, were all the hope these Outsiders had.

And that, without even needing to be said, wasn't a very good sign.

"Clarke," Maya began softly, "I know this is hard to believe. But I'm not trying to help the Mountain Men. I don't agree what they've been doing."

"That's what you say," Clarke said, disgust tainting her every word.

"Klark," Lincoln said from his cage, having heard Maya speak Clarke's name, and Clarke looked to him, startled and Lincoln continued, "She's telling the truth. She's been giving us food and water. And the other Mountain Men don't seem to know."

Clarke looked at Lincoln, surprised at him advocating for Maya, then Clarke slowly looked back to Maya, seeming to take his word for it.

Maya nodded to Clarke, smiling gratefully at Lincoln. "There's not much I can do for them, Clarke. If I let them out? They'll just be recaptured. Or more Outsiders will be put in the cages in their place."

"But we can't just leave them here," Clarke said, staring at Maya, imploring.

Maya winced. That unfortunately, was exactly what they needed to do. But she understood why that was difficult for Clarke to understand.

Oh, to see things the way a child did. To hope that the world could be a better place, when it wasn't. When it was a foul place for anyone who wasn't rich or powerful enough to live in.

Maya said softly, "Clarke, it would take an army to get these people out and to make sure that they weren't put back in the cages, or that other people weren't put in the cages in their place."

Clarke flinched, shocked at Maya's stating this as a fact.

"Clarke," Maya began again, "Right now, Dante, Cage and Tsing have decided not to hurt you. But that will change as soon as they find out that you're trying to get these people out."

Clarke shook her head, "I can't leave them. If you won't do anything about it, I will."

She turned to Lincoln's cage and started reaching out, trying to break open the lock, but of course, she couldn't, since she lacked the strength.

"Clarke," Maya said, rushing forward, and placing her hands on top of Clarke's on the lock of Lincoln's cage, but Clarke pulled out of her grasp, glaring at her.

"Don't!" Clarke snapped, voice pained and Maya winced, seeing the betrayal in Clarke's eyes.

"You would leave these people to die?" The young girl asked, sounding disgusted, "That's your choice. Don't expect me to do the same."

Maya took a deep breath. She knew that there was very little chance of these Outsiders surviving.

But Clarke's chances were higher. If there was a chance that Maya could save Clarke? Then she'd have to take it.

"If you want to save them?" Maya said, trying for another method, "We can do it. But it won't work this way. We have to plan. We have to go back upstairs. So that no one comes looking for us. You want to get them out? Then we need to get them out at a time when no one is looking."

Clarke stared at Maya, curious.

Maya explained, "Come back upstairs with me. We'll come back tomorrow."

Clarke looked over at the Outsider hanging upside down.

Maya winced at Clarke's expression.

"Yes, Clarke," Maya sighed, "If you want us to save the rest of the Outsiders? You have to let at least one of them die."

Clarke shook her head, not able to comprehend this.

Maya took a breath and said softly, "I know this is difficult. But sometimes, you have to let one or two or more people die, to save the larger group of people. Sacrifice the few for the many."

Clarke shivered at the way Maya was talking.

Maya was talking…the way Thelonius Jaha would talk.

Clarke's emotions must have been apparent all over her face, since Maya flinched at Clarke's expression.

"Clarke," Maya tried again, voice softer, "I didn't mean it to be callous. To be cruel. I'm just telling you that this will save more people. I don't want anyone to die, any more than you do. But if we try to get any people out now? Dante and Cage Wallace will know. And we won't be able to save anyone. Just trust me, okay? If we are more careful and let them out later, we'll save more lives that way. Please…,"

Clarke eyed Maya, still not trusting the other girl.

But if what Maya said was true, and there was a chance that they could save more of these peoples' lives by acting later? Then shouldn't she do it? If what Maya said was true, and trying to help a few of the people now, would only hinder them, then wasn't Clarke putting more of these people in danger by acting sooner?

"I…," Clarke started, but remembered what Lincoln had just said to her. That he believed she was telling the truth. She pushed out quietly, feeling the eyes of all the caged people on her, "Alright. I'll go back up with you. But we have to find a way of letting them out."

"I know, Clarke, I know," Maya reasoned, "But it can't be now. Just wait, please."

Clarke winced and turned around, looking at Lincoln. She saw no accusation in Lincoln's eyes. He looked tired and cautious. But not angry at her. Or at Maya. He nodded to her, seeming to accept Maya's thinking.

"Alright," Clarke said again, feeling like she was making a huge mistake, but turned around and walked over to Maya.

She turned to the cage where Lincoln sat and said, hoping this wouldn't be the last time she saw the faces in this room, "Try to survive until I can get all of you out."

A callous thing to say. But Clarke meant it. She hoped that the next time she came back into this room, everyone here wasn't dead.

As Maya led Clarke out of the room, the blonde girl feeling numb as she allowed this. Distantly, she heard Maya say that she would need to come back down later and screw the face of the vent back on. And that she was relieved that she had put the face of the vent in the infirmary back into place, so that she wouldn't have to deal with that.

Clarke was barely listening. She asked quietly as she and Maya moved up the stairs, "What is Dante and Cage going to have done to my people when the Ark comes down?"

Clarke had only mumbled it, but she felt Maya stiffen up right next to her.

Tense, Clarke slowly turned to Maya.

"Maya?" She asked nervously, "What the hell are your people going to do to my people when the Ark comes down?"

Maya's face was taut, and even without words, Clarke knew that it wouldn't be long, before the Ark people were in cages too.

Back on the Ark? Jake Griffin knew that his "friend," Thelonius Jaha, was making preparations for when the Ark was to come down.

Jake had made his feelings extremely clear to Thelonius Jaha. That they were friends no longer. That the current chancellor was not his leader. And that the moment they were down on the ground, he and Clarke were to have no association with him. Or with Kane.

Jake knew Thelonius Jaha and Marcus Kane well enough to recognize their emotions, even if they were trying to keep those emotions under wraps.

When Jake had said those words, Jaha and Kane both had remained stoic, however, he had read the flash of pain in both men's eyes.

And it filled Jake with a somewhat petty happiness.

Jake didn't like to think of himself as vengeful and judgmental. But these people had cast his daughter out of the Ark and had put her down on a ground where for all Clarke knew? There were cultists waiting for her with their knives unsheathed.

When Thelonius Jaha and Marcus Kane tried to speak, tried to placate Jake, he had all but spat in his face, telling them that he wasn't interested in their "bullshit." That had been his exact statement, and he had sauntered off.

As for Jake's wife, Abby? He didn't know what to do.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he could even look at her anymore, knowing that she had helped throw Clarke out of the Ark and into a dangerous environment.

For the first time in his entire life? Jake had almost raised a hand to a woman.

It was something that he was most ashamed of.

But it was the truth. Because how could Abby, someone who knew Clarke's situation better than anyone, aside from Jake, put Clarke in that position?

Had Abby said that she didn't want to raise Clarke? It would have hurt Jake, but he would have accepted and would have placed Clarke in a home where she could be looked after and raised with happiness and affection. And he wouldn't bring the subject up again.

But Abby hadn't done that.

Had any time during Jake and Abby's raising of their daughter, made it clear that she didn't love Clarke as much as she claimed to, Jake would have understood and would have looked after Clarke himself, if Abby wanted to be with Marcus Kane instead.

But she hadn't.

It made Jake more and more troubled, the more constantly he thought of it. Abby was far from a repressed woman. On the Ark, there of course was going to be misogyny and racism, since the Ark culture was inspired a huge amount by the cultures back on Earth before everything went to hell, but it was still the Ark. And almost as soon as the Ark had taken off? A law decreed that regardless of ethnicity, biological sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation or nationality, were to be each given equal opportunities and would have an equal amount of legal protection.

The Ark had its many problems, as you would expect.

Every crime was punishable by death, including just being born, if you were a second or third child, children who committed crimes were locked up for years till execution, regularly and the lower class still wasn't heard as it should have been.

But women not getting opportunities? At least not women who were born higher class the way Abby had been? That just wasn't an issue.

Which led Jake to wonder, why? Why had Abby done this? Why didn't she love Clarke? Or just speak up and tell Jake what she wanted? Why had she withheld so much?

Jake tried not to make this about him, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was something he had done that might have indicated that he didn't respect her feelings or opinions. He was certain that he never had. But for all he knew? Maybe he had and he just didn't recall when.

Jake groaned, leaning forward against the table where he sat, raising his arms so that his elbows were propped on the table, clasping both hands over the back of his neck.

Fuck. Had he caused this?

Had he not been alert to his wife's feelings about taking in a child who was a complete stranger and essentially both disrespected Abby and put Clarke in danger?

Had he just been more flexible, he could have brought Clarke to a nice and loving family that would dote on the small child as their own, and he still could have kept tabs on her, and even helped her become friends with Wells.

Still, the thought of never having gotten to raise Clarke? Made Jake's heart feel like it would be torn in half.

Whatever Jake had done? Clarke was his daughter. And she was in danger. Maybe it was because of him she was in danger. Maybe it wasn't. He just didn't know. But what he knew was that she was his daughter, and she needed his help.

He heard the sliding doors to his left opening up with a low whirring sound and he turned to look at who was entering.

He chuckled, without mirth when he saw Wells come into the room. "Hi, Wells," he said gently, "Sorry if I'm not exactly in the most socializing mood right now."

"It's okay," Wells said to Jake, "I get it. I just wanted to talk. I think we need to make preparations for what happens when we get down to the ground." Wells walked in and seated himself down next to Jake.

Jake nodded. "I was thinking that too," he said, "We should get Clarke away from the rest of the Ark. I think that would be good for her."

"I agree," Wells said, "But what are the odds that the chancellor or Kane will allow that? Maybe Dr. Griffin won't even allow that."

Jake noticed that Wells referred to Thelonius Jaha as "the chancellor," not as "my dad."

Jake knew that Wells considered Jake as more of a father than he did Thelonius Jaha.

Jake, while feeling fatherly affections for Wells, often tried to defend Thelonius Jaha in Wells's eyes.

But he knew that he could no longer do that.

He didn't think he would ever want anyone dead, ever in his whole life. But it seemed that Thelonius Jaha and Marcus Kane had gotten him very close to that point.

And Jake thought about what Wells said, about Abby. What should be done about Abby? It seemed that she would only care about Clarke, if Clarke served the purposes of what the council wanted.

Jake hated to admit it, but Clarke couldn't be anywhere near Abby.

Jake knew that he should file for a divorce, tell Abby that she had his blessing if she wanted to go be with Kane, or with anyone else for that matter.

Jake had never given much thought to his own romantic partner soulmate, whose mark on his chest was in a language he had never seen before.

It made him wonder if his romantic partner soulmate might be a part of that cult that was after Clarke.

A very concerning thought, indeed.

Looking at Wells, Jake realized that Wells had resigned himself to never speaking to his biological father again.

This wasn't just a rebellion emotionally. It was a rejection entirely of Thelonius Jaha, Kane and the rest of the council. Wells, like Jake, realized it might be time for them to take Clarke and Callie too and strike out on their own.

"You think," Jake said, "That we should take a portion of the Ark and leave the council and everyone else. When we're down on the ground? That way the chancellor and Kane won't be able to throw their weight around at us?"

Wells nodded. "That's right," he said, "I know that Callie Cartwig is already onboard with this."

"Alright," Jake said, "Let's say we go along with this? What portion of the Ark would listen to a traitor?"

"The lower class of the Ark," Wells stated, without question, "Thelonius Jaha and Kane have most of the council and the higher ups listening to them. But if you announce what you intended to alert the people to on the air, publicly, that you wanted to protect the people, are you going to pretend that there won't be a big mass of lower class people that will come, looking for a new leader?"

Jake's eyes widened.

The lower class of the Ark.

How often did people not give them the credit that they so deserved?

Jake chuckled, "Are you forgetting something, Wells? You're the son of the chancellor. I'm the top engineer and on the council. Callie is on the council. I suspect we'll get resentment, more than anything else."

Wells nodded. "Yes," he said, "But we don't need anything for that long. We can get their help if only temporarily. Then when we have what we want, we leave them. Or there's the other option, send them out to get killed in droves by the chancellor's army."

Jake stared at Wells, shocked.

"That's rather bloodthirsty," he said quietly.

Wells said, sighing, "I'm sorry. But I don't have patience anymore. If the lower class of people on the Ark help us? Then great, they're helping us. But if not? We have to take care of ourselves and the people we care about. I'm sorry, but even if I hope that everyone's alright when we get to the ground? All I care about is Clarke being safe."

Jake nodded. He could deny it all he wanted, but he thought the same way.

Yes, he hoped that the people of the Ark were all safe and were able to make living for themselves when they got to the ground. But? That wasn't exactly something that Jake would be torn up about if it didn't happen.

His main priority? Was that Clarke was safe.

"Alright," Jake said, "When do we start?"

Wells said, "Callie is getting the speakers ready. And from what I hear? We'll be on Earth in only a few hours. Before we reach Earth? Why don't you give a show of telling the lower class Ark people, who's on their side?"

Jake almost snickered.

Again, Jake wanted the best for all people aboard the Ark.

But since he knew that there were many lower class people of the Ark, who likely would slit Clarke's throat, first chance they got, just to break his heart because they blamed him for why they were poor, he certainly wouldn't feel too bad if he decided to abandon them and he, Clarke, Wells and Callie found a place for them to live without anyone else interfering.

Wells said, elaborating further, "I say we send the message out, in an hour."

On the ground, news had been released about an odd vessel which had crashed to the ground.

A metal pod of some type.

About the size to fit a person inside.

When the news had been spread out, the news traveled fast. From region to region on the ground.

The first two on the ground, outside of the mountain who had learned of this pod, and of the light-haired child which had emerged from the pod?

Had been a pair of warriors from the Trikru.

And they had brought their message to their tribe, who in turn? Spread that message to other tribes. And word at last, reached organizations outside of the tribes.

Not all of the population on the ground were like the Mountain Men or like the twelve tribes, controlled by their commander.

Many communities outside of the twelve tribes and the Mountain Men? Were very much like the Ark in that their cultures were similar to the cultures that existed on Earth before everything went to hell.

One of these organizations which existed, was known as SHIELD.

SHIELD was run by a man known as Nick Fury, but everyone referred to him as "Fury."

Fury learned of this development and considered the possibilities. If it was a pod that landed? Then what was inside probably wasn't powerful enough to exist outside of the pod in space and fly around space, and so perhaps it was just a weak being, not worth being concerned about.

On the other hand? As Fury knew, there were a vast array of alien lifeforms out there. Kree, Skrull, and who knew how many others?

He only knew the two that the first superpowered person he had ever met, Carol Danvers, had been caught between. Who knew how many other alien threats there were out there?

And if this was one? An alien that had come out of the pod, that just happened to look human? Maybe even a Kree?

Then that was cause for alarm.

But then, why just send a child Kree to Earth? From what Fury had heard? This child couldn't be any more than nine or ten or eleven at the oldest.

Why send down a child? And a single child, at that?

Fury considered this and was troubled for new reasons. Could the child just be a refugee from somewhere? He doubted it. But it was possible.

Still, he would need to be sure. He would have to find out if this child was a threat or not.

This led him to going to the panels in front of him and pressing the button that he hoped he wouldn't have to press anytime soon.

He knew soon that one of the people in what was the closest he had to a "team," Clint Barton, would be alerted.

Clint Barton, known a throughout the criminal underworld as "Hawkeye," was one of the few people Fury had managed to recruit over time.

The other two had been a most efficient student in working with SHIELD, agent Maria Hill. And the other was a former Soviet assassin who had changed her name and now called herself Natasha Romanoff. The latter of those two, was barely a full-grown adult, but she was extremely skilled and dangerous.

But it was far from a crack team of superheroes that Fury was hoping for.

But it was still efficient.

Clint Barton would be arriving soon. And Fury would send him out and hopefully he could find the girl.

Fury had heard that this girl had ended up in the mountain. With the Mountain Men.

That of course, was a problem.

But unlike the tribes who were too proud to work with the more modern societies? Fury's organization, amongst others, used weapons similar if not even more dangerous than the Mountain Men's.

Which meant that should Clint run into trouble, all he would have to do was flash his SHIELD badge, and the Mountain Men would know that they had crossed a line by threatening him. And Clint would be on his way, retrieving the child.

There of course, were the reapers that the Mountain Men made.

But Clint's arrows would make short work of them.

Fury wouldn't be sending Clint into this without being aware of what Clint could handle.

Because he wasn't exactly looking to get murdered by Clint's wife, Laura Barton or by Natasha Romanoff, for getting Clint killed.

Back on the Ark, Jake learned of the scheduling of the Ark to come down soon.

And so, he, Wells and Callie set up the tech needed to send out a message to the rest of the Ark.

Jake sat down in front of the camera, Wells and Callie standing out of the way of the screen and Jake began his message.

He wanted to speak as if the lower class of Ark people were the only people with something to lose. But he knew that if he didn't mention Clarke? There would be suspicion cast his way, as to why he hadn't mentioned her and people would wonder if she was trying to deceive them.

This was why he was careful in how he spoke. He told the Ark people that he had intended to announce to all of them about the flaw in the Ark, but was prevented from doing it by the council-he didn't mention Abby. And that when the council silenced him, they were trying to suppress the truth from the rest of the Ark. And allow everyone to die.

Then Jake announced, "My own daughter, Clarke Griffin, has been sent, against her will, down to the ground. She is only ten and a half years old. This council has endangered children long enough. Bring the council down. Hold them accountable for what they have done."

Then Wells and Callie sent the message out publicly.

"Well," Callie sighed, breathing out, "I guess now we have to wait and see what will happen."

They didn't have to wait long, as they learned.

Within the mountain, Clarke was getting impatient.

Maya had screwed the faces of the vents back on. But she could feel how restless Clarke was getting.

Now that Clarke was positive that the Ark people would end up in cages soon too? She kept looking over at where Dante was, with trust and anger in her eyes.

Anytime Dante asked Clarke if she wanted to talk, Maya would need to interfere. Making up excuses as to why Clarke couldn't join him, knowing that Clarke likely would say something to blow their cover.

Whenever Eddie or one of the other kids came over, Maya could practically feel Clarke's distrust of that child.

In one of Dante's studies, he learned of something most promising. The cameras had picked up an extremely large object descending down from the air.

A ship of some sorts.

Dante had an idea of what that ship was. It was the Ark. The Ark where Clarke was from.

This was most ideal for him.

Because now? They had access to the most potent of blood and bone marrow anyone could ask for.

Dante decided to send this announcement out to the rest of the mountain.

During dinner, he stood up and made the announcement, telling everyone that the Ark, the place that had been their guest, Clarke's home, for years, was going to come down soon.

At the table where she sat, Clarke, hearing this? Tensed up immediately.

Maya laid a hand on Clarke's shoulder, trying to calm the younger girl.

Clarke turned her attention to Maya. Maya gave Clarke a look that the dark-haired girl hoped was reassuring.

"It'll be alright," she whispered to Clarke, but she knew that Clarke wouldn't believe her.

Clarke shook her head, looking over at where Dante stood. If the Ark people came down and they went into the mountain unaware? What would happen to them? Were there cages being set up ready to hold each of her people in them?

Was…were Clarke's daddy and her brother, Wells and Callie going to be stuffed each into a cage?

Clarke's fears got the best of her, because a few hours later, Clarke followed Dante to his one hall where he was speaking with Dr. Tsing. She stayed behind a crate, hoping that neither Dante nor Tsing were aware of her, as she listened in on them.

She edged closer, listening in as Dante spoke to the mountain's doctor.

Dante said, "The Ark is getting closer. It will land soon. When it does, I want a few of our guards sent out in hazmat suits, and have a number of the Ark people escorted into the mountain."

"Not all of them?" Tsing asked carefully, her eyebrows lifting up.

"No," Dante confirmed, "If there are all Ark people in this mountain, there's a possibility that their number will outnumber our own. We need them under control. The less Ark people are in the mountain next to how many of us there are? The more easily controlled they will be. And our guards will be able to herd them into cages sooner."

Clarke felt sick, hearing that, clenching her fists. It was exactly as she had thought.

Her people were going to be put in cages. Like animals.

Tsing nodded to Dante as she said, "I will get the needles ready. If we're right? Then it won't be the Ark peoples' blood that will help us. It will be their bone marrow. Which means that we'll need to drill their bone marrow out."

Clarke gaped.

How could these people act like this? To take out someone's bone marrow without their permission?

That was inhuman!

Dante said, "That is unfortunate. And what will happen to them?"

Tsing took a breath and said, "Considering for it to be affective for so much as one of us? We will have to take bone marrow from an Ark person eight times. Each one of the Ark people will die. Because we'll need to take the bone marrow more than eight times, multiple times, if we want all of our people to be able to live above ground."

Dante sighed, nodding. "I was afraid of that," he said, "Clarke will not take it well."

Clarke's jaw clenched. These people were filth. But why hadn't they tried to take any bone marrow from her yet?

Clarke listened closely still.

Tsing said quietly, "We'll obviously have to keep Clarke somewhere secluded, so that she doesn't know what's happening to her people while they're here. Clarke can't know. I presume that it's the same plan as before?"

"Yes," Dante stated, "We tell Clarke that it was the Outsiders that killed her people. So that when we get up to the ground? She will take our side against the Outsiders."

Clarke stared in horror at Dante and Tsing's backs.

She couldn't believe this.

These were the people she had been trusting? This whole time?!

Slowly, she got up and backed away from the two adults. She had to get away from them. Now.

She backed up down the hall, turned and ran. She needed to go find Maya.

She finally found Maya, near one of the lower levels, trying to calm the kids down, the kids who were worried about these new arrivals.

Clarke all but crashed into Maya and said to her fast, "Maya, we need to go down. The lowest levels," Clarke hissed this last part out quietly, "Dante and Tsing? They're planning something horrible. We have to do what we talked about, now."

Maya's eyes widened, then she nodded.

When she and Clarke got away from the smaller kids, they got to the stairwell and began going lower.

As they did, Maya requested that Clarke tell her what the blonde girl had heard.

Clarke tried not to speak too quickly, but explained what she could. What she had heard.

That she had heard that Dante and Tsing were planning on taking all the bone marrow from the Ark people, that they were going to try to keep it a secret from Clarke and that all of the Ark people would be dead by the time the Mountain Men were able to get up on the ground.

Maya shuddered, hearing all this.

It was as bad as she thought it would be.

Which meant that if they wanted to stop it? There was no better time to release the prisoners in the lowest level, except now.

Because a distraction like that? The Mountain Men would have to delay their plans. Hopefully long enough for Clarke and Maya to warn the Ark people about the Mountain Men's plans.

There was that…or another plan that Maya really, really didn't want to try.

It would stop the Mountain Men, that went without saying. But if Maya did it? It wouldn't just stop the Mountain Men. It would kill everyone inside, including the children.

Clarke and Maya reached the lowest level and got inside where the cages were.

Maya practically sensed Clarke's unease, revisiting this room. She could feel how tense Clarke was as the blonde looked around.

"Are you alright, Clarke?" Maya asked the younger girl.

Clarke shook her head, appearing revolted as she looked at all the cages. "No," the young girl answered, "I'm really not."

Maya nodded, unsurprised. "Come on," she said, "We'll get them out."

Clarke and Maya moved quickly. Maya grabbed the keys from a shelf that was off to the side, in the wall, which was where Tsing and the guards always kept the keys and began to unlock the cages.

Clarke watched as each of the sickly Outsiders got out of their cages, shaky, weak, looking like they had seen better days ages ago.

When Maya moved up to the levels of the room where there were cages, moving to unlock the cages there too, Clarke asked, "What happens after we get everyone out?"

Maya called down, "I'll get you out. All of you. And you go to the Ark and warn them not to go near the mountain, understand?"

Clarke nodded. "Alright," she said, "What about you? Won't they find out about you?"

Maya knew that the Mountain Men would find about her, alright.

Maya, when she was finished getting the Outsiders out of their cages, meant to go up to the control room, and rewire everything. Something Maya had been taught to do by her father? Was how to use technology and bend it to her will. She knew how to rewire things. And one thing she was intending to rewire? Was the panel in the control room. She intended to open the main door and let these Outsiders and Clarke out, so Clarke could go run and warn her people away from the mountain.

Maya hoped that would work.

If it didn't? Maya didn't want to have to take the other possibility. But if she had to? She would. It just would end with all of the Mountain Men, including the children, dying.

"I'll figure something out!" Maya yelled down. She doubted that either Dante or Cage Wallace would allow her to live, when they found out what she had done.

She would be executed for her treachery.

That was fine. Maya knew that she and her people had been living on borrowed time for a while now.

These past decades? Their immune system couldn't last much longer and the mountain was going to collapse one day.

Their days were numbered.

Maya had always known that there was a very strong possibility that she wouldn't be long for this world.

She had accepted that a long time ago.

She just wasn't planning on telling Clarke that. Clarke needed to be kept in the dark, so that she wouldn't freak out.

Clarke had to save herself. Clarke and her people? There was still a chance, like the Outsiders, of them being able to live long lives, unlike the Mountain Men.

Clarke had to save her own life and the lives of her people. Maya wasn't going to let Clarke get killed, being worried about anyone in this mountain, besides the Outsiders.

Maya glanced down the length of the room at where Clarke was looking at the Outsiders, clearly unsure of how to approach them. Maya knew that this would break Clarke's heart. Anything happening to Maya or anyone that Clarke had gotten close to in the mountain? It would break Clarke's heart. But that was unfortunately, something Maya had to allow to happen.

If she wanted Clarke and Clarke's people to live, then Maya herself was going to have to die.

Maya had told Clarke before, that sometimes the few had to die so that the many could survive.

Unfortunately, that was often the case. It was reality. Maya was one person who had a very limited time to live, anyway.

Clarke still had a potentially full life ahead of her. And her people needed to survive.

Maya could do the math easily enough. Her own death would be worth it.

And Clarke didn't need to know.

Or if she did, it was better that she find out when she was far away from the mountain and away from Dante and Cage Wallace and Dr. Tsing.

Maya let the last of the Outsiders out of their cages and she moved down the stairs back to the level where Clarke was, hearing some of the Outsiders go down the stairs awkwardly, clearly exhausted from the endeavors the Mountain Men had put them through.

Maya reached the floor where Clarke was, seeing Lincoln smile and nod to her approvingly.

Maya tried not to laugh at how absurd this all was. An Outsider trusted her. Her, a member of the people that had made Lincoln's people lives hell for years.

She wondered how an Outsider like Lincoln came to be. From what she had experienced? They were an unruly and unreasonable lot.

Maya announced, "I'll get to the control room and rewire everything. Hopefully I'll be able to get the front door open so that all of you can get out, understand?" She then looked at Clarke and said, making sure every feature of her face and her voice was in no way readable when she said her next words, "There is a hazmat suit that I have tucked away. After I get you and the Outsiders out? I'm going to put that hazmat suit on and I'm going to get the backdoor of this mountain open and I'm going to leave and join you. Hopefully, your people have a space where I can stay that will be uncontaminated."

Clarke nodded, smiling, clearly relieved by this promise of Maya being able to join her and her people and being safe.

Maya smiled. What she had told Clarke just now? Had been a lie.

There was no hazmat suit that she had tucked away. And there was no backdoor.

But Clarke didn't need to know that.

Maya gestured for Clarke to follow her to the back wall and Clarke did so. When they were at the far back wall, Maya gestured to a map on the wall, which had the map of the mountain. Maya pressed her right index finger against a trail on the map from where she and Clarke were standing.

"This pathway will lead you out of the mountain, Clarke," Maya said, not looking at the girl behind her, "Take the Outsiders and go this way," she then gestured to the door on the opposite of the room from them, "Through that door, and I will take care of the rest. I'll open the outer door."

"Okay," Clarke said, "Please be careful, Maya."

Maya offered Clarke a smile. "I promise you I will be," Maya assured Clarke.

Maya then nodded to Clarke, "Go, now. You take the Outsiders and run for it. I'll go to the control room. But you have to go now."

Clarke was hesitant, but she nodded to Maya and turned to the Outsiders that were all there on the ground level with her and Maya.

"Come on!" She yelled to them, "I'll try to get you out of the mountain!"

Lincoln turned to the uneasy Outsiders with him and spoke to them in his native language.

There was still some hesitation from the Outsiders after that, but they soon followed as Clarke walked to the door that Maya had pointed out to her.

Clarke, Lincoln and the rest of the Outsiders headed to the door, Clarke looking back one last time to Maya, a fearful look on her face, before she pushed open the door and went through.

When the last Outsider was out the door, Maya sucked in a deep breath, ran out of the room and up the stairs to where the control room was.

She wouldn't have long to do this.

If she screwed up and wasn't able to get the outer door open so that Clarke and the Outsiders could get out of the mountain?

Then that left only one other option. One other horrible option.

Author's note

I'm sure absolutely everyone sees where this is going.