Chapter 4

Ten days later, Clarke and her people came to Tondc. She'd brought Sterling and Byrne as guards and Kane as her general. Tanwen went to greet them and show them to their tents.

"Chief Clarke," Tanwen said formally.

"Kwin Tanwen," Clarke said, bowing to her. Tanwen was still getting used to the new title but she knew she had to show she was above the Hedas and ambassadors of the other clans and Chiefs of her own.

"Welcome to Tondc, I'll show you where you are staying."

"Thank you, ai kwin," Clarke replied. She had no problem with Tanwen's elevation in rank nor that Tanwen outranked her. Tanwen led them to four tents set at the northern end of the village but inside the village walls - a consideration because Tanwen came from them.

"These four tents are for your use while you are here. The bigger one is for Clarke. Are Sterling and Byrne your guards?"

"Yeah."

"Don't go anywhere without at least one of them. Anya is also assigned as your primary guard. With so many clans coming here and a lot of them wanting a fight, they may try to bully you. Anya will stop most of that, but watch yourselves, one wrong word could mean a challenge is issued to one of you. Only the Commander can stop a challenge once issued and only if there is a damn good reason like injury. I'm afraid they may try to provoke you so they can issue a challenge, it's a legal way of getting rid of enemies or someone you don't like."

"Are these challenges to the death?" asked Sterling.

"Sometimes, it depends on the challenge. The one issuing the challenge decides if they want it to be a deathmatch or just a first blood one. Mostly, though, it's fist-fighting until one of you can't get up anymore."

"Charming," Clarke said, scrunching up her face. Tanwen nodded.

"That's why Anya's been assigned to you."

"Who are your guards?" asked Sterling.

"Ingrid and Pelana," Tanwen said, pointing to the pair of them. They all turned to see the guards they hadn't really looked at before.

"Two of them?"

"I'll be getting more when more people arrive. The Commander wants me well protected."

"The Commander? Don't you call her by her name?" asked Byrne.

"In private moments, yes, but outside the tent she's the Commander. Do not make the mistake of using her name. Call her Commander or Heda at all times and bow to her to show your respect and her position as leader of all the clans."

"Understood," Sterling said.

"I'll leave you to settle in," Tanwen said and after Clarke had nodded, she left the tent.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

She wandered over to the training ground to watch the newly arrived warriors and their fighting styles. She watched swords, bows and staves, along with knives and a curious weapon she hadn't seen before. One warrior held the handle which was made of wood, but it had a chain attached to the far end and what looked like a spiked metal ball. She watched as the warrior hurled it towards his opponent who only had a shield and a long knife with prongs on either side of the blade. Neither opponent could get a hit on the other, but the chained weapon did cause significant damage to the shield. Tanwen guessed that given enough time, he would render the shield useless. But then again, most warriors didn't use shields so she thought that one blow from that would at least incapacitate its victim if not outright kill them.

With more and more warriors from other clans arriving, her guard had been doubled and her training curtailed. The Commander didn't want to give away the fact that Tanwen was becoming an expert in double sword play. Tanwen was only allowed to carry a knife on her belt. She'd been taught how to use it as well and could when she needed it, but she still preferred the two swords. For training, she was being taught how to use a stave instead, citing the need to learn weapons and a stave was the least dangerous one to start with.

So far all the clans had sent warriors but only a handful came from Azgeda. Their general was a small but ferocious warrior, well armed and able to use every one of them. She was warned to keep away from them as they were known to be treacherous and their queen kept trying to take over the kongeda as Commander. The fact that she didn't have black blood was the only thing preventing her from issuing a direct challenge.

Tanwen walked around the village, stopping at various places of work and asking how things were going. The warriors from other clans looked at her curiously. She couldn't speak much Trigedasleng yet but she was wearing their clothing and she had four guards. They were all curious about who she was.

Tanwen had just reached the wall and was talking to the next warrior to do wall duty when a shout came from the gates. She looked over and saw Lincoln and Octavia walk inside. She ran over.

"Octavia!" she yelled as she got closer. Octavia looked at her and then hugged her.

"Tanwen, I'm so glad to see you!"

"Have you been to the other camp yet?"

"No, after Lincoln healed me, we came straight here. I have no idea who survived."

"Bellamy's alive, Octavia, he's okay." Octavia sighed a huge sigh of relief and hugged Tanwen, hiding her face so the others wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Clarke, Raven, Finn, Monroe, Sterling and Murphy are also alive. There are 47 of our people locked up inside Mount Weather." Octavia pulled back. Lincoln had told her about the dangers of Mount Weather.

"Are they still alive?"

"We don't know, but the Commander and Clarke have joined forces to take the mountain down and free their people. That's why the clans have gathered."

"When?"

"When plans have been made. I'll take you over to Clarke and the others and they can fill you in on what's happening." Octavia nodded and she and Lincoln followed Tanwen through the village to Clarke's tent. Sterling was astonished to see Octavia and he nearly broke rank to hug her, but he was on sentry duty.

"Good to see you," he said, then turned his head slightly towards the tent.

"Chief Clarke, Octavia's here with Lincoln." Clarke immediately flung the tent flaps back and rushed out to hug her and Lincoln.

"God, O, I'm so glad to see you!" Clarke said.

"Me too, Clarke, me too."

"Come on, we'll go inside and talk about what's happening. Tanwen, you coming?"

"Yeah, why not, it should be fun!" Tanwen said grinning. Three of her guards took sentry positions while Ingrid went in with her.

They got comfortable on the cushions on the floor and then Octavia spoke.

"What's with the guards?"

"As chief of my village, I need guards when here among the clans apparently," Clarke said, shrugging.

"And Tanwen?"

"Oh, she needs them because she's the Commander's wife."

"She's what?" Octavia almost yelled, turning swiftly to Tanwen. Lincoln grasped the significance first and bowed his head to her.

"Ai kwin," he said with deference and respect.

What does that mean?" Octavia asked.

"It means 'my queen'. Your friend is now the Trikru queen and only second to the Commander. The Azgeda queen must bow to Tanwen when they meet."

"This is the same Azgeda queen that's been trying to take over the kongeda?" Octavia asked.

"Sha." Lincoln said.

"Then it'll be fun to watch the Azgeda queen trying to figure out how to keep her head while defying Tanwen's new rank!" Octavia said, laughing. The others joined in.

"So what happened after we left?" Octavia asked, once she'd stopped laughing.

"We had to set off the ring of fire and we killed all the warriors that were sent against us except for Anya. She jumped into the dropship just before the door closed. Miller knocked her out and we tied her up. When the dust had settled, we opened the door and red smoke bombs were lobbed at us. They must have a knockout gas in them because we all lost consciousness. The next thing I knew was waking up in an all white room inside Mount Weather's quarantine area. 48 of us were taken, but Raven was left behind. I assume they thought she wouldn't live long and didn't want to spend resources fixing her up just to kill her again."

"Lincoln told me that the mountain's been taking their people and they're either turned into monsters called reapers or they never see them again."

"Yeah, when Anya and I escaped the mountain, we had to use the reaper tunnels to get out. We had to watch as they loaded the bodies of the clansmen into carts and pushed them along old railway lines. They'd take a body out and eat it. We hid among the bodies and when they took the top one out, we climbed out the other side. Guys, whoever they were feasting on, wasn't dead yet. Anya gave one other a mercy killing to spare him that ordeal. We then ran and eventually escaped by jumping off Philpott dam."

"Shit, Clarke! A lot's happened since that day."

"Yeah, when Anya and I were fleeing the mountain men hunting us, we came across the dropship and Anya and I fought for dominance. I had the upper hand because I'd stuck her in the neck with one of the darts the mountain men were using to try to capture us again so she was woozy. Anyway, we saw a balloon go up and we just stopped fighting. It must have come from the Arker camp. Then Tanwen showed up and we all talked about the need for an alliance to take the mountain down. I went to camp and Tanwen and Anya came here. In the end, Tanwen and the Commander decided that an alliance would only last as long as the mountain did, so they decided to get married to make it more permanent, though from what I hear, neither of them think it's a hardship!"

"Can't help who you fall in love with," Tanwen said with a shrug. "I'm not complaining."

"So you've…" Octavia trailed off and made a gesture with her hand to indicate sex.

"Yes, but that stays in this tent, okay? With the Trikru, what happens in your tent is private - even if half the village can hear. They practise selective hearing around people in tents, so if you hear anything, you pretend you didn't, got it?" Tanwen asked them.

"Got it," Clarke said while Lincoln and Octavia nodded.

"Okay, so what next?"

"I've been elected as the new leader of my people, but with Tanwen's marriage, we are all Trikru now, even if some of them don't want to be," Clarke said. Octavia grinned.

"So there's no bar to me and Lincoln being together?" she asked.

"None," Tanwen replied. Octavia's grin got bigger. Lincoln's did too.

"So who's here with you? We saw Sterling on guard."

"Bellamy's my security officer back at camp, Kane's here with me as one of my generals, Bellamy is the other but I need him there to keep order. My mother's trying her best to take control back from me even though I won. Monroe, Finn, Raven and Murphy are there to help him. Major Byrne is here as well. Anya's been assigned as my primary bodyguard and guide about clan customs and ways. Sterling and Byrne are backups for when Anya's sleeping. Right now, she's organising stuff for us and we're staying in the tent until she comes back. With Azgeda warriors roaming around, it's safer for us." Lincoln nodded.

"Until Anya comes back, I will guard you as well. You are the chief of your people and must be protected."

"Me too," Octavia said. Clarke nodded, as did Tanwen.

"Sterling can share with Kane and you two can have his tent. It's not big but it should do for now."

"Thank you," Octavia said. "Seeing how full Tondc is, I was worried there'd be no space for us."

"You're one of us, Octavia, the hundred. We still use that designation to identify us. Everyone else is Trikru from the sky, but we are seen as worthy people. We fought them and won a battle against them when they thought they were only fighting disorganised children. We proved them wrong and proved we can fight so they give us a little more respect," Clarke said. Both Lincoln and Octavia nodded.

"So what's next?" Octavia asked.

"We're just waiting and planning at the moment. Right now, we need to find a way to breach the mountain. According to the Commander, they've tried in the past but they can't get through the door."

"How many ways in are there?"

"I've no idea. As far as I know at least two. They have vehicles so there must be a way inside for them and then the main door near the top of the mountain," Clarke replied. Tanwen was thinking about something.

"Lincoln, when we've been scouting the mountain, do we have any evidence of the reapers going near one of their doors?"

"No, none, ai kwin," Lincoln replied.

"Why?" asked Octavia.

"We know the reapers are the primary source of clansmen that the mountain gets, so if they don't go in through the front door or the vehicle entrance, I think there should be a third way. From what I've learned, those reapers take people into the tunnels under the mountain and they never return. I think they are turned over to the maunon for some kind of reward, so there must be a way in from there as well," Tanwen said.

"So if the main door can't be breached, and more than likely the vehicle door wouldn't be either, so that leaves the tunnels," Octavia said slowly working her way through the possibilities.

"Those are the tunnels Anya and I used to get out," Clarke said.

"Yeah, but those tunnels are where the reapers live and there are quite a few of them. We'd need a way to neutralise them," Tanwen replied.

"They used to be our people, but once inside, somehow some of them are changed into reapers," Lincoln told them.

"So we figure out how to knock them out and see if they can be returned to people again. If we can do that, then we cut off the mountain men's main source of fresh blood," Tanwen mused.

"We could also see if we could breach the mountain that way," Clarke said.

"That mountain was more than likely built to withstand a nuclear blast, Clarke, how do we get in?" Octavia asked.

"Maybe the top was but I bet they didn't do the same with the tunnels!" Tanwen said with a small laugh. "All we do is get Raven to build another bomb and blow the doors open!"

"Nice!" Octavia said, high-fiving Tanwen.

"It won't be that simple," Clarke said, "but it's possible to do, we just need to clear out the tunnels first and make sure the maunon don't get us through them."

"We need the Commander's permission, but if we could do that, then I think it would stand a better chance of working than a frontal assault on that reinforced blast door!" Tanwen said.

"We need Raven," Clarke stated.

"We also need to take out any cameras we find in the vicinity of that mountain," Tanwen said. "They must be the ones that set off that acid fog and I bet they don't do it randomly. They must have cameras in the area."

"Those are going to be hell to find, Tanwen," Clarke said.

"I know and with how small they could be and millions of places they could be put, a camera could stay hidden for centuries and we'd never find it."

"So what do we do?" Tanwen thought about it.

"I bet Raven could cobble together something that could detect electronics and stuff like that," she said finally.

"Oh, we definitely need her here!" Octavia said.

"Do you two want to go and get her? I'll have Anya get you some horses and a cart. You can take the next supply of stuff to the camp and bring Raven back as well," Tanwen said. Octavia and Lincoln looked at each other and silently agreed.

"We can do that. We'd need supplies and probably a letter from one of you giving permission for us to move between there and here. Knowing my brother, he'll try and keep me there once we get there."

"Just remind him about Trikru ways and that you are able to make up your own mind and choose your own career and mate," Tanwen told her. "In fact, I'll write the letter, it'll have more weight coming from the wife of the Commander. I can even make it an order."

"You're not the heda of our people, Tanwen," Octavia said.

"No, but you are all Trikru now and I'm the Trikru Queen. I can order any Trikru to do whatever I want - as long as it's not against the Commander or countermands her orders," Tanwen replied. Octavia nodded.

"When do you need her?"

"As soon as possible. We need to plan this out before some of the generals here talk the Commander into a full frontal assault on an underground bunker with fully trained soldiers with modern weaponry! Can you get back here within five days?"

"Yes," Lincoln said.

"Then you have my permission to go to the camp and bring Raven back with you. Do not tell Abby what's happening or she'll invite herself along to keep an eye on Clarke."

"Or Finn would," Clarke said morosely.

"Okay, I'll go write the letter and you two get something to eat. If I see Anya I'll send her to you, Clarke, and you can tell her that they're going for Raven." Clarke nodded and Tanwen got up and followed Ingrid out of the tent and over to her own. Once inside she looked for something to write on and with.

"Don't suppose you know where the Commander keeps her writing things, do you?" Tanwen said, checking one of the tables in the main throne area.

"No, but the Commander would and she's on her way," Ingrid said, looking out of the tent. The Commander entered and Ingrid stepped outside.

"Hey, Lex, do you have any writing stuff around? Parchment and pens?" Tanwen asked, still looking.

"What for?"

"I need to write a set of orders for Octavia and Lincoln to give to the camp so that Bellamy and Abby don't try to interfere when they need to return with Raven."

"You want to bring Raven here?"

"Yeah, Clarke and I and Octavia sort of thought about something but we need Raven's input on the matter. She's our resident expert on all things electronic or related stuff."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, I just need to write the orders." When Lexa got her some parchment and a quill and ink, Tanwen sat down and wrote out her orders and then rolled it up. Lexa used some wax and her own personal seal on it and then tied it up in a red ribbon before handing it back to Tanwen.

"Mochof," Tanwen said and turned towards the tent flaps.

"PELANA," she called out. Pelana put her head into the tent.

"Sha, ai kwin?"

"Take this to Clarke. She can give it to Octavia or Lincoln and tell Clarke that I'll be explaining what we talked about."

"Sha, ai kwin," Pelana said, bowing. She took the scroll and left.

"So, tell me what you and Clarke discussed?"

Tanwen led them both over to the throne and had Lexa sit on it while she sat beside her in an ordinary chair.

"Clarke, Octavia, Lincoln and myself were talking about the mountain. We were discussing how many ways there were into the mountain. There's the big main door, at least one vehicle door and we think there must be a way inside from the reaper tunnels. The main door and the vehicle door would be reinforced against attack, but I think the reaper tunnels wouldn't be so reinforced. That mountain was designed to withstand a nuclear bomb falling near it, but I bet those tunnels don't have that reinforcement. Now, I don't know when the tunnels were dug, but I think they must have been dug after the war - it would have been too hard to reinforce every single tunnel against a nuclear blast. Raven is an expert on blowing things up so we want her here to talk about what it would take to breach the door to the inside of the mountain through the reaper tunnels." Tanwen held her hand up before Lexa could say anything.

"I know those tunnels are full of cannibalistic reapers, and Lincoln said that they used to be your people. If we can somehow incapacitate them by knocking them out, we may be able to turn them back into your people again. If not, then they must be killed. Either way, if we get them out of the tunnels, we can use them to find a way in - providing Raven can build a bomb to do it and not bring the mountain down on us." Lexa was silent as she thought through what she'd just heard.

Tanwen and her friends had come up with this in less time than a war council meeting. Gustus had brought a message about Tanwen meeting up with Lincoln and an unknown woman, probably this Octavia, and they went to see Chief Clarke. That was less than half a candlemark ago and now they may have found a solution to get inside the mountain and free their people.

"I do not want you to do anything just yet, hodness," Lexa said absently, not realising what she'd just called her wife. "But I will allow you to have Raven brought here and together we will find out if it is possible. If it is not, or it is not the best possible way, then you do nothing, understand?"

"Yes, Lexa, I understand, as long as you understand that I can help with the planning too. I may not be a warrior, but I still have a brain."

"I do understand that, Tanwen. Have you had any more thoughts?"

"Just one, do you have any maps of the Tondc and Tomac river area? Specifically, what's just across the river?"

"Why?"

"Mount Weather was a military facility before the war. The Pentagon was the military's headquarters and it stood just across the Potomac river from the Lincoln Memorial." Lexa looked confused. "It stood across the Tomac river right opposite that large statue of a man sitting down." Lexa nodded in understanding.

"I have some maps of the area, but Indra may have more."

"Can you show me what you've got, please? I want to see if anything of it may still exist."

"Why?"

"If we could find plans of the mountain there, we can use them to get inside. It's a long shot, but right now, I think it's worth looking into," Tanwen said.

"Nothing stands across the river now."

"I know, but it should have a bunker for those military they deemed too important to leave outside of it. This whole area was basically one gigantic military zone with at least a dozen military bases of all kinds around it. The President lived in Washington DC as well so it stands to reason that the Pentagon had its own bunker. I'd assume that they'd have a list and details of all military sites and bases there."

"That is logical," Lexa said, after some thought. She got up and brought back some maps and they studied them carefully. One of them was an old world map.

"This one has been handed down from each Commander since the first. Most of the symbols and names have lost their meaning so we don't use it much," Lexa said, carefully unfurling the rolled up map. Tanwen poured over the map, pointing out various places around the area such as the Whitehouse, several military bases and shipyards and the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon.

"This is the Pentagon. Right behind it is a national cemetery for fallen warriors. I don't know how long that Cemetary has been there, but it's been there a very long time. The Pentagon's bunker could stretch underneath it and out towards the west," Tanwen said, tracing the areas and routes.

"So it could take up this entire area?" Lexa asked, circling it with her finger.

"Sha. I think I should take a team there and see what we can find. I'll be taking my guards with me and people I trust. I may need to borrow some of the remaining hundred." Tanwen stopped to think about how many - or rather how few - of them there were.

"I may need Monroe and Murphy. Bellamy is needed at the camp to keep order, Octavia can help Clarke here, Finn… Finn needs to stay at the camp, he's still in love with Clarke and he'd do something incredibly stupid to either prove himself to her or because he thinks she's in danger and needs to be protected - even from herself! That's the assassin you thought we'd sent. Murphy was the other one and he was trying to get Finn to calm down and think rationally, but Finn was too far gone in his need to protect Clarke from ANY perceived threat, even one that's only in his head."

"That kind of thinking is extremely dangerous," Lexa said.

"We know. We think the ground broke him - or rather the grounders broke him." Tanwen held her hand up. "We were always told that no-one survived on Earth, that we were the last of humanity and when Jasper was speared by one of your people, that was when we knew others had survived. Before that, Finn was a peacemaker, an easy going, fun-loving guy who you could trust - well except around Clarke. After that, however, he started to change and when Bellamy tortured Lincoln, that was what really broke him. After that he started to see threats everywhere, mostly from your people and Anya. He was the one who helped Octavia free Lincoln even though Lincoln was the one to stab him with a poisoned blade when they went to free Octavia, whom Lincoln had chained up in a cave. I think he needs to find a purpose in life and not just become obsessed with Clarke."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but he needs to go somewhere he's wanted and where he can get the peace he needs." Lexa nodded.

"Is there anyone else of your hundred that's outside of the mountain apart from Clarke?"

"Just Sterling and he's here as one of Clarke's bodyguards."

"Clarke said she left Bellamy in charge at the camp with Monroe to 'back him up'?"

"Yeah, she's there as his second, basically, but she's one of the tunnel rats from the Ark and could be invaluable if we find a bunker."

"Tunnel rat?"

"It's what we called someone who used to use the hidden tunnels and maintenance walkways rather than the main corridors up on the Ark. If we find pipework, Monroe and Murphy may be able to use them to get to places or get around places that are damaged. I'd like Raven with us too, but she may be busy with you and Clarke figuring out if we can blow up Mount Weather. I'm hoping that there's a map in the bunker somewhere of Mount Weather that we can use to infiltrate it." Lexa was silent as she thought about it.

"I agree, but wait until Octavia and Lincoln return with Raven before you set off. Is Monroe coming back with them?"

"No, that wasn't in the orders I gave them."

"Then you'd better find them before they set off so they bring her back as well." Tanwen nodded and before she could even think, she kissed Lexa's cheek before hurrying out of the tent with Ingrid and Pelana flanking her and the other two taking up station behind her.

"Any idea where Octavia or Lincoln may be?" she asked them.

"They are most likely at the stables finding horses and a cart for the goods they are to take to the camp," Pelana said. "That's where they were heading when I caught up with them and gave your scroll to them." Tanwen nodded.

"Okay, let's go to the stables and find them." They set off and soon they were looking through the vastly enlarged stable area, looking for her two friends.

"Lincoln!" Tanwen called out.

"Sha?" came the reply from the far end. They set off for the other end and found them hitching up a cart to a draft horse while another two horses stood nearby saddled up for them.

"Can you bring Monroe and Murphy back with you as well, please? We may need her and Murphy."

"That only leaves Bellamy and Finn from the hundred at the camp, Tanwen."

"I know but if we can find that place we want to find, I may need their help."

"Got it," Octavia said, nodding. Tanwen looked at the large cart.

"What are you taking to the camp?"

"Winter clothing, some food, some medicines from Nyko and myself and some of our weapons so they can start training with them," Lincoln said.

"Good, when you return, help Clarke with whatever she needs. I'm tasking you two with protecting her as well. Whatever you do, don't let Finn come, he's become unstable around her and is obsessed with her. He'll say he wants to help protect her, but all he'll do is fuck things up. He came very close to doing something stupid and they see him as an assassin sent by our people to kill them. Finn stays there. If necessary, knock him out and tie him up and take him back to the camp."

"Lincoln nodded.

"Okay, you'd better get going." She hugged them both and wished them a good journey and then left to go back to see Clarke and update her on what's been done so far.

xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

Five days later, Octavia and Lincoln rode into Tondc with Raven, Monroe and Murphy in the wagon. Clarke and Tanwen went to meet them.

"Hey, you made it!" Clarke said, hugging them when they got down from the cart.

"Yeah," Murphy said. "Can I learn to ride a horse? That cart is not comfortable!"

"Later, right now we have to plan an attack on Mount Weather and do some other things first. Let's go to Clarke's tent and figure it out," Tanwen said.

"Yes, my queen," Monroe said, bowing to her. Tanwen was still not used to the Gonasleng version, but she'd gotten used to the Trigedasleng one. On a bad day she could pretend it meant something else entirely! Tanwen led them all towards Clarke's tent. Anya was on duty outside it and when the others entered, Sterling took her place when she entered also. As usual, Ingrid came in with Tanwen and the others stayed outside.

"You've got a lot of guards, Tanwen," Murphy said.

"Yeah, with a whole load of warriors from different clans all gathered here, the Commander thought it was a good idea. I agree with her, but when this is over and we go back to Polis, I want only a few guards and only two with me at all times. Walking around here is like walking the tunnels on the Ark, cramped and you can't move without banging against something!" They laughed.

"So what do you want us to do?" asked Raven.

"We've come up with a tentative idea which we need your input on, Raven. We think there's a way inside the mountain through the reaper tunnels and we wondered if it was reinforced against a nuclear blast. I don't think it was, you can't really reinforce that many tunnels against a blast that big, so either they were dug AFTER the war, or they did find a way to stop the bombs from reaching them through the tunnels. I think if Raven can build a bomb big enough to take the doors down but leave the structure of the tunnels intact, then we have our way in."

"I'd need to see it first, Tanwen," Raven said, seriously.

"I know, but first we need to see if there's a bunker under the Pentagon. I've been thinking about the layout of Mount Weather and I think if there was a bunker under the Pentagon, then there should be details and maps of most of the military places in the country, especially those on this side of it."

"You're wanting to dig at the Pentagon site in the hope of a bunker?" Murphy asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, think about it. The Pentagon was the headquarters of all the military might of America. There must have been a bunker under there for all that top brass. There's probably one under the Whitehouse too and that's not mentioning all those diplomatic embassies located in Washington DC. This place was a seat of huge power, there should be bunkers everywhere for those at the top," Tanwen said. They all stopped to think about it.

"So what's needed?"

"First, permission from the Commander, second, go dig up the bunker at the Pentagon and then try to find maps or something to give us an edge against the mountain. Clarke, could you draw what you remember about the mountain for us? Include exits as well if you know them and the layout of the bunker. If you can remember the layout of the tunnels you used to get out, that would help too." Clarke nodded.

"What are we here for if Raven's gonna blow up the mountain?" Murphy asked.

"Digging the bunker and if we find pipework, you two can figure it out. Monroe was one of the tunnel rats on the Ark and you, Murphy, have a knack of self-preservation." Murphy grinned.

"So what first?"

"We draw up a tentative plan based on what we know now, get permission from the Commander to go find the Pentagon bunker, search it for plans of Mount Weather and then firm up or redraw our plans based on that map," Tanwen said. "This is all based on supposition right now, but we need to find out."

"So what do we have so far?" asked Monroe.

"Very little. Clarke said that the reaper tunnels had rails and carts so it may have been mined at some point. If it was, then those tunnels would have a lot of dead ends where they were last mining. We need to find out where those tunnels go, but they are full or reapers."

"So how do we do it?"

"We need to figure out a way to incapacitate the reapers and get them out of there to somewhere we can try to detox them. I noticed needlemarks on the one pushing our cart," Clarke said, looking at Anya.

"They are given drugs?" she asked.

"I think so. If we can get them off the drugs safely, we may get them back. We need to figure out a way to either detox them or kill them. If we can take away the mountain's main source of new blood, they either use up the ones inside and that'll be done very quickly - within a couple of months at the latest. They need blood once a month and there are around six hundred maunon and only around eight hundred clan prisoners. We know they can take more than once, but with the ones they already have, it won't be long before they are running out of clean blood."

"Do you think they'll do what the Ark did and get rid of their own people who they think are expendable?" Monroe asked.

"Maybe, or maybe it'll make them desperate enough to come out of the mountain to try to find new blood. When they do, we can capture some of them and hold them at Arkadia for interrogation," Clarke said.

"Abby won't like that," Monroe said, worried.

"Mom's not in charge, I am. They have no idea what we went through and because of that, they still see us as children in need of protection."

"Then they shouldn't have sent us down here to die!" Murphy said with a sneer.

"I agree," Clarke said, "but that doesn't stop them from trying anything they can to try to take over. I have complete faith in Bellamy and he has Finn to help him as well. I may have to send one of you back to help them while the rest of us take the mountain down."

"Miller's dad is on our side, " Monroe said. "If you need another fighter, he's willing to help us, his son's still in the mountain." Clarke nodded.

"Then he can help keep the others in line at Arkadia."

"So what do the tunnels look like?" Raven asked. "I need to know what they are made of, how extensive they are, how big they are and what that door's made of and how thick it is. Most likely it's a reinforced blast door. I don't see anything else withstanding a nuclear blast through man made mining tunnels," Raven said, thinking things through and looking at the ground as she did. She bit her bottom lip as she concentrated on the problem at hand, wondering if there was anything else she needed to know about the tunnels.

Clarke told her and the others as much as she could remember with Anya chiming in every now and then with something she had seen within the tunnels. Soon they had as much information as they could.

"Alright, then we need to know how many tunnels there are. If they were dug before the war, then they should have been included on any maps about the mountain," Tanwen said. "We really need to see if there are any maps of the mountain and that means digging up the Pentagon first."

"So we need permission from the Commander," Murphy said. "Are you coming with us?" he asked Tanwen.

"I'd like to, but it may be too dangerous to expose me to the rest of the clans right now," Tanwen said.

"Why?" asked Monroe.

"Because anyone with a grudge against the Commander can use me as a bargaining chip," Tanwen told them. They looked at her and realised that this union was not without demerits.

"You can't be on your own ever, can you?" Monroe said, almost whispering in surprise and understanding just how much freedom Tanwen gave up for her people.

"No. Wherever I go, I'll always have guards," Tanwen said with a sigh.

"Even in Polis?"

"Especially in Polis," Anya said. "Each clan has an ambassador and helpers in Polis including Azgeda. The Azgeda queen thinks she'd be a better ruler and is trying everything to overthrow the Commander. If they can get Tanwen alone, they'd kidnap her and deliver her to their queen who will most likely torture her for information she may not have. She'd be killed."

"Well that sucks!" Raven said.

"It's the price of peace, Raven. I'm willing to pay it as long as I'm allowed to be with the Commander."

"Why wouldn't you?" Octavia asked, frowning.

"Titus thinks the Commander has to rule alone and to do that, she needs to be alone to concentrate on destroying our enemies," Lincoln told them.

"Is he a threat to Tanwen?" Clarke asked Anya.

"Maybe, probably," she admitted.

"So what's going to happen?"

"We take that mountain and figure it out after that. It's the only thing we can do right now. Titus is in Polis and the Commander is here. No doubt, someone will have taken the message of the Commander's union back there, but Titus is under edict from the Commander to stay there. He won't come here, he'll wait until they go home."

"Alright, if I have to, I'll assign Miller and someone else as her personal guards as well. Your people may be cowed by Titus and his position, but MY people won't be. They can guard her against direct orders from him."

"We will too," Ingrid said, from her place by the tent flaps.

"Thank you, Ingrid," Tanwen said.

"So what do we do now?" asked Octavia.

"I go and get permission from the Commander and then we'll discuss who goes to dig up the Pentagon," Tanwen said. The others nodded and Tanwen got up and left the tent, her bodyguards falling in around her.

ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo

Her we go, the latest chapter. I'm still having trouble with my account. Gmail keeps bouncing the emails back so I can't access my stats. I'm gonna assume you're still reading. Thank you so much. Samdagger.