Chapter 12

Clarke stood outside of the medical airlock and waited for an update from her mother. She knew that Octavia was inside, too. She wanted to check on her, speak to her, and maybe find some absolution with her actions. She knew that Octavia wouldn't try to sugarcoat things. She would help her talk things out. The biggest thing was that she wanted to check on Maya and Vincent. She wanted to know how they were doing with their first serum transfusion. She would seek them out first and then find Octavia. She was getting one of her last treatments to make sure that she was "red blooded," before they sent her back into the Mountain with Vincent and the others. She also wanted her to get close to Lovejoy, but that was another mission. First things, first, she reminded herself as she walked through the doors and waited for her mother's updates.

She finally moved inside and to the clinic that Raven and her mother had designed together for those that would be taking the serum. She saw Octavia first. She was in a room with Vincent. They were talking and Octavia was smiling. She knew then that she had picked the right person to go inside. Octavia was a lot calmer than she had once been. Clarke knew it would help her deal with being in the bunker by having someone to talk to. Maya wasn't going back inside if they could help it. It was the one condition that Vincent demanded as he started to tell Raven and Clarke everything that he could about the Mountain. She was going to see Maya. Clarke knew that she needed to get Maya fully invested in helping them in medical.

"Hey, Clarke," Maya said as she came closer.

"Hey there, Maya," Clarke replied as she sat down at the table in front of Maya.

Maya smiled at her. Clarke watched her push a tablet across the table a little ways away from her. She knew that the tablet was just medical data. Raven had also made sure that Maya couldn't try to back hack into the Ark. Clarke didn't think that Maya would try it, but they had to be sure.

"How do you feel?" Clarke asked her.

"Normal," Maya answered. "Well, I guess a little more than normal, but that is to be expected, yes?"

"It is, but do you think that something is different?"

"No, not really."

"Anything at all?" Clarke pushed.

"I guess I might have a little bit more energy. I don't feel as tired as I normally am. I don't know if it is just because I'm out of the Mountain or if it because I've started your serum. Other than that, nothing else seems to be different," Maya told her.

"Good. That's good," Clarke answered. "I was hoping that was it. My mom and I will continue to monitor you for the next few days and then we'll give you another dose of the serum. That should be enough for you to continue growing and producing the cells that you need to be outside the Mountain for good."

"I look forward to working with you all to help us all," Maya stated.

"I do as well, Maya."

"How long before you start selecting more people to come here for it?" Maya questioned.

"Honestly, today," Clarke told her. "That is another reason that I wanted to talk with you."

"Yes?"

"You know who we can trust. I know who I would like because of files in the Mountain, but that doesn't give us anything personal to go off of. You've lived with these people. You know who will succumb to our way of thinking and join us and who won't. I need to know that, so that we can start moving them out of the Mountain," Clark explained.

"You're afraid of Cage and Tsing," Maya added.

"I'm not afraid of them, no. I'm afraid of what they'll do. There is a difference. I would kill them now if I thought that it would further my cause in saving some of those in the Mountain, but I don't think that it will work. Cage has his hooks in most of the guard."

"He does, but there are some good men there, too."

"Any women?"

"Few," Maya stated.

"What do you know about Lovejoy and Emerson?" Clarke asked.

"Lovejoy and Emerson?"

"Yes, I want to know more about them. What can you tell me more than I already know? I know that Emerson has a wife and kids, and Lovejoy is a single dad of a young son. What more do I need to know about them?"

"Is that way you pulled Lovejoy first? You knew of his son? Are you going to use the children against us?" Maya questioned, getting righteously defensive.

"Yes, and no," Clarke answered truthfully.

Maya regarded her for a few moments. Clarke could be hard and cruel when she needed to be. She didn't want this to be one of those times. She needed Maya's help. She wanted Maya's help. She knew that getting Lovejoy on their side was going to be a big boon, but she knew that without Maya it might not happen. She wasn't trying to be overly zealous with her mission, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to save as many as she could.

"Explain," Maya demanded.

Clarke smiled. She could see the determination in Maya's eyes. She'd seen it before, and it gave Clarke the knowledge that she'd done the right thing in picking her and her father first. Maya was fighter, and like Clarke, she wanted to save her people.

"Like you Maya, I want to save as many as we can. We both know that it isn't up to us. Cage and Tsing will try something stupid because of who they are. They can't help it. They want the control and power. I won't give it to them. Cage will bring about the destruction of the Mountain and everyone that is living inside it. His need for power and control will cause a war with the people who actually inhabit this world. He wants to destroy them because he believes that the world is owed to him. It isn't. If only your people had sent a proverbial olive branch, you might already be on the surface."

"And, that is what you are doing with us?" Maya inquired.

"I have no olive branch, Maya. I am not offering your people power. I'm offering them the ability to live on the surface. I'm giving you the cure to your little radiation problem. What the 'Savages' do with you beyond that is up to you," Clarke explained. "I can help those who want to be helped. Those of the Mountain that wish to join my people I can save. Those that don't, I cannot. It is honestly that simple."

"And, the children?" Maya pushed.

"Are not up for debate, by either side," Clarke added. "I will save them and treat them. I will teach them how to survive on the surface. I will give them the life that they were promised, but I will also teaching them that they were saved and why. I will not let them turn into martyr for their parents' memories. They will learn what the Mountain Men were doing to the Clans, and they will have to live with their ancestors did to those that survived on the surface. They will learn that instead of asking for help and forming treaties, they waged war and had to stay in the Mountain because they believed that they were owed the land that they abandoned in order to survive."

"I understand."

"So, to answer your question, I will use the children against their own parents, yes. I already have. With Emerson."

Maya's head jerked up. Clarke just kept watching her though. She wanted to know what Maya thought about that.

"That is why you pulled Lovejoy?"

"Partially, yes. I know that I could use his son against him. I'm not saying that I'm proud of it, but I know that as a parent protecting a child is the biggest responsibility that one has. Your father has been doing with you since you made it here. I'm sure that you can recognize that. He's practically told me that you aren't allowed to re-enter the Mountain once the cure has taken complete effect," Clarke told her.

Maya didn't immediately answer. For Clarke, it looked like she was gauging her response the question. Clarke didn't want to lie to her, so she didn't. She knew that with time Maya would come around to her way of thinking, especially if it save most of her people. Clarke waited for her to say more, though. She wasn't going to push this. They didn't have time for that. They needed as many on their side as they could get and Maya was going to be their way in.

"What about my Dad?" she asked.

"What about him?" Clarke questioned in return.

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Well, besides treat him and give him the cure?" Clarke asked and then continued as soon as Maya nodded at her. "He's working with Raven. She is getting him to help her with your tech. Ours is a little more modern than yours, so she needs to know things to make sure that we can make this work."

"And, you want to know more about Lovejoy and Emerson?"

"Yes, because I know that you know them best," Clarke told her.

Maya looked at her. The hazel-eyed elder teen studied Clarke. She could tell that the blue-eyed eighteen-year old in front of her knew more than she was letting on, but there was more to her, too. Clarke knew that Maya was studying her more. She couldn't blame her. She would be, too, if she was in Maya's situation. She could remember studying everything that she could about the Mountain when she was first in it. It was how she found her way out and Anya.

"I know that you are worried about me and what I want. I understand it. I could tell you the truth, but you would believe that I am crazy. I would, too, if I hadn't lived it. Trust me though that I want to help your people. I know you do as well," Clarke added.

"I can tell that you believe that you will, but I am not sure how I can trust you completely," Maya answered.

"I can live with that as long as you let me do what I need to do in order to get your people out of the Mountain."

"Do I really have a choice?"

Clarke smiled. She liked Maya. She always had. It was why she wanted to save her and her father more than anyone else. She had a personal connection with Maya. She was someone that Clarke always wanted to save. Maya was good people, and she knew how much she could help with her medical knowledge in the bunkers. She knew that they were woefully lacking in the medical department. She needed as meaning as she could onto their side. Dr. Tsing wouldn't be one of them. Maya would hopefully, and this time she would live long enough to help Jasper through any mental break that he might have. Maya could keep up with them, and she would be a good ambassador between those from the Mountain and herself. Maya could see things that others couldn't. She might not be one of Clarke's twelve, but Maya could be one of her other advisors. She would make sure that she was.

"You do have a choice, Maya. You have had one since you left the Mountain, but I don't think that you will take the way out. I know that you want to live on the ground. I know that you want to live. I know that you want to help people and you will. I just need you to believe me when I tell you that I want to do the right thing," Clarke stated. "I know that at times it might not seem like the right thing, but I will do the best that I can to help the most people that I can. You can either be on our side or not. That is the only choice that you really have, Maya. Do you want to live?"

Maya nodded, "I do."

"Then just answer my questions and let me know who you trust, so I can trust them as well," Clarke told her.

"And, my father?"

"We are going to protect him, Maya. I need him to go back to the Mountain for a little while. I will make sure that he gets out and is safe."

"How?"

"I am not going to send him in alone," Clarke said. "He'll be the most protected person in the Mountain, and he won't even know it. I have others that are preparing on our side to go inside. I have a feeling that I will have to pull Dr. Tsing in next. I can't really let her continue her experiments on the Grounders inside or on my people. Is there another doctor inside? Are they someone that we can trust?"

"There are two others and ten nurses," Maya explained. "Dr. Lorelei Tsing is the main doctor and she works with Cage, but I can tell that you already know that. She is also the head of medical. She is our teacher. She's training me to take over when she dies, but for now, I am regulated to being a nurse."

"I know what that is like," Clarke quipped.

"How?" Maya questioned.

"My mother is the head of medical for my people. She had me doing stitches before I could pronounce Orthostatic Hypotension, or even knew what it was. I was reading medical textbooks for fun by age twelve. I understand a hard medical teacher," Clarke replied.

"She was expecting you to take over medical for her?"

"She was, but now, I'm in charge of everyone. She's helping me with that, too, but she's still running medical. We don't have a lot of doctors, so I help when and where I can. This is why I know that you will help her, Maya. She's going to need it as we treat your people."

Maya nodded, "I will."

"I'm not asking you to do it because she'll need your help and knowledge. We can handle the few of you that we are going to treat at at time. I am asking you to help her because it will help your people be more at ease as we treat them. Plus, an extra set of hands, especially hands that they know, will help us treat more and get them done faster. That sounds reasonable, yes?" Clarke asked her.

"It does."

"Is there anything else that you would like to ask me?"

"I am sure that I can think of many things, Clarke."

"Then, just ask. I don't want to hide things from you, Maya. There will be somethings that I cannot and will not answer, but they are very few. You are a brilliant woman. I am sure that your mother would be proud of you. I can tell that your father is."

"I hope that she is," Maya stated.

"Then, lets help your people and get them outside, yeah?"

Maya nodded.

"Good. Now, for some of the hard questions, okay?"

"Yeah," Maya answered.

"How are you really feeling being here?"

"I don't know how to answer that fully, yet," Maya replied.

"I guess that is understandable."

"I am thankful that you are giving us this opportunity, but it hasn't been fully realized yet. I can't be expected to completely thank you for helping my people until know that the serum that you and your mother have formulated works. I am sure that you can understand that," Maya stated.

"I do," Clarke said. "I understand it more than most here, Maya. I know that you don't know much about us but what we've told you, and that I seem to know a lot about you and your home. I do because I have been inside it before. I was treated by yourself and Dr. Tsing. It is why I know about Lovejoy and Emerson, you and your father, and that there are others that we can easily sway without too much interference. Cage and his father, along with Dr. Tsing and some of the guard will not survive the treatments, Maya."

"Why not?" Maya questioned and then saw the resolution in her blue eyes. "You won't allow them to take it. You give them false hope but are going to save the rest of us."

Maya went quiet as she realized her part in this. Clarke could see her thinking about what she'd just learned. She knew that it was going to be a bitter pill to swallow. Clarke wasn't sugarcoating it for her and promising her the world. Clarke was giving Maya reality, a new reality that was outside the bunker, without more treatments and the killing of the "Grounders" to survive. She was giving her an option to live freer than her people had for almost a hundred years or die with those that were cause of the resentment between the Grounders and the Mountain Men. For Clarke, it was an easy choice. For Maya, it might not be.

"You know about Project Cerberus then?"

"Yes, I do," Clarke answered.

"Do you have a way to counteract it?"

"I know about the Red and what we have to do to capture those that have been dosed with it. We have our own version of the tone generators to subdue them long enough that we may help them through the detox. So, yes, we are prepared and ready to help them."

"You were prepared before you came to Earth to help us? me especially though, right? And, my father?" Maya inquired.

"I was."

"Because you've been inside the Mountain before?" Maya questioned more than stated.

"Yes," Clarke answered.

"How?"

"It is a long story, Maya, and it is very complicated. But, I will tell you the truth. Just not today. Today, we pick the next arrivals."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"If you know about Cage and what he and Dr. Tsing have done, why are you helping any of us? Are we not all guilty for what they have done because we have taken the treatments of the savag...Grounders' blood? Am I not not just as guilty as they are?"

"No, you aren't. I know you. I know that you and your father refused treatments. I know that you only took them to survive long enough because I know that while Tsing was training you, you helped them. But, I also know something that you father doesn't," Clarke stated.

"And, what is that?"

"That you were trying to find another solution to your radiation problem. You are smart, Maya, very smart. I know that you were secretly working on a way to help your people. You knew that there were leaks in certain parts of the bunker and you were trying to expose the kids to it a little more in hopes that they would build up a resistance. You were going to push for a natural selection scenario when you took over medical and you would have your proof. But, we both know that it hinged on the fact that Cage could never take over as President of the bunker and you surviving long enough to show the people inside your evidence. Unfortunately, you never get that chance, Maya," Clarke explained. "I'm showing you another way out. A more peaceful solution that will save the most souls inside that Mountain, but I can understand if you don't understand why the sacrifice of a few is worth the lives of the many. For us, it goes against the very meaning of the Hippocratic Oath."

"It does," Maya added.

"But?" Clarke probed, hoping that her argument was enough to finally sway Maya to their side.

"I also know that Tsing and Cage have gone way past human decency and the Hippocratic Oath," Maya stated. "I will help you. Protect my father and all the children. I will tell who to start with and who to use to gain the numbers that you need to help you keep Cage in check."

"I'm not worried about him," Clarke replied.

"Why not?"

"Because I have no intention on giving him back to his father," Clarke answered with a grin, and for a second, Maya got to view the true Wanheda before her. "So, let's begin. Who should I ask for next?"