Chapter 21: Ch. 21 – The Stage is Set… The Pieces are Moving

"Octavia, you have a visitor," Lincoln hollered down my tunnel.

I had just broken through to the Reaper tunnel when I heard his voice. It took a minute or so because I was not in a hurry, but I made my way out of the tunnel. As soon as I started climbing the stairs, I saw Kane standing with Lexa and Lincoln and smiled. Although this was my first interaction with him, he had been one of my favorite characters. He understood the weight of the sins that he carried, and he had a bottom line that he would not cross, even when others made that choice for him.

"Kane! It's good to see you, old friend," I said, walking up the stairs.

"Well, you'll forgive me if I don't share that sentiment," Kane replied.

"Of course! I know how crazy all of this sounds. Who ever knew that we would have a real chance at salvation?" I chuckled while holding out a hand. He shook it and I smiled then turned to Lexa, saying, "The tunnel is complete. We'll be ready to move out when Kane calls his men in."

"I'll ready the delegates then. Lincoln, let's allow these two to discuss their matters without us," Lexa said.

I watched Lexa and Lincoln leave then turned back to Kane and asked, "Everything with Lexa go smoothly?"

"Eventually," he replied.

I chuckled, "Sorry... she insisted that she test you again and make sure that you were the same man she remembered. You passed though, or she would have told me. Were her terms reasonable?"

"More than reasonable, at least for our people, but for you..."

"It's fine. I already know what she has asked of me. We all have sins to pay for, Kane," I replied, walking away.

"Abby told me about your powers, but are you sure that is going to be enough? Mount Weather has survived for a hundred years."

"They've survived because they have stayed underground, away from the normal radiation. My powers can break that seal."

"But to kill four hundred people... there must be another way," he said softly.

"I watched them drill into our people and extract their bone marrow while they were fully conscious! The only reason why Raven survived the table is because Clarke captured Dante and attempted to use him to make them stop. They switched her out with Abby and started extracting from her when Clarke finally pulled the lever to kill everyone inside of the Mountain. The more time that passes, the more of my friends that they are going to harvest! I'm not going to let that happen again, Kane. I'm done following this old story," I stated firmly as I sat down on the pile of stone bricks.

Kane sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, but he stopped trying to persuade me out of this.

"Did you bring the maps of Mount Weather and the restraints?" I asked.

"Yes, Bellamy is carrying them in his pack."

"Good, Lexa has given me two tone generators from some of the scouts that they have killed in the past. We'll use them to subdue the Reapers and restrain them. We won't be faulted for any deaths among them, but each one that we can save will make a lot of good will for us from the Grounders. If Abby and Jackson can keep them alive until the drugs that Mount Weather uses to control them wears off, they should be able to regain their minds... whether or not they can live with everything they've done, though, is not our concern."

"I have Sinclair and Wick working on hacking into Mount Weather's radio network, so we should be alerted if they decide to use their missiles. We'll evacuate anywhere that they might try to attack and send a runner to tell us if that happens," Kane added.

"Good, I don't need a repeat of Tondc, and they won't see this attack coming."

Lincoln ducked his head into the room and said, "We're ready."

"Good, so are we," I replied, sliding off from my spot.

Kane nodded his head and followed Lincoln outside. I stretched my body and tried to psych myself up, but it was not easy knowing that I was about to leave on a mission to kill hundreds of people. Even though I knew that I was doing the right thing, I still felt the burden of those death on my mind. No wonder Clarke had gone rogue for a few months after the events of Mount Weather in the show; this was not a decision that most people could live with.

Kane led in a group of Guardsmen that included Bellamy and Raven, who I hugged in turn. Lexa was the next to lead people inside, but hers numbered over twenty which made things crowded with all of the stone bricks along the walls. Indra was also among the people, so I felt a little relieved to see her there since I knew that she would have my back if the Grounders tried anything. Lexa gave me a nod and I knew it was time to give my little speech, so I manipulated the ground under me so that I was standing taller than anyone else.

"Ladies and gentlemen, delegates of the Twelve Clans... We have gathered here by the will of Heda to see the Mountain crumble and return our Brothers and Sisters to their home. I know that my claims are bold, but I ask not for your strength, only your eyes and voices to tell your people what I have for us all. Skaikru will be the ones to fight the Mountain, but we will not stop you from claiming the honor of any kills. We do this to save our people and show yours that we will make a powerful ally as the Thirteenth Clan!" I announced to the group.

"Octavia," Lexa called out while Grounders murmured between themselves.

"Yes, Heda," I replied, dropping to my knees and then channeled my power into the ground to raise up Lexa as I had done for myself.

She spoke in the language of the Grounders and said a few things to them which seemed to pacify them, for now. "We will grant Skaikru this chance to prove themselves," she said in English. "For our Brothers and Sisters and the death of the Mountain!"

The Grounders all cheered while the Guardsmen looked unsettled. Lexa hopped down from the earthen platform which meant that I could do the same. I did not mind playing the part of the loyal subject, but it was getting annoying to have to deal with all of the kneeling and bootlicking that I was forced to do. Once we were recognized as the Thirteenth Clan, things would be able to relax some, but I would have to still have to do it in council meetings and such.

"Here, these are the tone generators that will stop the Reapers. I'll seal off the side tunnels as we go, but there is still a chance that they can break our formation if we aren't careful. Just press the button and they'll fall to their knees, acting like they are in pain," I said as I handed Kane the tone generators.

"I understand. Sergeant Miller, you'll be in charge of our rear," Kane said, handing over one to a familiar face.

"Sir, are you sure about this?" he asked quietly.

"I am," Kane replied firmly.

"Don't worry, Sergeant. Your son is strong and has helped protect all of us since we've been down here. You'll see him again, and soon. It's my turn to repay the favor," I said.

He looked at me with skepticism, but then turned his head to look at the two mounds of dirt that I had made. There was no way to know exactly what he was thinking, but I was sure that the other guards had similar thoughts. Trusting their lives to a group of savages and another who had strange powers was not an easy task for even the most trained soldier.

"Let's move out," Kane ordered.

I led them down the tunnel and into the Reaper tunnel. The Guardsmen were right behind me, and the Grounders were behind them until we started getting deep underground. After that, six of the Guard moved to the rear of the group with Sergeant Miller while Bellamy and Lincoln pulled out their maps. Lincoln had many of the tunnels mapped out which helped while Bellamy had Clarke's personally drawn map of how she had escaped, but even with fewer detours to accidentally make, it was not a short walk there.

When the first Reapers appeared, the tone generators worked like they were supposed to, and they were captured fairly easily. We did not have the time or energy to spare to look after them, so I secured their restraints to the walls with stone before we moved on. Unfortunately, not every encounter was that easy and we had to kill several of them along the way.

We walked throughout the day, but eventually, people started getting tired, so we decided to stop and camp for the night. By now, everyone had seen me using my Earth spells to close off the tunnels that we did not use, so I used them to secure a stretch of tunnel with defensible opening at both ends to ensure that the Grounders did not feel like I was trapping them inside.

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"You are making an impression on them, Sky Girl. There are some that actually believe that you can destroy the Mountain," Indra remarked as I finished making the last of the defensive locations.

"And what do you think, Indra?" I asked as I stood up slowly, my head pounding from the day's constant strain.

"That Heda may be right," she replied.

Although she remained stoned face, I smiled broadly and chuckled, "Don't worry, you'll question it all over again when you see how rusty I am at fighting."

She rolled her eyes as she turned, but there was the faintest hint of a smile which eased my heart. I was sure that Indra would come around with Lexa supporting me, but it was nice to see that I could do it on my own. We both walked back into the campsite as a guard took over the position. People were scattered into small groups along both walls, but there was a clear divide between Skaikru and the Grounders. The only one to cross that line was Lincoln who was sitting with Bellamy, Raven, and Kane while they ate rations. I sat down in the open spot between Lincoln and Bellamy, and they passed me some food and water.

"We've made good progress. I think we'll reach Mount Weather in the morning," Kane said as he pulled out one of Clarke's maps of Mount Weather and spread it out on the ground, shining his flashlight on it.

"Good. We should reach the intake chambers first which will lead us to the Harvest Chambers. Once we start releasing the Grounders from the cages, I'm fairly sure that most of our group will want to stay behind and help their people, so we will need to leave a couple of people behind to protect the Grounders while we take our main force through the compound. If we can find this stairwell," I said, pointing it out, "we'll have access to every floor. I'll start breaking down the doors one by one, flooding them with radiation, but it won't be a fast process which will give them some time to move against us."

"Will they use the children as hostages?" Kane asked.

"Perhaps, but they need them alive to harvest the bone marrow. It will be more likely that they will muster their forces against us once they realize the danger that we pose. They have a 'worst-case-scenario' plan that will drive most of their population to Level Five, so we should avoid that floor as we work, especially because that's where they should be keeping most of our people which they'll have practically everyone who has taken the treatment guarding them, and I don't know how many people that could be. They have cameras, so once we start the attack, we can't stop, even if I push myself too far."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bellamy asked with concern.

"Overusing my Earth powers causes headaches. If I keep pushing past that, the final stages that I can recover from will have me bleeding from my eyes and ears," I answered, remembering part of Diego's story where he pushed himself to the edge of his limits.

"I won't let you..." Bellamy started.

"I don't care!" I hissed quietly. "I'm going to see this through! You and Clarke are not going to carry these burdens again!"

Bellamy sighed and looked away as he leaned back. I sighed as well because I knew that he just wanted to protect his baby sister, but I was not her. Before I had died in my past life, this whole world was nothing more than a television that I had watched over my ex's shoulder. Living here, I could not help but develop real connections with the people that I had met, even if they were different from what the true Octavia had. I did not want them to live with the terrible decisions that they were forced to make when I could do it for them.

"They have hazmat suits and guns, so they can mount a decent defense before the radiation can wipe everyone out. I'd like for you, Kane, to come up with a few ideas for defensive structures like I made for the camp. The simpler, the better because I'll need my strength to break through all of the levels, but I want our people protected," I said.

"Can they be mobile?" Kane asked.

"If people can carry them, sure, but otherwise, it would be better to use the rock itself. The more purified the Earth, dirt, rock, brick, or even metal, the more energy it takes for me to influence it."

"Could you make a few test ideas and be ready for tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure, if you can describe them."

Kane nodded and we both stood up.

"No rest for the wicked, huh?" Raven remarked, with a hint of concern in the look that she gave me.

"Money don't grow on trees," I teased with a smile since I had played the Cage The Elephant song the other night during dinner. "I'm fine. Since Clarke and Finn returned, I've been using four times the amount of energy that I've used today with nothing more than a migraine. I'll be fine."

Kane and I walked to the center of the space we had, and he started describing a few different versions of a tower shield with an array of array of thickness. While I created them, he whispered, "How much of that was true?"

I smirked, "It was all true, except that I'm well past a migraine since I haven't taken a break to meditate... I've also never manipulated metal before; I just know that it is possible."

"And you are risking all of their lives on a possibility that you can destroy the radiation seal on eighteen floors and multiple rooms?"

"Was Abby right when she fought you on the possibility that Earth was survivable? If I can't do everything that I set out to, I've still saved the Grounders which means that Lexa can support Skaikru with a stronger foundation than my past, and you both can take care of the rest. We all have to make hard decisions to survive, Kane, and I can't stop until I'm dead," I replied.

"How was the Mountain irradiated before?"

"Monty reprogrammed the air scrubbers and brought in outside air then Clarke pulled the lever to enable the changes," I explained with a dark chuckle since Clarke had pulled many levers throughout the show that it became almost a joke.

"And why isn't that your plan?"

"Because I can't do it. Growing up under the floor means that I never learned a lot about computers," I lied, but I was also not that good with computers.

"But I can," Kane said.

Looking into his eyes, I could see a flame of determination and I sighed with a nod, "Alright, Kane. We can do it your way after we've freed the Grounders. The Command Center is on the second level, I believe."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "You don't have to do this alone, Octavia."

"You're a good man, Kane. Even during our darkest years, you held firm to your beliefs and tried to keep us human. Your mother would have been proud of you," I replied, patting his hand.

My words cut straight to his heart and a tear rolled down his cheek despite his smile. It may have been a little much since he had just lost his mother in a bombing onboard the Ark before the Exodus ship came down, but it was the truth. He had refused to fight in the fighting pits, tried to negotiate peace with the prisoners that Diyoza led, and finally killed himself after Abby used a mind-drive to save him because he could not live, knowing that it had cost another person's theirs. His past haunted him throughout the show, but it made him a better man for it.

"There, have fun with your shields," I said, standing up after I finished the last one.

He nodded then called over, "Major Byrne."

I headed back to my small group and sat down next to Lincoln. I rested my head on his shoulder for a while, but I did not go to sleep when I was done. Instead, I meditated so that I could recover my strength and be at my peak condition for tomorrow. There was no doubt in my mind that it was going to be a long day.

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