Chapter 29: The Calm before the Blood Bath!
'Thinking'
"Talking"
[System]
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- Mount Weather | Level 2 | The Ground -
- 3rd Person -
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
"Jasper, get down!" Jet shouted over the incoming gunfire as his squad and a few of the delinquents engaged in a gunfight in one of the many Mount Weather warehouses.
After Jet and them had dealt with a total of three hunter killer drones and eighteen Mount Weather soldiers, Jet had sealed off all the elevators except the one to President Dante Wallace. Jet then grabbed his squad, Jasper, and a few of the other delinquents with submachine guns and headed down the stairwell to level two. As they had just received word from Bellamy that he would be releasing the grounders that were still held within cages.
Jet had decided to lead them down to level two in search of any weapons or supplies that could be given to the grounders or any of the delinquents. But, as soon as they stepped foot inside of the first warehouse the alarms blared, and a squad of eleven soldiers ambushed them, all of them but one carrying submachine guns.
Eventually more Mount Weather soldiers showed up and began to force Jet and them back. Now, Jet, Jasper, three of the delinquents and two of Jet's squad members were now hidden underneath a catwalk hiding behind the solid eight-inch steel beams.
"Show yourselves! Hands first!" The man in lead yelled as he and the rest of the soldiers surrounded the group in a semi-circle formation, with eight on the ground and six more on the catwalk overlooking them.
"We can get out of this you hear me. We'll survive this." Jet said towards his group as sweat continued to trickle down his forehead and down his neck.
"How? There's no way! We're trapped." Jasper said as he fumbled with the gun in his grip due to his sweat covered hands.
"Fredricks! Jonah! You can still redeem yourselves! All you have to do is turn on Jet and support President Wallace, Cage Wallace. If you do that you can receive the same treatment that Jet did, you can finally be able to walk on the ground without the need of a breathing apparatus!" The one in the lead shouted out trying to cause Jet's soldiers to turn against him.
That's when Jet quickly poked his head out from behind the steel beam and caught a glance of the delinquents that he had thought had gone down were being pulled back to safety so they could be treated before then being subject to the bone marrow extraction.
"Scoff... Yeah, right. My men would never-..." Jet was interrupted however when he felt cold steel touch the side of his head. Glancing to his right he saw both Jonah and Fredricks had turned their guns on him and had sad, and sorry expressions on their faces.
"We're sorry sir, but... Those treatments mean that we could go back to the ground. We can't miss that." Jonah said as he indicated for him to step out from behind the beam and into the open.
"What? I thought that you knew that. That's the reason we are fighting because if killing these kids means that we can survive, it's not worth it." Jet said confused.
"What the hell are you talking about!? We were told that Cage had staged a coup and taken power from Dante forcefully. That wasn't the truth?" Fredricks asked shocked, with his mouth slightly parted and his eyes wide.
"Jet! Come on, join us! I know you don't agree with it, but we can finally walk on the ground, breathe the natural air! We won't have to stay locked up in this prison anymore." Jonah said agreeing with Fredricks previous statement that what he had been told was a lie, and that Jet should join them.
"... I'm sorry, but I can't do that." Jet said resolutely while staring into Jonah's eyes who still had his gun pressed to Jet's temple.
"Why Jet!?" Jonah yelled out in anguish with the thought that he might have to kill a man who was to him, a mentor.
"Because they're just kids. With the grounders it was different but still wrong nonetheless, it was the simple fact that they were adults that kept me from breaking in and freeing a few myself."
"TRAITOR!" He heard a guttural scream from the man in the lead who was speaking earlier. "HOW DARE YOU! WE DID WHAT WE DID TO SURVIVE-..." The man was quickly silenced however as his brain exploded as a bullet impacted the right side of his head and exited through the left.
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
A stream of gunfire began pouring out from behind a few cargo crates off to the right of the Mount Weather soldiers. Jet looked surprised at first but then noticed that it was Jasper and the three delinquents. Somehow, they were able to sneak around while Jonah and Fredricks drew the attention of the soldiers by starting a dramatic argument.
Jet knew though that their argument was not planned and was very real. That's why when he saw Jasper's thumbs up, he grabbed his sidearm, and quickly aimed and fired a bullet at Fredrick.
It blew through the back of his head and sent him cascading to the cold hard concrete floor. Jet swiftly grabbed the barrel of the submachine gun that Jonah had pressed against his head and then proceeded to shove his pistol directly in Jonah's face.
"Sob... Sob... I'm sorry, sir. I just wanted to go to the ground." Jonah cried as he dropped his weapon to the floor.
"I know." Jet said simply before pulling the trigger.
*BANG!*
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- Mount Weather | Level 3 | The Ground -
*CLANG*
Bellamy unhooked the vent and carefully and quietly placed it onto the ground. Standing up Bellamy took out his sidearm and briefly glanced around the room. Seeing that the only thing there was the bleeding station and the cages grounders, he holstered his sidearm and made his way over to Echo's cage.
He unhooked the keys from his belt and began to unlock the cell. "Echo, get up, it's time to go. I'd told you I'd come back for you, didn't I?" he asked with a slight grin.
Extending his hand towards her and helping her out of the cage and onto the ground, he informed her that their peoples were marching on Mount Weather and that he needed to free the others.
Bellamy moved onto the next cell and unlocked it, he reached in to help the man, but the man shoved him out, rejecting his help.
"Hey, it's okay. We're getting you out." Bellamy said once again, reaching towards him to help him down.
"Slow down. They just bled him." Echo said while holding a firm grip on his arm.
"Echo, listen to me. There's an army inside this room, and I need you to help me get them ready to fight. Can you do that?" Bellamy asked desperately.
After a few seconds Echo nodded in acceptance and turned back towards the man still huddled in his cage. "En's ogud. Osir na wich em in." she said as she extended her hand out to him and started helping him down. (It's okay. We can trust him.)
Bellamy quickly moved on and unlocked cage after cage but as the minutes passed by, the grounders started to grow restless, and started banging on their cells and yelling out for him to hurry up, and for them to be free.
Bellamy glanced back towards the door that connected the medical ward to the grounder cage area checking to see if any soldiers had caught wind of the sound yet. Looking around after making sure there weren't any soldiers, he realized that he wouldn't be able to get them under control, so he turned to Echo. "There's too much noise. We need them to quiet down, or we'll be caught." he said worriedly.
Echo nodded, walked past him and into the center of the Harvest chamber and shouted, "Taim yu gaf ge breik au, taim yu shof op!" (If you want to be free, be quiet!)
The grounders all went silent instantly, Echo nodded and walked back towards Bellamy. "Okay, how do we do this?" she asked as she watched him unlock and free more of her people.
"There's an army outside going for the main door. When they get it open, all hell will break loose. That is the signal for my friends to come here, and then-..."
*BEEP!*
The sound of the P.A system activating caused Bellamy to stop and both him and Echo to listen in with curiosity.
"My fellow citizens, this is your President speaking. I have news to share with you that will change all of our lives forever. For 97 years, Mount Weather has been our home. It's kept us alive, but it has also held us captive. Most of us have made peace with what we've had to do to survive. We've done these things for one reason. So that our people could one day return to the ground. That day is today." Cage announced on the P.A system broadcasting all throughout Mount Weather, on all levels.
"He's going public." Bellamy said in realization.
"Before my friend, Lorelei Tsing was murdered by the outsiders still at large within this mountain she found a cure. It was in their bone marrow. This has been the dream of our people since the bombs. But it seems that some of us don't want to accept this fact, and to go outside, I need your help... My father who is helping the outsiders is still at large and is hiding on level six. My father and the thirty-four criminals who eradiated level five, killing fifteen of our people are now keeping us from that dream. Although we've repaired our home, we can never replace the lives that were so viciously taken from us. So, I ask of you to help me, join the security detail, and help our cause. Search for my father on level six, find him and bring justice down upon him for the lives we've lost, for the family members taken from us. As of this moment my father and any who conspires together with him will be labeled as enemies of the state. Once again, I'm asking you, please do what is right for your people, our people. So that we can all take our rightful place on the ground. We're almost home." Cage said, finishing his speech and turning off the P.A system.
"He's good at making speeches, I'll give him that." Bellamy remarked as he continued unlocking cage after cage, freeing as many grounders as he could.
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- Mount Weather | Level 7 | The Ground -
After Cage had taken out his headset that he used to deliver his speech, he looked up towards the large monitor that was currently split into four different sections. All are of different angles of the approaching army.
"What are they doing?" Cage asked Emerson as he saw the army slowly form around the main bunker door.
"Preparing to attack. They're too close for the missiles, sir. Without the Veil, there is nothing we can do from the inside. All ground units are ready to engage on your command, and with the recent capture of a few more of the outsiders, all of our ground units have received the treatment and won't be hindered by the use of a gas mask and hazmat suit." Emerson informed Cage, while clenching his fist repeatedly.
"Not yet Emerson." Cage said as he looked at the monitor in contemplation.
"Sir, the longer we wait-..."
"They came looking for a fight, Emerson. Doesn't mean we need to give them one. As long as we're behind the doors they can't touch us. What about the intruder, have we found him yet?" Cage asked, looking away from the monitor and at Emerson.
"He's still at large, sir. We're doing everything we-..." Emerson's answer was cut short however as Cage grabbed a stack of documents and shoved them into Emerson's face.
"Go door to door, fucking find them god damnit. NOW!" Cage shouted in rage.
"...Yes, sir."
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- Mount Weather | Outside | The Ground -
- Arthur Pendragon -
"Welcome, Skaikru. Join us." Lexa greeted a group of the guard leadership, Finn, and Murphy as they walked into the commander's tent.
I stood beside Lexa with Clarke, and Octavia to my right, and Lincoln standing guard behind me. The tent was filled with us as well as Apollo, Agni, Icarus, and a few of the grounder field commanders that fell under the generals.
After greeting one another Lexa and I started the war council meeting.
"Generals, field commanders, today's the first day we get our people back. The enemy thinks it's safe behind its doors, but thanks to Arthur it's not. When it realizes that, it will fight back. Hard. We need to be ready for anything." Lexa finished looking towards me.
"I know how much you want to simply go in there and slaughter as many as you can find, I understand that feeling. But, above all this is a rescue mission, that is our first and main priority. Our second priority will be killing their soldiers and their leadership. Their current leadership is the reason that our people are held captive there in the first place, he will not be allowed to live. The normal people inside that mountain that have helped us are not to be harmed. There are children who simply have nothing to do with this war. They are not to be harmed is that clear?" I said after taking over from Lexa.
Both the grounder Generals and field commanders nodded their heads along with the guard leadership. However, I did notice Finn temporarily flex his jaw before relaxing at the part about killing their leadership.
Seeing their nods, I turn and nod to Lexa before stepping forward and explaining the plan.
"There are four teams, two of them will be located at the dam and in the mine and they're already moving into position. The third team is the grounders that are still being held captive inside of Mount Weather, they're being freed as we speak. Our job will be to keep the eyes of the enemy off them as long as possible, while simultaneously blowing a hole in their front door. The Mountain men believe their door to be impenetrable, so they leave it unguarded. Due to an inside source, we discovered that the door is not as impenetrable as it seems to be. When the power goes out, the lock to the door disengages allowing it to be blown wide open. Raven's team has already taken the turbine room, it's their job to blow the power. Once they do, we blow the lock. They also have access to a backup generator inside of the Mountain, but it won't be an issue with the weapon we've brought along." I spoke.
"Sir, how long until the backup generator does activate?" Lieutenant Miller asked.
"One minute, but like I said it won't be a problem. Also, as the commander said once the door is open, the shooting will start. They'll throw everything they have at us, and that is exactly what we want. While we are occupying them at the front door, Indra's team will be escorting the prisoners out the back, right through the Reaper tunnels. Once they're free we'll sound the retreat horn and fall back with our freed people in tow. That is if the leadership is dead, if they're not then most of the force will retreat providing a temporary distraction as I lead a covert team to kill Cage and anyone in the command center. That is the plan." I finish stepping back in line with Lexa.
After looking at the weary glances being cast between the generals and field commanders and the guard leadership Lexa stepped forward and began pacing. "The mountain has cast a shadow over these woods for too long. They've hunted us, controlled us, turned us into monsters. That ends today. Thanks to our alliance with Arthur and the Sky people, the mountain will fall. As Arthur said, we spare the innocent. As for the guilty... Jus drein jus daun." she finishes.
"Jus drein jus daun!"
"Jus drein jus daun!"
"Jus drein jus daun."
"Jus drein jus daun!"
"Jus drein jus daun!"
Soon enough the chants got so loud that the surrounding men around our tent began to chant as well, and eventually the whole army was chanting, Jus drein jus daun!
'Blood must have Blood!'
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{P.S: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! In the next chapter the battle will finally begin!}