Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 26: Have Dread Will Travel

It's late at night by now – nearly morning, in fact – but Lexa's not sure she's ever felt so awake.

She goes with Clarke to the radio tent as soon as they return, pausing only to give Anya curt orders to spread out and double the number of people on watch. Octavia, hard-faced but apparently now a believer, takes charge of John and bears him off to get sleep and food. He's still processing what they told him – only about the Mountain Men, and only the basic facts that every Trikru knows. Nothing about Emerson, or bone marrow, or their memories.

Lexa hasn't really been into this tent since the radio was carefully placed there. All of her communication with the Ark has happened through Clarke. But they need to talk before Clarke contacts the Ark, to decide what she should tell them.

"I think Octavia believes us," Lexa comments.

"She's getting there," Clarke agrees. "And she'll tell Lincoln, so that's two people..." her voice trails off and she switches subjects. "Is there any way we could get inside Mount Weather before Murphy and Drew are dead? If they're being interrogated... we might have time. I could be our person on the inside this time. I know the way in."

Lexa can hear in Clarke's voice that she knows it's hopeless. "We don't have a former Ripa on our side to fake a capture," she says, stating things Clarke is already aware of but wants to hear confirmed by another. It seems easier for Clarke to face bad things in this way. "We don't have any allies inside. We have no Skaikru warriors or scientists with us, Raven has yet to make any bombs or even radios, we have no tone generators. They still have missiles and the acid fog and Ripas. If Emerson's told them everything then they'll be expecting us to do the same things as last time, so we will not even have the element of surprise. We will need to leave TonDC as soon as possible if we want to remain safe, not stay here attempting to attack a fortress and making ourselves easy targets."

"If I told the Ark to come down sooner," Clarke says thoughtfully. Then she sighs. "It wouldn't help at all, would it? We'd lose more of them because they'd have less time to prepare, and I don't even know what we could have them do once they get here. All the plans I had for the Mountain required them to be willing to deal with us, or at least for us to be able to surprise them and get in that way. There's no point telling the Ark to do anything, is there?"

"How about telling them to land elsewhere, so Emerson will not know to have Maunon there waiting?" Lexa suggests. "Perhaps far away."

Clarke blinks, considers it. "And maybe keeping them that far away? With only a dozen or so people able to go outside without suits, if we get my people far enough away, we could make it very hard to get more of them. That could give us leverage if we get my Mom to start collecting bone marrow from volunteers – we could agree to trade those to them."

"How could we guarantee they would keep whatever terms we ask them for?" Lexa says doubtfully.

Clarke starts to pace. "What if... um... maybe we could promise that anyone from Mount Weather who leaves and comes to TonDC with one of the Grounder prisoners to trade will be given bone marrow."

"That will leave them with none of my people as prisoners eventually, but they will then have the ability to go outside as well as all of their weapons," Lexa points out. "They will still have acid fog and Ripas and gas grenades and knock out darts and guns and missiles. They will also still believe their people are superior to mine." It itches, as it always does, when she thinks of the tones in which the Maunon spoke to her as they made the deal at Mount Weather. The disrespect towards her and her people had been hard to stomach. She had only been able to because of the number of her people's lives at stake. They could default to such a deal if they had to – in the other world she did, after all – but she would prefer a plan that does not leave the Maunon stronger.