Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 27: Expert Advice

"How are the radios going?" Clarke asks.

"Not great," Raven replies, squinting at what she's fiddling with. It looks a bit like a radio, to Clarke's untrained eyes. Beside her there is a massive pile of electronic parts, most of them beaten up, ripped apart, rusted or otherwise useless – it looks like Anya's unit has eagerly obeyed the orders to bring back anything useful, but don't have to clear an idea what 'useful' means in this context. As she watches, Raven reaches out without looking and snags a wire from a small pile of them she's made. "How's everything in the sky going?"

"Also not great," Clarke says ruefully. "Shumway's turned on Diana Sydney and some of the others to save his own skin, so she's still being held, but she hasn't admitted anything herself. They think there must be people helping her that Shumway doesn't know about. Obviously, the arrests of Shumway and some of their conspirators have thrown the Guard into chaos. Meanwhile, the scientists are arguing about the exact right way to come down to earth, and about how people should be split between the stations so if only one makes it down our 'species' will still survive – ignoring the fact that we're hardly the last of our species. Oxygen's getting lower and four people so far have gone completely blind, with twenty-seven more experiencing other vision problems, and they're considering coming down early but have no chance of sorting things out in time. The parents of kids in Polis and Monty's parents are campaigning to come down as close to us as possible because they think we're exaggerating about Mount Weather, and some of the others are joining in because they think that we're delinquents who want to keep the nice land for ourselves and force them into the snow. So basically -" Clarke takes a breath, but Raven interrupts.

"So basically, you're telling me not to bitch about these stupid radios," Raven flashes Clarke a quick grin before returning her eyes to the quasi-radio.

"Is it the lack of supplies?" Clarke asks. "We can get more people searching." Or maybe the underground aid depot will have something they can use – then she dismisses that thought. The place was wrecked. Sometime they will have to go there to get the guns though. When the others get down, maybe.

"Please don't," Raven replies emphatically. "I have more than enough junk here. I've trained some of Anya's guys to recognise what a wire is, so I might get some good stuff from them eventually. But for the most part it's a pile of crap. Digging through it to find decent things is the hardest part. Monty's been helping out some. And Jasper's got a recipe for bombs after I've finished the radios, that shouldn't be too hard."

Clarke hesitates, but she has to ask. "Will you have at least one radio done by tomorrow? That's when Lexa wants to leave for Polis." And even waiting that long is making her edgy. Lexa's started spending significant time each day away from the village, just in case, and has ordered Clarke to be at the edge or outside of the village whenever possible, guarded by as many people as possible. Last night Lexa took some of the gonas on an impromptu hunt as far from the Mountain as possible and camped out, splitting the chief targets. With the number of scouts they have around it would be hard for Mount Weather to paint a target and send a missile towards them – but not impossible. It's good logic, since if she and Lexa both die then Emerson will be the only person to remember (if he does remember). Besides, she has no doubt Murphy or Drew will have told the Maunon everything by now. Polis is probably safe, given the distance and sheer number of Grounders there, but if the Mountain Men decide to attack TonDC with guns and gas grenades they might have a chance. Clarke just hopes the sheer number of scouts and guards and traps they have spread out around the area, and the impossibility of confirming if she's still there, will make the Mountain pause.

It's not particularly helping Clarke's mood to be apart from Lexa. They'll be able to spend time together again once they're on the move and a missile will be too slow to use effectively against them, thankfully, but for now it grates on her.