THE UNDERGROUND / GXG (The 100)

9

Three days later Zalia and part of her team were getting ready to go over to Polis. "Are you nervous to go back?" Marian asked Zalia while she helped her strap on her suit. Zalia smiled a bit and shook her head. "I'm more excited than nervous. Hopefully, I gain her trust and we can work together." Zalia shrugs a bit and double-checks her handguns while Marian finished up with the back of her suit. The Captain's suit had a few more straps on the back for security, so it was common for Zalia to need help with it.

Some of Zalia's warriors brought her the motorcycles she and her team would be using to travel to Polis. They were all excited to be driving the bikes outside for the first time. In the past, they couldn't drive any of their vehicles outside of the underground since they would attract a lot of attention from the grounders. So this was a special day for the Underground, the first time they would go over to Polis with an invitation. Zalia's assigned guards were not happy to be driving a bike, but they couldn't ride their horses back since they were a lot slower than the bikes. So Zalia made sure they knew how to drive, even if they were grumpier than usual.

They switched on the bikes and the bikes slowly started rising, hovering over the floor. It was slight since the bikes didn't fly above three feet from the floor, but it still looked pretty epic. All of the bikes were dark gray, and just like all of their equipment, they were solar-powered electric. The hangar gate opened and a huge cave could be seen on the other side of the gate. Zalia gave out the signal and they advanced towards the cave opening. Four guards led the way, Zalia was right behind them with Echo and Marian beside her, behind them were the Trikru guards assigned to Zalia, and lastly, four more guards were trailing.

"You should be there in about two hours, Captain. The radars show no sign of activity, so the trail should be clean. I'll keep you posted," Zalia could hear T talking through the comms and she smiled under her helmet. "Sounds great. Thank you, Michaels." The formalities were always present when it came to missions, so even when they were best friends, on missions T always addressed Zalia as Captain and Zalia called T by her last name.

The drive over to Polis was fairly smooth. A considerable amount of grounders that could hear the unusual noise walked outside their villages to see what was happening when the bikes flew by. It was for sure a sight to see. Once they got to Polis, the guards opened the gates and when they got in they could see the grounders gathering around to see what was causing such noise. Zalia got off her bike and took off her new helmet, setting her hair free. Her helmet was mostly metal, not wanting it to break like it happened the last time she had to fight grounders. It was now bulletproof, the sensors and cameras were more advanced and it had thermal imaging. All thanks to T who got upset about the last helmet breaking so easily.

Zalia saw Indra walking out of the tower with her guards. Her usual annoyance was visible on her face as she walked closer. Zalia's team turned off their bikes right after her but didn't take off their helmets just yet. The trikru guards assigned to Zalia walked over to Indra and greeted her first. When Indra walked up to Zalia and her team, Zalia nodded at her with respect. "Indra, nice seeing you again," Zalia said. Indra nodded softly and spoke up. "Heda is waiting for you," Indra said quickly and turned around walking back to the tower. Zalia nodded and followed her, her team following behind her. "Pretending or not, if you even think of taking the Commander as a hostage again... I will stick my knife in your head. Get em in?" (Understand?) She looked at Zalia seriously. Zalia nodded softly "Sha, (Yes,) I'm lucky you were not there when that happened," Zalia finished. Once they walked in the tower, the guards told Zalia and her team to leave their weapons there, so she and her team did what they were asked to do, and put their weapons in a container. The guards checked each of them, making sure no one was trying to sneak in a weapon, before letting them through.

When the elevator got to the top floor, the doors opened and it was like dejavú for Zalia. She remembered so clearly the first time she walked into the throne room. But it was so different now. She was glad it was. They've worked hard for this, she hoped she wouldn't fuck it up. Zalia looked back at her team and spoke up "No one speaks until I say so," she said with authority. Her team nodded and the grounder guards opened the doors to the throne room. Her team was amazed and looking around, just like Zalia was the first time she was here. She walked in first, oozing confidence and courage. Lexa, with her war paint on, looked at Zalia with her signature stoic expression. But she had something different in her eyes, something Zalia didn't recognize. Respect? Amazement? She wasn't sure.

Zalia stood in front of Lexa's throne and bent her knee in reverence, her team doing the same. "Rise," Lexa said after a few seconds. "Heda," Zalia spoke as she stood back up. "Mochof gon moninon osir," (Commander, thank you for welcoming us.) Zalia said while she looked at the Commander. Lexa nodded softly and spoke up "Pro." (You're welcome). Indra stood beside the commander, Anya standing at the other side of Lexa's throne with Gustus her guard, and Titus the flamekeeper.

Echo was nervous to take off her helmet since she knows Anya would recognize her, she didn't know if Indra or the Commander would, but she knew they would ask her some questions when the time came. So when Zalia spoke up to her team "Helmets off." her heartbeat was beating a lot faster. They all obliged and took off their helmets, Lexa looking at them one by one, studying their faces. "This is Marian, my best warrior," Marian nodded looking at the Commander. "Heda, em ste koma." (Commander, it is an honor.) Marian said firmly. "This is Echo, one of my most trusted warriors," Zalia said looking at Echo who was looking down. When she raised her eyes too look at the Commander, she could see Lexa raising her eyebrow in surprise. "Heda," Echo nodded in respect and Lexa spoke up. "Echo kom Azgeda. It is a surprise to see you joined the underground," Lexa said. Echo bit her lip slightly and nodded, looking at the ground again, she didn't dare to look at Anya. "And these are my guards," Zalia spoke and the other eight men and women that nodded in respect. After the introduction, Lexa stood up and spoke up. "Let's eat. The Captain and I will talk privately after the feast."

*****

The dinner was very relaxed. The food was delicious, it was very obvious that the Commander had the best cooks working for her. Zalia thought the energy of the meeting was gonna be tense but she was proven wrong. Lexa and her people were very curious about undergrounder culture and history. They sent out a few judgmental looks here and there but nothing more, which Zalia was grateful for. Also, her team was very respectful of the grounders, which she appreciated greatly. After the meeting, Lexa's guards took Zalia's team to their assigned bedrooms and Lexa guided Zalia to a more private meeting room. They sat down and Zalia waited for Lexa to start speaking.

"Marian looks a lot like you," Lexa spoke up while looking at Zalia. Zalia chuckled a bit a nodded. "She's my little sister. I guess we can't escape genes," Zalia responded and shrugged a bit. Lexa wanted to ask more about Zalia's family, but this didn't feel like the right occasion. So she decided to go straight to the point.

"I've been thinking about what you said, Zalia," Lexa said in her serious tone. Zalia looked at her a bit confused but Lexa didn't give her time to ask. "About visiting the underground. And I want to do it. If we're going to even try to make this alliance work, I have to know more about your people. You just brought here a vehicle that I've never seen, you own technology I've never heard of, and you have a vast knowledge of my people," She paused for a second and took a breath. "My people fear that you're even worse than the maunon (mountain men), but visiting the underground would give us more trust that you're not like them," Lexa said in all honesty. Zalia nodded and spoke up. "We would be honored to welcome you to the underground. If I'm being honest, there's a lot of things I'd love to show you, Heda. We have a lot of technology that could help your people. And now that a Commander that cares about her people is in charge.. we're willing to share it with you," Zalia said with a small smile. "Then it's settled. We'll be there in a week. We will need a map, though." Lexa said, and Zalia's smile reached her eyes for the first time in a while. "Done and done."

*********

Echo placed her helmet on the small table of the room that was assigned to her and she looked at it while she thought about the first time she put it on. That day she knew there was no going back. She was now an undergrounder. She was thankful for Marian and Zalia that took her in, but she couldn't help but feel sad from time to time. Sometimes she felt like she didn't have a home. Even when her life at Azgeda was hard, she still felt connected to her family even when they were not alive anymore. But now that she was an undergrounder, she felt like she was far from them somehow.

Echo heard a knock on the door and she spoke up, "Come in." The door opened and Anya walked inside. "For years I've thought you were dead," Anya said to Echo as she stood there looking at her. Echo turned to face her and nodded sadly. "I'm sorry," Echo said to her. Anya shook her head and walked over to Echo, engulfing her in a hug. "It's so great to see you're alive and well," Anya told her. They pulled away after a few seconds and Anya looked at her. "Tell me all about it," Anya said.

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