The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 134

Cage wears a shocked expression, his face on the screens in the front of the control room.

"How is anyone else still alive?" He repeats when Lexa and I hesitate for a moment, internally debating on whether or not to actually tell him. "What is Plan Daedalus?"

"Plan Daedalus is what Clarke and I came up with to ensure that even if you made a foolish decision, it would hot mean the end of all of your people. A man, Bellamy, infiltrated you before we got here and contacted Maya."

"Maya Vie?" Cage asks. He scoffs. "I'm not surprised she's behind all of this."

"Actually, they're behind all of this." Raven interrupts. "Clarke and Lexa came up with this and told people exactly what to do."

Cage rolls his eyes and glares down at us like he still can't believe he was outsmarted by us. I don't know if it's because we're not Maunon or if it's because we're women. But either way, I really want to punch him.

"So your brilliant plan?" He prompts, evidently intrigued despite his skepticism.

"Maya went through people she knew wouldn't tell guards and would be loyal to us." I explain. "She told them that she would give them a signal or a code word and that's when they would have to go to this room. She and Bellamy did that when he got word that we arrived. Raven here's the genius that made sure all of this could happen."

Raven grins at me. "Yup. The first thing I did when I got here was make sure that no matter what happened to the rest of the compound, that room would still have working fans and would be radiation free. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. This place is like Swiss cheese with all the holes in the ventilation. Anyway, then all that was left was for them to seal the door. You know, just in case."

"Raven has now made sure that the entire floor is safe but is concentrating the most energy on that room, where medical equipment has secretly been set up." Lexa continues. "Our healers and the doctors from Skaikru are on their way to them as we speak. There are enough Skaikru that volunteered to donate bone marrow for everyone we have been able to gather."

"How many?" Cage asks, his face going through a variety of emotions, none of which I have names for.

"Bellamy estimates a little over thirty," Octavia chimes in.

"And your people... Volunteered?" He asks incredulously.

"Yes," I answer. "We told everyone the predicament you may put them in and quite a few came forward, wanting to help. We actually had to turn some people away."

Cage stares blankly at nothing in particular, looking like a shell of a person. His eyebrows furrow and his eyes refocus on us. "Why is it called Plan Daedalus?"

"My brother's a history nerd," Octavia states with a hint of a smirk. "It's based off of this Ancient Greek myth of Icarus and the sun. I don't know the exact story."

"I do, Bell explained it to me." I say. "Daedalus was Icarus' father and they were both imprisoned in the labyrinth, which reminds me of this place with all of it's hallways. Daedalus, being the master craftsman he was, crafted wings for them both out of wax and feathers. In a way, it's kind of like you and Dr. Tsing created a way to 'free' your people. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun or too close to the water, to follow his path instead."

"Father..." Cage whispers, the microphones wherever he is barely picking up his words. Maybe his dad told him not to follow the path he's taken or something.

"But Icarus loves the freedom of flying," I continue with the story. "In the sky, he felt invincible. He flew higher and higher until his wings began to melt. He had forgotten about the heat of the sun, and it was melting the wax. He tried to fly lower, but it was useless. He was losing too much wax, too many feathers. He plunged to his death into the sea." I pause to let him take this in. "Do you see why it fits?"

Cage swallows, anger and sadness and fear flitting across his face. "Yes."

"Hang on," Raven says. "Who's Icarus? Like in the real world, here in this situation?"

"Cage is Icarus." I explain. "For him, being on the ground without one of those radiation suits was the sun. The temptation. The ocean is the reality of what he was doing. He got too excited by the possible 'cure' and rushed forward, looking only at that instead of considering his options. Does that make sense?"

Raven squints. "Kind of."

At that moment, Lincoln walks into the room where Cage is. Cage whirls around, but not before I see his terrified expression. His shoulders straighten and he doesn't even try to fight back. Lincoln ties up his wrists behind his back and leads him out of the door. Cage gives us a dark glare before he's out of view.

"Shall we go?" Lexa asks.

I nod and then hesitate for a second. Lexa senses this, of course and stays where she is, reaching out to take my hands in hers. She doesn't urge me to speak, which I appreciate. She waits for me to be ready to talk.

"Will you be okay?" I ask finally, concern lacing my tone. "Seeing them?"

Lexa purses her lips and thinks about it, searching for an honest answer. "No. I am never okay when I see the bodies of innocents or the bodies of my people. But I have dealt with seeing such things since I was a child. And I have you by my side now. This needs to be done."

I nod in understanding and bring up her hand that pulled the lever, pressing a gentle kiss on each knuckle.

"Do you want to come too, Raven?" I ask, forcing myself to take my attention away from my girlfriend. "Everyone will probably gather there. And Lincoln's going to make sure no one touches the bodies yet, if that matters. So Anya and Luna will both be there."

"Yeah, I'll go."

"I'll come too," Octavia stands up, looking determined and less nauseous than before.

"O, you don't have to." I don't want her to feel obligated.

"I know. I'm still going."

Next chapter, we get to see what they'll do with Cage! And wow, this Daedalus comparison turned into something more lit paper-y than I thought! But hey, I (finally) explained why it's called Plan Daedalus! (Really, it's because I'm a nerd and it's the first name I thought of and was like 'oh that works') Anyway! Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!