𝟐.𝟏𝟕

─── 「DON'T BE A HERO」 ───

     We had camped just outside the limits of the veil zone to pass the night and until we got the signal from Raven that Bellamy and she had managed to get it down. After what happened at Tondc, Ion, Sheda, and I had been helping the injured as much as we could before leaving with the army. I had found Octavia around, sitting down with her in front of a fire and, as it turns out, we had the same questions.

- "So, I've been doing a lot of thinking since you came back from taking down the snipper." –Octavia broke the silence- "How did you come across Clarke again?"

- "Lincoln and I were marching towards high ground when we heard branches crushing next to us." –I repeated the story for her- "We stopped to check what it was and both Clarke and Lexa appeared out of nowhere, covered in cloths as if to hide from someone, although that could have been to blend with their surroundings to take down the snipper."

- "And you believe that?" –Octavia asked with a sardonic tone- "You out of everyone?"

- "Well, I'm trying not to think about the other possible explanation because I don't need to become infuriated with them right now. But it would explain why Abby wasn't frantically looking for Clarke."

- "So, we agree, they knew."

Octavia's tone left no room for discussion, not that I was planning on disagreeing. Still, I tried not to think about it, but I knew one of us could have died because of it, just like Octavia did, and that wasn't helping. We could be dead now and all because Clarke and Lexa chose to save their asses. Clarke came out of Lexa's tent right that second and moved to sit in front of the fire next to us.

- "Everything okay?"

- "You tell us." –Octavia looked at me and then at Clarke, choosing to confront her- "We've been trying to figure out how you're still alive."

- "What are you talking about?" –Clarke tried to sound confident but failed.

- "I knew something was wrong when you almost didn't acknowledge me when you arrived at Tondc." –I looked up at her, following Octavia's cue- "We're just connecting the dots."

- "I saw you there before the missile hit. And then you and Lexa disappear and just happen to survive?"

- "Not to mention how weird you acted when you found out Octavia and I were alive; as if guilt had been eating you alive."

- "Tell me you didn't know it was coming."

Clarke looked to the ground and shook her head before sighing and opening her mouth but nothing came out. The words died in her mouth like all the people we had buried in the city. That was the only confirmation we needed, even if I already knew, but it did nothing but enrage my sister further.

- "You let all those people die." –Octavia stood up, clenching her fists at her sides- "You were going to let me die! You were going to let Sam die!"

- "O, wait." –I stood up next to her, not wanting to start a fight in the middle of a war.

- "Hey, I did it to save Bellamy." –Clarke explained before glancing at me- "So that we could win this war. If we'd evacuated Tondc, Mount Weather would've known that someone tipped us off: they would have found him."

- "No, Bellamy would have never told you to do that."

- "But it's what needed to be done, wasn't it?" –I looked at Clarke, knowing fully well by now how her mind worked, guessing she'd have managed to convince him some way.

- "How can you say that?" –Octavia stared at me, she was pissed- "Bellamy would have found another way and you know it."

- "I couldn't take that risk."

- "Wait a second." –I stopped Clarke, furrowing my eyebrows and taking a step toward her- "So, the problem wasn't that there wasn't another way to deal with it, but that your man inside did as you told him."

- "Did he even know we were there?" -Clarke turned to Octavia and lightly shook her head in denial, almost as if her head was trying not to tell us but her body couldn't hide the truth any longer- "I see. Now that you're in charge thanks to the Commander, you get to decide who's disposable. You'd have fit right in on the Council." -She ended with a bitter tone and started moving away from us.

- "Hey, Octavia." –Clarke moved to catch up with her as I looked at them- "You can't tell anyone." –she turned to look at me as I walked up to them- "None of you."

- "Yeah, because if the truth came out..."

- "...the alliance would break." –Octavia ended for me- "We aren't stupid, Clarke."

- "Your secret is safe with us."

I spoke as Lexa came out of her tent, looking at us. I wondered how much of that she had heard. The three of us greeter her but Lexa mainly focused on Octavia. I didn't like that.

- "It's time for the southernmost guard post rotation," –Ryder, the Grounder accompanying Lexa, told Octavia- "you should relieve them."

- "Indra expects me to be on the scouting mission."

- "I'll go."

- "No." –Ryder quickly opposed as I eyed him- "Octavia is needed at the guard post; Indra will join her there shortly. In the meantime, you can go check the westernmost post."

Octavia and I looked at Lexa, who simply nodded. Octavia said goodbye to me and left us to go to her new assigned position. Once she was far enough not to hear me, I spoke.

- "If any of you hurt her, I will kill you." –I made sure to make eye contact with the three of them- "Any of you."

Not expecting an answer, I left towards the westernmost post. I can't wait for this war to be over. I found Sheda and Ion on my way there and, luckily, they joined me.

- "So, we've been thinking." –Sheda started once we were in position.

- "About?"

- "Well, first of all, you can't go to war like that." –Ion spoke to my other side- "I haven't been training you to beat all of us just to show up..." –he moved his hands to point at my whole outfit.

- "What do you mean 'like that', huh?" –I faced him- "Don't you like my dirty, broken Sky Girl clothes now or what?"

- "I don't, but I didn't just mean that."

- "Do enlighten me, please."

- "Your face is missing something."

- "Warpaint." -I on clarified Sheda's words- "And if we find you clothes, you'll put them on."

- "Alright, I won't oppose to those terms." –I chuckled, raising my hands in surrender- "You are the teachers after all."

- "There's something else." –Sheda went on making gestures to Ion.

- "Oreth wanted you to have this."

Ion handed me something wrapped in a cloth. I opened it as both males looked at me. Her blade. I took it out of the package and it shone with the moonlight. It was beautiful, like nothing I had seen before. I could tell someone had taken the time to craft it.

- "Didn't she have any family that may want this?"

- "Oreth's parents died years ago and she was an only child."

- "I see. I will take care of this with my life. It's an honor she even thought of me, honestly." -I put it back in its place- "They'll pay for what they did."

Sheda and Ion nodded to my words, walking in silence until we got to our spot, sitting with my back to one of the trees. Lookout duty wasn't my favorite thing to do, but it gave me a reason to sit down and be alone with my thought. Which, most often than not, could get dangerous. Thankfully, Ion and Sheda were with me, and after a couple of minutes of solemn silence, Sheda moved next to me and took something that looked like a crayon out of one of his pockets.

- "Now, sit still."

I nodded and sat down, leaning my back against the tree after having furrowed my eyebrows as he refused to explain what exactly he intended on doing. Sheda kneeled in front of me and motioned for me to close my eyes. I decided to trust him, feeling the soft brush of the creamy paint on my skin soon after.

- "Now you are one of us."

- "Don't make her laugh nor move." –Sheda scolded him as I tried to keep my laughter down while Ion laughed- "I'm trying to make her look threatening, not laughable."

- "Alright, alright."

I licked my lips, staying still again, smiling for a second as Ion started to hum a song. She was quiet, clearly focused on whatever design he was putting on my face. I had seen Lincoln's war paint, I had seen Lexa's and Ion's so I hoped mine would live up to the standards. Once Sheda was content with his job he allowed me to open my eyes only to be met with his own scrutinizing every millimeter of my face.

- "Stop doing that," -I chuckled, shoving him back lightly- "you'll manage to find imperfections in my face that not even I am aware of."

- "Actually," -he grinned at me- "I was admiring my job, not your face, Samantha."

- "Call me Sam, alright? Both of you." -I glanced at Ion before focusing back on Sheda- "We're friends now."

- "I didn't know the ferocious Samantha had friends."

- "Should I not trust you?" -I shot him a death glare as I stood up- "Is that what you're trying to say, Ion?"

- "I believe you don't need more enemies, Sam." –Ion grinned standing up alongside Sheda- "But I must say, you look rather intimidating with that black paint on your face."

- "Well, compliment the artist then."

- "The spirit makes the warrior, not the warpaint."

- "But it helps, doesn't it?"

The three of us laughed in agreement. I knew the me that had landed so long ago on Earth would have trouble believing where I was standing now. But I was so thankful. I stood there, watching as Sheda painted Ion's face and Ion painted Sheda's; looking at them I thought I was glad we were on the same side because knowing what they could do and with that paint on their faces, they looked rather terrifying; that is until Sheda smiled at me and he looked like a kid out of place. We remained in that same spot the whole night, two of us watching the woods while the other slept for an hour or so until the sunrise appeared on the horizon and a new team came to relieve us.

     After a failed attempt to get to the origin of the acid fog and having been persecuted by a couple of guards, I got out of there as fast as I could and made my way back to Vincent's, being as careful as possible not to be seen. I knocked at the door as I kept checking both sides of the hallway, impatiently waiting for the door to open.

- "Vincent." –I whispered as the door opened- "I need your help."

- "It's all over the radio." –he quickly opened the door fully for me to enter and closed it as fast as he had opened it- "They know about you. Anyone see you come here?"

- "No, I've been keeping in the vents and unmonitored halls like you said."

- "Vincent."

A man's voice came from behind me and I quickly turned around, only to be faced with a Mountain guard. I took my gun out of its sleeve and pointed it at him.

- "It's okay!" –Vincent was quick to raise his hand to me, motioning for me to stop- "Lee is with us."

- "Dante was like a father to me." –Lee spoke, his hands up in the air- "Some of us don't agree with Cage's agenda."

- "Where's Jasper, Monty, and Maya?" –I asked, seeing he had come from the bedroom and my friends weren't there.

- "They're okay." –Vincent soothed me- "Thanks to Lee, we moved them to a wing that's already been searched."

- "Isn't that a risk?" –I looked at him, lowering my gun.

- "We had no choice. They've gone public with what happened on Level 5. They're saying you killed 10 soldiers." –he informed me and I took a deep breath, trying to control myself- "I don't know how much longer we can keep this shell game going. Did you take out the acid fog yet?"

- "No, that's why I'm here. I'm going to need another route."

- "Way ahead of you." –Vincent moved to his table and took out some layouts of the Mountain- "You can get there through the retrofit zones. They're off-limits." –I nodded as he kept explaining- "No cameras, no patrols. We used some to move the kids." –seems like a good plan to me- "That's your other route. You'll also need this: an acetylene torch."

I took it, questioning why would I need something like that while Vincent kept explaining to me his plan until I understood why a torch: to make my way through the tunnels by aiming it at the welded doors and grates. Once I had it all memorized and clear in my mind, I left Vincent and Lee there and made my way through the conducts and tunnels and unused places Vincent showed me. As I got rid of the last grate and placed it on the ground, careful not to make much noise just in case, I saw a sign that read "chemical storage" and I knew I had finally found it. Took long enough. The place and the storage were bigger than I could have thought, so first I inspected the room to make sure I was inside alone. I also blocked the only door that gave access to it, to make sure no one could catch me off guard.

- "Come in, Raven." –I spoke on my earpiece as I finished searching the room- "I made it. I hope you have a plan."

After that, and learning someone named Wick was with her to help her figure it all out, I proceeded to explain them all I could see, reading labels and giving a couple of metaphors for them to understand how big this place was and, therefore, the amount of acid fog these people could generate. I found a monitor that seemed to get the attention of Wick.

- "If that monitor is a control panel, we can use it to kill this thing." –Wick spoke on the radio; that's the type of news I want to hear- "Look for a pH scale."

- "Alright." –I looked at the monitor- "There's a scale but the rest...uh...S3, V2, O5... Can't I just blow this thing?" –I asked frustrated for I didn't understand anything on the screen.

- "No, they'll know their defenses are down and they'll send a tech to fix it, reroute it or pull out some other weapon we don't even know about."

- "Plus, you'd probably melt your face off." –Raven remarked and I sighed. Great- "Look, you know I like a good explosion but we gotta think our way through this one. We can do this."

I nodded in agreement. It's not only that we can do it but we have to or else we would all die, me the first one probably. I started reading them all I could see on the monitor and we went through the different menus I could find together, but nothing seemed of help and I was beginning to think this was useless.

- "Do you see an actuator anywhere?"

- "I have no idea what that is, Raven."

- "Come on, what else?"

- "Internal pressure sensor."

- "No."

- "Setpoint and alarm."

- "Let's avoid that one."

- "Maintenance and cleaning."

It took Wick a minute to answer me back, so I thought they had come up with something.

- "Bellamy, go to that subdirectory and see if there's anything there that says 'passivation'."

- "Okay, I'm on it." –I started reading through the categories that popped up- "I got it." –I clicked on it and a pH measuring device appeared on the screen with a needle pointing at the number 0- "It says, 'Aqueous sodium hydroxide bath'."

- "That's a base, that'll neutralize the acid. Select that."

I pressed the 'proceed' button and a message showed 'passivation in progress' as noises started to be heard near the acid containers.

- "It's doing something."

- "You should be able to hear the pump."

- "Yeah, I can hear them." –I glanced at the monitor- "The needle's moving, the pH is rising."

- "It's working."

Once the needle reached number 7, the machine stopped and a message popped up as the machines stopped.

- "Passivation successful."

Finally.

- "Yes!"

Both Raven and Wick's voices came in through my earpiece as I grinned, sighing relieved and letting my head fall forward for a moment. Finally, good news. Now we are almost done and we will all be able to come back home soon and, hopefully, everyone is still alive. I moved back to leave the room the same way I had come in when something on the side of one of the containers caught my attention. Another pH level marker, huh. It was covered in dirt so I was surprised I even saw it; I cleaned the dirt only to find that this needle was still on zero. It can't be, fuck, fuck, fuck. I ran back to the monitor but this one still marked number 7.

- "Raven!" –I panicked into my earpiece- "We've got a problem." -No answer- "Damn it, where are you? I don't think the acid fog is down. Get word to Clarke, we have to stop the army." –still, no answer- "Raven!"

All alone to fix this, great. I couldn't afford to panic, not just yet, I still had a job to do. Suddenly, the panel in front of me started moving and the needle went back to its original position, indicating a pH of 0. They tricked us, it's the only explanation; they know I'm here. An alarm started blaring at the same time the lightning became yellow. Well, that can't be good. As I was looking around, loud bangs started to come from the door I had previously blocked; they were coming after me and I had to think fast. I turned around and saw an oxygen container. Let's hope this works. The door opened and guards started coming in.

- "Drop your weapon!"

The first guard to come in screamed at me as he, himself, held a gun and pointed it at me. The irony. I started running towards the oxygen container, hiding behind it and praying to all the gods I knew that this would work.

- "On my lead." –I heard one guard say- "He's armed. Don't be a hero, show yourself." –he spoke now to me- "Hands first."

I had the air vent I had used to get here a few meters away from me, so with all the courage and velocity I could summon my body to achieve, I made a run for it. As soon as I was out of cover, the guards started shooting at me; luckily, none of them managed to hit me just yet, so I made it to the air vent and jumped inside.

- "Cease fire!" –the guard from before screamed- "Don't hit the tanks."

I started moving forward through the vent as fast as I could, only stopping as I heard the guards approaching, so I turned to face them and shot at them as soon as I saw their faces through the vent, making them move away. However, I ran out of bullets fast and I knew I had to keep moving, and so, I did. One of the guards started following me but I had no time to stop and fight if I wanted to live; I was just about to get to a ventilation shaft when I heard the explosion behind me and felt its blast on my body. I was running out of time. The guard that was following me started screaming, the fire had reached him and it would soon reach me as I was a meter away from the big opening in the vent. The blast sent me forward as the fire reached me and I ended up collapsing on the floor of the shaft. I curled up against the wall below where I had come from to cover myself from the flames; I started coughing as the fire extinguished and the ashes floated around me: I was still alive. I'm never doing that again.