─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
MOUNT WEATHER IS UNLIKE ANYTHING JUNE HAS EVER SEEN BEFORE. She tried to focus on the hallways that Maya led them through, memorizing and creating a map in her head. It'd be useful later. But there are so many lights, so neat and untouched, that even the walls are painted perfectly, no chipping. June feels out of place, even in her clean clothes. The Ark was nothing compared to this bunker, except a station floating in space. She knew radiation burns were the only fight these people had, but she would have expected something more from the way Clarke had described everything after she escaped.
"There are three hundred and eighty-two people inside this mountain," Maya announced, directing the two around a corner and into a new hall. "If any of them realize you're not one of us, you're dead."
June inhaled sharply with a sarcastic smile. "Good. No pressure at all," she commented jokingly despite the extra added weight pressing on her shoulders.
Neither Maya or Bellamy smiled. "We're on level two. The dorm is on five," Maya continued after a pause, coming to a stop in front of an elevator and pressing a button. "There's a camera in the upper right-hand corner, keep your heads down."
The door to the elevator slides open. June complies, brushing a hand through her blonde hair to let it dangle in her face. Bellamy bows his head, adjusting his hat more downwards so the bill covered his face. June positioned herself in the corner, the box shaking slightly with the three's weight. Just as the door almost closes, a hand shoves its way through, a voice calling out. "Hold the elevator!" June froze, her heartbeat suddenly picking up as the door opens and a stranger steps in.
He's sharply dressed, in some dark suit with a red tie, a wide smile plastered on his face. "Hey, Maya," he greeted kindly. June was panicking, trying to stay out of view as the door shut. "You know, I missed you in my Expressionists class," he said to Maya, making small talk, hardly noticing the other two accompanying a space.
"Yeah, I - I had some work to do," Maya explained in a stammer of an excuse.
"Ah," the man sighed in understanding. "I'll get you the notes." Maya nodded in thanks. June hoped that was the end of the conversation, willing the elevator to speed up, but her luck runs out when his attention focused on her. "Oh, I don't believe we've met." He sounds so confused, dark eyes flickering at June in wonder.
The tension that follows could have been sliced with a knife. It takes June a second to glance to Bellamy, seeing his hand lowering to the gun in his holster. He was going to kill him. She knew she had to react quickly. Innocent student, she heard Maya saying to her again in her mind. June knew she had to play a part to stay alive, and now it was time to test how well she could.
"April Jaha!" June exclaimed brightly, saying the first name she thought of while sticking her hand out, putting on the widest smile she could muster. The man tilted his head for a second, the confusion faded as he warmly smiled back and shook her hand firmly. "Maya here is introducing me to the medical station. I've been studying for so long, haven't had much air," June lied simply.
"April Jaha," the man repeated, sounding so smooth, June wasn't worried he didn't believe her story. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too," June replied sweetly. "Bit of a hermit here, haven't been out in so long. It's so great to see a fresh face!"
The stranger laughed. "Understandable," he agreed. A ding goes off, signaling the elevator had stopped. He goes to leave, saying a good-bye to Maya and June before he gazes to Bellamy. June feels her breath hitch in alarm as his brows furrow in concern. "Hey, you're bleeding.." With one quick look, June sees he's right. The place on his arm Maya had cut into to remove his tracking chip had a spot of blood. He pulls out a red handkerchief, offering it to Bellamy.
Before every terrible outcome June was sure could happen did, Maya reacted with an outburst. "You were exposed!" She grabbed the man's handkerchief, rushing to press it against Bellamy's skin. "April, check his temperature!" June's head spun in confusion for a second before she remembered and rushed to press a hand against his forehead. "We need to retrace your steps and find the breach!"
"He's really warm, Maya!" June informed her, feigning panic despite Bellamy's skin completely normal under her touch.
Maya nodded. "You better go," she suggested to the man.
"What about you?" He questioned.
"This is my job, I'll be fine. April needs the experience," Maya explained in one breath.
"Okay..." He trailed off, backing away from the closing door. "Keep the handkerchief." He turned, running away like he couldn't put space between them fast enough.
June sighed deeply, dropping her hand from Bellamy's forehead. "That was too close." Bellamy nodded in agreement, taking over where Maya's hand was and keeping the handkerchief against his open wound. "You should let Maya bandage it."
The elevator dinged again after moving and the door opened to a brand new floor. It has brighter lights, and June sees brick walls instead of painted ones as she and Bellamy follow Maya outside of the box. On the walls were what seemed to be children's paintings, different adorable pictures on colored papers. A bell rings, sounding distinctively like a school one before a woman's voice fills the intercom. "Homeroom has now begun. All students should now be in their classroom."
As if it was on cue, the sound of children laughing and speaking to one another filled the air. June feels her stomach churn. She knew there were people inside this bunker, but never imagined children, though it made sense. "Come on," Maya mumbled, directing them around a corner. June watched a woman she assumed was a teacher leading a line of kids into a classroom, all giggling to one another, completely oblivious to the terror inside their home.
"Excuse me!" The smallest voice exclaimed. June turns to see a young boy, around six, staring up at Bellamy with wonder in his eyes. He has sandy blond hair and chubby cheeks, wearing a school uniform. "Mister, are you on a ground unit? My dad is training for a ground unit." He sounds so innocent and soft, June faintly smiles.
Even Bellamy is touched, swallowing and returning a warm smile. "It's pretty cool up there. I hope he makes it." The child beams brightly, stars in his eyes as he leaves and runs to catch up with his classmates. He doesn't move fast enough for them to not see the name stitched into his backpack. Lovejoy.
The cold, dead eyes June had seen in the man Bellamy killed flash in her mind. Every time she had pictured what was inside of the mountain she saw bloodthirsty adults, ones who sprayed acid fog, made grounders into monsters, bled out innocent people for their own selfish reasons through endless torture. But June never imagined there were children here, sweet, naive children who had nothing to do with this. She feels an icy nausea when knowing the child no longer had a father because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"They're just kids," Bellamy whispered, speaking June's exact thoughts.
"What did you expect you'd find here?" Maya asked. June doesn't know how to answer.
The rest of their journey is quiet. June tries to keep her head down, hoping she had enough luck that no one would question her like the male in the elevator had. Fortunately, she was, as every turn into a hallway and every person they passed by hardly sent a glance her way. June had known Mount Weather was big, according to Clarke, but it was getting much harder for her to memorize and make a map in her head.
The walking seems to go on for hours, at least to June's muscles, until Maya comes to a quick stop in front of a set of wide open double doors. June halts behind her, gazing ahead, able to take the second she was spared to peer inside. There's dozens of bunk beds pressed against red sheets hanging on the walls, and teenagers were chattering to one another, carrying stuffed bags. June feels warm as a relieved grin is brought to her face. It's the delinquents, the survivors of their cruel war against the grounders. She had missed them for so long, but now they were there, just a few feet away.
"There they are," Maya says quietly.
Just as June is prepared to bolt into the dorms, another alarm goes off, this one shrilling and much more startling. A red light blares above the double doors that swing shut with a bang, keeping her and Bellamy from reaching their friends. "What the hell?!" June breathed out in frustration, wanting nothing more than to pound on the doors until her friends were free.
"What's going on?" Bellamy questioned much more calmly.
"I don't know," Maya answered honestly. "It's not a breach, but it can't be good."
Cursing under her breath, June turns her head to send one last sorrowful look to the doors. Two tiny windows are clear, one face peering through it with panic that changed into puzzlement as their eyes connected with June's. It's Jasper, eyes becoming wide as saucers as he realizes not only June is there, but Bellamy too. Though she knows it's useless, June wants to reassure him in some way that they'll be there to help them all, and she has to fight the urge to do so. She knows she can protect them later.
"Get us to that radio," Bellamy commanded. June fights the need to send Jasper another look, instead forcing herself to break out into a run after Maya.
━━━━━━━━
The room with their radio is in some storage area, full of paintings either hanging or put away on shelves. There's a broken chunk in the wall hidden behind a painting that Maya pulls down, revealing the radio stored safely away so no one could see it. It's a small thing, connected with wires and a small attachment they can speak into. June nods to Bellamy, giving him a signal to pick it up so they can hurry.
Pressing the button to the attachment, Bellamy lifts it to his mouth and speaks into it frantically. "Camp Jaha, this is Mount Weather. Can anyone read me?"
There's nothing on their end, no reply, yet. June presses her lips tightly in distress at the silence before asking; "What's taking them so long?"
Sighing, Bellamy shakes his head to June and repeats himself, more urgently. "Camp Jaha, this is Mount Weather. Can anyone read me?"
"Bellamy?" Clarke's soft voice comes through the speaker's static.
It's a much different tone compared to what June heard the last time she saw her. She still feels a sense of a grudge, still hurt by the last thing said to her, but relief washes over her like a wave that Clarke's there. "Clarke?" Bellamy asks with a smile that twitches on the corners of his mouth.
"Is June there too?"
It's a different voice this time. June recognized it immediately as Raven. Her heart swells at the sound of her, concerned. Instead of answering Raven's question, Bellamy holds the radio out to June who pressed the button so that she could hear her voice clearly. "I'm here, Raven," she confirmed. "We're both alright."
"That's it for the good news," Bellamy says when June releases the radio. "We have to talk fast. Something has changed. Jasper, Monty, everyone, they just locked them in the dorm."
"But they're alive? All of them?" Clarke asked, taking over her and Raven's side of the radio.
Sharing a hesitant look with June, Bellamy tried to reply as easily as he could. "I think so, for now," he guessed. "Maya says that they're already using their blood, and things are gonna get ugly in here real fast."
"Maya is with you?" Clarke questioned, sounding surprised at the news.
"She helped us escape. If not for her, we'd both be dead," Bellamy said seriously. "And, Clarke, there are kids in here. We need a plan that doesn't kill everyone. Please tell me we have one."
"I hear you," Clarke promised. "But we can't do anything until you disable the acid fog. You'll need June and Raven to help you."
That seemed easy enough, June thought, nodding to Bellamy positively. "Got it," Bellamy agreed. "What else?"
"You have to figure out a way to free the grounder prisoners. There is a whole army inside that mountain and they don't even realize it," Clarke instructed.
Smart, June thought to herself with a raise of her eyebrows. There were hundreds of grounders still inside cages, maybe weak, but every one of them warriors. They were all trained for battles like this. They'd fight until their last breath. June wondered how Clarke came up with an idea like that. "Trojan horse. Good plan," Bellamy commented.
"Nerd," June whispered for the second time. Bellamy narrowed his eyes at her.
"What does Maya think? Is it doable?"
With one quick look to Maya, June sees she's unsure as she's put under the spotlight. She's picking at her nails, gnawing at her lower lip before giving the two staring at her a shrug. "She says it's no problem," Bellamy lied. "Clarke, if we're going to pull this off, I need you to buy us some time. It won't be long until they realize we don't belong here, and if that happens - "
"That can't happen," Clarke cuts him off firmly. "I'll come up with something."
June took the radio from Bellamy for a second to reassure her best friend. "You always do. Just be quick, okay?"
"Copy that. And, guys?"
"Yeah?"
"You came through. I knew you would."
There's another smile tugging at Bellamy's lips as June hands him the radio back. "All I've done so far is not get killed," he points out.
"Keep doing that," Clarke encouraged them.
June knew that for now all they had to do was find the source of the acid fog, all while trying not to get discovered or killed. She shrugged bitterly, thinking, seems easy enough.