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NEW SIVER MEMBERS:- Michael Donovan, Keenan Davis, Erebust
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(Mount Weather - Main Entrance)
The sun had just begun to crest over the eastern ridge, casting long, sharp shadows against the massive steel blast doors of Mount Weather.
Raven Reyes kicked a stone with the toe of her boot, watching it skitter across the concrete pad. She checked the sun's position for the tenth time.
"Where the hell is he?" she muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest to ward off the chill. "We were supposed to leave at first light. It's definitely light."
She paced back and forth in front of the sealed entrance. Part of her was still reeling from the last twenty-four hours.
Just then, a deep, mechanical groan vibrated through the ground beneath her feet.
Raven jumped back as the warning lights above the blast doors turned on. The massive hydraulic pistons hissed, venting pressurized air that kicked up dust around her boots. Slowly, the heavy steel doors began to part.
Raven squinted into the tunnel, expecting to see Mike walking out, maybe leading another horse.
Instead, from the shadows of the tunnel, a Solar-Electric Tactical Rover rolled out. It was wide and armored in matte black plating. Massive, knobby tires crunched over the concrete threshold. A heavy-duty brush guard framed the front, and a rack of high-power floodlights sat on the roof.
Raven's jaw dropped. She took a step forward, her engineer's brain excited to have found a new toy to play with.
The Rover rolled to a stop right in front of her. The driver's side door clicked open, and Mike stepped out. He was wearing his black combat gear.
"Good morning, Raven," Mike said, adjusting his gloves.
Raven just stared at him, then at the vehicle, then back at him. Her brain was trying to reconcile the image of the sword-wielding Grounder warlord with the man leaning casually against a tactical assault vehicle.
"You..." Raven pointed a shaking finger at the Rover. "How do you even know how to drive that thing? Are you not supposed to be primitive? You know, ride horses and throw spears!"
Mike laughed at her silly question. He patted the roof of the Rover. "I'm a man of many talents, Raven. Besides, walking to the Dead Zone would take three days. Driving takes hours. I prefer efficiency. Hop in. We can talk about it on the road."
"Whatever," Raven breathed, a grin breaking across her face despite her confusion. "Boss."
She climbed into the passenger seat. The interior was just as cool as she expected. The dashboard was a mix of analog gauges and digital displays. And above all, it was comfortable.
'That's what I'm talking about.'
Mike climbed into the driver's seat and started the vehicle. The dashboard lit up, systems coming online with a series of soft chirps.
Before shifting into gear, Mike pulled a small, ruggedized communication device from his belt. He pressed the transmit button.
"Mike here," he said clearly.
There was a brief crackle of static, and then Lexa's voice came through full of softness Raven hadn't heard before. "We hear you. Are you leaving the perimeter?"
"Yeah," Mike replied, his eyes scanning the instrument panel. "I'm heading out now. I gotta sort this out before the whole gang shows up."
"Understood," Anya's voice joined the channel, rougher but equally warm. "The patrols are set. The integration of the Sky People continues."
"Good," Mike said. "And make sure to keep up the training for Murphy and Charlotte. Don't let them slack off just because I'm gone."
Lexa let out a short, amused huff of breath over the comms. "Yeah, yeah. Got it, 'Commander'. We know how to train warriors."
Mike laughed it off, shifting comfortably in his seat. "Alright, relax. Love you two."
There was a momentary pause on the other end, a brief silence that spoke of privacy amidst the duty.
"Love you," Anya said softly.
"Return to us," Lexa added. "Take care."
"Bye," Mike said, and cut the connection.
He clipped the radio back to his belt and turned to Raven. She was looking at him with wide eyes, absorbing the casual, domestic intimacy she had just witnessed between the three most terrifying people on the planet.
"You ready to go?" Mike asked.
Raven nodded, buckling her harness. "Yeah. Let's roll."
Mike shifted the Rover into drive and floored it.
The electric motors whined, the tires gripped the pavement, and the vehicle surged forward. They shot down the mountain road, leaving the fortress behind, heading east toward the rising sun.
(The Dead Zone - Two Hours Later)
The journey was smooth. The Rover's suspension ate up the cracks in the old asphalt and the bumps of the dirt trails. They had left the deep green canopy of the Trikru forests behind an hour ago.
Now, the landscape was changing. The trees were thinning out, becoming scraggly and grey. The rich, dark earth was giving way to sand and hard-packed clay. The sky seemed larger here, the sun harsher. They were entering the Dead Zone.
Raven had been quiet for the first leg of the trip, too busy admiring the landscapes and watching Mike drive. He handled the heavy vehicle with ease, as if he had driven before.
It was eating her up inside. The math didn't add up.
"Hey," Raven said, breaking the silence. She turned in her seat to face him. "So, how come you know so much about tech compared to the other Grounders? No offense, but Indra looks like she'd try to stab a toaster if it popped too loudly. You're driving a Rover and hacking mainframes. That doesn't look normal."
Mike kept his eyes on the horizon, his expression unreadable behind his sunglasses. "It's not normal," he admitted. "Not for this time."
He glanced at her. "I'm not from the Trikru originally. Not really."
"Where are you from then?" Raven asked. "Mount Weather?"
"No," Mike said, a hard edge entering his voice. "Definitely not there. I'm from... before."
Raven frowned. "Before what? The war?"
"Yes," Mike said. "I was an assassin, or a hitman, the best by the way. And right before the nukes hit, I went into a pod."
He tapped the steering wheel. "Cryogenic suspension. I was frozen. Preserved. I slept through the fire, the nuclear winter, and the 'dark ages'. And then woke up months ago."
Raven stared at him, her mouth hanging slightly open. "No way."
"Yes way," Mike said, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Cryosleep?" Raven whispered, her mind racing. "We had theories about it on the Ark, but the tech was supposed to be theoretical. You... you're over a hundred years old?"
"Technically, yes," Mike nodded. "Biologically, I'm 21. Give or take."
Raven sat back, processing this. It explained everything. The combat skills, the knowledge of the mountain, the ability to drive, the tactical genius. He wasn't a savage who learned quickly; he was a highly trained operative from the peak of human civilization who had just woken up.
She quieted down, looking out the window at the passing dunes. A heavy thought settled on her.
"The whole thing... it must have been painful, right?" she asked softly.
Mike glanced at her. "The freezing? Imagine sleeping for that many years. You woke up, and everyone you ever knew was dead. The whole world was gone. That... that has to hurt, no?"
Mike looked back at the road. He thought about his "past life".
"Actually, no," Mike said honestly. "It didn't feel like a hundred years. It just felt like I slept at night and woke up the next day. There was no dreaming. No waiting. Just... a good sleep."
"Damn," Raven whispered. She couldn't imagine it. Closing your eyes on a world of skyscrapers and the internet, and opening them to a world of spears and radiation.
They drove in silence for a few more miles, the only sound the hum of the engine and the crunch of gravel.
"So," Raven started again, her curiosity getting the better of her. "How are you liking your new life? I mean, waking up to this... new world? Your people must have been happy to have a strong warrior like you, right?"
Mike scoffed. "Not at first."
"Really?"
"Really," Mike said. "When I first woke up... I was arrogant. I looked at them, at their clothes, their weapons, their way of life... and I saw them as someone who would not be able to understand me. I didn't think I'd ever be able to connect with them."
Raven listened intently. It sounded familiar. It was exactly how the 100 had looked at the Grounders when they first landed.
"So what changed?" she asked.
"I stopped looking down and started looking at them," Mike said. "I realized that surviving down here required a different kind of strength I didn't have. It was called bond."
He smiled, a softer expression than she had ever seen on him. "And then... I tried to make things work out. You know my wife, Lexa?"
"The one the warriors called Heda? The Commander?"
"Yup," Mike nodded. "You know, she was the one who hated me the most when I first joined. She wanted to execute me. She thought I was a spy, or a Mountain Man, or just a threat to her rule."
"Seriously?" Raven asked, leaning in. "She looks at you like you hung the moon now."
"We struck a deal," Mike explained. "I needed to learn their language. She needed to improve her sword arts. She was good, but she lacked technique. So, I told her: if she teaches me to speak, I will help her improve."
"What kind of deal is that?" Raven laughed. "That sounds like the plot of a bad romance novel."
"It worked," Mike said with a shrug. "We spent hours together every day. Sparring. Talking. We beat the hell out of each other. And somewhere in between the bruises and the vocabulary lessons... we got close. Eventually, she confessed."
Raven was fully invested now. It did sound like an awesome novel. The time-displaced soldier and the barbarian queen.
"But wait," Raven said, confused. "What about your other wife? Anya?"
"Patience, I was getting there," Mike said. "Anya was my first contact. She found me. She didn't trust me either, but she respected strength. As Lexa and I got closer, I realized Anya was always there, always watching my back. It turned out... well, feelings are complicated."
He told her how he discovered that both of them cared for him, and how he cared for both of them. He explained the decision to be one family, rather than choosing one and breaking the bond of the three.
Raven shifted awkwardly in her seat. "So... it's normal to have multiple partners down here?"
"Not exactly," Mike corrected. "Multiple partners are allowed, but it's rare. It's only permitted if you can beat them in a duel. Both of them. Together."
Raven's eyes went wide. "You had to fight them both?"
"To prove I was strong enough to protect them," Mike said. "To prove I was worthy. In their culture, love is tied to strength. If you can't defend your claim, you don't get to keep it."
Raven nodded slowly, looking at his profile. "Yeah. No way anyone is beating you."
"That's the idea," Mike grinned.
"That's cool," Raven said quietly.
She turned back to the window, watching the endless sand, turning into a grassland. In her mind, she remembered the way Lexa and Anya had looked at Mike back at the camp — the absolute trust, the shared looks, the ease of their bond.
And then she thought about the way Finn had looked at Clarke in the bunker. The way he had lied.
She sighed, a heavy weight settling in her chest. I wish I had someone like that, she thought. Someone strong. Someone who wouldn't lie to me. Someone who could fight the world for me.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden lurch of the Rover.
Mike slammed on the brakes. The vehicle skidded on the loose sand.
"What?" Raven asked, bracing herself against the dashboard. "What is it?"
Mike pointed forward through the windshield.
Raven looked ahead.
In front of them, stretching out to the horizon, was a vast, shimmering expanse of water. It was a massive inlet, perhaps a bay or a large lake connected to the ocean.
And in the center of the water, connected to the mainland by a long, narrow causeway that was half-flooded, was an island.
Rising from the island was a pristine, white mansion. It looked out of place in this ruined world.
"We're almost there."
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