Clarke could hear just a tiny bit of longing in Dante's voice and she couldn't blame him. On the Ark, almost everyone spoke of one day returning to Earth and she couldn't imagine how it must have felt to be on Earth yet be trapped in some cold, dank mountain for your entire life. It must have been maddening for the residents of Mount Weather.
"At the time, it had been rather close to a century since the war, but the immunes or surface dwellers had seemingly been warped by the collapse of society, "said Dante and this time there was a touch of disgust in his voice,"Sprawling tattoos, ritualistic scarring and endless fights. We had gone to them with our arms open ready to work together to restore order and civility to the lands, but they refused. They killed everyone who had been sent to the capitol of the nearest clan except for one. He had been sent back to tell us that we were at war with the surface dwellers and ever since then we haven't been able to resolve things."
"If that's so why should you risk your men to get us inside if you're at war with the Grounders?"questioned Clarke before she added,"As a matter of fact, we've been on the ground for weeks now. Why did you only get us then?"
Dante seemed to have expected the question and he said,"If it had been up to me, I would have gotten you guys in here as soon as we can. However, we first needed to do some research and it was only once John came into our hands that we began to plan for your retrieval. It is rather hard to coordinate a search and rescue in hostile land when everything – including the air– is trying to kill you."
It was a fair enough point to be honest. The logistics involved weren't simple, but even then there was still more questions she had.
"What happened to the second camp and the people from the Ark?"said Clarke and she saw a flash of something in Dante's eyes as he heard her question.
Dante sighed and he looked Clarke dead in the eye before saying,"They're dead. The second camp had unfortunately been close to the territory of the cannibals and they got involved in a three way battle with the clan nearest by and the reapers. There had only been reapers left and we had been forced to retreat from there. As for the Ark, we have sent out hourly distress signals across the various frequencies that Raven had said the Ark used. We've received no response so far and our patrols we sent out yesterday reported that the stations were obliterated upon landing. "
"You're lying,"said Clarke as she scanned the man for any signs of deceit. There were none whatsoever however and Dante appeared to be genuinely upset at the news.
"Those space stations were never designed for re-entry, Clarke. Some had exploded in midair. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I'm afraid I can't do that,"said Dante, but his soothing words were rolling off of Clarke like water on oil.
First, Roma then Bellamy and the other delinquents and now everyone from the Ark. Whatever slim hope she had of her mom being alive were slowly being drained away. Diana had said she had been killed during the mutiny, but Clarke had held out hope just in case.
Clarke didn't even have a guarantee that her mom hadn't been on of the stations that had exploded in midair. She could have been on any one of those and Clarke might never know if she was truly dead or not.
"I'm sorry President Wallace, but I don't believe you. The Exodus ship had been in even worse state the majority of the Ark Stations and it's retrorockets and parachutes activated late,"said Clarke defiantly as her mind scrambled to make sense of everything, "There had still been survivors. Hell, Raven made it in a 200 year old pod just fine. Something as big as Alpha or Mecha Station should have been just fine. You're lying. There's no other explanation. "
The more Clarke spoke, the more it made sense. Surely, the Ark would have had just one survivor even in the worst of cases. Some of the stations had landed perfectly despite others having exploded. The landings were probably rough, but Clarke knew that some of the stations were strong enough to weather the blow they had been dealt. The problem was that if Dante was lying why would he lie about this? It was as if hr didn't want to let the Arkers into Mount Weather.
"Clarke,"said Dante patiently,"I understand that this is not an easy time for you with everything you've been through. You're all just children. Some of you may have been gifted with amazing powers, but that doesn't..."
It was then that Clarke realised what was going here. The inquisitive looks from Dr Tsing, Cage already knowing who she was, not to mention Dante personally seeing to her wellbeing despite being in charge of so many people and at war with the Grounders.
They wanted her.
It was only now that Clarke realised that they definitely knew more about the delinquents than she expected and it was for one simple reason.
Darah's journal.
They knew the delinquents had received shots of the nanobots and thanks to someone –probably Murphy– they knew Clarke had been given the Novus serum and now they also knew all of Clarke's capabilities which was why she had been given universal blood.
Clarke's mom had told her that the Arkers were all O-negative as it had something to do with the ability to filter out radiation better, but it was also the rarest blood type by a large margin. If Mount Weather were willing to pump gallons of O-negative blood into Clarke then it was clear they wanted her for something.
Dante had still been talking while Clarke had had her epiphany and so she decided to get right into the meat of things.
"What do you want from us?"
Dante looked surprised at being cutoff by Clarke. He clearly hadn't expected the huge shift in topic and he had to take a few seconds to calm himself, but Clarke was having none of it.
"You said it yourself, "pressed Clarke,"It was a massive waste of resources to go after the delinquents, but you still did anyways. You left us alone, but you began to plan when Murphy got in here. You've given us free food, shelter, clothes, but you haven't said what you want in return."
Dante had regained his cool as Clarke was in the process of losing her own cool. He could feel the temperature in his office rise ever so slightly and so he decided to appease Clarke.
"As I'm sure you have figured out,"began Dante as he reached into his deal's drawer and pulled out a very familiar book,"We have come into the possession of Darah Sydney's journal and despite us knowing virtually everything about the Duos serum we knew next to nothing about the Novus, but even in my wildest dreams could I not have expected this."
Clarke remained silent as she regarded the President of Mount Weather. His body language was as confident and calm as always, but it was in his eyes where she could find the excitement that had leaked into his voice.
"You can completely alter the genetic structure of anything. It's fitting, wouldn't you say?The last invention of Darah Sydney – the pioneer of genetic editing machines – is the best genetic editor that has ever been created,"said Dante as he placed the book down between them,"Some of the delinquents told us you had a way of gauging what powers one had and if they had the potential to activate any. In fact, Jasper said you had the ability to steal powers and take them for yourself. An amazing ability that accompanies the bevy of powers you already have at your disposal. "
Clarke felt vaguely annoyed that the delinquents and Jasper had spoken so freely about her powers to the Mountain Men, but it appeared as though she was the only one of her peers to be suspicious of their abductors. The looks and glances she had been given during her argument with Octavia and Murphy was proof enough if that.
"I know all of that already. I read the journal too, but I asked you a question, "said Clarke impatiently as she felt her anxiety rise at what Dante may want from her.
"Clarke, of the 390 residents of Mount Weather not one of us has had the chance to feel the ground beneath our feet or smell the scent of a rose or swim in a river,"said Dante wistfully, "I thought we would never get the chance to ever reclaim the surface, but then you fell into my hands. You can make my people immune to the radiation and that combined with the power of you and your peers and our sheer military power will force the Grounders to finally stop their endless battles and we can rebuild an actual society instead of the pitiful world we live in now."
Clarke was reeling from the sheer passion in Dante's voice as he explained the plan. She understood why he would want this. The Mountain was just as dreary as the Ark if not more so. At least on the Ark they had truly believed the Earth to be uninhabitable. The Mountain Men had been robbed of any chance of living on the Ground and had to barricade themselves in a dark Mountain.
It was understandable why they would want her to help her and she would probably do the same if the situation was reversed. Hell, she might have agreed if she wasn't so suspicious of them. Anya's absence was something to worry about. If they knew Anya was close to the Commander, they might be torturing her right now as Clarke sat in Dante's office.
She had made an alliance with Anya and it was Clarke's fault that she was now missing in action, but could she really abandon Anya to help the Mountain Men?
"I accept,"began Clarke and she saw elation rise and then just as quickly disappear on Dante's face as she added,"However, I want to join a patrol and see if they truly are no more survivors from the Ark."
Clarke wasn't actually sure if she was going to go through with helping the Mountain Men, but it was Dante's reaction to her demand that convinced to not go through with it. She recognised what flickered in his eyes right at that moment after being on the receiving end of the looks of the delinquents after the reaper attack .
Fear.
The Mountain Men were clearly hiding something from her and it had to do with the people from the Ark.