Atlantis

Chapter 110

"Don't move." Clarke aimed her gun as Faye looked around the white room.

"Clarke." A man with dark hair stepped forward. Faye noticed a small white streak in his short hair. "Faye. They've been waiting for you."

Faye looked at the people dressed in all white. Most of them had small markings on their faces, some had more than others.

"The Key. It's her." One of them gasped.

"Gabriel?" Clarke asked.

"It's good to see you." The man nodded.

"Where are the others?" Raven asked. "Bellamy? Octavia? Echo?"

"Octavia and Echo are here." Gabriel confirmed. He felt guilty when he heard the sighs of relief. "But Im sorry. Bellamy's dead."

Everyone looked at Faye.

Dead.

Clarke stepped forward, but Faye pulled away. "Jordan, Niylah, hold the room." Miller ordered.

He had died and she wasn't there. Would it have mattered if she was? Why did this keep happening?

"Watch the door." Clarke told Miller.

Raven and Clarke came up to Faye. There were tears in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall.

"We do this for him." Clarke said. She noticed Faye watching the people in white. Clarke knew what she was thinking. "Hey. Echo and Octavia are in trouble. We do this for our family."

Raven could only nod.

The door chimed and soon opened. Two more men dressed in white, with guards all around them.

The man with longer hair held out his empty hands. "I'm coming in alone... unarmed."

"Who are you?" Raven demanded.

"They call me the Shepard, but you can call me Bill." He said so casually, standing in a room full of people ready to shoot him. "You have me. Now let my people go."

"It's okay." Faye said. She wondered if she had been too quiet, everyone was looking at her strange. "I've seen you before." Faye steps up to the man once the room was left with her people and Bill.

"Then you must be Faye."

"I know why the Second Dawn logo was on that burial shroud." Faye stated. The name, the symbol. A video Bellamy showed her once.

"Burial shroud. Then you were on Nakara. That explains the smell." He looked over at Niylah.

"How the hell are you here?" Clarke demanded.

"That's a very long story."

"Faye, who is he?" Niylah asked.

"The bunker you lived in for six years... this is the crazy cult leader who built it."

"We weren't a cult." Bill corrected. "We were a collective of great minds dedicated to the continuation of our species." He explained.

"How did you understand that?" Niylah demanded.

"Slower, please. Um... It's been so long. It sounds different. My god. If her language survived, then that must mean..." As he walked closer, everyone aimed their guns. "Is my daughter in the Key?" He asked Faye.

"Is your daughter in where?" Jordan asked.

"The A.I. in Faye's head." Gabriel spoke up. "What you call the Flame, they call the Key."

"Becca said that it would merge with a human mind." Cadogan said.

"Becca?" Raven asked, wondering if it was the same person.

"Yes. He burned her at the stake." Faye said.

"Did Callie tell you that?" Bill asked. "You recognize my face, you know things that you couldn't know. You speak a language she made up as a child. Calliope?"

Everyone thought it seemed as if Bill could see through Faye, like she wasn't there and someone else was standing there.

"Please answer me. Is she in there?" Bill asked.

"Yes. Calliope is in here." Faye lied. "But that's not how it works." She held up a gun.

"How does it work? Tell me."

"Well, you killed someone I loved, so I'm not sure I want to help you."

"Please. I'll do anything." Bill pleaded.

"Our other friends, bring them here now." Faye demanded, her aim not wavering.

"I want to help you, Faye, but I cannot give orders to men who are not here."

"Gabriel, open the door." Faye said. He hesitated for a moment, but Faye didn't falter.

Faye grabbed the Shepard's shirt collar, both of them facing the door with a gun to his head.

The guards outside raised their weapons but were quickly ordered against by their leader. "Send in their friends." Bill told the other man.

The man in white waved forward and three people stepped forward. The first point to be made was that they blended in with the guards. They wore their suits, stood like them.

"Let them go." Clarke demanded.

"They're not my prisoners, Faye." Bill said calmly.

"Great, here's the deal. I'll use the Key to help you but only after you let my people return to Sanctum, all of them." Faye stated plainly.

"You're free to go with her." Bill shrugged, letting the three women go, but none of them moved.

"We're not going anywhere." Echo said. "We have a war to fight." Faye had noticed Echo's obvious change. Short hair and older looking. When she turned, Faye finally noticed her scars.

"We're staying, too, Sir." Diyoza said after looking at Octavia.

Once they were back in the hall, Faye let go of the Shepard. "What did you do to them?" She stood in front of him with her gun.

"We didn't do anything. They're simply committed to the cause, ready to serve mankind in the Last War." The second old man said.

"A moment that will soon be upon us now that you're here with the help of the Key."

Faye was getting frustrated with them all. "So here's the new deal. We talk to our friends alone. I don't even want to see your men in the halls. You want my help? Earn it."

"First Disciple Anders, have all nonessential personnel return to LIVSEC." The Shepard ordered.

"Sir, I'm not sure if that's—" Anders meant to question. "Yes, my Shepard."

"Good. Your Shepard stays here. The rest of you out. Now!" Cadogan must really need Faye's help if he listened to every order she gave. And Faye really needed to talk to her friends. "Now!"

"In other words, get the flock out of here." Miller put it into sheep terms for them.

"Go. I'll be fine." Bill told Anders.

When the door closed, Gabriel let out a long sigh.

"Miller, put him against the wall." The test of them circled up.

"I have questions." Jordan said.

"Yeah. Get in line." Raven said. "Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza are with them now?" She asked.

"Why the hell do they think you have the Flame still in your head?" Clarke asked Faye. "It's long gone."

"M-Cap, memory capture, a device that's able to pull select memories from one's mind. They put Octavia in it." Gabriel explained.

"And saw the Flame going into your head in Polis. But they never saw it leave. Amazing." Raven said.

"Wait. If they still think it's in Faye's head, then Echo, Octavia, Diyoza never told them it isn't, meaning—"

"They're not with them." Niylah picked up on what Jordan was saying.

"Okay. Niylah, Gabriel, Jordan, you stay here, watch Cadogan and hold this room. If things go south, we're gonna need a way out. Let's go find out what the 3 most dangerous women on this or any planet are up to." Clarke said.