Contents Under Pressure

As heavy rain started pouring from the sky's, delinquents made their way into the dropship. Over the noise of the rowdy delinquents, Raven is talking into the radio, "This is Raven Reyes. Calling Ark Station. Come in Ark Station. This is Raven Reyes. Please come in. Can anybody hear me?"

A female delinquent near her asks, "Are you sure you have the right frequency?"

Forcefully, Raven replies, "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Raven? You can do this. Okay?" Clarke reassures the girl.

Raven gives a firm nod then tries once more, "Calling Ark Station. Please come in. I'm on the ground with the hundred."

Finally a man answers, "This is a restricted station. Who is this? Please identify yourself."

Raven, relieved, answers, "This is Raven Reyes. I'm from Mecha Station. I'm transmitting from the ground. The hundred are alive. Please, you need to get Doctor Abby Griffin. Doctor Abby Griffon. Now."

Over the radio, Sinclair is heard, "Hang on Raven, we're trying to boost your signal."

Knowing that voice from anywhere Elara looks up from Finn, "Dad?" She questions.

There's a brief pause, "Elara?"

Elara smiles, "Hi dad."

"Hi princess." The smile was evident in his voice. "I'm glad you're alright." There is a brief pause, "Hold on while we get everything set up on this side."

Nova looks at Elara and smiles, happy to see her friend smiling. They wait to hear someone from the Ark, "Raven? Are you there?" Abby asks.

"Mom? Mom, it's me." Clarke says.

"Clarke?"

"Mom, Elara and I need your help. One of our people was stabbed by a Grounder."

Jaha's voice is heard next, "Clarke. This is the Chancellor. Are you saying there are survivors on the ground?"

"Yes, the Earth is survivable. We're not alone. Mom, he's dying. The knife is still in his chest."

"Okay, can you patch me through to medical?" Abby asks.

"Of course." Sinclair replies.

"Clarke, is my son with you?" Jaha questions.

Clarke hesitates not sure how to answer, "I'm so sorry, Chancellor. Wells died." Elara answers.

"Is my daughter there? Is Nova alive?" Marcus Kane asks.

The girls turn to Nova, she shakes her head not wanting to answer. "She is but she's busy right now." Elara says.

Then Abby is heard once more, "I'm going to talk you through it, step by step. Clarke... just... find." Abby gets cut off.

"What! Raven what's wrong?" Clarke asks.

Raven begins panicking, "It's not the radio. It's the storm."

"Clarke, we need to hurry." Abby says over the radio.

Octavia walks into the dropship carrying two canisters. Clarke smells it, "Ugh. Monty's moonshine?"

"Pretty sure no germ could survive it." Octavia replies.

Elara and Clarke quickly pour some over their hands, making sure to get off any dirt that may be covering them. They then avoid touching anything so that their hands stay as clean as possible.

"The storm's getting worse. Monroe, close the doors." Clarke says.

"But we still have people out there." Monroe replies.

"Monty and Jasper still aren't back yet. Neither is Bellamy." Octavia says.

"It's okay, they'll find somewhere to ride it out." Clarke reassures.

Raven grunts to gain Elara and Clarke's attention. "One stitching needle." She says when both girls look at her. She held out the needle.

Elara, who is the closest to her, takes it from her hand. She wets it with the moonshine as Clarke speaks, "I still need something to close the wound."

"There's wire on the second level. I used it for the tents." Octavia says.

"Great let's see it." Octavia rushes upstairs to get the wire.

"Stay away from the blue wires that run through the ceiling. I rigged it to the solar cells in the roof. That means they're hot! You got that?" Raven tells the younger Blake.

"Yeah, I got it." Octavia says, continuing up the ladder leading to the second level.

Just as Octavia walks down the ladder, Bellamy steps through the dropship door. "The hell are you doing?" Octavia snaps at her brother.

Two boys behind Bellamy are dragging the unconscious Grounder. "It's time to get some answers." Bellamy simply says.

"Oh you mean revenge?"

"I mean intel." Bellamy turns to the two boys, "Bring him to the third level."

"This is going to cause more problems." Elara huffs, gesturing to the Grounder.

"This is not who we are." Clarke states.

"It is now." Bellamy answers, moving to head upstairs.

"Clarke? Elara?" Abby asks.

"The blade is at a sharp upward angle. Between his sixth and seventh rib." Clarke answers her mother.

"Okay, how deep?"

"We can't tell."

"That's alright, just don't remove the knife yet."

Elara looks over to the group of delinquents crowding around. "We can't work like this." She says as she watches two boys push and shove each other.

Hearing Elara's complaint, Nova stands up and loudly whistles. "Everyone upstairs. Now! Let's go!" Not wanting to argue against the girl, everyone starts clearing the first level.

Elara gently places the back of her hand on Finn's forehead, "He feels a little warm."

"That's alright, fever sometimes accompanies a trauma. Can either of you girls tell me if there is any fluid leaking from the wound?" Abby asks.

"No." Clarke answers as she inspects the wound.

"Pleural membrane is intact. That's good. That's actually really good. You got lucky."

Raven smiles at Finn and whispers to him, "Hear that? You got lucky."

*_*_*_*_*_*

"Nova? Are you ready?" Marcus Kane calls his daughter.

"I don't want to train today, daddy." Nova says as she walks out of her room.

"Nova, sweetie, your training is important. You need to know self defence."

"Why? It's not like I can ever use it. If I do I'll just get thrown in the sky box."

"You won't get thrown in the sky box if it's in self defence. The only way I expect you to use any of these things is if you're in danger."

"But why would I be in danger?"

"Because I'm the Vice Chancellor and some people don't like that." Marcus sighs, trying to explain to Nova.

"Chancellor Jaha isn't making Wells learn self defence though!" Nova tries to argue.

"I know, but it's my decision. This will only benefit you in the end."

Nova rests her head on the wall behind her and closes her eyes as she thinks about her dad making her take self defence classes when she was younger. Who would have thought she would actually use those lessons years later?

Nova reaches her hand up to wipe sweat from her forehead. She hears Abby address Clarke through the radio, "Ok, firm grip on the knife. You're gonna need to angle it upward to the left very slightly to the left as it exits the rib cage."

"How very slightly?" Clarke asks her mom.

"Clarke, 3-" The rest of the sentence cuts off.

"Wait what was that you dropped out?"

"3 millimeters you got that?"

"Yeah, I got that."

"Steady hand Clarke. You've eviscerated more procedures than this. Once that knife is out the hard part is over."

Thunder is heard outside as Clarke begins to firmly grip the knife, "Alright, extracting now."

Finn starts to open his eyes and he grunts in pain. "Hold him still." Elara says, gesturing for Raven to help.

Clarke mumbles for Finn to stay still. With one big pull, the knife slips out. At the same time the storm outside jostles the delinquents, sending them to the ground.

"Clarke?" Abby asks.

"It's out. She did it." Raven answers.

Clarke quickly gets to work stitching up Finn's wound. Once she finishes, with some help from Elara, she addresses her mom, "Okay, I'm done."

"Good. Do you have anything to cover the wound?" Abby questions.

"We'll make do, like always." Clarke replies.

"Should he be this pale?" Raven asks, looking down at Finn with worry.

"He's lost a lot of blood, he'll be fine." Elara says, laying a gentle hand on the mechanic's shoulder.

"He's feverish though and his breathing is uneven." Clarke states.

"Elara is right. It's nothing to worry about. He just needs some time to recover. Let me know if he gets any worse but I think he might just be out of the woods." Abby says.

"Well down here there's nothing but woods. I need a break." Clarke sighs.

"Clarke, wait. Raven, Elara could you give us a few minutes?"

The two girls begin to say yes but Clarke stops them, "No, no. Stay with Finn." Without waiting for a reply she turns to head upstairs.

Elara turns her attention to Nova, who has been silent since she evacuated the bottom floor.

"Nov? Are you alright?" Elara asks.

Nova blinks her eyes open, "Hm? Yeah. It's just warm down here."

Elara, concerned, walks over to the girl and puts her hand to her forehead. Nova tries to shove it off but Elara doesn't let her, "You have a fever."

"I'm fine Lara."

Before Elara can argue with her more, Raven gets her attention, "Elara he's seizing!"

At this moment Nova stands up and shakily makes her way to the stairs. She climbs up them, slowly, until she reaches the third level. She pushes the door open. All eyes turn to her but nobody says anything, knowing that there is no point in arguing with the girl.

"Clarke, Finn is seizing." Is all Nova says, before she makes her way to the wall of the dropship to rest some more.

"What?" Clarke chokes out, she rushes to the ladder to make her way back down to the first level.

As Nova makes her journey upstairs, Elara rushes to Finn's side. She holds him steady until the seizing stops, then pushes him onto his side to make sure that his airway isn't blocked.

She checks his pulse and sighs in relief when she sees that he's still breathing. Just as she does this Clarke comes down the steps.

"Nova said he was seizing." Clarke says, joining Elara.

"He's fine now. His pulse is weak though. And why the hell did Nova go up there? I think she's sick." Elara says.

"Wait, Nova is sick?"

"She looked it. She's really hot and she could barely keep her eyes open."

"I've seen this before. Shortness of breath, fever, seizing it's poison."

I look of realization flashes across Elara's eyes as she turns her head to look at the knife. "Elara was cut with it before Finn got stabbed."

*_*_*_*_*_*

Right after Clarke left, Miller shuts the hatch behind her. Bellamy turned to look at Nova but her eyes were trained on the Grounder who was staring back at her. "You look like shit."

Nova humorlessly chuckles, "Thanks, that's what every girl is dying to hear." As she speaks her eyes stay trained on the Grounder in front of her.

Bellamy follows her eyes and notices that the Grounder keeps looking at her, "Why the hell are you looking at her?"

The Grounder remains silent, not breaking his gaze from the petite girl. Suddenly, Nova's eyes roll to the back of her head. She slumps to the ground and begins seizing.

Bellamy rushes over, "Clarke, Elara! Nova is seizing!" He yells, unsure of what to do.

Not even a minute later Clarke is by Nova's side - she was already on her way up to figure out what the antidote was from the Grounder. She waits by her side until Nova's seizing stops. She pushes her onto her side and makes sure that there is nothing left in her airway.

"What's happening to her and Finn?" Bellamy asks.

"The knife was poisoned." She rushes over to the Grounder. Bellamy and Clarke start to work together to try and get him to tell her what the antidote is, but the Grounder won't budge.

After a few minutes Raven rushes upstairs, "What's taking so long? He's getting worse. He stopped breathing."

"What?" Clarke asks.

"Elara got him to start again but next time he might not."

"Uh guys, Nova isn't breathing." Miller says from behind them.

Clarke rushes over to her as Raven starts to try to get the Grounder to talk. Clarke does chest compressions then gives Nova mouth to mouth. Finally, she starts breathing on her own.

Still, the Grounder won't talk. Octavia, desperate to save Finn and Nova's lives and not wanting to see the Grounder hurt anymore, picks up the knife and cuts herself with it.

"Octavia!" Bellamy says, trying to stop her.

"He won't let me die. Which one is it?" She kneels down in front of the vials. When she gets to the antidote the Grounder nods.

She takes a small swig of the liquid in the vial and hands it to Clarke. Clarke forces some of the liquid down Nova's throat then rushes to the first level to give it to Finn.

As soon as Clarke steps foot onto the first level Elara asks, "Is Nova alright?"

Clarke nods as she is forcing Finn to drink the liquid. "Octavia got the Grounder to give us the antidote. She already had some."

Elara nods and let's out a relieved sigh. She turns and heads up stairs to check on Nova, leaving Finn with Clarke and Raven.

Octavia is upstairs when Elara arrives. She is carefully trying to clean the Grounder's wounds. Elara brushes some hair away from Nova's face and gently starts cleaning off the sweat from her forehead.

"You know your brother doesn't want you up here." The guy on guard says to Octavia. Octavia huffs and turns to leave.

Elara stands up quickly, "I'll clean him up."

Octavia nods at Elara, thankful that the girl is trying to help. She looks at the Grounder, "Please let her help. Okay?" She finally turns fully around and leaves the third level.

Elara sighs and slowly walks up to the grounder, "This might sting a little." She mumbles, carefully watching him as she wipes away the blood. The Grounder doesn't reply.

Elara only stops when the water is too dirty to continue, "I'll try to clean you up more. And I'll try to make sure they don't hurt you anymore. This isn't right." She whispers to the grounder. She turns her back to him and makes her way back over to Nova, waiting for the girl to wake up.