19 Mount Weather

Power. Power is the only thing that matters in a wild world. The Ngata had displayed power like no other.

Raven and Mahuta were chuckling as the second bomb hit the front door of Mount Weather. This Vulcan bomb is what Mahuta calls a Primal Weapon -a powerful hybridization of old world science and post-apocalyptic junk. In the case of Vulcan, Hydrazine and a packed destabilizer made of horse dung and radiated fungs.

The blast was almost like a large implosion. The casing compacted to a ball before exploding outward in a ball of fire that feasted on oxygen and organic material. Mahuta had no idea it would react in such a way, but he figured it would give them enough boom to shake the bunker.

Mahuta pulled out his radio and switched over to a known Mount Weather channel and said, "MOAB has returned, and she is now called Vulcan! She has come to claim this mountain!"

MOAB! Mount weather thought as Mahuta's voice sounded on their radios. It was their leader that quaked with fear as he said, "The Mother Of All Bombs."

"Sir! If we take another direct hit, it may knock something loose, and the radiation could kill us all." An adviser spoke to the man leading Mount Weather.

"Options." the leader asked.

"The Cerberus project. We send all of them and have them soften the battlefield. A team follows them out, and we attack from three different points. The team on the hill, Cerberus, and the backup team we'll send with them."

"Do it!" the leader commanded.

In the mines, when the bombing stopped, Mahuta got on his radio and recalled Raven and her team. As her team made it to the entrance, Mount Weather's people had made it to the steel door in the mines. Sirens went off, and a yellow light filled the dark cave.

When the door locks audibly unlatched, Mahuta used the little mana he had left to snatch the door open and hid behind it as his tribe opened fire.

"Mau!" Mahuta shouted, and the firing stopped.

Mahuta stepped from behind the steel door then popped his head into the chamber to see a small woman cowering to the right of the doorway. Due to the natural cave wall and the steel walls that made the bunker, she was perfectly safe from bullets.

"A leader who hides during the war while her people die is worse than scum. " Said Mahuta.

He then looks to his people and says, "Open the last door."

"No!" the woman shouted with fear, " They'll die. Everyone will die."

"So, you brought the war to us. You threw gas into our home and then drug our people out. You kidnap us and shoot those of us you couldn't catch." said Mahuta. "Open the fucking door!"

Mahuta then looked at the woman. "Your people gave something to the reapers. What was it?"

"Reapers?" she asked as her eyes kept shifting to the door that protected her people from the harsh radiation of the world.

"The men you use to transport us." Said Mahuta.

The woman took a moment to think. Unfortunately, she took too long, and Mahuta ripped her mask off. She screamed in agony as the radiation attacked her body. The Ngata tribed paid the woman no mind, and eventually, her screams were silenced by the death's cold hand.

Mahuta watched as the steel door turned molten red under the heat of the hydrazine-powered blow torch.

"Are we in yet?" Raven asked when she arrived.

"Nope." Mira replied, "But we better get in soon. The mount weather team just missed two check-ins."

"How do you know?" Raven asked. "They changed the channel after Mahuta spoke to them."

Mira then pointed at the dead mountain men.

"That's it," said Mahuta.

He stepped forward, held out an open palm then balled his fist intensely as the soft locking mechanisms were pulled apart like putty. The steel door flew opened, and the red lights flashed while sirens rang.

The Ngata Tribe cheered as Mahuta lead them in. But the cheer soon died down when they entered a room with many caged people. Lilly was enraged as the people in the cages were identified as her own.

To the far right of the room, corpses were hung on hooks with tubs coming from their bodies.

"Cut them down and free the people. Lily, speak to them. Tell them that Tanemahuta Ngata saved them. Tell them that I will kill all of the Mountain Men, taking their vengeance along with my own."

Lily smiled and began shouting in Trikru to her people. She was obviously saying more than Mahuta had told her as her shouts became song-like, and the captured grounders rhythmically beat on their cages. When Lily finished, the grounders released battle cries, and Lily slipped over to Mahuta and said, "I took care of everything, Big Man!"

"Lily!" Mira growled almost motherly. "What did you do?"

Lily twiddled her fingers. "Me thought more people would make a stronger clan for Big Man. So, I exchanged their freedom for fealty."

Mahuta discreetly smirked as he looked at the cages and immediately counted over fifty people just to start. People, land, and things equally mana. The more of each he cultivates, the larger the mana.

"Free them. Raven, Lilly, you two manage them. Twenty people stay! The rest of you! Come with me!"

Mahuta then began breaking down doors as they were nowhere near as tough as the outer doors. As the tribe made it through the halls and doors fell, the people of mount weather slowly died by bullets or radiation.

Everything was going well until the last room was opened. It was filled with women, children, and the remaining guards. By this time, nothing was stopping the radiation, and the people were slowly dying.

Mahuta sent his tribe away. Mira tried to stay, but in the end, she couldn't change Mahuta's mind. He drew his swords and put those still alive out of their misery. His sword drank the blood of children and women.

When he finished, he walked out of the room then ordered his people to clear the bunker of the dead. But his people had seen a dimness in Mahuta's eyes. Killing children in mercy or vengeance was heavy on the consciousness. His people also gained a new respect for him as Mahuta took the burden onto himself to spare them the darkness.

"Chief! You won't believe what we found!" Geralt shouted.

"What?"

"You have to see it."

Geralt led Mahuta to a sealed room. Looking through the window on the door, Mahuta saw familiar faces.

"Well well well. It seems we have some negotiations to take part in." Mahuta spoke.

"What's wrong?" Mira asked.

"If I know Clarke, she'll be using the peace to talk Leksa into war with the mountain." Mahuta stepped aside and Mira walked to the window to see people from Drop Site strapped to beds and unconscious.

"If she escaped, she must have known about the grounders in the cages. She must have also realized the danger she was in. She will petition war to save the people from Drop Site. Send Raven and Lilly to Tondc. You and your mother will go to Camp Jaha. Mount Weather is ours. Their people have been freed and vengeance dealt. If they come for our resources, they will face Vulcan's wrath."

"I'll get it done." Mira quickly left with her guard to inform Raven and Lily before heading to Camp Jaha.

Meanwhile, Lily sought out Mahuta and found him reading in the medical ward.

"Big Man! Me no go. You don't speak Trikru." she said.

"So what?" Mahuta replied without taking his eyes from the computer.

"How you speak to new clansmen?" she asked.

"Many of them speak English. I'll be fine. You're here to keep things calm between us and your people. You can do that by going to Leksa and telling her what happened here. Go on." Mahuta waved her off.

Naturally, the headstrong girl followed up with a few more counters before Raven dragged her off.

Mahuta now sat alone as his tribe cleaned the bunker. Occasionally, Mahuta would send off written orders like secure the area, hang the bodies to ward off enemies, take inventory of supplies, and so on.

Mahuta was more focused on the studies conducted on grounders, Most importantly the Immunity serum now called RED. The drug was originally purposed to modify the mountain men to make them stronger and enable them to metabolize radiation. But the drug is extremely harsh, addictive, and melts the mind of the user.

"Evil fucking bastards." Mahuta sneered as he finished reading the entire report and found the bunker was too quiet. Walking to the surface, he found his people camped out and the sky absent of sun.

Mahuta wrote another note and tact it onto the quartermaster's tent before returning to the bunker.

The next few days, Mahuta spent his time working on RED while his tribe was working on the road that led to Little creek. It was nothing fancy, just clearing the way to make a dirt path.