Octavia Blake never expected to be back in this situation.
Yet, here she was once again, hiding under the Ark's floorboards, like she'd done so countless other times during her life.
Everything was going according to her plan, so far.
They'd figured out that she was back in Arkadia just on the right spot and at the right time. Now all they had to do was leave the prisoners – Lincoln, Kane and Sinclair – in this very room where she waited.
She heard Pike's voice faintly from the outside.
"Put them in there. Let's go! Move," he ordered his men. "Move it."
The door opened and Octavia heard the sound of several footsteps coming from above her.
Then, she heard the door close and the guards leave.
Not yet, not yet…
The door had closed, but the enemy was still outside. She could hear Pike's voice as he continued to give orders to his men.
"I want two men on the door," Pike commanded. "Anyone comes out of there, shoot to kill. Anyone enters this corridor, one warning, then shoot to kill. Everyone else on me."
Little did he know that one of his men was, in fact, hers. Bryan was her accomplice in all this. This very moment, he was standing guard outside, pretending to still be on Pike's side and waiting for the perfect moment to knock his unaware fellow guards out and fake an assault. Pike needed to believe there were already gone, even as they hid.
When there were no more sounds or voices, she knew it was time to act!
"Now what?" she heard Sinclair ask the others.
Octavia pushed the floorboard up and revealed herself.
"Now," she announced. "I save your asses."
They stared at her in shock.
"Hey, boys," Octavia greeted them with a smirk. "Did you miss me?"
"Octavia…" Lincoln said in awe.
Kane was baffled. "How did you–" he asked, glancing at the door.
"Bryan. He's on our side."
She rose from under the floorboards and went straight to Lincoln's side. Nothing beat the joy of seeing him again.
"Are you okay?"
He grinned. "I am now."
Octavia pulled his mouth down to hers.
When they parted, she turned to the others.
"Listen, I don't have a lot of time to explain. Pike's gonna be back soon. But don't you worry. This is all part of the plan." Octavia motioned toward the hole in the floorboards where she'd come from. "Now, come on. Everybody in."
There was no time to remove their restraints. Pike would figure out their ruse any second and would return with his men. And when they did, they needed to be nowhere to be seen.
Sinclair went first, dropping awkwardly into the crawlspace.
Then, it was Lincoln's turn. He and Octavia shared a brief kiss as he passed by her, before climbing down to the hole.
After Lincoln, it was Kane's turn and then her own.
Octavia closed the floorboard over their heads.
The space was pretty tight, especially for four people, but they managed.
Now came the waiting game.