*Thank you so, so much for all the lovely reviews! They're honestly one of the main reasons that I'm so determined to finish this story!*

Bellamy crawled back into the vent system, waiting until he was far enough away from the room that he couldn't see or hear, or even smell any trace of it, and more importantly that he wouldn't be overheard.

'Please tell me you heard all that.' Bellamy's deep voice filled the room and Clarke's breath caught at the emotion in it. He was shaken.

'We heard it.' Reassured Clarke.

'We have to warn them!' Raven urged Clarke.

'Did Kane take a radio?'

'No, this is the only unjammed frequency, we have to keep it open for Bellamy.'

'If I leave now I can make it there in time.'

Bellamy dropped his head against the wall of the vent, squeezing his eyes closed. He barely breathe, let alone speak.

'It time to be blown up you mean.' Raven exclaimed, and Bellamy thanked the stars for the mechanic yet again.

'When I get back, I want to know our friends are safe, and the acid fog is down.'

Bellamy forced himself to speak. 'Clarke, no.' He choked out. 'You can't go there, its suicide.'

'Bellamy, I can do this, trust me.' She begged him and he wavered. He trusted her more than anyone. Suddenly a though occurred to him.

'Wait, you said Octavia was in Tondc when I left, is she…?'

'She's safe.'

'Clarke…'

'I'll get her Bellamy, I promise.'

Sighing, Bellamy dropped his head into his hands before replying desperately. 'You be safe, you promise me you'll be safe too.' He couldn't say more than that, he couldn't keep the terror out of his voice any longer. He was about to let the girl he loved travel to a marked village, where his sister currently was.

'Stay focused Bellamy, I mean it. Just know that I can do this, and I'll be back before you know it, but you have to stay focused. Please.'

There was a silence before Bellamy let out a breath. 'Okay.'

'I love you.' Said Clarke softly, saying goodbye.

'I love you too.' Bellamy's voice was barely a whisper, and Clarke handed the mic to raven without a word. She turned to leave but the mechanic called after her.

'Hey.' Clarke turned and Raven pulled her into a tight hug. 'Don't get blown up.' She said jokingly, but her eyes were serious as they stared into Clarke's

Clarke smiled, despite the magnitude of what she was about to do, and left the mechanical station. She was packed in minutes and on her way to Tondc on horseback with a grounder that Lexa had assigned to keep her safe.

In Mount Weather, Jasper, Monty and the rest of the 47 jumped up at the sound of the blaring alarm which meant that the guards would be in their dorm shortly to take another victim. They stood in rows at the back of the room as a group of guards entered, Dr Singh in the middle of them. The 47 linked their arms together, fighting back against the guards, but they weren't strong enough, and a young girl was picked off, Jasper lunged forward, as did many others, and aimed a punch at a guard. He ducked and grabbed Jasper's arm, twisting it behind his back and marching him to one side, but Jasper had been in this position before – he knew that the guard was putting only a fraction of the pressure he could have been on his arm. They stopped, Jasper facing the wall inbetween two of the bunk beds, the guard behind him.

'Are you trying to get yourself killed?' A deep voice asked exasperatedly and Jasper's head whipped around.

'Bellamy?' He exclaimed.

'Listen to me.' He said abruptly. 'They're killing them. Next time they come, you have to fight back harder than this. Do you understand?' Jasper nodded. 'Here take this, get everyone ready.' He felt the cold metal of a gun being pressed into his hands as Bellamy made a show of patting of him down to avoid suspicion from the other guards.

'Ready for what? What's the plan?' Jasper asked frantically.

'I'm working on it.' Bellamy's voice was rough.

'Find Dante, he's on our side, he'll help us.'

'Okay.'

'Hey,' another guard was yelling to him, 'everything ok over there?'

'Yes sir.' Barked Bellamy immediately before faking a hard punch to Jasper's stomach. Taking the cue, the boy crumpled to the floor groaning.

That evening, Bellamy arranged it so that he took Dante Wallace his evening meal. Fortunately, the guards were so distracted by what was going on with the 47, and didn't question him.

Inside the stark white room, Bellamy saw the intelligence in the older man's eyes as he looked at him, figuring out that he was not from the mountain. Dante turned the volume up on a record player that sat in the corner of the room without saying a word, and when the president was satisfied that no one would be able to hear a hushed conversation over the music, he gestured for Bellamy to set the tray of food he was holding on the table on the side of the room.

'Who are you?' He asked Bellamy quietly, his voice laced with the strength of a commander, even whilst being held in a cell.

'Jasper sent me. We need your help, your son is killing my friends.' Dante came to stand next to where Bellamy was unloading the tray, standing so that both their backs were turned to the camera over the door.

'I'm a prisoner, same as them.' Bellamy detected a hint of regret in the man's voice and realised that Jasper had been right, he was on their side.

'A prisoner who knows every inch of this mountain, every security measure.'

'Who's helping you?'

'That's not important right now.' Bellamy recognised that it was probably best not to mention Clarke's direct influence.

'After Clarke escaped I had all exits fortified and put under extra surveillance. My son had no doubt changed all access and entrance codes by now. You friends will never even make it off level 5.'

'I won't let them die here.' Bellamy said firmly. He couldn't have any more blood on his hands, he couldn't let Clarke down like that. But he shook those thoughts away, thinking about Clarke, and Octavia, in Tondc was dangerous now, he had to stay focused.

'I'm sorry.' Dante shook his head regretfully. 'I can't help them escape.' Bellamy's spine stiffened and he walked to the door with carefully controlled movements, anger seething in him. 'But I may be able to buy them some time.' He stopped.

Arriving in Tondc Clarke felt the time pressure pressing down her, she headed for Lexa's tent but bumped into Octavia before she could get there.

Taking one look at Clarke Octavia held out her hand, stopping her. 'What's wrong?' She asked, her eyes scanning Clarke for clues. 'Is Bellamy ready? Did he get the acid fog down?'

'He's working on it.' Whilst it wasn't a lie, there was a hint of falseness to the statement, and Octavia knew she was right to think something was wrong.

'Clarke, talk to me. Now.' Distantly, Clarke noticed that Octavia and Bellamy had the same 'I don't like not knowing what's going on so you're going to tell me right now' voice.

Sighing in defeat, she pulled Octavia to one side. 'Bellamy listened in on a conversation in the mountain. They're sending a missile here, tonight, on the command of one of their soldiers who we can only assume is hidden in the woods.' Her words came out in a rush, but she kept her voice low, aware of the grounders milling around her.

Octavia's face registered her shock but she was quick to deal with them, Clarke was impressed. 'How do we stop it?'

'I don't know, I'm going to talk to Lexa, I'll find you when I'm done.'

Octavia nodded, letting her pass, and watched with a heavy heart as Clarke ducked into Lexa's tent.

'We have to evacuate.' Clarke's voice was urgent. She stood next to Lexa by a large table which held a model of both their camps, and Mount Weather.

'No.' Lexa said coldly.

'What do you mean 'no' Lexa?' Her voice was harsh.

'If we evacuate they'll know we have a spy inside their walls.'

'Not necessarily.' But Clarke faltered, she couldn't risk Bellamy being found.

'We can't risk it.' Lexa's voice was hard, and Clarke was surprised at how calculating the grounder commander could be. In part, she wished she could become better at separating her feelings from what she needed to do, but to become so cold, so unfeeling, was it worth it?

'What's the point of having an inside man, if we can't act on what he tells us?' Clarke asked, frustrated.

Lexa's eyes narrowed. 'Is the acid fog disabled? Is our sleeping army uncaged?' Clarke prickled at the suggestion that Bellamy was failing. 'Then your man's job is not done.' Lexa finished harshly.

'So what are you saying? We just do nothing? Let them bomb us?' Clarke couldn't believe Lexa could value the lives of those inside Tondc so little, the lives of her own people, and the lives of Clarke's.

'It'll be a blow,' Lexa's voice was distressingly calm, 'but our army will be safe inside the woods. And it will inspire them.'

'And what about us? Where do we fit in your plan?'

'We slip away. Right now.'

Lexa turned but Clarke stayed where she was. 'You don't understand, I provoked Mount Weather, I sent a message to distract them from Bellamy.'

'Clarke sometimes you have to concede a battle to win a war.' She knew this to be true, but refused to accept defeat.

'No.' Clarke said firmly. She would not run from this. She left the tent without another glance and went to find, first her mother, and then Octavia.

Abby and Kane stood by the fire with a few Ark guards. 'Pack your things. Be ready to go as soon as possible. I'll explain later.' Clarke said lowly, looking at the two of them urgently. They nodded silently, recognising the urgency in the girl's eyes, and Clarke whirled back around to find Octavia without a moment to lose.

'Come with me.' She said when she found her, and was grateful when Octavia followed her out in to the woods without question.

After they were far enough away that they could barely hear the noise of Tondc, Clarke explained. 'Lexa wants us to run, to leave Tondc, to leave you, my mother, Kane, everyone behind, let them be bombed by the missile whilst we survive.'

Octavia's registered her shock but she let Clarke continue.

'So we have to find the man that Mount Weather has stationed here to give the order, and we have to stop him.'

Octavia nodded determinedly. 'You take that side, I'll go left.'

Bellamy crawled back into the vents, cursing yet again. Eventually he found the hatch he needed and, opening it, stepped onto a ladder leading down further than he can see. Looking up her realised he couldn't see the top of it either, just darkness.

'Talk to me,' Raven's voice was still clear in his ear, 'what do you see?'

'Close your eyes, imagine a bottomless pit.' He said dryly.

'Just stick with it, according to Dante's coordinates you're almost there.'

Bellamy took a deep breath in. 'What's happening on your end? Did they evacuate Tondc?'

'I don't know yet,' admitted Raven, 'but it's Clarke, she'll get it done. I know you're worried about her and Octavia, but you still have a job to do.'

Bellamy acknowledged it silently, climbing up the ladder with grim determination, feeling sweat drip down his face. Raven was right, Clarke could do this, she had to. 'Let's just get this done.' He sighed.

Trekking silently through the woods it took Clarke a little over five minutes before she saw Mount Weather's man, Whitman. Dropping to a crouch she watched as he brought a radio to his mouth and spoke into it quietly. As she approached she heard the last of his sentence. '…confirming coordinates now, over.'

Creeping up behind him, it wasn't until she had the knife pressing hard against his throat through his body suit that he even knew she was there.

'Radio.' Her voice was low. 'Now.'

Reluctantly, Whitman surrendered his radio, and, without loosening her grip on the knife, she held it her lips.

'This is Clarke, of the sky people, and the grounder army. I have your man. I found him carelessly wandering the woods, he's lucky it was me he bumped into.' Clarke had to make this look like a happy coincidence, Mount Weather couldn't know that she had known about the missile.

Cage Wallace froze over the keypad where he was preparing to type the launch codes. He needed those coordinates.

'Clarke, to what do I owe this pleasure?' The voice on the radio responded, but Clarke could hear in his voice that she had the upper hand, but she wondered how long that would last.

'You won't be getting those coordinates, and the village will be evacuated from whatever you have planned within ten minutes. Give up, and I'll spare your man's life.'

There was a long silence before the radio crackled into life in her hand. 'And if we don't? What if we sent a missile to your village right now? How many of you do you think could get far enough away from the blast in time?'

'How can you launch a missile without coordinates?' Clarke said coldly.

Cage slammed his fist on the table. 'Damn it.' He yelled, furious, before composing himself. 'Are you willing to gamble so much on your assumption that we don't have enough to go on to work out your position?'

Clarke hesitated, but then she caught a glimpse of Octavia in the tree line. 'Here.' She called, and her friend came running over.

'Are you sure he's the only one?' Octavia asked, pointing her chin at the man kneeling on the ground, the knife to his throat, and Clarke nodded firmly at her to show that she did, but she couldn't give any hint that she had existing knowledge so she replied 'he's the only one I could see, so I assume so.'

Octavia eyed the man before nodding in understanding. 'I'll go tell the others.'

'Find Kane and the chancellor first.' Clarke said, she didn't want to reveal that Abby was her mother in case the mountain men could use it against her.

Nodding again Octavia took off running back to the camp and Clarke lifted the radio once more. 'Evacuation has begun, your window has closed. You had better save that missile for a rainy day, you're too late.' Clarke said confidently, and a little smugly.

There was another long pause before the man replied. 'If we do that, you let our man go.'

'I only agreed to that if you willingly spared the village. But you didn't, I forced you to.' She hesitated long enough to panic both the man in front of her, and the man on the radio before she continued. 'But I'm feeling generous. Your man will be returned to you. You'll need as many men as you can get when we come for you.' She finished dangerously before releasing her hold on the mountain man. Then she dropped the radio on the ground and smashed it under her heel. 'Go, now, before I change my mind.' Barely glancing at her, Whitman took off into the forest and she turned back to the camp.

When she walked through the gates she saw that Octavia had done what she had asked and the sky people were packed and ready to leave. Lexa stood in front of her tent and, throwing an apologetic glance to her mother, Clarke walked over to her.

'I found the guard that the mountain men sent to hide in the trees and give the order to drop the missile. I used his radio to tell them to stop the attack, and that we had already begun evacuating, before he could give them the coordinates.' She stared at Lexa, her eyes like flint. 'You were willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives, because you think that emotions are weakness. Well you're wrong, emotions push you to save the people you care about, not give up on them and save yourself.' Lexa flinched slightly.

'The meeting. Stay for tonight, we will finish discussions-'

'No.' Clarke cut her off. 'You risked the lives of both our people today, we will return to Tondc in two days' time, have your leaders ready.'

Turning, Clarke walked to stand between Octavia and mother and waiting for the gates to be opened. When they were, the sky people began their journey back to Tondc. Fortunately, since they were all on horseback, they would be home by nightfall.

Bellamy's legs ached from climbing, but finally he was on the right level. Stepping out of the 'bottomless pit' the first thing Bellamy notices where huge metal cylinders lining the walls, marked with various warning labels. The next thing he noticed were the thousands of wires connected to dozens of machines.

Under Raven's instructions Bellamy crossed the room to a machine labelled 'filtration'. He began pulling out wires as Raven spoke to him. 'You have to pull the outside air in to reverse the air-filtration system.' They were working on Dante's assumption that as the majority of the mountain men wouldn't have had the bone marrow treatment yet, and a containment breach would buy the 47, or what was left of them, enough time to carry out the rest of Bellamy's plan.

'Just tell me how we know if it's even working.' Bellamy said tersely, wincing as a wire sparked against his fingertips. Suddenly a light in the corner of the room started to flash orange and an automated woman's voice came on over the PA system.

'Containment breach.' She said calmly, repeating the phrase over and over again.

'I'd say it's working.' Quipped Raven and Bellamy's breath escaped him in a short burst, something like a laugh.

'Thank you Mr President.' He said ironically, and Raven laughed too.