"We do not have time to waste," Clarke said as she pulled open the door and stepped aside.

She ignored the wariness that both women looked at her with, she nodded just once at Bellamy, perhaps to acknowledge the fact that she knew him, perhaps in some kind of way to apologise as much as she would about the state his face was left in.

And in part because he bowed his head slightly, the respect he showed something she assumed he had picked up from her warriors.

"We will take control of the Mountain," Clarke said and she reached for what she recognised to be a radio that had once belonged to one of the dead at her feet. "Here," she handed it to Anya. "Contact Lexa."

Anya nodded her head as she reach out, took hold of the radio and fiddled with it for a moment before she spoke.

"Lexa, come in. Are you still alive?"

There was a pause for a few seconds before the radio crackled into life.

"Anya, I'm here," there was a muffled shuffling that came next as people seemed to gather around. "Maya's here, and others."

Clarke waited only a moment longer before the shuffling died down before she spoke.

"Lexa."

She looked expectantly at the device in Anya's hands as Lexa's voice answered.

"Clarke. I'm here."

"We must be quick," Clarke said, one part of her brain already moving the pieces ahead in the plan she had put into motion, one part of her brain focusing on the here and now and another straining to sense the approach of enemies that she knew would be close.

"What do you need?" Lexa asked.

"The dam," Clarke said. "We will control it," Clarke let her voice turn a little more firm, in part to communicate her will, in part to ensure Lexa would know there was no arguing with her, no second guessing her, no chance of trying to change whatever plan she had already set in motion.

"What do you need?"

It shouldn't have surprised Clarke that Lexa was so willing to hear her out. Not after everything they had shared together. But still, it did. Maybe she'd dissect why it surprised her one day.

"This power," Clarke began. "Are you able to control it?"

There was a slight pause and Clarke could almost imagine the expression that must have been forming on Lexa's face as she considered her question.

"The systems are about the same age as the Ark's," Lexa began. "I recognise a lot of them. I'm not saying it will be easy but I can get them working," There was a pause as Lexa seemed to think for a moment. "Or I can get them to stop working."

Clarke's mouth twitched up at the corners for the briefest of seconds.

"And you will be able to turn it back on if need be?"

"Yes," Lexa answered.

Clarke nodded more to herself than anyone else around her. She knew she didn't have long and so she made her mind up, or steeled her will more than it already had been. There was no going back now.

"Is Tobias there?" she asked

"I am here, Heda," the voice that answered sounded a little more distant, but she recognised it to be Tobias.

"Tobias, you will defend the dam at all costs," she said. "If you believe you can not hold it then you must destroy it," she heard him acknowledge her orders before she continued. "if you have held the dam but the Mountain has not fallen you will destroy everything."

It was a simple instruction, one she knew he would be able to carry out with both Lexa's and Maya's help. Part of her hoped it wouldn't come to that though. There would be questions, too, ones her warriors would have with her commanding the dam's protection. But they wouldn't question her orders. And she hoped once this was all done that her decisions, her actions, the things she had done, the lives she had sacrificed and the plans she had set in motion would all make sense to those who served her selflessly.

And with that Clarke nodded at Anya to turn the radio off.

"We attack their command centre," Clarke said, the words rolling off her tongue a little awkwardly as she began to move. "Gather weapons, anything you can use," she didn't bother to look behind her, didn't bother to explain who or what she was to the newcomers.

Clarke had a mission, her mind was set and she was ready.

Emerson stared at the screen in front of him. On it was the image of carnage. A number of bodies lay scattered on the floor, blood sprayed across the walls, pools of it stretched out across the floor and there was no sign of life, no sign of any kind of anything living.

Clarke had escaped, had gained access to their passageways faster than he had anticipated. She had come across Cage and had presumably killed him faster than he could believe.

He didn't even know where she was at that very moment as the screen blinked up the feed from a different security camera to reveal nothing but an empty hallway.

"She's avoiding our cameras," Dante's voice was quiet, perhaps a little hoarse and strained. "How," it was more statement or rhetorical question than one wanting an answer.

But Emerson wanted that answer.

Those she had already rescued wouldn't have had the time to memorise their inner layout so quickly, not to the degree that they could avoid the cameras as well as they were. There was something missing. Some part of the puzzle he couldn't find yet. But he knew all he needed was that piece, that last little bit of information that would help him put the pieces back together.

Lexa's continued presence wasn't that missing piece. She had never set foot inside Mount Weather. But he knew she would be at the dam, that was an obvious place for her to be. And perhaps she'd be able to disable the dam's systems for a while. Shut them down, make them work a little less efficiently than they would like. But to actually turn them off, to actually permanently destroy their systems she would need access to their command centre, to codes and consoles that were so far out of her reach that that wasn't an issue.

The savages wouldn't know how to destroy things either, not beyond repair at least.

At any other time Emerson would have felt relief at those facts. But for the moment he didn't simply because he knew that he was missing something. And that, he understood so very clearly, put him and his people at a disadvantage.

He glanced over at Dante to find him seated in one of the chairs, his fingers steepled as he looked at one of the computer screens that continued to show a continuous stream of information, some of it measuring Mount Weather's systems, some the feed from a security camera, other cameras planted outside that helped them monitor the situation.

It wasn't lost on him that Dante seemed distant, unfocused. He didn't blame him given the fact that he was pretty sure one of the bodies they had found on the security camera was Cage, and that any attempt to radio him had failed.

But Emerson couldn't think about that. Not now.

"The reinforcements," Dante finally said quietly. "When will they arrive?"

Emerson didn't know.

He didn't think it would be easy to peel some of his forces back to Mount Weather, but he had expected them back by now.

And yet as he began to think over the things Clarke had said, as he began to really consider the things that had happened he thought it all slowly started to make sense.

Clarke had told them her forces were underground in the tunnels, she had told them some were in the forests hidden and that others were at the border. But what she hadn't told them was how many she had.

Had she amassed such large numbers that she would be able to overwhelm Mount Weather's forces? Had she known how many reapers would descend upon them? Their acid fog wouldn't do anything to stop those in the tunnels, the roaming reaper packs on the surface would need to be directed below ground and that would take time, they would be harder to control in confined spaces and the risk of his people needing to kill them would increase.

Surely she wouldn't gamble everything she had on assumption, no matter how closely she had tried to assess their strengths.

And yet she had.

As he continued to think he continued to come to the simple conclusion that Clarke had gambled her people's very future on assumption, on guesses, ones that she would have no way of knowing the outcome to.

Unless she had help.

Help that had come before the Ark had come down to the ground.

But that couldn't be possible.

Emerson's heart began to beat faster and faster and faster as the only logical answer continued to form within his mind. It was the only answer to every question he had. It was the only answer to every problem he was currently faced with.

Someone was helping Clarke.

Someone from Mount Weather.

Treska moved fast.

With the help of Costia and Lincoln they had eliminated a small party of reapers that had strayed too close to the dam. And it was simple, a task she enjoyed, despite the dangers. They needed to keep it clear on the surface. She knew the Mountain would be sending their forces to the dam and that their forces taking the dam would need all the help they could get.

But she had another task. Slung over her shoulder was a pack full of Mountain Tech, ones from yet another of the poorly hidden supply points the Mountain Men used to resupply if they ever needed to stay above ground for long periods of time.

She didn't know the specifics of what it was she was carrying, but she could match the pictures Maya had confirmed for them with the items she had found. But really, all she needed to know was to keep them safe, keep them from being banged, dropped, hit against something lest they explode and rip her to pieces.

Treska didn't much care for that death. She thought it indignant, detestable, something she felt a little insulting. From the way Lincoln carried his own pack full of the very same tech she knew he felt the same.

"There is one last point here," Costia's voice was more sensed than heard from where they all crouched in the shadows. "We retrieve it then deliver these to Tobias and the others at the dam."

Treska nodded her head as she scanned around them. The forest was quiet, perhaps a little too quiet considering how tense she felt. But she trusted her senses, trusted the scouting they had done and she knew that didn't need to worry about being discovered.

But she hadn't survived this long on the ground to become careless now.

"Lincoln," she gestured up into a tree. "Costia," she pointed into the shadows of a larger copse of bushes and small trees that formed a well shadowed and dark recess amongst the forest.

Lincoln and Costia both agreed with her assessment for they nodded before quietly slipping away in the direction she had suggested.

And with that they began to move forward quietly, their ears listening for signs of danger, their eyes straining to see trap, ambush, anything that might stop them from gathering the last of the cursed explosives.

Jake ducked under the swing of a rusty axe, the sound of it whistling through the air enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. But he ignored that feeling, he swerved, let his sword deflect the next blow enough that he could find his feet before he lashed out hard, his blade sunk into flesh and he snarled as he kicked the spasming body off its feet before he turned to face the next reaper charging at him.

He spared just enough time to make sure Kess held her own, he smiled as he saw her twirl her spear around far more dextrously than would be expected given how close quarters the fighting had become before she snapped the spear tip forward enough to catch a reaper squarely in the throat.

Jake continued to move then, continued to duck, sidestep, attack and defend. His voice shouted out commands, directions for his warriors to move, where to push deeper and deeper into the tunnels. He needed to split the reapers and Mountain Men up, needed to keep them in as many small groups as possible. It would make it easier for them to cull their numbers, would make it less likely for the Mountain to be able to use their tech to wipe out any significant number of his warriors in one devastating blow.

But it didn't come without risks, not when their own numbers were reduced, not when their own forces would be spread just a little too—

He heard the telltale click of mountain tech.

Jake dived for cover, he grabbed the nearest of his warriors with him and pulled them behind an obstacle and he hoped Kess had heard it too.

The roar and flash of gunfire thundered around them, it blinded him, made him see stars and made his ears ring. But it was something he was used to, something he had long since grown accustomed to.

He waited a second, two seconds, almost a third. Jake leapt forward as soon as the gunfire ended, and he knew it a risk, knew it could be a trap. But hiding behind cover did nothing but give the enemy time to close the distance while they were distracted.

Jake slammed into whoever it was, he punched, kicked, his fist hit an armoured torso and they fell to the ground. His vision was already clearing as he snatched his knife from its place on his hip and then he drove it down into a crushed chest.

And Jake didn't bother to see if it was reaper of Mountain Man as he levelled his sword and began moving forward.

Others with him moved too, and they moved fast, moved hard.

He wished to cut off a group of Mountain Men he saw charging to the dam. Jake began to run hard once more, his lungs filled with blood scented air and he embraced the disgust that permeated all around him as his warriors fell into stride. He spared just a moment of relief to find Kess keeping pace with him, too, the sudden burst of gunfire thankfully missing all of them that time.

As he ran he hoped Ontari was still alive, too. The last he had seen of her being a brazen dash down a dark tunnel at a number of retreating Mountain Men, sword in hand, Azgeda warriors on her heels and the darkness to her front.

Despite the franticness of her initial escape Clarke now made a conscious effort to remain hidden from sight and enemy. She continued to carefully guide those with her along the path she had memorised and she made sure to pause and listen before turning each and every corner lest she stumble across more Mountain Men.

But for the time being she found their destination void of any obstacles. She assumed most had fallen back to the exits of the Mountain in the hopes of stopping her escaping, or of reinforcing the dungeons where her own were being kept.

Clarke paused once more. The last few twists and turns inside the Mountain would be the most dangerous, she knew they would be seen as they approached, there was no hiding from this last part.

"We must act quickly," Clarke said as she turned to face the five people who had followed her this far. "I can gain access to this Command Centre," she said. "I will enter it alone but I must rely on you to ensure the Mountain does not reinforce it," she didn't entirely like relying on people who she knew weren't her warriors. But with the tech in their hands she knew they could hold off any reinforcements long enough for her task to be completed.

"Whatever you need we'll get it done," Marcus Kane said quietly.

And once more Clarke found herself thinking him a worthy person to lead his people. Or perhaps it was simply because he agreed with her, did as she commanded and hadn't annoyed her yet.

Regardless, she wouldn't complain, especially in this moment.

"I will force the Mountain to choose surrender or death," she said quickly, the time for explanation had and she knew they would need to know her plans lest they interfere. "Lexa will turn off the power at the dam and the Mountain will choose. Continue to fight and die in the tunnels while their families die in the Mountain. Or surrender."

"Not to be rude, but how?" the woman she had come to know as Raven asked. "Why…" she trailed off as if she didn't entirely know how to voice her thoughts

Clarke pinned her with a stare that she didn't entirely mean to come across as so severe, but it did and she embraced it.

"Without the dam they will burn and die," Clarke said. "We control the dam. We control their future."

"Can't they do something on their end?" Raven pushed a little more firmly than was polite. But Clarke would let that slide for the time being.

"I will ensure that they can not," she answered simply.

There were a few uncertain glances shared between those in front of her. But to their credit whatever doubts were clearly flitting through their minds were left unsaid.

"It is time," Clarke said. "We must run. Their tech will see our approach and they may try to intercept us. Once we reach our destination I will gain access and you must all stay outside and ensure no one enters until it is safe."

And with that Clarke moved.

Clarke moved faster than she had ever moved in her life.

The bag she had slung over her shoulders was weighed down by the explosives she had gathered earlier, each one enough to tear limb from limb. Her feet took her closer and closer to her destination, she flashed down hallway and corridor, security camera and blinking light that alerted the command centre that she approached. And she would need to move fast.

Faster than she had ever moved in her life.

But then she rounded one last corridor.

And maybe she expected enemies, maybe she expected an army of reapers to stand in her way.

But all she saw was nothing. An empty corridor that held one last large set of doors at the far end.

"Stay here," she said quietly to the others as they came to a stop at the same end of the corridor. "No one must be allowed to approach," she said over her shoulder as she continued to walk forward quickly.

Clarke walked forward, her chest heaved, her gaze snapped to the glowing rectangle on the wall. Above the rectangle was one of those cameras that the Mountain used to see and Clarke slowly approached, her gaze transfixed on the dim red light and circular glass eye that stared back at her.

It didn't take her long to come to a standstill, in her hand a radio.

The bag over her shoulders felt heavier now that she was at her destination. Maybe that fact should have worried her, should have been a sign that her mind was trying to recoil from the path she had set herself down. But she ignored it, stamped it down and she let her breathing steady, her mind clear.

Clarke looked down at the radio in her hands to make sure it was working, that the lights she knew meant it was active were still glowing and then she held it up for the camera to see.

She knew enough that the Mountain and whoever was on the other side of the door would understand she wished to talk and so she waited.

It took only a moment longer before the telltale crackle of sound came.

"You can't get in," Emerson's voice was strained, perhaps just a little panicked.

Clarke stared up at the camera for a long moment before she brought the radio to her lips.

"At this moment my warriors control the dam," her voice was calm, her words came out slow and clear. "At this moment your warriors are trapped underground in the tunnels. If they were not they would have reinforced the Mountain already."

These were all facts, ones Clarke had gambled everything on. But she thought them not foolish gambles, not things created through desperation, but from planning, moves made long ago that would ensure she would succeed.

"Your people are dying, too," Emerson spat.

"Yes," Clarke's answer was simple.

"This is Dante Wallace," a second voice spoke and Clarke recognised it to be the leader of the Mountain.

But his voice sounded weary, tired, perhaps broken and she wondered if he had seen a vision of his son lying dead where she had slain him.

"You will order your warriors to surrender," Clarke wished not to waste anymore time. "To lay down their arms and stop fighting."

She did't care if they did or did not. She planned to kill them all sooner rather than later. She had waited lifetimes for this and she knew regardless of what they decided, their futures were all sealed.

"Why would we do that?" Clarke didn't quite catch which man said that for she heard chatter in the background, something that told her there was disagreement on the other side of the doors.

"If you do not I will order the dam to turn off power to your Mountain," she paused briefly. "Your warriors may continue to fight but their families will all burn."

She didn't care now that she revealed more of her understanding, more of how their way of life functioned than she had ever revealed before. There was no going back. She didn't need to keep the things Maya had told her secrete any longer.

"I know your people use air cleansed from the radiation," Clarke continued. "I know that if you allow outside air into the Mountain you will all die."

"If you destroy the dam we will drop a missile on you," Emerson's voice was more wild, more angry.

"Yes," Clarke's answer was simple. It was a threat she knew would be coming, one that would be likely. But it was something she had long accepted. "You may destroy a village. But which army?" she asked. "The one underground? The one in the forests that you have not discovered? The others?"

Clarke would rather the Mountain Men surrender. It would lessen the number of her people that would have to die. But she could end this at any moment if she wished and she thought it taking too long. Each passing second perhaps one second closer to defeat just as it was one second closer to victory.

And so Clarke let finality fill her tone.

"Tell your people to surrender," there was no going back.

Clarke heard muffled voices through the radio in her hands, she heard what sounded like arguing and and she knew their decision was done.

It took Clarke only a second longer to key in the right frequency before she spoke once more.

"Lexa," she waited a moment.

"Clarke?" Lexa's voice sounded breathless, as if she had been running back and forth for hours.

"Turn off the power to the dam. Tobias," she paused.

"Heda?" Tobias answered her after a slight delay.

"Has Treska delivered the tech?"

"Yes, Heda," Tobias answered.

"Use it to destroy the dam if you do not hear from me again."

Clarke knew that destroying the dam would sentence the Mountain to an agonising death. But it was one she relished, one she had longed for them to suffer. She did not care if it made her a monster, she did not care if it made her something sick, twisted, just as evil as the Mountain in that very moment.

All that mattered was that she could return even a tenth of the suffering brought upon her people.

But most of all.

She knew she would not be able to command Tobias to stop the destruction of the dam. Not until it was too late.

Clarke turned the frequency back and spoke into the Mouthpiece with a finality she savoured.

"The dam's power is being shut off now," she said. "Your families will burn to death inside the Mountain. I do not care if your warriors are aware of this or not. They will all die."

"You realise we can just turn the power back on from here?" Emerson's voice almost sounded incredulous, as if he didn't understand that she now knew more than he had originally expected her to know.

"Yes, I do," Clarke said.

And so Clarke switched off the radio.

Rows of numbers flashed in front of her and she pressed her finger against the code Maya had given her years ago. Each number she pressed was met with the blinking green of a light and then there was a click, something subtle, so quiet she almost didn't hear it. But she did.

And Clarke smiled.

The entrance to the command centre opened with a gentle hiss and Clarke knew she had succeeded.

Clarke stepped inside at the very same moment that gunfire hit her body, it tore into her flesh, smashed bone and muscle, sprayed blood against the wall and filled her with so much hurt that she almost feinted instantly.

But she knew it would come and so she tried to dive to cover, tried to put something between the gunfire and herself as she slumped onto the ground.

Clarke struggled to her feet, tears sprang into her eyes as she put weight on one leg only for her to feel the bone give way and half collapse beneath her.

But she caught herself on the edge of a metal table, she held herself up and she reached into the bag, her fingers grasping at the explosive, at the switch that she knew would detonate the tech.

"You stupid fucking savage," Emerson's voice was filled with hate. "You thought it would be so easy?"

Clarke could only just see him standing a few paces away from her, a rifle in his hands, the barrel levelled at her face.

Clarke's gaze moved to the others in the room to find Dante Wallace seated in a chair, his face white, his hands steepled in his lap as his gaze seemed to drift between lost and broken. A handful of other people sat at consoles, their hands frantically pushing buttons as they tried to counter whatever measures Lexa had begun to enact.

But it wouldn't be enough.

"It is never easy," Clarke managed to choke out past the blood that was filling her mouth.

She watched as Emerson moved closer to her, his gaze moving just once towards the Command Centre's entrance as the doors hissed closed automatically behind her.

"You just got yourself trapped in here with us all over again," there was a laugh mixed with derision in his voice as he came to stand in front of her, the console she half slumped over the only thing between them.

And so Clarke met his gaze, she pinned him with something she knew would unsettle, would communicate more than any word could as she reached into her bag, as she let her fingers grasp the explosive that would set off a chain reaction of explosives and destroy the Command Centre and forever kill the Mountain's ability to reign terror upon her people.

Clarke pulled the pin, she winced at the pain and she hefted the bag onto the console between them as she smiled.

"Our fight is over," Clarke's smile was perhaps the most real smile she had felt in years. It was one born full of anger, full of fury, hate for the Mountain, hate for the horrors it had inflicted on her people.

But it was full of love. Full of pride, emotion she felt at the things her people had overcome.

And Clarke was happy.

She was happy when she saw the momentary confusion on Emerson's face as his gaze settled on the bag of explosives. She was happy when she saw the realisation dawn on his face. She was happy when she saw words of anger and fury and desperation and panic forming on his lips.

And then the room exploded.

Blinding light filled her vision, searing heat his her flesh and she didn't hear it, didn't really even see it.

Clarke was lifted off the console where she had come to rest. She felt the air forced from her lungs and she felt searing heat pierce her body in every single place she could imagine.

Clarke had died more times than most people would ever experience.

She remembered the first time, when her chest had been split open so severely that what she had seen had horrified her.

She remembered the second time, when a spear had pierced her heart in the midst of a battle she didn't quite recall, when she had been a little too brash, a little too confident.

There had been other times, too. Ones she couldn't quite remember so clearly, others that were fresher in her mind, closer to home, to a future she never allowed herself to imagine.

And all those times she had died she had belief she would once more wake up.

But maybe this time was different for she didn't know if she would wake up from her death.

And so, as Clarke's broken body lay discarded on the ground amongst the rubble of a destroyed room in the depths of the Mountain, she found the last of her thoughts slowly slipping away. And perhaps she could be forgiven for dreaming of a future a little less full of death, of killing, of pain and suffering. Perhaps she could be allowed one last thought of sharing a future with someone by her side who had crashed into her world without worry or care for the ripples it would create.

And if it this was to be Clarke's last death, if this was to be the last time she would ever have conscious thought she was happy her fading mind settled on a face she couldn't quite place anymore. But still, her death, in that moment, she knew to be the most worthy sacrifice.