arabella and bellamy headed back to the harvesting chamber, it was time to let all the grounders free, which was rather nerve-wracking.

arabella kicked off the grate and got out of the vent with her gun raised. bellamy followed out behind her. they glanced around the room and headed to the cages.

"pass me a key." arabella told him, looking over at alec's cage. 

bellamy passed her a key and then went to the cage that was next to his.

arabella rushed over to alec. "told you i'd come back." she told the boy.

"i didn't doubt it for a second, sky girl." alec sent her a smile.

arabella sent him a look. "arabella." she corrected, holding the key in her hand.

"arabella." alec repeated with an eye roll.

"that's better." she grinned, unlocking his cage. "time to go." 

she opened the door and helped alec out, glancing at bellamy, who was helping an older girl out of her cage, she narrowed her eyes for a second before looking back at alec.

"our people are coming right now. we need to get everyone out." arabella told him. "let's hope that everyone here is strong enough to fight." she let out a huff of air. 

the grounders were starting to be loud and bang on their cages. "shof op!" arabella yelled, alec glanced at her in surprise. "i have a grounder friend, lincoln." she told him.

"lincoln? you know lincoln?" alec asked in shock.

arabella nodded. "he's dating my friend. his sister, actually." she pointed back to bellamy.

the two watched as the girl bellamy let out stalked forwards. "taim yo gaf ge breik au, taim yo shof op!" she shouted, her words clearly having more of an effect than arabella's did.

arabella and alec walked over to bellamy and the other girl. 

"okay. so how do we do this?" she asked, glancing at arabella and alec.

"there's an army outside going for the main door. when they get it open, all hell will break loose. that is the signal for my friends to come here, and-" bellamy was interrupted by the p.a. screeching.

the four turned their heads in confusion. "my fellow citizens." it was cage. "this is your president speaking. i have news to share with you some that will change all of our lives forever. for ninety-seven years, mount weather has been our home. it's kept us alive, but it has also held us captive."

arabella rolled her eyes.

"most of us have made peace with what we've had to do to survive. we've done these things for one reason- so that our people could someday return to the ground." he continued. "that day is today."

"he's going public." bellamy said to the three. 

"before my friend lorelai tsing was murdered by the outsiders still at large in this mountain, she found a cure. it was in their bone marrow." 

arabella and bellamy exchanged glances, arabella handed the keys to alec, and bellamy did the same with the other girl.

"we'll be back." arabella called out as she rushed to the door, bellamy right by her side. 

alec reached out to grab her wrist. "where are you going?" 

"he's trying to get his people to turn on each other." bellamy explained to alec and the other girl. his eye glancing at alec's soft grip on arabella's wrist, making alec quickly let go.

"they'll find our friends. we have to get them now." arabella added on. "we'll send them in groups. both of you get your people ready to go, but you wait for us to get back." her voice turned into a warning tone as she looked at the two grounders. "i mean it." 

alec nodded. "you got it."

arabella and bellamy nodded as they rushed off to find their friends. 

...

the couple heard cage's muffed voice as they moved through the vents, bellamy kicked off the vent grate and looked out to see vincent.

"both of you, get back in." he said quickly. "they're coming down this way, i'll let you out when you're needed." 

bellamy nodded, moving back slightly when vincent put the grate back on.

a few moments later, they heard footsteps and chains rattling. "out of the way, vincent." arabella assumed it was a guard. 

"that's my daughter." vincent said to the guard. 

"dad, don't" maya's voice called out. 

"quiet." the guard ordered. "she's been aiding and abetting the outsiders. you need to get out of our way." 

"i won't let you take her, paul." vincent replied.

arabella's heart felt heavy as he spoke. 

"listen carefully. we've got orders. she knows where they're hiding." the guard, paul, spoke. "now step aside. i'm not gonna ask you again." 

"if you want her, you got to go through me."

"dad, please. they'll kill you." maya's voice broke as she spoke. 

"don't make me do this, vincent." paul said to the man.

"sorry, paul." vincent whispered. 

the two heard maya sob and then a gunshot. they glanced at each other in panic when they heard a body drop to the floor. then the grate was pulled off, revealing the two. arabella leaned forward and aimed her gun at the guard miller had chains around.

miller slammed the guard's head into the wall, knocking him out. arabella and bellamy got out of the vent and looked at vincent.

bellamy patted the mans back. "hey, good job."

"thank you." the older man nodded.

"miller, you okay?" arabella asked the boy. 

"better than him." miller replied, glancing at the two guards on the ground.

"we need to get everyone into the harvest chamber." bellamy said as she checked the corners. "you'll be safer there." 

"safe in the harvest chamber?" jasper asked sceptically as miller unlocked his chains.

"surprisingly, yes." arabella smiled. 

"are the others there?" jasper questioned. 

bellamy shook his head. "not yet."

"monty?"

"monty's with the other group on level three." vincent chimed in. "don't worry. we moved him out after the last sweep." he pointed to arabella and bellamy. "you should go there next." 

"all right." arabella nodded. "go on. vincent will take you. we won't be long." the two turned to walk away.

"hey!" jasper grabbed the guard's gun. "i'm coming with you." 

"jasper-" bellamy tilted his head slightly. 

"i promised i'd protect them." jasper told him. "that's exactly what i'm gonna do." 

arabella nodded. "come on." 

the two rushed down the hallway, seeing jasper and now maya following behind them.

...

the group paused in the vents when the power suddenly shut off. they continued moving then, it came back on around a minute later. bellamy stopped at the grate, watching people rush past, once it was clear, he moved the grate.

"we don't have much time. the last twelve are on this level." he grunted as he got out of the vent, taking arabella's hand to help her.

arabella nodded. "just give me a sec." she breathed out, her hand hovering over where one of her major wounds was on her stomach.

"hey, you okay?" bellamy asked, looking down at her in worry.

"think i've popped a few stitches." she winced as she lifted her shirt, her bandages covered in blood. "i'll be okay." she nodded, a slightly pained look on her face. 

bellamy looked at her in worry. "you don't have to do this." 

arabella shook her head and looked at maya. "which way?" she asked.

maya pointed. "this way." 

arabella rushed off, bellamy right behind her. 

"attention. class one quarantine protocols are now in effect." a man on the p.a. spoke. "all citizens must report to level five immediately."

jasper rushed over to maya.

"hard seal lockdown in t-minus thirty minutes and counting." 

"we're not gonna let anything happen to you, will we?" jasper turned to arabella and bellamy.

the two shook their heads and bellamy went to check the hallway behind maya. 

"jasper, in thirty minutes, all back up power gets diverted for species continuity." she took in a breath. "that means level five for life support and security. radiation will seep in everywhere else." the girl paused. "i can't go to level five without being shot in the head." 

bellamy stood behind maya. "guys, we need to keep moving." 

"we'll- we'll get you your hazmat suit, extra oxygen, enough to last until the engineers get the power back on." jasper told her. 

"and then what?" maya questioned. "think cage wallace is gonna let me live here after that?" 

"i've got my own plans for cage, you don't have to worry about that, okay?" arabella spoke up, earning a look from jasper and bellamy. 

the group stood in silence until a gunshot rang out in the hallway, a woman letting out a scream. they rushed over to the sound.

"move! you heard him. let's go!" a guard yelled.

arabella glanced around the corner, her gun raised, ready to shoot. jasper was held back by bellamy. "slow. slow. be ready for anything." 

they moved around two corners and saw a woman dead on the floor. maya rushed over, looking down at the woman. "it's mrs ryan." 

the other three walked forward. "she was hiding the last twelve." bellamy spoke.

"where'd they take them?" jasper asked quietly. 

maya turned around. "it's gotta be level five."

jasper tried rushing forward, then bellamy stepped in front of him. "no."

"get out of my way."

arabella stepped forward. "jasper, every single person inside this mountain will be there. their soldiers. they will shoot you on sight." she paused. "maya, tell him."

"jasper's right." maya told her.

arabella made a face. "about what?"

"after the lockdown, it'll be almost impossible to get them out. it's now or never." 

arabella sighed, running her tongue along her teeth. "all right, fine."

"but how do we even get-" bellamy's words were interrupted when a door began to open. 

the three immediately raised their guns, aiming at whoever would come out of the door. it was monty.

"monty." jasper breathed out.

monty knelt down to the teacher. 

"what is it? what's wrong?" bellamy asked. 

the boy looked up. "they know about the grounders. that's why i hid. i-i didn't do anything to save the others. i... i let them kill mrs ryan." he sniffled.

"monty, what do you mean they know about the grounders?" arabella asked wearily, her voice slow.

"it was on a soldier's walkie." he replied. "they're going for the harvest chamber." 

"if they take it... we lose everyone." bellamy glanced at arabella, who was running her hands over her face. 

the couple took off into a sprint, the other three following behind. 

...

once they reached the harvest chamber, they opened the door guns raised. when they stepped inside, vincent was on the floor. a bullet through his head.

"oh, my god." arabella whispered.

"no!" maya screamed out, rushing to her father's side. "no!" her cries echoed around the harvest chamber. 

arabella and bellamy walked forwards to all the cages. every single one of them empty and not a grounder in sight.

"arabella?" a voice called out from their side. 

the couple turned their head to see alec standing staring at the two.

"alec." arabella breathed out. "what... what the fuck happened?"

alec walked forward. "the commander... she made a deal with the mountain men." he spoke, shaking his head. 

"what do you mean a deal?" bellamy asked, his voice low.

"she made peace with the mountain men, in return for her people, but... yours weren't included." he told them. 

"why are you still here? why didn't you leave?" arabella questioned. 

alec shrugged. "i... i don't know. you saved my life, i didn't want to turn my back on you, like my people have done to me before."

...

the group of now six people rushed down to the door that would take them into the reaper tunnels, grabbing maya a hazmat suit on the way and some clothes for alec.

bellamy opened the door to reveal octavia and clarke.

"oh, bellamy." octavia rushed over to her brother and pulled him into a hug.

arabella walked around them and stared at clarke. monty and jasper appeared making octavia grin.

"i knew it. you two are too scrawny to drill." she hugged monty and then jasper.

arabella rushed over to clarke, pulling her into a bone crushing hug. "it's not your fault." she whispered to the blonde girl. 

then maya and alec appeared, making octavia take a step back.

"it's all right, they're both with us." jasper told octavia.

alec walked over to arabella, bellamy, and, clarke.

"clarke. this is alec. the only grounder who stayed in the harvest chamber. he's a friend." arabella nodded to alec with a small smile. 

"so, where's your army?" bellamy asked. 

"gone. just like yours." clarke replied, pursing her lips slightly.  "say you have a plan." she asked the two.

 "not really. we need to talk to dante. maya says he's in quarantine." bellamy responded, turning around to head back inside.

"clarke!" jasper rushed over to the blonde girl, pulling her into a hug, which monty then joined in on.

the girl mouthed a 'thank you' to maya, then maya's hazmat suit began beeping, everyone turned to look at her, then jasper ran over. 

"thirty minutes." jasper said quietly. "and we just changed it. that can't be right." he circled the girl. "uh, shh- um... it's her last tank."

clarke stepped forward. "hey. uh, we'll find you another one."

"all the supplemental oxygen is on level five." maya informed the girl. 

"then we have to get you to level five." jasper said in a panic. 

"five isn't safe for any of us."

"we'll take the trash chute again. it will work."

"to get in, maybe." arabella spoke up. "jasper, maya's right. every soldier in this mountain is there. we won't make it out, they will kill us."

"we can do this. we'll split up." jasper tried to come up with ideas.

"jasper..." arabella said softly.

"no! no... we can do it." he yelled.

"okay." octavia chimed in. "you guys go for dante." she looked at arabella, bellamy, clarke and monty. "we'll help maya." she gestured between herself, jasper and alec.

alec awkwardly raised his hand. "i feel like me coming to level five won't be a great idea." 

arabella nodded. "he's right. you come with us." she told him, making alec nod in response.

octavia pulled out her sword and headed inside mount weather. 

arabella threw her hands in the air. "why is she so cool?"