"if people recognise you-" bellamy tried to speak.

"we're screwed, i know." arabella told him. "thankfully, i wasn't here long enough to make friends..."

"he's right." maya began. "there are three hundred and eighty-two people inside this mountain. if any of them realise either of you aren't one of us, you're dead." they made it to an elevator, then maya swiped her key card. "we're on level two. the dorm is on five. there's a camera in the upper right-hand corner. both of you, keep your heads down."

"well this... super stylish hat should keep me hidden." arabella muttered as they stepped into the elevator.

maya pressed the button for level five, but as soon as the doors began to close someone stopped it. "hold the elevator." the man said, stepping inside.

arabella and bellamy stood at either side of maya, their heads low.

"hey, maya." he spoke, pressing the button to whichever level he was going to. "you know, i missed you in my expressionists class." he said, facing forward.

"yeah." maya smiled, her arms folded across her chest. "i-" she trailed off for a moment. "i had some work to do."

"ah." the man turned to look at maya. "i'll get you the notes." he whispered.

arabella and maya noticed bellamy's hand hovering over the gun at his hip, but maya shook her head, making arabella roll her eyes. the elevator stopped, the doors opening letting more people in.

arabella stood closer to maya, making the girl shuffle up to bellamy. the elevator finally stopped on level five, and two people stepped out, arabella, bellamy, and maya following.

"hey, you're bleeding." the man called out to bellamy.

arabella and maya froze, slowly turning around.

"you okay?" he asked.

thankfully, maya was a quick thinker. "you were exposed." she rushed into the elevator and arabella slightly moved around the corner. "we need to retrace your steps and find the breach. you better go."

"what about you?" he asked, slowly slipping out of the elevator.

"this is my job. i'll be fine." she replied.

the man nodded. "keep the handkerchief." he said before rushing off in the other direction.

arabella quickly slipped back into the elevator just before the doors closed.

"i forgot how nosey people were here." she muttered. "and why don't people take the stairs here?"

maya sent her a look. "you remember how many stairs are in this place?" she asked knowingly.

"vividly." arabella grumbled.

...

they had gotten back out of the elevator onto level five, a little more smoothly this time. they walked through level five until maya stopped them before they turned a corner.

"okay, come along. inside." a woman ushered softly.

"homeroom has now begun." someone spoke over the p.a. "all students should now be in their classrooms."

"come on." maya said quietly, turning the corner.

bellamy was stopped by a little boy.

"mister..." the boy pulled on bellamy's pocket.

arabella and maya turned around.

"are you on the ground unit?" he asked. "my dad is training for a ground unit."

bellamy nodded softly. "it's pretty cool up there. i hope he makes it."

the little boy smiled and walked towards his classroom, but as he walked arabella noticed the name tag on his little backpack. she felt her heart shatter. she had killed that little boy's father.

arabella felt bellamy's eyes on her, but she didn't dare look at him.

"they're just kids..." bellamy said quietly.

"what did you expect you'd find here?" maya asked rhetorically.

arabella's jaw tightened as she finally met bellamy's eyes, and for once in their whole time of knowing each other, she didn't know what he was thinking about.

...

the three continued through level five, finally making it to the dorm.

"there they are." maya said.

then, all of a sudden, an alarm blared and closed the doors to the dorm.

"what's going on?" arabella asked as she made eye contact with jasper who was standing on the other side of the door, a distraught look on his face.

"i don't know." bellamy replied.

"it's not a breach, but it can't be good." maya told the two.

"get us to that radio." bellamy said to maya as he looked at jasper.

the three quickly turned the corner, leaving their friends who were so close. once they arrived at the location of the radio, arabella immediately rushed over to contact their camp.

"camp jaha, this is mount weather." she spoke through the radio. "can anyone read me?"

she didn't get a response for a moment. "does this goddamn thing even work?" the girl looked up at maya before speaking again. "camp jaha, this is mount weather. can anyone read me?"

"ella?" clarke's voice spoke back.

"oh, my god." arabella said with relief. "hey, blondie." she smiled up at bellamy.

"are you both alright?" clarke asked.

"we're fine. that's it for the good news though. we have to talk fast. something has changed. jasper, monty, miller, everyone, they just locked them in the dorm." arabella explained, her voice almost shaking.

"but they're alive, all of them?"

"we think so, for now anyway. they aren't using the grounders anymore, clarke. they're using our friends for their blood instead. and things are gonna get ugly in here real fast."

"maya is with you?" clarke asked, slightly skeptical.

"unimportant, but yes. she helped bellamy and i escape."

"and if not for her, we'd be dead." bellamy added on, leaning into the radio.

"again, unimportant." arabella sent him a look. "but something that is important... there are kids in here, i don't know how we didn't realise before, but we need a plan that doesn't kill everyone, as much as i'd-"

bellamy nudged her side, a sign for her to shut up. "so, please tell us you have one." bellamy said.

"i hear you, but we can't do anything until you disable the acid fog." clarke responded. "raven is gonna help you."

"okay, what else?"

"you guys are gonna have to figure out a way to free the grounder prisoners." clarke told them. "there's a whole army inside that mountain, and they don't even realise it."

"well, i've already got one on my list, so i guess we can do that." arabella replied.

bellamy nodded. "trojan horse. good plan."

"nerd." arabella muttered.

"what does maya think?" the blonde asked. "is it doable?"

maya looked unsure, slightly shaking her head.

"maya says it's not a problem." arabella sent a playful wink to the girl. "look, clarke. if we're gonna pull this off, we need you to buy us some time. it won't be long till someone recognises me or before they realise bellamy also doesn't belong here, and if that happens..."

"that can't happen." clarke interrupted. "and ella, you should've gone in the vents... but, i'll come up with something."

"come up with it quick, blondie." arabella told her best friend. "tell my dad i'll be home soon."

"copy that, and i'm proud of you both." arabella could almost see clarke's smile. "i knew you both pull through."

"love you, blondie."

"love you too, ella. stay safe, both of you." clarke finished, the radio going into silence.

...

"ark station, do you read me?" bellamy spoke through the radio, arabella wasn't allowed to use it because she 'talked too much' obviously the accusation made the girl give bellamy the worst eye roll he had ever seen. "anybody there?"

"you're late." clarke's voice spoke through the radio. "every three hours means every three hours."

"are you through?" he asked.

there was a moment of silence before clarke spoke. "have you found the source of the acid fog?"

"no. that's gonna have to wait."

"what?" clarke asked in disbelief. "no. nothing is more important than that."

"our friends are. they're starting to take them from the dorm one at a time every few hours."

"taking them where?" raven asked.

"we don't know. we tried to follow them, but they went to a classified level. maya borrowed the schematics of the vent system from her boss, and we're still trying to find a way in."

arabella sat, slumped against the wall. "find anything yet?"

"i think i found a path, but it's gonna be tight." she told them. "here are the walkie's raven asked for and the earbuds." maya handed arabella and bellamy the objects.

"bellamy, arabella, you have to find them." clarke spoke through the radio.

"that's the plan." bellamy replied gruffly.

"if you don't... all of this is for nothing."

bellamy nodded. "yeah."

...

arabella, bellamy, and maya had come up with a plan after looking at the blueprints of the vents. so, arabella and bellamy were now currently crawling through the vents, arabella was slightly ahead of bellamy.

"can you slow down?" bellamy asked her, a hint of playful annoyance in his voice.

"what so you can get a better view of my ass?" she turned her head slightly, sending him a small smirk.

"okay, so tell you where you're both at now." raven's voice crackled through the walkie.

"we're at an intersection." arabella replied. "which way?" she then asked.

"guys, we think you're close." clarke said. "the lab should be up ahead."

"great." arabella chirped. "don't think bell will be too pleased he'll lose his view though." the girl joked, earning a tap on her leg from bellamy. "but... uh, any chance you could be a little more specific?" she asked awkwardly, looking at all of the possible ways ahead of them with a frown.

their heads turned at the sound of a drill echoing through the vents. "never mind." arabella muttered as she turned down one of the corners.

they crawled into an area where they could finally stand on their feet. bellamy crawled out, his hand finding its way to hold arabella's waist as they stood in the tight space. they moved to look out of one of the vents, bellamy's hand on the lower part of her back, seeing a doctor use a drill on somebody.

dr tsing walked over to a guard, arabella remembered was carl emerson, with a syringe in her hand. "you ready for the last treatment you'll ever need, lieutenant?" she asked him.

"you have no idea." emerson replied. "i've waited my whole life to breathe fresh air."

"that's emerson." clarke spoke up.

"yeah... why does that matter?" arabella asked in confusion.

"we captured him, tried to get information, then sent him back to mount weather..." clarke explained, her voice weary.

then cage wallace entered the room. "let's get back to this secret army that she claims to have. she tell you anything that might help us find it?"

"clarke, it's cage." arabella said into the radio quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

the doctor from before began drilling again, making cage turn his head. "stop drilling, please." he said in annoyance.

"the window for extraction after death is incredibly short." dr tsing told him.

"i only need a minute." cage replied.

"no, sir." emerson began to speak. "nothing about the army. she did say she was coming for you and if we let her people go she'll let our people live."

"well, it's a little late for that." cage stated.

emerson nodded for a moment. "i'm sorry i failed, sir."

"no, no, no." cage repeated. "it's okay. we'll finish the job tonight."

arabella and bellamy exchanged a glance.

"whitman just radioed in. apparently there's a war council meeting happening tonight in one of their villages, and all the leaders are gonna be there." cage explained to emerson.

the couple looked at each other again, clarke had mentioned the meeting to them previously, she was meant to be going.

"sir, i feel good. let me take a team out and support whitman."

"no." cage declined. "he has less chance of being spotted if he's alone."

"sir, whitman's good, but he can't take out that many targets alone." emerson had stood up from his seat.

"which is why we're gonna use a missile." cage smirked. "this time, we're not gonna miss."

arabella visibly paled, bellamy took her hand, then took her somewhere else where they wouldn't be heard speaking.

"please tell me you heard all that." bellamy said to clarke and raven.

"we heard it." clarke replied.

"we have to warn them." raven told clarke.

"did kane take a radio?" clarke asked.

arabella's eyes widened. "wait, my dad's going? clarke you have to get them to come back." she said in a panic.

"no. this is the only unjammed frequency. we have to keep it open for arabella and bellamy."

"if i leave now, i can make it there in time. ella, i'll make sure your dad's okay." clarke spoke into the radio again.

"in time to be blown up, you mean." raven said quietly.

arabella ran her hands over her face.

"when i get back, i want to know our friends are safe and the acid fog is down. can you handle that?" clarke asked.

"yeah, we can handle it. go."

"clarke, please be safe. let my dad know i'm okay when you see him." arabella's eyes met bellamy's, a slight hint of fear washing over her.

"clarke, wait." bellamy spoke up. "octavia was in tondc when i left. is- is she, um..."

"she's here. she's safe." clarke quickly responded.

"okay. good. be safe, too." bellamy told her, his eyes meeting arabella's again.