A grunt flew through the air as another punch was delivered to Nathan Miller's face.

Nausea washed over me as I watched him take the impact, blood flying from his mouth. 

After we had been caught, they had bound each of our hands before leading us back into the dark tunnel.

For the last five minutes they had beaten on Miller, waiting for him to break.

"Stop!" I yelled, this being the fifth time I had begged for them to stop.

So when the actually stopped, I was shocked.

However my shook soon turned to horror as they turned on us. "Get him up." One of the Arkadian guards ordered. "She wants Bellamy." By she, I knew they meant ALIE.

My eyes grew wide as I vehemently shook my head. "No!" I argued, watching as the guards latched onto his arms. "Wait! Where are you taking him-"

I was cut off as a gun was driven into my stomach, causing me to lose my breath for a second. "Stay back!" the guard snapped.

"Hey!" Bellamy yelled, trying to fight against their hold. "Don't touch her!"

I let out a pained gasp, my worried eyes looking up to him.

"Avery, it's okay." he promised, but his eyes were full of fear. "It's going to be okay."

I've learned to never trust someone when they said this. From my experience, it was almost never 'okay.'

As they began to pull Bellamy away from us, a new but familiar voice filled the dark tunnel. "You know, if I were you I'd hit the deck."

I couldn't see past Bellamy, but it didn't take long for me to register who this voice belonged to.

"Murphy?" Bellamy questioned, just as confused as I was. Despite his confusion, Bellamy listened to Murphy's warning. "Everybody hit the ground! Now!"

We all did as he said, each of us dropping to the cold, hard ground as fast as we could. The guards stood in place, utterly lost as to what was going on.

Not seconds after we had hit the ground, gunshots sounded off, bullets ricocheting off the tunnel walls.

I brought my bound hands up to cover my head, cringing as bodies fell around us.

Finally, the gunfire ceased and a shocked silence settled over the space.

Slowly, I pulled my hands away from my head, shifting my body to look up.

"Fancy meeting you here." Murphy muttered to Bellamy as he made his way toward us, two people behind him.

"More will come." Indra announced, putting a name to one of the figures. "We have to hurry."

"Here."

I looked up to see Murphy, his hand stuck out to help me up.

I grinned as I allowed him to pull me off the ground. "I've gotta say, John. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see you."

Murphy smirked as he undid the ties around my wrist . "Nice to see you too, Collins."

It was in that moment as I grinned back at Murphy that I finally realized who the other person with him and Indra was.

I felt anger course through my veins as I looked between Murphy and Pike. "What the hell is he doing here?" I demanded, hearing Octavia questioning Indra in the same manner.

Murphy stepped between us, preventing me from moving any further. "Relax." he warned. "We need the extra hands."

I looked back at him indignantly. "Murphy, do you know what he did. He's-"

I was cut off by Bellamy who looked between Octavia and I. "We need all the help we can get." he announced, trying to diminish our urge to leave Pike behind.

I sent him a glare, previous emotions flooding into my head again. I was worried I was about to lose Bellamy to Pike for a second time.

Murphy stepped away from me, addressing the whole group. "Did you all part where it's time to go?" he questioned, reaching for a gun from one of the discarded guards.

Bellamy gave him contradicting look. "We're not leaving." he asserted.

Murphy let out a small snort. "We just saved your lives. Why do I feel like I'm going to regret that?"

"Clarke's in trouble," Bellamy explained.

Murphy shook his head with a humourless smile. "Clarke is always in trouble."

"Can't argue with him on that one." I muttered, earning a quick grin from Murphy.

"They took her and the Flame to the tower." Bellamy continued, ignoring both mine and Murphy's comments. "And it's a safe bet that Ontari's there too. We have everything we need to stop ALIE all in one place."

"If we go up that tower, we won't be able to fight our way out again." Octavia pointed out joining the group of us. 

"If we stop ALIE," Bellamy began, his eyes casting toward Pike. "We won't have to."

I followed his line of sight, my eyes landing on Pike who was staring back at Bellamy. After letting out a quick sigh, he stuck his hand out, handing a pistol to Bellamy. It took everything in me not to grab the gun and aim it at Pike. 

Murphy rose his brows, letting out a small chuckle. "Up the tower then. Great." he shook his head briefly. "You know, after this doing the right thin can kiss my ass."

---

 "Ow!" I snapped, turning on Murphy who was hovering over my shoulder, "That was my foot, Murphy!"

"Sorry." he hissed, trying to lean past me to look around the corner. 

We were currently hidden behind one of the walls, watching the two Grounders who stood only a few feet ahead of us. They were turning the wheel that raised the lift up the tower, and currently we needed to gain control of that wheel. 

Bellamy, who was standing slightly further up than the rest of us, turned and gave us a signal, calling us forward. 

I readjusted the grip I had on my gun, looking to Murphy with a nervous look. "Okay, let's-"

I was cut off as two gunshots rang off from in front of us. I spun around, eyes wide, only to see Pike with his gun raised, those two Grounders now dead. 

"Hey!" Bellamy snapped, rounding on Pike. "I told you, that is not how we're doing this!"

"Are you really surprised?" I sniped, falling into step with them as we made our way toward the lift. "You know what he's capable of." My voice was cold as I sent a glare in Pike's direction. 

Pike ignored me, instead looking to Bellamy. "They were in our way."

"These people are not the enemy!" Bellamy argued, "They're being controlled by ALIE, and we can save them."

  "Well, there's going to be a lot more of these people if we don't move!" Miller pointed out. "Let's do this."

"I'll take it down." Indra announced, making her way toward the lever that would bring the lift down to the ground floor. 

"Once we're up, you blow the elevator and then climb." Bellamy explained, going over the plan once again.

"Destroy the ladder behind us." Bryan said, adding the next part of the mission. "On it."

"Come on." Murphy balked. "You do realize that we don't have a way of getting down, right?"

Indra gave him fleeting look. "That's a problem for another day." 

"Let's go," Bellamy called, "Ride's here."

Sure enough, the lift had finally made it down to where we were stationed. Murphy gave a final disbelieving look that we were actually doing this before he made his way to the lift, beginning to pry the doors open. 

It didn't take him long, and once they were open both he and Bellamy were stepping inside. 

When neither Octavia or I followed, Bellamy looked between the two of us. "O? Avery? You coming?"

Octavia shook her head at her big brother. "If anything goes wrong down here, they'll need my help." she explained, before adding a few words to comfort him. "We've got this."

His eyes then settled on me, and with one look I could tell he was nervous beyond belief.

"I can do more good down here." I explained, giving him a small smile. "Don't worry about us, just be safe." I said softly before looking to Murphy. "Same goes for you, John. Don't do anything stupid."

Murphy cracked a smile. "Oh, you mean like going up a tower that's swarming with brainwashed people that want to kill us? Never."

I let out a small laugh as I took a step toward the lift. With one more final look from Bellamy, I reached out and closed the doors. 

Although the doors were shut, the lift hadn't started moving yet, and thus I could hear Murphy's voice from within. "Shoulda told her you loved her, dude."

I didn't get to hear Bellamy's response, as Miller, Bryan and Pike had finally started turning the large wheel, sending the lift upwards. 

I turned away from the doors, my hands trembling once again as I held onto my gun, praying that more of ALIE's army weren't going to discover us before we could carry out the rest of the plan. 

Trying to shake off my nerves, I positioned myself in front of the wheel, gun pointed down the corridor in order to spot for Miller and Bryan who were occupied with the wheel.

Octavia and Indra were positioned slightly further down the hall, seemingly in conversation with each other. 

That's why they didn't seem to notice the figure that had just rounded the corner. 

None of us noticed...not until it was too late.