What If (Season 5 AU)

Chapter 17

As Bellamy makes his way to find Monty he expects the man to be alone. Only imagine the shock he feels as his eyes land on his son sitting on the table, Madi on Monty's other side, and Clarke and Harper standing in the back engrossed in some kind of quiet conversation. Watching the two women talk sent Bellamy's mind back to the drop ship days. It was like no time passed at all as they spoke.. Granted Harper and Clarke weren't close, not like Clarke was with Raven and Octavia, but they were friends. And seeing them now looked as if nothing had changed.

But suddenly the women stop talking as Monty's concentration turns to frustration. He stops trying to explain what is happening the screen to the children and instead types furiously on the keyboard. Its then they notice Bellamy's presence, but Clarke all but glances his way and immediately looks away. Bellamy swallows the hurt and keeps his eyes trained on Monty instead. Augy reaches out for Clarke and she easily swoops him into her arms and out of Monty's way. Madi follows Clarke to the back of the room as they watch from afar. Monty was always level headed and kind, quiet even, but something must be wrong for his to began to grow angry. He does his best to hide it but the waves of frustration were easily read by everyone in the room, the kids included. 

Bellamy looks their way, his eyes meeting Clarke's, before she takes the young ones out of the room. He only had to guess where she was taking them, to their tent to sleep. It was getting late, very late, and even as he entered the room he could see Augy rubbing his eyes and fighting sleep. He fights every bone and muscle in his body screaming to go after her, but he knows he can't. He needs to be here and help with the plan. 

Just as they leave the room Bellamy begins to pace. From the expression Monty had something was wrong, and all Bellamy could do at the moment was stand around and wait. Harper explained a little of what she could of how Monty had gained access to the mother ship but was struggling to get anything else. Especially the eye. Her words only furthered his worry as he continued to move back and forth in the small space.

"Would you stop pacing!" Bellamy huffs but does as he's asked, however the weariness of his face never falling. 

"Can you do it or not?"

"I have access to the mothership from laser com but everything else is encrypted so no." Bellamy's face falls more at this, his eyes gliding to no where in particular on the floor. "When we were up there I could have opened a back door from the inside. But we didn't even know they had a damn camera!"

He reaches for a scrap metal and swipes it aggressively behind him, both Harper and Bellamy stunned.

"Woah, Monty." Harper rushes to his sire and places a hand on his arm, applying a soothing up and down motion to calm his nerves. 

"Why are we even doing this?" He's physically calmer but still tense as he turns to face Bellamy. "So your sister can go to war? What happened to us being the good guys?"

"We are the good guys." Bellamy tries to argue, but Monty is having none of it.

"Really? Letting her kill people for defecting? No, correction, thinking about defecting. How does it make us the good guys for helping her do that? Or standing idly by without stopping her." As Monty says this Harper stays silent. He was right and he did have a point, but the conflict on Bellamy's faces showed he had more to say on the matter. 

It wasn't just about getting to the Valley for food and safety. It was about getting their friends back. Raven is a prisoner of Eligius while Murphy has a shock collar around his neck and is alone in the woods with Emori, on the run, trying to not get caught. The only way to get back to them was shutting down that eye and traveling the the desert to get to the Valley. He calmly ask Monty to try again but it was no use. He couldn't access the eye from here. 

Just before Bellamy could respond or come up with an idea, the door opens. Echo enters with her face grim, and Bellamy  instantly knew something was wrong. The only thing that could possibly be off is defectors, or lack there of if they were lucky. And unfortunately they were not. 

"No, there were takers. I'm just not turning them in." She steps closer to Bellamy, into his personal space, as she mumbles. "Some bad things happened down here, Bellamy. No one will talk about it, not even the ones that want to defect. I can see it in their faces. They would rather leave, given the off chance they die rather than stay and be reminded of the things they've done to survive. I'm sorry but I can't. And I know this means I'll be banished, but I can't do it."

She slips her hand into his own as his eyes stare deeply into the floor. He knew Echo wouldn't do it. They all knew what Octavia would do to the defectors, or those wanting to defect, and it wasn't right. Echo knew that and didn't want to be the one to hand over these people to certain death. He squeezes her hand in reassurance before pulling away. Trying to ignore the glimpse of confusion from Echo he sys,

"Then let's defect with them." Echo looks as if she wants to argue, the fire returning to her eyes in an instant, but Bellamy beats her to it with a look thrown at Monty. "You said you can't do it from here, but we could do this if we had inside help, right?" 

Monty's face morphs from one of confusion to understanding as he reaches for something on the relay tower he built. "I could put the backdoor code into this thumb drive."

"Bellamy, Octavia was not joking when she said defectors will be shot." Echo's attempt at arguing were fruitless and she knew it. 

"Admittedly not a perfect plan, but Clarke has part of that covered."

"What'd you mean?" The fire returns to Echo's eyes at the mention of Clarke, and Bellamy does what he can not to return it.

"This was the plan to begin with. We all leave if your banishment stands. Clarke and the kids will be in the rover, safe. We all were suppose to go but, we could split up. One group takes the rover, the other goes onto the transport ship with the other defectors. We get to the Valley and insert the back door, and we're in."

"Easer said than done." Harper pipes up. 

"True, but it could work." And In Monty's words there wasn't just support, but hope.