The Ruling - Bellamy Blake

33. Dante

I hear a bang from the door leading to the tunnel.
"It could be them." I say to Bellamy as we run to it.

He opens the door and we can see Octavia and Clarke. I let out a sigh of relief seeing that Octavia's okay. She made it out of Tondc. Clarke did it.
"Bellamy." Octavia says while hugging her brother. She turns to me and hugs me tightly. "Thank you for keeping my brother safe." She whispers. I nod letting her go. "I knew it, you two are too scrawny to drill." She says going to Monty and Jasper.

I walk over to Clarke and hug her too.
"Where's the army?" I ask. I would've expected them to come with her.
"Gone. Just like yours." She says looking at Bellamy and me.
"What do you mean gone?" I ask as I press my brows together.
"Lexa made a deal to save her people. Say you have a plan." I feel my heart sink. We're really left alone now.
"Not really. We need to talk to Dante. Maya says he's in quarantine." Bellamy answers.

Maya's tank starts beeping and Jasper runs to read it.
"30 minutes." He says. "We just changed it. That can't be right. It's her last tank."
"Okay, we'll find you another one."
"All the supplemental oxygen is on level 5."
"Then we have to get you there."
"5 isn't safe."
"We'll take the trash chute again. It'll work."
"Maya's right. Every soldier is there. We'll never make it."
"We can do this. We'll split up."
"Okay. You four go for Dante." Octavia says looking at Clarke, Monty, Bellamy, and me. "And we'll help Maya."

We all walk in and go our separate ways. We take the camera out and walk in. Dante sits up looking at us.
"Hello, Clarke." He says looking at her.
"Sir, we need your help again." Bellamy says.
"I took out the camera from the junction box in the hall. We can talk freely." I say.
"No ones watching anyway. Thanks to you they're all on level 5."
"You're not." Clarke notes.
"No, I'm not."

"We don't have time. We need a way out without killing everyone." I say.
"He's not gonna help us." Clarke says.
"You cut the power, risking the lives of everyone in this mountain, my people, even the ones who helped you."
"Yeah, and you kidnapped mine. And your son is killing them as we speak. I'd say we're yet to reach your level." I say stepping forward. He has no right to try and blame us for anything right now.
"We're the good guys here, not you!" Clarke yells.
"Tell me, if we released your people and theirs what would have happened to mine?"
"Can you get us into the command center? We need to see what's happening." Clarke says to Monty who nods. I look at Bellamy and nod. He's not getting out of helping us.
"Let's go." Bellamy says grabbing Dante. "You're gonna help us whether you like it or not."

We walk to the command center while I start thinking of possible outcomes. If Dante doesn't oblige we're gonna have to kill him. I know killing him would hurt the others, so if it comes down to it, I'll do it. I can take it.

"Why aren't you with your people on level 5?" Clarke asks him.
"After what I've done, they can be free. I can't. Deliverance comes at a cost. I bear it so they don't have to." He says to us.
"It wasn't Cage. It was your idea to make the deal?" I ask looking at him. He nods. A pit grows in my stomach as I look at him. He lost us our way of winning this war. He just made it easier for me to kill him, if I have to.
"We're in." Monty says before we walk in. No ones here. I feel slightly bad for not believing Dante.

Monty starts working on getting the monitors up. We watch him type away while I lean my back against the wall.
"It's up." He says as it turns on. I can see Raven strapped down to the chair. I grip my sword tighter.

"Tell them to stop. Now!" Bellamy says grabbing a radio.
"I won't do that." Dante says. I grab the radio from his hands. I will make them stop.

"Carl Emerson, Mount Weather security detail, come in." I say into it. I watch him lift his radio.
"Who is this?" He asks.
"Do as I say and it won't matter. Give the radio to the president." I watch him start to walk and Monty moves it to the main radio.

"This is President Wallace." He says walking out of the room.
"I have your father. Let my people go, or I'll kill him." I say reaching to pull out my small handgun from my waistband. I want it to be quick.
"How do I know you have him?" He asks. I raise the radio to Dante.
"Stay the course, Cage." He says.
"You won't do it." Cage says. He clearly doesn't know how far I'd go to save the people I care about.
"Wanna bet?" I ask. I watch him hesitating while staring at the radio. "Free my people." I hiss.
"I can't do that." He says. I clench my jaw thinking. I don't want to have to kill him.
"It would mean the end of our people." Dante explains, clearly reading the contemplation on my face.

I turn around and point the gun at him. Bellamy steps back.
"Nova, we need him." Clarke says.
"And I need his son to believe me." I mutter. I bring the radio up. "Don't make me have to kill him." I say.
"Dad, I'll take care of our people." He says. Dante looks over at me.
"None of us has a choice here, Nova." He says.
"All I wanted was my people safe."
"So did I." He says right before I pull the trigger. I feel my eyes tear up as I watch his body fall.
"I'm sorry." I mutter wiping a tear away. It's hard to see his dead body knowing I was the one who pulled the trigger. Knowing he helped us before.

I step away bringing the radio up.
"I will not stop until my people are free." I say "I will kill anyone I have to." Clarke grabs the radio from me.
"If you don't let them go, I will irradiate level 5." Clarke says. I can't tell if she's serious. That would mean killing people who helped us. Killing children. "Listen to me, I don't want anyone else to die. Stop the drilling and we can talk. There must be a way to get us all out of this." Clarke tries.

Cage doesn't respond but I see him call Emerson over, before sending him away.
"Emerson's coming for us." Clarke says. I grab my sword and gun. I'm not going to be locked in this room while my people are being tortured in another room.
"I'll go out there and get Cage myself." I say.
"Nova." Bellamy says grabbing my arm.
"He's coming to kill us. I'm sure Monty can deactivate his keycard and not let him in, but that leaves us in here. We need to stop Cage before he kills them all." I say. Bellamy nods looking at me carefully.

"Be careful." Bellamy says to which I nod and run out.