Defiance • Bellamy Blake [1]

55. Blood Must Have Blood: Part I

"Welcome, Skaikru. Join us." Lexa greeted.

I stood in the centre of a tent, overlooking the mass of people. Clarke was on my left and Lincoln was on my right. Lexa was on the other side of Clarke, standing there like a true leader who was prepared to go to battle. Some guards and what was left of the 100 walked in. Sergeant Miller stepped forward, and handed something to me.

"A package from Raven. Hydrazine. She said it would do the job," he said.

"Thank you," I said, accepting it from him and placing it carefully on the table behind me.

He side stepped so he was standing in front of Clarke.

"And, uh, your mother wanted to be here, too."

"I know, but the wounded in Tondc need her more." Clarke said, a tint of sadness noticeable in her voice.

The guard bowed his  head and walked away so he was standing to the side.

"Field commanders, today's the day we get our people back. The enemy thinks it's safe behind it's doors, but it's not. When it realizes that, it will fight back... hard. We need to be ready."

"This is a rescue mission. We are not here to wipe them out. There are people inside that mountain that have helped us, children who have nothing to do with this war. We kill their soldiers, their leadership if we have to, but we are there to rescue our people. Is that clear?" I asked. I saw people nodding their heads and mumbling in understanding. "Then let's begin."

"There are four teams. Two of them - at the dam and in the mine - are moving into position already. The third - inside the mountain - is freeing the grounder prisoners as we speak. It is our job as the fourth team to keep the eyes of the enemy off of them for as long as possible. To do that, we have to be in position here, at the main door with our entire army. The mountain men believe the door can't be opened from the outside, so they leave it unguarded. Only it can be, and thanks to our source on the inside, now we know how." Clarke said, giving me a side glance.

"According to Maya, the electromagnetic locking system has one flaw. When the power goes out, it disengages. That's where Raven's team comes in. The mountain's electricity is generated at Philpott dam. By now, they've taken the turbine room. It's their job to blow the power. Once they do, we blow the lock. There is a catch, a backup generator inside the mountain. If the lock is still functioning when that backup power kicks in, we'll never get that door open, we'll never get our people back." I said.

"How much time do we have?" Sergeant Miller asked. "Until the backup power kicks in?"

"One minute." I said. "That's the window."

"Small widow." He said. "Why don't we just take out the backup generator too? Bellamy's inside, have him do it."

"Leaving them without power that long would kill them all, and as I said, that's not the mission. Besides, we lost contact with Bellamy." I said.

I remember when Raven told me. It felt like my heart had stopped and I couldn't breathe. I was terrified that something happened to him, and now I won't know. And as worried as I was, I had to focus on the bigger picture. We had a job to do, and I wouldn't be able to do mine if I was thinking of the worse. It's totally possible that he lost his walkie or that it got broken. I had hope that once we opened the door to Mount Weather, he would be standing there. I had to believe that.

"What? We did? When?" Monroe asked.

"After he took out the acid fog." I said, looking down at the ground.

"Bellamy's a warrior. He'll be fine." Lexa said, quickly glancing over at me.

"As the commander said, once the door is open, the shooting will start, and they'll throw everything they have at us, but that's what we want. We want them looking at us because while we're fighting at the front door, Indra's team will be escorting the prisoners out the back, right through the reaper tunnels. Once all our people are free, they'll sound the retreat. We'll be back home before Mount Weather even knows they're gone, and that's it. That's the plan." Clarke concluded.