Chapter 12

Octavia wasn't sure how long she'd been tied up with her wrists behind her back. She hadn't slept a wink since she'd awoken to the sensation of being carried. She wasn't sure where exactly she was nor how long she'd been unconscious for before waking up, but that was the least of her concerns.

Her time on Earth had given her a new lease on life. She wasn't the girl who hid under the floors anymore. She had a purpose now. Protecting her fellow delinquents from the Grounders and for the umpteenth time Octavia cursed her arrogance.

She had been too passive in her fight. The rush she had felt while fighting had also caused her to drag it on unnecessarily and in the end she had been taken out by a glorified version of the big bad wolf.

It had taught her a lesson though and that was that her armour was vulnerable to extreme blunt force trauma. So fighting Clarke would have to wait.

That's how whatever poison they used had knocked her out and taken away her powers. Temporarily.

"They should have doubled their dosage,"said Octavia as she felt the familiar sensation of her crystal armour activating. Unfortunately, Octavia hadn't been given the fortune of having enhanced physical abilities, like how pretty much everyone(even Monty) with powers had shown, and as such brute force alone wasn't enough to break free of her bindings.

Octavia was a bright spark though and she liked to think that she had experimented with her powers more than everyone except for probably Clarke and Monty. In fact, she was surprised at how little people were messing around. In fact, Octavia would bet her numb, left leg that if Bellamy stumbled across her captors he'd kill them the same way she'd seen him do...how long ago was that?

Octavia shook off the hunger and tiredness induced daziness. She focused on her armour-specifically her wrists- and projected it outwards. Large, sharp spikes jutted out from her wrists and Octavia was relieved to feel the scraps of cloth that had been used to bind her fall to the ground.

It was quick work from there to shape her hand into a knife and cut through her other bindings. She was working on the last time around her ankle when she heard rapidly approaching footsteps.

The man she recognised as one of her original captor stumbled in and seemed to swear upon seeing her free. He reached for his pocket and Octavia was devastated when a wave of nausea came over her.

She hadn't had any rest, water or food in hours and it seemed like that was going to cost Octavia her only shot at breaking free. She doubted they'd use such weak bindings again or perhaps they'd drug her constantly so her powers didn't return and she was at their mercy.

The thought of being stuck in the dank cave spurred Octavia on and she raised her hand to the Grounder who looked equally panicked as he searched for the poison she knew would strip her off her powers.

However, before either occupant of the cave could attack , the Grounder let out a wet sounding gurgle before collapsing facedown. A knife was lodged deeply into the back of his neck and Octavia let out a sigh of relief that turned into panic when she saw her saviour walk in.

Lincoln had barely stepped into the cave before he caught the glint of multiple objects flying through the air. Oddly, they stopped in midair as if they struck something solid and fell to the ground harmlessly.

"Is that anyway to treat your saviour, O?"quipped Bellamy as he walked into the cave with his hand held up and his fingers splayed.

"Bellamy?"said Octavia as she finally broke free from her bindings and ran full tilt at Bellamy before enveloping him in a tight hug. Octavia finally allowed the reality of what had just happened to click in her mind and she just cried into the jacket of Bellamy.

By the time, she had recovered and calmed down she noted that not only were Finn and Clarke standing just outside the mouth of the cave, but so was the Grounder she'd almost killed in a panic.

Her cheeks reddened as he made contact with her and his eyes flickered over her body too quickly for anyone, but her to notice.

Octavia, for all her faults, wasn't a shy maiden and she straightened out almost immediately before looking towards the man and so with a wide smile that slowly faded as she continued to speak Octavia said,"Thank you for saving my life...and uh sorry for almost killing you..."

"Lincoln,"offered the man as he smiled reassuringly at her,"It's okay. I understand that you weren't aware of my intentions. "

"As much as I love seeing Bellamy angry,"said Finn much to the chagrin of the aforementioned man,"But is that normal?"

Everyone looked to where Finn was pointing and they were surprised to see a swarm of bugs rushing towards them.

Lincoln tore his gaze away from Octavia before looking at Clarke and said,"You need to stay here. I must go warn my people that the acid fog is coming. You need to avoid it. The fog kills all who are caught in it's way."

"Acid fog?"inquired Bellamy curiously, "What do you mean?"

Finn snorted and said,"I think it's pretty obvious. "

Clarke looked at Lincoln and said,"Could you please organise a meeting with your leader? I think it'd be best if we sought for peace between our people."

Lincoln nodded and said,"Anya is stern, but she is a fair leader. I'll speak to her about it. Expect a response within a day or two max."

With that said and done, Lincoln pulled out a horn and blew deeply into it. The sound echoed out for what Clarke was certain was miles and with a start realised something.

"The people at the drop ship know nothing about the fog and I'm sure this thing goes pretty far,"said Clarke as she shucked off her bag,"Octavia, I'll carry you on my back and we need to run back to camp. It's just past midday I think and Raven and should surely be done with the radio by now."

Octavia tried to protest, but when Clarke saw the fog approaching in the distance she said,"We don't have time for this, Octavia. You're weak as you are. Finn and Bellamy can't take care of you and themselves."

Octavia shut up and allowed Clarke to pick her up. Clarke looked at Bellamy and said,"I don't think the fog will seep into here. The cave is deep enough to avoid that. You guys should come back as soon as you can."

The two girls were soon gone in a gust of wind as Clarke raced to the sight of the drop ship. The fog seemed to be coming from further beyond the cave and so Clarke didn't have to worry about accidentally running into a cloud of acid.

Octavia was screaming in what Clarke categorised as excitement as she ran through the forest. Octavia's screaming reached a new height of excitement when Clarke had cleared the cliff overlooking the river.

Finally, the forestry became familiar as Clarke recognised as the trees that were near to the dropship. She ran straight through the open gates and skidded to a stop in front of the dropship.

Luckily, Jasper was just walking out of the dropship and Clarke called to the boy who seemed shocked at Clarke's sudden entry.

"Jasper, emergency beam. I'll explain more later."

Jasper nodded in the affirmative and looked to the sky before shooting two beams of light into the air. The delinquents began to gather into the dropship without much fuss and all though they asked questions of Clarke she ignored them for the moment at least.

It took perhaps two minutes and Clarke had had to retrieve a few stragglers, but the door to the ship was eventually closed. Clarke wanted to explain the acid fog situation to everyone and so she climbed up the stairs to the upper level, but she didn't actually go to the second level.

"Finn, Bellamy and I were out looking for Octavia when the acid fog came from the west. It's extremely dangerous and there's more I'm not telling you, but don't worry we've got everything under control."

The protests rose in volume, but they were lowered once Clarke and Octavia went to the upper level and found Roma, Raven and Monty seemingly waiting for them.

"I'm glad you guys are back,"said Raven as she took in the haggard forms of the two girls,"The radio is done. All you need to do is hold down the button and speak and you'll be broadcasting to the Ark wide station. We're actually on listening mode right now, but nothing has been broadcast on the Ark wide frequency as of yet."

Clarke nodded, but before she did she looked to Monty and said,"You got any apples? Normal ones."

Monty reached into his sack and threw two apples at Clarke who immediately gave them to Octavia.

"Apples are hydrating and energizing. You could probably do with some of that."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. I'd like to see you be hydrated and energised after spending time bound in a cave,"groused Octavia before she bit into the admittedly delicious fruit.

Clarke smirked as Octavia tried to hide the relish on her face, but her smirk fell as a spell of dizziness overtook her and she fell to one knee.

Roma was closest to Clarke and she grabbed onto her and said,"Are you okay Clarke?"

"Yeah,"rasped Clarke as she allowed Roma to guide her into Monty's chair. The spell of dizziness faded after a few minutes and when Clarke came to she was offered an apple by a concerned looking Octavia.

"Thanks,"said Clarke gratefully as she accepted the fruit and devoured it within a matter of minutes.

She moved to flip the radio into broadcast, but Raven caught her wrist and said,"Sorry Clarke, but I can't let you do that. Just sit down and take a break. You're wearing yourself down and clearly you need sometime to recover. Just sit there and relax. I'll get you some water and food."

Clarke wanted to protest, but she was cowed by the pleading looks on everyone's face. She felt her chest warm up at the concern they were showing and so she caved.

"Fine. I'll rest, but I'm not taking a nap. I need to be the one to speak to the Ark."

"Okay, fine. Just try to get your bearings back,"said Raven as she knew Clarke wouldn't budge on this.

She got that from her mom probably.

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Jaha sat in the control centre of the Ark and watched the various views the plethora of cameras on the Ark offered. He knew it was likely that some of the images were false if Abby's word was to be believed (which it was) , but it was unlikely that all of them were which is why he still saw it prudent to pour through all of them.

Abby and Kane were behind him and they too were scanning the cameras for any suspicious behaviour. His speech was due in 10 minutes and they needed no interruptions or the situation could seriously deteriorate and that would only help Diana.

"Thelonious, "said Abby tiredly as she watched her lifelong friend scan over the cameras again,"This is pointless and we all know it. Diana has us in the palm of her hand and we can only hope to counter whatever plan she has cooked up. "

"Abby's right,"said a refreshed looking Kane,"The Guard is already spread out across the Ark and the people of all stations are gathered into all the assembly rooms waiting for your speech. Starting a bit earlier couldn't hurt."

Jaha paused before he said,"You're right. Both of you. I just can't believe we're about to execute Project Exodus. It's a monumental moment and the last chapter in the story of the Ark and I think the occasion is getting to me."

Jaha signalled for the only other occupant of the roon, Sinclair (whose loyalty was unquestioned), to setup the Ark-wide streaming service.

"Awaiting your approval, sir"said Sinclair and at Jaha's nod he pressed a button and a video began to play on every screen in the Ark.

Abby had to wipe tears from her eyes as she watched Jake's video be broadcast to every memeber of the Ark. The cameras within the conference room showed that everyone from the youngest girl to the oldest man were paying rapt attention to the video.

When it finally ended, Jaha rose and approached the microphone. He looked at Abby and said,"I'm taking Jake's words to heart. There will be no more running or hiding from the truth. The people deserve to know."

"Everything, sir? Even the Blight era?"said Kane cautiously as if expecting to be killed for mentioning that.

Thelonious nodded gravely and said,"Yes. Everything."