The better part of the day had been spent trying to figure out ways to free Clarke from the grip of Josephine. 

Jackson and I bounced ideas off of one another, but we had not yet come up with a concrete plan. We needed Abby and Raven's input...we needed more time. 

About halfway through our brainstorming process, I was forced to excuse myself in order to go pick Greer up from school. B.A, who was unaware of what we were talking about, but aware of our constant brainstorming, had offered to do it for me. But I couldn't accept her offer. I wanted to be there for Greer. She deserved that. 

The smile she gave me when I picked her up made missing part of the meeting worth it. Her smile was enough to light up my darkest days.

"Hey Bug." I greeted, gently ruffling her hair as she wrapped her arms around my leg, looking up at me with her blue eyes. "How was your day?" I questioned, letting out a small grunt as I bent down to pick her up. 

She held out the picture she had painted- pink like Bellamy had asked. "Good." she answered. "I painted this for Bellamy."

I grinned, adjusting her on my hip as we approached the tavern. "He is going to love it." I whispered, raising my brows in excitement. 

She beamed at me, reaching up to hastily push her curls out of her face. "Can we play a game tonight?" she wondered. 

"What kind of game?"

She gave a small shrug. "My daddy used to pick the game."

I felt a small pang in my heart as I nodded. "Okay. How about tonight, we'll play whatever game you want. How does that sound?"

Her smile was smaller this time, but nonetheless she gave me a small nod as I reached out and pulled the doors to the tavern open. 

The minute we were inside, Bellamy was quickly approaching us. But instead of wearing an excited smile at the sight of Greer, he looked distressed. 

I quickly set Greer down, allowing her to grasp onto my leg as she watched Bellamy make his way toward us. "He looks sad." she whispered. 

Looking down at her briefly, I forced a smile onto my face. "It's okay, G."

Once he reached us, Bellamy forced a smile onto his face similar to the way I had. "Hey, Greer." Dropping to his knees, he looked over to where B.A stood, her expression soft. 

"You're going to go hangout with B.A for a little bit, okay? Avery and I have some work to do."

Greer's face fell slightly as she shook her head. "But I want to stay with you guys." she whimpered, causing my heart to break. 

I gave Bellamy a sad look as I lowered myself down to Greer's level. Taking her little hand in my own, I turned her to face me. "Bell and I have to go help one of our friends. But once she's safe, I promise I'll come back for you and we'll all be together again."

Letting out a small sniffle, she silently handed her painting to Bellamy. "I made this for you."

I swear that child was trying to purposely break our hearts. The expression on Bellamy's face said it all. 

Taking it from her, he pulled her into a tight hug. "Be good for B.A." he instructed. "We'll see you soon."

Once he had released her, Greer turned to me and threw her little arms around me. "I love you."

I looked to Bellamy who's face had softened in admiration as he watched the two of us. Holding onto Greer a little tighter, I nodded. "I love you too, Bug."

I hadn't know Greer for more than a week, but the bond I felt with her made it seem as though we had known each other her entire life. I wanted to protect her like she was my own child, keep her safe and let her know how loved she was. 

As we pulled apart, I noticed that B.A had approached, and was watching us with a gentle smile. I gave her a quick look before looking back to Greer. "Now, maybe if you ask reaaaallly nicely, B.A might give you some of the cookies she baked for today."

"Do you like chocolate chip?" B.A wondered, looking down at Greer with an excited smile. 

Greer nodded, rushing to grab onto B.A's hand. If only she knew what was really going on. This may be the last time she got to see her home.

Pushing down my emotions, I stood up and looked to Bellamy. "What's going on?" I questioned once I knew B.A and Greer were out of earshot. 

He let out a small sigh as he led me toward the table where the rest of our group was. "We have to move. Now."

"But we're not ready." I argued. "How are we supposed to get Josephine out of here?"

"Emori told us that they're planning on using an EMP to get Clarke out of her own head once and for all. They're doing it today."

"Damn it." I muttered, letting out a frustrated breath as we stopped at the table.

Bellamy gave a small nod. "Emori knows she's alive, and she's going to help us. We just need to get Josephine out to the shield."

Realization kicked in. "We can use the EMP to take down the shield." I assumed, watching as Bellamy's face let up slightly. 

"You can do it?" he questioned hopefully. "If something happens to Emori, you'll need to be the one to do it."

I nodded. "Yeah, I can do it. But how are we getting Josephine out there without anyone noticing."

"Emori's going to take off with the EMP." Echo explained. "Murphy and Josephine will likely follow after her. And if we're lucky, they'll avoid telling any guards what's going on."

"So we get Josephine out, and then where do we go? The transport ship won't be landing for at least another day."

"We find a place and hunker down until the ship is back." Bellamy answered. 

"Okay." I breathed, my mind running through the inner-workings of the plan. "And what about Greer?"

"B.A thinks we're going on some scouting party. She's keeping Greer safe until it's time to go." Bellamy promised, noting my concern.

"When it's time to go, I'll get her out, Avery. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe." Miller assured, giving me a small nod. 

I gave him a thankful look as I looked around at the nervous glances all of us wore. We were really doing this. We were getting out.

"Good." Bellamy announced when it seemed that our plan had been fortified. "Avery and I will head out to the fields now. All of you, gather up your things and be ready to go in the next thirty minutes."

As everyone scattered from the table to begin preparing for departure, I turned to Bellamy. "Can we really do this?"

He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear as he nodded. "I hope so."

---

I could feel my heart in my throat as Bellamy and I quickly and discretely made our way through the Joberry fields, looking for a place to take cover while we waited for Emori, and hopefully Murphy and Josephine. 

"Do you think John would have changed his mind if he knew Clarke was still alive? Wouldn't have betrayed us?" I asked, breaking the silence that they two of us had fallen into. 

Looking over at me, Bellamy let out a sigh. "I'd like to think so."

I'd like to think so too. Murphy had, against all odds, become one of my best friends. Seeing him so easily betray us hurt me to the core. 

"Here." Bellamy instructed, pointing to one of the rows. "We'll wait here. Emori should be on her way."

He was right, as not even five minutes later I could see Emori rushing down one of the rows, the EMP device in her hands and a distressed look on her face.

"We wait here until we know the guards didn't follow." Bellamy whispered, leaning closer to me as we watched Emori rush by us. 

She was almost to the end of the row when the loud motor of a dirt bike filled the air. It came to a stop at the end of the row, cutting her off from going any further. 

The two people on the bike stepped off and pulled off their helmets, revealing that it was Murphy and Josephine. I felt a small surge of hope. 

"Just like we hoped." I muttered, shooting Bellamy a quick look. 

"Emori, what are you doing?" Murphy wondered, walking toward his girlfriend. "Let's go back, be immortals."

Josephine said something to him, but we were too far away to hear what it was. Whatever Murphy said in response caused her to back up slightly, a quick eye roll included as she raised her hands in surrender. 

Murphy turned back to Emori, his face softening. "I love you. I know that this is hard, but Clarke was willing to put you in an oven. You remember that?"

I felt my stomach drop at the mention of what had happened all those years ago in Becca's lab. Clarke had been fully ready to have Emori killed. But that was then, this was now.

Emori let out a sad sigh. "Oh, John, I'm so sorry it had to be like this."

"Like what? Emori, nothing needs to change. We can go back right now. I told them not to tell the guards about any of this."

Bellamy and I shared a look. It was go time. 

We both stood up to our full height, moving so we were in sight of Josephine and Murphy. 

"That's what we were counting on." Bellamy announced, the two of us making our way toward them as Murphy's face fell. 

Josephine threw her head back slightly. "Oh, perfect. It's you two."

I gave her a pointed look as she let out a humourless laugh. "You know, I admire you guys. I really do. If the other Primes had half your balls, we'd be swimming in hosts, and none of this would be necessary. But unfortunately it is. "

Murphy had quickly moved away from us, making his way back to where Josephine was. 

Emori, Bellamy and I kept pushing on. Not stopping as we made our way toward them. We needed to carry out our next moves in a calculated way, there was no room for mistake. 

Josephine looked unamused, almost bored. "I'm going to give you the facts, because I don't think you thought this through. Yes, Clarke's alive, but the brain we now share is dying, so unless one of you is a neurosurgeon , this body will die in hours, not days. My mind will be backed up and her's won't."

I wanted to punch the cocky look right off of Josephine's face, but I settled for using words to burn her instead. "Actually, our neurosurgeon's on his way." 

As Josephine's face fell in shock, I could hardly resist the triumphant smile that fought to spread across my lips. 

Murphy let out a small sigh as Josephine looked to him in confusion. "Jackson." he explained.

"Huh." Josephine laughed. "Okay. Sure. Let's say that he figures it out. He won't, but, just for fun. Where are you gonna operate? Here in a Joberry field?"

"Actually, we were thinking about using one of the 14 research outposts marked on the map your father gave us." Bellamy corrected. 

Josephine's hard demeanour was cracking, and I could tell that she was becoming increasingly worried. "Well," she breathed, looking over her shoulder. "It's too bad you can't get past the radiation shield."

I crossed my arms over my chest, quirking a brow at her. "Oh, that's where the EMP comes in."

Josephine looked like all the blood had drained from her face as Bellamy gave Emori a small nod, signalling for her to set the EMP in place. 

She hesitated for a moment before her feet started moving toward the closest pylon. As she went to pass Murphy, he reached out to her with pleading eyes. "Emori--"

He was harshly cut off as Josephine grabbed onto him, ripping him back toward her as she shoved him to the ground before pressing a scalpel to his neck. 

Instinctively, I took a step forward as panic flooded through my body. Bellamy was forced to reach out and grab onto me, holding me close to him as I watched with panicked eyes. 

"Sorry, John." Josephine muttered before looking to Emori. "Step away from the device."

Emori didn't really have a choice. Slowly, she set the EMP down before raising her hands in front of her in surrender. 

"You think we care about that traitor?" Bellamy challenged. It was a bluff, but Josephine didn't need to know that. 

She cocked her head slightly as she let out a bitter laugh. "By the way Avery reacted, I'm going to go with yes. Which brings us to yet another episode of "No Good Choices."" She looked down at Murphy. "Clarke would love this. Either you let Murphy died in a doomed attempt to save her, starting a war with my father or we stay friends and live happily ever after." She wore a mocking smile. "Take a minute to think it over."

I tried to keep my face neutral as Bellamy looked over at me, the two of us silently trying to communicate our thoughts. 

As I looked over at Murphy, my heart broke. He looked terrified, and as much as I wanted to assure him that everything would be okay, I couldn't. 

Suddenly, a loud alarm began to blare across the fields and all through Sanctum. Something had gone wrong. 

My mind immediately went to Greer and instantly I felt guilty for even leaving her in the first place. I prayed that Miller had her. 

Josephine wore a condescending look. "Huh. That can't be good for you. Stand down now, and this never happened."

I looked over to Bellamy, my face finally breaking in worry. "We can't do this without Jackson."

Murphy, who finally seemed to come to his senses, spoke up. "You don't need him." his voice shook with his words, indicating his fear. "Find Gabriel. He was one of them, but then he bailed. Ryker helped him escape."

Josephine scoffed. "Gabriel let 70 years ago. He'd be 106 by now, also known as dead."

Despite the words she was speaking, I could see the worry that slowly took over Josephine's features. 

A challenging smile came to my lips as I watched her. "Then why do you look so concerned?"

Yet another noise filled the air. This time it was the sound of more motorbikes quickly making their way through the Joberry fields toward us. 

"Here they come." Josephine taunted. 

I turned my head slightly, my eyes falling on the bikes that were getting closer and closer. We had to make a move and we had to make it now. 

So I did. 

"Emori, set the EMP." I instructed.

I was terrified that Josephine was going to act on her word and actually kill Murphy, but we had to take this chance. 

Emori's eyes darted between Murphy and myself, trying to decide what she should actually do. 

After a few passing moments, she finally moved, turning to pick up the device.

"So much for forever." Josephine muttered before quickly slicing the blade across Murphy's thigh. 

I felt myself lurch forward as Emori let out a scream, dropping the device as she rushed toward him. As much as I wanted to go to my friend, Josephine needed to be stopped. 

She attempted to run, making for the EMP device. But before she got even a few steps in, I grabbed onto her arm and twisted, causing her to reel bad in pain. 

In a quick movement, she spun back and sent her fist into my cheek. I faltered for a moment before latching onto her other arm, kicking out her legs from under her to demobilize her even just for a moment. 

Bellamy arrived next to us, helping me hold Josephine down as he secured the restraints on her wrists. "Go." he ordered to me. "Set the EMP."

My eyes met with his for a moment as he yanked Josephine off the ground, holding her on a tight leash. 

"I can't come with you." I declared as I bent down and picked up the EMP.

Bellamy nodded as he pulled Josephine toward him. "I know. Go to Greer and keep our friends safe."

I was thankful he understood what I had to do. "When the ship gets back, I'll find you."  I assured. 

When Bellamy gave me a small nod, I moved toward the pylon, quickly tossing the device into the pylon. My hands were shaking as I pressed the first button, firing up the device. "We got this." 

Josephine rolled her eyes. "You so don't."

I ignored her, not wasting anymore time before pressing down on the button. The shield lit up for a moment before the sound of it powering down reverberated across the field.

"It's down. Go!"

My heart was pounding as Bellamy began to drag Josephine out of the limits of Sanctum. She was putting up a fight, and if he didn't get her out in ten seconds it was all over. 

I turned my head, looking back to see how close the guards were getting. We still had a few minutes give or take. 

Finally, Bellamy managed to pull Josephine across the threshold. And just in time, as seconds later the shield zapped as it rebooted. 

He kept a firm grip on her as he turned back to me, giving me a long look. "Be careful." he ordered, worry in his tone. "I love you."

Nodding, I took a small step away from the shield. "Save Clarke." I pleaded. "I love you too."

Josephine gagged as she tried to shove away from Bellamy. "You two are revolting."

Bellamy gave her a harsh tug, giving me a final look before dragging Josephine into the woods. 

The minute they were gone, I turned to Emori and Murphy, instantly dropping down next to them.

"Move." I ordered to Murphy, trying to push his hands away so I could assess the damage. 

He looked up at me in shock before slowly moving his hands away to reveal the large gash that was bleeding profusely. 

I shrugged my jacket off, quickly tying it above his wound before clamping my hands over the gash. "We need to keep pressure." I explained, turning my head slightly as the sounds of the bikes got closer. 

"Collins, go." Murphy demanded, trying to push my hands away. "Go to Greer."

I looked up at him with firm eyes. "I'm not just going to leave you. No matter what you did."

Emori placed her hand on my shoulder. "Avery, go." she said softly. "I've got this. Get back and help our friends."

I felt my heart tug in two different directions. As much as I didn't want to leave Murphy here, I knew there were people back at Sanctum who needed me right now. 

Reluctantly, I pulled away from Murphy, my hands now coated in his blood as Emori assumed the position I had been in. "Don't die, John. I mean it."

He gave me a shaky salute. "Got it."

With my heart feeling heavy, I turned away from the two of them and began down the row back toward Sanctum. 

It was time to see what had caused the alarms.