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chapter thirty-nine, Acting

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"What do you mean, you're not building a bomb?" Bellamy asks as him and Octavia are back from there trip. "Releasing it in the water will cause it to aerosolize at a lower concentration" Gabriel answers, "We'll trigger an evacuation without inducing a mass psychosis" Clarke adds on and Bellamy looks between them not knowing what to say making Nova roll her eyes. "In other words, no innocent people will die... hopefully" Nova says and whispers the last part making Bellamy look back at her but not say anything.

"How long until they realize there's no eclipse and turn around?" Octavia wonders. "Not long enough. We'll need to be inside before it starts, which means-. "Which means the shield needs to be down before it starts" Bellamy says finishing Clarke's sentence. "Can you do that without a distraction?"Octavia asks as she looks over at Gabriel but Bellamy looks to Clarke and Nova who have guilty looks on their faces and that's when we realizes.

"It wouldn't be him" Bellamy says and Nova sighs. "Bellamy, it's the only way" Clarke answers and Octavia furrows her eyebrows and intervenes in the conversation. "What is?" She asks and Clarke sighs, "I go as Josephine and Nova goes as Violet" Clarke answers and Bellamy shakes his head in disbelief. "Clarke, if you guys fail, if Russell figures out that his daughter is dead, all our people are dead, too" Bellamy argues and Nova groans in annoyance. "Then we won't fail. We won't" Nova promises and Bellamy still looks quite hesitant and just as he's about to answer motorcycle engines are heard in the distance and they're getting closer.

"Wait here" Bellamy says as him and Octavia go outside while Children of Gabriel shout things at each other. Shortly after, Bellamy and Octavia are dragged back inside by the Children of Gabriel. Nelson hands Layla his gun and Layla follow them back inside. Layla proceeds to tie up everyone and place gags in there mouth. Nelson starts shouting at orders for his people and they all listen and get into position ready for anything that's coming. Yelling is heard but then all of a sudden so are gunshots which shock everyone as the gunfire continues. Layla goes to the door to look out at the raid. Knife slashes fabric on the side of the Lab's wall and Murphy and Jade enter then tent.

"Hey there" Murphy greets and Nova rolls her eyes and groans quietly knowing she has a role to play. Layla points her gun at Murphy. Jade slams the butt of her gun into Layla's head. "Josephine? Violet?" Jade wonders and Clarke and Nova both nod their heads as gunfire continues outside.

Jade bends down to the two girls and takes the gag off of Clarke and Nova. "Well done, Jade. You just can't pick a side, can you, John?" Clarke says as she impersonates Josephine and Jade begins cutting the bonds on Clarke and Nova. Nova stands to her feet and rudely helps Clarke to her feet knowing that's how Violet would act around her. "The only reason I'm doing this is because Emori dies if I don't. Echo's in trouble, too. I promise I'll do what I can for her" Murphy says and Violet rolls her eyes as she walks over to Murphy.

"Give us two seconds to make sure it's clear, then follow" Jade orders and Nova nods her head as she looks into Murphy's eyes and he looks quite scared and knows something is off but doesn't point it out. "Nice hair.. you ditch the blonde?" Murphy asks and Nova clears her throat. "I didn't ditch it. It got to dirty, let's hope there's another one waiting for me at Sanctum" Nova cheers as Murphy nods his head slowly. Layla begins to regain consciousness and stirs. Jade aims her gun at her. "Wait" Nova stops and looks between Jade and Layla then over at Clarke who nods her head secretly and grabs a gun from the table and aims it at Layla.

"This one's mine. Go. Make sure it's clear" Clarke orders and Jade leaves on her orders. "Are they really gone this time?" Murphy asks and Nova scoffs. "Don't feel so bad Murphy. They went out in the most painful way possible" Nova says and Murphy swallows a large lump down his throat. "Now, as soon as I pull this trigger, your little decoy trick will fail. You better run" Clarke orders and Murphy hums and leaves the tent. Clarke then points at the ground and fires the gun and Nova looks back to make sure the coast is clear and rushes over to Bellamy and takes the gag off of him.

"We can do this" Nova whispers and Bellamy nods his head. "Get that shield down. I'll bring the cavalry" Bellamy says and Clarke and Nova both nods their heads and leave the tent.

"You mind walking a little faster?" Murphy asks and Nova nudges Murphy to the side and walks in-front of him. "Murphy, Clarke, Nova, Jade, and some Guards come into view of Russell and his Guards. "If they were gonna kill us, we'd be dead by now. They know that we're here" Clarke rants and Nova tilts her head to the side and looks to Russel. "No hug? High five? Granola bar?" Nova jokes and Russel lets out a few laughs before he pulls both Nova and Clarke in for a hug. Nova pats Russel's back but made sure it was awkward.

"How is this possible?" Russel asks before they all pull away from the hug. "It's a long story. Suffice to say, I'm awesome. What I'm not, however, is immortal. Gabriel took out my drive" Clarke answers still impersonating Josephine. "I really do hate to interrupt, but..." Murphy says and Nova looks over at him. "Yet.. you did it anyway" Nova points out as Russel places a hand on Nova's shoulder telling her to relax. "I'm a man of my word. You earned your place here. Take him to Emori, and clear the Doctor and the rest of her people from the Lab" Russel orders and Murphy and some guards leave.

"Where's Mom?" Clarke wonders and Nova looks around like she cares until Russell holds out Simone's Mind Drive. "Oh.." Nova trails off and looks down at the mind drive then back up at Russel. "There was an incident, but it's ok. I was just on my way to resurrect her, but that can wait" Russel says and Nova chuckles humorlessly not sure what he meant. "I'm sorry.. resurrect her in who?" Nova wonders as she looks over at Clarke.

"Yeah, I mean. Abby did it. We can make hosts" Clarke argues and Russel nods his head, "Yes, but not how you think. Come on. Let's get you two checked out" Russel says as he places a hand on there backs while they all walk side by side up to the castle and into the lab.

"So I used Clarke's neural mesh to stay in her brain. Turnabout's fair play. Am I right? Anyway, I killed her in the Mindspace. Now here we are" Clarke says as she explains how she 'died' in the mind space. "Nova was easy.. you tell her everything that's wrong with her and she just goes" Nova says and starts to feel guilty that she said that about herself it keeps her emotions under control. "Yeah, How about next time, we choose a less crowded host? What do you say?" Clarke jokes as they walk into the lab and see Madi strapped to a chair having her blood drained.

"Oh.. Um- What's going on here?" Nova asks as she balls her fist up and tightens them while looking to Madi who looks terrible. "This is how we make hosts" Russel says and Nova's eyes trail over Madi, "Bone marrow?" Clarke asks and Russel nods his head. "Clarke, is that you? Nova.." Madi trails off as a smile creeps up on her face. Nova and Clarke make eye contact but they both know if they want there people out of here alive they have to play the role. "No. It's not. She put up a good fight, though, kid. Can't win them all" Clarke answers still impersonating Josephine. "Yeah, sadly for Nova she didn't put up much of a fight at all. Too bad I would have loved to kill her over and over and over and ov-" Nova continues but Madi is triggered by the whole situation and starts going crazy in her restraints.

"We're gonna kill you! We're gonna kill all of you and everything you love!" Madi screams painfully as sweat slides down her face. Clarke stabs an anesthesia stick into Madi's arm and Madi loses consciousness. "Hm.. what a crazy kid" Nova says as she relaxes her fist and looks down at her hand and notices that her nails dug so deep into her skin she started bleeding. "How many doses can we get out of her before she dies? You know what? Never mind. It's time for my new Drive" Clarke cheers and Nova clears her throat and smiles. "Totally, Being mortal sucks" Nova groans as she lifts her head and looks to Russel while she wipes the blood from her hands onto her pants.