16. Perverse Instantiation - Part Two

Complete story — includes the ending

At Arkadia, Monty rescues Harper and captures Jasper. With Ontari brain dead, Clarke frees Abby with the EMP to transfuse Ontari's Nightblood into herself so that she can use the Flame; as Clarke's friends defend her, Clarke enters the City of Light to find the kill switch though she has only a short time before A.L.I.E. absorbs the Flame and can delete the kill switch. Aided by the spirit of Lexa, summoned from the Flame by Clarke's mind, and hacking guidance from Raven, Clarke reaches the kill switch inside of a simulation of Polaris where she is greeted by the First Commander Becca and A.L.I.E. A.L.I.E. reveals that the world's abandoned nuclear power plants are melting down and releasing radiation, meaning that the Earth will be uninhabitable in the next six months and the City of Light is the only salvation. Clarke attempts to get A.L.I.E. to give people a real choice rather than force them to come, but Becca admits that A.L.I.E.'s core programming prevents such a thing from happening. Clarke proclaims that they will find another way and pulls the kill switch, destroying A.L.I.E. and freeing everyone. In the aftermath, Octavia kills Pike to avenge Lincoln's death and Clarke warns Bellamy that they haven't saved the world yet.