chapter 35

Clarke opened her eyes and she was surprised to see that she was back in her cell on the Ark. She breathed heavily and she looked around the room in sheer confusion.

The room was the same six by six square it had always been, but now there were various drawings on the walls of the room. There was one of everyone she knew.

Her mom, Raven, Octavia, Bellamy, Roma, Anya, Wells, Tris and there was even one of Lincoln.

She put her hand on one of Bellamy with a snarl on his face and she was surprised as she felt the feeling of being transported somewhere.

Bellamy's face twisted into an expression of disgust before he said,"You know Clarke when we first got here I thought you were many things annoying, privileged, brave, smart and even a leader, but this is the first time I ever thought you were weak."

"If I'm so weak,"said Clarke coolly as blue light radiated from her hands,"Why don't you prove it?"

Bellamy cracked his knuckles and said,"Fine by me."

Immediately after the words left Bellamy's mouth there was a flash of blue and Bellamy felt something smash into his stomach sending him flying through the air before he hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

Bellamy looked up at Clarke who still had her hands extended towards him and said,"Is that all you got?Stop pulling your punches."

Clarke let go of the drawing and she realised the drawings must represent her memories. She put her hand on one of Octavia with her hands aloft and she smiled at the memory.

"We're back bitches!"

Clarke frowned as she saw one of the Exodus ship and despite knowing what it would show her she pressed her hand into it.

Of course, you had a plan of attack. This is why you send out the pawns first,"said Diana cryptically.

The others were confused by what that meant until a green laser similar to Jasper's own beam of energy went straight through Roma's chest directly over her heart.

The beam had been so quick and sudden that Clarke was unable to get close enough to Roma.

Roma fell down and everyone knew instantly that she was dead.

Clarke pulled away from the wall and she breathed heavily as she felt sweat gather on her brow.

It felt like the room was closing in on her and so Clarke ran out leaving the haunting images behind her. However, her confusion only grew as she made it out into the walkways of Alpha Station which was far, far away from the Sky Box.

Clarke looked behind her and she was shocked to see that there was no door behind her. The hallways were dark and Clarke felt on edge until she saw some of the lights overhead begin to turn on.

Clarke walked in the direction of the lights and she knew where she was being led having made the trip a few times when she was younger with Wells.

Therefore, when she stood in front of the Chancellor's office she took a deep breath and she was finally able to put a face to the voice that haunted her mind and dreams.

The woman was busy typing at a computer and Clarke watched as the woman didn't even seem to notice Clarke's presence.

Finally, the woman looked up and a small smile came over her face as she said,"Hello, Clarke. So nice of you to drop by."

Clarke felt her ire raise and she said,"What do you want, Darah?"

Darah ignored the question and sighed slightly,"Wow, did they get rid of manners on the Ark too. In my day, you had to respect your elders. How far has humanity fallen."

Clarke wasn't going to play this game, though, and she lifted her hands at Darah,"I don't Carr about manners. I want to know why you've been in my head. If you don't..."

A small ball of fire began to form in front of Clarke's hands and yet Darah barely reacted as she said,"Wow, no wonder Raven and Octavia looked so horrified. You're a little monster, aren't you? If you want to do this the long way then fine. Do it. "

The small ball grew larger and Clarke's anger grew with it. The relaxed posture and calm look on Darah's face annoyed Clarke, but it was her words that were doing the trick and Clarke was sure she was going to burn this woman to a crisp if she didn't keep her mouth shut.

"Oh, what's wrong?"said Darah as she noticed Clarke's arms begin to tremble,"Are you upset? I suppose no one likes to hear this, but face it Clarke you are a monster. How many people have you killed since landing? I bet you don't know. If I were your friends, I'd be scared too. You were so willing to offer, Mbege or whatever his name was, to that tribe. You say you're not like the Chancellor and yet there you were playing God with people's lives."

The flame reached the size of a basketball and it was steadily rising.

"I don't know why people bother being close to you anyways, "added Darah as if she wasn't facing a giant ball of fire,"Anyone who ends up close to dies. Wells. Roma. Your fath–"

Clarke let out a scream of pure anger as she shot the largest stream of fire she has ever made at Darah. The sream of fire zipped through the air, but it was stopped cold by a red barrier that appeared just in front of the woman.

Clarke knew her face was showing just how confused she was as a red barrier identical to that Clarke sometimes made with her psionic powers, but red in colour appeared in front of Darah.

Clarke stopped the stream and she was surprised to see Darah holding her hand out and there was red light rolling off of her exactly like when Clarke used her psionic powers.

Darah's eyes were also emitting red light and Clarke felt a pit form in her stomach at the sight.

"You didn't really think I would let you in here if I didn't have a way of defending myself, did you?"said the woman and Clarke ignored the incredulous tone of the woman as she made her way to the chair on the other side of the desk.

Darah raised a brow at the change of approach by Clarke, but Clarke didn't let it affect her as she stared at the other woman.

"We're in my head, "said Clarke finally and Darah's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you're a smart one,"said Darah jovially before her tone shifted,"Yes and no. This interface was created by the AI inside the Novus Darwin nanobots."

"Why are you here?"said Clarke as she saw that Darah was finally serious,"You died over a century ago."

Darah nodded and said,"I suppose that's what everyone thought. You see I knew that eventually humanity would return to Earth. In fact, I strongly suspected that there were still humans on Earth. You know the human genetic structure is amazing. Perhaps we don't have the strongest or fastest bodies, but we're the jack of all trades. We can adapt to any sort of environment given time and this isn't just from an evolutionary perspective. Every single species of animal on Earth was always affected by their environment. Polar bears fur turned white. Birds migrated during winter and so on and so forth."

Darah paused and now she was looking at Clarke directly, "However ,humans are different. We were the first to adapt our environment to us. That's how you survive. Action not reaction. It's why our population grew while those of animals fell. As amazing as animals are, they simply didn't have the intelligence, foresight or vision to be the apex predator that the humans are. "

Clarke bit back her annoyance at the woman's lecturing and said,"I understand all that, but what does any of that have to do with you being in my head?"

Darah sighed and said,"Excuse me, evolution is one of my passions so I apologise if I get sidetracked. To answer your question, I didn't die that day of the rebellion. In fact, you could say I never died at all."

Clarke's brow furrowed and she said,"They found your corpse in your lab. Your body either got floated or eaten by the people of the Ark. You definitely died."

Darah smiled despite the dark nature of the question and said,"So you say, but yet here I am. As a child my parents had always encouraged me and my siblings to learn up on various things. Economics. Politics. Medicine. They wanted to raise world changers and for the most part yes they were successful. The three of us certainly left our mark on the world although ironically we ended up distancing ourselves from each other due to a few unfortunate incidents so we never the unified power family that my parents so badly wanted. Anyways, one thing that I had read up on from my youth was existentialism and I won't bore you with the specifics, but I wouldn't say I'm dead. "

"What are you then?"said Clarke intently as she focused on everything the woman had to say.

"I simply am. There had been massive unrest on the Ark due to my experiments and I knew that my days were numbered so I engineered a way to upload my mind onto the Evolutionary Artifical Network or EvAN. That's the AI that runs the Novus nanobots in your body,"said Darah idly as if she were speaking about something mundane.

"You uploaded your mind, "said Clarke incredulously as she looked at the woman in front of her in awe,"You didn't commit suicide. You just uploaded your mind and left your body behind knowing people wouldn't look too deeply into your death."

"Yes,"said Darah,"Let me tell you it wasn't easy. I knew years in advance that soon someone would come for my position and so I made sure that I'd have an out. The Darwin nanobots will be the key to human survival and I had to be there to see it."

"You sound mighty sure of yourself?"said Clarke as she scoffed,"The American government already mimicked what you did and after the Blight I doubt many Arkers who take your serum will activate powers so it's not likely you'll be as revered as you think."

Darah's eyes turned icy,"I don't care about being revered. Everything I've done has a purpose. Your people call me a monster or evil or cruel, but I do not regret what I had to do and you will see that what I did was necessary. If I had to choose between allowing humans to survive and being popular, I'd take the former every single time. I'm used to being overlooked and dismissed and even so I shouldn't care, but with my knowledge it would have been a waste if I had not been able to invent the Darwin nanobots. They are the keys to the survival of the human race as are you Clarke. "