chapter 20

"Now there's no need to be so violent, "said Diana as she raised her arm and dutifully her men lowered their rifles. She then pointed up to the sky and said, "I'm no expert, but I'm going to assume that one you is responsible for the storm clouds above us?"

Raven's eyes were a gleaming white, but at Clarke's nod they returned to their normal colour and the gloomy skies rapidly dissipated to reveal the sun once again.

"Now we're all grown here,"said Diana as she walked out the Exodus ship and stopped a few yards away from Clarke," I won't bore you with the details of my little rebellion on the Ark. However, I must say that unfortunately your mother was killed by Marcus before we could come down here."

Raven snorted and said,"Bullshit, Abby was working against you. She told me so before sending me down here."

"That's probably what she wanted you to think. If Abby really was working against me then why was I able to commandeer the Exodus ship? Surely the word of the honourable Abigail Griffin would be enough to get me floated if she even suspected something was wrong?"said Diana before looking at Clarke,"I'm sure that's something your father would agree with Clarke."

Clarke took a step forward and didn't flinch even as the guards all raised their guns towards her.

"Don't you dare speak about my father,"said Clarke tersely as she stared into Diana's blue eyes,"You're just someone who couldn't handle not being I power and would do anything to get even a sliver of it. I wonder how many people you killed and betrayed to land that ship. Raven over there told me that the Exodus ship decoupling was never meant to be a gentle process. You probably killed everyone on board the Ark. Why don't you just cut to the chase and tell me why you wanted to speak to me?"

Diana smirked and said,"Blunt. Just like your mother. Anyways, you are correct. The rebellion had not been nearly as successful as I had hoped. I only got about 30 of my men on the ship. We were getting overwhelmed and well I decided a smaller amount of my men on that ship would save us time to escape and also prolong how long we can use our supplies. Unfortunately, our landing was not ideal and some of us got killed during the entry into the atmosphere and our landing. "

"Get to the point, "said Clarke as she took in the predatory look on Diana's face and ignored the two guards that were getting a bit too close for comfort.

"You said you were meeting with one of the factions of the Grounders to Jaha,"

It was a statement not a question noted Clarke before Diana continued, "I doubt very many of the 100 have activated their powers and if you were to go to war with the Grounders–I imagine you'd be overwhelmed very soon."

Clarke processed the woman's words as she unknowingly hit the hammer on one of Clarke's fears. The Grounders were clearly all warrior tribes and battle was what they did. If you included the fact that they had a lot of experience with their powers on top of that it wasn't pretty.

"I can help you win any war you'd ever be in Clarke. This, "said Diana boldly as she pulled out a soft cover book of moderate thickness," This contains Darah Sydney's notes on every single version of the Darwin nanobots including your own Novus series. You don't understand the amount of power that's at your disposal Clarke. We would rule this world and finally live a life better than the horrid existence on the Ark. I'll give this to you, but all I want is your loyalty. We're all from the Ark. We've been dreaming all our lives to get back to Earth and it wouldn't do if our dreams were shattered by some savages. So, what say you Clarke?"

Clarke paused and she seriously considered Diana's offer despite the glare she could feel from her fellow delinquents. Even if they were vastly outnumbered by the Grounders, the weaponry they had retrieved from the cache was enough to outfit a small army. This too along with those in the 100 capable of mass destruction like herself and Raven were practically worth multiple soldiers in sheer destructive power alone.

That wasn't even combining whoever else in Diana's group had powers or weapons. It seemed like a good deal, but–

"I don't trust you,"said Clarke sharply, "You were to kill over 4000 people just for 30 of your men. You may have weapons, but we do too. You say the Grounders will kill us and you know what ? We'll be fine, it wouldn't be the first time we were supposed to die and it probably won't be the last. My father once told me it doesn't matter how or when someone dies simply how they lived."

The guards surrounding the delinquents were surprised when their rifles were covered in some strange blue energy and wrenched out their hands before they crumpled into little balls of metal.

"And I'd rather die before working with someone like you"spat Clarke before she turned and began to walk away.

It was only once Clarke passed Roma the smirk on Diana's face dropped. the sheer anger on Diana's face. Her cool facade was completely shattered and red began to bleed into her cheeks.

"Roma!"shouted Bellamy as he noted the hostile look in Diana's eyes and the girl nodded before taking a deep breath in. Luckily, Roma was at the front of her group and she let out what was an ear-splitting scream.

The sound waves generated by her scream were actually visible and four guards hadn't reacted quick enough and blood began to leak from their ears in copious amounts. Bellamy had focused on three of the guards and with a clenching of his fist their necks were snapped instantly and they dropped to the ground dead. Raven had also taken care of the guards near to her with a few quick laser blasts that she was careful to make sure were nowhere near touching the hydrazine.

Diana however had somehow generated a large wall of ice and although it was cracked heavily she proved to be fine as she dispelled the ice wall into water and said,"I see. A Duos level power. Did you know that sound with high power like yours tend to bounce off solid objects like metal or indeed ice. It's a shame that you only have such a basic power though. "

The 4 guards that were bleeding from their eats from Roma's assault were suddenly speared by ice spears after a lazy wave of Diana's hand.

"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 tracked the laser beam and she saw Shumway standing at the entrance of the dropship. It was seemingly Shumway that was the culprit as he still had his palm facing outwards.

Clarke felt anger boil through her entire being as she looked at the dead body of Roma. The girl who's life Clarke had saved and Clarke knew there was no saving Roma now for all her super speed and healing powers there was no cure for death. Roma the girl that had pined after Clarke. Roma the girl that Clarke had begun to like a lot more than she had expected.

A rush of information filled Clarke's head and this time in full control of her body she sped over to Shumway and held him up in the air. Her eyes closed instinctively and she felt the curious sensation of being able to pick at the very being of Shumway's being similar to when she had first stolen the Grounder's power.

This time however Clarke was able to understand more of what she was seeing. It was oddly fascinating to note that she was essentially able to scan and edit the entire makeup of Shumway's body. She found what she looking for however and again pulled on the strands of energy that she recognised as the powers that Shumway was in possession of.

He had fulfilled his potential and she could tell that the two powers he had was the limits of his body's capabilities. She erased the one that she recognised as the one that had killed Roma before stealing the other one. A rush of information came to her head as she suddenly became connected to the Exodus ship.

!*

She severed the connection between her and Shumway and she quickly grabbed his body before using it as a shield. She felt a lot of thuds impact into his body and she threw him aside as she noted the ice shafts buried deep into his back.

Clarke was dimly aware that only about 3 seconds had passed from the time she had first touched Shumway, but that wasn't what she cared about.

Instantly, Clarke had appeared by Diana's side and with a quick kick she had sent the women tumbling across the ground. Clarke didn't give Diana any respite and any time she rolled to a stop she would run to her and kick her away again before repeating the cycle. It was on the fifth cycle that Clarke stopped.

Blood was leaking copiously from Diana's mouth and her left ankle appeared bent out of shape as well as her right wrist. The woman laid helpless before Clarke and an inexplicable hunger filled Clarke.

She pressed down on the woman's head gently and Clarke was filled with information about the injuries that her prey had sustained from the scratches on her back to the bruised and battered organs in her abdomen. Clarke ignored this information and found what she was looking for.

This woman was more impressive than that pathetic man earlier. She had the ability to control water and also had the ability to control ice. However, this woman had the potential to activate 1 more power. Clarke couldn't quite tell what it was only that it was lying dormant.

It was then that Clarke knew how to punish this lady. She had no use for the water ability and so she erased it. The ice ability was stripped and Clarke felt her hunger lift slightly.

Clarke did what she was sure would hurt this woman more than anything. She activated and then stole the dormant power. She was amazed as she processed the new power and from the shaking below it appeared that her prey had realised what it was that had been taken from her. The deep seated hunger Clarke felt was now completely gone and now only the need for vengeance remained.

Clarke reduced the chance of her manifesting any powers even if she took a other injection to exactly zero. The scream that the woman let out was music to Clarke's screams rose in pitch and intesity before they turned into hoarse groans.

"Clarke?"said a somewhat familiar voice.

Clarke's eyes snapped open and she was overcome by a sudden sense of disgust and vertigo as she snapped out of the haze she was in. She turned to the source of the voice and she was surprised to see a brown haired girl –Octavia –standing before her. The girl looked horrified as she took in the bloody and battered form of Diana.

It was only then that Clarke realised she had kicked Diana well over six hundred metres away from the Exodus ship in total and in her fervent anger, she hadn't even noticed Octavia approach.

She turned towards Diana who was still in visible pain and with a sigh Clarke's hands lit up with green light and she healed the injuries Diana had sustained to the point where she would live. The sound of bones snapping into place barely phased Clarke and before long she knew that Diana would be in decent enough condition to survive.

The others had approached and Bellamy was holding Roma's body in his arms. Clarke took in the peaceful look on the girl's face and she sighed as her heart ached heavily.

Clarke tore her eyes away from the sight and turned to Diana who was still laying on the floor groaning,"I've taken any and all powers you may have had now and in the future. I would kill you, but I think it would be better to let you live with the idea that all your careful planning and schemes resulted in nothing. The plans and dreams you had for the future will never bear fruit and you'll be forever destined to live as the failure that you are."

Clarke's hand began to sparkle with electricity as she approached the immobile form of Diana and she crouched down and said, "May you live forever. "

Clarke pressed her palm to the back of Diana's neck and Diana's body tensed before she fell unconscious. Clarke reached into Diana's jacket pocket and pulled out the book that was in there before she walked past the silent forms of Octavia, Bellamy and Raven.

Clarke had taken Roma's body from Bellamy and they had looted the Exodus ship of anything valuable that they were able to carry on them or (in Bellamy and Clarke's case) telekinetically )which ended up being quite the haul. They had left all the rifles and bullets, but they had taken the shock batons, preserved food and medical supplies before Raven had cut the fuel tanks allowing the hydrazine to spread all over.

They left Diana there lying in the dirt after they had looted the Exodus ship for anything of value. Once they were suitably far enough, Raven dropped what she was holding and pointed both her hands at the husk of the Exodus ship a kilometre away.

She was about to fire, but was interrupted by Clarke,"You're too far away."