Thanks for your reviews and feedback. I'm happy you guys enjoyed Clarke and Bellamy's training scene so much. I tried hard on that part and your reviews were awesome.
This is my longest chapter yet and reveals one of the major differences between my world and the 100. Please keep dropping ypur thoughs on powers, pairings and the story in general.
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Monty and Raven were sitting in the dropship and were still putting touchups on the radio. It was still quite dark out yet dawn appeared to be fast approaching.
"Do you think this'll work when we're done here?"asked Monty as he paused and stretched.
Raven scoffed and said,"I know it's gonna work. Besides you're the guy that fucked up and fried everyone's wristbands last night..."
Monty groaned at the reminder of his error. He had been tired and even though he'd made some caffeine laced cherries to keep him focused and they worked amazingly well at first. It was only later on when everyone had run to their tents and the dropship after Jasper's signal that he'd begun to tire.
The all clear had been given later on after give or take an hour and half until a rather tMonty had made a few incorrect connections and the wristbands of everyone had fallen off and Monty had to placate a tired and exhausted Raven who had been napping after her eventful day.
The genius Zero-G mechanic had taken over the salvaging of the parts of the 'radio' that Monty had made using the wristbands and merged them with the radio that Raven had brought down with her while Monty was given some much needed downtime.
Raven, Jasper, Roma and Miller were going to be acting as the unofficial guards of the camp while Bellamy, Clarke and Finn were on Octavia's trail. According to Raven, Bellamy had nearly charged after his sister in the dark of night once he'd heard from Finn and Jasper that they had been unable to pick up her trail at night.
It was only thanks to the words of Clarke who'd managed to make Bellamy see reason and she also promised that they'd pull as much manpower as possible to help find Octavia. Bellamy had still been reluctant, but had finally backed down when Clarke had threatened to force him to stay which had apparently been enough to convince Bellamy to stand down.
Monty couldn't blame Bellamy in all honesty.
Telekinesis or no telekinesis, but fighting Clarke was something that would probably end with being more than just a little sore and considering Clarke was also the medic of the camp then she could probably also prolong your pain as long as she wanted. That wasn't Clarke's style it was more of a Raven thing from the little Monty had been able to gather of Raven's personality.
"Man Monty, I swear if Abby hadn't sent me down here I don't know how you guys thought you'd manage to contact the Ark. That radio you built was a disgrace. That's putting it lightly too."
Case in point.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, "groused Monty as he resisted the urge to drug Raven with a cherry with extreme laxative effects,"Anyways, do you think the Ark saw your flares?"
Raven smiled at the annoyance in Monty's voice before she said,"Well, I hope so. Abby said that Diana lady was going to try something so they might be busy, but there's usually a few people Earth watching no matter what's the time so I think they know we're alive at the very least and hopefully we stopped the culling."
"I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Your flares must have definitely gotten their attention. If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to stretch my legs out for a bit,"said Monty as he stood up and moved to the small window after Raven's affirmative grunt.
Monty looked outside the window at the shining light in the sky he knew to be the Ark and he watched for a few minutes as it moved in a figure eight pattern.
It was a soothing sight that was only disturbed once white streaks began to shoot across the sky in a dazzling light show.
Monty raised an eyebrow at the sight and looked to Raven and said,"I think you're gonna want to see this. I can't tell what it is."
Raven rose at the insistent tone in Monty's voice and she peered up at the sky to see what the big fuss was. Upon seeing the white streaks Raven swore loudly and kicked the wall of the dropship. A dent formed on the sight of impa6and Monty flinched from the loud noise that had been made.
"What's wrong? Do you know what that is?"asked Monty slowly as he took in the angry form of Raven.
"I know what it is alright, "said Raven as she tried to rein in her anger.
Monty watched as the anger slowly subsided from Raven and felt a cold pit form in his stomach from the words Raven practically spat out.
"It's a funeral. We were too late."
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Abby sat at her table as she contemplated the events that had happened and were to come on the Ark.
The emergency meeting had gone on and the council had decided to not inform the citizens of the Ark about the 100 just yet. Thelonious and Kane had both listened to what she had had to say and although Thelonious had been frustrated and angered that Abby hadn't informed him immediately about Diana's treachery, he had eventually conceded Abby had been right to try to find out more.
The Chancellor had been surprised that Diana had organised the theft of the nanobots and had also been responsible for them believing the 100 to be dead. The worst thing was that since Shumway was clearly in league with Diana then it was near impossible for Kane to mobilise the Guard against her as she already had the loyalty of Kane's second in command so it was likely that a good portion of the Ark were also loyal to her.
The thing that put Abby most on edge was the fact that Diana still saw her as necessary and also the fact that she hadn't tried to silence or discredit her in any shape or form. The fact that Diana clearly wanted her for something put her on edge and she was sure she wasn't going to like the answer to that conundrum.
Five taps on her door drew her attention and Abby said, "Come in."
The door swung open to reveal Marcus who had a solemn and defeated expression as he mumbled a greeting and sat down on her couch. Kane hadn't been the same since the sighting of the flares and Abby could tell that the weight of condemning the entirety of Sector 17 to a meaningless death weighed heavily on Kane's shoulders.
"If you'd like Marcus,"began Abby as she looked at the shell of a man,"You could rest on my bed. I haven't been able to sleep and I can tell you're also exhausted. "
Kane shook his head and said," Abby, you need to get rest. You need to be well rested for any patients you might have and you already know I can't sleep. So long as we don't knowwhat Diana's motives are and who's she's working with I have to be the one to look after you."
Abby was touched at the concern Kane was showing her, but she brushed it aside and said,"I know that Marcus, but you need rest too. We both know if Diana is going to make a move it'll be today. The funeral had gone on for a few hours so into the night and you went to that and you've been walking rounds for the past few hours now. It's practically already time for me to go to Medical. I'll be safe there too I'm sure. You need rest too."
Marcus sighed and stood up and said,"I'm sorry Abby, but I can't do that. I was the one who advocated the culling. It was my idea and I'm in charge of security yet I let a rebel group form right under my nose. I don't deserve to rest. All those people dead because I simply wasn't as wise as you were to vote against the culling. This situation is one of my making and I'll be damned if I let anyone else get hurt on my watch. "
Abby had moved closer to Kane throughout his speech and once he was done she stood in front of him. She pulled him into a hug and said, "I know you feel like this is all your fault, but you did the best with the knowledge available to you. There was no possible way of knowing of discovering Diana's scheming and remember she was the one who made the screen broadcast that the 100 had all died. I only voted against the culling in the vain hope that Clarke was still alive down there. I didn't know for certain whether or not they had died and if the vote had gone my way it was still entirely possible that I had doomed the Ark in my selfishness. We can't do much about the sins of the past, Marcus. We've both done terrible, despicable things, but the only thing that matters is if we're able to learn from these and strive to be better people. It's the least we could do."
Tears had formed in Kane's eyes as he heard the words of support coming from Abby. The powerful words resonated deeply within him before he wiped his eyes and said,"Thank you Abby. It means a lot."
The two stayed just as they were letting silent tears fall as the two basked in the emotional and physical support of another human being before an alarm went off and she separated from the hug to go and turn it off.
The clock read 9AM and Abby hurriedly turned it off before she began to freshen up and swapped out her jacket for another as she began to prepare for work.
She was done in a few minutes and found Kane standing as he waited for her.
"You aren't late?"inquired Kane as he noticed the late time.
"No, that was Clarke's alarm. I've barely spent any time in here since she got locked up and I'm usually out the house when her alarm goes off so I haven't turned it off. Jackson's in charge of the night and morning shifts so I don't usually need to be at Medical until around 10, but this is the first time I've really used that perk,"said Abby as she closed a few buttons on her coat.
She made for the door, but stopped in front of Kane and said,"You can sleep here. Remember the announcement is at 3. Don't worry Marcus. The guilt will go away. "
Abby schooled her features and made to leave, but the parting words from Kane as he lied down on her couch nearly made her stumble.
"That's what I'm scared of Abby."
Abby looked back, but she was surprised to see that Kane had already fallen asleep showing just how tired he was.
"Sleep well, Marcus. "
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Finn, Bellamy and Clarke were following the path that Finn believed was that of Octavia and her captors. The three had been following the trail of broken twigs and bloodspots- though those had stopped appearing after a while- and they had been at it for a good few hours.
The party of three stopped after Clarke called for a break much to Bellamy's anger.
"Why the hell are we stopping?"said Bellamy with a perturbed look on his face. The other two didn't understand that Bellamy couldn't —wouldn't — stop until Octavia's safety was guaranteed. He'd already lost one family member. He didn't eerwant to add to that number if he could help it.
"Look Bellamy,"said Finn slowly as he took a sip from his canteen,"It looks like there was more than one person on this path and if these guys were able to take out Octavia then it probably would make sense that we aren't dead on our feet if we find them."
"When we find them,"corrected Clarke as she passed them some of the food she had packed before they left camp,"If these guys wanted to kill Octavia then I bet you they would have simply killed her and left her body nearby. I'm pretty sure we're on the right path. Octavia definitely didn't go down without a fight if those shards were anything to go by."
Bellamy ,despite himself, could see the validity and he accepted the bottle of water that Finn threw his way. The three rested for five more minutes before they continued on their way.
Occasionally, Clarke would look up into the trees as she remembered the other Grounders they had encountered had made use of the trees, but she hadn't spotted anything through the rather thick canopy.
While they were walking, Clarke tried her best to understand her elemental powers. It was hard to explain how she was able to use different powers at different times, but the only thing she could liken it to was discovering a set of muscles that you had no idea existed until they were there.
The other delinquents who had activated their powers – a number that was still way below ideal agreed with this although some of them have mentioned how there were moments that they couldn't control their powers or had a 'muscle spasm' .
The spasms occurred for a host of various reasons such as Octavia's armour activating whenever she was in danger to Jasper, ironically, nearly burning Octavia to hell when he stared just a bit too hard at her ass.
Bellamy remained blissfully unaware of the infatuation Jasper had with his sister and that was probably for the best. Octavia would probably go out of her way to flirt with Jasper and others if only to annoy her brother.
She had an understandably strong dislike of authority.
Clarke tore herself away from thoughts of the Ark, for now at least. The Ark was basically a powder keg waiting to be lit from Raven's estimation and Clarke knew there was no point in fussing over something that she couldn't affect as of yet. Monty and Raven said they'd be done with the radio by midday probably, but they'd wait for them to retrieve Octavia as long as possible before they'd signal the Ark.
Slight rustling in the canopies above drew Clarke's attention and she stopped walking nearly causing Bellamy to bump into her.
Finn stopped when he heard the footballs behind him cease and a grim look grew on his face as he spotted the grim look on Clarke and Bellamy's face.
Clarke was scanning the trees and readying for a fight, but there had been no further sounds. She motioned for the three of them to keep walking and they did, but this time they were much slower and cautious of their surroundings.
It was after perhaps another half hour of hiking that the first warning signs appeared. Clarke barely heard the sound of something landing behind them before she turned and Bellamy was grabbed by a Grounder and up into the branches.
Instantly, chaos broke out as a group of three Grounders dropped from above and landed surrounding Finn and Clarke who had instinctively gone back to back.
"Princess,"said Finn as he activated his intangibility –and by proxy made Clarke intangible too–and reached for the handle of his sword,"We need a plan of attack here."
Unseen to Finn, Clarke took a step forward and lightning crackled up and down her arms,"I do have a plan."
A strange smell that Finn couldn't quite identify filled the air before a large bolt of lightning shot at the ill-prepared Grounder who had the misfortune of being Clarke's target.
The man was hit instantly by the lightning and let out a guttural scream before his body collapsed to the ground. Finn had turned around and he noticed immediately that the man wasn't moving.
Finn was horrified at the sight and was barely able to move. The ease with which Clarke had killed the man struck deep within him. He watched as Clarke ruthlessly punched one of the Grounders away and sent him flying into the trunk of a tree with the momentum generated by her superhuman strength and speed.
The impact was emphasised by a loud crack and one look at the Grounder showed Finn that the tree wasn't the only thing that had been broken as the dented and misshapen head of the Grounder showed.
Clarke was oblivious to Finn's behaviour and she barely paid him any attention before she turned her attention to the other Grounder who seemed to have braced himself for anything.
Clarke took a moment to analyse the Grounder and she saw he was dressed in ratty clothing and perhaps most curiously his arms had what looked like old burn wounds across them. There were still some parts that were unblemished and showed what looked to have been an intricate tattoo at some stage, but it was though it had been deliberately removed through burning.
Clarke's eyes flicked over to the cooling corpses of the other men and as she expected the old burn marks were also present on their arms. It was clear then that this had been done on purpose, but the question was why?
Self-harming rituals aside, she had to find Bellamy and Octavia and fast. She hoped Bellamy was okay, but she had no way of checking in on him.
"Where are my friends?"said Clarke Sicily as she walked past Finn and closer to the Grounder,"I know you understand me and I doubt you want to end up like your friends over there so you better tell me."
The warrior seemed to consider Clarke's words and took in a deep breath before finally opening his mouth to speak.
At least, that was what Clarke thought he was going to do, but the man exhaled and to Clarke's dismay she was sent hurtling through the woods and she felt her bones break and bruises form as she carved a new path through the trees.
Finally, she slowed to a stop against the bough of a thick tree. Immediately, she felt her wounds heal at an extremely fast pace and after what was probably a miniteshe was already fully healed.
A hoarse scream emanated from where she'd been hit with the gale force wind followed by a heavy thump into the ground. She felt the force of the tremor even from here and with a start Clarke realised she hadn't been alone.
"Finn,"breathed Clarke as she steadied herself before running back to where she had been.
The sight she had encountered was not what she was expecting at all.
There was a deep crater in the ground and in it Clarke was just able to discern the broken and beaten body of the last remaining Grounder.
Finn had sunken to his knees and had a look of horror on his faces but the sight that truly surprised her was Bellamy who had his hand pointing downwards.
There was also the corpse of who she assumed to be the Grounder that had taken Bellamy, but what truly surprised her was the bald and muscular man who had a tattoo etched onto the top of his head.
As if on reflex, Clarke prepared to burn the man to hell and flames had even formed on her hand, but to her surprise Bellamy stepped in between her and the Grounder with his hands pointed at her.
"Don't, "said Bellamy slowly, but firmly as he looked into Clarke's eyes meeting her glacial glare with one of his own,"He's the one who saved me from that Grounder up there and he said he knows where we can find Octavia. He's a good guy."
Clarke was undeterred and fixed her eyes on the Grounder who still hadn't taken any sort of action,"I don't trust him. How do we know he isn't going to lead us into another trap?"
Bellamy sighed and said,"We don't, but it's fine if you don't trust him then trust me. I have faith in him ."
The flames on Clarke's hand grew in intensity before they suddenly turned off. Bellamy let out a sigh of relief and dropped his hands.
The man walked out from behind Bellamy and said in what was surprisingly perfect English,"We need to leave. The Splita usually work in larger groups than this. They might move your friend if we don't hurry."
Clarke moved to Finn and touched his shoulder, but she was hurt when he flinched away from her and looked at her with fearful eyes. He rose and without even looking at Bellamy and Clarke spoke to the Grounder,"How far away is she? Also, I'm sorry, but I'll need something a bit more concrete than some words."
The man didn't look offended and reached into his pockets. Only Finn had tensed up at the action, but his body language relaxed when he saw what the man had pulled out.
"Octavia's wristband, "said Clarke as she took in the silver contraption. It must have fallen off after Monty had fried all of the remaining wristbands.
The man began to walk and the other began to follow. There was an uncomfortable silence before Clarke said,"So, what's your name? My name is Clarke. Clarke Griffin. The guy whose life you saved is Bellamy Blake and this is Finn Collins."
"Lincoln,"said the man calmly as he began to guide them through the woods.
Clarke figured that now was as good a time as any to figure out more about the Grounders and Earth and with that in mind said,"You saved Bellamy from those guys. I think you called them Splita...what does that mean? In what language too? It's nothing I've ever heard of."
Lincoln didn't shy away from the question and said,"It means traitor in my people's language, Trigedasleng. These markings we have symbolises our loyalty to Trikru– or the Woods Clan as you would understand it. They had been exiled for bringing disgrace to our people and as such their markings were removed."
Clarke was surprised at the this turn of knowledge and a small kernel of anxiety formed as she processed Lincoln's words. Those burns had been deliberate and what was more was that there were more people on the Ground. An entire clan of people too. Clearly, the Grounders must have had some sort of genetic variation that enabled them to survive the aftermath of the war.
"Are Trikru the only clan or are there more people out there?"inquired Finn as he too became invested in the information that was being shared.
"No. The Trikru aren't the only clan. There were many that survived the bombs and they were the first of what came to be known as the 12 clans. We are in Trikru territory and to the east is Floukru, the Boat people, and further north is the Ice Nation, Azgeda. Those are the only important ones for now,"said Lincoln gruffly as they reached an area where the forest petered out and their surroundings changed to that of open fields.
Even Bellamy was unable to keep the surprise off his face at the idea of enough people surviving the nuclear war to form 12 clans. Everything they had thought they had known about the Earth was completely shot to dust in the wake of this revelation.
It amused Bellamy in a morbid way that the people on the Ark had suffered and were currently suffering for no reason. The Earth had been able to sustain life all along and yet the people of the Ark were forced to eat barely filling meals and restrict themselves to having one kid and reuse clothes all because they thought the Earth was uninhabitable.
As usual, thoughts of the Ark caused Bellamy to sober up especially when he'd heard the culling had occurred in spite of Raven's flares. The fact that the deaths of over 300 people were squarely on his shoulders was a hard pill to swallow.
His selfishness and cowardice had resulted in the deaths of hundreds and Bellamy felt as though a chunk of his soul had shrivelled up and died. Raven had been especially vocal about just how she felt about him and her words had cut deeper than any knife.
It was only thanks to the intervention of Clarke and Finn that Raven had calmed down though he was sure the two were simply bottling up their disgust for him while Octavia was still unaccounted for.
More Clarke than Finn anyways. Finn had been giving Clarke and Bellamy these little looks and while they were wearing on his nerves Bellamy knew that it was a fight for another day.
The mighty Spacewalker clearly was uncomfortable with how Clarke and Bellamy had killed those Grounders without breaking a sweat. It didn't seem to matter to the boy that it had been done to save their lives and it was in that moment that Bellamy realised that for all his talk and bluster Finn was still -like the rest of the 100- a kid. Something that most had forgotten with the very real threat that the Grounders posed.
The motley crew carried on walking through the plains as Finn questioned Lincoln about the ground and other such stuff. There were mostly inane things like the weather, seasons and even on the level of technology until Clarke finally asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Why are you helping us?"
The somewhat easy mood that had settled upon the group evaporated instantly at those words. They kept walking, but now the tension in the air was palpable.
The silence ensued before Lincoln said,"My people are wary of you. I was assigned to scout your group further to see whether or not you are a danger to Trikru and to the Coalition. My superior believes you to be dangerous, but from what I have seen most of your people are harmless. Children. I doubt many of your people have ever even been in a battle."
The glance that Lincoln gave over his shoulder made it clear just who he didn't see as children and Clarke had to nudge Bellamy with her elbow since she could practically see the steam pouring out his ears at what the words implied.
Lincoln didn't seem to mind though as he said,"To deny you two being dangerous would be a lie and that would not help you to trust me. I was due to return when I had happened across Octavia being taken away. My pride will not allow these traitors to roam and terrorise your people. The Splita were normally exiled to the dead zone, but there's a large group that tempts fate by remaining in Trikru land. "
Clarke spoke up and said,"If they're traitors why doesn't the Trikru kill them? "
Lincoln didn't answer and Clarke noticed that the scenery around them had changed again and they were approaching a cliff. They reached the crest of it and they were surprised to see that a river was flowing down below.
Lincoln grabbed onto a vine and tested it's strength before he finally answered Clarke's question, "It would be an exercise in futility. "
Lincoln looked across the river and thiigh his next words were barely above a whisper they were still comprehensible by the three delinquents and the haunted tone in them sent chills down Clarke's spine.
"Living in the shadow of the Mountain is a fate worse than death."
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Octavia wasn't sure how long she'd been tied up with her wrists behind her back. She hadn't slept a wink since she'd awoken to the sensation of being carried. She wasn't sure where exactly she was nor how long she'd been unconscious for before waking up, but that was the least of her concerns.
Her time on Earth had given her a new lease on life. She wasn't the girl who hid under the floors anymore. She had a purpose now. Protecting her fellow delinquents from the Grounders and for the umpteenth time Octavia cursed her arrogance.
She had been too passive in her fight. The rush she had felt while fighting had also caused her to drag it on unnecessarily and in the end she had been taken out by a glorified version of the big bad wolf.
It had taught her a lesson though and that was that her armour was vulnerable to extreme blunt force trauma. So fighting Clarke would have to wait.
That's how whatever poison they used had knocked her out and taken away her powers. Temporarily.
"They should have doubled their dosage,"said Octavia as she felt the familiar sensation of her crystal armour activating. Unfortunately, Octavia hadn't been given the fortune of having enhanced physical abilities, like how pretty much everyone(even Monty) with powers had shown, and as such brute force alone wasn't enough to break free of her bindings.
Octavia was a bright spark though and she liked to think that she had experimented with her powers more than everyone except for probably Clarke and Monty. In fact, she was surprised at how little people were messing around. In fact, Octavia would bet her numb, left leg that if Bellamy stumbled across her captors he'd kill them the same way she'd seen him do...how long ago was that?
Octavia shook off the hunger and tiredness induced daziness. She focused on her armour-specifically her wrists- and projected it outwards. Large, sharp spikes jutted out from her wrists and Octavia was relieved to feel the scraps of cloth that had been used to bind her fall to the ground.
It was quick work from there to shape her hand into a knife and cut through her other bindings. She was working on the last time around her ankle when she heard rapidly approaching footsteps.
The man she recognised as one of her original captor stumbled in and seemed to swear upon seeing her free. He reached for his pocket and Octavia was devastated when a wave of nausea came over her.
She hadn't had any rest, water or food in hours and it seemed like that was going to cost Octavia her only shot at breaking free. She doubted they'd use such weak bindings again or perhaps they'd drug her constantly so her powers didn't return and she was at their mercy.
The thought of being stuck in the dank cave spurred Octavia on and she raised her hand to the Grounder who looked equally panicked as he searched for the poison she knew would strip her off her powers.
However, before either occupant of the cave could attack , the Grounder let out a wet sounding gurgle before collapsing facedown. A knife was lodged deeply into the back of his neck and Octavia let out a sigh of relief that turned into panic when she saw her saviour walk in.
Lincoln had barely stepped into the cave before he caught the glint of multiple objects flying through the air. Oddly, they stopped in midair as if they struck something solid and fell to the ground harmlessly.
"Is that anyway to treat your saviour, O?"quipped Bellamy as he walked into the cave with his hand held up and his fingers splayed.
"Bellamy?"said Octavia as she finally broke free from her bindings and ran full tilt at Bellamy before enveloping him in a tight hug. Octavia finally allowed the reality of what had just happened to click in her mind and she just cried into the jacket of Bellamy.
By the time, she had recovered and calmed down she noted that not only were Finn and Clarke standing just outside the mouth of the cave, but so was the Grounder she'd almost killed in a panic.
Her cheeks reddened as he made contact with her and his eyes flickered over her body too quickly for anyone, but her to notice.
Octavia, for all her faults, wasn't a shy maiden and she straightened out almost immediately before looking towards the man and so with a wide smile that slowly faded as she continued to speak Octavia said,"Thank you for saving my life...and uh sorry for almost killing you..."
"Lincoln,"offered the man as he smiled reassuringly at her,"It's okay. I understand that you weren't aware of my intentions. "
"As much as I love seeing Bellamy angry,"said Finn much to the chagrin of the aforementioned man,"But is that normal?"
Everyone looked to where Finn was pointing and they were surprised to see a swarm of bugs rushing towards them.
Lincoln tore his gaze away from Octavia before looking at Clarke and said,"You need to stay here. I must go warn my people that the acid fog is coming. You need to avoid it. The fog kills all who are caught in it's way."
"Acid fog?"inquired Bellamy curiously, "What do you mean?"
Finn snorted and said,"I think it's pretty obvious. "
Clarke looked at Lincoln and said,"Could you please organise a meeting with your leader? I think it'd be best if we sought for peace between our people."
Lincoln nodded and said,"Anya is stern, but she is a fair leader. I'll speak to her about it. Expect a response within a day or two max."
With that said and done, Lincoln pulled out a horn and blew deeply into it. The sound echoed out for what Clarke was certain was miles and with a start realised something.
"The people at the drop ship know nothing about the fog and I'm sure this thing goes pretty far,"said Clarke as she shucked off her bag,"Octavia, I'll carry you on my back and we need to run back to camp. It's just past midday I think and Raven and should surely be done with the radio by now."
Octavia tried to protest, but when Clarke saw the fog approaching in the distance she said,"We don't have time for this, Octavia. You're weak as you are. Finn and Bellamy can't take care of you and themselves."
Octavia shut up and allowed Clarke to pick her up. Clarke looked at Bellamy and said,"I don't think the fog will seep into here. The cave is deep enough to avoid that. You guys should come back as soon as you can."
The two girls were soon gone in a gust of wind as Clarke raced to the sight of the drop ship. The fog seemed to be coming from further beyond the cave and so Clarke didn't have to worry about accidentally running into a cloud of acid.
Octavia was screaming in what Clarke categorised as excitement as she ran through the forest. Octavia's screaming reached a new height of excitement when Clarke had cleared the cliff overlooking the river.
Finally, the forestry became familiar as Clarke recognised as the trees that were near to the dropship. She ran straight through the open gates and skidded to a stop in front of the dropship.
Luckily, Jasper was just walking out of the dropship and Clarke called to the boy who seemed shocked at Clarke's sudden entry.
"Jasper, emergency beam. I'll explain more later."
Jasper nodded in the affirmative and looked to the sky before shooting two beams of light into the air. The delinquents began to gather into the dropship without much fuss and all though they asked questions of Clarke she ignored them for the moment at least.
It took perhaps two minutes and Clarke had had to retrieve a few stragglers, but the door to the ship was eventually closed. Clarke wanted to explain the acid fog situation to everyone and so she climbed up the stairs to the upper level, but she didn't actually go to the second level.
"Finn, Bellamy and I were out looking for Octavia when the acid fog came from the west. It's extremely dangerous and there's more I'm not telling you, but don't worry we've got everything under control."
The protests rose in volume, but they were lowered once Clarke and Octavia went to the upper level and found Roma, Raven and Monty seemingly waiting for them.
"I'm glad you guys are back,"said Raven as she took in the haggard forms of the two girls,"The radio is done. All you need to do is hold down the button and speak and you'll be broadcasting to the Ark wide station. We're actually on listening mode right now, but nothing has been broadcast on the Ark wide frequency as of yet."
Clarke nodded, but before she did she looked to Monty and said,"You got any apples? Normal ones."
Monty reached into his sack and threw two apples at Clarke who immediately gave them to Octavia.
"Apples are hydrating and energizing. You could probably do with some of that."
"Yeah, yeah whatever. I'd like to see you be hydrated and energised after spending time bound in a cave,"groused Octavia before she bit into the admittedly delicious fruit.
Clarke smirked as Octavia tried to hide the relish on her face, but her smirk fell as a spell of dizziness overtook her and she fell to one knee.
Roma was closest to Clarke and she grabbed onto her and said,"Are you okay Clarke?"
"Yeah,"rasped Clarke as she allowed Roma to guide her into Monty's chair. The spell of dizziness faded after a few minutes and when Clarke came to she was offered an apple by a concerned looking Octavia.
"Thanks,"said Clarke gratefully as she accepted the fruit and devoured it within a matter of minutes.
She moved to flip the radio into broadcast, but Raven caught her wrist and said,"Sorry Clarke, but I can't let you do that. Just sit down and take a break. You're wearing yourself down and clearly you need sometime to recover. Just sit there and relax. I'll get you some water and food."
Clarke wanted to protest, but she was cowed by the pleading looks on everyone's face. She felt her chest warm up at the concern they were showing and so she caved.
"Fine. I'll rest, but I'm not taking a nap. I need to be the one to speak to the Ark."
"Okay, fine. Just try to get your bearings back,"said Raven as she knew Clarke wouldn't budge on this.
She got that from her mom probably.
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Jaha sat in the control centre of the Ark and watched the various views the plethora of cameras on the Ark offered. He knew it was likely that some of the images were false if Abby's word was to be believed (which it was) , but it was unlikely that all of them were which is why he still saw it prudent to pour through all of them.
Abby and Kane were behind him and they too were scanning the cameras for any suspicious behaviour. His speech was due in 10 minutes and they needed no interruptions or the situation could seriously deteriorate and that would only help Diana.
"Thelonious, "said Abby tiredly as she watched her lifelong friend scan over the cameras again,"This is pointless and we all know it. Diana has us in the palm of her hand and we can only hope to counter whatever plan she has cooked up. "
"Abby's right,"said a refreshed looking Kane,"The Guard is already spread out across the Ark and the people of all stations are gathered into all the assembly rooms waiting for your speech. Starting a bit earlier couldn't hurt."
Jaha paused before he said,"You're right. Both of you. I just can't believe we're about to execute Project Exodus. It's a monumental moment and the last chapter in the story of the Ark and I think the occasion is getting to me."
Jaha signalled for the only other occupant of the roon, Sinclair (whose loyalty was unquestioned), to setup the Ark-wide streaming service.
"Awaiting your approval, sir"said Sinclair and at Jaha's nod he pressed a button and a video began to play on every screen in the Ark.
Abby had to wipe tears from her eyes as she watched Jake's video be broadcast to every memeber of the Ark. The cameras within the conference room showed that everyone from the youngest girl to the oldest man were paying rapt attention to the video.
When it finally ended, Jaha rose and approached the microphone. He looked at Abby and said,"I'm taking Jake's words to heart. There will be no more running or hiding from the truth. The people deserve to know."
"Everything, sir? Even the Blight era?"said Kane cautiously as if expecting to be killed for mentioning that.
Thelonious nodded gravely and said,"Yes. Everything."
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Diana was livid. Oh, she knew Abby would end up reporting her actions and she knew that Kane and Jaha couldn't get to her as long as they didn't know who she was working with.
After all, a weed had to be pulled out by the roots.
What she did not expect was for the video of Jake to be played. The sheer emotion in the video would have already pacified the crowds and she had Shumway on standby to interrupt Jaha using his technopathic abilities the moment he lied and instead broadcast Diana's words which would hopefully incite a large enough riot to allow her and her group to grab the Exodus ship.
Instead, Jaha had given a full disclosure on the 100 being sent down, the culling Sector 17 and even the nanobots injected into the 100 though it was a largely simplified explanation which also left out any mention of Clarke getting different injection.
It pissed her off. She suspected the only reason there wasn't anyone trying to cause unrest was a combination of the emotions stirred by Jake's video, the high guard presence all over the Ark and also the silver tongue of Jaha. Thelonious, despite his heinous actions, had almost convinced even Diana to his way.
"There are two more issues of grave importance that I need to address. If all of you were to look at your computers or tablets you'd see that the year currently states that it is 2149."
Diana's mouth dropped as she heard these words. Her hands clenched into fists and she felt her nails dig into her palms. Thelonious wouldn't dare do this.
"The truth is...the year is actually 2277. The apocalypse was over 200 years ago and not 97 like we led you to believe. The reason for this being hidden was due to the actions of our first ever Chancellor Darah Sydney. "
Diana was able to hear the exclamations of surprise of those who were watching in the hallway and she could . Thelonious paused before he continued his speech.
"She was a genius paralleled by few. In fact, she alone was able to formulate a way for the stations to unite. Thus, she was elected Chancellor, but the system used to elect her was not the democracy we know today, but a plutocracy and there was none who had anything close to what Darah had brought to the table. This is what enabled her to reign for 20 years . The stations that had less to offer were given less rations, supplies and so on. It was brutal, cruel even but it worked."
"The problems began in 2068. The hydroponic farm on the Ark had been infected by a fungus and extreme damage had been done to it and it was only getting worse as time went on. The yield of the farm was a lot lower and there was an uproar as the lower class citizens were given even less rations. There was also rapid population growth as people had more children in order to get more supplies. Soon, the Guard were vastly outnumbered by the rest if the Ark and crime and unrest was climbing exponentially. This suited Darah's agenda just fine. In order to prevent an uprising Darah ruled with an iron fist and every single transgression resulted in imprisonment. Despite calls from the upper echelons to execute the prisoners so as to not overwork the hydroponic farm Darah had staunchly refused to do so. The reason being she wanted to test the improvements she'd made on her first two editions of her nanobots and as such she experimented on the prisoners. "
Diana looked at Shumway who had a stunned look on his face before she said,"Make sure that our Plan B is ready by the time he's done speaking. Remember essentials only and make sure they're distracted."
Shumway nodded slowly before leaving the room. Jaha had taken a break presumably to allow this all to sink in the minds of the Arkers before he continued.
"It was an open secret and those who opposed it were cut down ruthlessly. Darah wished to eliminate any thoughts of treason and that was the only crime people were executed for. Fellow neighbours reported any signs of treason or suspected treason in the hope of winning favour and by proxy extra supplies. After over a decade of such behaviour the process of making powers had been perfected and the version of the Guard at that time had begun to manifest powers of their own which they used to subjugate the population further. This could have been life as we know it on the Ark. However, in 2088 members of the Guard had grown sympathetic to the masses and they had led a mutiny. All of the upper echelon and members of the Guard had been killed, but Darah had been discovered dead by a suspected suicide in her lab . The remaining series of her nanobots and a secret third version which was supposedly meant to be used by Darah as well as all electronics that she used had been locked away in a room under constant guard and accessible only by the current Chancellor."
" That put an end to a period of time that was called The Blight,"said Thelonious managing to sound both firm in his delivery and yet sympathetic to the woes of their ancestors, "However, the after effects of the Blight would last for over 70 years. It was discovered from the few notes of Darah's that had been discovered that the degradation of the hydroponic farm had been orchestrated by her in order to breed hopelessness amongst the people. In the build up to her being overthrown, Darah had managed to cause near irreversible damage to the hydroponic farm as a last hurrah. The organisers of the mutiny had elected a new Chancellor, but perhaps unsurprisingly the caste system remained intact. The new Chancellor was far more sympathetic and as a show of good faith decided to release the prisoners back into the Ark on the same day they'd overthrown the regime. The stress put on the hydroponic farm had reached breaking point and the Chancellor, Joseph Kane, on the second day made two decrees and it was the second of those decrees that would cause Joseph to lose his humanity. The first was that having more than one child was declared a crime punishable by execution and while this weighed heavily on him it was the second decree that truly ruined him..."
Jaha took a deep breath and for the first time Diana was able to discern a note of uneasiness and disgust in her successor's voice,"The citizens of the Ark were forced to take part in cannibalism. Joseph knew that if people refused then the remnants of the human race would fade away and cease to be and so any dissenters were executed and their corpses were harvested. Anyone over the age of 14 was forced to do this and children below that were given the bulk of what the hydroponic farm was able to produce. Joseph ruled with an iron fist for 15 years before the ghosts of the past came back again."
"The usage of any powers had been forbidden under the penalty of death. It therefore came as a surprise when those hadn't been experimented on and indeed those who were born after the Blight began to exhibit powers. The final piece of Darah's plan had fallen into place. It was widely believed that the reason she had destroyed the hydroponic farm was to force the Ark to be driven to cannibalism because she'd made it so that the nanobots could be passed down genetically and through ingesting anything that had the nanobots in their system. There wasn't anything to be done as by then everyone on the Ark had ingested the infected flesh. The powers only had roughly a 20% chance of manifesting, but the genetic trait for them was always present and always passed down. Darah had been a geneticist beforehand and efforts were made to crack through her heavily encrypted laptop. Finally, in 2161 the code had been cracked through the work of many coders who had dedicated their lives to the endeavour. It had been cracked by a man called Steven Warren. It was discovered that Darah had designs of various gene editing machines. One was recreated and although it was impossible to prevent the nanobots from being passed down genetically the machine was used to reduce the chance of natural manifestation to zero. It was suspected though that due to the limits of the gene editor that if any citizen of the Ark were to be injected with the nanobots or ingest anything that had been injected then there was a 10-20% chance of the powers activating. "
"It was decided by who you know as our second Chancellor, Wells Jaha, in 2195 that the events from 2068 to 2195 were to be scrubbed clean from the records in an effort to wipe the slate clean and give us a chance at a better life. To escape further from this floating was introduced as the only way of execution as it would prevent us from going down that road ever again. Thus, the history of the Ark as you know it has been a fabrication made of the lost peaceful times. The first 16 years and the last 81 years. This is a truth known only by the council and the Heads of the various departments. Now onto my second order of business, there have been reports of flares on the Earth and I can confirm that we believe the 100 have made contact and so as my last act as Chancellor I hereby declare Project Exodus open pending contact from the ground. I'll allow a reprieve for 10 minutes before I explain the details."
Diana rose from her seat and began to mentally prepare for the execution of her plan.
It was almost time.
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The silence in the entire dropship was deafening. The radio that Raven and Monty had made was capable of producing an extremely loud volume and it had been cranked up to the maximum. It had started broadcasting perhaps an hour and a half after Clarke had returned with Octavia.
The delinquents were shell shocked at the world changing news and though it didn't explain everything, it certainly helped to explain just how the Earth had managed to be warped to such an extent however that didn't explain how the Grounders had powers if it had been an Arker who had developed them.
It also explained why not all of the 100 had activated any powers. The odds on them manifesting were low and if the estimation was to be believed only a few more would actually activate them.
The sound of someone climbing up the ladder drew the attention of everyone in the upper level. The hatch was lifted and to the surprise of them all John Mbege - one of Murphy's friends -came into the room along with Ryan Finch. The startling thing though were the knives that they were brandishing.
"You are not signalling them,"said Mbege,"We finally have a slice of the good life and we won't let you ruin that by signalling them."
Raven stood up and walked up to Mbege. She looked him in the eye and said,"Listen, you turd. We're surrounded by an unknown number of Grounders who have powers. There's no possible way for us to survive especially if only around 20 of us will be worth anything in a fight."
Ryan looked incensed and said with anger,"You guys all think you're hot shit. Just because you have powers you all think you run the show."
Octavia and snorted and said,"Well who else is supposed to step up? You? Mbege over there? You guys haven't even once left the dropship nor have you at least been in one fight with a Grounder. If it hadn't been for me, Roma, Clarke, Bellamy and Finn those Grounders could have killed a lot more of us. Monty is the only reason we're surviving off more than just meat and ration packs. Everyone I just mentioned as well as Miller and Jasper have been risking their lives doing rounds while you've been coasting on your ass."
Octavia's anger had taken over and her armour spread over her entire body. Her voice had developed a slight echo, but the tone was unmistakably cold,"I suggest you put those toys away or you might get hurt."
Mbege took half a step forward, but he froze when he saw Clarke point her hand at him and her eyes were glowing blue,"Octavia's right. We've been doing our best to keep all of you safe and if you guys have such a problem with us and the Ark coming down then leave. The last thing we need is to be fighting amongst ourselves while also having to fight the Grounders. So if you want to go, then go. The acid fog should be gone by now. Maybe you'll find your friend Murphy if the Grounders haven't gotten to him yet. "
The anger within the two boys rose at Clarke's cutting words before Mbege said,"You may think you're doing us a favour Princess, but the truth is... you're a monster. You sent Murphy and Charlotte to their death. How many Grounders have you killed? How many more will you kill? "
Clarke walked gingerly from behind the table and yet she still seemed as confident and sure as she usually was. She lowered her hand and the blue glow faded from her eyes.
"I don't care what you think about me,"said Clarke coldly,"I'll do whatever it takes to keep us safe. Charlotte was unhinged and murdered Wells because she couldn't get to Jaha. Murphy almost got killed for that by you and almost everyone else and he would have been killed if I didn't step in. He had nearly and would have crippled Max if I didn't step in."
Clarke took a step forward and Mbege took one back,"The Grounders I killed? They were willing to kill me and everyone else in here and I'll be damned if I let something like that happen. So listen John. You can hate me and curse me all you want. I. Don't. Care. Just don't you dare threaten me or anyone else in this camp again or I'll show what a real monster is."
Ryan looked cowed by the words of Clarke and Octavia not to mention the hostile looks everyone was sending the two of them.
"Come on John. Let's go."
Mbege was still angry and when Clarke turned her back on him as if he was nothing. He snapped. He threw the knife like Bellamy had taught him and watched as it sailed through the air towards the oblivious Clarke.
"Clarke! Watch out!"screamed Roma as she watched the knife zoom towards Clarke. She knew that due to the small space within the upper level Clarke didn't have time to turn her back and avoid the knife.
Which is why she felt her jaw drop as Clarke turned around and caught the knife by the handle just millimetres away from it embedding into her neck.
It looked, in Roma's opinion , fucking badass.
Strangely, Clarke had a puzzled look on her face as she looked at the knife in her hand before she connected the dots and glared at Mbege who looked shocked beyond belief.
"Leave,"said Clarke slowly,"Before I kill you."
The two boys couldn't have left the room faster. Clarke stared at the knife for longer before she heard the radio crackle. She heard Jaha greet the Ark and he began to speak, but Clarke flipped the switch on the radio and said,"Sorry to interrupt, Chancellor Jaha, but this is Clarke speaking. Clarke Griffin of the 100. The Earth is habitable. I repeat the Earth is habitable. "
There was a pause on the other side before she heard Jaha say,"We thought you were dead. Am I correct to assume Raven Reyes helped you contact the Ark?"
"Yes,"said Clarke as she sent a smile to Raven,"It's thanks to her and Monty Green–"
A derisive snort erupted from Raven interrupted Clarke and Monty simply sighed heavily before saying to himself,"She's never gonna let that go. Isn't she?"
Clarke had to fight to keep the humour she felt from reaching her voice and she continued, "Excuse me, like I was saying Raven and Monty built the radio. It was also Raven who built the flares you mentioned during your speech using her escape pod. However, that is not important. What's important is that there are people on the Earth who survived the nuclear winter."
There was some movement from the other side before Clarke heard a voice she'd hardly been expecting nor particularly keen to hear.
"Clarke? What do you mean there are survivors on the ground? Are they hostile? How many of the 100 are alive?"said her mother rapidly and Clarke decided to intervene.
"Hi Mom," said Clarke icily and since she knew this was on the Ark-wide channel she had to keep her anger contained. She felt a hand settle on her shoulder and squeeze. She trailed up the arm and saw Roma was giving her a small smile. That was enough to calm her down,"The Grounders seemed to have survived the bombs probably through natural selection and while there have been a few bumps we're meeting with one of their leaders to discuss peace. There are currently 96 of us alive. A few of us have manifested powers, but not all. We now know why since we were tuned into your whole broadcast."
The voice of Jaha came back on and she could hear the curiosity in it,"That's surprising news. Never did I think that people had actually managed to survive the nuclear war. Have you guys made your way to Mount Weather or the bunker due south of on your map? I mentioned it in the video that was played during your descent."
Clarke raised a brow and said,"No, we set our camp up around the dropship. The video got interrupted by a boy who had punched the screen in. We never knew of either of those, but Mount Weather is not safe. It's where the hostile Grounders stay and there's periodic acid fog that kills anything caught in it."
Jaha's voice came back on and he said,"I see. These hostile Grounders? Are they separate from the group you're making peace with and are they dangerous? Are they the ones who killed some of your members?"
Clarke felt an iron ball form in her throat as the moment she'd been trying to avoid came up and again she was thankful for the support Roma was giving her,"Yes, one of us was killed by these hostile groups and yes they are separate from the other group and two had died in the descent to Earth, but the last one had been killed by one of two that had been exiled. It was Wells. Wells was killed by a girl who thought killing him would get rid of her nightmares. Her nightmares of you floating her parents. I'm sorry...We couldn't do anything to save him..."
The line was silent before Thelonious' voice came back on," I see... I know despite your differences you and Wells have known each for long and I hope you have had the time to grieve properly. Clarke, we'll work on making this a secure line so the 100 can speak to their parents in privacy. Is there anything else to report?"
"Yes,"said Clarke as she took a deep breath,"The Grounders. Somehow, they have powers just like us."
"What!"exclaimed Jaha loudly,"How is that possible?"
"We're not sure, but we know for certain that they powers. When will the Ark be coming down? If the talks go south we'll be surrounded by thousands of hostiles enhanced with superpowers. We will die,"said Clarke calmly which was in contrast with what she felt,"Also, I'll need your word that all of us including Bellamy Blake will be pardoned. He has been a massive help and without him we'd be in dire straits."
"I see,"said Jaha stoically,"Project Exodus will take us at least two weeks to prepare for. The bunker I mentioned earlier is roughly 20 miles south of Mount Weather, but the exact location is visible on the map. It has supplies and also doubles as a weapons cache that should aid you against the Grounders in the very least. Thank you for you service, Clarke and you the 100, Ms Reyes and Bellamy Blake have been exonerated from all your crimes. "
"Thank you,"said Clarke before she prepared to turn off the radio,"Citizens of the Ark today marks a new era in our lives. We can finally live the life oir forefathers wished for. I hope to see you all soon. May we meet again."
Jaha's voice came on and solemnly he said,"Thank you for that, Clarke. May we meet–"
The sound of an explosion cut off Jaha's voice and there was some static before the line went dead.
"What the hell happened?"demanded Raven as she fiddled around with the radio,"It's not an error on our side then that means..."
"Mom was right,"said Clarke in horror.
"Diana's coup, "said Raven in realisation, "It's happening now..."
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Hey guys so there's the thing I've been hinting to. The idea behind the time skip was simply because from my personal opinion. I do not believe 97 years is enough to turn the world of the 100 into what it is. The world was way too intricate and everything so this was my solution. It also gives plausibility to the idea that the Skaikru are more resistant to radiation as I imagine 200 years is more realistic for such a change to occur.
Lincoln made his first appearance and yes Bellamy may have trusted him too quickly for your liking, but Lincoln did save his life after all. That's a far cry from holding his sister captive and drawing pictures of her.
I've already mentioned how the Grounders got their powers, but trust me there's more of a story to it than you believe.
I tried to paint Darah as a truly diabolical person. I hope you managed to get through the info dump, but I tried my hardest to map out and flesh out the reasons for why that time of the Ark was so horrible. I like to think I did a decent enough job.
Please don't flame me. I know it's a huge change, but for my version of the 100 to make sense(I.e. enough of the nanobots having spread through the Grounders etc.) A significantly larger of time needs to have passed. I mean I feel that for Becca to become the divine entity the Groundes view her as and for the Flame to not be recognised as technology then time needs to have passed. After all, time inflates the achievements of the past and all that.
Next chapter, Diana's Plan B is revealed,the 100's meeting with Anya and perhaps finally a full explanation on what the Novus ' purpose is. PM me or drop a review if you think you understand Darah's plan which I hope you'll find to be something truly diabolical.
I've seen that people wanted me to pair Clarke with Roan...that's one I've never seen before.
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NOTE: The timeskip does not affect certain events from happening so...Praimfaya, Eligius IV etc... may or may not happen. I'm just saying that it has not happened as of yet and there are explanations for these that I'll write in the story. This is an AU so its possible some might not happen.
