Kane was horror-struck at the sight before many members of the Guard were all dead from bullet wounds to various parts of the body or appeared to be unconscious. It was perhaps more chilling to note that they had blue cloths tied around their arms.
Kane couldn't help, but count the amount of traitors he had in his ranks and it needed him to note that roughly 40% of the Guard had not been loyal.
The thing that confused him, however, was how a great deal of them seemed to have been shot in the back as if from allies and an insidious thought manifested in Kane's mind.
These Guards were simply a distraction and stalling technique. It seemed that Diana had given orders to kill her own men. The disgust in Kane's mind could not be greater.
The blue cloths had not only identified as them traitors to the Ark, but also as targets to be eliminated by their fellow 'allies '.
Kane paused as he came to the last corridor before reaching the Exodus ship. There were various side branches that snake off the corridor before one reached the automatic door to the Exodus ship.
The ship was actually designed to hold well over 700 people, but he doubted Diana had allowed even a quarter of that on the ship.
"Harvey, take your squad and sweep out the corridor,"said Kane as he motioned for the man to step through with his men.
Kane trailed behind the men and they swiftly cleared out each side corridor. They were 10 of them that had made it here with Marcus. The rest had been dispatched to check on the status of the Chancellor and help out at the meeting halls since members of the Guard were required to be able to give rudimentary first aid.
It also helped that the Guards with Kane now were his most trusted subordinates.
Kane was at the middle of the formation when he heard the automatic doors open. Oddly, there was no one that had stepped through and Harvey rushed ahead to investigate.
The Guard stepped through and Kane watched horrified as Harvey's chest was pierced by a spear made of ice. The man let out a gurgle of pain before collapsing to the ground.
"Diana is nearby,"said Kane slowly, "You've been briefed that she's capable of controlling water so be on guard. Form defense formation C."
The sound of rushing water reached Kane's ears and he recognised for what it was on time.
"To the corridors! Now! "said Kane as he ran hard to one of the side corridors as the telltale wave came from behind. The wave neatly swept Kane away again, but he had made it just in time to dive into one of the side corridors.
He and two others had made it to the side corridor and they watched horrified as the wave barrelled past for over three minutes. Eventually, the rush if water stopped and Kane and his men stepped cautiously into the main corridor.
The sight that greeted him was not what he expected.
Diana was standing reading a book and to his horror Abby was on her knees bound and gagged while another guard –Trent Kane's memory served him well –held a rifle to her head.
"Hello Marcus. Nice of you to join us,"said Diana as she continued to read the book in her hands.
Kane levelled his rifle at Diana, but froze when Trent brought the rifle closer to Abby's head.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Marcus,"said Diana as she finally closed her book,"Unless you want Abby over here to die. "
Kane sighed as he signalled for his men to drop their weapons and Diana smiled,"That's better. You know, Marcus, do you know why you've never been Chancellor? You can't make the tough calls. I mean sure you advocated for the Culling, but that didn't affect you at all really and you still felt guilty about it. A leader needs to be able to make the toughest of calls despite the personal cost. Killing me would have derailed this rebellion and yet you chose to keep Abby alive for what reason? A misguided sense of camaraderie? That's why I did this. You and I both know the Exodus ship can't fit us all so I had to do something to book me and my men a spot on it."
One of the guards behind Kane had bristled in anger as he listened to Diana's monologue. Unseen by Kane, he raised his rifle and took aim at Diana.
He never stood a chance.
A flourish of Diana's hand and the water that had been pooling across the corridor up in thick tendrils and before long all three-including Kane- were tied up tightly.
"Leave Abby here,"said Diana as she walked up to Trent and unclipped something from his utility belt.
The woman in question was pushed forward and she landed with a splash into the water on the ground.
"If it's any consolation, "said Diana as she twirled the shock baton,"I'll tell your daughter you died a hero."
Diana tested the shock baton and she was pleasantly surprised as it let loose a violent burst of electricity.
"She'll be so useful for my plans,"stated Diana as she held her Centum book in her other hand,"This book has been in my family for generations now and to be honest I never expected that I would be the one to use it's knowledge. "
Abby's face scrunched up in confusion before the realisation hit her and Diana smiled at her reaction,"I see you figured it out. You see these are the real notes Darah herself had made about the Novus series and the rebels in all their foolishness never found it odd that they'd found so little on the Novus and yet they were still willing to use it on Clarke. Typical."
Diana raised the shock baton and again it sparkled with a large amount of electricity before she said,"I would say may we meet again, but I don't want the last words to hear to be a lie."
Diana thrust the baton into the water and Kane screamed out in sheer pain as electricity coursed it's way through his body before he collapsed facedown.
The last thing he heard was the footsteps of Diana walking away before all he knew was darkness.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Anything so far, Raven?"said Octavia as she paced around the top level of the dropship. Everyone had vacated the room except for Octavia and Raven.
Clarke was supposed to be relaxing, but after the radio had gone dead despite many protestations from everyone she was still up and going on some rounds with the others.
"No,"said Raven frustratedly before dropping the tool in her hand,"It's fucking hopeless. Whatever went down up there completely fucked up the comms. They can't hear us and we definitely can't hear them."
Octavia blew out a strand of hair from in front of her face. She was feeling rather antsy and upset especially at Bellamy who still hadn't returned. The news that Bellamy trashing Raven's radio had resulted in an entire Section being killed disgusted her.
Granted, he hadn't known that the council would take such drastic measures to preserve the resources on the Ark and yet it was proven to be all for nothing if the extended silence on the Ark was anything to go by.
Octavia didn't owe the Ark anything. In fact, she had been screwed over by the Ark at every turn. However, even she was horrified by these turn of events. The fact that for all her newfound power she couldn't help them out irritated her.
"I thought so," said Octavia before she sighed,"You know, I feel like the powers I have are wasted on me. I got captured by the Grounders without putting up much of a fight and now there's probably so many people dying up there and who knows if someone else had taken –"
Octavia was cut off by a slap from Raven. Raven stood up and essentially towered over Octavia despite their similar heights.
"Listen Octavia, "said Raven as she looked into the younger girl's eyes, "None of us were prepared for this shit. I don't think anyone on this camp expects you to be some invincible, unstoppable force of nature. That's my job."
Octavia smiled at the joke and continued to listen to the mechanic,"None of us even thought for a second that there was a way for our powers to get suppressed. Now that we know that they actually can be taken away we'll do better next time and that's if we even have to fight again at all. I'm sure that between Clarke and this Grounder leader they can hash out a truce or something between the two of them."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just when I got captured. Finn, Bellamy and Clarke all came charging after me,"said Octavia in a lighter tone of voice,"I understand that my powers make me pretty useful in a fight , but what if you guys had been attacked while they were out. It would have been a massacre. I just don't see why they'd risk that for me."
"Octavia, "said Raven sternly as she sensed the plummeting of the younger girl's mood,"You are important. You may not see your value, but the rest of us do. Bellamy may be a colossal asshole, but if there's one thing he's got right it's that family sticks together. Clarke may have only known you personally since you've landed, but don't you think that you're not important to her either. I can tell that she really cares about you and I guess it's hard to believe that other people would go so far out of their way for you, but believe me there are people that are just that great."
Raven had begun to toy with the metal raven necklace that Finn had given and Octavia took quick notice of this,"I'm guessing you're talking about Finn? You must really care about him to come all the way down to Earth in a trashy escape pod."
Raven smiled and said,"He was there for me when I had no one else. My mom gave literally zero shots whether I starved or not so long as she could trade my rations for booze then she was happy. Finn snuck me some of his own rations and that's something I'll always love him for."
Raven pulled Octavia into a hug and said,"It's okay to lean on other people sometimes, you know? Even the strongest of people need a helping hand sometimes."
Octavia was surprised by the embrace, but she just let herself get enveloped in it. Silent tears fell from her eyes as she pondered Raven's words and for the first time Octavia realised that albeit in odd conditions she had finally gotten the opportunity to make some friends and finally be someone more than the girl that hid under the floor.