!*
Instantly, Clarke's eyes snapped open and she caught the rock sailing at her head. She wasn't quite sure where it came from and from the looks of it neither did Raven.
The crowd of delinquents around were silent and Clarke crushed the rock in her hand to pieces.
"Okay, show's over. You guys know the deal. We still need as much of you to get as combat ready as possible just in case. If you have a problem with what we're doing then the gates are right there."
There were various murmurs, but no one spoke and the crowd parted seamlessly to allow Clarke to walk through it.
Raven was following in her wake and Clarke heard a commotion from deeper in the woods. Clarke sped away in a blur and she rushed to the sound only to find Lincoln being held at gunpoint by Diggs while Octavia tried to get then to stand down.
"Oh thank God, Clarke"said Octavia from her position between Lincoln and the two other delinquents, "Please tell this fool to stand down. He almost shot Lincoln without even thinking. "
Diggs for his part shouted loudly,"I don't care. The Grounders killed Atom. He was my only friend. I don't give a shit about orders. Do you think the Grounders even hesitated before slashing his throat?"
Diggs had shouted loud enough for the delinquents to begin to gather and Clarke felt her ire rise as the delinquents abandoned their posts at the designated training pits to see what it was all about.
"Stand down, Diggs,"said Clarke coldly as she focused the ire she felt at the rest of delinquents into her voice.
Diggs wasn't at all phased by Clarke's words and still held his rifle at the steady and said,"Fuck you. I'm blowing this Grounder to hell."
Octavia turned her armour on and was ready to attack, but she was too slow as the rifle let out a sharp crack.
Octavia had blinked on reflex and fearing the worst she turned to Lincoln, but she was surprised to see him unharmed. Octavia turned back to Diggs and she was surprised at what she saw.
Clarke stood with her hand on the barrel and forcing it to point upwards. She wrenched the rifle from Diggs' hands and slammed the butt of the rifle into his nose.
Diggs let out an audible groan from the floor as he cradled his bleeding nose. Clarke stood over him and said,"I said stand down."
The vast majority of the delinquents had seen the entire exchange and the gunshot was likely to attract more attention.
"See that?" said Mbege as he pointed towards Clarke,"Princess over here is making friends with the Grounders and beating us up and do you know why?"
The murmurs in the crowd were getting progressively louder and Mbege seemed be feeding off the energy,"It's because she thinks she's better than us. She has powers so she's special while she goes and plays princess and meets with the Grounders , we're stuck here slaving away and why? Because she and her attack dogs said so!"
Octavia was about to step forward, but she was stopped by Clarke's grip on her wrist,"Don't. You're giving him what he wants. "
Mbege had noticed the interaction and said, "You see? Her dogs bow and listen to her every command. I don't know about you, but I got enough of that on the Ark. I'm tired of listening to people who call the shots just because of their privilege."
Sections of the crowd let out a loud roar and Mbege seemed to want to end his speech as he said," I bet they even gave us broken injections on purpose just because we aren't as important as their precious Princess over there. Well I'm tired of people telling me I'm not good enough and I'm sure you guys are too. I say we leave this camp and set up our own! No rules. No forced duties! We can just do whatever the hell we want."
Octavia sighed at the last sentence and said,"I think we found our new Bellamy. "
It went mostly unheard by Clarke who had enough and said,"Look, I won't force any of you to stay. If you want to leave with Mbege then leave. I won't stop any of you and we'll give each of you enough supplies for a week. We'll give only a few of you guns. When you realise that the grass isn't greener on the other side then you're welcome to come back."
Mbege looked pleased and said, " Fair enough. We'll leave in an hour. Also, when you guys get tired of following Princess's every wish and command you can come join our camp."
There were cheers after Mbege had spoken and after the crowd had dispersed, only Clarke, Octavia and Lincoln were left standing there.
"Was that really a good idea?"said Octavia as she turned to Clarke,"Who knows what trouble they could get up to on their own? You should have–"
"Forced them to stay?"countered Clarke," They're more than just a few people who are bitter over not having any powers. It would have only gotten worse as more and more people activated their powers. It's better to cut off the infected flesh than to ignore it and let it fester."
"Okay, fine, but what about what's out there? We don't know if all of those traitors are roaming around who knows what else is out there?"said Octavia less heatedly than she had before.
Clarke turned to Octavia and said,"That's what the gun are for. Lincoln, I'm guessing we need to leave?"
Lincoln nodded and said,"Yes, we need to be at the bridge soon."
Clarke nodded and said,"I'm getting Raven and Bellamy. I'm sure they must have heard about what happened here so they're probably ready to leave."
"Raven and Bellamy? Isn't that a bit much?"said Octavia, but she flinched as heard Clarke's parting statement.
"It wasn't enough to save Roma,"said Clarke curtly before she turned and walked back into camp.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, who exactly are we meeting with?" said Raven as they approached the bridge.
They had set off after Mbege and his crew had left. A staggering 49 people had left and perhaps the biggest surprise was that five of the 49 had dormant powers. All five were pretty lazy and despite having powers, they seemed gutted when they were told they have to do daily combat training and hunting until their powers activated.
"Heda's presence is required in Broadleaf territory so we're meeting with Anya – Heda's mentor,"said Lincoln in response to Raven,"She has a lot more sway than most of the Trikru so she can negotiate on Heda's behalf. The bridge is only a few minutes away. "
Clarke was walking beside Lincoln at the front of the group and said,"Okay, guys listen. This is supposed to be a peaceful negotiation so we shouldn't be hostile. If things go badly then we need to do what we must to all get away. "
Octavia nodded and said,"Let's hope it doesn't get to that."
They reached a break in the woods and finally the bridge appeared. It was rusted and worn down from centuries of being exposed to the weather.
There was no one there and the party of five stepped onto the bridge. A noise from the other side of the bridge drew everyone's attention and they were amazed to see two horses galloping with their riders perched on their saddles.
They were followed by a large, black horse that carried a woman with rather regal features. The woman drew to a stop and it was only then that Clarke noticed the bows the two riders were carrying.
"I thought you said no weapons,"said Bellamy as he glared at Lincoln.
Lincoln didn't seen bothered by the glare and said,"I was told there wouldn't be. "
Anya got off her horse and Clarke began to walk forward. Bellamy tried to follow, but he was stopped by Lincoln who said,"Only her."
The walk to Anya couldn't have been a couple of yards, but to Clarke it felt like one of the longest walks of her life. Eventually, she stood in front of Anya and especially up close the woman gave off an aura of strength and leadership.
"You must be the one they call Clark,"said Anya in neutral tone as she stared into Clarke's eyes.
Clarke knew that the Grounders respected power so she did her best to appear unfazed by Anya and said,"Yes, I am. You must be Anya."
The silence in the air hung for a few seconds before Anya spoke,"That's correct. Tell me what is that you seek to achieve with this meeting?"
The slightest hints of hostility and into Anya's eyes even though her voice betrayed nothing.
"I'm sure Lincoln must have told you that my people weren't born on Earth and we actually come a space station that was built before the bombs fell. We were sent here as an experiment to see if the Earth is survivable. When we landed we got attacked by outcasts of the Trikru and Lincoln helped us find one of our own who had gotten kidnapped by them. It was then that we learnt more about the clans and the coalition and we would like to hopefully enter into an alliance."
If there was anything that Clarke was expecting, it definitely was for Anya to explode in laughter. The laugh was anything, but encouraging however.
Anya stopped laughing and she stalked closer to Clarke. Her eyes were radiating anger as she said,"An alliance? You want an alliance after you fired those missiles that burnt down an entire village? "
Clarke was confused until she caught onto what Anya was saying,"Those weren't missiles. They were flares. We had to signal to our people in the sky that it was safe for them to come down."
The words did nothing to reduce Anya's anger as she said," It does not matter what you intended to do. Mistake or not. You burnt down an entire village. You set off a large bomb and the Maunon raided one of our villages due to your actions. You standing here after all this just tells me you started a war you don't how to end. "
"A war?" said Clarke incredulously, " We don't want a war. We just want to try and get along. My people have elite soldiers. They have guns and better technology than what I've seen from the Grounders. They will kill you if we go to war. That's the last thing I want. We just want to find a way we can live side by side."
Anya seemed to contemplate Clarke's words, but Clarke felt her heart sink as she heard the crack of a rifle and a bullet went straight through the head of one of Anya's guard. There were more shots fired and Clarke was surprised to see bodies fall from the tree line on Anya's side of the bridge.
Clarke looked around behind her and she was surprised to see Diggs and Pascal standing at the tree line down below the bridge and there was smoke wafting off of the end of Diggs' muzzle.
There was another crack and this time the bullet was headed for Lincoln, but Clarke had already started running as soon as she had seen Pascal aim his rifle.
The bullet was on a beeline to Lincoln's chest and as Clarke ran she was able to perceive everything at a higher rate than usual. It was this added ability of her super speed that allowed her to move Lincoln out of the way and everything sped up back to normal time after she skidded to a stop.
There were a few more cracks and the second of Anya's guards fell to a shot to the stomach . Clarke immediately wanted to run and help the man as she saw it wasn't a fatal wound