chapter 25

He looked at her with a condescending smile and said,"I guess you won't be leader much longer when everyone here finds out how much stronger I am than you, Princess"

Clarke sighed through her nose and without another word placed her hand atop Mbege's head. It was mere seconds later that Clarke removed her hand and with a neutral, almost robotic tone that was in sharp contrast with how Clarke felt on the inside she spoke up.

"Zero. Dormant or active powers,"

The smile that Mbege was wearing washed away slowly before his face settled into an angry and annoyed expression,"You're fucking lying."

The furious expression Mbege wore only increased as the delinquents behind him jeered and laughed at his misfortune. It was probably made worse by Raven, who was taking notes at the foot of the ramp, literally snorting before letting out loud peals of laughter.

Clarke shook her head at the sight of Raven and said,"I promise you. There was nothing when I checked. I wouldn't lie about this."

Mbege still looked unconvinced and Clarke sighed and said, "Do you want me to scan again?"

A vehement nod was her answer and again Clarke activated Insight, but there was no change at all. Mbege's body had rejected the nanobots and as such he hadn't been bestowed any power at all.

"Still nothing,"said Clarke as she pulled away from Mbege.

Mbege left with a huff and he shoved hi way through the crowd. The atmosphere was decidedly more subdued than before as people realised that they might actually not have any powers and Clarke simply prepared herself for the worst.

It took roughly another 30 minutes before Clarke was finished with everyone and the results were abysmal to say the least.

Of the 95 people in the camp , a resounding 77 had no powers at all. Clarke had double and even triple checked a lot of the delinquents, but it appeared that the genetic editing done after the Blight had actually been more damaging than expected.

It was time for Clarke to go through those that had actually exhibited powers and the majority of the delinquents hung around just to see if the whole thing had been false or not.

Clarke had spoken to everyone beforehand and said that they should give everyone solid proof that she wasn't lying to the delinquents.

It would also probably lift the morale of everyone that there were people who had active powers. There were 7 who all had one dormant power. The only person who had multiple dormant powers was Monroe, in fact.

Finn decided to be the first to step up and it was a somewhat comical sight to see Clarke strain somewhat to reach the top of Finn's head.

Clarke used her Insight and she turned to Raven who was still dutifully taking notes,"Finn Collins, two. Intangibility and dormant."

Raven took it down without a fuss although Clarke was sure there were hints of a frown on her face. It probably didn't sit well with Raven that she probably had the same amount of powers as Finn.

Finn turned intangible and proved it by walking away from Clarke and then walking directly through the crowd of delinquents.

Miller stepped up and again the same process repeated itself. Name, surname, powers and then demonstration.

"Nathan Miller, two. Metal armour and dormant."

" Jasper Jordan , two. Heat vision and dormant. "

"Harper MacIntyre, two. Uh, Animal control and dormant."

Monty stepped up and Clarke scanned him and she couldn't fight her smile as Monty danced after she spoke,"Monty Green , 2. Plant/Fruit creation and dormant. "

"Fuck you, Jasper! " shouted Monty as he held his middle fingers aloft,"Who's farmer boy now?"

Jasper looked nonplussed and shouted,"It's still you! You're still the farmer boy, man!"

As if to Monty further, Jasper held up the raw meat he was holding and two quick beams of light later, a perfectly cooked slice of deer was in Jasper's hands.

He took a huge bite and said,"Until you can do this, you still suck."

Clarke smiled broadly at the exchange between the two. She turned to face Bellamy who had strode up the stairs and he looked at Clarke expectantly.

Clarke placed her hand on Bellamy's head and after a few seconds she jerked back and the surprise on her face was clear as day.

"Bellamy Blake, 4. Telekinesis and three dormants."

Raven looked surprised and all but shouted, "What the fuck? This chump has four? I'm sorry Clarke, but I think you need to go in for repairs."

Bellamy smiled at the news and was in a much happier mood than anyone else had seen him in a while. He flicked his wrist and laughed as Raven's notebook flew to his waiting hand. He played around with before giving it back to a rather perturbed mechanic.

The rest of the delinquents seemed to enjoy the by play and the mood was already lifting as the antics of the others seemed to melt the disappointment of not having powers aside.

Octavia was next and she practically skipped her way up the ramp and stood in front of Clarke. Clarke put her hand on Octavia's head and after a few seconds let go.

"Octavia Blake, four–"

Clarke was cut off by a squeal from Octavia and Octavia clearly happy about the news hughed Clarke and spun her around in a circle.

Clarke broke free from the hug and said,"Like I was saying. Octavia Blake, four. Invisibility, Crystal armour and control and finally two dormants."

Octavia seemed stoked about having four powers which was a sharp contrast to Bellamy who looked pretty upset that his sister would probably be facing the front lines more than he would like.

Octavia turned her armour on and then turned invisible. She appeared again a second later and she looked at her brother directly before smiling widely.

Finally, it was down to the last person and Raven stood up before walking up to Clarke. When Raven was close to Clarke she said soft enough for only Clarke to hear,"I swear if I don't have the same amount of powers as Finn then the universe hates me."

Clarke smiled slight and she scanned Raven quickly and she said,"Okay, last note for the book. Raven Reyes, four. Weather manipulation, Laser beams and two dormants. "

Raven smiled at Clarke and said ,"Maybe the universe isn't all bad. "

Raven was about to do her demonstration, but she was cut off by Clarke grabbing onto her hands,"I don't think your powers are the best for demonstration. They're pretty destructive. "

Raven sighed and said, "Whatever, Griffin. I was doing what you told me to. It's not my fault my awesomeness is too much to handle. Anyways, I think you're forgetting someone to scan."

Clarke realised who Raven was referring to and said,"I'm not even sure I can use this on myself."

There were others who were listening to their conversation and it was Mbege who shouted,"Hey, Princess. We all want to know how many powers the Ark gave their precious princess."

Clarke ignored the jibe and instead decided to just bow to their whims. Clarke closed her eyes and simply focused her Insight ability inwards.

Clarke was surprised to be able to perceive how the Novus nanobots were running even as she was standing there. To her surprise, however she didn't quite manage to isolate the part of her being that represented her powers out. In fact, although Clarke was somewhat able to perceive the fact that she could activate more powers, she was surprised to find that she wasn't able to activate them at all or even give them a slight nudge like she had done for everyone else.

Clarke had made the executive decision to loosen the knots that were the dormant powers once she had realised just how few of them actually had powers. It wasn't taxing at all on Clarke and probably didn't hurt anyone else she had tried it on.

However, when she tried to loosen the knots she vaguely recognised as her own dormant powers they held firm. Even trying to unlock them fully produced no discernible effect.

The thing that stuck out though was that it felt like there was no limit to how many Clarke could activate. Clarke felt like that wasn't quite the right explanation and despite herself she couldn't quite put words to what she was perceiving.

Clarke was about to turn off Insight, but ine thing drew her attention that shocked and it was–