I blocked the fist that was heading towards me with a forearm and began my attack. My pulled punches quickly found their mark on his jaw and temple before I stopped and stepped back.

"Again." He commanded as we broke apart, his fists coming up into position. I lifted my hands in response and closely observed his body language, anticipating his next move. His tongue became visible as it pressed down into his lower lip. His face was full of concentration as we slowly circled each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. He had the advantage in height, towering over me by almost a full foot, which would have been intimidating if I didn't have full knowledge of how to counter his moves from our months of training.

Suddenly, his right leg shot out to kick at my side. I grabbed his ankle with both hands and tugged, causing Braden to lose his balance which allowed me to pull him harshly to the ground. He landed unceremoniously on his backside, a large breath was exhaled through his teeth. I remained tense above him, keeping my position as he pouted for a moment at his defeat before an easy smile flashed across his face. "Good," he commented, "you're learning more each day."

I grimaced in response, relaxed my stance, and pushed a piece of hair that had managed to escape my pony tail behind my ear before I extended a hand to help him up.

"But clearly not enough."

Braden's tone changed just as fast as his actions. He yanked down on my hand while simultaneously slamming his feet against my thighs, causing me to flip over his head and land harshly on my back. He was quick to pin both my arms above my head while using the weight of his torso to constrain my body, both of his legs stretched out on either side of my hips. "Give up?" Braden teased, his voice and breath warm and close to my ear.

"Never!" I gasped, struggling to find a weakness in his tight grip, kicking my legs in an effort to gain any purchase on the ground to throw him off and relieve the pressure on my chest.

"Hmm," He mused, "we'll see about that." Braden gave a wicked grin and my shrieks filled the room as he started tickling my sides.

"If you two are done messing around, Anderson wants to see both of you in his office." The voice at the door stopped Braden's actions and he rolled off me, the grin quickly disappearing from his face. Veronica, Anderson's assistant, stood in the doorway with pursed lips, crossed arms, and disapproving eyes. Embarrassed to be caught in such an awkward position, I shot to my feet and rearranged my clothing, brushing off the non-existent dirt. We followed Veronica out of the room without a word or a glance at each other.

We walked down the long halls to Anderson's office. My bare feet stuck to the tile floors and made a suction noise with every step. The low, constant murmur of voices and fingers against computer keyboards in the control and observation rooms we passed sounded muffled compared to the harsh clacks of Veronica's stilettos. She strode before us a few feet ahead, leading the way.

Braden could sense my nervous silence. "I'm sure it's nothing." He tried to reassure me. "We're still a long way away from entering the city. You're not ready. We still have time." I nodded but was not comforted at his words. Meetings with Anderson had become a rare event since Braden had been put in charge of my training. Whatever was happening, it was something important and nothing he said could make the restless butterflies in my stomach go away.

Sooner than I would have liked, we arrived in a familiar hallway. The heavy wooden door was an unwelcome sight and a reminder of the past interrogations and uncomfortable conversations that had taken place inside that room. Veronica softly knocked on the door and a deep voice responded, telling us to enter. "Sir," Veronica informed the man behind the desk, "they're here."

Anderson looked up from a tablet he was intently studying to make eye contact with us. "Yes, of course, thank you Veronica." There was no emotion in his face as Anderson spoke these words and he put the device down and gestured to the seats in front of the desk. "Please have a seat, Braden and Olivia." I followed Braden into the room and sat down beside him, my fingers immediately digging into the armrests out of habit and anxiety. "How is the training going, son?" Anderson's question wasn't directed at me.

Braden cleared his throat before answering. "Very well, sir. She's mastered almost everything that we can with our current resources, and can almost take me on in a fight." He flashed me a small grin but I could barely feel the muscles on my face let alone be able to find the ability to move them to form a smile at my friend.

"Good." Anderson leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on his stomach. "This is wonderful news because due to unforeseen circumstances, things are speeding up far more quicker than we had initially anticipated."

My fingers stopped digging into the furniture as my body became frozen to the chair. I already knew what he was going to say and my heart began to thud in my chest. I don't want to leave.

Braden had a shocked and pained expression on his face. "I know that the situation is tense within the city right now but I thought we were scheduled to begin next year?"

His father shot him quick, disapproving look at his reaction before he continued. "The Bureau is afraid that the mission cannot wait another year. Our informant has done an excellent job so far in relocating the Divergent to the outside, but it is not possible for her to find the Divergent, fulfill her responsibilities within Abnegation, and also keep an eye on Matthews. Jeanine Matthews has increased her search of the Divergent and has recently enlisted the help of several Dauntless leaders. What we need is a mole within Dauntless as soon as possible to prevent any hazardous repercussions that may arise in the collaboration between Matthews and Dauntless. By this time next year it may be impossible to stop Matthews in her plan to destroy the Divergent. The damage she can do in one year and the loss of even one genetically pure individual would be too much for the experiment."

Still recovering from the chastisement from his father, Braden was quiet and let any resistance that remained towards this new series of events melt from his face. The Bureau of Genetic Welfare had plenty of eyes and ears within the city with the thousands of cameras and unlimited security tapes, but there were zones in the city where there was no footage and there were conversations that could not be listened to. A soldier to operate missions and follow orders was what the Bureau needed, and that was what I was being trained to become.

"Our team has already inserted Olivia's information into the Erudite database. Starting tomorrow you will be known as Olivia Kaiser, a 16-year-old Erudite-born daughter to Joseph and Marie Kaiser." Anderson slid the tablet he had been studying when we entered his office in front of me. I stared at the bright screen, not focusing my eyes to read the information. Braden's curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to take the tablet. I took some even breaths before I leaned over and watched him slide his finger through various documents of blinding color and small text.

The first thing he stopped at was a birth certificate that listed everything from my blood type to the name of the doctor that had delivered me. Beneath this was a picture of a man and a woman with their arms around two girls. One of the girls was young teenager, perhaps 13 years of age, and the other one was me. My face was relaxed and my smile was happy but it was extremely abnormal to see myself squished in a loving embrace between these strangers. Whether these people actually existed or whether they were just a trick of computer animation, I didn't know. My faux family. I stared into the eyes of my new sister until I had to look away towards the wall, the butterflies in my stomach turning into bricks.

Braden pointed to the photograph of the happy family and smiled. "Hey, you have a sister! At least now you'll get the sibling that you've always wanted." His attempt at light-hearted humor did not amuse me. The physical appearance of the heavily doctored lie in front of me was becoming too much. I had managed to resist thinking about the upcoming mission by immersing myself into my training, but the day I had been dreading was here, and a full year ahead of schedule. The photograph in front of me was a rough reminder that I was immensely underqualified and unprepared.

I shot another quick, dazed look at the picture before I shook myself out of my torpid state and frowned at the desk. "I'm not ready." I half-whispered both to myself and to the man who sat across from me. My voice grew stronger and louder as I expressed my concerns. "There is still so much to learn. I haven't experienced the simulation serum or my fear landscape and I have yet to study the Dauntless leaders or the layout of the compound-" The words stopped in my throat as it closed with emotion.

The lines on Anderson's forehead creased as he furrowed his brow. "So what? You'll fit right in with the other Dauntless transfers." His words fell heavy upon my shoulders, making it more difficult to breath. My throat continued to tighten and I felt hot tears pooling up in my eyes. I quickly blinked to erase the foreign tears and made the room come back into focus. Losing my composure in front of a top Bureau council member would be mortifying and unacceptable to say the least. Anderson spoke again. "You need to realize the importance of what we are going to accomplish. This is no longer about you, Olivia, this involves me and everybody else in the Bureau. The success of this organization and the experiment of Chicago rests upon your ability to be a good foot soldier and follow orders. The amount of training that you've received doesn't matter anymore and you're going to have to work extra hard during initiation to ensure a top leadership position. You are going into the city tomorrow and picking Dauntless at the choosing ceremony whether you feel like you're ready to or not. That is not an order and I will not repeat myself on this. Do I make myself clear?" His voice increased in volume with each sentence and was full of authority.

I knew when I had accepted this job to go undercover within the city that it would be dangerous, but that didn't stop the current anxiety I felt wash over me. I quickly reprimanded myself at the panic I was feeling. I straightened my spine and removed my fingernails from the upholstery as I forced myself to accept the change of plans. I am supposed to distance myself from my emotions and be adaptable. I am supposed to be the perfect soldier under the control of The Bureau of Genetic Welfare. There could be no resistance. Therefore, I quickly nodded my head and stared back unblinking into his cold eyes while I tucked my hand underneath my leg to pinch myself in the thigh to keep my voice blasé. "Yes, sir," I answered.

Anderson sighed at the deafening silence he had created in the room after his outburst. "You're naturally brave, Olivia. Initiation will be a breeze and Dauntless will fit you like a glove. Hell, we all know you've been through a lot worse."

I kept my silence, not finding any comfort in his words. Anderson lifted the corners of his mouth, his smile was stiff and forced. "Go, study your new identity and get some rest. Be outside the compound at a quarter to 7 and be ready for immediate departure. Braden, you will accompany Miss Kaiser into the city tomorrow to make sure that the transition runs smoothly. I know I can count on you. That's it, you are both dismissed."

With a wave of his father's hand, Braden jumped up, grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room. When the door shut behind us, he released me and began raking his hands through his hair as we walked back to the main section of the compound.

"This is fine. We'll be fine." He told me, his fingers leaving behind red marks as he moved his hand down his face. I stared down at my bare feet as I followed his quick pace down the hallway. We stopped at one of the open-access printers and printed out a thick stack of papers containing all the information that was on his father's tablet.

A little while later, we sat cross-legged on my bed with empty containers of food and papers spread across the sheets, reading and trying to absorb as much data as possible. Braden held up a stack of documents in front of his face. "When is your birthday?" He asked, quizzing me on the details of my new identity.

"June 21," I yawned as I answered, "that's easy, give me a harder question."

"Alright." He shuffled through the papers until he found what he was looking for. "What kind of underwear are you wearing?"

I gaped at him. "The file doesn't contain that type of information!"

"Yes it does!" He protested, holding the paper above his head as I attempted to snatch it. I grabbed his forearm and was able to move his arm low enough to grab the paper before he was able to switch it to his other hand. He hadn't been lying, the question was there, but it was written in on the bottom with black pen in a handwriting that looked suspiciously familiar.

"Okay, you wrote that!" I accused him, laughing as I threw the paper back at him.

"That is neither here nor there, answer the question, Miss Kaiser," he wiggled his eyebrows at me, using the same commanding tone that his father had used when he had spoken to me earlier.

I rolled my eyes but grinned. Braden was a nice distraction from thinking about tomorrow and whatever laid beyond that, for now it was fun to be casual and to joke around with my friend. I thought for a second. "Black." I said, trying to keep a straight face as I stared back into his dark brown eyes.

Braden smiled at my reply but clicked his tongue and shook his head in objection. "I'm afraid that is incorrect. The answer we were looking for was 'thong' but we would have accepted 'nothing at all.'"

I had to cover my mouth to keep my laugh from becoming too loud and he tried to smother his as well. It was getting late and I was sure my neighbors were asleep. We couldn't afford to receive anymore noise complaints especially since the last time Braden had tried to throw a party it resulted in a week of scrubbing toilets and even though I had no I was forced to join him, guilty by association.

Braden's voice got quieter as he switched topics. "It's probably a good thing that they're not postponing this mission any longer. We're already pushing it as it is, but next year you definitely won't look 16."

He was right, I hadn't been 16 for two years. They seemed to think I could get away with it and they needed someone more mature to pull something like this off, but next year it would be a lot harder for an 19-year-old to pass as that young. I would stick out like a sore thumb in a place where camouflage is key.

"I can't believe I leave tomorrow." I sighed, organizing the documents about my fictional past beside me on the bed into one pile, and then rubbed my eye with my palm. "It seems like it was just yesterday that you were trying to dodge my ricocheting knives." I grinned up at him at the memory of our disastrous first training session. Luckily the only thing lost that day was our tempers, and not any fingers.

He beamed as he remembered, although the smile didn't reach his eyes. "We both knew this day was coming, even if it seems like a shock now. You'll do great, Olivia. You're practically done with your training and you'll pass initiation in a breeze."

I couldn't help but frown at his false cheerfulness. "You told me earlier this evening that I wasn't ready."

His smile fell as he saw the anxiety building in my eyes. Braden leaned across the covers to wrap me in a tight hug, my face buried in his shoulder. In the wake of our fading words, a more somber mood had fallen upon the room. I could tell that we were both thinking about how this was our final night together as friends, the night before everything changed. We would no longer be trainer and trainee, tomorrow I will be a soldier under the command of the Bureau and he'll would go back to his job of assisting the council members. "I wish I could go with you," his voice came from above my head, "it's going to be awful stuck out here watching you have all the fun."

"You can go, I'll give up my position." I offered half-jokingly. The Bureau would never go for that. We abandoned our studying, leaning back against the headboard with his arm draped loosely across my shoulders.

"My father and the other council members would love that. No, we won't throw away all our hard work. You were chosen because you're less conspicuous, nobody will expect you to be a spy. You may appear innocent, but, all thanks to me, you're actually a super secret deadly weapon that will kick major ass." He winked at me before he continued, "I, on the other hand, wear my ass-kicking skills on my sleeve would have a big neon flashing sign above my head that says 'traitor' with an arrow pointing down." But even as he spoke this his eyes lit up at the thought of the mission and becoming Dauntless.

I smiled at the awkwardness I felt at his words. I knew that Braden admired Dauntless, their bravery and their fierce loyalty with each other had attracted me to their lifestyle as well. Braden is always up for a challenge and was devastated when he was denied for the assignment and the task went to me, someone he had never seen or interacted with before. Yet somehow over the past few months of training he had changed his bitter attitude and had become the first person from the Bureau that I could honestly call my friend.

I was also chosen to be sent into the city because I was dispensable. The chances of serious injury or death for this type of mission was high and, compared to the loss of a valued member in their society, my death wouldn't be that much of a hassle for the Bureau. There is surprisingly a lot less paperwork to complete when the deceased has no family members and no possessions to leave behind. I could be easily replaced. I didn't bring this up with Braden and let silence fill the room. He rubbed my arm in comforting circles. "It's okay to be scared. God knows I am. What am I supposed to do around here without you and your chicken arms to protect me?" I smiled because I knew he was trying to make me feel better. It was a habit I had noticed of his, to cover his feelings in humor.

"Are you even sure this is you?" Braden asked me, reaching over and picking up the photograph I had been studying before in Anderson's office of my new family and me. "I hope whoever did this got paid overtime because it must have taken forever to make you look this happy."

"Haha!" I replied, snatching the photo from his hand and rolling my eyes.

"Honestly," He said, leaning his head back against the headboard. "You'll fit into Dauntless perfectly. You've already mastered the 'fuck off' look with your face."

I shoved his shoulder playfully and let out a laugh as he was caught off guard and had to put out an arm to keep from falling off the bed. "It's late," I reminded him. Sobering up to the fact that tomorrow was only in a couple of hours.

"Right. I should go check on how everything else is coming together." I walked him to the door of my apartment, which was in connection with the compound and was originally a room in a hotel. "See you in the morning, Sunshine." He called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight." I shut the door quietly behind him and moved the papers off my sheets before I turned off the light and snuggled into bed beneath the covers. Joining Dauntless both excited and scared me. I was excited to continue training in Dauntless as I had enjoyed my time with Braden by spending my days shooting guns and hitting things. I was also excited because I was going to be entering the city that I had been fascinated with. I had spent a considerable amount of my free time in front of the screens, captivated at the society before my eyes that was so unaware about how simplistic and precious their lives were. My need to protect their innocence by having the experiment continue had been one of the primary reasons as to why I agreed to be the spy the Bureau needed.

I was afraid of the uncertainty before me. I had no idea what my life was about to become. Anderson had said several times in the early stages of this operation that failure wasn't an option, I was coming home when Jeanine Matthews was no longer a threat to the Divergent, or not at all. Whether this was going to last for months or for years, I didn't know. I was scared to leave behind my life here at the compound, a place that I was beginning to call home, without knowing when I would be allowed to come back.

As I laid in my bed looking at the ceiling, thoughts and the memories of today's events played over in my head. My gaze moved across the apartment, memorizing the details. I wasn't sure when I would be back sleeping in this bed. I read the bright red numbers on the clock on the nightstand beside me and was surprised at the time. There was only a couple of hours until I would leave this room and this compound to enter an unfamiliar city and faction as a soldier under the Bureau of Genetic Welfare's control. I knew the following hours would pass with little sleep and I would be exhausted tomorrow.

All the emotions I felt today came crashing back and I let the tears that I refused let fall in Anderson's office slide down both sides of my face and onto my pillow.

Well, shit.