Chapter 2

Survival instinct and training had taught the young Erudite plenty during the last 3 years that had been her living hell. The first was not to react in breathing or movement upon waking until she evaluated where she was and if she was in danger. She could not open her eyes to check so she needed to rely on all of her other senses.

She allowed her hearing to pick up the thud of a shoe tapping against a concrete floor. The sound from the walls suggested plaster not stone and solid so not a derelict building. The air tasted clean but not sterilized to the point of Erudite standards. The feel of clean clothing and splints on her fingers let her know she was at least medically seen. The roughness of the bedding she was in suggested Abnegation or Dauntless at least. Considering that the last people she had encountered had been Dauntless she would go by process of elimination.

The toe tapping stopped and a chair creaked and the breathing of a male and by the sound of large but certainly not the hulks size could be determined by the gait. She scolded herself for almost tensing in preparation to attack and waited for her opportunity.

The unknown male approached her and her wrist was taken as if her pulse was being felt for. Knowing her jig was up she pulled him forward to meet her now raised knee and the crunch of a nose breaking was heard before she locked her legs and arms around whoever had her and growled.

"Who the fuck are you and where the fuck am I? And you better fucking know how to tap that out fucker cause you are lucky I am letting you breathe."

The male used the limited range of fingers she had allowed him and got 'safe'. She laughed mirthlessly.

"Try again cause I am not feeling very fucking safe at the moment."

She got 'house' and scowled and quirked an eyebrow "Who taught you the signals? You know you could have made that in one fucking movement….grr fuck never mind. Your ineptitude is not my problem."

She huffed and looked around the room and saw that she is in some kind of house literally. Probably abnegation from the starkness but it has more tech in it.

"Who'd have fucking thought you guys would put a fucking real safe house in abnegation."

She heard the gasps as the man's air supply was finally running out and she huffed and pushed him off of her. "There is your right to breathe again."

She collapsed back to the bed and groaned as the stitches in her side twinged and she lifted her baggy black shirt that someone had put her in and looked over everything.

"Fuck. I will never get to wear a bikini again at this rate. Did someone restitch me?" She looked up with a quirked eyebrow and made an impatient gesture with her hand as if to say 'any day now' when the man didn't answer.

She eyed the man up and down and determined he was a medic and dauntless not Erudite. He had sandy blonde hair and looked like he was rather nice guy but had the Erudite look in his eyes so he was at least a transfer. He sat rubbing his throat and then chuckled.

"Four fucking warned me." He muttered and her spine snapped and her mood changed. She even cracked a smile.

"Four, is he here right now? I mean cause if I were him…fucking last place. But hey…." A feral gleam comes over her. "Am I allowed yard time?"

The man tilted his head to the side "Yard time?"

The young girl rolls her eyes. "Prison reference, and yes I know I am not in prison. I was being sarcastic, you're going to have to get used to that."

He shrugged "Can I take a look at you now please?" He asked wearily and she smirked.

"I don't know, can you? I mean…you would need to get into proximity of me and my limbs and I am not in the best of moods. I mean if you just don't need to breathe then sure, by all fucking means bring it. My body feels like I haven't fought in about…" She stretched and cracked her neck "Four days maybe. That should be a good rebound time."

The guy paled and the girl snorted and rolled her eyes and laid down and threw her hands above her head. He eyed her warily and she sighed.

"Toss me the damn cuffs and I will make sure I don't freak out and try and crush your trachea."

He scowled and must have realized how he was acting and stood up and a smile came to her lips. "Thatta boy. You had me worried you were still wearing blue instead of the black that is gracing your frame."

He snorted and then scowled "How did you know I was a transfer?"

One shoulder lifted in a shrug. "Takes one to know one I guess. I mean I am not transferred yet…which reminds me."

He made it over to the side of the bed and felt around on her ribs "Aptitude is in two days. You are going to be staying here until then and then that night. I believe you will be escorted to the choosing ceremony."

She nods "How bad were the injuries. I counted two 2 inch deep cuts that I managed to get somewhat close, two broken fingers that felt clean breaks in the metacarpals and then one 3 inch that I couldn't get to. Probably a few bruised ribs but I was pretty beat up bruise wise so I couldn't really tell."

He gave a half smirk "Well let's hope you end up in infirmary with me after initiation."

She snorts and rolls her eyes. "Not bloody likely. You still haven't answered any of my questions and I think I have been really fucking cooperative all things considered."

He sighed and lowered her shirt "Four isn't here but Tris should be coming by later today and will be taking over watch along with one of the Pedrad's. They are currently arguing over who gets to come. Your assessments were right and we were able to get ahold of some nano gel so that the bruising and gashes should be healed by the time you are due to leave. Do you feel up to eating anything?"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and she tilted her head. "Nope, but if you don't get some sleep you are about to collapse soon. Factionless patrols going bad?"

He rolled his shoulders "Not anymore those got taken care of. I just got called in because the medic they had for you….pissed off the wrong guy and had to be taken to Erudite to recover."

She grinned and shrugged. "What he try to do cop a feel of me?"

He flinched and the girl got her answer. "What was this guy's name?" Her voice went hard and menacing.

He shook his head "Nope not giving you that information. I value my skin. Four said not to tell you that because something about that was how he lost you in the first place."

A deep frown crossed her face. "That isn't how he lost me. What's your name?"

"Will, then what happened?"

"You have a hand held scanner that I can calibrate and see if it is still there?"

He shook his head and she nodded "Along my scalp line I believe there is a tracker that was implanted under the skin. I had to stitch myself a couple of weeks back and I guess because of the thread and scar I didn't notice it."

"Okay then, I will just send a message for that to be picked up and brought along. Can you please try and eat something?" He pleaded with her.

"If I do you do…and I get to take a shower." She bargained.

He tilts his head and smiles "I think I can live with that deal. Let me send the message and I will warm up something for us to eat. You can move around the house but it might be better to let the gel and serums work for a few more hours before you get up and move around too much."

She nods and frowns. "Hey Will, do they have electro stimulus machines that they can bring, if I was laying down for a week I probably lost muscle tone and it will severely weaken me."

Will sighs "If I don't check into one you are just going to jump into major workouts aren't you."

I laugh "I will still do it if you bring one, just not as soon. Hell I might even give myself more than 5 or 6 hours of NOT training."

He snorts "They are going to love the hell out you there. Yeah I will put in the request."

"She wants what?" The hulk glared at the petite blonde girl standing in the doorway of his office.

"Will wants the scanner for her Eric. She mentioned that she didn't get lost, she was tracked. Four said she had mentioned she had to go over her skin for anything out of place but he thought she was being paranoid. She said she had stitched up a gash in her hairline and she noticed that it is more raised then it should be. Scanning it will find out if it is a tracker. Just needs to be …"

He waves his hand interrupting her impatiently. "Yeah I am fucking aware what that request was. Run the electric shock by me Tris." His arms were crossed over his chest and he was scowling.

"She is afraid that because she has been in bed for almost five days her muscles will atrophy enough that it will make it harder to recover from her injuries rather than helping. Will agrees and he already knows if we don't get it she will just go full on training mode before the day is out." Tris frowns not liking it either.

Eric doesn't say anything for a while, he just whips around and fills out a requisition form and almost throws it at her. "I will drop off the fucking scanner myself and be there when it is done. If it is a tracker we could use it."

Tris nods "Four would like to be able to see her Eric."

He glares at her "Fucking tough. He can't go to the safe house and she can't go out until it is time. Or would you like to be the one to tell Max why Quinn Matthews, the niece of the now dead love of his fucking life has disappeared off the face of the earth again?"

She glares at him. "It was not Four's fault she was taken."

Eric waves his hand dismissively "I don't give a shit about that at this point. Chances are she has a tracker Tris. Fits with how every other time she was taken before. We can't fuck this up this close. Max will lose it. He wants her here and he wants her safe. Who do we have going with you to the house?"

Tris clears her throat "Zeke is going but he is taking Zack his nephew. They are close in age and he thinks.."

"No! Zeke can go, his niece can go. Zack doesn't go." He growls.

She furrows her brow "What the fuck does it matter whether niece or nephew goes?"

Eric's scowl disappears and his eyes and face turn deadly "Follow my fucking orders and get out of my office Tris."

She glares "By the way, I won't tell you again. She doesn't go by the name Quinn. Her name is Harley. Don't call her anything but that Eric."

"Dismissed Tris." He says coldly.

The door slams and Eric slumps into his chair and reaches into a drawer and pulls out a bottle of whiskey and pours some into a glass. Smirking "Harley Quinn. Of course you would take that name." He sips on the amber liquid in his glass and sighs.

'She won't remember me', he thought bitterly. Her brother and his bitch wife will have made sure of that. Not that he looked much like he did before he had transferred. But 4 years ago they had reunited in a way and he had started to spend time with her when he would go to Erudite for meetings.

One year of secret meetings and stolen kisses before shit had gotten bad. Jeanine had done what she could to stop the other Erudite leaders from executing the attacks but during that Max had been taken to be used against her. Quinn and Jeanine had arranged for a way to get him out but Jeanine had sacrificed herself in the process. Once Max was out Quinn had gone back, only to be tortured and memory wiped of the projects they still had in the works. During that all of her relationship to the young Dauntless leader was lost, along with other precious memories.

Eric pulled out the camera feed in the safe house and went back to the time she would have woken. He chuckled at how viper like she was when she went from sleeping to striking out at Will. Rewinding several times he zoomed in to look at her closely to see how she had managed to be so still.

"Didn't even change her breathing or muscle positioning." He muttered and sipped from his glass again. His eyes devoured her features and shape as if he was starving, and in a way he was.

He had known well into that year that the then 14 year old girl had stolen his heart. He never pushed her for anything physical and was content to just be with her. When she lost her memories of them he had turned hard and even more cruel in an effort to beat his faction into shape. If anyone had cared to pay attention to the few girls he did bang they would probably all see one or two main features. The girl's hair was always strawberry blonde and she always had blue eyes, or contacts.

Harley had only gotten more beautiful to him. She was still sarcastic as hell, but her face never lost that perfect heart shape. Her eyes were still wide and he still felt like he was drowning in them. She had always been physically fit and while she hadn't been deadly back then, Eric had already started to train her. Now she had no amount of fat but was curvy as hell and was a woman. His woman.

He fingers tightened at the thought of the medic he had put in the Med Center and wished again he had not let Uriah stop him from killing the fucker. Tossing back his drink he scowled at the thought of the young Pedrad going near her.

He watched as Will got her to eat something and helped her to take a shower. Shutting off the feed on his tablet he tucked it into a inner pocket of his jacket and stood to get everything that would be needed to take to them.