Tobias' POV
I can't trust anyone, except maybe Zeke and Tris. The others are a liability- I thought we could trust Tori, but apparently she was here purely as a spy. She didn't have interest in locating this guilty one- in fact, she was one of the guilty ones.
Sometimes, I think, Wow, the Dauntless are really brave. How can they dare to do that? They're so Dauntless. Other times, I remember what Dauntless is really supposed to be like- that is, not reckless acts of brave foolishness- and in comparison, the Dauntless don't really seem so Dauntless anymore. I recite part of the Dauntless faction Manifesto in my head.
We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves. We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence.
That's exactly what Dauntless should be about, and that's noble. I would be honoured to join a faction like that.
But this Dauntless...let's put it this way. The Dauntless here are brave enough to slide down a zipline, or get a tattoo, but aren't brave enough to stand up to the people who are powerful (supposedly) but wrong. They aren't brave enough to stand up for themselves, to do this as long as it means not betraying their friends.
My initial reaction to Tori's betrayal was shock; now, my anger, which was bubbling inside me for quite a while, shows itself. How can this grown Dauntless woman who works in the tattoo parlour be intimidated by Eric or Max (or possibly someone else), not even attempting to stand up for herself, and betraying her friends?
Well, at least the PRIVATE meeting later will hopefully lift my spirits. I'll take great pleasure to lay a false trail for the traitor and her accomplices to follow. Then, we will catch the guilty ones, punish them as we see fit and keep our fears even more safely hidden.
At 11am, I make my way to the apartment. I find Tris, Christina, Zeke, Shauna, Uriah and Marlene already there. "Where's Lynn?" I ask as I unlock the door and they file in.
"She's still in the fear landscape. Should be done in around a minute...anyway, she'll be here soon," Marlene explains. I shrug. Just that moment, she enters.
"OK, so what's the fake trail, first of all?" Tris asks.
Good question.
"Ah...well...we need a plan to catch this person. It's clear that Tori is just an accomplice, not the mastermind. So obviously, we'd need to tempt the person to show themselves...and then we can catch them in the act. Red-handed. Just like that!" I say, slapping my hand on my armrest to emphasize the last word. It's clear that my Abnegation tendencies are long gone.
Tris laughs. Evidently, she's thinking the same thing. "OK, thank you for the sound effects, Mr Dramatic, but more importantly, we need the plan."
"Something tempting," Zeke puts in.
"Something irresistible," Shauna says.
"Something they'd HAVE to go for," Uriah finishes.
"Like what, may I ask?" Lynn asks with a dry look.
"Someone who'd be willing to spread the word," I say, with a sudden burst of inspiration. Everyone looks at me with interest. "I mean, that was the person's goal in the first place, with Christina, wasn't it? To spread the word of my fears so I'd seem weak?"
Tris nods slowly. "Yeah. I suppose...Where are we going to find someone like that?"
I shake my head. "We don't. We just need someone to pretend to be like that. So who's the best actor here?"
Zeke, Shauna, Lynn and Marlene say, "Uriah," in unison. Uriah shrugs, but has a big grin on his face.
I grin. "Uriah it is. It'll be pretty believable too, huh? Uriah's kind of...well...let's go with 'talkative'. And he could just pretend to have a vendetta against me or-"
"OR, I could pretend to be someone else," Uriah interrupts with an evil smile. He grabs a hat from my table, tucks in his shirt and stands up, putting on a British accent. "Hello there, d'you have anything to hold out against Four? I'd be delighted to spread the word." He spreads his hands. "Well, how was that?" he asks us, still in his accent. He takes off the cap and pulls out his shirt.
We all clap. It's not thundering applause, but it's not exactly soft. "Yeah...you should be the one acting," Tris says.
Uriah grins and sits down. "Thanks."
"Now...what's the trail?" Christina asks.
"So...the plan: Uriah lurks in the fear landscape room during lunch, and plants extra cameras around the room. We tell Tori this, one day earlier, so she can tell her 'boss' about it- well, we tell her that there is someone who threatens us, that is willing to spread the word about my fears but don't tell her about the cameras. Tori tells the mastermind, they both come to the room, Uriah does his thing and we all burst into the room, catching them red-handed. We have the cameras as evidence, if anyone convicts us for unprovoked attack against them. And voila- our little criminals are caught. The end," I announce. When I'm done speaking, everyone claps.
"Wow, nicely put, Four!" Shauna calls. I grin.
"Well, basically, I'm stringing all of your ideas together," I say.
"So that's settled?" Tris asks, acknowledging all of us. We all nod.
Lynn calls out. "What do we tell Tori later, during our meeting with her in..." She checks her watch. "Half an hour?"
"We tell her exactly that. There's someone willing to spread the word about Four's fears and we can't let the culprit get to him," Tris says simply.
We all nod.
"We better get a move on. Tori will be waiting for us," I say. "Oh, and try not to act like you hate her. I know we all do, but we have to throw her off our scent. Act as if everything is normal, we don't know anything and, well, life before we saw that footage," I add.
We file out of the room and head over to the tattoo parlour, and to the back room, where Tori is waiting. "All of you together? No way you were all in the same place."
Crap, I forgot to tell them to come in pairs, threes or alone. It was bound to look suspicious if we all came in at once. I quickly rack my brains for a cover story. "Well, uh, we were, uh, at the Pit, me and Tris, I mean, and we bumped into Uriah, Lynn and Marlene and Christina was talking to someone, we saw her too and since it was almost time for the meeting we all just came together."
Tori nods. "Oh. So, the plan."
"I heard that someone was threatening to spread the word," Tris says quickly. "You know. I'm not sure who it is, but this person is a threat- they could work very well for Max and Eric, couldn't they?"
Tori nods carefully, like she doesn't want to give away anything. Or maybe I'm just paranoid, ready to believe the worst of her. "When are yo-I mean, we, going to catch this person?"
"Well, I heard he or she lurks at the Fear Landscape room a lot. Apparently, he or she finds it 'fascinating'. A transfer- an Erudite, probably, to be interested in something like that. The mechanisms involved, the technology...I heard that the Erudite themselves perfected it," Tris adds- a nice touch, because I think that they did.
"Yeah, they did," Tori confirms- she was a former Erudite.
"So, I think we should do it tomorrow," Uriah pipes up suddenly. "Y'know, the sooner the better. Plus, no one has fear landscape times tomorrow..right?"
Everyone shook their heads. "Well, I have one at 8:30 at night," Christina says, but Uriah quickly covers this up.
"Yeah, we aren't going somewhere at night, okay? I've heard that...you know...bad things happen to Dauntless who wander around at night. It's against the rules, you know? It's okay to party at your own room, or apartment, or whatever, but do not go out into the Pit or the Fear Landscape room. The Patrol will catch you," Uriah says, making things up wildly.
Tori raises her eyebrows. "I had no idea," she says somewhat coldly. "I'll keep it in mind."
There is an awkward silence, but I quickly break it before Tori senses the tension.
"So, uh, who do you think it is?" I ask them.
"Eric. No doubt," Christina says, looking very doubtful indeed.
"Why not Max, eh? He's way more powerful. Eric is just a pawn," Lynn counters.
"I don't think it's either," Tori says, making us jump. With the sound of the traitor's voice, a shiver runs through our veins.
"Then, who would it be?" Tris asks.
"Maybe it's someone who is tired of having such little power when they're clearly better than all the others," she replies cooly. "Maybe it's someone who's willing to be a pawn."
"Who would do something so horrible?" Tris asks, deliberately emphasizing the word 'horrible' so Tori knows what she thinks of her.
"Someone who wants more," Tori continues, as if Tris doesn't even faze her. "Someone who will do anything, as long as they're recognized."
"What if they're not? What if they do someone else's bidding, and nothing comes out of it for them?!" Tris yells.
"They will! They trust their master!" Tori shouts back. "They have a notion called trust!"
"What if they put their trust into the wrong person?!"
"They didn't!"
"What if they did?"
"They did not. They did everything in their power to make sure they weren't being cheated!"
"And how would you know about it?"
I slap my hand on my forehead silently. I told all of them to act normally, to throw her off the scent. Clearly, Tris doesn't care- her hatred blinds her, and her temper.
Maybe, in a strange, strange way, that's one of the reasons I love her. She's not afraid of standing up to herself, to other people, for herself.
"I-I know many things that you don't know, Tris. You'd be surprised," Tori says.
Just then, Eric comes in. "Tori-" he begins, but immediately stops when he sees us. "Ah. Tris, Four. Christina. Marlene, Uriah, Lynn. Zeke, Shauna. What a coincidence. Here for a new tattoo too, I suppose?" He's clearly not here for a tattoo, and knows that we clearly aren't too.
I suddenly realise how much he might've heard. Who knows how long he might've been standing outside, listening to Tori and Tris' shouting match.
Eric looks at Tori meaningfully, before nodding towards us then outside. No one else noticed, I think, but I'm trained to notice the usually-unnoticeable, so I do. It's obvious what he told her- he wants us outside so he can have a private chat with her.
Just to buy time- not because I want to- I quickly say, "Tori, can I have a tattoo of the Dauntless flames here?" I point to my forearm.
Tori and Eric exchange a look. "Sure, Four."
Eric patiently sits and waits for Tori to finish. He must need to tell her something important, or he wouldn't be here anything. As I recall, he's not a very patient person.
After it's done, I look with fear to Tris- we can't let Eric have his conversation with Tori- it might spoil all our plans. She catches on quickly. "Uh, Tori, could I have one too? Same design, same place."
Tori lets out a sigh of exasperation- apparently, she notices her mistake, because she quickly suppresses it. "Sure, Tris." Eric groans, but stays until Tori is finished.
The others catch on, each requesting a Dauntless flame on their forearms. It's 8 at night when we finally leave, and Eric left too- he must've had something to do, or else got tired of waiting. At any rate, we decide to camp outside the tattoo parlour, because Tori and Eric are obviously going to have this conversation. Sure enough, a figure walks in.
Suddenly, a thought surfaces. This might not be Eric. We've never seen proof it is. I'm just very biased against him- who wouldn't be, after everything we've been through? Then again, he was acting very suspicious just now.
"They know," the figure says- I can't particularly make out the voice, but it's obviously a man's. "Tris, Four- the whole group knows that you are under my command."
"Yes," Tori agrees. "I could tell by the way Tris was shouting at me."
I could somehow feel Tris blushing.
"What should we do? The plan might be foiled."
"Oh, no matter. You see, maybe they don't trust me, but they do tell me some important information."
"Like what?"
"Like there is a threat in the Fear Landscape room- well, a threat to them anyway. He or she may be useful to us."
"What is this asset?"
"Someone who is willing to spread the word on Four's weaknesses, publicly humiliate him," she says glumly. I go red- I'd almost forgotten that the whole reason for this is me. I'm the one who they're really trying to put down.
Then I realise that it's rather strange she sounds glum- she sounded fairly excited just now.
Eric got an evil glint in his eye. "Excellent."
The two of them walked out, Tori hunching defeatedly and Eric straight up, excited. All of us quickly hid out of their view as they proceeded in the opposite direction.
"Well, what do you think?" I whispered to Tris. She didn't reply, just showed me a grim look. That looked showed me a million things, but mainly the fact that she was still shocked about Tori being a traitor, but was ready to fight until her last breath.
"I think that it's time to put the plan in action."
THE END, HOPE YA LIKED IT:)
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