A/N; I do NOT own the Divergent series.
I'm just messing around with it.
REMEMBER! Chapter 10 will be the last chapter until next weekend.
I will write during the week and I WILL post any finished chapter I have on Sunday's.
It takes us forty minutes to reach the building on foot, and even then it's tricky. The Erudite have patrols of the area so we have to be extremely careful.
Eventually at the fifth floor, we crawl through the open door, surveying our surroundings. I hear hushed whispers straight ahead. We stand and slowly make our way toward the voices and when we reach them, I see a small girl in black bottoms and a white jacket, and what looks to be her mother.
"Ma'am?" I whisper. She whirls around and stands protectively in front of her daughter. I hold my hands up, palms facing her, "We're not here to hurt you. I have a written message for you. We need to move asap!" I hand her the paper and look around her to the child.
"Hey sweetheart, can you do us a favour and turn your jacket inside out? We need everything we can to be as dark as possible? Call him two and me, three if you need to." She does as I ask and I turn to Eric.
"Get the weapons! If Erudite are out there, we're going to need them. Oh, and I picked something up for you on our way out." I smirk and pull two bandanas from my back pocket. Both have mandibles on them, basically a skeleton of the jaws.
We pull ourselves up onto tables underneath lighting fixtures, removing panels here and there searching for weapons. When we have enough, Eric slings one bag over his shoulders, I do the same with another and we split the third.
There are eight throwing knives, four handguns and two rifles with extra ammunition.
Eric talks into his comms device, "Package is secure, moving out, over!"
"Ma'am, we need to be quiet but we need to be able to move fast. Three bring up the rear and make sure no one's following."
As we exit the floor, I keep an eye on the package and the other on our surroundings. At the bottom of the stairwell, Eric holds up a closed fist and I put a hand on the woman to stop her from advancing.
Making sure the coast is clear, Eric moves forward. Suddenly he drops into a roll, hiding behind a pillar. I pull both persons back and edge my way to the door. I vaguely see a group of people just outside the building. They're armed and considered hostile.
"R-three to R-one, we have multiple hostiles in the area. I repeat; multiple hostiles. R-two has been separated, I'll try to find another way out but we could use a distraction."
"Belay that, hostiles have been neutralised!" What? I took my eyes off Eric for less than thirty seconds and he's already neutralised them? Guy's freakishly efficient.
"Fine, but we gotta move. I'm getting antsy here and I don't like being antsy." I lead the package through the door, stopping every few steps to check our surroundings. "Let's get this done quick. Two, you're waking up the guy that does piercings. I need something to tell my friends in the morning and they won't believe I just went zip-lining."
"We'll meet you two blocks South with transport."
"Let's pick up the pace!" I double back, keeping an eye out for movement.
It takes twenty minutes to go two blocks because Eric was taking extra precautions. Honestly, you'd think the guy was paranoid. Although, I suppose in this situation, he has every right to be.
After what seems like forever, an armoured truck appears.
"What the hell is this? We're supposed to be doing invisible operations and you grabbed this thing? It's big, it's bold and it's annoying as hell."
"Hey! It was either this or moving through the sewers and you know that stuff doesn't wash out. It's a waste of clothing. Now get in the fucking truck so we can get moving!"
"Fine, asshole! Just for that, we're sending you to wake up the guy that does piercings Five."
"Nah, he's already awake. Turns out R-four here is really good at piercings."
"Shut up and drive, you moron! I'd like to get some sleep tonight. I gotta talk to you later, Two. We have a problem."
We get to the gate and Max has already authorised an opening, saying something about an urgent meeting with Johanna Reyes and violent spouses. We get through with no problems. Almost home free!
Dropping the woman and child off is much simpler than getting them out of the city. We stay for roughly a half hour and then make our way back to the gate. Johanna will take care of the rest. Max says he has a couple of trusted guards on the outer perimeter of Amity lands so all should go according to plan, unless the Erudite already know what we're doing considering people are going missing every now and then.
Clear of the gate, Max and Eric drop us off at the train tracks and we have to use the members' entrance. They can explain being out on their own, say they couldn't sleep and decided to check on the guards at the gates in the middle of the night. What they couldn't explain, however, is being out and about with two initiates and two members of the faction.
Getting into the compound is easy and takes no time at all. There are no cameras in this part of the compound and so, we're able to go unseen. When we hit the Pit, we split up. I follow Reaper Four to the piercing place, Uriah and the woman disappear back to their places of sleep, I'm guessing.
"So, Three," Reaper Four says, "What can I do for you tonight?"
"Give me three dermals above my left eyebrow. Start at the crown and work your way out. I don't want any of the heavy stuff, that seems to suit the men better and considering I'm a small person with a slight figure, I need something Dauntless but feminine!"
"I have just the thing." He readies his equipment and points to the chair, "This won't take long. Once they're done, all you need to do it clean the excess blood off in the morning. Don't touch them with dirty hands and don't play around with them. That's cause enough for infection. I'll give you some healing salve for the morning."
"Ok, let's get this over with. If I don't do this now, Eric will drag me here at some point anyway." I take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. I let it out slowly and that's when piercing one starts. I repeat the process with the other two and then get up to look in the mirror. They look good and they'll look even better then they're healed. I hand over my points card but he waves it away.
"Consider it a 'congratulations on your first assignment' gift. Besides, Eric will pay for it when he finds out I didn't charge you."
"It's not my first assignment, it's my second. The first was when I was ten and had to help my mother protect some people. Please, just take the payment." I'm practically begging but I don't care. I can't have Eric paying for what I want. I can't have anyone paying for what I want.
When he takes the payment and returns my card, I make my way back to Eric's to find that he's not home yet and the place is shrouded in darkness.
"Reaper Three, come in Reaper Three."
"This is Reaper Three; state your name and business using this frequency."
"I need help, Reaper. Respond."
"Help with what?"
"Multiple packages,"
"Move them through Sector Six. Reapers can't do much tonight. We're on lockdown until the end of initiation. The countdown is on; T minus nine days. Get as many to Sector Six as you can. Get them all out if you can. If you can't, they'll die. Reaper Three is going dark!"
I shut off my comms devices and apply the battery supply. It's like a magnet that sits over the skin. It remotely chargers the small batteries within the device that's under the skin, and people say Erudite are the only smart people! That thought makes me chuckle.
I go to my room to change for bed when I hear the door opening. No one calls out, so I know it won't be Eric or Max. I hit the panic button located behind the door.
Max had Eric install it when I moved in because they know how some people can get. We all know how some people can get and we know that if our cover has been blown, hell will rain down upon us in the form of Erudite. The panic button sends a signal out to the closest Reapers and they have less than five minutes to respond. Considering I deactivated my comms units, I can't contact anyone until its finished charging and that usually takes the whole night.
I can hear heavy footsteps and heavier breathing. I am standing behind the door, watching for whomever it is coming closer. I am tense and afraid, and ready to defend myself if I have to. My heartbeat has skyrocketed, my breathing is shallow. I am on the edge of panic.
When the bathroom light goes on, I see the silhouette of the person disappearing. As soon as the door is closed, I make my way to the front door as quietly as I can. When it's open, I see Eric, Max, Uriah and the man that done my piercings.
I mouth 'in the bathroom' to them. Just as I finish, we hear the toilet flush. Max pulls me from the room while Eric and R-four check it out. Uriah stands protectively in front of me as does Max.
"Dammit, Jerry!" Eric shouts. "How many times do I have to tell you that I already have a houseguest? You gotta go home, man!"
We hear words being slurred and mispronounced. Turns out that Jerry's extremely intoxicated, all the while, nearly killing me!
I take a deep breath, and another, and a third. R-Four and Max take Jerry off Eric's hands, sends Uriah back to the dorms and leave me with Eric.
"Tris, are you okay?" I'm leaning against the wall, still trying to bring my heartbeat back down to normal. I don't look up until I can support myself without shaking.
"I almost had a heart attack and I was ready to hurt him just because he came into your apartment in the middle of the night. What is wrong with people? Don't they see everything that's going on around them? Do they have no sense? Do they just think, 'oh well, Tris is staying at Eric's because her life is in danger, let's see if her heart will give out to go with it'?" I'm nearing hysteria and suddenly, I can't calm down. My breathing has picked up again.
I pace, waving my hands in front of my face attempting to get myself under control.
"What is wrong with me? Not everyone's out to get me, so why does someone not calling out when they come through the door get to me?"
He grabs me and pulls me into the apartment. The door closes with a dull thud. I am handed a glass of water and told to sit still. He takes my pulse rate, which is still racing.
"Come on, I'm sleeping in your bed tonight. You look exhausted."
"Of course I'm exhausted, did you see what we had to go through tonight? And then again when one of your friends decided it'd be fun to use your bathroom in the middle of the night? God! I'm not even calm and I was calm before you started shouting at your..." He clamps a hand over my mouth and basically drags me to my bedroom.
He pulls back the covers, forces me into a lying position and attempts to tuck me in. That sends me into a fit of giggles. It come out of nowhere, so here I am, rolling around in my bed because I can't keep my laugh under control and he's staring at me as if I've grown another head.
"What did I get myself into when I said I'd work with you?" And just like that, my giggles stop.
"Hell! That's what you got yourself into, but it's gotta stop. You need to convince Max to let Jeanine go ahead with the attack on Abnegation. My parents will have most, if not, everyone out by the end of initiation. We need to know what she wants and why." I start humming the tune to The Phoenix, sung by Fall Out Boy; a rock group from before the Purity War.
Eric strips to his underwear and climbs in next to me. I place my head on his chest and focus on his heartbeat. It's way too fast to be normal.
"Hey, Eric? Why's your heart beating so fast?"
"Oh, you know, I'm in bed with my boss' niece's head on my chest." I hum an affirmation and we're quiet for a while. His heartbeat finally starts to slow.
"Hey, Eric?" I look up at him.
"Yes?"
"We need to stop this! I need to go back to sleeping in the dorms. My friends are getting suspicious because they rarely see me and I need to be with them when shit goes down." I already hate this plan. I know that if it doesn't happen, things could go awry, fast.
"You know what that means?"
"Unfortunately, I do." He heaves a sigh and murmurs something else, but I'm already too far gone.
I get to the cafeteria a little late. I had to clean the excess blood off my face before I went for my run this morning. I woke up with my pillow stuck to my face.
"Where were you last night?" asks Christina.
"Uriah…you know, the Dauntless-born who was on our capture the flag team?" I say. "He was leaving with some of the members and he begged them to let me come along. They didn't really want me there. Some girl named Lynn stepped on me. Then Eric decided it'd be fun to drag me out for my first piercing!" I lift my hair away from my face to show them.
"They may not have wanted you there then," says Will quietly, "but they seem to like you now. They're trying to catch your attention. Damn! Those look good."
"Yeah," I say. I turn and wave, but I can't deny it. "I'm glad to be back on solid ground, though!"
Hopefully they can't tell I'm lying, but I suspect they can.
"Well, you missed Christina almost punching an Erudite," says Al. His voice sounds eager. I can count on Al to try to break the tension. "He was here asking for opinions about the Abnegation leadership, and Christina told him there were more important things for him to be doing."
"Which she was completely right about," adds Will. "And he got testy with her. Big mistake." "Huge," I say, nodding. If I smile enough, maybe I can make them forget their jealousy, or hurt, or whatever is brewing behind Christina's eyes.
"Yeah," she says. "While you were off having fun, I was doing the dirty work of defending your old faction, eliminating interfaction conflict…"
"Come on, you know you enjoyed it," says Will, nudging her with his elbow. "If you're not going to tell the whole story, I will. He was standing…"
Will launches into his story, and I nod along like I'm listening, but all I can think about is the impending doom of the fight I have to have with Eric. I look over Will's shoulder at the members, who are now flicking bits of food at one another with their forks.
It's the first time I have dreaded being one of them.
Which means I definitely have to survive the next stage of initiation.
At the end of breakfast, I spot Eric heading to the training rooms and I run to catch up. We get through the door and he stops, still facing away from me.
"You know that if we do this, we need to act like we hate each other?" He nods and I place a hand on his shoulder, "Just know that no matter what happens, or what's said, you're still my Sweets and I apologise in advance for anything that may come!"
He sighs, ignores me and starts toward the punching bags. It's as if he's holding the world on his shoulders and it's weighing him down. I don't like it but I can't do anything about it because everything that's happening, must happen.