A/N: You'll meet again some of the old crowd here...

Chapter Ten

The next morning, Jeanine met with the Dauntless Divergent newcomers in a large meeting room connected to her office. They had been assigned a large apartment with a dormitory on the same floor as her office, and had been warned that, apart from these their rooms and her office, no place in Erudite was safe from potential listening devices.

Once they were all settled around the table, Jeanine explained the situation to them. She explained that Erudite was going to be attacked next and that, to avoid meeting any resistance, the Dauntless had found a way to inject the serum massively and put everyone under the simulation without needing cooperation or even time – though she had been unable to find out exactly how. She explained how Divergents would therefore be their only chance of resistance against the attack, because they would keep their own mind and be the only ones able to protect Erudite.

She did not mention the data, but chose to simply tell them that the Dauntless would stop at nothing in their hunger for power, and that a lot of political power lay in the knowledge owned by Erudite – not to mention the serums and technology, which, at the hands of Dauntless, could be disastrous.

They asked about the timing of the attack, something she could only speculate upon, but she still did her best to explain what she knew. "I'm afraid it will happen quickly as they will not want us to have had time to react. My guess would be in one to two weeks, but we need to be ready as soon as possible in case it is even before that." Her pronouncement was met with silence. A few questions were asked, problems were raised and discussed.

She knew she was manipulating them, they thought that they were protecting Erudite so that Dauntless could not access the serums and technology to kill Divergents. They thought they were protecting themselves.

But she did not feel any guilt at this manipulation, she knew it had to be done so that they would protect the peace, protect life inside the fence, which was what really mattered. Stopping the Bureau from dismantling Chicago was her first priority, and if she had to manipulate to achieve that goal, so be it.

Beatrice would probably not be happy with the lie, but what could she do? Tell them all the truth, and risk them deciding to go out to meet the Bureau to find this new life of prosperity as the Pure? That would be the end for the rest of them, those who were not Divergent. The lies were necessary, she told herself, and if she succeeded at protecting the majority, they would be worth it.

The alliance was not without tension. At first, Jeanine had been annoyed to find out that her team had not only brought back Divergents, but also a few members of Dauntless who were not Divergent but who, once woken from the simulation, had rebelled against their leaders and followed their Divergent friends to Erudite. However, the Dauntless – Divergents and non-Divergents – had protested, arguing that they were a group, and that they could all help when the simulation was not in effect.

Later on the same day, Jeanine decided to extend the call to all Divergents of the city. She broadcast a short message to the whole city saying that, as Divergents were hunted and killed on sight by the new military regime, Erudite would offer them shelter.

It was a risk, she was conscious of it. Anyone who approached Erudite would be suspected of being Divergent and could be killed on sight by Dauntless soldiers. However, with the help of a few cars which were sent to Amity and Candor, she managed to recruit a considerable number of Divergent allies – she hadn't really realized that there were so many of them and was glad that she was fighting with them and not against them, contrary to her original plans.

Naturally, she knew that they could not all fight, and Amity were likely to refuse the idea entirely, but they were equally needed to fill all main positions in Erudite with people who could resist the serum.

In barely two days, she had recruited a team of Divergents, organized training sessions and started a plan for the next few days. Everything was happening very quickly, and Jeanine was on autopilot. She spent time discussing strategy with the few Erudites she trusted; they sketched out the possible attack patterns and the best way to counter them. They calculated the odds of each defense technique for each attack pattern, contrasted the results with the likeliness of each attack to finally decide on a method which had the best chance of success, regardlessly of the tactic the Dauntless would ultimately choose.

The fact that nobody knew exactly who the traitors in Erudite were made the situation much more difficult to handle, as it meant that she was able to trust very few people. She could not risk leaking their plan to someone who spied for Dauntless, and had to keep from sharing important discussions with anyone who wasn't in the small list of people she was absolutely sure of, even if it meant she was doing nearly everything herself.

She worked restlessly through the day and until the early hours of the morning, then allowed herself a few hours of sleep, and started again. No matter how difficult it was to wake up and be fully functional after less than four hours of sleep on a daily basis, the fact that the future of the city depended on her work was enough to motivate her and give her the strength to keep this rhythm, day after day.

She organized their strategy as well as their preparation to defending the data, made allies, tried to add more people to the list she could trust and narrow down the list of suspects of helping Dauntless.

She knew this tempo was not one she could maintain for long, it would only be a matter of days before she collapsed. She had already had to break her own principle and had started to take medication regularly. For her, the plan was more important than anything else, and her own tiredness was a price she was willing to pay. She felt exhausted and was often overtaken by waves of dizziness, but she hoped she would be able to hold on long enough to make the plan work. After all, it wouldn't be long until it all ended, one way or another.

Three days after the attack on Abnegation, Beatrice went to sit at an empty table in the corner the cafeteria. She had an open book on the table to make it clear that she was not ready for socializing, but it was only a few minutes later when she saw Cara approach and sitting at her table. Beatrice sent her a half-hearted smile but otherwise ignored her and the plate she laid out in front of her.

"You should eat something," Cara said, and Beatrice looked away. After a silence, Cara continued, "I've told my brother to join us, I hope you don't mind."

That got Beatrice's attention. "You have a brother?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He transferred to Dauntless… oh, there he is."

Two of the Dauntless, a boy and a girl, sat at their table. Cara introduced them while waving her hand back and forth. "Beatrice, this is my brother Will and his girlfriend Christina. Will, Christina, this is Beatrice."

They ate lunch and conversed companionably. Will was nice and thoughtful, he didn't ask many questions and left Beatrice in peace when she didn't engage in the conversation. Christina was a little more invasive and tried to include her in conversation, but she, too, was friendly, and Beatrice appreciated their company.

While talking to them, Beatrice remembered how she had looked up to the Dauntless with admiration as a child, how she had wanted to experience this freedom and wildness. Will and Christina did indeed look free, full of the energy she had wanted to be a part of. It was nice to be included among them.

Maybe, she thought, maybe this was what being Divergent really meant. Maybe, one day, she would have friends from other factions and experience the lifestyles of several of them, she would be able to embrace her qualities from Dauntless and Erudite and Abnegation.

When they had finished, they excused themselves – the two Dauntless were required in a meeting with the Divergents, and Cara had an appointment with her research supervisor. Beatrice went back to reading, this time actually managing to lose herself in the text.

Half an hour later, Beatrice's attention was caught by the sound of heels approaching. While many Erudite women wore heals, she had somehow memorized the sound of this particular pair. "You are required in the meeting room," Jeanine told her without preamble.

Seeing Jeanine's emotionless demeanor made Beatrice feel ashamed of herself. Since the loss of her family, she had been hiding from the world, staring into space and letting her feelings control her, and this woman, who was exhausted, probably drowning in despair and crushed by responsibilities, was holding herself like a queen. She was in control, unbreakable and reliable, and Beatrice felt weak in comparison.

She needed time to grieve, but too much depended on the amount work they would be able to accomplish in the little time they had, and she decided that she would have to pull herself together, even if it made her feel selfish for not thinking of her family.

Jeanine lead her to the new elite Divergent group's meeting room, not talking on the way as she knew that, in this faction where everyone was more than competent with any kind of listening devices, the walls had ears. In the elevator, the silence felt louder, maybe because they were in such a small space. Beatrice wished she could say something, but she, too, knew the risks, and mundane conversation felt even more inappropriate than silence. They stood next to each other, staring at nothing, and once the elevator stopped, they walked through a few more corridors to the apartment now occupied by the group of Divergents.

Once safely in the room, Jeanine turned towards Beatrice. Seeing her features from up close made Beatrice realize how tired the woman was. She had deep shadows under her eyes, her features were somehow sharper than usual, and there was an apathetic and slightly haggard quality to her expression that indicated how drained she was. The feeling of shame hit her again – they were a team, and she felt like she had let her down, so she decided she would try to see her later in the afternoon.

In the meantime, she focused on her words. "Beatrice, I suggested that you join the others for some training, as you will be awake and conscious during the simulation, and are therefore likely to be in danger." She also hoped it would snap her out of this state of numbness. "Two of the Dauntless have agreed to teach you a few fighting skills."

To Beatrice's pleasant surprise, Christina was going to be teaching her, along with a boy who seemed to be somewhat of a leader among the group – he looked two or three years older than them and clearly had some authority – and who introduced himself as Four.

Jeanine left them to work in her office, hoping to contact other faction leaders and make allies more officially, and Beatrice spent the afternoon working with them. The physical training felt good; while the mental distraction of academia had been welcome, she could appreciate the relief of physical fighting. They taught her the basics of using a gun, and some techniques to survive facing armed and trained soldiers.

The little time they had would not be enough to really teach her fighting or even improve her stamina, but a few tricks and some improvements in technique could save her life, Four had said.

Fighting until she was sweating and exhausted was a relief, it eased the tension which had caused her to snap. Using weapons was different, but no less helpful. The focus needed to aim at a target, with a knife or a gun, required her to forget about everything else around her, and she felt grounded again for the first time in days.

"You're kinda good at this," Christina said with a tone of surprise.

Beatrice smiled, she had taken an immediate liking to her. From the other side, Four nodded, "I was thinking the same… you're Divergent, right? Do you have aptitude for Dauntless?"

"Yeah. Erudite, Dauntless, and…and Abnegation." It hurt to talk about her old faction, it reminded her of what she had lost. But it also reminded her of what she was fighting for, and motivated her to put all her efforts into their work.

"You should have chosen Dauntless," Christina said, grinning.

"Well, yes and no," Four argued, "it was more dangerous to be Divergent there, and easy to be discovered." He remembered his friend Amar, how Eric had gotten away with it already then. "We barely made it out during the simulation… It's good that Erudite is protecting us now, who knows where we would be otherwise."