Chapter 12

"I'm going to go meet somebody, but I'll see you at your 'scape." I woke Tris up. She barely mumbled a response. I set the alarm, two of them. I didn't want her to miss her final test. I walked over to the small desk in the corner and grabbed a piece of paper.

"My better half, I hated to leave you, but duty calls. Here is a copy of OUR house key for you. I'll see you after your test. Love, Eric." I wrote. To me it sounded beyond corny, but I wouldn't want to hurt Tris by just ducking out after last night. I knew she'd appreciate the words I said, and the words I didn't need to.

I carried my boots out of the bedroom and put them on in the living room. I didn't want to wake her. She needed to be well rested for today, tonight, and tomorrow. I couldn't guarantee a good night sleep tonight, but this I could give her. I silently made my way out of the apartment, making sure I locked up, and made my way to the roof. I could jump and cross the planks the rest of the way. When I arrived sunrise was still about half an hour away, but Four like me would be earlier rather than later. Sure as a bird shits, Four takes the last plank reaching the awning I stand below hiding in the shadows.

"What's this about?" Four said leaning against the wall next to me crossing his arms.

"The serum I saw you spying on during receiving." I stated.

"What about it?" Four said straightening up and inching closer.

"It's a simulation that controls your movements with transmitters. Your body responds while your mind is in a simulation. Breathing robots is more like it." I snort at the last part. I'd hate to relinquish control of myself like that. I'd rather die. No one controls Eric, but Tris and sometimes Max.

"What does Erudite plan on doing with it?" Four whispered knowing the full repercussions of such a thing.

"Abnegation." I state calmly.

"Control of the government…" He trailed off and then turned his full body towards me. "Why are you telling me?"

"To shut it down." I said stating the obvious. "I'm too high profile. My absence would be missed immediately. You on the other hand…"

"And you expect me to do this single-handedly?" Four replied incredulously.

"No. Find Zeke and Uriah." I said.

"What do they have to do with this?" He says angry.

"Don't be coy. We both know the serum won't affect them." I said getting hot as well.

"What's the plan?" He asks resolved.

"While we, meaning the leaders and myself, are with Erudite at the final test, you three will go separately to get clothes. Shoes specifically. Get your regular size, but steal a size smaller. Then tonight get fully dressed in tacts, especially the head piece, masks, and gloves, and when the simulation kicks in you will go to the old control room and take care of it. Make sure you don't move until we are all at the train. There will be three guards left behind. Be careful because they won't be under the simulation. They must not remember you. They can't be able to identify you." I stated hoping he got the drift.

"How do we shut it down?" Four asked and then exhaled deeply.

"You need to destroy the super computer, servers, and anything with flashing lights in the room." I told him sighing as well. "There are coolant tanks in there. Make them explode. Don't use rounds though. You need something that will be destroyed in the blast. Then afterwards, you need to high tail it, I mean fucking fly with your regular boots, to Abnegation and join in with the rest and pretend you woke up like the rest of them."

"What's with the boots?" Four asked quizzically.

"When they investigate, and you know they will, it will throw them off." I said shrugging.

"Why not bigger boots?" Four continued.

"Pressure. There will be no pressure at the toes and they will know they didn't fit right." I answered getting agitated by being questions so much about the fucking boots.

Four and I stood there in silence watching the now rising sun.

"What does Tris say about all this?" Four asked.

"She won't know until after the exam. I couldn't risk her knowing before they injected her." I said calmly.

"You still don't deserve her. I see what you're doing and it won't work. You'll never be worthy of her." He said fiercely.

"And what makes you think you do?" I asked in return. "You know Zeke's schedule. You should get to it. Time is short." I said pushing off the wall and making my way down to the tracks. One task down, a million more to go.

I was supposed to meet Janine and escort her and her entourage to Dauntless for the exams. But, I still had another promise to keep so I turned my messenger bag behind me as I ran to jump onto the train. Knowing my mother, I knew she wouldn't change her routine and for once, I was thankful for it. I made it Erudite a little after seven and saw myself up to the receptionist on my mother's penthouse office.

"Good morning Eric." Laurie said from behind the desk. "You're a bit early. We weren't expecting you for a few more hours or so."

"I was hoping to get some time before hand to go through some of the materials with Janine before we left." I said pulling out the book my father wrote and waving it a bit before putting it back in my bag.

"Well, she is in her private lab right now with orders not to disturb. But, giving the situation, I'm sure she won't mind if you wait in her office until I can get a hold of her." Laurie said indicating the illuminated blue light behind the receptionist's desk.

"I'd very much appreciate it. She might have more books in her office that I can find the answers in the meantime." I said smiling at her making her blush.

"Would you like some coffee, or tea?" She offered still blushing.

I knew that I either take it now, or risk her bringing some in afterwards and ruin everything. "I'd love a hot chocolate." I state as I leaned onto the high desk.

Laurie made her way quickly to the beverage station and hustled around for a few moments before she put it on to a tray and led me past Janine's waiting room, the sitting room, and into her office in the back.

I settled myself in a white arm chair and set my bag down on the floor and accepted the cup of cocoa. "Thank you Laurie." I said eying her over the rim of the glass intently effectively making her uncomfortable.

"Just let me know if you need anything else." She smiled bashfully before exiting the series of rooms.

I scanned my eyes to make sure no cameras were installed since I was here last week, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I knew my mother liked complete privacy when dealing with other factions, or in her case, plotting.

I quickly put the cup down and grabbed a pair of disposable gloves and slipped them on. I stood and balanced myself on the arm chair. I lifted the pristine ceiling tile and glanced about. I found several loose wires running along the one wall and dropped down in the adjacent wall. I replaced the ceiling tile and checked to make sure I put it back exactly. I moved a stiff office chair, the ones left to make people feel inferior, and moved it against the first wall. I went back and grabbed my bag and pulled out the protective electrical box and a baggy of installation hardware, which in this case were a few clamps and double-sided tape strips.

I stood on the chair and removed one tile and leaned it against the wall. A bit of dust settled on the immaculate carpet. Shit. I quickly opened the electrical box and saw the mysterious object Tris' mama gave me. I ran the wires on top of it and through the other side. I put on the adjesive strips and ripped away the coatings. I then began mounting it on the pipes that led to the lower floors. Then, I grabbed a make up brush and began coating dust from the other ceiling tiles onto it. I grabbed the ceiling tile and replaced it. I inspected my work and only saw the dust on the walls and the carpet. I grabbed a stash of antiseptic wipes out of my bag and wiped down the walls. I threw them back into the bag as I grabbed the hot chocolate and poured the remainder on the carpet. I opened my mom's cabinet behind the desk and took out the white paper towels, and grabbed a book to sit on the corner of her desk. I squatted down and began to rub all over the carpet. I watched in satisfaction as the paper towel fell apart in my hands at my hard rubbing and began rubbing where other bits of dust spread across the carpet.

"Laurie!" I called out. A minute didn't even pass as Laurie rushed in.

"What's happened Eric?" She exclaimed as she saw the brown stain all over the white rug.

"It slipped as I was trying to turn a page." I said sheepishly. I wasn't much to feign innocence, but it wasn't abnormal thing to hear in Erudite. People here were oddly careless when they were reading or too engrossed to pay full attention to their actions. And my mother was always giving me hell for it growing up.

"What are all the clumps?" She asked and I merely pointed at the roll of paper towels to the side.

"You are supposed to plot not rub! I'll go get the carpet cleaner." She said turning out. I sighed in satisfaction as I picked up the paper towels and replaced them, and threw my disposable cup away. I grabbed the book and sat back down in my original arm chair began reading about child development. Snort.

Laurie took special care to clean the carpet, and to dry it before leaving me with a deep scowl on her face. Not even ten minutes later I was finally graced with my mother's presence.

"Eric. To what do I deserve the privilege?" She asked shocked at my early appearance. "I didn't think I'd see you until nine."

"The official or unofficial reasons?" I asked smiling as I made my way over and hugged her. Her shock was obvious as I pulled away. I don't think I've hugged her or let alone touched her since the morning of my own choosing ceremony.

"It's good to see you too Eric." She said regaining her composure and sat down at the arm chair next to my own.

"Well, I came here for a few reasons. Which would you like first? The official or personal reasons?" I asked giving her the option while fulling knowing what she'd choose first. Faction before blood afterall.

"Official." She stated sitting upright.

I carefully opened my bag to hide the contents while not making it obvious and pull out a handful of books. "These suck, and this one was quite informative." I said indicating the book my father wrote lastly. "Is there any reason that makes them stand out? Is it genetic? Is there a mutation in their DNA?" I asked letting my inner Erudite shine.

"Well, those were written for those with no scientific knowledge to gain a perspective. That one was something I slipped to you knowing that you wouldn't just settle with the information in those." She answered. "And to your question, we don't know everything. We do know it is genetic. There are multiple levels of divergence as you read. We are currently comparing DNA between different levels of different factions, and factionless and comparing them to known Divergent samples. We are still waiting on results." She said stating. "We've also ran different tests on the subjects as well. CAT, CT, MIR, and everything you could possibly think of we are testing. We've found out that they handle situations differently. There scans light up like Christmas lights compared to other subjects. We've used the results to improve our serums. Lower levels are now affected." She stated proudly. She stood and walked over to a book shelf behind me. "You may borrow these." She stated clearly implying the condition they had to be in when they were returned.

My mother made her way behind her desk and asked, "Would you like some tea, or coffee?"

"Coffee would be great." I agreed knowing how long this day would feel.

"Laurie, two coffees please, both heavy on the creamer." My mother phoned Laurie. Even from where I sat I clearly heard her huff.

"Odd, normally she is so polite and mild mannered." She said coming back to my side.

I let out a chuckle in response. "I may have had a bit of a spill with some hot cocoa when I saw this." I said waving the child development book her way. I let the tension in her raise a bit before I acknowledged her unspoken questions. "Personal reason?"

"Yes." She said in a clipped tone as she heard Laurie enter the first sitting room. She waited in exasperation for Laurie to serve us, and make her way out.

"No, I don't have a baby on the way. I am engaged now though." I said raising my left hand for the first time giving her a glimpse of the ring. Janine took my hand and moved the band around until the name showed.

"Tris…Beatrice Prior?" She asked curiously.

"Yep. She'll be in leadership-in-training next week, and my wife next month." I said unable to hide my grin.

"I wasn't shocked when she chose Dauntless." She confided as she released my hand. "Spoke back to me right before the choosing when I was having some words with her father. I checked her out naturally, and her results were manually entered." She said raising an eyebrow.

I chuckled. "I thinking eating all that plain food messed up her stomach. She was in and out of the bathroom her first week of initiation." I laughed. "Settled down though after a few stage 2 sessions and sloppy Joes. Don't get me wrong, she looked like crap after the first two. I oversaw them myself." I stated. "It's actually what got us closer together." I said acting as if I was confiding in her. "I was in them." I laughed.

"How is that funny?" My mother asked confused with a no-nonsense expression on her face.

"She was scared of intimacy, and it was starring me." I chuckled softly looking at her eye brow rising in distaste. "So you saw it fit to give her a hard time?"

"If she couldn't accept that, then she couldn't accept me." I stated carelessly putting the books into my bag.

"Be that as it may, it was still uncouth. I blame your great-grandfather for that." She stated knowingly. "He was Dauntless-born and transferred to Erudite for your great-grandmother." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "No, if you are going to be pro-creating at least Tris, as you call her, has background in Erudite."

At this my eyes raised to hers. She knew she had me interested. "And?" I said prying for more information.

She stared at me debating on answering or keeping it to herself. She steeled herself and spoke, "Because, her father, Andrew, was my study partner all through school." The look on her face told me that was the all the truth I was going to get and the discussion was now closed. With that, I asked her if she had breakfast, or if she wanted to join me before we left.