"Teresa? She was here?" Jorge nods, "I can't believe she left without even trying to find us." Thomas looked like a puppy whose owner had just kicked him.
"Good news is she's gone, they're all free." Brenda steps forward and helps her friend to his feet.
"It doesn't make sense. Teresa's been acting like their number one fan lately. Why would she escape? It has to be some kind of trick, right? Brenda, are there more trials? Is that what this is?" Ada felt bad for Thomas, he wanted so badly for Teresa not to have betrayed him, but she did. She had.
"I don't know anything about more Trials. Why is it such an awful idea that the other subjects tried to escape? They just did it better."
Minho practically snarls at the woman, "call them subjects one more time and I swear to shuck I'll smack you one, girl or no girl."
"Minho don't be a dick. Brenda call us subjects one more time and I'll hit you myself." Ada gives a look that says, 'are we done?' and turns to look at the Berg, "that one yours?" Jorge nods, "it's a beauty. Now can we get going? Longer we hang about more chance there is that we'll get caught."
As she says it the door to the Hangar swings open and a bunch of black clad guards enter.
"How do we get out now?" Someone whispers behind Ada.
"Newt, Ada, Minho. Stay here and cover us. Me, Brenda and Thomas will go for the Berg. I'll start the engines and the other two can cover you."
Before any objections can be made the three of them are off and Minho, Newt and Ada shoot. Firing at the guards, missing more than they hit.
"Shuck it." Ada glances round at the others to see Brenda on the floor, she'd been hit. Jorge was in the Berg and Thomas crouched by her body.
Ada leaps to her feet and sprints to her, she grabs the girls body however the moment she does she realises her mistake, bolts of lightning shoot into her body. Minho and Newt are by her side, pulling her and Thomas towards the Berg.
Someone grabs Ada's shirt and uses it to drag her along the floor, Brenda still clutched between her fingers.
They make it to the ship in time for Ada to sit up wearily and watch Thomas fall to the floor. The others haven't noticed, they think he's with them.
She jumps and and grabs the boy, making sure not to make contact with his skin she pulls him back to the ship. A hot pain burns through her leg but she screams and carries on powering through the pain.
When she's in reach of the Berg the boys pull her back and she stumbles onto the open ramp. She plonks down and watches, with great amusement as the guards run at the Berg. She gives a wave and flops back as the door slams shut.
After they're in the air, Ada helps lift Thomas and Ada into beds and has a shower. By she's dried herself off and gotten dressed, the others are asleep and she sets off to explore the Berg. Intrigued by its vastness.
She explores the guards locked and manages to find herself a few cigarettes and a lighter. She also finds a nice backpack and some spare clothes. She fills the pack with food and what she assumes is a credit card and stashes it before heading to the cockpit.
"Hey Jorge."
"Hello."
"Do you wanna rest? We could stop somewhere?"
"Not a bad idea, hermana. There's a clearing a little way ahead, I'll stop there."
Once they've stopped Ada lowers the ramp, grabs a launcher and heads outside. She plonks herself down on the ramp and lights up.
She lies back on the ramp, enjoying the peace, probably the only real relaxation she'd be getting for a while.
"Is that Bliss?" Newt stands in the doorway behind her, "Brenda showed me some, said I could use it if I wanted."
"No it's a cigarette, wanna try?"
"You mean the death sticks?" She holds it up for him and he takes it. He inhales and she laughs when he splutters.
"The first is always horrible. They get better with time." She takes it back and takes a long drag.
"I'm pretty sure that's Bliss. Smells like it." He sits next to her.
"I found them in some Guard's locker. Maybe it is."
"I wouldn't recommend smoking more than one then. We've got work to do."
She stubs it out and puts the stub next to her. "I'll bin it in a bit. Should probably chuck the rest of them too." But she makes no movement.
A rustling in the woods makes her sit bolt upright, she grabs her Launcher, "get inside Newt. Tell the others."
Newt slowly back up and she hears his feels pound the second he's through the door.
"Who's there?"
"I just want your noses."
"What?" A light laugh escapes her mouth but it stops the second she makes out the source. A haggard woman stands, covered in scratches but the worst thing?
Her nose.
Or lack thereof.
"Miss, where's your nose? Who- what took it?"
"Rose took my nose I suppose." The woman laughs and around her a ripple of laughter, crazed, manic laughter echoes. The woman starts stumbling towards her.
"Miss. Back up. I have a Launcher and I will shoot you."
"But I just want your noses." The woman whines, actually whines.
"Miss." Ada has no clue why she's being so polite. This woman, this creature, wants to chew her face. That's not awfully polite.
A pounding of footsteps behind Ada lets her know her friends are there.
"Hello noses." A horrifying grin contorts the woman's face.
"Guys. Get back. Jorge, get us in the air."
"On it." The man disappears back into the ship.
"Miss, please. I don't want to have to use this." Ada says, levelling the gun at the woman's chest.
"I only want your noses." The woman grins and leaps at Ada who fires but misses.
The other noseless people lunge out of the woods. Behind her Ada here's gun fire and presumes the others have started shooting, she lashes out at the woman, forcing her thumbs into the woman's eye sockets and pushing.
Before anything too disgusting happens the woman is dragged off Ada and thrown over the ramp, which now hovers about two metres in the air.
The last of the Death Eaters are shoved over the side and Ada brushes herself off, "Freaking Voldemort weirdo."
"You okay?"
"Fine."
But she's not. She'd escaped worse, so much worse.
But that?
That was the most terrifying thing she'd had to experience, the sheer fear in that woman's eyes. That woman knew, knew what she was doing and wanted out.
Ada should have shot her when she had the chance.
A short while later and they're sitting in the Food Room, "so what's our next move?" Ada nurses a cup of tea and rocks back on her chair.
"Denver. That's where your friends went. Jorge's covered our tracks and theirs so Wicked can't follow us."
Ada smiles sadly, "always wanted to go to Denver."
"It's a little different than you'll remember."
"Figured that, since Mexico has become a literal dessert."
"Well, Denver is pretty tough on people with the Flare. They send them to this place called the Crank Palace so Newt has to wait in the Berg once we get there."
"I'll stay with him." Ada says quickly.
Newt responds quickly, "no, you'll go with them. If that's what the Cranks are like... I don't want to do that to you."
"No. I want to stay with you. I'll make sure you're tied down or whatever but I'm not leaving." Minho narrows his eyes at her but she ignores him.
Newt folds his arms, "fine."
When they reach Denver the others leave, shooting worried looks at Ada but nobody says anything. Once they're gone Newt hands Ada some handcuffs he found. She takes it in, "hot. But I'm not into that."
He frowns, "just cuff me okay? I don't want to hurt you."
"No. And I'm not killing you either. Not till you're Gone."
"So you'll do it." The relief in his voice kills Ada.
"Yes. I'll do it."
They sit and sip tea, waiting for the others to come back in silence.
"Do you think they're okay?"
"They're fine. They're fighters."
"Are you okay?"
"No."
"Newt."
"I'm not going to lie."
"I don't want you to. I just want you to be happy. I want you to be Immune."
"I can't do shuck all about that."
"I know."
Maybe I should go back to Wicked. Maybe we can make a cure in time.
"Ada?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't you bloody dare."
"What?"
"Don't you dare go back to Wicked. They're monsters."
"But-"
"No."
"Newt-"
"No."
"Stand up. Hands on your head and don't you dare move." The barrel of something pressed into Ada's head.
"Ada, do as they say."
"Newt?"
"Ada. Do as they say."
She stands shakily, hands on her head.
"We're gonna test you for the Flare." Ada's eyes widen as they say this, not Newt. A small machine is brought to her face and she lets it do its thing, "we got a Munie."
"Serious?" The man laughs in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Woah." They'd just finished testing Newt, "looks like your boyfriend's Fecto missy."
"Your machine's wrong." Ada wants to dive at the man but the gun is still pressed against her head.
"Machine doesn't lie. We're taking him in, you get a free pass into Denver though sweet." Ada lunges forward but the man with the gun to her head grabs her.
"You get the easy ride darling. Don't fight us, we could easily sell you off to Wicked." At the mention of her foes she stills.
"Newt, I'll find you. I'll bring the others." She yells as they pull her from the room.
The look the boy gives her as she's dragged from the room is an awful, hopeless fear, "don't bother."
"Let me get my bag? It's got food and clothes in." The man allows her to grab her pack.
Minutes later she's thrown onto the streets of Denver, she leaps up and hammers at the door, "let me out you shuck bastards!"
But no one comes.
"Miss Lovelace?"
She spins to find a man, walking towards her, she smirks, "welcoming party?"
He hands her a card, turns around and walks off.
Dear Glader,
We heard you escaped from Wicked and would like your help to bring down the organisation once and for all. If you would like our protection come to the Right Arm headquarters at Corner of Kenwood and Brookshire. Apartment 2792.
The Right Arm.
What? The Right Arm? What a dumb name? Do I go? What if it's Wicked? One way to find out.
With that her decision is made and she flags down a taxi. The man drives her there after gruffly asking for payment first, she takes the card from her bag and taps it to his.
How did I know to do that?
But she arrives and looks up at the awful, run down building.
She looks around and finds a shard of glass, tears off a strip of clothing and wraps it round the shard.
Now I'm armed. And hopefully dangerous.
She grimaces at her own joke before walking into the building. The building creaks as she walks through it but she tries to look threatening.
2792. This is it.
She raps on the door, her glass shard behind her slightly.
The door swings open and Ada backs up when she sees who's behind it.
"Gally?"
"Ada." He holds out an arm to welcome her in.
"What're you- why did you-"
"I'll explain everything once you're inside. Now please." He gestures again for her to enter and she holds out the shard.
"I warn you, I'm armed."
He laughs a little, "I have learned what you can do with a weapon. Now come in."
She walks past him and her stomach does a flip as their skin touches. She knows it wasn't him that day but it still makes her sick to think about it.
The door shuts and before she can get too far down the hall he touches her shoulder gently, "you should know, that wasn't me. I didn't want to do those things, any of it."
"I know." She says, her entire energy focused on his hand, touching her shoulder. His hand. Touching her.
She feels something brush her thigh. Tears come to her eyes and she shakes uncontrollably. She holds the shard up and waves it around her
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"
"Ada I'm not- I'm not touching you!"
Looking around she can see a terrified Gally at the other end of the hall but she can also feel his hand.
On her thigh.
"Get your shuck hands off me!"
"Ada- I'm- I don't-"
A door behind her slams open and someone grabs her, pulls her to the floor. Wrestles the glass from her hand.
"Get off me!" She howls, tears stream from her face.
Something sticks into her neck.
"Get... Off... Me..." She drifts off.
"Ada? Are you okay?" She opens her eyes and looks around, she's in a dingy apartment. Gally's apartment.
"Oh god." She puts a hand to her head.
"Ada, you okay?"
She glances up to see Minho, holding her shard.
"What happened?"
"You freaked out. Brenda had a sedative in her bag, we had to use it. You nearly stabbed Gally."
"I- I had this thing. He put his hand on my shoulder and I could feel his hand on my thigh, like before, in the Glade."
"Brenda says it's called a flashback, when he touched you, she thinks it triggered something. You've been having nightmares too, I know you have. Apparently going through trauma does that to a person." Minho sits down on the mattress next to her, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I feel so awful, I could've killed him."
"You didn't though."
Silence hangs in the air for a while before Ada decides to break the news.
"Some people got into the Berg. They took Newt." She sits up but Minho puts a hand on her shoulder.
"I know. When you turned up here Jorge went to the Berg, we figured something went wrong. Newt left a note for us said you were in Denver somewhere and we shouldn't go looking for him."
"We are going to go though, right?"
Minho grins, "of course."
Ada gets given some food by a nervous Gally and she sits eating, "I didn't mean to... to do any of that. I'm sorry."
"Is fine. Brenda explained everything, I should've thought."
"What happened to you? I thought Wicked had you."
"They did but the Right Arm had people on the inside, giving me info. Said if I pretended to have gone nuts they'd send me away and they did. Once I was out of the Complex they ambushed us, got me here."
Minho comes in, "Jorge says we need to get going. Have to go see someone bout the chips in our heads."
"Right. Maybe I'll see you again Gally." She heads to the door but at the last moment spins to face him and mock salutes, "so long and thanks for all the fish."
His forehead creases but he smiles slightly and shakes his head. She leaves the building and they head for the hotel that the others had got the day before.
"We got you some clothes. I tried to find clothes similar to what you wore in the Glade, you requested those you know? You wanted that outfit." Brenda says as they walk.
"Really? Past me had good taste in one thing at least." She smiles.
"We only have two beds so either people share or people floor it."
"I call a bed." Minho calls from the head of the group.
"Fine, Thomas?"
"I'll go bed. You and Jorge got one last night."
"Alright. Ada?"
"I've slept enough. I'll stay up guard."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Here we are." They walk into a slightly less bad looking building.
Ada sits up with a Launcher in her hand and jumps at anything that moves.
The next day, the moment a beam of light enters the room Jorge is up and everyone else slowly comes to life.
"Anything happen?" Jorge asked, splashing his face with water.
"Nah. Breakfast?"
"We're gonna have to eat on the road, the sooner we get those things out of your heads the better."
Once everyone was up they set off.
"Can we trust this guy? What's his name? Hans, is it? Ha. I knew a guy called Hans once, total ass," she lets that hang in the air, humming some song about Sandwiches and Marriage.
"What did he do?" Minho asks, obviously irritated by her lack of explanation.
"Well, he had lots of brothers so he knew he'd never get to rule his own country and he went to someone else's to woo the princess. Then he made her fall in love with him and after a day - a day - they get engaged. Then the princesses sister gets stressed and freezes everything and then later on the guy tries to decapitate her."
Minho stops dead, "are you talking about a film?"
"Yes. But just because it's in a film, doesn't mean it isn't real."
"Well, this Hans is trustworthy. And we need him to remove your chips anyway," Brenda rolls her eyes, putting an end to the conversation.
They walk for a little while before reaching a small building. When they find his apartment a women opens the door.
"We're here to see Hans." Brenda states.
"No Hans here lovey, best try elsewhere." She smiles sympathetically.
"We're here to see Hans."
"No Hans here." The woman says, tension is rising.
Ada rolls her eyes and tries to shove past the woman, "Look, just let us in yeah?"
The woman shoves back, "no. Go away."
Minho pulls Ada back before she can shove back.
"Please." Brenda pleads, "he's a friend."
"Let them in." A greying man with a heavy set jaw appears over the woman's shoulder.
She gives the group one last look before turning away and walking back inside. Thomas and Brenda share a look before heading inside and Ada checks the hall in last time before shutting the door.
Hans is sat at an old table in the middle of a tiny kitchen, two seats wait round the table and Brenda, Thomas and Jorge get them so Minho and Ada lean against the counter.
"Brenda, Jorge, good to see your okay but I'm not in the mood for a catch up so why don't you tell me what you're here for?" The man's voice is low and gravely.
"Two things. First I think you know. These people were part of the Trials and we need to get the chips deactivated before Wicked gets control. Second Wicked have a bounty on your head, once we're done you need to take your wife and run."
"Still got your chips, eh?" He has the temperament of a fun uncle it seems. Ada's almost shocks he doesn't try pulling a coin from behind her ear.
"I don't want my memories back. Just want the controlling part gone."
The man almost looks offended. "What kind of coward have you brought to me?"
"We're not cowards," Ada snarls, "we were brought up under Wicked force fed their beliefs. I already remember more than I'd like to about who I was, I don't want to know anymore."
The man regards Ada with a lack of emotion before standing and lumbering out of the room, "I'll do the boy first."
Ada glances at Minho who flicks her a smile, "you look scared Ada."
"We're going under the knife of a man in an apartment block. I'd be an idiot if I wasn't scared." But she was, she was terrified and she hated that, pure fear. She wanted to curl up on the floor, stop being such a baby. If he doesn't do this you could be controlled, like Gally, like Chuck, she scolds herself internally and Minho reaches out and places his hand on hers but she reaches up to brush her hair out of her face and doesn't put it back.
"Thomas? You okay?" He'd slumped his head on the table and Brenda put her head down his level.
Suddenly he jerks up, "I... Can't let you do this."
"What?" Minho laughs as if any moment Thomas would grin and it would have been a strange prank.
Thomas stands up and his legs start walking him to the door, "I can't let you do this."
Ada hears something, a falseness to his voice, a kind of pleading helplessness.
"Wicked. They've got his chip."
"But how?"
"I don't know. I don't know, we need to- to pin him down."
"I can't let you do this." Behind Thomas' eyes a light turns on, he agrees but a knife appears in his hand and he waves it at the group. He starts making his way up the hallway, backing up the whole way.
"Thomas. There's a man behind you!" Ada yells and he spins round, taking her chance she leaps at his back. Trying to grab the knife but his grip is amazingly strong.
"I can't let you do this!" He shouts as the others grab at him, Ada clings to his back for dear life, only loosening her grip slightly when his fist connects with her face but eventually he topples over and she wriggles from under him. Jorge grabs he boys hand and slams it against the floor until he releases the knife.
"I can't let you do this."
"Shut your shuck mouth Tommy." Minho snaps.
Everybody grabs a limb and they drag him down the hallway and heave him onto the operating table.
Hans injects him calmly and fetches Ada an ice pack for her face.
Once Thomas has had his operation Jorge and Brenda sneak up on Ada and Minho and inject them, they did not need a repeat of Thomas.
Surrounded by a haze Ada dreams.
"Him." A photo of a young Minho sits on a screen.
"You want him?" Aris frowns.
"Yes. He's... He's strong. I think he'll be a good leader."
The four others glare at her.
"He's strong and intelligent. He'll be good in there, work well with the other subjects."
The dream washes away and a new scene appears.
"Ada?" Aris stands in the door to her room.
"Hmm?"
"Can I talk with you?"
"Certainly." She beams, if she was to do this it would have to look genuine.
"People are talking. They think you're not dedicated to the cause."
"Of course I am. I've just been distracted lately." She twiddled her hair like those girls in the books she reads.
"Oh?" He blushes.
"Yes. It's quite embarrassing, I'll have to block it all out. It's just difficult, because, well, I'm around you all day." The moment she says it she puts a hand to her mouth, "I've said too much."
He smiles slightly and sits next to her on her bed. "I've been feeling the same way."
"You have?" She flutters her eyelashes and bites her lip in what she hopes is an innocent gesture.
"Yes." He picks his lips and glances at hers.
She leans in and kisses him softly on the cheek. She wants to gag. This whole situation made her sick.
"I had best be going but I'll- I'll be back later." Aris says as he stands.
She doesn't look up when he leaves but moments later another figure waits at her door.
"So you did it?" Thomas.
"Yes."
"And?"
"Hook, line and sinker."
"It's going to kill him if he finds out it was a play."
"Yes. I know. Same it will Teresa."
"Our fate is determined by how far we are prepared to push ourselves to stay alive - the decisions we make to survive. We must do whatever it takes to endure and make it through alive." He quotes.
"You shouldn't watch that stuff. They're wiping your memory before they put you into the Glade, no explorer will be of any use."
He walks off and the memory fazes out.
She tries to plunge into her young self's mind, she sees things.
Ordering the deaths of scientists, something called the Purge.
Her mum - her real mum - with glaring eyes, clawing at the door of their house. It floods back to Ada all too quickly, her mother had gotten the Flare, Janson - her father - had tried to force Ada to take care of her. Had made her feed her and bathe her.
Once her mother had gotten bad enough that Ada risked her life entering the room the 6 year old had taken things into her own hands, poisoning her mother's tea.
Six.
I was six.
That sick rat had made a six year old look after her mother.
Memories come, Janson screaming at her, calling her selfish for not wanting to go near her mother. Calling her devil spawn. Hitting her. Smacking her. Sending her flying across the room.
Once her mother was gone Janson had dragged her to Wicked, handed her over and refused to let her near him.
In her anger Ada scrunched her face sending an awful dull ache through her brain.
She blinks herself awake and when she wakes she's sitting on a sofa, Thomas flopped over her lap.
Muttering angrily to herself about rats and the Flare she doesn't notice Minho slumped in a chair near by.
"What's up?" He groans through his own medicated fuzz.
"I remembered some things, about Ratty. When we see him, I want him dead. Like stone cold." She wants to get up, stretch but Thomas looks exhausted, he needs the sleep.
Minho seems startlingly awake all of a sudden, as if her remembering that Janson was an abusive parent would help. "What do you remember?"
"My mother and Janson."
Minho crouches next to her, balancing on the balls of his feet, at the mention of their main enemy he wrinkles his nose, "Janson?"
"Yeah. He's my dad- my father. Biologically." Minho doesn't say anything so she carries on, "turns out he made little me, six year old me, take care of my Flare infected mother. Feed her, wash her. Even after she'd passed the Gone. I killed her Minho. Poisoned her food, that's why I'm here."
"Why?"
"When he found out what I'd done he said he was so disgusted by the sight of me, said I was devil spawn and should be killed and I was lucky that he felt nice enough to let me help with the Cure."
"Slinthead."
"I just hate him, hate what he did to that little girl. She was so innocent and he ruined it." She pauses for a moment before grinning and saying, "you know, I'm the one who selected you? Because you looked like you were strong and a good leader were my exact words. I also said you looked intelligent."
"Yeah?" He smiles.
"Yeah," she laughs softly.
"We never talked about the other day. Never got the chance."
"No, we didn't get five minutes."
"I wanted to say... If you... Maybe... Wanted to-"
"What?"
"Well, you don't have to date me- I mean. That's not-"
She rolls her eyes and looks at him, "I won't say yes. I don't think going out would be a plan right at this moment, we've got bigger things to deal with but I'm not saying no. I like you Minho and you're a good guy. But everything that is happening, it makes things complicated enough without having to think of somebody else."
He looks disappointed for a moment before nodding decisively, "okay, I can agree to that."
"Good that."
She smiles and he leans towards her. Their lips brush for a moment before Thomas giggles, they leap apart.
"Don't let me interrupt, that was very sweet."
"Thomas." Ada warns.
"No, really. Carry on, I'll even leave the room." He stands up and walks out laughing.
Minho puts a hand in Ada's neck to keep her with him, stop her from running after the still laughing Thomas. He pulls her in, stopping moments before their lips touch, "am I- can I kiss you?"
"Certainly."
They kiss and it's full of anger and fire and passion. Full of every bit of klunk that they'd been through since Wicked invaded their lives and everyone they've lost.
Ada grabs for Minho's shirt, half dragging him onto the sofa over the arm but he doesn't complain.
The kiss is sloppy and messy and on more than one occasion do their noses collide or their teeth get in the way but it is good.
His hands running along her body, over every fat roll and every scar. Running through her hair and caressing her cheeks. She hooks her hands into the belt loops on his trousers.
A/N I wanted to say that the kiss in this one (Adho kiss) is more for me than anything else. Just the way it's described because I don't think she's self conscious but putting it in made me feel good. I'm not underweight and neither am I over but I have rolls of fat and I always feel like kisses are written where his hands run over her perfect curves etc and that's stupid - everyone has fat rolls.
And yes, I gave them a ship name, bite me.