I was passing through the monitoring station on my way back to the bunks when Caleb crept from his room, he noticed me and waved me in quickly. "What's up Caleb?" "I have been watching the city and I think there is something you need to see. I've been deleting the records as unusable like I was told but that's our city, our home, I can't keep hiding this." It had already been a week for us here and my suspicions only grew, that and I kept my distance from the man who claimed the title of my father. Tris had been spending more and more time with David who left the rest of us to fend for ourselves; I knew he was only pulling her in deeper to his bullshit. Unfortunately she was at that point where she would believe anything as long as it meant she could finally be accepted and safe, I however would have to burst that bubble for her soon enough, there were other places we were needed and this was not one of them.

He moved from his seat so I could sit down, he got behind me and showed me how to replay the video feed. I watched as Johanna confronted Evelyn and a small fight broke out to which Edgar shot one of the amity folks. It only got worse from there with both sides claiming a war approaching. "This is not good, our entire city is about to destroy itself and we're here knitting and holding hands, this is bullshit Caleb…but your sister won't let go of the falsehood provided by this place…its ridiculous." He nodded agreeing with me, "yes but I know why she wants this place to work out so badly…I can understand it and sympathize." I just shook my head, not knowing what else to do. "Well I can't sympathize with it, Chicago is our home and we need to make the mess we left it in right."

Matthew found me on my way back to the bunks, "Kara do you have a moment to spare? David, Tris and your father are waiting for you in the office." I nodded and made my way in that direction with him following me. I left him as I used my barcode to get me to the top in the elevator. The doors opened revealing Tris in a white dress and my father and David standing around her talking. She was pleased to see me and even gave me a hug with this huge smile on her face. I hugged her back but it was not as warm as the hug she gave me, we clashed so much at this point it was hard for me to see the original Tris. Her white dress and heels, her short hair nice and styled to frame her face; then you have me with my longer and curlier hair, dark skin and black clothes. "Tris can we talk somewhere?" She looked to David and he nodded pointing to the balcony, I followed her over to it and closed the doors behind her. I whispered to her just in case, "Caleb was watching the monitors and saw Evelyn and Johanna causing uproar, they are planning to go to war. Even Johanna said she was stock piling guns and would do what she had to, to regain order. Edgar is alive still and shot one of her men, things are getting worse at home, we need to deal with this."

She nodded, "I know that is why we asked you up today. David said if we meet with the council members and show them the experiment worked, they will offer hands to help save Chicago. He said if we can't prove that his method of finding divergents worked then they will not offer support and instead shut us down completely…we want to know if you will go with us?" I paused trying to hear what she had to say, but all that was not for me, I had bigger problems than asking a council for help. "If you insist on doing it that way, I will tell you now it is the wrong way, but be my guest. I shall have no part in that, his system failed, it doesn't work and I will not vouch that it does." I waved her off and walked back into David's office. "No thank you, enjoy meeting with the council yourself." I headed towards the elevator, mumbling behind me and then someone joined me on the ride down.

"What do you want Byron?" I looked at my father, he looked like he was about to say something but the words caught his throat. We stayed silent the ride down, up until the doors opened. "Kara…I really do wish you would give this place a try, and if not, perhaps give me one. I know I've messed up, but if you could maybe hear me out, let me explain…" I sighed with my back to him, "I will give you an hour tonight, and you can talk to me and Eric." "Thank you." I walked off leaving him, there is no way he is talking me into buying this bullshit of the bureau and if he knows anything about me he will understand that. However I admit I might have been rather harsh on him and I will give him a small window to explain, no promises.

I met up with Four and Eric in the cafeteria, they were sitting next to Peter, I gave him a look to excuse himself and when he didn't Eric motioned to Four to get up and follow me. Both of them did, we walked until I found an non crowded place to speak, I didn't need certain ears to hear what will be said. "Caleb showed me something in the monitor room, Johanna has decided to go to war with Evelyn, and what is worse Edgar shot one of her men. It only served to justify their war, some dauntless have joined with her to help stop Evelyn; we all know it will be a blood bath. I tried to get Tris to listen to me but she won't…I don't know what else to do guys." "I will try and talk some sense into her later, for now, I've talked Nita into letting us go to the Fringe with them. She said she will run it by Romit…that guy gives me a bad feeling, but I need to know what they are doing out there." I nodded, and Eric agreed, "yeah this place already stinks of rot, whatever they are doing out there is hurting and helping, I just don't know who or what."

"Please talk to her tomorrow, Eric can you come with me for a bit?" "Yeah babe, anything you need, what's up?" Four had nodded and walked off while Eric came to stand in front of me. "Remember two nights ago when I told you about seeing my father?" He nodded, "Yes you said you wanted nothing to do with him so I dropped the subject…" I smiled, playing with his fingertips, "I appreciate that, but he begged to explain things to me, and I offered him an hour tonight…he should be meeting me at my bunk in a little while…can you go with me?" He perked up and smiled, gently pushing a few strands of fallen hair behind my ear. "Yes, I would do anything for you, you know that." I was glad he was there to comfort me, and was also happy that even though he didn't understand things the way I do, and he is not divergent that we can both give up everything just because of how we feel for each other. He kissed my forehead and rubbed his hands on either side of my belly, before lacing his fingers with mine as we walked back to our shared bunk space, my father already waiting by the stairs for our return. "Byron…" He tilted his head to me and held his hand out for Eric; he shook it to be polite, but not really wanting to. "Eric this is my father and Byron this is Eric." He followed us up the stairs and sat on Eric's bunk while we sat across from him on mine. "Okay I promised you an hour, so I guess start wherever you want."

"Well I wanted to explain more of why I left…I told you your grandmother was exiled to factionless when I was young, she was dauntless born and had gotten too old. Eric since you are here, if you could, for clarification let her know I am not lying that when dauntless age they are no longer useful and are pushed out to factionless." I looked to Eric and he frowned but nodded, he has some explaining to do later. "Well I was out doing my rounds and happen to see her, I asked her why she left me all alone, and she never told me who my father was so I was orphaned when they exiled her. She explained about her aging and what dauntless do to the elderly, she was afraid it would happen to me as well, but said there was a way I could avoid it. I had already met your mother by that time and a few short months later, found out she was pregnant with you. I tried to get your mother to stay with me in dauntless; if she kept her pregnancy hidden we could get the same job detail and make a run for it together. Tris mother and mine were both from the Bureau and placed here at different times for whatever purpose, my mother only told me how to wonder off and run into the wall where I would be found and saved. Your mother chose to leave when she found out my mother was exiled and there was no stopping her, she said you would be safe and not have your mother taken from you in another faction. She wouldn't listen to me about the wall or going beyond it for something better, she wasn't divergent and her thinking was narrowed; it was unfortunate. So when choosing day came I pleaded with her to stay that I would fix everything for us, but she wouldn't hear of it and she took you and changed factions. She gave birth several months after that, and I stuck around to watch you grow up. I held out as long as I could, but I had overheard a few guards talking about how I was getting older and in a few years I would be factionless. I knew factionless could be shot on sight if caught leaving the gate, so one year I chose to patrol outside the city and it took me a few months and lots of wandering before I found it…

"When I did and told them about my mother, they welcomed me with open arms. I told David about you and your mother and tried to talk him into helping me get you out. Unfortunately there would be no way for me to sneak back in and remove two other bodies, one being a child. He suggested I watch you from afar, as they noticed your divergent tendencies while you were young and he explained to me how important you were. I listened and I believed him, I regret all of it, I should have gone back but every time I thought about it…I stopped myself. I wasn't sure if you or your mother wanted me back in your lives…I watched how my death tore her down, and I wasn't sure I could make up for that with a quick break in and wouldn't have time to explain to her. David explained the reason we have divergents is because we let them grow in a natural environment with no outside influences, if I would have gotten you, your pureness would have been tainted by influence and the council wouldn't accept this as true proof of his experiment. Once it becomes a success and they agree to send in more units to stop the wars, the factions can start up again and divergents can be regularly plucked as they age. I believed in his cause so much, maybe only because I was clinging to hope that one day I would be able to see you and your mother again…and now I have you, but it feels like a loss instead of a gain to even have just you. Maybe I was wrong, but I can't change any of that Kara, I can only be here for you now."

I had to let my fathers words sink in, and mull them over for a moment. So I stayed quiet, letting Eric rub circles on my back and Byron fidget his hands; sweat beading his brow. I finally took a deep breath, "I understand why you left…I will say I forgive you your actions but not your reason. I think it is pathetic, you were dauntless, you don't get to be afraid…you should have stayed for our sakes. You were selfish and that is something I will always see you as, whether I forgive it or not. I do forgive you Byron, and I do love the life I was given, through all the hardships I have managed to come out stronger than I ever thought I could, and for that I will thank you. However you cannot be my father now, as I have no need for one, I have made it this far without you and plan on going much farther before I am through." I stopped to sigh deeply, not sure about the next words I needed to say, but knew they would eat at me if I didn't.

"You also trust David and we do not, I can't have you be his eyes on us. I am sorry but we won't have much interaction after this, I'm afraid." His head hung low and I could feel Eric's grip on my thigh, he was trying to be supportive but I think he thinks I am making the wrong decision. Am I making the wrong one? He talks of how much he believes in David's cause but it isn't something I can support, and if we choose to go against David, there is no sure way to know my father will have my back. "Whether or not you need me Kara is up to you, but I will always be there. I may owe a lot to David but I will always owe you more. If you say not to trust him then I believe you…when you can believe me, you know where to find me. Thank you for giving me this chance, and even though you say you forgive me, I ask that you don't, at least not until I can prove it to you. I do love you, and if it helps at all, I've managed to keep the baby from David...he doesn't know you're pregnant." With that he walked away, my eyes were wide and I was speechless, I didn't know how to react to him, whether I even should. I just let him go, not sure of what else to do, Eric held me to his body sensing the tension coming off of mine. "We should get some rest, especially if we are going to the Fringe tomorrow, who knows what we will encounter. I also think you need some time to think about things before you talk to Byron again, but maybe you should hear him out more..." I agreed and we fell asleep on my bunk, holding each other for comfort.

We awoke the next morning to Four knocking our bunk, "What?" "Romit said we can go, Christina is gearing up to come with us, I talked to her last night and she is onboard with everything. So get dressed and let's go." I nodded groggily still feeling drained; my memories plagued me most of the night even with the comfort of Eric right beside me. We both shook the sleep from our bodies and quickly got changed, I had just finished lacing my boots when Nita walked by telling everyone to move out. We grabbed our drone jackets and placed our gloves on before grabbing our rifles and following her out to the aircraft. On our ride over Romit talked about dangers while Four huddled with Nita to discuss what we were doing and the life expectancy of the children we were saving. I looked out and only saw desert and red everywhere, it was only a few minutes after that I noticed a little city of some sort.

"Everyone gear up and stay cautious, we aren't here to hurt we just are trying to save the children. If they resist try some harmless tactics, only resort to your weapons if necessary." Romit finished his little speech as we touched the ground; we all jumped off and took off in different directions. Eric seemed to follow Four while Chris went with Nita, I hadn't realized I was by myself until I looked around for a child and found nothing. I walked through tunnels of tents and fabric, still hearing people but not finding them in there. I turned around and sent my drones ahead to scout an exit to the middle where everyone else seemed to be when I came across Romit. "There is nobody in here; I am heading back to the others." He stopped me by standing in my way, "I saw a child run in here a moment ago, help me look." He had a look on his face I had seen somewhere before but couldn't place, I agreed to follow him, since that is why we came here.

I called my drones back since we decided to further into the tents. I could hear more whispering, they sounded frightened, and I felt sorry for taking their children. The others seem to have come from the Fringe and grown up healthy like Nita and Mathew, so there must be some reason to it. We had reached the edge of the tent, having led to the back of a building. "Well we didn't find anyone, I suggest we go back and join the others to finish gathering those children." I turned around and tried to talk off when I felt something hit my head, I landed on my knees holding where my head was throbbing. "What the hell was that?" I looked up to find Romit above me, he grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back, I cried out in pain. He slammed me down and crawled on top of me; I threw my hands out defensively and tried pushing him off of me. "What are you doing? Get off of me Romit!" He straddled me and pinned my arms down, tossing my gun to the side.

"I have watched you grow up; you know David promised I could have you. He said he didn't count on you falling in love but said he would try to get rid of Eric for me. Your father spoke out against it and changed David's mind, so I guess I have to just take you then. It's no different than how Mathew was promised Tris, all we had to do was help his damn cause so we could have the picks of the litter, but you both came here with those two useless . Mathew may be able to sit idly by and watch his beloved Tris go on with Tobias but I will not lose you to a brute meathead." "ERIC!"I began shouting his name, I couldn't move and I was beginning to panic. He tore at my jumper, unsnapping it half way down, "ERIC PLEASE!" I cried out again, tears beginning to brim at my eyes, this cannot be happening again. "Please Rommit, don't do this,... I'm pregnant." He stopped for a second and looked at my stomach, that was visible now that he opened my suit so far down. His face twisted for a moment before his smirk returned, "well then, I guess you can't get pregnant again." He went back to trying to tear my clothes off, and I went back to screaming Eric's name. That's when I calmed down and remembered my simulation in which I defeated Peter doing this to me. I just had to wait for the right opening; I looked away from him, allowing him to think I have succumbed to my fate. He removed one of his hands to feel down my body and I took the opportunity to punch him in the throat. I heard chanting and looked over to find several adults huddled with children yelling Eric's name. The sight was eerie, but it was like they were trying to help me.

[[BACK at the Bureau, Peter's POV]]

I decided to make the most of my time in this little camera bubble, by casting drones to see what the others were up to in the Fringe, particularly Kara. As soon as I saw that egotistical douche hit her on the head and run his hands over her, that was it. I jumped from my room, pausing the screens and ran towards the elevators leading up to David's office. I found his first suit in command just stepping out of it. "Peter, what can I help you with?" "I need to talk to David right now, its about Kara - she's in trouble!" Matthew's face turned to worry, "show me!" "I don't have time she is about to get raped!" "Well David isn't here right now and she is out in the Fringe with the other soldiers, the best you can do is show me what is going on so I can bring this to attention quickly when David returns." I groaned in frustration, in no way is that going to help Kara now, but maybe she called for help and someone heard her.

I ran back to my surveillance room with Matthew hot on my heels, he re-wound the video to see what happened and then let it play out. I saw her freeze up, and instantly I felt like shit. She even tried to reason with him on the babies life, but he just kept touching her and I either needed to murder something or throw-up. Eventually she socked him in the throat and then Eric came in for the rescue. "Oh, thanks for that..." Matthew turned to me, "luckily Eric got to her in time, I will make sure David knows about this, but you will need to edit this footage. We have done our best to keep him from knowing about her baby." I went to nod but then stopped myself at his words. "You mean he doesn't know?" He shook his head, many don't but some do... even Rommit is now a liability. They way she is rejecting David's help and the Bureau...if he found out she was pregnant, he would keep her locked up until she delivered and then get rid of her and all of you. Tris is in a state right now where she believes everything he says...she wouldn't notice a lack of Kara until there was a baby she was being forced to raise and no Kara around. To which he can use lies to control that situation also, she wouldn't think the wiser and he would have an almost perfect Divergent raising another potentially pure one..."

I let his words sink in, this whole situation was completely fucked and only getting worse, so I agreed to edit the film to leave out that little bit of her confessing to Rommit to spare her and her baby. I just hope that whatever was about to be done could be made right, but now I feel like Kara is only going to make matters worse by not agreeing with David. Myself and I'm sure the guys know we are expendable on this little discovery adventure, but Kara isn't... I have to find someone to make things right, I may not have been able to protect her from myself, on multiple occasions, but I can try hard as hell to protect her from this. "Hey Matt...make me an appointment with David as soon as he gets back...I think it's about time we talked."

[[BACK to the others, Kara's POV]]

A second later Eric burst through the tent flaps and saw Rommit still on top of me but choking and holding his throat, I knew he lost it as he snatched him up. I scooted away and huddled myself with the children and their parents. I felt hands stroking my hair and someone was rocking me. Eric was close to beating him to death when Nita showed up and stopped him; she helped him stand and carried him back to the aircraft letting us know we better move out. Eric came over and knelt next to me, the arms surrounding me released me into his hold. I turned back to them, women and children, red tear marks down their faces. "Run and hide, we will not hurt you." They scrambled away and hid themselves out of sight as Eric lifted me to my feet, running his hands over me to check for wounds and stopping on my stomach. "We're fine... he didn't get as far as he wanted." He sighed and pulled me to him tightly, as much as neither of us wanted to board that craft and return to the Bureau, we had to, so he walked me back to the craft to find a forlorn Four and Chris boarding; each of us glancing at the other one wondering what happened.

All of us waved our hands for explanations to be exchanged later; we all needed to just get back. The ride back was near silent except for the grunts of pain coming from Romit as one of the others tended to the cuts on his face, Four looked at Eric and Eric nodded to him, letting him know it was his handy work. Four gave him a thumb up and went back to leaning against hull of the shuttle. It seemed the ride back took longer, perhaps that was because it was more silent, and the fact our little group was trying to piece together what just happened with these children. We slowly got off the shuttle and watched at the children were dragged into a building out back and given a mask with a gas to breath in. I watched Chris take a little boy over to Tobias and him kneel down to talk to him, the kid seemed to have forgotten his own father's death. We all looked at each other and then watched as Four stalked over to Nita to demand an explanation of what was going on with the kids. "Don't you get it yet? What is the easiest way to build an army that will follow your every command? We don't save these kids; we steal them, erase their memories and grow new ones while they live here. Just another mindless soldier to hang on to David's every word, they have no other choice. There is nothing wrong with the Fringe, some of those parents I have seen over years and with new children sometimes…we just give that excuse to the new kids growing up, telling them we saved them and now they have to help save others."

Four took off, I knew he was headed straight for Tris, we instead went back to our bunks to let sink in what we just helped do. That and I know Eric wanted to ask me about what had really happened with Romit back at the camp. Chris excused herself to find Will and let him know what happened, while Eric sat me down on my bunk and stroked the back of my hands. "He didn't do anything to me, only tried…I turned into that scared little girl I was when Peter tried that shit on me. I screamed for you instead of fighting back more…I'm sorry I wasn't stronger." He held my face in his hands, "don't you ever say that, ever. You are the strongest person I know, he just found a way to hurt you that worked, I promise I will never let him lay another finger on you, if he lives long enough to try." I smiled and kissed him sweetly, I could feel him stroking the back of my head in affection, and let myself lean against him for comfort. He was right, I was strong, but I don't think I will ever be strong enough to live without him; he and our baby are all I have left at this point. "I'm going to go check on Four and make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble, do you want to come with me?" I shook my head, "I think you can handle it, I am going to get a shower." He nodded, kissed my forehead and left, I took the time to gather some clothes and make my way to the shower area. I was alone and was glad for that, I just needed the burning water to rinse the day off of me.

I took a long and brutally hot shower, making sure to scrub extra, everywhere that Romit touched me. I got out and was able to take time drying my hair, it was nice to not be rushing around like a mad man…I can see the appeal that Tris found in this place, but eventually we can get Chicago to this point; that is top priority. We grew up there, our families were there, we left friends there…we have to take care of there first. I was digging the clothes that the bureau had, a lot more stylish than what we could make back home, but it was something to bring to the table eventually. Being divided into factions, your clothing choices were quite practical, even for dauntless. Everyone had their own strict code of colors and a style, which is one mold I would definitely like to break, especially for Candor, black and white can't be their only color preferences. I first stepped into black jean shorts that were high waisted, they had cute flayed holes on the thighs and my belt with my gun holder attached would fit nicely. A black shirt that was a little baggy, but could hide my stomach and fell midway on my shorts, looked cute and I was still combat ready, the only thing that would throw me off a little were these wicked boots Nita gave me. They were black thigh high, with a thick heel, she said I could still run and fight in them, but I had only worn heels once at the party in dauntless. I pulled them on anyway and zipped them up, to be honest, I looked really hot and it made me only want to kick someone's ass more; to prove I could while I looked good. I left the bathroom in search of the boys to see if they had been able to talk some sense into Tris, I ran into Chris along the way and got a wolf whistle from her and Will. I smiled, blushing as well, and waved them off to continue my search.

I couldn't find them or Matthew to ask if he had seen them, I figured they were still arguing with Tris and didn't want to deal with that right now, so instead I went to go look for Peter. I really wanted to know whose side he was on, ours, or had David gotten to him already? I opened the door to his monitoring station and found him not there, so I left to go find Caleb. "What are you watching?" He looked at me and smiled, "just keeping track on what is happening back in Chicago, David told me to forget it, that it would be dealt with, but I can't. Apparently some of the dauntless members that went along with Johanna are gathering weapons and showing Amity how to use them, if something isn't done soon, this won't be good." I agreed, a second later Tris barged in. "Have you seen Peter?" I shook my head to Caleb and he gave us both a grim look. "What is it?" "I think there is something you need to see, I was going to come and get you guys later, leaving my station would have been suspicious."

We huddled near him to see inside his digital sphere, he first replayed what we had all been trying to tell Tris about Evelyn and Johanna. He then played where he found Peter, he was showing Evelyn some type of memory serum to use on the Allegiant, Johanna's group, I couldn't believe she was actually thinking about using it. "Can you show me Four?" "And Eric, he went with him to find you." The look on her face had me worried, "what Tris?" "Eric never came with him, I argued with Four before Rommit and some guards stopped him. Your father interjected and they took both of them away. I just thought they were taking them back down stairs, but if Eric is missing too….Well I think I am starting to finally believe you guys about David, and I'm so sorry…" Caleb was busy scouring the city and outskirts for Four, Eric and now my father too. "I think you need to look at this…"