The first thing Alex noticed was the spark in Jack's eyes. He had a mischievous grin on his face as he opened the door.

"Someone missed their old friend, hm?" he said before giving Alex a hug.

"I wouldn't necessarily say 'missed'", Alex answered with an eye roll but she couldn't help the smile that crept on her face. It did feel nice to see her old friend again.

"Milady, what can I serve you on this fine evening?" Jack seemed in a very good mood as he walked to the kitchen aisle on the other side of the room.

"Just water, thank you." Alex looked around the room. Nothing had changed since the last time she met Jack here. There was a two-seat leather couch, an armchair and a couch table, the kitchen aisle with a little table and two chairs, one door to the bedroom and one to the bathroom. She sat down on the couch.

"So, how is Dauntless treating you? How did Eric like your connection to the Factionless?" Jack came back with two glasses and sat down in the armchair across from her.

"Why do you think he knows of that connection?" Alex asked and took a sip of her water.

"I don't think there are many other reasons why you'd be scared of getting a truth serum dose." He had a level of confidence to himself that Alex admired.

"Well, he's not very fond of it. That's actually why I wanted to meet you."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"I need to know what happened between you and Eric. You always made it sound like a stupid rivalry, but now I have the feeling that there is more to it. I don't want to get involved in anything I don't know about."

"Really? Why? What did he do?", Jack asked and slightly tilted his head.

"He's quite invested trying to figure out how I know you."

"And why does he know that you know me?" he asked even though he looked like he already knew the answer.

"He was going to throw me out! I had to play that card", Alex said in a playfully defensive tone.

"Maybe that would have been for the best. My offer stands. You can still join us." Jack leaned back with a grin for which Alex looked at him reprovingly.

His smile widened and he chuckled softly as he held up his hand in defeat.

"Right, sorry. I said I would respect your decision."

"Thank you", she said and gave him an appreciative nod.

"You can enjoy your "free" life with the Dauntless and blithely ignore your contribution to a system of deprivation and division", he muttered and carefully watched her reaction with a smirk.

Alex just rolled her eyes.

"Big mouth for someone who knocks out every attempt by the government to negotiate with the factionless. Many can complain, but only few actually change anything", she threw back at him with a witty smile.

For a moment, they stared into each other's eyes before Jack shook his head with a smile.

"One might think that saving a young girl's life would get them more gratitude and respect."

"Argh, you're never going to let this go, are you?" Alex answered dramatically but smiled as well.

"Maybe if it was a one-time thing but over the years, I've lost count of how many times I had to save you."

"You are exaggerating beyond measure."

"Oh yeah, there was the time we met, then two other times while climbing, the time you snuck into Candor and accidentally locked yourself in the basement –"

"That one doesn't count. You didn't save my life then, you just helped me out of a merely uncomfortable situation."

"Oh, now we're nitpicking or what?" Jack asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Alex was about to answer when Jack's phone beeped and after glancing at it he said: "You have about 30 minutes left until they get the cameras running again." He put the phone down and smiled. "Enough time for some fun, don't you think?" With these words, he leaned forward and casually propped himself up on his thighs.

A smile crept on her face but she shook her head and mimicked his pose.

"Stop stalling. You still haven't told me what happened between you and Eric."

Jack leaned back and sighed.

"Fine. Well, as you already know, we were in the Dauntless initiation together and we became friends. Quite good friends, actually. But the competition among the Initiates has always been tough and at some point, the pressure started to affect our friendship as well. We both wanted to come first and started to argue more and more often. Then near the end of our initiation, our mutual best friend, Mike, got injured. The three of us were inseparable, spending every spare minute of the day together. For months. Mike was the glue that held us all together."

Jack paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Alex could see his body tense.

"The Dauntless leader decided that even though he had gone through almost the whole initiation, he could not finish initiation like that. So, they kicked him out. Made him factionless because of a broken rib.

I kept in touch with him and learned about his challenges and the grievances of the Factionless. He also tried to contact Eric, but Eric didn't want to have anything more to do with him. Broke Mike's heart. But I guess all that mattered to Eric was to pursue his career with Dauntless and a friendship with a Factionless was not welcome then or now. When I also joined the Factionless a few weeks later, he still reproached me."

Jack stared strained at the air to his right, then stood up to look at a painting behind him so that Alex could only see his back.

"A few weeks later there was a riot that was brutally broken up by Dauntless soldiers. Eric led the charge. Mike - he died in that riot. Shot by a soldier." His voice was so soft and thin. Alex could hear the pain. He turned slowly again, catching Alex's gaze briefly before quickly turning back to the painting. Alex swallowed at the sight. She knew Jack as a confident, good-humoured guy. She had never seen him so emotional.

"Eric blames me. He thinks I started the riot and was therefore also responsible for Mike's death. But I think deep down, he's ashamed that he disowned him before Mike died and that he died in the course of his own operation."

"I – I don't know what to say." Alex stood up and walked over to him, trying to console him with a warm touch as she couldn't find the words to do so.

"I think you should go now. Dauntless is calling." Jack still didn't look at her and she wondered if he was holding back tears but she respected his wish.

"Goodbye, Jack." She was almost at the door when she turned around again.

"I did miss you, you know."

Finally, Jack looked at her with teary eyes and smiled.

With this last image in her mind, she left the flat with a heavy heart and made her way back to Dauntless. The conversation had put her in a gloomy mood. Her chest felt as if she had to lift stones with every breath and her stomach felt queasy.

She hid her motorbike behind the bushes again and climbed up the building. There was a guard positioned on a roof nearby, but he was busy watching the entrance on the ground and so Alex was able to cautiously sneak past him. There were clearly more guards than usual on the ground. The failure of the cameras had probably put Dauntless on alert. That puzzled her. She knew from the Erudite technicians that the system was always causing problems. That was why she had come up with the idea in the first place. Alex swallowed as she climbed down the side of a few buildings away and slipped in through the broken window. Footsteps could be heard in the corridor and chatter between two guards. Alex cowered behind the door and cursed the situation. She had already taken much longer than planned to make her way across the roof, she was slowly running out of time. When the sound of footsteps faded, she cautiously opened the door a crack and peered out into the corridor. At an agonisingly slow pace, she crept through the corridors like this, having to keep turning back and into other corridors to avoid the guards and hide. When she finally arrived at the dormitory, despair hit her. Two guards were positioned in front of the door.

Could she just confidently step up to the door and claim she had just returned from a bar? Had the normal Dauntless members been informed in any way? Perhaps even instructed? The sound of footsteps startled her out of her thoughts. The footsteps sounded from behind her; if a guard approached from there, she was trapped.

With feigned confidence, then.

"What's going on?" Alex walked around the corner with an upright gait and frowned irritably when she saw the guards.

The guards glanced at each other and then nodded.

"Are you Alex?"

Her heart fluttered.

"Why?"

The one guard smiled and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"We've got her."