A/N: Thank you all for the response to the story. This is going to be a slow update because I want to get the tone and details right. It is way more angsty and full of hurt than I am used to writing out. I promise though I will be working and updating on it and all my other stories. As always, thanks for the views, reviews, follows and favorites. Feedback drives me or sure so anytime you want to drop a line or two I am all for it. Have a great night ya'll.

Chapter 2

All Kai could feel though was the heavy weight of loss and disbelief.

"Do me proud baby." The bastard had known all along he was doing this. Of course he had because that was Jason. Ever the fucking hero, selfless bastard that he was. Damn him and his Abnegation! How could he do this to her? How could he do this to them?

The tugging of her sleeve snapped her back to her senses and her eyes snapped to Taylor. She saw the communication from the Dauntless girl with the black hair and eyes of ice. It was time to go or it would have been for nothing.

Not trusting herself to speak, Kailyn Delacourt gave a nod to Taylor then moved to board the transport herself. She let Taylor give the orders to move out while she worked to push everything she was feeling aside. She would complete her mission and get her people to Seattle where they would find refuge with the city that was set up there. When the dust had settled she would mourn the losses they had suffered. She would mourn the loss of Jason and the loss of more than he or anyone would ever know.

Three days later and less than 300 miles roughly to area the city of Seattle.

Kai was sitting in the middle of the back seat of the armored vehicle that was in the second set of vehicles carrying the remaining people from her city. One thousand seventy three people remaining from the over three thousand that had set out from their city in Dallas Texas. That three thousand were what was left of a city that once had a population of over fifty thousand. 53,2456. Before all the shit had started that was the last census count for her former cities population.

She hadn't allowed them to stop for more than short hour long breaks every six hours to switch drivers, use facilities and pass out the measly supplies they had.

It was time for another stop and Kai scowled at the report she was just given of what supplies remained. Hopping out of the seat when they arrived at the spot that was scouted out and approved she walked briskly to the truck with Taylor in it. She had assigned her as the person in charge of all equipment and supplies.

Taylor nodded to Kai and the two women moved to the side to speak.

"We are going to have to stretch what we have Taylor. We aren't more than a day's ride out maybe. It is hard to determine because I haven't been able to hack into their sattelite frequencies yet to get good location Intel. I got a message out to them and we can hope they get it and can mobilize something to us soon."

Taylor nodded with thinned lips. "What are your orders then?"

Kai sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "The kids, the few elderly we have and the pregnant women all get full rations of water and food. Luckily we don't have to worry about the injured because those are all us and we can handle reduced rations for a day or so. Go to half for everyone else. If any of our guys want to go less then that, great but I am not forcing anyone to give up any more than we already have."

Taylor nodded grimly and sighed. Already knowing what her Commander's answer was going to be. "Are you going to take your rations now?"

Kai shook her head and waved her hand. "No, I will skip this one."

Taylor's lips thinned and she refrained from saying that she had also skipped the last four others as well. She gave a nod and moved back to the line that was forming. They had little time to get the supplies out, the trucks recharged and refueled then loaded back up to head out.

Kai made her rounds to the other trucks, stopping here or there to speak with either a refugee or one of her soldiers. She checked on each of the trucks and their solar power levels, the fuel levels that were also necessary for them operate, tires, engines. She checked the status of all the transport before she started to make her way back to her Command truck.

She would need to eat at the next ration distribution. Her energy levels were waning faster and she couldn't abstain more if she was going to be any good to others. Her musings and running over reports from camp were disturbed in an alarming manner.

She heard the rumble long before the vehicles were seen. Running she started shouting orders and the camp broke into action.

She had chosen this place to stop because of the terrain. The part of the area they were in, what was once called Washington. Was full of rugged mountainous terrain and huge forests of towering trees.

Her first thought had been where to hide the survivors if they should need to get out of sight. She found an area that had a large enough crevice where they could get into easily but was also easily defended. Her appointed men ushered the civilians to the already prepared hiding spot. The rest of her men used a move out of when settlers had once used wagons and circled up the transports. This would serve as a diversion to allude that her people were in the center.

Sentries were already posted in the higher crags of the crevice using the suits she had ordered made up when they had first entered Washington state and saw the terrain. Using the abnegation materials they had she made coverings that could be used to camouflage her snipers while others were camouflaged for the forest and tree areas using other found or made materials.

She took her own place as she scaled a tree as quickly as she could then moved along one of the huge branches once she had gotten to a good amount of cover but still had clear line of sight. She secured her rappelling line, crouched and pulled her rifle then ordered radio silence.

The trucks looked to be military in design and style. They approached the transports carefully and stopped a good ways out. One vehicle pulled up in the lead and closer than the others but people in black disembarked from the other vehicles first before the lead vehicle even cracked open.

They fanned out but didn't approach the transports directly or make their way to the middle. Finally the lead vehicle opened and she could see everything clearly through her binoculars with the auto focus.

She saw two men with the tattoos of leader on their neck, much like she wore herself. By the ranking denotation on them she was looking at a Junior Leader. He was tall and lean but as with all typical Dauntless he was still powerfully built. His hair reminded her of Jason's who had preferred the Abnegation style of cut to anything Dauntless and Erudite preferred.

The other had the denotations of Second in Command. Same style and number as she had on her own neck. He was a powerhouse of a man though with his own hair being in a more Dauntless manner. It was shaved on the sides and styled at the top.

If they were from leadership in Dauntless of the city that her group had been in contact with she had sent out a private frequency for them to broadcast on to reach her.

She tuned in for that channel and listened when she saw the Junior leaders lips moving as he spoke into his own wrist communicator.

"This is Seattle Dauntless broadcasting to reach the Leader in charge of the group from Dallas. We are in the area and here to offer escort and supplies to the city. We will await your ok to approach the camp any further." His voice was commanding but also had a lilt to it that she recognized in the manner he worded things. Abnegation. His accent was different than the drawl she had as well as most of the people from her city.

She had read this was called a southern accent. She sighed internally that it would just be one more thing that set her people apart from the others of the city they could hopefully find homes in.

Lifting her wrist to her mouth she tuned back to her mens channel and gave them hold orders and to wait for her to move first. After that she tuned back to the private channel and relayed meeting coordinates.

"One click right towards the trees. What's left of leadership will be there to meet with your leadership. We can talk in person then." Her voice was still commanding but respectful. She was at their mercy and in their territory now.

With nods the two leaders, as well as two others that would cover them, started out in her direction. When they got to the appointmented area she rappelled down in plain sight of them but no weapons drawn. She had put her rifle back on her back and secured her binoculars. The two she had stationed in trees at her rear followed her example as well.

Their looks of amusement, surprise and even admiration were evident on all of the men except for the Second in Command. His lips twitched slightly but other than that there was nothing on his face or posture except for maybe he had expected something like that.

Eric took in the three that had descended from the trees. One was a woman with the markings of leadership, Second in command, on her neck. Unusual for a woman to be Second and also to have the marks on her neck. Victoria opted for her thigh. Most women in leadership went with somewhere else when getting their tattoos. He looked for the Senior Leader among the other two men but gathered they were just Senior Members by their uniform and deference to her.

Frowning he cleared his throat when he also realized his eyes had started to move over her in a manner that was more than just taking in the situation. He had been letting them rove over her in a very appreciative manner and he needed to shut that down now.

"Eric Coulter, Second in Command for Seattle Dauntless. You said that all that is left of leadership would be meeting us. I was led to believe in the last briefing that there were two of Leadership from Dauntless remaining. The Senior leader and the Second." The conversation had to start out somewhere and it might as well be with what might have happened to cause them to request aide immediately instead of the original plans of arranging meetings at the fence outside of the city in one day's time. He had a feeling whatever happened wasn't going to be good.

He saw her posture go even more rigid and any emotion that she had on her face or eyes, which wasn't much to begin with, wiped away completely.

"There were, now there is just me. Kailyn Delacourt, Second in Command. Senior Leader Jason Williams was KIA three days back when we were tangled up in an engagement with the remains of the group that pursued us from our former city. He along with seven of our men stayed to cover the fall back of the main group so that we could get to the transports. They didn't make it. I can give you a full briefing at a later time if you would like.." She gave the Second Eric a respectful nod but spoke in almost dead voice.

Her voice was as dead as she felt and she just hoped that she could get off this subject quickly.

Eric's frown deepened. He had argued that they should gather a group to try and lend aid and firepower sooner but it had been vetoed. It was claimed that it was too risky and they knew too little about those from the city that was seeing refugee. He pushed down the anger that was starting to build at the thought that had they been allowed to by the fucking council then this could have been prevented.

She didn't know how she knew or was able to read him, maybe because she would have been thinking the same thing, but she knew he what he was running through his mind currently.

"Leader Coulter, there was nothing any of you or your men could have done had you been there. I am sorry if I am assuming incorrectly and that is not what your train of thought is. We had the enemy in skill and men but they had us in sheer firepower and advanced weaponry. The way it ended…" Unbidden her voice broke slightly before she snarled at herself and steeled her voice again "...was the only way it could have ended. Even had you or your men been there it would have resulted the same way."

Eric studied her for long seconds. Every death or injury of his men he took personally. It was just who he, all of leadership and command were. There at the end though it had sounded slightly more personal to her. This wasn't the time or place to get into that so he sighed and nodded.

It hit him though that she had known what he was thinking. Not even his best friend or mentor could do that.

"I am sorry for the losses you have suffered on your way here Leader Delacourt. We will offer whatever aid we can currently and then conduct briefings later when we get to the city. May my men approach the camp now?" Eric was trying to remain respectful and not take over command. He wasn't sure what would happen once they reached the city on that front but for now he would make sure she knew she was still in charge of her people as long as they worked together.

He could feel Four's approval and wanted to roll his eyes. Four was trying to teach him how to not be such a brutish dick at times. The whole damn way in to help out after they had gotten the message Four had been on him about how he needed to treat the situation. Like Eric didn't have brains to know what these people had been through.

Kai gave a mirthless smile. "They can approach but they won't find anything. Let me give the all clear and my people can head back to camp."

"It was a diversion tactic and you stashed them somewhere." It wasn't a question coming from Eric but a deduction based on facts and how the whole meet up had occurred. He nodded and smirked in approval.

Kai was already lifting her arm and tuning in to the channel needed and giving the order for the groups to move in.

"Authorization for the ICT to move in and help secure the area and set up. Radio in when you are in position and then send in the pre arranged groups. I want this organized and seamless. ICT's, you know the drill, you work with their groups and follow their directives. We are on their turf now and I don't want to hear shit being started or I will come down hard. Move out." Kai's face reflected the hardness of her tone and the command in her voice.

Eric and Four exchanged looks of approval but also confusion. They had never heard of ICT's before and they wondered once again what other similarities and differences they would find from the Dallas group. Even their uniforms were slightly different. They were wearing the black but the material seemed to be thinner. More suited to their region most likely.

Four gave their own orders to move in and start setting up their own camp, do perimeter sweeps, and to work with the groups that would be meeting them to start getting supplies set up.

Kai motioned forward to her men and moved closer to Eric who turned to make sure Four had everything set. He turned back to Kailyn and nodded. "We should have everything set up. This is Junior Leader Four. Behind him are two of our Tactical and Intel Officers. Zeke and Uriah Pedrad."

When Kai got closer she held her hand out to all of the men to shake one by one. She got nods and shakes from Eric and Four but Zeke and Uri shook with wide grins that she found slightly infectious. She found her smiling slightly back at them which caused the grins to deepen.

"You can just call me Kai by the way. No need for that Second in Command shit or Ma'am. At least not unless it is just necessary. Never could stand all the pomp or ceremony of titles." Kai shrugged with the small smile on her face.

Zeke and Uri laughed while Four smirked and side eyed Eric to see what his reaction to that would be. Surprisingly he was smiling a little. Well as much as Eric smiled publicly or in situations like this. Meaning his lips were twitching but you could see it in his eyes mainly.

"Good to know." Eric muttered and then gestured for them to make their way to the camp. "So what exactly are ICT's?" He looked to her as they walked side by side.

He noticed that she wasn't all that much shorter than him and she moved with a grace and confidence of a long time soldier and leader. She also had a slight sway to her hips that suggested she didn't try and play soldier or tough girl all the time.

Kai tilted her head in thought of how to best answer. "Before everything went to hell we started making specialized teams to handle situations that were arising. We didn't know it was all linked together but we were working with what we knew or trying to get more Intel. One of those groups are ICT's. Incident Command Team. They are the first in, first on the scene at all times unless we have intel that we know needs more specialization. They are trained to sweep, secure, and set up. Sometimes if we were sending them into a known engagement or one that was expected we would add in another group but they all know how to work as a single unit. Jason and worked long hours on getting the systems in place and the training that was needed. They are tight units now because of that."

Kai radiated pride at her soldiers under her command. They weren't just soldiers though and hadn't been from the minute she had set foot into the Dauntless sector after her choosing.

"Interesting but good idea too. I wouldn't mind looking into setting up something like that." Eric mused out loud and frowning in thought. It was a good idea. Have more than just ops units set up and trained to work separately or together.

"I will be happy to help where I can and however I am allowed to." Kai replied. She would but first they needed to secure their places in the city. She needed to see her people secured first before she even thought of where she would fit into this Dauntless.

Eric gave a nod as they walked on but it didn't take long to reach the camp. Along the way she had been getting radio reports when the team had moved in, when they had got things set up and what the status of moving the survivors were. Eric had led her to a tent that was set up for his own command.

"From the report given from you ICT it looks like you were going to be pulling out shortly before we arrived. I would like to set up camp at least overnight so we can get a status on your people and your equipment." Eric said as the were sitting across from each other and he was running through written reports being run into him and some on his handheld tablet.

Kai frowned and pulled out her own updated information. "What would you like to know? I personally went around to all the transports to check on the status of the fuel, solar power levels and status of working conditions. I generally give a once over on all of the engines myself and make any repairs that need to be done."

Kai located his tablet information after accessing her slave app on her tablet that she had designed and then started sending him information.

Eric tried not to let his shock or eyebrow go into his hairline. That she was able to access a private and very secure network so easily was shocking enough but the tech in her hand was way above what even the elite Erudite had currently.

He filed that away as something to address with the rest of Leadership but also her.

"Your vehicles run on solar power and fuel? We had wondered how your group was making it across such a great distance with no access to fuel. What kind of fuel do you use by the way?" Eric asked as he started to review the status of her supplies, injuries and health of her people, and the transports. She had thought of and sent him everything she had that was dated to just before their arrival. The leader was growing on him minute by minute.

"Biodiesel. We learned the process of how to refine animal byproducts and turn them into fuel. We also have lithium batteries and fuel cells in the transports that we use when weather didn't permit us to recharge our solar power cells fully or at all." Kai quirked an eyebrow wondering why Eric had completely stopped and was looking at her strangely.

"Was this standard in your vehicles or was this recent?" Eric asked trying to hide his excitement at the what that kind of capability would men for Dauntless.

"It was standard for Dauntless and it was recent in the fact that there was an Erudite that transferred over with the knowledge of that and several other tech advancements that we put into place and developed." Kai answered truthfully and carefully.

Eric's eyes narrowed as he nodded in thought. "Well if that person is still with you I would be very interested in meeting with them. Were there anymore advancements they made?"

Kai tilted her head and nodded. "There were. I am sure she will give the offer thought."

Kai would give it thought. She would have to see what his city and their Erudite were like before she stepped into that again. She was never sure that her transferring was the catalyst for events in her city but she always suspected. She would think long and hard before she could give that answer.

Eric was stupid by no means. She may or may not have meant to give things away but regardless somehow he knew he was looking at the Erudite transfer that had come up with advancements. Her attitude and careful answer had his senses on alert. It wasn't that he didn't trust her because for some reason he did. Something about their situation was making alarms go off in his head. Something about Erudite's own insistence that they refuse the new arrivals or at the very least not allow them to merge with their factions system was doubling that alarm.

Four had shared his own concerns with Eric last night but he had thought it was Four being Four. He has always had reticence about Erudite and how often they wanted to try and insinuate themselves into the day to day running of Dauntless.

Eric didn't care for it but he had never been mistrustful. What he knew now was he needed to get more details, as many as he could, about what happened in Kai's city to cause them to go so far and lose so much.

The sooner the better he felt.