Marcus Eaton? Tobias' abusive Abnegation father here in Dauntless? What in the hell is he doing here? I immediately look for Tobias. He's slumped in a chair opposite the desk Marcus and a few other Abnegation members are standing behind. He's as white as a sheet. I kneel down in front of him. He looks like he's in shock. I know this isn't a happy reunion.
"Four?" I say, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice. This isn't the time for it.
"Hello, Beatrice," a familiar voice says. My head snaps around. My dad is standing there right next to Marcus with a startled look on his face. How did I not see him? "I didn't know we were waiting for you."
"Hello, Dad, and it's just Tris now." I stand back up and stare at my dad. He looks like he's aged since I last saw him at the Choosing Ceremony. That shouldn't be possible but losing both his children in one day to other factions must have taken its toll. "Could someone please tell me what's going on here? Dad, what are you doing here?" I look at Tobias but he's still frozen.
"Beatrice…" Marcus starts. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
"You do not get to address me," I firmly say, interrupting. I take a deep breath and look at Tobias again. He's still slumped in the chair, frozen in fear, and I'm getting increasingly worried about him. I have to get Marcus out of here. "We'll only speak to my dad. Will the rest of you please wait outside in the hall?"
"Beatrice," my dad sharply says, admonishing me, "that isn't necessary."
"Yes, it is if you want this meeting to continue." Marcus glares at me, and I see the man from Tobias' fear landscape, the one without the mask. Why can't his fellow councilmen see what I am looking at right now? He isn't a man, he's a monster. I stare at him and pointedly say, "Out." I walk across the room and open the door. The three men file out of the room leaving me with my dad and Tobias. I take a deep breath.
"Dad, please tell me what's going on," I say with a tinge of desperation in my voice. He looks at me like he's never seen me before, and I quickly realize that's true. He doesn't know this me, brave and assertive Tris. He only knows respectful and meek Beatrice.
"Tris," he says, slowly. It sounds foreign coming from his mouth. Maybe I should let him call me Beatrice. "We're here because we have some news that relates directly to Dauntless." I can tell he wants to ask about my behavior.
"Forgive me, but why aren't you talking to Max or one of the other leaders instead of Four and me?" I still don't understand what's going on.
"We can't speak to them because they've all been arrested along with Jeanine Matthews from Erudite for a plot to overthrow Abnegation using a simulation serum on Dauntless members." I know my mouth must be hanging open right now.
"A simulation serum?" Tobias asks, finally thawing. I go and sit in the chair next to his. I want to take his hand but I'm not sure he'd want me to do that right now. I look at him, and he's regained some of his color. He glances sideways at me and gives me a small, appreciative smile.
"Yes, Tobias."
"Mr. Prior, it's Four here, never Tobias," he firmly says.
"My apologies, Four. I'll start at the beginning the best I can." He takes a deep breath and sits down behind what was once Max's massive ebony-stained oak desk. I can't believe this is happening.
"Caleb called me the day before yesterday with a story that, to be honest, was quite incredible. He told me you visited him at Erudite and asked him to investigate the simulation serums." Tobias looks my direction with a bit of a frown on his face.
"You never told me that," he said.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure exactly what it was I was asking him to do. When Mom came to see me on visitation day it wasn't just for a visit, she wanted me to get to Caleb and have him investigate the simulation serums. She didn't tell me why even when I begged her to. After I failed so miserably in Lauren's fear landscape and we had our fight, I decided it was the best time to talk to Caleb. I had to get my mind on something else, and I didn't think I had anything to lose." Boy was I wrong. "I told him what Mom told me." I tell my story mainly to Tobias but Dad listens on intently. "He told me something big was getting ready to go down at Erudite but he didn't know what, but he said he'd do as Mom asked. Then we got into a fight, and I wasn't sure if he was going to follow through with his promise or not."
"What he found was Erudite invented a long-range serum that could be used in simulations. He thought it was odd because there is no legitimate need for something that can be used over distances," my father says. That makes sense. When we're under a simulation we're within 10 feet of the computer and no more.
"When he investigated the serum, he learned it was inadvertently invented while trying to better the original simulation serum, but he presumed that information was false, planted to mislead anyone who looked too closely into the new serum. This information didn't sit well with Caleb so he did some additional research. He found the only reasonable conclusion to having this serum was long-range mind control. He was unsure what to do with this newfound information but decided to take it to a trusted advisor high up in the Erudite hierarchy who just happened to know what Jeanine's undeveloped plan was."
"Which was?" I prompted.
"To inject each Dauntless member, who is already trained to kill, with the long-range simulation serum, place them in a war sim, and set them loose on Abnegation." I start to panic and touch the site on my neck where Eric injected me yesterday. I knew something wasn't right when he gave me that tracking injection excuse. The serum was colored, which means it carries transmitters. A tracking serum would be clear. I jump out of my seat.
"We were all injected yesterday," I shout.
"Calm down, Beatrice. Erm, um, I'm sorry, Tris," my dad stutters slightly. "All top level conspirators are in custody, and all remaining simulation serum and the simulation program have been destroyed. The simulation serum will begin to degrade in your system within the next 24 to 48 hours and will be useless." A weight lifts off of my shoulders, and I slowly lower myself into the chair.
"Did you say war simulation, Mr. Prior?" Tobias says, addressing my dad. "A few weeks before initiation began, I accessed Dauntless' secure files and found war simulations and other files that were sent by Erudite. If I was able to retrieve this information for you, would it be useful in the prosecution of these criminals?"
"That would be very helpful. We already have all the information from Erudite's end but nothing from Dauntless'." Tobias gets up and takes the computer keyboard from in front of my dad. After hitting a few keys, he transfers all necessary data to a removable disk drive and gives it to my dad. "This is everything I know about."
"I'm sorry I interrupted earlier, Dad. I just panicked when I realized what that injection really meant," I say. "How did everyone end up in custody?"
"Caleb's advisor, his name isn't being released to protect his identity, called on the Abnegation council with proof of what Erudite was planning. He never agreed with what Jeanine was preparing to do, and Jeanine was taken into custody. She was taken to Candor headquarters for interrogation under truth serum by Jack Kang, one of Candor's leaders. She confessed her entire involvement and the involvement of several Erudite members. She also confessed the involvement of every Dauntless leader. They were each taken into custody, transferred to Candor for interrogation, and they too confessed under truth serum. They will all be executed for their crimes."
I sit back in my chair and let all the information sink in. My brother stopped a war. What would have happened if I hadn't went to see him when I did? I can't think that way. Erudite was stopped. I breathe a sigh of relief but then something my dad said hits me like a ton of bricks.
"Is Caleb safe?" I ask, fearful for my brother's safety. He may be a pain but he's still my brother.
"His name hasn't been released either. Both whistleblowers are safe," he says. Tobias, who had taken his seat again, stands up and rubs his hand through his hair.
"I'm still a bit confused, Mr. Prior," he says, pacing restlessly beside me. "Why were Tris and I called in here?"
"Dauntless needs new leadership," he says. "While under the Candor truth serum Max revealed bribery was his only motivation for what he did; however, all four of your other leaders were Erudite transfers who were planted here. When Max was asked who he thought would be a good replacement, he recommended you to take over his leadership role." That makes sense. Max has asked Tobias several times to train for Dauntless leadership, but I wonder why they've summoned me as well.
"I understand fully why Four was called in here. He would make a great leader, but why am I here?"
"You would make every bit as good of a leader as I would, Tris," Tobias says to me matter-of-factly.
"Which is also what Max said," my dad says, proudly. "He said he saw great potential in you, and you remind him of Four."
"Well Four was my instructor. Everything I've learned here at Dauntless, I've learned from him," I say looking up at Tobias who's finally at a standstill.
"How long do I have to decide, sir?" Tobias asks. "Leadership has never been something I've inspired to."
"24 hours is all we can afford to give both of you to make your decisions," he says. Four bows his head at my dad, remembering Abnegation customs, and turns to me.
"Will you meet me at my place? I really need to talk to you about this."
"Of course. I just want to say goodbye to my dad first." He turns and walks out the door and heads toward the Pit. Marcus and the two other men come back into the room. Marcus scowls at me, and I remember his soulless black eyes from Tobias' fear landscape.
"So what did Tobias decide?" Marcus asks my dad. I feel myself about ready to explode. I count to ten, hoping to regain some composure but I'm not sure it helps. Before I can speak, my dad addresses him.
"I gave Four and Tris 24 hours to make their decisions," my dad says.
"Very well," Marcus says and turns towards me. "Nice to see you again, Beatrice." He smirks as he says my Abnegation name. I want to lunge at him and wipe that smirk off his face but I remind myself that it wouldn't be helpful right now.
"Would you give me a few minutes with my dad?" I say addressing the two other men whose names I've forgotten.
"We'll meet you outside, Andrew," Marcus says. He turns towards the door, and the two other men follow, leaving me alone with my dad.
"Beatrice," my dad says with a heavy sigh, "may I ask why you had Marcus, Jonah, and Matthew leave the room?" Oh right, Jonah Thomson and Matthew Williams.
"I didn't mind if Jonah or Matthew stayed but Marcus had to go. Didn't you see how Four reacted to seeing his father again? He has worked very hard to leave that part of his life behind him, and I wasn't going to sit here and let Marcus torture him anymore."
"Marcus has never done anything to Tobi…" I cut him off.
"You don't know the vile things that monster has put Four through," I yell. I take a deep breath and try to remember it's not my dad who I'm angry with. "That's all I can say on the subject. I've already said too much."
"How do you know so much about that … that boy?" I know he wants to say traitor. That's how almost everyone in Abnegation thinks of Tobias. Hhm, I wonder if that's how they view Caleb and me now. Do I tell him the truth? I look at him for a long moment, trying to picture what my life would have been like if I'd chosen differently. I can't imagine going back. I wonder what I look like to him.
"He's my boyfriend, Dad," I state with pride in my voice. "He's the absolute best man I've ever known. He's everything I didn't know I wanted." Since the word boyfriend passed my lips, I see color rising in his face. He looks like he's either going to pass out or explode.
"BOYFRIEND!" he shrieks. Explode, should have guessed it. "You're too young to have a boyfriend, Beatrice. He's entirely too old for you. This … this isn't right. How could they let this kind of thing go on here?" I walk toward him and stop right in front of him. I know he won't hurt me no matter how angry he is with me.
"I love you, Dad, with all my heart. Do you know that?" I ask and he nods. "When I chose Dauntless I wasn't choosing to leave you, I was choosing to find myself. Part of finding myself was finding Four. He's very important to me, and because of that, he should be important to you."
"I don't like this, Beatrice."
"Tris, Dad, Tris," I say with a sigh. "You don't have to like it, you just have to love me." I can feel tears starting to well up in my eyes, and I don't want to cry in front of him. I wrap my arms around him and give him a big hug. He holds me tight for a minute then kisses the top of my head. "I love you, Dad. Please tell Mom I love her and give her a hug for me. Four and I will give you our answers tomorrow. Same time as today?"
"Yes, Tris." He smiles at me, and I know we'll be okay. I turn and walk back toward Tobias, toward my life.