hello everyone :) If you haven't checked my updates recently, I have been recovering from a concussion and I have been instructed to limit my screen time, so I've been taking my time to recover. However I'm getting better and I'm confident I can return to this story, so here is the next update!

thank you to imjustagurl for reviewing on my Caged story; your kind words are deeply appreciated! Also I appreciate your concern, I'm feeling better now though, thanks!

Thanks to gabri14 as well for your concern, I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

thank you for reviews!

Much love,

Ain


Chapter 9 - Serums

Tris POV

I clench my jaw, and beside, me, Kyra gives me a slight nudge. "Nervous?" she asks, in a attempt to lighten the mood.

"That is definitely one way of putting it." I mutter, and Kyra grins.

"No need to be so group." she teases. "lighten up, Miss Grouchy-pants. Just because your scary as fuck boyfriend had to leave doesn't mean you're going to be left single." she winks and but I don't pay attention.

All I see is black rimmed around my eyesight as I watch as our first prisoner is brought up onto the stage, and somebody shouts, and all I can hear is Henric taunting me, you'll never win, never never never. Even after visiting Henric several times with Kyra, it was really nothing but hopeless. This entire day has been nothing but a waste of time.

My fingers itched to grasp something, throw something, punch something, but I sit and will my mind to be still.

"Only a couple more minutes." Kyra says, but I don't really hear her. It just sounds like muffled noise as I watch the prisoner struggle, and I watch Tori shove the syringe into his neck, but I don't really hear the screams of Dauntless as they chant through the muffled noise, "traitor, traitor, traitor!"

Tori waves her hands. "That's not going to get Dauntless to shut up." I say, and Kyra nods.

She tries again, and then she finally puts two fingers in between her whistles and lets out a screech that pounds against my head.

"If you don't settle down, we're going to kick you out!" Harrison yells.

The screeches dull to mutters and then they nod, satisfied, and turn back to their prisoner.

"What is your name?" Ava asks.

"Pedro Fron." I watch his eyes. I try to look anywhere but him.

I look straight at him.

His eyes are darting and blank, like a soulless monster not really knowing anything. But they land on me, focusing a little, and I feel a chill go through the air, and it's like a spider is crawling up my spine, even though there is nothing there.

"What are your parents names, Pedro?" Harrison says. I watch Tori, next to him, the sight of anger. Tori seems to be trying to hold back as much as her emotions as she can, as I watch her, her fists tightly clenched and eyes narrowed.

"Mia Carter and Felix Fron." he says. I immediately raise my head, interested again. For a couple to have two different last names either meant they were divorced...or weren't married in the first place.

Harrison has caught onto that as well. "Why do your parents have different last names?"

Pedro closes his eyes, and I'm thankful, because I don't need to see his blank eyes anymore. "My parents are not married, nor do they socialize anymore."

"What faction are they born to?" Ava asks, glancing over at Harrison.

"Erudite and Abnegation.

Tori whispers something to Ava, and she nods. "What is your birth faction?" Tori asks.

"Erudite."

"Chosen faction?"

"Erudite." he snaps. "isn't that obvious?"

"Not really." Ava jumps in, calmly. "State where you got weapons from, if you aren't from Dauntless."

Pedro lets out a cackle. "That's easy. We got them from Max. He sent a batch of guns over to Erudite every two months. And then Jeanine distributed them to her trusted circle."

"Why are you in Jeanine's trusted circle?"

"I'm not. My dad is. He convinced Jeanine to let me help with the cause." Pedro says, opening his wandering eyes again.

Harrison whispered something to Ava, who then nods and gets up, grabbing a file from a stack I didn't notice earlier, and opens it. "Pedro, are you aware your mother was murdered in the Erudite attack on Abnegation?"

"Yes." he says, flatly, like it was another fact that he will tuck into is conscience.

"Why did you agree to help out?" Tori watches him carefully, while stating the question.

Pedro's eyes scan the crowd until they land absently on someone in the crowd, before moving on. "Because my dad told me to."

Tori rolls her eyes at his words. "I'm done with him. He's just a follower. No useful information." she snaps, standing up furiously.

Harrison gently drags her back into her seat. "Pedro, what is your biggest regret?"

Pedro closes his eyes and I can feel the room on the edge of their seats, everyone holding their breath.

"For being the one to shoot my mom. I left her without a second thought, because my dad told me to, and because I kept on listening to him without questioning him, I was the one to kill her."

I can hear every breath exhaling out, everyone screaming, the murmurs rising, the silence deafening. Thank you for your honesty.

The words are so close to home, and him and I are so similar. But we are different, because I knew how to forgive, how to live without resentment, and on trying to heal. He is just a empty shell of a follower, with no brain, no conscience. I am better, but I am the same, because I also killed my own best friend without a second thought. I try to breathe. You're so much stronger. Stronger stronger stronger. I am strong. I am brave. I am Tris.

I breathe deeply one more time and relax, letting the tension leave my body. Forgiving myself, moving on, I struggled with several sharp reminders of what I did, but I am stronger now. I am better.

"Bring in the next prisoner," Tori barks, and the guard rushes to bring in the next one. My heart stops when I see Henric. His hair is oily, and his eyes are a shade darker when he sees Ava, but he says nothing. He doesn't even try to struggle as the guards forcefully, shove him into the chair, tie his wrists to it, and then add a handcuff to each wrist for safe measure. This seems wrong. The forceful, angry, violent stories of Henric are nothing compared to the calm, composed, and quiet Henric I see now. Ava also looks confused at how Henric is handling everything.

Something is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, very very wrong.

Tori, holding the next syringe, shoves it into Henric's neck and he doesn't blink at the sudden gesture. Suddenly his eyes are filled with dazement and he looks around the room, with a cloudy look in his eyes.

"What is your name?" Tori says.

"Henric Wender Evans." he says slowly, like he is trying to taste the syllable of every word.

"What are your parents names?"

"Alohi and Ledger Evans." he says even more slowly, and this time the leaders notice it, and Harrison, typically the calmer one out of the leaders, barks at him, "speak faster son!"

"What faction were you born to?" Ava asks.

"Dauntless."

"What faction did you choose?"

"Dauntless."

I exchange looks with Ava from across the room, and she has a narrow look in her eyes. Henric was in Ava and Lauren's transfer class; he shouldn't be saying Dauntless.

Ava catches it and directs her narrow stare at Henric. "Were you born in Candor, Henric?" she says icily.

"No." Henric grits his teeth, and I notice sweat beading at the top of his forehead.

Ava whispers something to Tori, who nods.

"Where does your allegiance lie?" she asks.

"With those who support having Erudite and Dauntless control the government." Henric spits out.

Several murmurs break out, and most are confused, like me. Was the Abnegation attack for control? Were the Dauntless and Erudite jealous of how much power that Abnegation had over the government, so they attacked Abnegation for a fairer share of the government control?

Harrison also narrows his eyes. "Who supports having Erudite and Dauntless control the government?"

Henric grits his teeth again, and this time I catch it; a spark of alertness in his eyes. "Why does this matter?" he glares.

No one is able to resist the truth serum so levelly and have a spark of alertness in their eyes. No one can.

Besides the Divergent.

"He's Divergent." I say. I stand up, and everyone's eyes swivel to me. "He's resisting the serum." I point at his clenched jaw, to his hazy but clear eyes that are narrowed at me, and back to his gritted teeth.

"How would you know that?" a voice shouts out from the midst of murmurs and chatter that has broken out through the crowd.

"Because I am a Divergent." I say, glaring. "Don't you think I can recognize someone who is Divergent?"

The chatters are growing louder by the second. Finally Tori stands, leaning on her uninjured leg, and shouts, "This is everyone's last warning before I kick you all out!"

"Stop talking, you little girl. You know nothing." Henric says, his eyes hardening.

I snort. "Maybe you're the one who knows nothing. Even when you have lost, you still refuse to admit it."

He laughs. "Stiff, I know more than you. Don't you think a Dauntless leader with years of experience would understand more about wars compared to a scrawny Stiff who barely survived initiation?"

I feel my cheeks getting heated, and red rushing into my ears and my head. "Shut up." I say. But before I can say anything else, Tori's eyes hardened, she turns back to Henric, who's eyes are focused on me with a icy, steel stare, and interrupts our argument.

"Is she lying, Henric?"

Henric clenches his jaw. I point at how his eyes are hazily clear and he glares. "Of course she is. She's just a delusional little girl. Everyone knows you can't lie under the truth serum."

His words echo the same thing that Jack Kang said to me. You're just a little girl. I feel my hands clench.

"You're wrong." I say, standing up again. The usually extremely rowdy Dauntless are dead silent. I have never heard Dauntless this quiet before. "I am not a little delusional girl. Also, for your information, everyone knows after me and Four, that Divergent are able to withstand against serums."

I focus my icy stare on his eyes. "Maybe you're the delusional one here." I say quietly. "Delusional about how someone who is small and Stiff, is smarter than you, and better."

I turn and walk out of the room. I am not a delusional little girl. I am so much stronger.

Behind me, as I walk out, I hear someone slowly clapping. Then I hear someone else join in, and the room echoes with claps and cheering, and all the wisps of thought leave my head as I exit, replaced with the thundering roar of applause, and everything else is drowned out, replaced with my smile and the cheering.


I hear a knock on my apartment door, and going to the door, I open it to see Kyra.

"Hey." she says. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

She steps into the apartment, and glances around. I don't tell her it's Tobias's apartment.

"What are you doing here?" I hear the words slip out, and I regret them as soon as they leave my lips. Kyra doesn't bother noticing the sharpness behind my words though.

"Checking in on you. You know, cuz your scary boyfriend left, your other three Dauntless friends are still at the Pit, and Tori is in the infirmary with Georgie." she says, shrugging. She stops, thinking. "Who else do you hang out with?"

I shrug. It didn't really occur in my head what other friends I had. Uriah, Marlene, Lynn, always included me, but they were their own group. Shauna and Zeke were always friendly - or Shauna was until she found out I was Divergent - but they were Tobias's friends. And then besides them, I had Christina, but our friendship was still shattered from the trauma that Will's death had carried. Cara was also getting kinder, but it was awkward, considering she was a part of the faction trying to kill everyone. Amar, Eris, and George were nice but I also didn't know they still existed until a couple days ago. Kyra was quick to talk and also didn't push for me to share everything, and was willing to sit with me in silence.

She glances around. "You got any coffee?"

I smile, despite my previous bitterness at being disturbed from my silence. "I'll go get it."

I return with a mug of steaming hot coffee, sugar packets, and two mugs and set it on the table, where Kyra was perched.

"Thanks." she says. "Nice show you put on back there, by the way." she pours out coffee from the teapot, before handing the cup to me. I take it black.

"What happened afterwards?" I wince, but Kyra grins, dumping two sugar packets into her coffee.

Kyra grins. "Well, first of all, Henric began screaming something about you being the devil and how delusional and demented you are. Tori was also laughing, Ava thought you were absolutely awesome, and Harrison grumbled something about prisoners' secrets being never ending. Then it took another twenty minutes for everyone to shut up, another thirty minutes for them to realize that you weren't lying about him being Divergent, and another ten for them to shove him back into his nasty cell. Now they don't know what to do. What about you?"

I shrug. I don't tell her how after leaving the Pit, I went to the training room, and started angrily throwing knives at the target. Or the way that I picked up a gun, and fired it continuously at another target. Thank God I hadn't been forced to shoot another person during the Erudite attack, because I may have lived the terror that I felt when I shot Will all over again. I used Henric's words to fuel me to fire harder at the target, and every time I hit it in the center. I don't tell her the way my hands shook every time I heard the bullet echo through the empty room, or the way I close my eyes and try to imagine Tobias with me, steadying my hands, steadying me, every time I heard the bullet click into the chamber. Or how I imagined Henric's face every time I threw a punch at the punching bags. A Stiff. Little girl. The words haunted and taunted me for hours before I left the room, exhausted and no fight left in me.

"Nothing much." I say, and I pick up my cup of coffee. "Nothing at all."


The words from Kyra echo my head as I pace throughout the hallways. Now they don't know what to do.

They had no idea had to move forward. But I do, as a plan suddenly strikes me. Oh my God, it has been sitting in front of us, all this time. We are so stupid. I laugh out loud as pieces start connecting in my mind.

I stride towards the direction of the leader offices and I knock on Tori's door, knowing she is the only one probably willing to talk to me after my incident with Henric.

"Come in." I hear Tori call from inside. I open the door to see Tori signing some documents, Harrison and Ava also with her.

I stop.

Harrison looks up and his eyebrows shoot up his forehead in surprise. "What's up, Tris?"

I shift. "I know what to do with Henric." I say. Tori and Ava's heads quickly rise up and their eyes stare at me.

"He's Divergent, Tris." Tori says. "We can't do anything about it."

"Yes we can." I retort.

"How?" Ava interjects. "We aren't Erudite; we can't develop a serum all by ourselves, much less a serum that can counteract Divergence, if that's even possible."

"We can." I say. "With the help of a Erudite."

Harrison and Tori exchange a look. "What do you mean?" Tori asks. "Cara's the only Erudite on our side, and she's with-"

"I know." I say, interrupting him. "SHe's not the only Erudite though."

Tori stares at me. I can see it in her eyes that she knows what I mean. Behind her, Harrison and Ava exchange confused looks.

"What do you-"

"She means her brother." Tori says, her eyes not moving off my face. "Don't you." There is no question in her voice. I nod.

"Caleb would be willing," I say. "He's my brother."

Harrison raises his eyebrow. "You think that he would be willing, just because he's your brother? Don't you understand the meaning behind the term Max oh so loved to enforce, faction before blood?"

I stare at him. "I have no care for that term at all. Caleb would be willing. Please. I can go to Erudite and talk to him."

Ava smiles sadly at me, but Harrison barks out a short laugh. "There is no damn way Erudite would just let you walk in like that. Plus, you don't even have any proof that he can develop a Divergent proof serum. Divergent literally means that they are resistant to every type of serum out there."

Tori glares at him. "She has a point, Harry." she directs her look towards me. "Your brother, isn't trustworthy though. It would be better for you to direct your focus on your defense group, that we will be sending out in case something goes wrong."

I feel my fists clenching. "Don't you want answers?" I ask. "Don't you want to end this whole thing? I'm telling you, Caleb can make the serum."

Harrison shakes his head sadly. "I'm sorry Tris. Leave that stuff up to us. Go figure out your group and take care of that. We'll take care of this."

Tori's eyes lock with mine, pleading with me to agree. But I don't answer, and instead I leave the room, slamming the door behind me.

I can drop it for now, but something else hits me.

The only reason they would need a mission group is if they think that something is going to go awfully wrong on Tobias's team. Either someone getting injured, or something worse.