BQ: are you guys okay with the third person POV?

Q: Who watches 'Heroes'? I started it on the weekend, and I love it!

Thank you all for your comments on the series, I love reading what you guys have to say!

And thanks for being patient, I know this chapter took a while to get out!

Xoxo

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*+Lucinda Whyte+*

Everything is going as planned.

Her nature has resulted in Subject A6 telling Subject A5 about her time spent at the WICKED headquarter. I did not think this course of action in terms of the Variables was necessary, but AD Janson was very persistent.

Subject A5 will break, but not by the methods in which Subject A6 was informed. She was told she would have to do it.

That is partially true, but what Janson has in mind is a little more inhumane.

His idea, is that, if we send her back physically broken, on top of her already being mentally broken, Subject A5 may begin to lose hope, along with the other Subjects.

They want to see who can be resilient, and make it through. They want to see how their brains react to seeing one of their weakest members at their lowest.

'Hurting the weakest may be the key to breaking the strongest', Janson had said.

I felt the urge to go against what he had said, but I knew that would only get me removed from that section of our studies. I need to watch over them.

My daughter and son are all I have left. I can't lose them like I lost their father.

I just hope that the Chancellor will stop him.

Putting these children through the Trials is one thing, causing them direct physical pain is a whole other ballgame.

*+*+*+*+*

Lori and Janson stand there, staring each other down.

What I would give to crush his shuck face, she thinks to herself.

She can barely think straight, as her anger towards this man and what he stands for, runs thick through her veins.

With a small smirk, Janson breaks contact.
"Sorry to ruin your little game, but we must be going. So much to do, so little time."

He begins to walk, and the security guards follow, dragging Lori along with them.

They finally stop at a door, which is wide open. One peek inside, and she feels like she is having her stomach ripped straight out of her body.

The white room. It looked exactly like this.

Panic is a monstrosity. It burns inside our very hearts, and eats away at our minds, until we're left a mess in the corner.

That's how Lori felt when she set her eyes upon the pristinely disgusting room.

"No. No, you're not doing this to me again. Please, I did as I was told, I stayed away from him."

Jansen shook his head, "Unfortunately, any actions we take have to be run by our Chancellor. Please take a seat, whilst you wait for her."

With a swift flick of his wrist, the guards nod, before pushing her into the room.
Slamming the door shut behind her.

Lori runs to the door, slamming her fists into it over and over again.

It takes a while for her to give in, sliding down the door's cool, barely even dented surface. She shakily turns her hands over, palms down to assess the damage.

The skin on the knuckles had broke upon impact, bleeding lightly. Surrounding her knuckles, was a lavender smudge, which she knew would only get darker as the day went on.

Lori drops her hands into her lap, laying her head against the door, as she shuts her eyes.

How did we end up here? How could anyone deserve what they're putting us through?

A light rap on the door makes Lori leap up from her spot, so that the door wouldn't hit her.
It slowly opens, revealing the woman she despises.

Her mother.

Lucinda walks straight up to her, grabbing a hold of her daughter's hands.
"You really need to be more careful. Can't have you breaking anything."

As the woman dressed in white begins to wrap gauze around Lori's knuckles, weaving between her fingers, Lori looks up.

"No, not at all. The only thing you want broken is a person."

Lucinda freezes, before quickly knotting the gauze, and returning her daughter's glance.
"I can assure you, I had no part in making that decision."

"Because that makes you going along with it so much better?" Lori scoffs.

She shakes her head, "Of course not. I just want you to understand."

"You want me to understand? Then save me. Get me out of here."

Lucinda bites her lip. "I wish I could, my darling, but that would risk putting you in even more danger. You're too important for them not to notice missing."

"You owe me! After everything you have helped them 'accomplish'," she gags on the bitter tasting word. "After what you have done to my friends and me, you owe me."

The woman's face looks mournful, as her face shows the conflicted emotions flowing through her thoughts. All of a sudden she pulls Lori into a tight embrace.

When the young girl begins to try to pull away, the older woman places her hand of her head.
"Listen to me," she whispers. Lori immediately stops fighting, eyes searching the room.

In the corner behind the door, a camera sits snugly, its watchful gazes focusing down upon them.

"You need to trust your friends. And A5. He speaks the truth. Everything he's saying happened, did happen."
Lori feels her heart got at one thousand beats per minute.

"Wait, there's more."
The shift in tone gave Lori reason to be cautious. Her next words were ones Lori wasn't going to want to hear.

"The boy, A5, you need to stay away from him. Worse things are headed for your friends, and I don't need you caught in the crossfire. I don't want you ending up hurt in the end."

How is staying away from Newt going to keep me safe? Lori wonders to herself. If he wanted me dead, he could've stopped saving me.

"I know this doesn't make sense, but that is all I can tell you. For both our safeties. You may be a priority, but they won't hesitate eliminating a threat."

Her mother finally lets go, patting down her white lab coat, before giving a curt nod and walking out the door.

She didn't even give me the chance to thank her.

But Lori knew deep down, that she didn't have an appreciation to give. Not a sincere one at least.

At last, the infamous Ava Paige walks in, tapping the one sided glass with her nail.

Not a moment later, a whirring sound reverberates within the ground, before the centre begins to separate. After it finishes opening, a white table begins to rise out of the ground, seats built in.

"Please," the Chancellor smiles tightly, gesturing towards the seat on the other side of the paper white table.
"How are you feeling?"

Lori felt her breathing speed up, frustration building in her lungs. "Cut the crap, 'Chancellor'. Why am I here? What are we gonna try this time? Bit more electrocution, or maybe something a little more fun? Hm?"

The Chancellor laughs, leafing through the Manila folder she holds in her hands.

"Assistant Director Janson, is a little too excitable. My dear, what we said during your last visit, was only scare tactics. We can't risk disturbing your natural brain waves with our certain . . . methods, anymore. We just want to talk. I promise."

Lori isn't sure whether she wants to listen, but she can't risk passing up the chance for information. She gives a curt nod, directing the woman to continue.

"How are you and your group handling the Scorch? Be truthful, please."

"Why should I? You never tell us the truth." Lori crosses her arms across her chest, leaning back into her chair.

"If you expect me to give you anything in return while you're here, you'll tell me exactly what I need to know."

The woman's face is pulled tight, her bones prominent through her skin. The steely, cool color her eyes glow is unsettling in many ways.

But once again, WICKED has caught her at a crossroads. She can't be selfish.

Lori sighs, tired with it all.
"So far, I think they're handling it pretty well. There have been a few casualties, others injured. Other than that, they're still headed towards your little Safe Haven."

"What about A2, Thomas, is his progress reasonable?"

Lori feels her heart sink, remembering how much pain Thomas was in when she had sat by his side.
"He got shot."

"Yes, that was an . . . interesting turn of events." Ava rolls hers shoulders back, sitting up straighter. "We never planned for such weaponry to cross your path."

"Well it did!" Lori snaps.

"He's going to be fine, dear. Now, what about the rest of your group?"

"They're all fine," she replies bitterly. "We're going to get there. I know we will. Now that I've given you your answers, I expect some in return."

Ava Paige lays the folder down with a soft smile, "Of course."

The strawberry blonde hadn't expected it to be so easy. She wasn't even sure what to say.
She takes a moment to consider an appropriate question, which may benefit her.

But there was only one thing she wanted to know.

"At the end, when this is all over, do you promise you'll give us the cure?"

The Chancellor smiles, as if she knew Lori would ask that question.
"When you have completed the Trials, whoever is able bodied, shall receive the cure we're creating."

"Creating? I thought you shuckfaces already made it. The Bliss?"

"Alas, that only subsides the effects. What we're creating, will kill the virus once and for all. It just depends on you children completing the Trials."

They sat looking at each other, and Lori wasn't sure if she could bring herself to ask any more questions.

The fate of the world rests on whether we make it out alive.

"It was lovely to catch up with you, dear, but I must be going. You and Thomas will be dropped back with the others once they're done with him."

Before Lori can even ask what they're doing to him, the door is shut once more, keeping out the world.

/\/\/\/\/\

+*Gladers*+

It has been nearly half an hour, and they still sit in the sand, waiting for Lori and Thomas.

Waiting for a miracle.

What good would it do those shanks to take them? A certain British boy wonders to himself.

Newt runs a hand through his dusty blonde hair, pulling slightly at the roots.

The rest of the boys sit around, taking small sips of the precious water.
Jorge and Brenda are beside the fire, and Minho and Clara sit side by side on a dune.

And Thomas and Lori are nowhere to be seen.

Newt begins to dig through his pockets, searching for something that he knows will relight his hope

Finally, his fingers latch around a crinkled, yet folded, piece of paper.

Lori's note.

Newt reads and rereads, like he used to on the nights without her.
He's pretty sure he has it memorized by now.

'They've got something planned for me, and I'm scared.' That was the first line of her note.
I was supposed to be the one to protect her, and I couldn't even do that, he aims spitefully towards himself.

'I need to see you again' she had wrote. That broke Newt's heart, remembering that when they had seen each other again, she wasn't very happy about it.

But that's not her fault. It's theirs. WICKED. This is all their fault.

/\/\/\/\/\

+*Back to Lori*+

The door of Lori's cell opens automatically with a click, opening out into the dark hallway. Hesitantly, Lori stands up, creeping out into the hall, before disappearing into the darkness.

Making her way down the hall, she listens out to make sure that she isn't being tailed.

They wouldn't let me escape this easy. So why did the door open?

Just trying to attempt to think about what WICKED is planning gives Lori a headache. These people are nuts, there's no way of knowing what they're planning.

Lori reaches a door which has a plastic panel beside it, with a slip of paper beneath it. It reads, Subject A2.

Thomas?

Cautiously, Lori turns the handle, and opens the door. The room is bright and white, like the rest of the rooms she had entered whilst at WICKED.

The room is filled with machines and such, their whirring sounds breaking the silence. And in the center of all the machines, is a bed, which contains a the boy with dark hair and pale skin.

Lori rushes to his side, shaking him, worried that he might have died from an infection from the bullet wound. "Thomas? Please don't be dead!"

The boy groaned, and Lori let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.
"You're okay," she mutters under her breath.

His eyes open, revealing his chestnut brown eyes. He attempts to sit up, but fails miserably as he falls back in pain. "Lori? What are you doing here?"

"Hi to you too, Tommy," she sneers. She feels bad for snapping at him, but she was tired, frustrated, and had only now found out that he's still alive.

He runs a hand through his hair awkwardly, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," she sighs. "Sorry."

He nods, and Lori takes a seat beside him on the hospital bed.
"So, why are you here?"

Lori shrugs, "Not entirely sure. They picked me up when they took you."

"Well, I'm glad someone's here with me, at least. What are these shuckfaces planning?"

"The million dollar question," she smirks. "I just hope the others will still be alive when we get back to them."

Thomas' face grows dark and his eyes turn downwards.

"What's up, Tommy Boy?"

He gives her a weak smile at her effort to cheer him up.
"I just feel like, if I don't do something, none of us are going to make it out alive."

"Thomas," Lori begins sternly, "You need to stop putting so much pressure on your own shoulders. The only way we're going to get out of this mess, is if we all work together. You don't need to save us all."

"But I do, Lori. You saw that thing in the city; I'm the real leader, or whatever. How else can that be interpreted. The thing is, I don't know if I can or not. And that damn tattoo isn't bringing me any optimism."

Lori was about to argue, when she realized, that she has never actually seen Thomas' tattoo from WICKED. "Thomas, can I see it? Your tattoo?"

Hesitantly, Thomas nods, turning around slowly so that Lori can reach his neck. She carefully pulls his shirt down, unveiling the jet black ink.

Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A2. To Be Killed By Group B.

"Oh, Tommy," Lori gasps under her breath.

Thomas drops his head into his hands, looked completely defeated.

Lori knows that he feels he can't take the responsibility. But she knows he can. She believes he can save them all. Again.
"Thomas, you can't give up that easily. If you're the leader, then be the leader. You can do it. You got everyone out of the Maze, you-"

"No, I didn't," Thomas hisses as he whips his head around to look the girl in the eyes. "Gladers died in the Maze. Chuck died before we could get out. You nearly died for God's sake, Lori!"

Lori sits on the bed, eyes wide, returning the stare she is receiving from Thomas. "Thomas, you weren't the only one who was friends with Chuck! We all were, so don't you dare act like that only affected you. I didn't even get to say good bye to him!"

The boy with the dark hair's eyes soften, and he sets a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry, I am. But, I can't do this. What if more of us die? You survived once, I don't think luck will be on our side again."

"Say that one more time, and I swear to God, I'll be there before WICKED can lay a hand on you. This isn't about luck, Tommy. This whole thing is a game to them. If I'm supposed to survive, I'll survive. If not, I won't."

Thomas tries to look away. Lori sighs, resting a hand on each side of his face, and turning him to look at her. "You need to stop worrying, and be the leader I know you can be."

They sit in silence, shock cloaking Thomas' face.
"Lori," he stutters. "I- I don't, I-"

But he stops talking.