ACT III  SCENE LXV
WASPS

     CASSANDRA BLINKED a few times as she stared at her friend. She could have sworn that she'd heard Teresa wrongly—there was absolutely no way that the stranger in front of them was related in any way to that blonde monster.

"Hi, I'm Aislin," the girl introduced herself, "and we should go before someone notices us."

"What the hell is going on?" Cassandra hissed to Teresa. "I thought Clark's daughter died."

"That's what I like people to think," Aislin said. "Especially my mother."

"We'll explain everything as we go, okay?" Teresa looked at them pleadingly. "We really shouldn't be standing out in the open like this. There are cameras everywhere."

"I think that's actually a good idea," Brenda voiced.

"Come on, you don't seriously need me to point out how ridiculous this sounds?" Minho gestured. "No way in hell am I going anywhere with anyone who's related to that slinthead back in WICKED."

Aislin shushed him. "Don't you know that saying their name out loud summons them? Come on, let's go. We're wasting time arguing here."

"Wait," Thomas said. "At least tell us where you're bringing us to."

"Where else?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "I'm bringing you to Hans."

"I said we'll explain everything as we go," Teresa repeated with a hint of frustration in her voice. "She's on our side, believe me. You guys need to stop being so suspicious about every single thing."

"Can you blame us?" Minho retorted.

"For once I agree with Teresa," Thomas muttered. "We can't try to outguess WICKED anymore. Sometimes they do things just to make me do the opposite of what they think I think they think I want to do."

Everyone turned to look at him with brows furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

He sighed. "I mean fine, we'll go with her."

Minho rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Okay, but I expect a full and thorough explanation," Cassandra said, turning pointedly to the girl.

"Naturally," Aislin responded with an upbeat tone. "It's a little too long of a journey to spend in awkward and tense silence anyway."

"I actually kind of like her," Helenus commented but they ignored him.

"Too bad that it's not a long explanation," Teresa said as they started to walk down the mall strip, following the overhanging signs that led to an exit. "Aislin came to me before I was sent into the Scorch. She said that she was going to break out of the facility and that she'd meet me in Denver. I thought she was crazy but when we were brought back in again, she sent me a message over the Netblock."

"I came to Denver because of the Right-Arm," Aislin informed.

"What's that?" Thomas asked.

"There are rumours about them all over the place," Jorge answered. "It's supposed to be an underground group bent on taking down WICKED."

"How'd you break out of the facility?" Cassandra pressed.

"I injected myself with a weak strain of the Flare," Aislin told them. "The stuff they put in the Griever's sting."

"Wait, what?" Thomas blanched and they could all see his mind reeling with the information.

Cassandra felt the same as she turned to look at each of them in turn. "A weak strain of the Flare?" she repeated in astonishment.

"Yeah." Aislin shrugged casually. "It feels like shit, has similar symptoms and stuff. So everyone thought I caught the Flare and kicked me out of the facility. I had a partner in crime who helped administer the serum to me when we were safely out. Then we made it here."

"Who was your partner?" Brenda asked.

"Just this guy I met who got in contact with a Right-Arm mole," she said. "Think his name was Galileo. Well, I only remembered the name on his tag; could've been something else. Never had the chance to ask."

Cassandra blinked and felt that the name seemed familiar but she had no recollection of having ever known a Galileo before. It just had a certain ring that she felt she ought to know. They continued down the strip at a brisk pace, grabbing a quick meal before making their way to a large parking lot. Rows upon rows of cars were parked in neat lines across the cement field and Aislin guided them towards a black van all the way on the other side of the lot.

The ride through the city was interesting and bumpy. Cassandra and the boys kept staring out of the windows at the sights before them. The mall wasn't the only largest building in the area but there were towering skyscrapers sandwiched between various other buildings that sold a multitude of things—food, clothes, building supplies and everything you could think of. The entire city was awash with colour from all the holographic advertising and teeming with people. But everyone was keeping their distance from each other and it was obvious that they were all afraid.

On every street corner, there was some kind of armed security patrolling every inch of the city. They wore red shirts and gas masks while holding a viral testing device which made them stand out from the crowd. Then Cassandra saw the posters with a blonde woman with her hair pulled tightly back. She stared at the picture each time the van came across it and there was a spark of familiarity. Cassandra knew her from somewhere. Chancellor Paige.

Aislin drove them out of the main city centre and the further outside the barrier wall they went, the dirtier the streets became. The buildings started to look more worn and abandoned, trash was strewn everywhere and most of the windows seemed to be broken into. The van eventually turned into an alley and Aislin parked it at the back of an apartment where it couldn't be seen from the street.

"C'mon," the girl said as she got out of the car. They followed as she led them up the staircase and to the door of an apartment that presumably belonged to Hans. She knocked urgently on the threadbare door then a woman answered.

"It's you," she said simply. "Come in. Quickly."

The door was pulled open wider and they shuffled inside the cramped residence. A grey-haired man with a wide jaw was sitting at a table and beside him was a face that they never thought they'd see again.

"Gally?" Thomas blurted out in shock. "How the—"

The boy at the table snickered loudly when he caught sight of them. There were white scars over his face, his right eye was swollen and his nose was now crooked. Other than that, he still seemed like the same Gally that they knew back from the Glade. Cassandra walked over to sit at the table as she stared at Gally in awe.

"What the shuck happened?" she asked.

Gally grinned at her just as Aislin approached them. She nodded towards the old man sitting next to Gally. "Hans. These are the people I was telling you about."

Hans grunted out in response. "Bunch of ill behaved children."

Cassandra ignored him as she was still focused on Gally. She wanted to know everything.

Aislin glanced at her watch then gestured for the others to sit as well. "I'm sure you all want to know what's happening."

"That's an understatement," Minho muttered.

"Hey, Minho," Gally spoke for the first time. "You were real nice to me in our last Gathering. Thanks for that."

Minho looked at him with a completely deadpan expression. "I'd had a bad day."

"Yeah, well. Let bygones be bygones, right?" He snickered again.

"Let's all play nice, okay?" Aislin warned, eyeing each of them seriously.

"I'm sorry about what I did, Gally," Thomas said.

Gally raised an eyebrow. "You're sorry? I killed Chuck. He'd dead. Because of me."

"It wasn't your fault," Brenda told him softly.

"That's a bunch of klunk," Gally responded stiffly. "If I had any kind of guts, I could've stopped them from controlling me. But I let them do it to me 'cause I thought I'd be killing Thomas, not Chuck. Not in a million years would I have let myself murder that poor kid."

"How bloody generous of you," Newt quipped.

"You wanted me dead?" Thomas asked with surprise.

Gally scoffed. "Don't get all whiny on me. I hated you more than I'd ever hated anybody else in my life. But what happened in the past doesn't matter one lick anymore. We need to talk about the future. About the end of the world."

Cassandra raised a sceptical eyebrow at that. "What do you mean by that?"

"Yeah, you two have a lot of explaining to do," Jorge said, nodding his chin at both Gally and Aislin.

"We're members of a group called the Right Arm," Aislin started. "Nice bunch, spies in every city and WICKED compound you can think of. Our whole mission is to bring down WICKED—to use their money and influence for things that actually matter. But we don't have the resources to disrupt an organisation that big and powerful. We're still missing some information."

"They got to me in the main complex at WICKED," Gally supplied. "Explained how if I faked going crazy, I'd be sent away. I would've done anything to get out of that place. Anyway, the Right Arm wanted an insider who knew about how the building functions, the security systems, that kind of klunk. So they attacked my escort car and took me. Brought me here and Aislin followed soon after. Then we got an anonymous message over the Netblock. I assumed it was you." He nodded towards Teresa.

"Yes," she replied. "I told Aislin that we were heading for Denver, to find the Right Arm. The fact that she knew Hans was here and where to find him was even better. He's the only one that can remove the device in our brains that controls us."

"That's not all you need to know though," Aislin continued. "The Flare is already running rampant throughout this whole city and the government bigwigs are all sick. There's all sorts of corruption happening behind the scenes to hide the virus with the Bliss. I assume you already know what it does." She looked pointedly at Newt. "It's the same all over the world. If it hasn't happened yet, it's going to happen soon. The cities are crumbling."

"That's not the only problem too," Teresa said.

"Great, as if the first wasn't bad enough," Minho interjected.

"The Immunes are disappearing too," she went on. "WICKED is using bounty hunters to gather them up to sell to WICKED so they can continue the Trials. Start all over if they have to. The population of the Immunes have been halved in the last six months, and they're disappearing without a trace."

"It's causing a lot of headaches," Gally said. "The cities need them more than people even realise."

"Which brings us back here." Aislin turned to Hans. "We need your help."

"Well, do I even have a choice at this point?" The old man shrugged.

"We all have a choice in this," she told him.

"Give me five minutes to prep," he said before standing up.

"What about him though?" Helenus spoke up then, looking at Newt in the corner. The effect of the Bliss seemed to be wearing off and he was much more alert than he had been a few minutes ago.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" Newt snapped back. And apparently, much more moody.

"We still have more Bliss," Jorge stated.

"Wait, I have an idea," Brenda told them. "But...some of you may not like it."

"What?" Cassandra asked eagerly.

Brenda turned to her thoughtfully. "He's still in the early stages of the Flare so I think it might work. You could give him the device in your brain instead. It's a new prototype and it's been shown to suppress the spread of the virus."

"Really?" Cassandra looked between her and Newt excitedly. "It can help him?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it." Brenda nodded. "It's not a real cure, but it helps if you get a treatment early. That's what the scientists were talking about."

"Then let's do—"

"I don't bloody appreciate you talking about me as if I'm not even here," Newt said testily. "Especially when it has to do with messing with my shuck brain."

Cassandra turned to him. "Newt, it's going to help you."

"Did you ask whether I wanted your help?" he retorted and she felt a stab of hurt. "What's it going to mean for you, Cass? The Rat Man said himself that you're not completely immune. And I don't even fancy living on this piece-of-klunk planet either."

She felt a prick of anger. "I don't give a shuck for your defeatist attitude, Newt. If our positions were turned, are you saying you wouldn't do the same thing too?" She paused to wait for his reply but he merely stared back at her speechlessly. "Yeah, I thought so. If you getting my chip means that one my best friends in the entire world is going to be fine, then I'm doing it and you can't stop me. I'll even sedate you myself and tie you up so you can't fight back."

"And what if it doesn't work?" Newt raised his voice heatedly. "Lotta good that'll do for either of us. What if you start getting the buggin' Flare without it?"

"I've been living with this condition for all my life," she said. "I have time. You don't."

"It doesn't matter," he said stubbornly. "I've given up on living a long time ago so don't go tearing yourself up over it."

"We haven't given up on you, Newt." They turned to look at Thomas. "Can't you see that we'd try to do everything we can to help you? Even if you don't want to help yourself."

"Yeah, that's what it means to be friends, klunkhead," Minho told him. "If you can't beat enough sense into your head yourself, we'll do it for you."

"We're talking about your shucking girlfriend here." Newt gestured to Cassandra. "You're not worried about what it'll mean for her for giving it up?"

"Cassie's gonna be immune," he said confidently. "Don't you worry about a shuck thing."

"You don't know that!" Newt yelled.

"But what I do know is that it can save you," Cassandra said. "And that's the most important thing right now."

Newt shook his head in disdain. "You guys are crazy and I'm the one with the buggin' Flare."

"It's going to work, Newt," Teresa told him. "I know it will. Besides...Cassandra has years to go before the virus even spreads across her whole brain. If it even does at all."

Cassandra's tone grew even more serious than ever. "Newt. You're my best friend. I can't lose you too."

He stared back at herand the hard edges around his face softened slightly. His shoulders visiblysagged and he sighed. "Fine."

author's note: hello! i'm back with a couple of chapters! really wanna finish this fic before i move on. sorry there's no more fun media! ): they take a while to put together and well, i just really wanna finish this story soon. thank you so much for reading, especially if you've stuck around since the beginning <3