THE GIRL WAS chained to a radiator in the run-down and empty room. In her hook-sitting position, she looked out the dirtied windows that still allowed some sunlight to enter.

The door opened and two Fireflies came in. They were followed by their medic and another young soldier of theirs.

The teenager rolled her eyes and got up. Before the female could speak, the girl kicked the empty tray to her feet. Y/N, who was standing beside the medic, simply nodded.

"Count slowly and clearly from one to ten." The medic ordered.

"I've counted up to a-fucking-thousand at this point." She shot back.

"Just do it."

"OneTwoThreeFour—"

"Slowly and clearly."

She sighed. "One. Two. Three..."

The medic started writing on her clipboard. The girl continued to count.

"Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight." She put up her middle finger. "Fuck. You."

The medic let out an exasperated exhale. Y/N looked over at his colleague.

"She got a mouth on her. Let me handle this, Carmen, before you get an aneurysm."

She was more than happy to do so, handing Y/N the clipboard and walking out. The young man looked at the two other Fireflies by the door.

"I'll be fine in here. Don't need an audience."

They glanced at each other and walked out of the room as well. Y/N turned back around and faced the teenager, who still had the same scowl.

"Let's continue." He began as he looked at the clipboard.

"Why'd you kick them out?" She suddenly asked.

"Like I said, don't like the audience."

"You don't like the audience?"

He shrugged. "And I guess I could tell you were starting to hate Carmen."

"Oh, no. She's wonderful." The teenager replied sarcastically.

"The way I see it, we can build some rapport for now until you decide to hate me."

"I guess that's smart."

Y/N nodded and looked back down that the clipboard. She spoke again.

"I thought you were some creep trying to be alone with a kid."

The young man paused for a moment, stopping his writing after hearing her statement. The girl noticed his reaction.

"That—that ever happen to you?" He suddenly asked and looked at her.

She shook her head. "No. I'm just saying."

Y/N kept staring until he looked back down at the clipboard. He let out a quiet exhale.

"Good. Those types of folk are the worst of the worst in this world...even despite being full of infected."

He had said that so seriously that she wondered why her remark made him react that way. She brushed it off once Y/N kept the procedure going.

"Hold out your hand."

She did as told. Y/N jotted it down. He looked at her name on the paper and was told to get confirmation.

"State your name."

"Veronica. Same as yesterday...and the day before, and the day before that."

Y/N arched a brow. "How long you've been here?"

"Wouldn't you know that already?" She replied.

"I'm not really kept in the loop if I had to be honest. Was just told to come here this morning."

She decided to answer. "Three days."

Y/N nodded. He wondered why Marlene and the Fireflies had this little girl with them. Based on the questions he had to ask her, he had an inkling...but brushed it off.

"Well, let's hope this all gets done quickly." He said, then looked at the empty tray by his feet. "You want any—?"

"I'm not hungry." She interjected.

"Okay." Y/N replied and started walking out.

"People are gonna come looking for me." She exclaimed. "People from FEDRA."

"Really?" Y/N responded, not really caring.

"So you better let me go or you motherfuckers are gonna pay!"

The young man opened the door and looked back at the teenager.

"I'll make sure to relay the message."

He shut the door, leaving the exasperated fourteen-year-old in the room. She kept shouting.

"I'm not supposed to be here!"

She sat back down on the floor, looking at the graffiti on the wall. It was a part of the Fireflies' slogan.

When you're lost in the darkness

Y/N was in another room with a few other Fireflies, including Kim, who was Marlene's Lieutenant. They were looking over a map of the QZ.

Their leader came in, immediately speaking to them afterward.

"The team in place at Southeast 3?"

Y/N glanced at Kim before responding to Marlene. "Got held back."

"Why?" She replied as she took off her coat.

"I have some questions." Kim said.

"Hmm...okay."

"We've been blowing up meaningless FEDRA targets spread out all over the QZ, for two weeks. We've already lost two units and we're—" Kim stopped for a second. "What's the point of this?"

Marlene was at a table checking her gun. She turned around and faced Kim.

"Is that your question?" She asked.

"That's one of them."

"My answer is to follow fucking orders."

"And why do you have some random girl locked in a room? And the guards won't tell me shit."

Y/N chimed in. "Been on my mind too. I've heard she's been here the last few days."

"Our people are asking what's going on, and I don't know what to tell them." Kim added.

"Tell them to follow fuckin' orders." Marlene repeated and shot back. She looked at the two other Fireflies. "You two, go to Southeast 3. Now."

The two left, leaving Kim and Y/N with Marlene. The leader spoke to them.

"We are in a war against a military dictatorship to restore democracy and freedom. Does that sound about right?"

"Yes." Kim answered.

"That's the goal." Y/N replied.

"And are we winning? Are we beating FEDRA here? Are the Fireflies beating FEDRA anywhere?"

"Rebellion takes time." Kim said.

"We've been fighting since Miller was a fucking toddler and we've gotten nowhere. We're not a rebellion." Marlene shot back, then pointed at the Firefly graffiti on the wall. "Just spray paint."

Kim and Y/N stood quiet. Marlene stepped up the table and continued.

"We're not hitting FEDRA all over the QZ." She started pointing at the map. "We hit 'em here, here, here, here. Where are we right now?"

Kim pointed at their location on the map. Like Marlene told Y/N in the morning, they planned on scattering FEDRA to give them a chance to escape the Boston QZ tonight.

"We're quitting?" Kim asked.

"No." Y/N chose to answer. "Just gotta regroup at the State House."

"Where we'll then take that random girl locked in that room west." Marlene added, then took out a piece of paper from her pocket, and handed it to Kim. "From our guy in the radio tower in Salem."

The lieutenant unfolded the paper and started to read it. Y/N noticed her shocked reaction.

"Is this real?"

Marlene nodded. "I believe it is."

Kim gave the curious young man the paper next. He read what was in it, and he was also taken aback.

Girl likely has CBI immunity. Cure a possibility after further testing.

"Shit..." Y/N muttered.

"Let's keep this quiet." Marlene said, deciding to trust the Private along with her Lieutenant.

He handed her the note back. Kim was more than willing to continue the mission and never doubt Marlene again.

"Whatever you need. Whatever it takes."

Y/N also agreed. He thought of the possibility of finally ending the hell the world was in. The goal of the Fireflies was to bring back freedom and develop a cure...and they were now getting that chance.

To bring back the world that Y/N was born in, the world he and his family were once living, the world he'd love to have Jane experience...and maybe even experience it with her...it was a real possibility now.

"We'll get her where she needs to go." Y/N told their leader. "Promise."

Y/N entered the room the girl was in. Marlene had just spoken to her a while ago and the young man wanted to check on her too.

Upon entering, he noticed that she was now out of her chain. She also had her backpack with her and was sitting against the wall, playing with a switchblade.

"Whoa." He feigned being scared and put his hands up. "Don't stick me with that."

She had her eyes on the blade she kept retracting and activating. "Depends on if you ask me those same shitty questions again."

"Nah. We're done with that."

Y/N went up and took a small plastic pouch out of his pocket. He showed it to her.

"You hungry now?"

The teenager looked up at him and eyed the object in his hand.

"What is that?" She asked.

He shook it. "Trail mix."

"What the hell is trail mix?"

"Well...a combination of nuts, dried fruit, granola." He explained. "Yeah, I asked myself the same thing growing up."

Y/N tossed it to the girl and it landed on her lap. She put her knife down and eyed the pouch for a second before taking it.

"It's fresh." The young man added. "I got a guy that grows and dries the fruit and such."

She kept looking at the snack and then at Y/N. He noticed her reluctance to accept the food.

"If you don't want it I'll just take it. I'm kinda hungry my—"

The teenager immediately opened it and started eating some of the mix. Y/N slightly chuckled and put his hands in his pockets.

"Enjoy, then."

Y/N walked over to the window to look out of it, checking to see if any FEDRA was around. The girl suddenly spoke.

"Why are you like that?"

He turned to her. "Hm?"

"Acting all nice. At least nicer than most of these assholes here."

The young man looked at her for a moment, then looked down. He shrugged.

"World got enough assholes as it is."

She took in his response. Y/N nodded and continued looking out of the window.

"It's actually Ellie." The girl said. "My name's not Veronica."

Y/N turned to her again after her statement. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Anyone else know?" He asked.

"Just Marlene, but she already knew."

The young man nodded. Since Marlene already knew her true name, then that meant Ellie herself decided to tell him.

"Y/N." He said his name too. "And I guess...thanks for telling me yours."

There was a brief quiet in the room. Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hall and Y/N looked toward the open door. He saw a few men walk by, as well as one who eyed him and then Ellie. He kept walking, and then Robert passed by.

"Must be time." Y/N muttered, knowing they finally arrived with the car battery.

"Time for what?" Ellie asked.

"Need to talk with these guys and then we'll move out. Just stay here."

Y/N walked out of the room and closed the door. He joined Marlene, Kim, and a few other Fireflies at the end of the hallway, who was in front of Robert's crew. They had begun the negotiations and one of the Fireflies was looking at the battery.

"Let me see the payment." Robert demanded.

"What was it you said?" Marlene asked.

"100."

She was taken aback. "You said 50."

"You know the lengths I went through to get this fuckin' thing?"

"You said 50."

Robert chuckled. "I know your situation. You're just trying to high-tail it outta here. Not gonna be possible without the battery."

Marlene exhaled and looked at her people. None of them had the number of ration cards he wanted.

"What else can we give you?" Kim asked.

One man spoke. "I like those pendants on y'all. We can melt them down. Make something."

"I ain't accepting no scrap metal." Robert told him, then looked at the Fireflies. "Might have to have some of your guns."

"That'll leave us defenseless." Y/N shot back. "Battery won't be worth a damn if we got nothing to protect ourselves."

"What about that girl?" One man behind Robert spoke.

The Fireflies looked at him. He continued to speak.

"I saw her earlier. If you got nothing to bargain..."

Marlene scoffed. Y/N did as well, disgusted at the remark, and eyed Robert.

"You better tell your guy to watch it before I break his jaw." He said.

The man spoke again. "I'm just—"

"Just shut the fuck up." Robert told him, then looked back at the soldiers. "Now, if there's—"

"This battery's fucking shot." The Firefly checking the battery abruptly spoke.

"What?" Marlene asked.

"It's a dud. The components are fried beyond repair."

They all looked at Robert and his crew. The leader looked as if he had been caught red-handed, which he was.

"Trying to sell us a dead battery?" Y/N asked him.

"It ain't dead. Your guy don't know shit."

"You're the one who don't know shit." Kim retorted.

Marlene glared at him. "Get the fuck outta here."

"It fucking works!" Robert exclaimed.

"Fuck. Off." Marlene emphasized.

Y/N kicked the small dolly with the battery over to the crew. They all started walking away, but Robert started getting angry.

"Fuckin' Fireflies!"

He immediately pulled out his gun and shot one of them down. Y/N and his colleagues took out their guns and fired back. In the immediate shooting, two of Robert's men and a Firefly got killed.

It wasn't possible to get to cover in the narrow hallways. The firefight continued. Robert ended up shooting at Kim and the bullet took off a chunk of her ear.

"Argh!" She grunted. "Shit!"

Y/N shot at Robert and killed him with a bullet to the head. There were about three left, and they fired straight at Y/N. The young man bolted down the hallway and dove through a door.

He went into the room where Ellie was in. Y/N shut the door, standing back and panting as he held his pistol.

"What the fuck is happening?" Ellie asked.

"Deal went south." Y/N admitted and went toward the window, thinking of the possibility of an escape through it. "Keep away from the door."

Suddenly, the shooting outside stopped. They all looked toward the door, expecting a Firefly or one of Robert's men to barge in. Y/N was ready for it.

After a couple of minutes of being idle and watching, Y/N lowered his gun and faced the window again. He still felt like going into the hallway was risky and that a window escape would be safer.

"Gonna need to get out through here. FEDRA might've heard the shooting so—"

"I hear someone." He heard Ellie say.

Y/N was still at the window trying to open it. "Means they're still out there. Like I said, stay away from—"

He glanced back and saw Ellie at the door about to open it. She had her switchblade drawn and wanted to ambush whoever was walking down the hall outside the door.

Y/N immediately stepped away from the window and went for his gun in case they came in.

"What are you—"

Ellie flung open the door and bellowed as she tried to stab the man outside in the hall. He grabbed the teenager's arm and threw her against the wall.

"Fuck..." Ellie groaned on the floor.

The man aimed his revolver at the girl, processing the fact that it was indeed a young girl. As he thought, he heard a gun cock behind his head. It was Y/N.

"Don't fucking move."

He recognized the young man's voice. Slowly turning around, he met his eyes and Y/N was also surprised.

"Joel?" Y/N asked, his gun still at his father's head.

"Y/N?"

Marlene, who was injured and with a maimed Kim across the hall, also saw them. They had their weapons aimed at the older man.

"Joel?" She called out.

Joel looked at her. "Marlene?"

The Firefly leader gazed at Ellie on the ground. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Ellie tried getting her knife that was on the floor, but Joel stepped on it. She glared at him but Joel's stare was unwavering.

"Why don't you give the girl her knife back?" Y/N asked, still aiming at Joel.

"Just so she can stick me with it?" He shot back. "No can do."

"I wouldn't mind."

The teenager kept glaring at Joel. Marlene began calling out.

"Ellie...Ellie!"

She finally turned to Marlene and noticed that she was bleeding from her side.

"Shit—"

"It's okay. I'll be alright." Marlene stated. "And you can't be stupid like this."

Y/N heard footsteps coming down the hall to his left. He turned and aimed the gun at the person arriving at the scene. He was taken aback once again.

"Y/N?" The woman noticed him.

He kept her eyes on her, the woman that helped raise him since he was five years old. He hadn't seen her in a while since joining the Fireflies.

"Tess?" The young man replied and started slowly lowering his gun.

She looked ahead and saw Marlene. Tess spoke as she stepped forward.

"So this is who Robert screwed us over with? The Che Guevara of Boston? I mean, war must be goin' pretty shitty for you to be buying from scumbags like him."

"Yeah, it kinda has been." Marlene replied. "The merch was bad, and he obviously didn't take fuck off for an answer."

"Gimme my knife." Ellie demanded from the floor.

Joel ignored her. "What do you need a car battery for?"

Ellie reached for her knife beneath Joel's foot. The older man aimed his revolver at her.

"Don't."

The three remaining Fireflies members reacted by aiming their guns at Joel.

"Not at her." Marlene stated. "Point it at me."

Joel looked at them and then at Ellie, who had her hands up and panting. Y/N was behind him, aiming at his head yet again.

"Quit aiming your gun at a little girl, old man." He told him.

Joel huffed and aimed it back at Marlene, which in turn made them lower their weapons.

"To answer the question, I need it for a better reason than you do." Marlene told Joel. "No offense, but Tommy's just one man."

Joel was surprised to find out that Marlene knew about his goal to reconnect with Tommy after weeks of no communication with him.

"It's our business to know things." Marlene added.

"To know things." Joel butted. "You're the cause of it. You turned my own brother against me and you're feeding my son the same lies."

"Okay, Joel."

Y/N chimed in. "Better than dealing with yours."

Joel glanced at his son for a moment. Kim spoke up.

"The gunfire was loud. FEDRA's gonna be on the way."

"I know." Marlene said.

There was a moment of pause in the hallway. Ellie rubbed her shoulder, feeling the ache of being thrown into the wall earlier. Marlene spoke again.

"We were gonna move Ellie outta the zone tonight. But we won't make it anywhere like this. Not for a while anyway. So now I'm thinkin'...you're gonna do it."

Joel scoffed. He responded at the same time Ellie reacted.

"The hell we are."

"I'm not going with them!"

Kim turned to Marlene. "Let me take her."

"Tess..." Joel looked back. "We don't have time for this."

"Oh, you don't have time?" Marlene butted.

"Who is she?" Tess asked about Ellie.

"To you? She's cargo."

"We don't smuggle people. Sorry." Joel replied.

"I can do it." Kim kept saying.

"Kim, you don't have a fuckin' ear on your fuckin' head! Could you please?" Marlene scolded, which made Kim stop prying.

She continued. "There's a team of Fireflies waiting for her at the old State House. I know what's out there. We were going with an entire squadron for that very reason. But now I don't have a truck, I don't have a squadron, FEDRA's five minutes away. What I do have is you. And I know what you're both capable of. For better or worse."

Ellie glanced at both Tess and Joel before looking at Marlene. "What are they capable of?"

Y/N understood and did know. Still, like Marlene, he didn't answer.

"You get her there safely, and they'll give you what you need." Marlene kept speaking. "Not just a battery. The whole thing. Fueled-up truck, guns, supplies, all of it. I swear."

Joel looked at her, contemplating. Marlene kept reassuring him that she was going to fulfill her promise.

"I swear." She said again.

Joel looked back at Tess and gestured. Before walking up to talk to her, he slid the knife underneath his foot across the floor away from Ellie.

"Asshole!" Ellie exclaimed.

Joel and Tess went to the side and spoke amongst each other. Y/N holstered his gun and went up to Marlene and Kim.

"You sure about this?" He asked the leader.

"Not many choices at the moment."

"I know Kim's hurt, but I'm fine. I can—"

"No offense, but I'm not comfortable sending my second-year Private out there with the key to saving humanity by themselves."

He exhaled. "None taken."

"That's why...you're going with them." Marlene added.

Y/N arched a brow. "What?"

"She doesn't know or trust them, but she knows us and we have her trust...sorta. So having one of us with her could make it less uncomfortable. And...I want you to keep an eye on the smuggler."

He knew she was talking about Joel. "Speaking of, don't you think me rolling with him would make things...uncomfortable?"

Marlene grunted as she held her bleeding side. She needed to get treated soon along with Kim's injury.

"Uncomfortable for you? Sure." She replied. "But that won't affect Ellie."

Marlene had a point. The young man shrugged and accepted it as it is.

"Besides, it'll only be up until you reach the State House. Then you'll part ways and join us on the trip."

"Right." He replied with an exhale.

Joel and Tess finished their discussion and faced the other group.

"Okay. Here's the deal." Tess began. "We'll get her to your crew at the State House. But before we hand her over, they give us everything that we want. If not, we kill her, there and then."

"Deal." Marlene immediately said.

Ellie looked at her. "Really? That fast?"

"You are all that matters. My team will not jeopardize that. Now, go get your backpack. Now."

Ellie got up and went into the room. Joel and Tess waited for her for a moment before she came back out with her bag.

"Y/N's going to join you." Marlene told them. "Extra muscle in case you get into a bind."

"More bodies would just slow us down." Joel stated.

Y/N scoffed and started walking toward him. "You'd be the one slowing me down, viejo."

He bumped Joel's shoulder as he walked away. Tess had no qualms with Y/N joining them and started walking away too.

"Come on." She told Ellie.

The teenager also bumped Joel and picked up her knife. The man watched the three walk down the hallway before Marlene spoke.

"Joel, don't fuck this up. Please."

He stared at her for a moment before turning around and walking off. Marlene saw them all leave, then let out a exhale before walking away with Kim to get treated.