Becoming Determinant - Tobias' Story

Insurgent Chapter 10 - Candor

A/N: Here's the final chapter...

"Insurgent" Chapter 10 – Candor

I wake up early, despite not getting to bed until so late. Tris is still asleep, but I'm too restless to remain on the pallet any longer. So, I rise, careful not to disturb my girlfriend, and then I find myself wandering the building.

It's an old warehouse, and everywhere I go, there are large rooms filled with the factionless. Many are sleeping, but others are clearly on guard duty, watching me with curious eyes as I pass. The recognition on their faces is obvious, and it makes me wonder just how quickly word spread that Evelyn's son had arrived.

There's no doubt that she was telling the truth about their resources. In fact, the more I see of this place, the more I realize what a threat these people truly are. They're probably capable of carrying out my mother's plan and ending the factions just by themselves. And yet, if she was being honest about the role she wants me to play, they need some amount of help from the Dauntless.

It takes my tired brain a while to figure out why. It's because my faction is divided. If we fight ourselves, and everyone else stays out of it as they undoubtedly will, she can overpower Erudite easily. If we instead unite against her, she can't beat both the smart and the brave at the same time.

Slowly, it occurs to me that no one else can, either. If Edward was right, and the Candor have sided with the loyal Dauntless, then the city is effectively at a stalemate. With the Amity neutral and Abnegation destroyed, that leaves a faction and a half on each side. No one can win without shifting that balance.

The question is how to do that – and what type of government we end up with as a result.

What do I want, really? On a personal basis, I still hate the thought of allying with my mother, and I definitely don't trust her to be in charge afterwards. But at the same time, she's not wrong that things need to change in this city. The factions have failed too many people for far too long.

And what is the alternative? We can't just leave Jeanine alone, with her quest to eliminate the rest of the Abnegation and the Divergent and place everyone else under mind control. Even if the Candor can help us maintain the status quo, that won't last forever. Eventually, the Erudite will come up with a way to expand their simulations to even more people, and the power will tilt in their favor.

Either we find a way to stop them soon – before they can finish their research, or we side with the factionless. I stop walking, leaning wearily against the wall as I realize that those are the only two choices.

The irony is that both choices lead us to Candor – now. We need to see what resources we have at this point in order to come up with any type of plan. And if there isn't one to be created, then I need to find a way to do what my mother said last night. I need to become important to the Dauntless.

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Edward insists on talking as I try to get myself clean in the cold water from a men's room sink. It's a primitive way to bathe, at best, but I'm dirty and smelly and I need the icy water to wake myself up. Besides, there's no need to hide my tattoo here, in a place with so many Divergents, so I ignore my discomfort at undressing in front of others and take my shirt off as I wash.

"There are a bunch of Abnegation in one of our other safe houses," Edward begins, before I dunk my head under the faucet, scrubbing at my hair and face with a bar of soap. "Your friends, Susan and Caleb, want to go join them."

I nod in acknowledgement as I start on my torso, noticing how dark the water is when it runs off me. I must have picked up more dirt in Amity than I realized.