Residual Consequences

Prologue

I walk down the hall slowly, unsure what to expect. I squeeze Tobias' hand as we come to the door. This morning I was asked to meet with a few of the leaders of the Bureau and I have no clue what to expect. I'm supposed to be leaving for Chicago tomorrow and I was packing. What could they possibly want with me?

"Sir, I'm sorry but they want to see Ms. Prior alone," the receptionist says to Tobias. He looks unhappy but I give him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine," I tell him. I squeeze his hand once more before I let go. I take a step away from him and he takes a step closer to me. He gently presses his lips against mine as he cups my face in his hands.

"I'll wait out here then," he says seriously. Ever since I got shot he hasn't let me out of his sight. The bullet barely missed my heart. I lost a lot of blood and was in a lot of pain, but I survived.

"I'll be out as soon as possible."

I smile at him once more and he smiles back before I walk into the large conference room. There are 9 people sitting around the table. There is one empty chair sitting at the head of the table.

"Beatrice Prior, please have a seat," a petite lady tells me. Something in her voice tells me it's not a request but her smile seems real enough.

"Beatrice, do you know why we've brought you here today?" a man at the other end of the table asks. He seems utterly bored.

"I have no clue," I respond honestly.

"We are the members of the newly assembled Divergence Program," the man explains. "We will be working on developing a better understanding of Divergence. The Bureau has done great work in the time that they have been active, but they want to assemble a team of their best people to further research Divergence. If we work on this research then the Bureau can focus on things like the Factions and the Fringe. But in order for this team to succeed we need the best people on our side. Beatrice, we want you to work with us."

"Why do you want me?" I ask. Surely there are other people who are way more qualified than I am.

"You are a strong Divergent. You understand what it's like to be Divergent. You can help us with tests and research. We need someone like you to help this program succeed," another lady at the table explains.

I sit in shock for what feels like eternity. I'm supposed to go home with Tobias and be happy. I'm supposed to help fix the Factions. I want to go home with Tobias and I want to help with the Factions, but I also feel like I need to help with this.

"We don't need an answer now. Think on it for a while. You know how to find us," the man that seems to be in charge says.

"I'm supposed to be leaving for Chicago tomorrow," I finally say.

"I know," the man replies, "but we just received the green light for this project yesterday evening. I'm sorry for the short notice."

"What would we even be doing?" I ask.

The man explains that we would be running tests on the genetics of Divergence, looking for environmental factors, and trying to understand more about how Divergence works. He also explains that we would be trying to better understand how Divergents react to different things through the use of serums and simulations. When he talks about using serums and simulations I freak out.

"No, I am not going to be your test dummy for you to run your experiments on. I am never going to be used like that again." I start to panic and I get up from my seat to walk out of the room.

"Beatrice, please wait," the lead man says. "We would never experiment on you like that. Yes, we want to have you help us with our experiments but we would never do anything to hurt you. You would be a member of our team, not our test dummy."