The Other Side - A Newt Fanfiction

Chapter Eight: A Test of Allies

AU: Chapter is scheduled for revision.

"Great idea, Thomas." Minho mutters as we all hang upside down in silence. "'Let's hear him out'. Brilliant shucking idea."
"Oh, shut up, Minho." Thomas mumbles in return.
Arms dangling above my head, I look over to Aris, who's already looking back at me.
"(y/n), are you doing alright?" He asks.
"Yeah, are you?" I hear Frypan chime in from behind. "I can't imagine how terrifying that was."
I nod. "I would have been much worse right now if it weren't for Newt." I mumble.
"I can't believe they actually pushed you off, (y/n)..." Teresa mumbles, frowning.
"I can." Newt mutters flatly.
Frowning, I look over at Newt in concern as he tries to reach for the rope, only to give up with an angry grunt.
"Those men are just as mad as the Cranks, if not more." He growls. "If we escape, and I get my hands on that man, I'll– I'll–"
"How about you plan what you'll do to that psycho after we figure out how to escape?" Minho recommends sassily.
"What all can we do when we're hanging by our feet, several stories above bloody Cranks?!" Newt exclaims.
"Alright, alright, calm down. I'm allowed to have an attitude, not you."
"None of you should have an attitude with the view you get from up there..." A voice purrs.
I avert my eyes to the ground that we're leveled with, Jorge slowly walking to us.
Snarling, I growl, "What are you doing here?"
"You know, my men want to sell you back to WICKED. They tend to think small." He smirks with a shrug. "I don't. I assume that neither do you."
There's a long, puzzled silence.
"Is the blood rushing to my head, or is this shank not making any sense?" Minho says, glaring at Jorge.
Jorge shrugs. "Depends... You tell me what you know about the Right Arm."
Newt distorts his face in confusion, tilting his head. "I thought you said they were ghosts?"
"I happen to believe in ghosts." Jorge smiles.
Staring at him in suspicion, I scowl. "Then why didn't you say that when we first shucking spoke with you?"
"Do you really think I trust my men. They want to sell all of you kids to WICKED, and, if they knew about the Right Arm, they would make sure to kidnap each and every WICKED escapee they could find and sell them for the money. They harm for profit."
"And you don't?" Minho growls.
Lifting a brow, Jorge shakes his head. "I'm not harming you in this situation, so why does it matter?"
"Why do you even want to know about the Right Arm?" I ask.
"I've been hearing them chattering along the airwaves." He purrs, walking to the lever and grasping it slowly. "So, if you tell me what you know, I think we can make a deal."
Thomas, looking to Teresa in worry before back at Jorge, struggles to decide what to say in response. "We- We don't know much..."
Jorge, simply shrugging, pushes the lever, causing our ropes to drop a few feet lower, all of us screaming in fear, except for Minho, who curses loudly. Very loudly.
"OKAY, OKAY!" Thomas shouts as we flail and squirm frantically. "THEY'RE SOMEWHERE IN THE MOUNTAINS! THAT'S ALL WE KNOW, I SWEAR!"
Jorge releases the lever, opening his mouth to speak.
"Jorge?" The bearded man who had pushed me over the ledge calls, entering the room and looking at our group. "What's going on here?"
Jorge looks at the man, smirking. "I'm just getting acquainted with our new friends."
Thomas, puzzled and trying to steady his breathing, gives Jorge a worried glance. "You're not going to help us?"
The bearded man looks at his leader suspiciously.
Chuckling, Jorge smiles at Thomas. "Don't worry, hermano. We'll get you back to where you belong." With that, he slowly turns on his heels, walking off.
The man glances at us, scowling and muttering under his breath before following Jorge out.
After a few moments of silence, Newt mutters to Minho, "Was the vulgar outburst really bloody necessary, Minho?"
Jorge just revealed some secrets he's kept from us since we got here, and he nearly dropped us to our deaths, and Newt is concerned about Minho's language?
"In the matter of life and death, yes, Newt." Minho rolls his eyes.
"Then what was the point in making clean terms for anger?" Newt complains.
"You made the shucking terms by choice, you shank!"
"You know what? Now is not the bloody time to be arguing about this."
"But- You just started- UGH! Never mind!"
"You both sound like argumentative parents..." Fry says, chuckling, somehow managing to lighten the mood ever so slightly.
I can't help but giggle, clasping my hands over my mouth as Teresa does not hesitate to laugh out loud, and Aris snickers from his rope.
Smirking, I chime in. "Newt's definitely the mom."
Snapping his head in my direction, Newt looks at me with an expression similar to that of horror. "I'm the what?!"
"Makes sense." Aris chuckles.
"Hey, I know it's extremely entertaining to piss Newt off, but we should be trying to figure out how to get out of this mess right now." Minho says.
Reaching up for the knot around his ankles, Thomas gives up once again with a grunt. "Good that." He agrees.
Nodding, I look around at the walls surrounding us and examine the radius of the hole in the floor, trying to find a place that may be slightly closer to us or something that we could use for our advantage to escape. I stare at the lever for a few moments, and then trail my eyes over to Teresa. "The lever controls the ropes, right?" I ask.
"Obviously; did you forget what Jorge just did to us?" Minho asks in a snarky tone.
"No, I didn't." I mutter, rolling my eyes. "I was just thinking... Teresa is closest to it. Do you think we could swing her over there?" I ask.
Thomas, turning as much as he can to get a better look, attempts to measure the distance in his head. "It seems possible...?"
"Well, the lever is towards us now, thanks to Jorge's scare, so she can use that to pull herself onto the ground, untie herself, and then get the hook to get us out of here, one by one." I explain.
A light flickers in Newt's eyes, and he smiles. "That is bloody brilliant, (y/n)."
I grin in response before looking to Minho. "Do you think you could give her a boost? You're at the perfect angle from the lever."
Minho nods, smirking in pride. "Of course, I can."
"Thomas," I say, averting my eyes to him, "you're the closest to Teresa. Can you push her over to Minho?"
Thomas nods.
"Alright, Thomas, grab my hands." Teresa says, reaching out for him.
Stretching his arms out as far as possible, he manages to get ahold of her hands and pulls her towards him.
"Alright, Minho, I'm heading your way." Teresa calls as Thomas slowly turns her around to face the other boy, holding her hips.
"Minho, be reaching out for her." I order.
He nods. "Got it."
"Alright, one...two...three!" Thomas whispers as he pushes Teresa to Minho.
He catches Teresa with ease and the group exchanges soft words of excitement.
"Okay, now push her towards the lever." I order.
Minho carefully turns Teresa around to face it. "Okay... One...two...three!"
Providing as much momentum as possible, he shoves her away, causing her to swing towards the lever, but not close enough to touch it.
"Shuck..." Minho mutters under his breath.
"It's alright, you've got this." Aris says encouragingly.
However, when Teresa swings back, Minho's fingers brush against her coat, but he doesn't get a good enough grip, and she swings away from him.
"Shuck!" He repeats.
"Alright, Minho, you've almost got her; you can do it!" Fry says, watching in anticipation. 
"Don't worry, I'll try to get more force!" Teresa says, swinging her upper body towards Minho to add to the momentum as one does by swinging their legs when sitting on a swing.
As Teresa sways back to Minho, he manages to grasp onto her sides, not missing her this time.
"Yes!" Aris cheers, grinning.
"Okay, now push her away with all your might." Thomas commands.
Scrunching up his face in concentration, Minho shoves Teresa away again.
As her body approaches the edge, Teresa arches her back like an acrobat, stretching her arms out as far as she can, her finger tips touching the lever for a split second before slipping away.
In that instant, there's a disappointed groan in unison.
"Shucking shuck-faced shuck!" Minho shouts in aggravation.
No wonder Newt made slang. Minho obviously has the mouth of a sailor.
"You gotta push harder, Minho!" Teresa exclaims as she begins to swing back towards him.
"Yeah, Minho, you need to put more force into it!" Frypan adds.
"I got it, I got it!" Minho shouts, clearly getting frustrated with everyone barking orders as he catches Teresa by the waist again.
Watching closely, I say very calmly, "Teresa, I need you to reach as far as your body will allow you, and, Minho, try to give her a bit more of a boost. You were so close, I know you guys can do it."
Minho nods, taking a deep breath as he looks Teresa in the eyes. "You ready?"
She nods confidently. "Yeah."
With that, Minho counts to three and pushes Teresa away again, putting all of his strength into it.
I watch Teresa as she sways towards the ledge again, bending backwards and reaching out for the lever as far as she can. Her right hand clasps onto the lever tightly, and we burst into hoots and hollers of excitement, though not loud enough to get ourselves caught.
With a light laugh of relief, Teresa grasps onto the lever with her other hand, pulling herself closer, which causes the lever to move towards her even more, the ropes suddenly dropping another three feet and causing everyone to yelp in a panic, except Minho, who shouts profane words, once again.
However, the lower the ropes were proved to be more beneficial for Teresa, making it easier for her to climb up onto the floor and sit down safely, quickly untying her ankles.
"Yes! Now, hurry, Teresa!" I call, sighing heavily in relief.
As soon as she's unbounded, she scrambles to her feet, rushing over to the wall and grabbing one of the hooks, running back to the edge and reaching it out to Thomas, who grasps tightly to the other end as she pulls him to the edge.
"Grab my ankles." She orders, and, as Thomas does so, she quickly unties the rope from around his and holds his legs tightly, slowly lowering the lower-half of his body to the floor in order to prevent Thomas from falling off of the ledge.
"Thanks!" He says, running to the wall and grabbing another one of the hooks that hang, only to shield his eyes as he is blinded by a bright light in the clouded, warping widow before him. "Wh-What the-?!" He exclaims.
"Hello, this is Janson with the World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department." A booming voice echos.
My eyes widen. Janson. "No way! How did they find us?!" I exclaim.
"I don't know, but we need to hurry!" Thomas yells, running back to the edge and luring Fry in as Teresa pulls Newt to the edge, both of them quickly untying our friend's ankles.
"I'll get Minho!" Thomas calls once he's got Frypan safely planted on the concrete.
Newt quickly stands as soon as he's untied. "I'll get (y/n); Teresa, you get Aris!" He orders, running to the wall to get another hook for me as Teresa obediently runs to the part of the radius that's closest to Aris, reaching out for him.
"(y/n), grab on!" Newt shouts over Janson's echoing voice as he runs to the edge.
I swing my body, reaching as far as I can as Newt extends his arm out with the hook. As I swing towards him, I can end feel the cold metal brush against the tips of my fingers.
"I- I can't reach!" I yell as my body sways back.
"You can do it, (y/n)! I know you can!"
Using as much upper-body strength as I can, I swing my body again, crying out as my arms begin to burn, the muscles feeling as if they are on the brink of tearing apart. I grab my end of the rod, but my hand slips. With a yelp, I quickly reach for the rod with my other hand before my body can swing away, just barely grasping onto the very end of the metal.
Newt laughs nervously. "See?! You got it!" He exclaims, pulling me in as quickly as he can. I grasp onto his ankles as he fumbles with my rope, frantically untying it and guiding my feet to the concrete safely before pulling me up by my arm. "We've got to go!"
I nod rapidly, running with him to the group as Thomas waves us over, rushing to the door.
However, we're stopped before we can make it out, the towering, horrific bearded man standing in front of us, a crazed look in his eyes as he points a gun in our direction.
Eyes wide, I slide to a stop, quickly grabbing onto Newt's arm to stop him, too.
"W-Woah! Woah!" Thomas exclaims, shakily putting his hands up in surrender. "Please... You have to let us go, you don't understand–"
"Oh, I understand, alright." The man smirks, taking a walkie-talkie out of his back pocket with his free hand and turning it on, speaking into it with a sickening snarl. "I've got the subjects right here, Janson. I'm bringing them to you. Don't shoot at us."
I gasp in shock, the others exchanging panicked glances. "You- You were secretly with WICKED this entire time?!" I shriek, terrified and enraged all at once.
He chuckles, nodding. "How else would they have known where to find you kids?"
Balling my fists, I step forward. "You shucking monster!"
He points the gun straight at me, causing Newt to yank me back by the arms as Thomas puts his arm out in front of me.
"(y/n), don't!" Newt whispers urgently.
"Now, if anyone else causes any trouble, they'll have a bullet in their head! Got it?!" He shouts. "Now, come on; let's go."
I look to Thomas, unsure of what to do, but I'm definitely not going to let this man force me to do anything against my will. Not again.
Thomas slowly steps forward, taking a deep breath in before suddenly grasping the man's arm that holds the gun, shoving it away from us; a gunshot rings in the air.
Fighting the man for the gun, Thomas headbutts the bearded man as hard as he can, the man stumbling back against the wall behind him, but the gun remains clasped tightly in his hand.
Before Thomas can get another punch in, the man bounces back to his feet, pointing the gun at us. "That's it!" He shouts.
Thomas quickly backs away, putting his arms out in attempt to shield us, eyes wide.
"Who wants a bullet in the head first?" He growls. "Your 'fearless' leader? How about your friend who's too quick to fight?" He asks, diverting his aim from Thomas to Minho. "Or how about the brave Brit?" He points his gun at Newt.
Newt clenches his jaw, scowling at the man with narrowed eyes.
I hold tighter to Newt's arm, eyes widening. "Don't you hurt them!" I snap in a shaky voice.
The man's eerie smile stretches from one ear to the other, averting his eyes to me. "I think I'll put a bullet in your pretty little friend's ongoing mouth!" He laughs, pointing the gun at me.
Suddenly, Newt shoves me behind him. "NO!" He shouts, and I hear the gun go off, and I gasp in shock.
Disoriented, I pat my body, looking down to examine myself. No pain. No sign of an injury. I look at Newt, checking for any wounds as he pats his chest down.
The others examine one another in fear and confusion, but, unexpectedly, the bearded man sinks to his knees and falls to the floor, dead.
Lifting my eyes to the figure behind him, my jaw drops when I realize that it's the girl.
"Need a little help?" She says, lowering her gun. "Come with me!" She orders, turning around and running out. She looks back at us when she realizes that we're not following. "Come on, let's go!"
Without a moment of hesitation, I run after the girl, the group following behind.
She makes a sharp turn to the left in her path, running up a flight of stairs, an old song just starting to play in the speakers throughout the building.
As I chase after, I use the metal railing to support me as I run up the stairs, but then sparks fly on the rail as a bullet ricochets, causing me to yank my hand back, shielding myself as I try to run faster.
"KLUNK! HURRY!" Frypan shouts as more bullets fly past us.
"What's with the shucking music?!" Minho chimes in.
Brenda, once she reaches the top of the stairs, turns right, sprinting. "This way!" She yells, not answering Minho's question.
We do our best to keep up with her, running towards a closed window.
Jorge appears out of the blue, a full backpack tossed over his shoulder. "About time, hermanos!" He shouts over the sound of gunshots and yells from the guards. "This way!" He says, swinging the window open to reveal two lines of wire that stretch to the building across from us.
Frypan gapes. "You've got to be kidding me..."
"You kids want to find the Right Arm? I'll take you to them." Jorge says as he yanks down one of the several bands of rope that hang from the wire. "But you have to help Brenda and I." He says, watching our reactions for a moment before grasping onto the band with both hands. "Let's go!" He says before jumping out the window, sliding down the zip-line.
There's a moment of silence as we all watch Jorge in both awe and terror.
Brenda yanks down the second band. "You heard him, now get going!" She orders.
Thomas nods, having Minho go first. "Go, go, go!"
Minho gets a tight grip onto the cloth-wrapped rope before leaping off of the ledge and descending into the dark of the night.
"(y/n), you go next!" Thomas says, ushering me towards the windows.
With hands trembling in fear, I grasp onto the third rope that Brenda yanks down as Fry grasps onto the band on the second wire.
"I'll be right behind you!" Newt calls over the loud music reassuringly, yanking down the rope behind mine.
Looking back at him, I nod before charging at the window after Fry, jumping off of the ground.
I use all of my upper body strength to keep myself securely gripped to the zip-line, the wind from the high speeds making my eyes water and blowing my hair back and out of my face.
Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down!
I squeeze my eyes shut as I hold onto the rope for dear life, my arm, core, and leg muscles beginning to cramp up as my hands begin to burn, slowly sliding down the rope.
Looking at my hands, my face falls. "No, no, no!" I exclaim in fear, using my triceps to lift myself a little higher, although that does nothing to stop my hands from slipping.
I can see the opening of a collapsed wall in the building ahead approaching quickly.
The joints in my fingers begin to ache as I attempt to hold on tighter, squeezing my eyes shut as I cry out.
Suddenly, my sweating hands give way, slipping off of the end of the rope, and I scream, only to be cut off as I topple onto concrete floor with a grunt. Just in time.
"(y/n), are you okay?!" Frypan shouts, he and Minho rushing to my aid and carefully helping me to my feet as I try to steady my breathing, heart pounding out of my chest, elbows and knees stinging terribly.
"Yeah... I'm fine..." I pant, examining the burning areas of my arms and legs to discover that I had managed to tear holes into my jeans and jacket, scratching up my knees and elbows enough to draw blood, hissing through my teeth in pain.
Newt stumbles through the opening, face falling as soon as he see's Fry keeping me balanced and Minho dusting me off.
"What happened?" He asks, worriedly limping over to us.
"She's alright, hermano." Jorge says as he adjusts his pack, watching Aris as he slides down the line. "Aside from being that close to falling to her death." He says, demonstrating how close that was with an extremely small gap between his pointer finger and thumb.
"What?!" Newt exclaims.
"I'm fine, really." I say reassuringly as Newt takes one of my arms, examining the cuts on my left elbow with concerned eyes.
Within seconds, Aris jumps through the entry, turning to watch for Teresa.
Jorge looks at his watch, anxiously tapping his foot. "Where are the rest?" He mumbles. "What is taking them so long?"
Aris watches nervously, and he points out in the distance. "There's Teresa!"
"Good, but not good enough. The song is almost over." Jorge says, turning on his heels.
Minho furrows his brows together. "What happens when the song ends?" He asks.
"You'll see." Jorge replies, walking past us.
Frowning, Newt watches Jorge. "Do you happen to have bandaging in your pack?"
Jorge, stopping in his tracks, looks over his shoulder at Newt with a lifted brow, unzipping his bag, reaching inside, and tossing some wrapping to Newt just as Teresa stumbles inside from the gaping hole in the wall.
"Thanks," Newt says, taking my arm back.
"Newt," I laugh weakly, "I told you, I'm fine."
"It's not worth risking an infection, or worse..." He says, looking me in the eyes. "If you're not Immune, the open wounds could put you at a higher risk of catching the Flare if we encounter anymore Cranks."
The mere mentioning of those monsters sends a shiver down my spine, and I nod slowly as Newt begins to wrap the scratches on my left arm.
"Where's Thomas and Brenda?" Jorge asks Teresa, urgency laced in his voice.
"Thomas followed after Brenda when she ran off, saying she needed to get one last thing." She explains.
Jorge's face falls knowingly. "She went back to get George..." He mumbles, rushing over to the opening in the wall, watching the building we just came from.
"Wait, who's George?" Minho asks as the others follow after, except Newt and I as Newt cautiously rolls up my pant-leg, wrapping my bleeding right knee.
"Not important." Jorge says, looking to his watch in concern before turning back around, sighing and walking in the opposite direction. "We need to go."
"What?" I ask, frowning. "What about Thomas and Brenda?"
"They don't have time. Brenda is probably taking your friend through the underground passageways."
"Woah, woah, shuck-face!" Minho says. "They could be rushing back to the window as we speak!"
"There's no way for them to do that by now." Jorge says, not looking back at us.
Minho narrows his eyes. "How the shuck do you know-"
He is cut off by the sound of a loud explosion, causing the earth to shake so much so that we all nearly topple over to the cold floor.
My eyes widen as I cover my ears. "What is happening?!"
Teresa clasps her hands over her mouth as she watches the events unfolding outside, Frypan and Aris frozen in terror while Minho puts his hands behind his head, gaping while he stares out the whole in the wall.
"THE PLACE JUST BLEW UP!"
"The song ended." Jorge says flatly. "We need to go."
"Wait, what?!" Newt exclaims, getting to his feet once he's done wrapping my other leg. "You mean to bloody tell me that you had us leave our friends behind to die?!"
Jorge looks at Newt sternly. "They're not dead."
"How do you know?!" I snap, unrolling my jeans.
"Because Brenda is the only other person that knows where each secret passage lies. She's smart enough to get them both out alive without being caught." He explains. "Now, we need to go before Janson and his friends find you kids."
I don't budge, unsure if I should even trust this secretive man who had nearly killed us, and, obviously, the others feel the same way because they don't move, either.
However, after a few moments of staring at Jorge, Aris slowly steps forward.
"Aris?" I hiss. "What are you doing?"
He turns to look me in the eyes. "We have to go. As Thomas had said, we'll end up like Rachel if they catch us, and, as Newt had said, we need to trust him, and I trust that he and Brenda are safe."
I keep my eyes locked onto Aris's, unsure of what to say.
With his lips pursed, Newt looks from Jorge to our group and back to Jorge, sighing and running his fingers through his hair. "Alright... Let's go." He follows behind.
I frown. "But Newt-"
"You said you trust me, right?" He asks, turning his head slightly in my direction, but not actually looking at me.
Taken aback for a moment, I say in a low voice, "Right..."
"Then you trust my decision in following Jorge." He says, walking after Jorge and Aris as they rush to the nearby stairway.
Exchanging a concerned look with Teresa, I silently follow behind.