fade into you |jordan li|

twenty one. your loss

Ari just ignored her, she never liked her to begin with, and now she didnt like or trust her, but she knew she needed to for this to work, so she would try.

"Just stop Jordan, stop walking off!" Ari yelled at Jordan once they made it outside, as they were walking too quickly.

"She was reading our fucking thoughts, our thoughts!" Jordan exclaimed, feeling so many emotions at once, but mostly hurt.

"As much as I hate her, she probably doesnt know how to control it." Ari tried making a logical comment, but it didn't work... Even she doubted herself.

"That isn't a fucking excuse. Stop trying to make excuses for everyone."

"Jordan... I made an excuse for you.. Do you want to talk about that? I mean what was that back in Cate's mind?"

They were standing at least two feet away from eachother, the farthest they had been apart when they were together, in days.

" I didn't remember the accident either she era..."

"That's not what I meant." Ari interrupted them. They knew that, they knew what she was really talking about.

"Like I said. I'm a fucking coward."

"You are not a coward. I understand doing something for yourself but you hid it, and Luke was supposed to be your best friend."

"I mean he was.. But you know how I am."

"The power of being Brink's TA tempted you." She sighed. She knew Jordan well. They wanted fame and power, and the only way to get that with their identity was this.

"Yea.."

They both stayed quiet for a second, thinking about their next words... Until Ari spoke up.

"Look. we should just forget about that, it was stupid for me to bring it up."

"It wasn't stupid Ari."

"Yes it was. You know it was. Okay... so, lets just talk about Cate."

"There's nothing to fucking talk about."

"Yes there is Jordan... We need to trust her, atleast for now."

"She's the fucking bitch that read our minds. How are we supposed to?""

"I know Jordan. I know that. But She could fuck with her heads at any time, and she hasn't. So we have to give her a chance, we have to trust that she will get us a meeting with Shetty. She's like the only hope we have at cracking down on the woods right now."

"You're right."

"Yea I know I am... And you need to stop turning into a dude everytime you want to make a point."

"Fine."

"Fine..."

They let the silence fill the air once again, but only for a moment before Jordan pulled Ari in for a kiss, feeling the sides of her face with their hands, it was a sweet, and genuine kiss that made her want more than just that, something rougher, until she noticed someone walking by, so she pulled away.

"Cate is the only person who can get shetty to expose the woods. We need her" She spoke in a soft tone. She really wanted Jordan on her side, they were the one person she knew she could always trust.

"What about Athena?"

"She was Brink's daughter, not Shetty's. She has never been as close to her. But she's still my friend so we can't just do anything to her."

"Okay, we wont do anything to Athena... But maybe we can get proof ourselves. We wouldn't need Cate." They suddenly had an idea.

"How?"

"Shetty's in the city all day... I got the key to her office... I'm her T.A now, remember?" They held the card up with two fingers. "Look, if we find proof about the woods, or what they've done to Sam and those other kids down there. It doesnt matter what Cate does.."

"And then we what? Post it on insta or TikTok? I mean what are we going to do when it seems like everyone is on Voughts side? Not to mention that we're both minorities. I mean i'm an out bisexual mixed race girl, and your'e bigender and Asian. Vought's going to twist it, just like everything else." She stopped for a second, letting an idea come to mind. "Unless... We show the proof to someone people will actually listen to..."

"Like who?"

"Her..." She pointed towards the wall where a graffiti'd over campaign picture of Victoria Neuaman was postered to the wall.

                           ✯★⁂★✯

   Without informing the rest of the group Ari and Jordan went to Shetty's office to look for answers.

After searching through files and papers they were finding nothing, Jordan couldn't even get into her computer.

Moving to one of her desk drawers Ari continued, thinking she found nothing when she hit the bottom of it, until she remembered her moms fake bottom of her drawer where she kept her weed when she started to get sick. She lifted it up, discovering a new file.

She sat down in Shetty's chair, opening it to look through its contents. She knew it had to be something good, especially when it was kept hidden.

"What is that?" Jordan asked when they notice the look on Ari's face, a look that said she found something.

"I'm not really sure... but it looks promising. It was hidden in one of her drawers." She flipped through the pages. "Everything in here is about a plane crash. The transoceanic flight thirty seven."

"Yeah, I remember that. It was terrorist right?"

"I mean that's what they said..." She continued looking, even closer. "Holy shit! Look." She pointed to two passengers in particular.

"Shetty, Lily, age 11, and Shetty, Paul, age 46... Her family was on that plane."

Ari was about to flip to another page when they heard the door beep, almost as if on reflex they both ducked down behind the desk.

"Oh, Shetty, Shetty, Shetty." A voice, who Ari had only heard once spoke. "You want me to increase the viral infection rate. Right." He took a long sip out of what Ari could only imagine as alcohol. "Kill them all, she says. And sign my own death certificate." He stopped for a second, before walking closer to the desk.

Ari held in her breath, she almost felt it, Dr. Cardosa was going to find them and they would be locked behind bars, or killed. But he stopped at Shetty's glass collection of whiskey. They heard him take a sip, and set his things down, before unzipping his zipper.

Not being able to tell what he was about to do, Ari peaked around the corner, regretting it instantly when she realized he was peeing in the bottle. She tried not to make a sound.

"How about... you take a long drink of that, Indira." He spoke to himself when he was finish, throwing a folder of his own onto her desk, and leaving the room. They waited for him to shut the door, before Ari spoke.

"What the fuck was he talking about? Infection rate?" She asked, just as confused as Jordan.

"Whatever it is it can't be..."

Ari's phone rang, unexpectedly scaring both of them. She picked it up, though she didn't want to.

"What? Calm down Andre, What are you saying?" She asked after being on the phone for a minute, hearing nothing but fast mumbling from her brother.

She continued to listen before she hung up and set the phone down hard, feeling almost faint. Jordan could tell from her face that something bad had happened.

"It's my dad..." She didnt know how to feel, trying to walk away from the desk, but stumbling.

Jordan held onto her so she wouldnt fall over from the news.

"What happened?" They asked out of complete concern.

"My dad is in the hospital."