IT STARTED WITH A MAZE - Newt x Reader (F)

- A WAY IN -

At the far end of the corridor, a grated balcony juts outward. Gally strides over to it and points. "There it is," he sighs. I step up beside him and follow his hand. My eyes land on the tallest structure I've ever seen. A single tower rises from the heart of the city, cutting through the skyline like a blade of glass and steel. It's smooth, silver-black, impossibly tall - a sleek column glowing with white and blue light at the seams. Near its top, a rotating W logo shines, slow and steady, like the eye of a lighthouse watching everything below. The tower seems to hum with power. There's something unnatural about it, like it wasn't built - it was placed. Like it doesn't belong to this world at all. "If WICKED's got Minho," Gally says quietly, "that's where they'll be keeping him."

The words hit my chest like a weight. I can't stop staring at that tower. My eyes are locked on it. It's magnetic. Heavy. I feel like if I look long enough, it'll look back.

Thomas is beside me, just as still. Newt stands with his hands braced on the railing, watching.

Gally drops into a crouch and pops open a metal case tucked behind some old wiring. From inside, he pulls out a small monocular - black, a little beat-up, but clearly once valuable. He props it on the railing and peers through it, angling it toward the tower.

"Where'd you get that?" Thomas asks.

"Lawrence has been trying to find a way in for years," Gally mutters, still focused on the lens. "This whole setup? It's been in the works longer than you think." He adjusts the scope slightly. "The place is crawling with soldiers. They got surveillance everywhere. Scanners on every floor." He keeps muttering to himself as he tracks something down below, but I don't look away from that tower. I can't.

It's a beacon. A warning. A promise.

And somewhere in that tower, Minho is waiting.

Or suffering.

Or worse.

Newt shifts beside me again. That restless motion he does when he's not even aware of himself. His fingers are twitching - that same twitch as earlier. He rubs the pads of his thumbs over his fingertips, gripping and releasing. I glance over at him, eyebrows pulling together in silent question. A small nudge with my elbow follows, careful, not wanting to draw attention.

His jaw ticks, but he drops his hands and gives me a quick shake of his head. I'm fine, it says.

But I don't buy it.

Before I can press further, he beats me to the deflection. "Sounds like a bloody fortress," Newt mutters, eyes locked on the tower in the distance. His tone is flat, but his words cut through the thick tension hanging in the air.

Thomas steps in. "I thought you said you had a way in?"

Gally doesn't even flinch. He shrugs with maddening calm, one eye still on the scope. "I might."

"You might?" I repeat, the words spitting out of me before I can temper them. "You dragged us up here, through half the city, past curfew, because you might know how to get in?" I wonder.

Gally lifts his head, looks at me like he's dealing with someone who just doesn't get it. "Just take a look."

He steps aside.

I don't hesitate. I take his place at the scope and press my eye to the lens, still fuming. I brace myself for more guards, cameras, locked doors - but what I see makes all that seem distant.

There are two rooms.

Both clinical, separated by glass, lit with overhead fluorescents that hum even through the scope. The first, on the left, has a man in a lab coat, standing over a gurney with a clipboard in hand. Calm. Detached. Just another day at work, I suppose. But the second-

The second room has her.

Long dark hair loose over her shoulders. A red sweater thats clean and nothing i've ever seen before. Her face is half-turned, but I'd know it in total shadow.

Teresa.

She's seated at a desk, scribbling notes across a stack of papers like she's doing homework. Calm. Comfortable. She flips a page and keeps going, like the rest of the world isn't on fire. "Shit," I breathe, stumbling back from the scope like it burned me.

"What is it?" Thomas asks.

I don't answer. I just step away and gesture toward the lens, swallowing down the weight pressing into my chest. My eyes flick to Newt, who's already watching me, brow furrowed deep. He doesn't need to ask. He knows what he's about to see.

Thomas leans in. A beat of silence. Then two.

He pulls back and stares daggers at Gally. Newt steps forward next, one hand gripping the edge of the railing for balance as he peers in. He doesn't speak when he pulls away, but the tension in his jaw says enough. "I said I had a way in," Gally mutters, standing tall again. "I didn't say you were gonna like it."

Thomas straightens, arms folded tight across his chest. "Yeah, well- I don't."

"Hold on." I step forward, voice sharp. "You think we can just go barging in there? Because Teresa works there?"

"That wasn't the exact plan," Gally bites back.

"Gally you've missed a couple of chapters," I remind him. "Because she is definitely not on our side."

"Well she still might be our only chance," Gally growls. Newt huffs - a sound mingled with disbelief and annoyance. "You think I like this either? I'm giving you what I got," Gally states.

Thomas scoffs. "You could have said something more detailed this whole way over-?!"

"Okay, guys," I say, raising a hand between them. "This isn't helping."

Thomas rakes a hand through his hair and takes a step back. "Let's go," he says. "We go back. We rethink it with the others."

The decision hangs in the air for a second. Gally doesn't argue. Newt doesn't say anything. I glance between them, watching it all fray at the edges.

And without another word, we start to descend - all of us walking down from that terrible height with the impossible image of that tower still seared into our minds.

And the girl in red.

The past we never truly escaped, waiting right there behind glass.

~