The Reason

Rome Burning

They landed the Berg on a clear rooftop, away from the fighting. Nikola was the first to get out as the doors opened, looking around desperately for any sign of her friends. The whole city seemed to be on fire which didn't bode well for any of them. No one had told her anything about a full out war being fought. She just hoped they were ok or she really couldn't live with herself.

"They'll come," Brenda said as she joined her. "They will."

Nikola tried to believe her, to remember that they'd all survived the maze, and in Gally's case even death. They were tough, they could do this. And then there was a voice above the screaming and gunfire, one that belonged to a traitor and coward, and Nikola's stomach dropped.

"Thomas?" Teresa's voice reverberated over the speakers. "Can you hear me? I need you to listen to me. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to come back."

Nikola's brows furrowed in confusion as she went to the edge of the roof, looking at a large screen with an emergency broadcast notice on it.

"Thomas! You can save Newt! There's still time for him."

Nikola's heart dropped as her hands covered her mouth. What had happened to Newt? Was he captured? Injured? In the back of her mind she remembered the day he'd snapped at Thomas, and how he'd begged her to let him tell her those 'just in case' things before they started this mission. She clamped her eyes shut as she fell into a crouch, her heart telling her what her brain didn't want to believe. He had the flare.

Her ears tuned out again as the pain exploded in her chest and her throat burned. Even the gun fire and explosions below them were soft, tinny echoes to her. She didn't hear Minho scream Brenda's name, running up with Gally, or see her and Fry run off with them. She was on her knees and elbows out of sight of the others, feeling like her soul was being ripped out of her body. He'd told her he loved her. He was the first person to ever say those words to her and she'd said them back like it was nothing. She had no idea he'd really meant goodbye.

She wanted to destroy Wicked. She want them gone forever. The explosions and gunfire now seemed like music to her ears. She wiped her face, telling herself she wasn't going to cry again until the city was done burning, and stood up. She saw only Vince, Jorge, and the kids in the berg when she returned. She looked at them confused for a second until their eyes looked beyond her. She turned and saw a few figures straggling through the smoke. There was Fry, Minho, Brenda, and Gally. No Newt, no Thomas.

Minho looked more exhausted than when he returned after a night in the maze, and so, so sad. Still his eyes lit up slightly when he recognized her. He picked up his pace and fell into her arms, both of them holding each other as tight as they could.

"I thought you were dead," Minho croaked over her shoulder.

She didn't say anything, she couldn't, not without breaking down in tears again. Minho pulled back a bit to look at her, their arms still loosely around each other.

"Thomas went back," he told her, not saying anything about Newt.

"Alright," she nodded. "Then so are we. One last time," she announced before turning and marching toward the cockpit, stripping off the bulky jacket and tossing it aside. No one stopped her or questioned her by the time she sat down and strapped in.

"Nikola! What are you doing?" Jorge yelled, stumbling toward when she powered up the berg and lifted off suddenly.

"Everyone buckle up," she replied calmly, a stony mask hiding the emotions that still throbbed deep in her chest. She was putting her foot on the stupid gas pedal now.

She aimed the berg for the tall building they had been in earlier, assuming that's where Thomas would be. Lawrence's army was focusing a lot of their fire power on it, making it even easier to spot.

"She can fly this?" Gally asked Brenda in surprise, feeling like it wasn't safe to ask her himself. He'd been unable to save Newt no matter how hard he tried. The vision of his friend laying lifeless on the pavement was forever etched in his mind just like Chuck. And he'd heard Newt and Nikola exchange words before they left.

"She can do a lot of things," Brenda informed him as she hastily put on her seat belt and tried to get everyone to do so as well. "Brace yourself," she warned Gally.

The berg dipped to the side suddenly, avoiding a missile fired from the ground at it. The right arm clearly had no way of knowing they weren't Wicked, and were trying to keep them from rescuing any Wicked staff. She could see the building was on fire even from here, but she wasn't turning back yet. She was going to that roof top, she was looking for Thomas, and she was never living with the regret of leaving someone behind ever again.

It was hard to see anything on the roof at all, and Nikola remembered the propellers for the berg were mounted on the front of the ship.

"Hold on!" She yelled before dipping down, coming at the building from  a lower angle so the props would douse some of flames to give her a clear view of the roof. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her again, showing her what she wanted to see, but there seemed to be two figures huddled on the walkway. "They're there! They're there! Get ready!" She announced.

She whipped the berg around so they could open the hatch and get them. She wasn't happy to see Teresa but she ignored it, not letting it stop her from doing what she had to do. She did her best to keep the berg steady, but was unable to really land on the roof.

"This is as close as I can get!" she hollered over her shoulder.

The fire and constant explosions kept wafting hot air up under the berg, making it very difficult to keep it still and close to the building. Vince, Minho and Gally went to the open hatch with Brenda.

"You gotta get closer!" Gally yelled.

"Thomas, you lousy shank," she muttered. "Your stupid has been rubbing off on me," she ignored the blaring alarms and dropped even lower, taking deep even breaths to keep her hands from shaking on the controls.

There was another explosion and she noticed one of the monitors blaring. A building nearby was hit and collapsing over onto their rooftop.

"Are they in?" She yelled as loud as she could over her shoulder, but was drown out by the sound of the impact, the force of it rattling the berg.

She didn't hear anything, so she turned to look for herself, seeing Thomas safely on board, but no Teresa. The alarm blared again, saying the building beneath them was about to go.

"Come on!" Nikola yelled, her hoarse voice cracking. "Get her in here!" She tried to steady and lower the berg again, but it was harder with the increased heat.

She heard one sound over the explosion and it was Thomas. She knew the pain in his voice all to well, she knew the sound of loss. She closed her eyes tight for a moment. She wasn't ever fond of Teresa, but she liked death even less. She was tired of it. So, she had to make sure that was the last loss of the night. She had to get them out of there and heard the commotion behind her, that Thomas was shot, and she knew she needed to hurry. The only problem was that she didn't know where she was going. She figured it would be best to get clear of the city first and figure the rest out later. So she aimed for the wall dead ahead of them and increased the throttle.

"Vince!" She yelled, trying to be calm. "Jorge? Somebody please tell me where I'm going!"

Someone did appear beside her, hands reaching around her to the controls. Familiar hands with nails bitten to the quick. The flightpath they'd used to get there was displayed, a return route plotted to return on that course, and auto pilot engaged. Then those hands paused, hovering for a moment before hesitantly landing on hers. They pried her hands off of the controls and held them for a moment, callused fingers pressed into her palms.

"Gally! Get over here and help us!" Fry called.

And then she was alone.