STATIC → newt , tmr [EDITING ; VERY SLOW UPDATES]

chapter i

"Showtime," she said to him, followed by a grin. Tiago just shook his head and followed her into the Crank Pit.

He could hear the teenagers crying out in fear, maybe surprise. There were torches flashing around; one of them shined brightly in Tiago's eyes, making him wince.

"I see you've met our guard dogs," Brenda said, gaining their attention. She switched on the lights immediately afterwards, which made Tiago scoff. Dramatic.

She wandered carefully towards the group, avoiding the Cranks as she went. Tiago grunted as he hoisted himself up using a supporting beam. He balanced precariously on the thin beam, watching Brenda from above. Tiago was never good at the confrontation aspect; he preferred watching and protecting if needed. He heard on of the teens telling the rest to stay back.

"You guys look like shit," Brenda told them. Tiago snorted, making their heads raise to where he was sitting above them. Tiago tilted his head when he noticed blood pouring from the blond's shoulder. Brenda seemed to notice at the same time, because she turned to look at Tiago as well. Tiago smirked down at her.

"Pay up, honey."

"You missed his head."

"I wasn't aiming for his head."

"Sorry to interrupt," one of the teenagers, the Asian one, said loudly, "but who the hell are you?"

Brenda turned back to face them. She didn't answer him, just said, "Come on, follow me." She turned, glanced up briefly at Tiago. He was eyeing the blond and his injured shoulder. He knew there was a med-kit up in Jorge's office; he could use that to patch up the wound he inflicted.

Brenda turned back to the teens. "Unless you wanna stay here with them?"

Tiago swung and landed back on the floor as Brenda walked through the door. He fell into step beside her.

"You sure about this?"

Brenda shook her head slightly. "Not really, but Jorge thinks their tagged, and I trust Jorge."

Tiago nodded in agreement, glancing over his shoulder at the teenagers. They were following cautiously. Tiago frowned as he faced forward again. They were probably scared, right? And confused. If they had come from WCKD, who knows how terrible they'd been treated. Tiago felt a little bad for them; none of them could've been over twenty, yet they'd probably been taking care of themselves for a long time.

Brenda heaved a sliding door open, which led to the main room of the compound. Tiago hated being in here. When he had to be here, he usually stuck to the edges of the room, in the shadows, mainly to stay away from Barkley and his posse. Those men were vicious, far too aggressive and confrontational for Tiago's liking.

"Come on, keep up," Brenda called to the teenagers behind them. "Jorge wants to meet you."

"I hate this place," Tiago grumbled under his breath. Brenda chuckled lightly and nudged his side.

"You could've come straight from the roof, you know."

Tiago shrugged. "Wanted to get a look."

They walked up the first flight of stairs. Tiago glanced back occasionally to make sure no one got left behind. The blond was still holding his bleeding shoulder, which made Tiago frown. Before he could tell the kid that he would help him, the dark-haired boy walked closer.