NEWT'S POV
We got in pretending to be part of WICKED. We went in with a bunch of other WICKED Guards and then when we entered, we shot them all down. Tommy, me, Quill and Sonya were the only ones who came. The rest are at base, waiting for us.
We only just managed to rescue Sonya and Aris from WICKED's grasp, and that was two weeks ago. We still hadn't managed to save Rhea and Minho, though.
In my hand, there's a launcher. We all have launchers. It's weight is comforting, at the very least. Besides, fighting to get them wasn't exactly easy.
"Where are they?" Thomas shouts at one guard, shoving him against the wall.
We wear black suits with red sleeves labelling us as WICKED personnel. We managed to steal them from the Guards at the entrance.
"Your friends?" He asks snidely. "Locked in the canteen. That is, if they aren't back in their cells. Locked in there. You'll never get to them."
I shoot him. He goes into an electrical shock and Tommy runs down the corridor. I follow him. The girls had went another way to look and I'm glad. I didn't want Quill near me if we found Rhea and Minho.
Quill has started spending a lot of time with me. We're kind of close but I can't help but keep my distance from her. She doesn't like Rhea. And I just feel the need to keep my distance.
"Canteen? Cells? Wonderful," Tommy says.
"Why would they be locked in there?" I ask.
"Must be part of their security thingy," Tommy replies.
We take a right turn and then shoot down two other Guards.
"We need to get to the Canteen," I say, knocking one guard in the face with the launcher in my hands.
"We have no idea where that is! What if they're in the cells?" Tommy replies, starting to run once more, me following right behind him.
"Bloody hell," I curse to myself. We can't afford to separate. We don't know the place, and we're more vulnerable alone, which could result in one of us being captured.
"Canteen first," Tommy decides.
"Lead the way," I mumble, and we run down a set of stairs to the floor below.
I see a guard in front of us and meet Thomas's eyes, jerking my gun in the direction of the guard. Tommy understands and we both sneak up on him. I bring my launcher to his back and he freezes.
"Where's the canteen?" I ask, my voice deadly.
I know I'm not immune. I saw the veins on my arms and showed them to Tommy. I'm a Crank. But that won't stop me from going back to save Rhea and Minho. I don't want Rhea to know, though. It'll tear me to pieces if she knows I'm a Crank. She'll look at me differently, think of me differently and she'll probably stay away from me. No, I can't handle that.
Not when the reason I used to spend so much time with her was because she never treated me differently. She saw me for who I was, and if she sees me as a Crank now...
"Down the corridor, take a right and it's there. The gates will be sealed shut, though. There's no way that you're going to get in," He says.
"You clearly have met us," Tommy says, and I fire.
We dash down the corridor when two WICKED Guards point their launchers at us.
"Drop the launchers," one says.
Then there's a really loud crashing sound and a metal tray flies in the air and hits one of the Guards right at the neck. He slumps towards his partner, who's shocked, and Tommy and I shoot both of them.
They both fall to the ground and we see who's behind them. Minho's there. He looks awful. His eyes have bags under them, and his face is pale. Very pale. He seems hunched and exhausted all over. However, despite all that, his spiky hair looks fine.
Beside him stands a girl that looks equally run down. Her skin is a ghoulish pale white, her hair black and tangled around her sharp face, cheekbones prominent in a way that speaks of being underfed. Her blue eyes are narrowed, a hard edge to them, and her dark lips are pulled into a straight line. What draws my attention, though, is the long scar at the left side of her face, from above her eyebrow down to her sharp jawline, just missing her eye.
I've spent enough time with her to know that she's Rhea. My breath is completely taken away. Her eyes meet mine and surprise flickers through them. That's Rhea. My Rhea.
Both she and Minho look skinnier and a lot weaker, as if their strength has been sucked out of them. Given that this is WICKED, I can't even begin to imagine what they did to them.
The thought makes me clench my jaw tightly.
Minho's voice is what brings me back to reality. "You came," he breathes out, looking from Thomas to me, though he doesn't smile. Nor does Rhea.
"What do you think we'd do? Cry our eyeballs out at the destroyed Right Arm? Of course we came, you bloody shank!" I say, going to pull Minho into my arms.
A surprised sound escapes Minho, but he clutches me tightly before stepping back, only to get drawn into yet another hug by Tommy.
I turn to face Rhea. Before I can do anything, she throws her arms around me and gives me a quick hug. She's shorter than me, only reaching about my cheek, and her face rests against the crook of my neck as I draw my arm around her.
"Thank you," She whispers into my ear shakily, before she pulls away.
I'm too stunned to speak. All I know is one thing. I want to pull her back to me and comfort her and make sure she's okay, that she's safe. I want to kill whoever it was that hurt her.
She meets Thomas's eyes and gives him a grateful look. Then her eyes harden once more. "We should go. More will be coming," Rhea says, and she glances at Minho.
Her scar. It's so prominent on her face. It looks neither new or old. I really don't know when she could've got it.
"We need to find Quill and Sonya first," I say, frowning as I glance behind me, checking to make sure no one else is coming into this corridor.
Rhea curses. "Wonderful. Any idea where they went?"
"No clue," Tommy replies, sounding equally anxious as I feel. "But we should go."
Minho takes a step forward, but stops, hand going to the wall beside him as his eyes squeeze shut. Rhea turns towards him instantly, as if it was natural, saying something softly to him, to which he nods in response to.
"We aren't really strong. We won't make it far without probably collapsing if we run," Minho says, standing up straight again, eyes troubled.
"Well, then be glad we found you," Sonya's voice says from behind us.
I let out a breath of relief. Sonya and I got close recently but not in the way Quill tries to get close to me. More like a Brother-Sister kind of thing.
"Sonya," Rhea's eyes widen, and Sonya sucks in a breath, rushing forward and pulling Rhea into a tight hug. I see the way she tenses, she how Rhea awkwardly puts her arms around Sonya but doesn't push her away.
When Rhea steps back from Sonya, Quill is staring at her with wide eyes. Rhea gives her a slight nod, before turning once more to Minho. They exchange a few quiet words and then both look at Tommy.
"Got any weapons?" Minho asks.
"Only the launcher," Tommy replies, looking down at his.
"We need to go before Ava finds us. We can't let them bring us all in," Rhea says, sounding anxious.
Something's changed about both of them. They seem more anxious and afraid.
"Which way?" Sonya asks, finally tearing her eyes away from Rhea.
"We can't go anywhere. They'll be surrounding us. They'll probably check the cells first. Then they'll come here. We can't let them get us," Minho says hurriedly.
"Well, the canteen has a window," Rhea says bluntly.
Minho's eyes widen. "It's a long drop. We're in no condition to even run, much less jump down from two stories above the ground."
"They can," Rhea says, nodding towards us.
"Wait wait wait," Tommy says. "What do you mean you're 'in no condition'?"
A dark look passes over both their faces.
"Let's go," Rhea says, and Minho and her both turn and head towards the canteen, shoving the doors open.
"Rhea," my eyes widen in alarm when she staggers forward, rushing up to her before I even realise, drawing my arm around her waist and holding her upright against me.
Rhea glances at me in surprise, but she looks away before I can really see her train of thoughts. "I'm sorry," she mumbles.
"Don't be stupid," I shake my head, meeting Tommy's eyes over her head. "Tommy, give Minho a hand."
Inside the canteen, there are rows of tables. The place seems vaguely familiar. Rhea nods over to one of the silver metal chairs. "Use that to break the window," she instructs.
Quill and Sonya rush forward to each take one before charging at one of the floor to ceiling windows at the opposite wall. The chair crashes against the glass, sending it cracking and shattering. Quill throws her chair at it for good measure, and the glass completely breaks, the chair falling down who knows how many storeys.
"Great. Now, any ideas?" Minho asks.
"Lock the door. Lock it before they come," Rhea says, her voice shaky.
I look at her and she looks terrified of the thought of WICKED Guards coming. What did they do to her?
Sonya locks the doors and runs to look down from the window. I look beside her. Below, there is a small platform. A balcony.
"You think we can get to the balcony?" Tommy asks, his voice somewhat hopeful.
"Thomas, we're too weak," Rhea says, her head resting against my arm. "We'll never make it. You guys go. Maybe we'll be able to catch up."
"No way. We didn't come all the way here for you to get kidnapped again. Sonya, Quill, get down first," I say, tightening my hold on Rhea's waist.
I duck my head slightly, whispering to her, "We aren't gonna let them bloody get you."
She lets out a shaky breath, glancing up at me with her shocking blue eyes. "That's not what I'm afraid of, Newt."
"So how do we do this?" Tommy asks, tearing both of our gazes away from each other and to him.
I look down the window to see Sonya and Quill at the balcony.
"We could try," Minho says.
"Minho..." Rhea trails off.
There's a pounding at the door and Rhea's face becomes even whiter. Minho looks frantic.
"We've got to go before they catch us," He says.