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Comments

[gluestick]

Yeah, I saw you weren't too friendly with her on the Network. She says you don't trust her. What happened?

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She kidnapped Thomas. Roped in the girls from Aris' group. [ A pause. ] Should mention, Aris was in on it with Teresa.

She threatened to shoot us full of arrows and knocked Thomas out, and even if she's playing nice now and claiming WICKED made her do it? She did it with zeal at the time. I'm not buying a shuck word that comes out of that girl's mouth.

[gluestick]

[Well, that... Isn't really what he expected. That is a excessive amount of evidence against her. He trusts Minho, but he also hasn't experienced it firsthand, can look at this from an unbiased angle. Teresa will definitely be watched, at least.]

You don't think WICKED was controllin' her at all? Like what they did with Gally?

[runout]

[ It's a good point, sure. One that Teresa mentioned herself, but... ]

You were there with Gally, you saw what he was like. Look, I'm not making any pretense of liking the guy. I couldn't care less about Gally, but the guy wasn't on WICKED's team. He told us himself they were controlling him, we saw him fighting it with everything he had.

Teresa? There was none of that. The anger on her face was real, and that had nothing to do with WICKED. They might have given her the orders, but she chose to do it all on her own.

[gluestick]

[Newt still doesn't want to rule it out yet. But he does remember how Gally tried to fight it, and even if he didn't like the guy, he admired that at least.]

So you think she was part of it all along? Even back in the Glade? [She'd been part of WICKED... But Thomas had been too, and he wasn't siding with them again.]

From where you're at, is Tommy okay? You said she knocked him out.

[runout]

[ It's hard not to admire. ]

Dunno about that far back. It's hard to tell how long she was serious about helping us, and how long she decided to go full on WICKED toady again.

Either way, Thomas is fine. Showed back up right in the nick of time. With her trailing behind. He seemed to at least trust her enough not to pull it again, but I got the feeling even Thomas didn't like her much after that.

[gluestick]

Somehow I'm not too surprised by that. I'd be worryin' about his mind if he came back liking her after pulling a stunt like that.

[He sighs.] I'll keep any eye on her. Anything else you need me to know?

[runout]

I'm worried about his mind already, but no need to add to that.

[ He pauses, mulling it over. ]

Nothing I can think of that I haven't already told you about.

[gluestick]

Well, we should be worried about all of our minds in that case. Have you ever wondered why we haven't gotten sicker here?

[runout]

Thought about it. I figure one of two things. One... whoever brought us here had a cure and patched us up good as new the minute we came in, or two... we were never sick to begin with and that was a whole load of klunk that WICKED fed us in order to get us to go along with more of their shuck experiments.

[gluestick]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the second one. Wonder if the government here would be honest if we asked 'em about it.

[runout]

Doubt it, but it's not like askin' is gonna do any harm. Then again, if they managed to cure it I'm sure they're gonna wanna gloat about that. More reasons to trust us, try and get us to register, right?

[gluestick]

It doesn't mean we've got to register with them even if they did. What're they gonna do, give it back to us if we say no? That'd go over real well with the imPorts here, I'm sure.

[runout]

Nah, not saying that. They don't want the people dead here any more than we do, but they want us working for them. Maybe they're trying to get us to see them in a better light. Whatever their reasoning is, I'm pretty sure they've got ulterior motives for it, and they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

[gluestick]

Does the reason matter? If they've cured us of the Flare, then it's good for us and everybody else here. But it doesn't mean I'm gonna go and pledge allegiance to the government.

[runout]

Might matter. Depends on if they're angling for something more by doing it. Not saying they didn't just cure it to keep us from killing everyone else here, but I'm still keeping my guard up on this one.

[gluestick]

And do you think they'll force us? If they're angling for somethin', it means they're trying to get us to see 'em in a better light. I don't think force is what they're aiming for here.

[runout]

I'm not putting anything past them. Even if they're not doing anything now, doesn't mean they won't in the future if the situation changes.

[gluestick]

Whatever you say, Minho. I doubt they'd do it, they'd be taking on the entire imPort community if they did. They'd be whacked in the head if they tried. But time will tell, I suppose.

[runout]

You don't think they are already?

[gluestick]

Probably a bit, but not quite to that level of idiocy. Not to yours or Tommy's, certainly.

[runout]

Nothing wrong with us... Well, maybe something wrong with him, but nothing wrong with me for wanting to play safe here.

[gluestick]

So quick to toss him under the bus. [Rolling his eyes with a sigh.] There's a difference between playing it safe and being too paranoid to function.

[runout]

Just being honest.

[ He takes a moment longer to respond to the other part of this. ]

All things considered? I'd rather be considered paranoid than get shucked again.

[gluestick]

Fair enough. I'll leave it alone, then. [There's an unspoken 'for now' hanging in the air.]