Somewhere in the distance, the sound of shouts and paintballs redecorating Greendale's buildings echoes through the cool spring night. Annie Edison emerges from her hideout with watchful caution, leaning out the classroom window and glancing around to look for students hiding in the shadows. Reassured, she leaps to the ground in the bushes under the window. Abed scrambles down behind her, face shadowed under his cowboy hat. "We'd best avoid the main trails tonight," he says in a steady monotone that's somehow unmistakably distinct from his usual steady monotone. Annie watches him gesture towards a hidden path through the garden. She creeps along it, leading the way towards the library, even as she wonders if it was a good idea to let Abed talk her into meeting Jeff. Sure, alliances could be useful in paintball, but Abed would want to bring the study group together for some kind of big genre adventure even if it got them into tricky situations. Annie's supposed to be focused on winning that prize, not starting cinematic action scenes. When the whole study group formed an alliance in last year's game, they walked right into a showdown with the glee club and got Annie out. Well, she's better at paintball now. A lot better.
On second thought, maybe she wants to demonstrate that to the others. Annie walks faster, leading Abed towards the lawn they must cross to get to Study Room F.
Reaching the edge of the garden, Annie surveys the lawn. The streetlights catch bright flashes of paint all around—on the sidewalks, the buildings, even the roofs—but she doesn't see any rival players, though she studies the shadows under a stand of trees carefully. A noise startles her, but it's just a discarded newspaper carried on the breeze, rolling like a thematically appropriate tumbleweed. Annie and Abed set out across the lawn, senses on high alert.
They reach the trees, undisturbed except for some glimpses of running figures through the windows of a nearby building. Annie's watching to see if anyone comes outside when Abed grabs her hand and pulls her behind a tree. "What is it?" Annie hisses, pressing her face closer to Abed's than she intended in an effort to stay behind cover.
"Bench," he whispers, nodding towards a park bench some distance away. No one's sitting there. But Annie thinks she sees a hint of movement on the grass behind it. Abed slowly takes off his cowboy hat, then waves it in the air. Annie hears paint flying as she sees someone spring up from the lawn. She reaches for a paintball gun and shoots back. An annoyed young woman wipes some blue paint off her hand and walks away towards the nearest parking lot, discarding her weapon.
Annie and Abed scramble to the bench to claim their foe's ammunition. Annie finds just a fistful of paintballs—some of the more powerful alliances have secured a lot of supplies, but most of the students playing solo or in smaller groups are running low, herself included. Even so, she offers half to Abed, knowing how tense such negotiations could be. Not that she really expects her friend to fight her—but she's seen alliances become standoffs over less.
To Annie's surprise, Abed shakes his head. "You earned it," he explains.
"Oh—well, you provided a distraction!"
"Which worked because of your good aim."
Annie smiles in a way that breaks character a bit. It's a little embarrassing to be thrown off by a small gesture like that, but after a few hours of everyone-versus-everyone combat, it's nice to trust someone. Plus, Annie's been letting people underestimate her all game, and it's really nice to have someone notice how good she is at this. "Well, that explains why your team needs me so much," she says in a teasing voice. Abed nods appreciatively and follows Annie across the lawn.
The door nearest to the study room is hidden in a garden. Pressed against the library wall, Annie and Abed look around to make sure the approach is safe. No enemies are visible outdoors. Through the windows, Annie can see paint splattered on the library shelves, but no sign of movement. With the blinds and the shelves creating a tangle of shadows across the library, she can't see what might be going on nearer to the study room. While Abed peers intently into the library, Annie creeps up to the corner at the garden's edge, weapon raised and ready for action.
The garden is quiet, but for the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze. Annie studies the bushes warily, but she notices a rabbit munching peacefully on the grass a few feet away. Probably any lurking assassins would have scared the bunny away. With paint on the windows, she still doesn't have a good view of the dimly lit indoors, but the path to the door looks safe. Annie lightly touches Abed's hand and pulls him towards Study Room F. She thinks he looks surprised at the contact for a moment before he resumes the quietly alert expression of his cowboy character.
They take a few steps towards the door, startling the rabbit, which runs in zig-zags back the way they came. Annie motions for Abed to stay back as she creeps up to the door. She's about to open it when she hears another door closing, the sound clear and sharp in the night. A shadow appears on the grass behind Abed. Annie looks up to see several people approaching the garden. She ducks for cover behind the bushes as she sees Abed spin around, his poncho swirling as he springs into action. Abed hits one of the newcomers, but the others fan out, spraying paint like supplies aren't an issue for them. "Chess club," Abed says calmly as he swerves behind a tree at the edge of the garden, just evading being hit. Annie remembers Troy, Abed, and Jeff talking about beating the chess club in the previous game, before she had allied with them. They seem to be playing better this time.
One of them scrambles to the edge of the garden, but he sees Annie and backs off around a corner. With paintballs striking the wall just above her head, Annie considers her tactics. She and Abed are outnumbered in a confined space. Annie could bolt for the door—it's just a couple feet away, where she can reach it before the chess club reacts. Then she could get ahead of the pursuit and join Jeff and Chang in the study room. That's the most efficient way if she wants to win the game.
But Abed isn't close enough to the door to do that. It's not really a decision. The study group sticks together.
Making a feint towards the door to draw enemy fire, Annie instead rolls to the corner where her closest opponent took cover. With a sense of satisfaction that she has an opportunity to use what she's learned in her self-defense class, she kicks at her startled rival's legs to trip him and swipes his weapon out of his hand. Standing up, she shoves him in front of her. When the rest of the chess club turns to shoot at her, they hit their teammate instead. One of their guns clicks—they've been wasting too much paint. Spinning out into the open, Annie sees two still-armed students facing her. She aims with both hands and they're out before they can fire. Elated, Annie hurries to Abed's hiding place, finding her friend without paint on his clothes and staring at her with a look that somehow reminds her of that Dungeons and Dragons game.
"That was pretty awesome," Abed says. Annie grins and is about to reply when Abed grabs his weapon. The chess club player who ran out of ammunition is reaching for one of the guns the others dropped on the ground. Abed's shot hits the gun at an angle, sending it skittering across the grass. The chess club guy turns and runs towards the quad, leaving Annie and Abed to savor their victory.
Annie nods at Abed, impressed. He tips his hat towards her and helps her gather the small amount of paint in the discarded weapons, then follows her across the garden. As Annie reaches for the door to the library, her hand brushes against Abed's. Annie feels an unexpected little thrill at the contact that confuses her when she thinks about it. Well, maybe it's just the excitement of the paintball game. She glances back at Abed, his alert eyes meeting her slight smile. Then Annie leads the way towards the study room and the next part of their paintball adventure.