This chapter was very difficult to write for some reason, I just couldn't get it to flow like normal. Also the cameras that Hugo has been working on as he explains in this chapter I imagine them to be very similar to those disk thingys in Allegiant.
Her breathing calms slightly as she falls back onto her bed after looking at the clock.
02:37
'Just great.'
Once again clanking awakes the rest of the initiates. Issy however was already awake and had been for awhile. Rubbing the non-existent sleep from her eyes she jumps down to the ground, almost taking Alec down with her. Looking to where the clanking sounded from, her eyes connect with Four's. He raises an eyebrow, probably not expecting anyone to be jumping out of bed so soon.
"Initiates! You have thirty minutes to have eaten breakfast and be in the training room." And with those lovely words he leaves them to find their bearings. Alec rises slowly and takes one look at his sister before bringing her into a hug.
"What did I say last night?" He mumbles in her ear.
"I know but – "
"No buts. Next time wake me, okay?" Issy averts her eyes from his and nods. "Now move, I need a shower."
Issy put a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "I wondered what that stench was."
"Nah that was just you." Issy laughed as she chucked one of his shoes at him, narrowly missing his back.
The initiates took turns showering as there was only five shower stalls. Issy noticed that despite there being eleven of them they had all split into two friendship groups: Kayden was the 'leader' of the other with his right hands Charlie and Korey and the tag-a-longs Jess, Zara and Tom. Then there was herself, Bree, Alec, Cody and Noah. After Noah's lovely description of Kayden yesterday morning Issy didn't see that they would ever be friends. That said person came out of one of the stalls only wearing a pair of boxers and Issy rolls her eyes.
"Like what you see nosetta?" Kayden smirks as he slowly passes her on the way back to his bunk.
"Nah, I've seen better." The smirk falls from his face humorously and Issy has bite back a laugh at his expression.
"Really? Nosetta?" Alec strides past Kayden, giving him an incredulous look. Alec's hair covers his eyes, the dampness of it changes the grey strands darker."That's the best you can come with?" Issy scoffs as she pulls out clean workout clothes from her locker before walking into an empty stall. She makes a mental note to ask Bree if she wants to go shopping later.
Once washed and dressed for the day, they make their way to food. Noah laughs as Cody trips and rams himself into a wall just outside the hall. Bounding into the hall Bree spots Lilah and Hector and drags Issy to them.
"Hey guys." Hector salutes them with a fork full of food before shoving it into his mouth.
"Do you never stop eating?" Bree questions as she pulls Issy down with her. The boys catch up, sitting opposite Bree and Issy. Hector just shrugs his shoulders while shoving even more food into his mouth.
Issy turns to Lilah and Bree. "Do you want to go shopping after dinner?"
"Shopping? Hell yeah!" Bree nearly shouts in excitement.
"Hey, I can show you all the great shops." Lilah squeals as she picks at some food off Hec's plate.
Hector appears offended and slightly betrayed, his fork halfway to his mouth. "We don't have to come, do we?"
"Nah. You guys can do whatever guys like you do."
"Morning folks." Hugo plops himself next to Noah, taking a sip of what smells like coffee.
Instantly, Issy's head springs up at the smell. "Where did you get that?"
"Made it at home. Don't drink the cafeteria coffee, tastes of tar." His nose scrunches up in disgust as he passes the travel mug over to Issy. Eagerly, she takes a sip, nearly moaning in satisfaction. "Can I have it back now?" Issy holds up one finger, taking one final gulp before she hands it back.
Before long, Four is calling for the transfers to follow him to the training room. Once in the room he stands next to one of the matts to the side of the punching bags. He then expands on the speech he gave at the start about stage one, explaining in depth about fighting and weapons training. Before they got into practicing, Four had them do twenty laps around the room. He then proceeds to demonstrate a few punches and kicks, showing them in the air fist and then on a punching bag. Most seem to catch on quickly apart from Zara and another Amity called Tom. The rest were able to mimic his movements as he showed them the main stance to take. The punching bags are rigid and Issy winces slightly as all of her muscles begin to protest, but the bag starts to move more once she gets into the rhythm of things. They spent a few hours on that and only moved on when Four was sure that every initiate could do it. Four stopped them and placed them into pairs to spar lightly after practicing blocking hits. Issy was paired up with Cody and they found an simple routine. Cody would try a number of punches and kicks, allowing Issy to block them and then it's Issy's turn to do the same. On and on they practiced while Four came round correcting their stances until he called to stop.
"Alright! Stop what you're doing and gather round." He looked around bored as the initiates hurried over. "After lunch you'll carry on sparring and in the last few hours you'll have your first fights" Murmurs of shock ran through the transfers.
"First fights?" Tom repeated. "But we've only just started!"
Four takes a step forward in Tom's direction and he almost shrinks back. "Be that as it may, the only way you'll get better is if you actually start fighting. Then you can discover your strengths and weaknesses and use them to win a fight." Four looks around the room. "Be back in an hour. Dismissed."
As a pack, the initiates walked wearily into the dinning hall before breaking off into their separate groups. Bree slumps down onto the bench next Noah and lays her head on his should. Cody stares at them for a minute before wiggling his eyebrows at the twins.
"I can't believe they're making us fight on the second day." Bree moans, idly putting food on her plate.
Noah bumps his shoulder gently with hers. "But you understand the reasoning, don't you?" Bree sighs and nods her head.
"Well don't you all look happy." Issy doesn't need to turn her head to see who it is, she's grown up with that voice. Declan sits smugly in front of her, ignoring her glare. "Started fighting yet?"
"That's this afternoon."
"What is?" Hugo sits down next to Dec with Blake by his side.
"Fighting."
"Oh good luck."
"Thanks." Issy replies dryly, rubbing at her eyes before forcing herself to eat. In the back of her mind she can feel a number of pairs of eyes burning into her. Looking up, she sees Declan and Hugo looking intently at her with purse lips. She knows they know she didn't sleep last night and with one hard glare they drop contact and the subject they never started. Issy swears she can still feel eyes on her from somewhere. Her right leg starts to bounce repeatedly as she gazed around the room, looking for those third set of eyes that she could feel. She was about to give up her hunt when Declan pulled her back into the conversation when she looked over Dec's shoulder to meet a pair of grey-blue eyes. Eric smirked as her eyes widened in surprise. For some reason she was feeling defiant as she cocked an eyebrow up questioningly. His smirk widened almost unnoticeably before he broke contact to turn to answer something Josh had asked. She tuned back into the conversation at her table and was surprised to find Four on their table.
" – but that's not the point of it." Hugo argued to Alec.
"Hold up." Issy holds a hand up and everyone turns to her. "I went into my own world slightly so what are we on about and what's not the point?"
"Yeah, you had that dazed look in your eye where you're clearly somewhere else. Cody asked what are jobs were. Dec's an ambassador to Erudite, Blake along with Four when he's not training transfers works in the control room and I work on creating new weapons."
"A weapons specialist then?"
"Yes. I can't tell you much on what happens but most of Dauntless knows about the current project anyway. I've been trying to create small disk-like cameras – probably no bigger than a saucer – to be used in training and in the field among other things like storing data and being used as an extra set of eyes in the field." Hugo sighs.
"And what's not the point?"
Alec scoffs and shakes his head in disbelief. "I said it would be pointless to store data on if it gets broken then bye-bye data. Also I made a point that something so small wouldn't be able to do all the things he wants them to do. "
"But that could be easily fixed if you sync it with a tablet or a computer so the data can then be accessed from either one at any time." Hugo quickly shuffles around, pulling out a pen and some paper and starts to jot her words down. Declan smiles as she carries on, oblivious to the attention of a few of the leaders and Hugo's Head of Department she's gained from the table behind him as she's clearly on a one-track line of thought right now. "Or I suppose you could link it up to Dauntless' database where the leaders could restrict certain soldiers from different parts but that would be similar to the first idea except it's not personal but rather public." Issy stares at the table not really seeing it as her mind wonders in so many different directions she struggles to says them out loud. "As to having too many jobs for one disc, it's plausible. One way to do it could be making the disc bigger but that makes it more of a target in the field or you could have a job per disc evening it out but that's a lot of work for mass production and if you have all these discs flying above you in the field, it draws attention." Hugo hurries to take down notes as her mind speeds up. "Although you could have ex amount of jobs per disc allowing you to have a minimum amount of discs able to do all the jobs you want them to do. As an extra set of eyes that could work if you had a wireless headset that reveals a small glass screen or projection that shows you what the discs are seeing. Glasses would be easier to construct but a headset would be better to hide, especially if you use the projection method. And it also comes down to where would they be stored when not in use? Where would they be effectively placed so its not a burden? I suppose making a harness to hold them in between or on the shoulder blades would be adequate or have specific jackets that work the same way as the harness. They're out of the way then but how are you going to control them Hugo? Remote controlled would mean extra supplies to control them then there's the limited distance you have to think about. No, through using Movement-Response Technology you could create a type of glove that orders the discs to do their jobs through a motion of a hand or finger. And –"
"Issy!" Issy looks up to Declan who's grinning widely like the rest of her brothers whereas the others are wearing shocked expressions. "Just breathe. We don't want you fainting from the lack of breathing you're doing in between words, okay?"
Issy turns to Hugo. "You get all of that?"
"Yeah, I got it. Thanks Iss."
"Small things please simple minds, right Issy?" Alec grins, leaning forward on his elbows.
She lifts her cup halfway to her mouth and smirks mischievously. "Not all of them are small." Those that are sat on the table begin to choke as Bree and Lilah laugh loudly. Those of which that are sat on the table behind Declan, Eric's table, that were listening in choke as well.
Four gasps as he regains regular breathing. "What are you doing, trying to choke us to death?"
"It's not my priority right now but it's definitely on the list somewhere." Four just shakes his head as he gets up and walks to another table, mumbling about the insane transfers this year. Issy grins when she realizes he's most likely on about her.
Once again, Four rounds up the initiates for the second part of training. Their pairs from before have changed and now Issy is lightly sparring with Bree. This time Eric has joined Four at the side of the room, quietly discussing and pointing to a chalk board.
Eric steps away from the board and faces the initiates. "Everybody stop!" Four motions for them to come closer. Gathering around they look at their instructors and then to the board. Everyone's names but Zara's is paired up with someone else.
Charlie vs Issy
Alec vs Korey
Kayden vs Noah
Bree vs Tom
Cody vs Jess
Zara
Alec grabs Issy's shoulder and gives a reassuring squeeze. First fight for the afternoon, first fight for the transfer's initiation. From the corner of her eye, she sees Charlie crack his knuckles, obviously excited. Charlie turns to look at Issy, grinning a winner's smile. She frowns at him then shakes her head. 'I'm not losing that easily .' He's slightly bigger than her but should be slow to move around the mat.She looks back at the instructors. Four is clenching his jaw and Eric is glaring at anyone who has something to say.
"As you can see, there are a odd number of you so one of you will be sitting out for today." Eric shifts and leans onto a metal fence behind him. "The fights last 'til one of you can't continue, normally through knockout." From behind Eric Four clenches his jaw again. "First fight! Charlie vs Issy!" Eric's eyes dismiss Charlie entirely before raising an eyebrow mockingly at her, like Issy did to him at lunch.
From different sides of the mat, Charlie and Issy take off their shoes and socks before stepping in and getting into the stance they've been shown. Charlie is wearing a smirk that suggest he knows something she doesn't and it bugs her.
"Come on Issy, give us your best." Issy knows full well he's trying to taunt her. He cocks his head to the side. "You don't want to end up like ickle Reeceykins, do you?"
Issy takes a step back in surprise, loosening her stance slightly. "What did you just say?" She almost growls and Charlie grins again. It worked but perhaps not the way he wanted. From the side of the ring Alec takes a step forward, furious.
"Stop talking in the ring!" Eric shouts, impatiently motioning to go. Issy gets back into her stance and glares at him. In no time at all Charlie punches his fist out to the her left side and she dodges, stepping closer. He tries again to her right side but again she quickly dodges and takes another step closer. Now she's standing in his personal space and she quickly brings her right fist up, landing an upper cut to his jaw. In a second Charlie is down and doesn't move to get back up, he doesn't move at all actually.
Issy is still fuming, her fist clenched in anger at what he said. How dare he? She takes a step back and turns to look – more like glare – at her instructors who stand there unsure of what to do. Four's eyebrows are furrowed and his mouth parted. Eric is no longer leaning on the bar but standing with his arms across his chest.
"Time." He calls, bewildered. It's probably the fastest fight they've seen. She's still simmering with anger as she walks towards Alec with her back straight and eyes blazing dark gold. Alec looks how she feels, his eyes mirroring hers and his jaw fixed together she's surprised it doesn't break. Kayden and Korey rush up to get Charlie out of the ring. Issy paces as she watches them scuttle off the mat and Four goes over to check his jaw. She hears Jess mutter that Charlie's lucky it's not broken and sneers in Issy's direction and Alec snarls back, taking a step forward but is stopped by Issy's arm across his chest.
"Good. Maybe next time he'll keep his mouth shut!" She snaps back.
Instantly Four is in front of her and points behind her. "Go walk it off!" Issy huffs but does as he says. Walking away from the rest she hears Four order Kayden and Cody to take him to the infirmary before shouting for the next match. She hears light footsteps follow her and a strong hand roughly grab her arm, swinging her back around. Issy comes face to face with Eric who doesn't look happy by her performance. His eyes narrow as she glares back up at him, though less intense than when she was glaring at Jess.
"What was that Initiate?" His voice was sharp.
"Nothing." She tries not to show the wince when he tightens his hold on her arm.
"That was not nothing." Issy's jaw clenches and she looks away. "Tell me what happened."
"I let my emotions take over my actions." He lets go of her arm but doesn't move back.
"Don't let it happen again. We train soldiers to keep a level head in the field, make sure it stays that way." He leans back and walks back to the ring. Issy lets out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding and follows him back to see Alec deliver the final blow to Korey, winning the fight. Some time in Alec's fight Kayden and Cody had returned, the former glaring at her. Issy went over to stand next to Noah as Four announced Alec as the winner. The twins mirrored each other's stances, feet spaced wide, shoulders back, spine straight and eyes glowing a lighter shade of gold than before with a few flecks of blue.
Those who had already fought could go to dinner early whereas the rest stayed to wait for their match. Issy and Alec stayed to wait for their friends to finish. Noah only just lost his fight against Kayden, theirs was the longest fight of the day, Bree lost and Cody won. By the time Cody had finished his fight the only people in the room were Eric and Four, Issy, Alec, Noah, Bree and Zara. Zara had waited for Jess to finish before helping her to the infirmary. When Cody had put his boots back on they had left the room without a second glance back. Bree congratulated Issy on her win and broke the tense atmosphere between the twins and the rest of their friends. Noah compliments her on her upper cut and Cody laughs at how some of the Amity transfers par Kayden had shrank back as she glared at them with her glowing, gold orbs.
When they entered the dinning hall, all conversations ceased and everyone stares at Issy. Issy glares straight back, gold re-entering her eyes, as she walks confidently to where Lilah and Flare are sat. Her friends follow behind her and sit down next to her. Someone else suddenly sits on her right and she relaxes when she sees Declan glaring at those around him.
"Haven't you all got something better to do?" He snaps at the Dauntless crowd and they return to their business slowly. Issy relaxes slowly in her seat.
"News travels fast." Alec comments, glaring at people who still glance their way.
"Very fast, especially if it's got something to do with the Golden-eyed twins."
"Great."
"Yep." Dinner turned out to be a quiet time. Declan informed them that Hugo was working on putting Issy's ideas from lunch in reality in the weapons lab. When she noticed all of the girls had finished dinner Issy turned to Flare.
"Do you fancy coming shopping with us Flare?"
"Oh yeah!" Flare along with the rest of the girls begin to get up. "Shopping and scaring the masses, who wouldn't enjoy that?" Flare winks as Issy laughs, easing up the tension once more."
Lilah and Flare lead Bree and Issy to the shops talking about their initiation, Issy's fight with Charlie doesn't make an appearance and Issy is thankful for that. They go from shop to shop browsing at the wears and buying what they need with a points card that they were given. Issy buys more workout clothes, some jeans, a few tops and more large hoodies. As an after thought, she buys a simple black watch. They mostly talk about their childhoods. Growing up in Dauntless sounds exhilarating, Issy's almost jealous. Waving bye to Flare and Lilah, Bree and Issy head back to the dorms to sort out their shopping and get an early nights rest.
So he from the last chapter is in fact Reeceykins (Reece) but who do you think that is to draw out such a reaction from Issy and Alec?