Told you guys it'd be up soon ;)
"So," Declan started. "We brought you all out here to play a game."
"We've worked on this all night after Issy came to us with the idea." Four carries on only to be interrupted by Zeke.
"Which was pretty epic in the first place." Zeke winks playfully at Issy.
Blake glances at the others before looking back at their friends. "It's like Capture The Flag with a few major differences. . ." He trails off with a grin and Issy laughs. The tension and curiosity flowing from their friends is thrilling and Issy thinks its about time they're taken out of their misery.
"We call it Manic." Issy whispers tauntingly, grinning as everyone stands alert at the feral tone in her voice.
Four grins, happy for once that he's not on Issy's receiving end. Their friends shift on their feet, glancing at Issy. Even Eric seems alert, his head tilted to the side as he stares at her. "You all know how to play CTF so we don't have to explain that, but with Manic the two teams have to have even numbers."
"You realise that there's twenty nine of us here?" Hugo butts in, looking around with a frown on his face.
"If you let me finish," Four sighs and Issy laughs quietly in her hand. "I can explain why." When Hugo steps back slightly and no one else even mutters, Four carries on. "There are an odd number of us here because there's another available role to play along with the normal teams, coincidentally this role is called Manic. Like normal CTF, the two teams will try to capture the other's flag but while that's going on the Manic will be making things difficult."
"Difficult how?" Kayden asks. "Wouldn't it just be easier to shoot the Manic and be done with it?"
Blake snorts. "I thought us Dauntless liked a challenge? And that would make things too easy and that's why until either flag is captured no one is allowed to shoot the Manic. If you do, your team will automatically forfeit the flag." Eyes widen and some people groan but Blake looks over to Dec to finish.
"For this game we're allowing that once the serum from the dart wears off you can still play the game. Also the Manic isn't allowed to shoot everyone, there must be at least one able body from each team to carry on the game. Now after either flag has been captured, the teams will then work together to take out the Manic. This time it's the Manic that can't shoot back and you have a maximum of an hour to take out the Manic. But to successfully take down the Manic you need to get them down to the ground for a full ten seconds without disruption." Declan looks around before looking to Issy and grins. "Down for that?" He calls out and grins wider when the majority of the cart fist pumps the air, shouting Hell yeah!
"Captains?" Issy glances to Four and Eric before nodding to Will. Blake, Zeke and Dec merge themselves into the crowd as Four and Eric stand behind one of the bags and Will unzips both bags and then opens up the box. Inside it are the armbands they had requested. One team has a blue band with a strip of black running in the middle. The Captain band has a large blue 'C' on the black band and the rest of them had the Dauntless symbol in blue. The other team's was very similar except for theirs were red where it was blue. Will handed the red 'C' band to Eric and handed the blue 'C' band to Four, who put them on their arms and collected a gun each. Sharing a mischievous grin, Issy sauntered up to Will and all of her brothers but Declan groaned. Will handed her a yellow band with a black strip running in the middle but this time instead of a 'C', there was a large yellow 'M' before joining the rest of the crowd. More people groaned and whine when they realised just what 'M' meant. "What? The original idea was mine after all, so of course I'm going to be the Manic for the first game." Issy flashed them a grin as she picked up a gun and then moved to the side of the cart as Four motioned Eric to choose first.
Eric sighed lowly before looking over the crowd. "Declan." Her oldest brother picked up a gun and a red band before standing behind Eric.
"Tris." Tris did the same as Dec but picked up a blue band instead.
Issy watched as Four and Eric went back and forth, picking out people to fill their teams until no one was left and they both had fourteen on a team including themselves. On Eric's team was Dec, Bree, Uriah, Hugo, Alec, Flare, Josh, Jason, Rainbow, Kayden, Red and Noah. On Four's team was Tris, Bulldozer, Zeke, Hec, Sam, Lauren, Blake, Will, Cody, Lilah, Billy, Shauna and Luke. By the time the teams were chosen, it was clear that everyone was buzzed for this game, the challenging looks shared between Four and Eric took her back all those months ago to her CTF game.
Four leaned out of the cart and motioned for his team to jump as soon as he saw the fairground coming up. As the blue team jumped out of the car Four turned back to Issy. "I hope I don't see you any time soon."
Issy grinned back at him, winking one golden eye. "We'll see." With a shake of his head, Four jumped out and joined his team, leaving Issy with Eric's team.
"So Manic," Uri started as he came up to Issy's left. "Is there any chance you can work in our favour?" He asked slyly and Issy snorted, rolling her eyes.
"Eric I think its about time your team gets off." Eric raises an eyebrow in her direction before ordering the rest of them to jump. Uriah pouts and gives her his best puppy eyes before walking to the door. "Oh and Uriah?" She calls him back. "I work in no one's favour but my own and if, coincidentally, it helps another team then so be it. Hop along now." Issy winks at him as he turns back and jumps out of the train.
Eric stands next to Issy for a moment and she can feel him slowly relaxing. He takes a step forward before turning back to Issy and gently placing his hand on her cheek. Issy closes her eyes and finds herself leaning into his touch. "Good luck Issy, you're gonna need it." Without opening her eyes, she could tell something was off by the tone that Eric used. Issy's eyes snapped open just in time to see his finger press the trigger and a numbing flowed though her calf. Her legs gave in and she fell to the floor just as Eric launched himself from the train, cackling quietly.
"BASTARD!" She shouted as she pulled out the dart and flicked it away. Issy gripped and massaged her calf and she slowly began to feel her muscle again. She gritted her teeth as she stood back up and carefully applied weight on her leg. When she was sure that she wasn't going to collapse again, Issy strapped the dart gun to her back and jumped out of the train, taking a few steps to steady herself on the rooftop parallel to the tracks. Once again she made sure that her leg wouldn't fail her again, she jumped on the spot for a moment before breaking into a sprint and leaping across the gap to the next roof top in the direction of where the others got off from. She jumps from rooftop to rooftop until she sees the Ferris wheel. Issy crouches on her heels as she pulls her gun from her back and peeps over the side.
From what she can see, the game had already begun as a small group of blue evaded a line of red. Its now that Issy was thankful that Will suggested that the armbands glowed in the dark, it made picking her targets so much easier. Issy snickered lightly as she aimed and fired. She grinned as Uriah shouted in pain and she quickly shot at Zeke and BD when they came to investigate. Someone realised what was going on and shouted Manic as Issy quickly moved to another place to hide. As she went from rooftop to rooftop, from floor to floor, she took out one red then one blue and then restarted her cycle. When she was seven members of each team in she realised she had yet to see Eric or Four and so she went looking for them.
It was a while before she found them both trying to get the upper hand as Four protected his flag. She had to hand it to Four, he had chosen a smart place to hide his flag. The area was littered with old metal units, rubble of several sizes and tucked into a corner. Along the walls was a metal walkway which made it easier to guard the flag but for some reason Four hadn't placed anyone up there. As quietly as she could, Issy slowly lowered herself to the metal walkway and picked up a medium sized stone. She threw it once from hand to hand before she chucked it in Eric's direction, and just like she wanted, it clattered against a nearby wall which caught Eric's attention and led him away from Four. The dim clatter also caught Four's attention from the other side and he immediately brought up his gun in that direction. Issy then lowered herself onto the ground some where behind Four, ducking around a corner as he sharply turned around. She hears him take a few steps closer before she jumps out of her hiding place and shoots once in the shoulder and once in the knee. As he fell forward Issy noticed two darts sticking out of his back and she looked up to see Eric standing a few feet away with his gun raised to his face. For some reason, Eric had rolled up his jacket sleeves to his elbows and Issy couldn't stop from glancing at his arms. He lowered the gun slightly as Four groaned on the floor, swearing at both of them. Issy and Eric shared grin before Issy quickly pulled up her gun before he could react. She shot him in both of his calves, sending him to his knees, and the shot him twice in the chest, making him hunch over. She carefully stepped over Four and made her way to Eric. When she got close enough she kicked his gun away and then dragged a finger from his forearm all the way up to his shoulder. She pressed her hand against his shoulder as she leaned in closer, close enough that her lips brushed against the edge of his jaw, below his ear.
"Now who's in need of luck?" She whispered, smirking as she felt him shiver beneath her hand. As she leaned back, Issy gave him a little push and he fell forward, his forearms braced against the floor to decrease the impact. She chuckled as she heaved herself back onto the walkway before climbing back onto the roof and looked for more mischief.
xXx
It was an hour or so later before a flag was captured. Jason was the one to get Four's flag after their team had regrouped and Rainbow came up with a plan. The red team celebrated their win as the remaining members of the blue team made their way back with Lynn carrying her own flag that she was protecting.
Issy watched from a ruined window as Four accepted the hand that Eric offered and allowed Eric to pull him to his feet. The teams then came together, blue merging into red, to make a plan of how to take her down. She watched them, unable to hear anything they said or see what any of them motioned to until most of them nodded their heads and broke off into smaller groups. Declan led Alec and Hugo away out of Issy's sight as those remaining split into two groups, walking in opposite directions.
It was then when Issy heard footsteps, multiple footsteps. Issy looked out of the window to try and see where they were coming from. She couldn't see anything until she looked up. "Oh shit." Running towards her on the rooftops with a face of determination was Declan. Still staring out of the window, she strapped her gun to her back before turning around and jogging to another window towards the back of the building. She came to a halt just before she jumped from window, grasping at the frame. "Fuck." She swore as she spotted Alec a rooftop away, about to jump into her building. With not a lot of time before either Dec or Alec jumped into the building, Issy ran for the stairs. She gripped the banister, about to launch herself up towards the roof when she looked up to see Hugo stomping down them. "Fucking bollocks shitting NO!" She practically shouted and she could have sworn she heard Hugo laugh. Issy had no choice but to run down and she took three steps at a time, willing herself not to fall. Hugo's footsteps thundered after her. And then another pair joined his. And another. And her heart was racing with adrenaline as she got to the ground floor, tripping over her own feet, bursting through the nearest doors. In that moment as she ducked down, sprinting in a straight line, she could not express her surprise as she noticed twelve members on one side and thirteen members on the other, all standing shoulder to shoulder and barrels trained at Issy as she ran. They fired rapidly and her brothers were still chasing her, too close to her tail for her liking. Then, as she was distracted by looking back at her brothers, two sets of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her down to the ground. Once she hit the ground someone started the count.
ONE
Someone hissed and swore as she dragged her nails down their arm as they pushed her further into the ground.
TWO
One set of hands held her shoulders as she thrashed and the other pushed her onto her stomach with her arms behind her back.
THREE
She relaxed for a moment before she rocked violently to the side and someone's grip loosened.
FOUR
Before she could move however, two more sets of hands got a hold of one leg each as another sat on her back.
FIVE
From somewhere to her left, someone stepped closer and she froze as something clicked.
SIX
Issy breathed in sharply a dart landed in one of her hips.
SEVEN
Another in one of her thighs.
EIGHT
Issy's mind whirled at any possible way to get out of this but when her mind came up with nothing, her tense muscles began to relax.
NINE
She began to swear quietly to herself as she felt the grip of those that held loosen.
TEN
Whoops and cries of joy were echoed as her captors let her go and Issy rolled onto her back to see Josh, Bree, Tris, Alec, Eric with blood seeping out of the scratches that she had inflicted and Bulldozer with the gun in his hands.
Josh wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Well," He panted slightly. "At least we now know that if someone tries to take you down, you'll give them a run for their money." Both Bree, Alec and Eric turned to glare at Josh, who simply shrugged his shoulders back.
Issy furrowed her eyebrows at him as she shook her head slowly and let her head roll back to the ground.