Unimpressed, she glanced over to Bulldozer and even in the low lighting, she could see him silently laughing as he watched Dorian fumble over his feet. Dorian didn't need to know that half of the things he tripped over had been Bulldozer's foot. BD smirked in Issy's direction and sent a wink her way. In response she rolled her eyes even as a smirk crawled onto her own face.

Weeks passed and nothing mildly exciting seemed to happen. With nothing left to read, the weeks seemed to drag so much for Issy. Her shifts either dragged even more or sped up their time at Amity barracks depending on who she had a shift with. When she hadn't got any shifts and she wasn't sleeping, Issy would be downstairs and socialising with her colleagues and friends. Nearly five weeks into being at the barracks, most of them still kept to their squad mates that they knew. Though, the younger squaddies merged together quite frequently, much to the annoyance of the elders.

Today they had held a competition using the equipment in the back garden and turned it into an obstacle course. It had been good just to run about and be stupid. Originally it had started off as a friendly competition but soon they were tripping each other up and tackling others to gain the lead. It made most of them rather sad when they had to leave for shift change but it was also absolutely hilarious to come back to see Bulldozer being trying to evade tackles coming from every direction. He got Red and Calvin barging into him from behind. Billy latched onto one of his legs and tried taking his legs from underneath him. He still ran, although it was more like walking through thick mud at this point, dragging three bodies behind him while laughing. It wasn't long before he finally collapsed under the weight and sheer exhaustion.

Because of this, those that were at the barracks ended up eating later than they normally did. Though, for some reason it left like they had all forgotten something, especially Uriah… None of them could remember until they heard it…

A loud yowling tore through their conversation.

Simultaneously, they all turned from the table to see Artemis pacing by her bowls expect one of them was empty. They all took turns to feed the little hunter who currently did not look very happy. Issy didn't know who's turn it was today, though they all found out pretty quickly.

As Artemis began hissing, Uriah flinched.

Sucks to be him.

Breathing deeply, he stood up from the table and walked over to where the empty bowl was. If they watched his movements hard enough, they could see that he was shaking slightly. Uriah edged towards the bowl and Artemis' hissing got loud. Carefully but quickly, he snatched up the bowl and practically legged it to the kitchen. By his slight inhale of breath and the reddening mark on his arm, Artemis had managed to scratch him. Artemis followed after him at a lazy pace, tail high and the most sadistic look on her small face. Issy had never seen Uriah move so fast as he dished up Artemis' dinner. While people were interested in what Uriah was doing, most of them went back to eating their dinner.

Well, until Uriah started screeching. He had gotten halfway across the room with the bowl of chicken when Artemis had decided he was being too slow and started to climb up his leg. His face scrunched up with pain and it was clear that the trousers that he was wearing weren't thick at all… Artemis had quickly scaled up to his midthigh when Uriah decided the get a move on, his eyes widening with realisation as to where Artemis could be digging her sharp claws next. The only sound that came from Uriah as he crossed the rest of the room was a very high and squeaky no being repeated. As soon as he placed the bowl down, Artemis unlatched herself and dropped to the ground. She gave him a quick hiss before devouring her food.

xXx

It was when they had begun to clear up when they hear the distinctive sound of a truck parking outside. Issy immediately perked up and looked at the nearest clock. 18:34. It was just over halfway through the current shift so nobody should be back yet…

The air tensed and weapons were drawn from sheaths as they all crouched down low to the floor. Issy had her own gun in her hands and she looked to Duncan. He's the only Captain at the barracks currently and so the squaddies all looked to him for orders. He motioned Calvin and Ana forward on the left side and motioned Rainbow and Freyah forward on the right side. Then there was a knock on the door. Some forgot their surroundings and rose from their positions in confusion. Two guys followed Duncan as he walked towards the door and opened it. There were several beats of silence and then a booming laugh. Duncan walked back inside, sliding his gun back into its sheath as he guided three Dauntless members inside.

There was another booming laugh from the largest guy when he noticed they were all prepared for an attack. He was such a bulky person that he made BD seem small in comparison. The hunk of a guy was followed by a man with short cropped hair with distinct dog-tags around his neck that tinkled together every time he move and finally there was a small skinny lad with a bag in his hands. Issy was confused as to why the boy had been allowed out of the compound, maybe his brother or father was amongst the squadrons here.

"It's okay! You can all relax!" Duncan called out and weapons were placed back into their sheaths. "These guys are Brandon, Axel and Remmy," He motioned to the three of them respectfully. "Soldiers of Squadron 001."

Well shit, Issy thought to herself in surprise. The boy – Remmy – was actually older than her… and in Eric's squad of all places… That was a plot twist and a half that she wasn't expecting.

"What brings you guys out here?" Duncan asks. "Surely you had enough of this place after being here months on end?"

"It's actually okay here once you get used to it. But nah, we came under Max's orders to take little miss Artemis to the compound. Preparations have been made as to where she'd stay 'cause somebody has anxious about leavin' her here." Brandon raised an eyebrow in Remmy's direction, who blushed under the attention.

"Let me guess," Ana started. "You're presumably the idiot that fed Artemis until she wouldn't leave."

Remmy's darkening blush was all the answer they needed.

While Duncan and Brandon talked about the adventures of the small cat, Issy felt eyes on her again but this time she knew it wasn't Captain as he was out on shift. Instead she met the gaze of Axel. He was staring at each other like they were familiar with one another, and like he knew her secrets, which frankly creeped Issy out. She turned her head away and tuned into Duncan and Brandon's conversation that Uriah had also joined.

"– Oh? I can totally believe Artemis would crawl up your leg." Brandon laughed and clapped Uriah on the shoulder. "She has a habit of coming at me from any direction. It didn't happen to anyone else in our squad, only to me."

"Really? Me too!"

Remmy had temporarily disappeared but she had an idea as to where. Remmy soon returned with Artemis in his arms and something in his bag clinking together. Though as Remmy went to pass Issy, Artemis squirmed out of his arms and jumped onto Issy's shoulder. She laughed and scratched Artemis' chin and the little hunter nuzzled into Issy before continuing across her shoulders and jumping on Remmy's shoulders. As Remmy passed Brandon and Uriah, she hissed at them and Uri hissed back.

The three men didn't stay for long and soon they were all in the truck with Artemis and driving off to Dauntless… Lucky buggers. Issy was sad to see Artemis go but on the other hand, it meant that they wouldn't have to leave her at Amity when they finally leave… Whenever that is but it didn't feel like it would be any time soon.