Big ass chapter for you guys. There's also a Dragon Age reference in here, it worked, and I couldn't help myself…
Enjoy!
The joking mood drops from Elliot and Soren. Elliot unscrews the cap and tips the contents into his palm before holding it for the all to see between his thumb and forefinger. "I hope none of you have use this." Between his fingers, he held what looked to be a teal pearl, but by the grim expression on his face, Issy knew what it was.
"Cyanide capsule." Someone whispered and Elliot nodded his head.
Elliot put it back in the test tube and screwed the cap back on, before handing it to Issy. "There should be enough for each of you. Anyway! If you guys could pick what weapons you want and we can get of this depressing moment, thank you!"
They spent the rest of that day picking the weapons they wanted. Issy went with several types of hand guns and throwing knives. Though as her squad all went home for the night, Issy went to the gun range and tore through the targets, getting used to the feel of each of her guns, until three a.m. when she finally went home.
She walked through the corridors and took the long way back to her apartment. While she was emotionally exhausted, Issy didn't feel all that tired overall. She took the stairs instead of the lift and got her keys ready so that she could easily slip inside. From the stairwell, Issy sped to her door but her hand was shaking so much that she was having difficulty unlocking her door. The keys knocking against the lock seemed loud enough that it echoed down the corridor before it finally slotted in and she unlocked her door and shutting it behind her.
Issy breathed deeply, leaning back on her door. She locked it after a moment and flicked the light on. Issy was thankful that Eric had hardly been over to her apartment. She only saw his presence in her front doorway, sat on her sofa and standing in her kitchen. There's no Eric in her bedroom when she wanders inside and shuts the door behind her.
Issy sighs as she strips her clothes off and pulls on her pyjamas. While for the past couple of weeks Issy's been back at the battle against insomnia, these new circumstances make it a hell of a lot worse. Her anxiety brought up everything that Eric had said and replayed the words one after the other, again and again. The battered shell she had become scared her and rubbed a hand across her face as tears collected and slipped from her eyelids. She cried aloud, clawing at her own body, and falling to her knees. Issy curled in on herself and sobbed.
In the solitude of her apartment, she cried until she slipped from consciousness.
xXx
At eleven the next morning, Issy sits in the conference room where they will be meeting the squadron 226 will be shadowing. She sits alone with a large cup of coffee and the door opens behind her, her body tensing immediately.
"Why am I not surprised you're here this early?"
Issy relaxes at the sound of Red's voice. "No idea."
He sighs, sitting on her right. "Issy, did you get any sleep last night?"
"Yes." She bristles, tugging the jacket collar closer to her neck. Even if the members hadn't heard the rumours circulating the faction about her and Eric's argument, they definitely noticed how rough Issy looked this morning. Her patrol uniform was crumpled, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her family used to say she walked around the compound with equal amounts of confidence and arrogance… Now, they said she walked around in a daze; her eyes glassed over with tears.
"Don't lie to me hun, you're like a daughter to me, I'd like to think I know something's wrong."
Issy slouches. "No…" She whispers. She hadn't slept for more than an hour before she climbed onto her fire escape with so many thick blankets wrapped around her body with her sketchbook in hand. Even as she tried not to think of Eric's heavy arms wrapped around her, his eyes ended up staring back at her from the paper.
"You really should be trying to get some sleep." Red says and Issy nods her head. "We don't want you collapsing during a shift."
"I'll try, but no promises."
They wait for the others to join them and they talk about what training Red went through for the front lines. Her squaddies sit around Red and Issy when they arrive with Harrison.
The Leader smiles as he walks to the front of the room. "Squadron 818 will be here in a moment, they've just got off a patrol with live fire, so some of their members are injured." At Hector's worried gaze, Harrison smiles. "Your dad's okay, some mirror scrapes." Hector relaxes and nods a little. Harrison stares at Issy for a moment before glancing at the rest of her squad. "This is the last time I'm going to ask this and after this, there's nothing I can do. Are you all completely sure that this transfer is what you want? I'm aware a transfer like this can affect relations…"
Issy closes her eyes and rubs at her temples. While Harrison hadn't looked back to her, Issy could feel the words were directed at her. "Did he ask you to do this?" Issy asked quietly and Harrison's silence was enough. "You can tell him my decision still stands."
Harrison looks like he's about to say something else, probably something off the script the Leader received from Eric but was interrupted by the conference door opening.
"Sorry we're late, assholes on the Lines are in a frenzy." A light voice said as a young woman wandered into the room in casual clothes. She was followed inside by two guys and another girl. The woman was tall and lean with half of her head shaved and the other side, her wavy hair settled just below her shoulders. "I'm Bobbie, Captain of 818." She grinned as her oddly violet eyes settled on Issy. "And you must be Beta, Captain of 226, the wolves of Dauntless as some of the squaddies call you guys."
A man stopped on Bobbie's right and Issy instantly knew he was Hec's dad. They were almost like a carbon copy of each other, except Hector didn't have a full beard and was a lot leaner than the man in front of them. He smirked to his son, who grinned back, before glancing to Issy. "Well, I'll be damned, Max was right." He grinned. "You look strikingly like Richard."
Issy perked up. "You knew my dad?"
"'Course I did. Richie was well known in the faction for making trouble and getting away with it when we were growing up. He was intelligent enough not to leave any evidence… 'Course that right there should have been enough proof as to which faction he would transfer to."
"The fuck dude?" BD hissed at Issy. "You're Richie's kid and you never told me?"
Issy turned to BD. "My last name is Vince; how did you never make the connection? And how the fuck do you know my dad?"
"I though ya might have been that stick-in-the-mud's kid, Richie's older brother." Issy snorted violently. "And to answer your second question, we were neighbours."
"I've been in this faction for nearly two years – Hell! Dec's been here for nearly eight and you never saw him around on Visiting Day?"
"I never had any reason to pay attention thank you very fucking much!"
Issy laughed in disbelief, shaking her head. Bickering with Bulldozer always made Issy feel better and by the amused glint in BD's eyes, he knew that too. "Unbelievable."
"Oh yeah, you're Richie's kid alright." Hector's dad laughed before winking at Hec. "Just like my son is just like me."
Hec slumped over the table, hiding his face in his hands. "Daaaaaad!"
"Sorry kid."
Harrison chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you guys to get started." He hands Bobbie a small stack of sheets. "What I've given you has the new rota times on, something I know you guys will be looking forward to." Harrison smiles kindly at Issy as he leaves. "Good luck."
Bobbie glances over the sheet with her squaddies leaning over her shoulder. "Oh fuck yes! That's hella better. Right." Bobbie clapped her hands together and motioned to the those that came in with her. "Hec, you obviously know your dad." Hector snorted, pretending like he didn't know what she was on about. Bobbie turned to the rest of 226. "Guys, this is Shaun, Hec's dad. Those behind me are Rob and Nina, the others you'll meet soon."
Issy smirked back. "Well, I'm assuming your whole squad knows who this numbskull is?" She jabbed her thumb in Hec's direction.
"We watched him grow up." The other woman, Nina, smiled.
"Though," Shaun started, his expression deep in thought. "He's been adamant about not telling us his squad nickname."
Issy flashes Hector a smirk. "He's Cutie Pie."
Shaun bursts out laughing. "No wonder lad, no wonder you didn't want to tell us."
Issy introduces the rest of her squad and some of the older members like Red and BD are already familiar with some of Bobbie's squadron.
Bobbie passed out the sheets that Harrison had given her and when Issy glances it over. The shifts were ten hours long with twelve hours off before another ten on. It seems Harrison had included the drive time of an hour both ways so the actual shift on the lines was only eight hours.
"Thanks to you wonderful people for making the transfer, the shifts are shorter than they were." Bobbie smiles. "For the next month, you'll be shadowing us on shift. Normally there's at least two squadrons on the same shift, sometimes three. On the journey there, we'll be briefed by the staff on Harrison's panel on what kind of hellish shitstorm we'll walking into."
At Lani's confused look, Shaun grimaces. "She's not joking kid. We never really know what we're walking into and sometimes it can just flip like a switch." He shrugs, sharing a glance with Bobbie and the others of 818. "There's not really much we can tell you now, it's better when we're on the lines to teach you about it." He directs these words to Issy, Hec and Lani before turning to the others. "A few bits have changed since you guys were on the front, but it shouldn't be that hard to grasp."
"We'll message you all tomorrow when we'll be on shift." Bobbie said. "Harrison's still deciding which time period would be better for you all to start on."
"We'll see you all tomorrow."
xXx
Issy and her squad had split up in different directions after Bobbie had dismissed them. Hector had stayed behind to catch up with squad 818 and Issy was pretty sure the others had gone to tell their families about their new shift times.
Issy sent a picture of her new rota into the family group chat and then proceeded to hide in the garage, working with Vinny on the modifications on her bike for their new position. After Vinny had discussed ideas with the WSD, all they had to do was take apart the bike and coat everything in a coat of metal mesh, similar to the stuff in her new uniform, only more malleable with heat from a blow torch.
With a few of the other mechanics, Issy and Vinny took her bike just outside of the garage and moulded the sheets of metal around parts of her that were vulnerable. Her tank and the bigger pipes were some of the first to be coated. The mechanics wore heat proof gloves as one of them warmed the sheets up with the blow torch. It took them about four hours to get all the major pieces coated and cooled enough that her bike could be put back together again.
Issy frowned as she drove the bike back into the garage for once again, her bike was without its wolves. Back inside, Vinny assured her that she would be able to draw them back on and that he'll set up the equipment after dinner. Unfortunately, that meant the soldier had nothing to do until dinner was finished with. Issy had hoped she could miss dinner completely, hopefully having something to distract her from sitting in with her family, some of whom who weren't aware of what had happened yet… Vinny was adamant that she could work on her bike after dinner and since her stomach had betrayed her by making such a loud noise that Vinny had started laughing, she had to go to dinner.
As Issy stood in the doorway, her eyes searched the cafeteria. Her breath caught in her throat. Eric was sitting next to Declan on their table.
Issy had been able to avoid the Leader well enough. She listened at her door for any movement from his side of the corridor, her squad had become protective enough that they checked for him around and closed ranks around her almost subconsciously whenever they saw him.
For a moment she froze. She didn't know what to do. It was just as much Eric's family as it was hers – for some of the members, it was Eric's family a lot longer than it was Issy's. She couldn't exactly demand him not to sit there anymore. Though she wasn't comfortable with sitting on the same table as him and pretending that everything is fine.
She soon spots Red sitting a few tables behind with his family and a few others of 226, and so she make the decision to sit with them instead. Issy keeps her head down as she walks deeper into the room and when she glances up, her eyes meet Eric's.
He stares at her blankly and Issy quickly reigns in any emotion on her face and eyes. Though Eric's emotionless eyes hurt enough that she looks away and picks up her speed. Issy dodges the outstretched arms of her brothers and friends that tried to pull her back when she completely walks past the table. Declan shouts after her as others question where she's going.
When Issy slumps in front of Red and BD, using their large forms as shields, Bree's voice is the loudest. Issy peeks over Red's shoulder to see her sister glaring furiously at Eric. "What the fuck happened to communication?!" She demanded loudly and Issy ducked back down.
Two people sit down on either side of Issy and her jaw clenches in effort to keep the tears away when Alec and Lilah hug her tightly from either side.
xXx
Issy finished re-drawing her wolves on the side of her tank for what Issy hoped would be the last time. She had managed to escape the cafeteria before her family were aware of her movements and was out the door before any of them released she was gone.
She was thankful that the only ones that had access to the garage were squaddies or Leaders. Issy knew that none of her squad would let anyone in and while Uri had access to the garage, he knew that other members of Dauntless weren't allowed in without a suitable reason. Wanting to interrogate Issy about what happened wouldn't be suitable enough. Thank god… There was even less chance of one of them hijacking Eric's keycard for access.
She smiled softly to herself as she walked home. Her bike, while not being completely bullet proof, was finished to Harrison's requirements. Nobody wanted Issy to be in a coma again… Her squadron will start their new job officially tomorrow, getting Issy away from the compound.
As Issy got closer to her apartment, there was an odd tapping sound that reminded Issy of water and she looked up to see if there was a leak somewhere in the corridor. Instead, Bree was stood in front of her door, tapping her foot against the ground.
For the first time since knowing Bree, Issy really didn't want to deal with her right now. Bree glares at her slightly and Issy begins to shake her head. "Bree please," Issy whispered as tears collected in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "Please, don't."
Bree's eyes narrow. "I just can't understand why you're both fighting this! It's like you want your relationship to fail –"
"Please."
"– If that's the case, then why would you mess with someone's feelings like that? It's not fair."
"Not fair?" Issy scoffed, tears slipping down her face. "What's not fair is when my squad and I make the decision to volunteer on the front, but Eric withdraws the request without me or my squad or Harrison knowing. What isn't fair is Eric not telling me why I need to be protected or who I need to be protected from. While I'm sorry that Eric and I are being such an inconvenience to you, not every relationship can be like you and Noah. I love you but please back the fuck up and –"
The door across the hall opens up and Eric steps out of his apartment.
Issy doesn't look at Eric even as he freezes in his doorway. Issy breathes deeply, willing him to just walk away, or better yet, Bree to move from Issy's door so she can actually get inside. Issy really didn't want to deal with whatever this situation will escalate to… Knowing Bree, it's going to escalate a lot.
"Are you both fucking kidding me right now?" Bree almost shouts.
The guys in the control room must be having an absolute blast right now…
"Bree –" Eric starts and Issy flinches at how close his voice sounds.
"Bree!" A new voice calls and Issy glances behind her to see Alec and Noah jogging towards them. Alec steps in the open space between Eric and Issy while Noah goes to his fiancée's side. Noah shares a look with Alec before he moves Bree away from Issy's door and Alec pulls his sister into her apartment.
As soon as the door closes behind the twins, Bree starts ranting about something or other again. Her voice is muffled through the door but every so often Issy can hear her and Eric's names yelled until she suddenly stops.
"Thank Four when you next see him." Alec says as he pulls her deeper into the apartment. "He saw what was happening and called Noah and I down. He also said he'd delete the footage afterwards."
Issy pulls her boots off as she wanders to her bedroom with Alec following her. "Good old roman numerals." Alec snorted quietly as he unlaces and takes off his shoes before climbing under the covers with her. Issy hugs Alec's chest as he rubs her shoulder. They are quiet for a moment before Issy speaks up. "How do you and Lilah do it?"
"Do what?"
"Have a relationship without fighting?"
Alec huffs out a laugh and his chest vibrates from underneath her cheek. "Oh no, we fight." He reassures her. "We're just private with our relationship so we keep it to ourselves. Though with our kind of fights, we usually give each other the silent treatment until one of us cracks. To be fair it's normally me that cracks, you know I hate conflict with people I love."
"But you guys never show it…"
"That's because we don't want the whole faction knowing our problems. While Bree's normally alright, Christina's always got her ear to the ground for gossip she can spread."
Issy grimaced. "Yeahhh. I'm still not quite sure what to make of Christina sometimes. I like her but sometimes she's just too much…"
"Must be a Candor thing…"
Issy laughs quietly. "Must be… Won't Lilah be wondering where you are?"
"It was her idea I stay with you tonight." Alec shifts slightly. "I'd rather you have a good night's rest for your first official day."
"Love you Alec."
"Love you too sis."
xXx
Alec jolts up and falls out of her bed the next morning when her patrol alarm goes off.
While her twin groans on the floor, Issy quickly strips down and pulls on her new gear. The tight trousers and top hugged her body but didn't stop her quick movements as she flurried around her room, sheathing her weapons. A gun hung from each of her hips, a knife was strapped to each of her calves and there was already weapons hidden in her jacket and vest.
Her shield was in the rucksack, as was her vest and Issy slung the rucksack over on shoulder. Boots were on and tied before she clipped on her keys, turning off the alarm and picked up her jacket.
"I don't know when I'll be back!" Issy shouted as she ran through her apartment. Alec groaned from where he still was on the floor. "Love ya!" The door slammed behind her and she was off running towards the garage.
As she ran through the compound, other footsteps joined her own. Red ran a few paces behind her, suited and booted. Others of 226 joined them and when they jogged through the garage looking for Bobbie, the whole squad was together.
Issy spotted Bobbie standing by a truck with the rest of her squad. Harrison stood by them too and grinned brightly when 226 stopped in front of them.
"Well shit…" Bobbie breathed, staring at them in shock before she turned to Harrison. "You weren't kidding. Damn, I thought you guys would take at least another hour, running over in pieces, and not even in your gear." Some of the squaddies leaning against the 818-truck chuckled as Bobbie made motions with her hands to 226 and back.
Shaun snorted. "There's a tradition everyone does that every time a new squadron joins the front lines; the newbies' alarms get set off and we see how efficient the new squad is. I'm pretty sure you guys just passed with flying colours."
"Told ya they have their shit together." Harrison grinned again.
"But that takes all the fun outta it!" Bobbie whines and her own squaddies snicker. "You should be doing laps because of how late you are! Now I have to think of shit for you guys to do!"
Issy snorted. "Isn't there any procedures to go through?"
"It's easier if you learn that on the lines Beta." One of the squaddies said. Issy still hadn't been introduced to the other five members of 818. "It's easier to learn on the job."
Harrison nodded. "You might as well get over there now and just wait for your shift to start. There's nothing you can do here."
"Sir!" Bobbie saluted him. The 818 started moving about and pulled on their jackets, and Issy finally got to see what their squad patch was. It was a side view of a burgundy dragon curled up with the wing flared out. On the wing was cursive white lettering saying Wingmen.
Issy nodded to her squad and BD jogged over to where their truck was at the other end of the row of vehicles. Rainbow and Lani picked up some of the rucksacks and started to pack the truck. Hec joined Issy without a word as she walked over to the SWALT room, where she left her bike last night. Hec helped hold the doors open as she rolled her bike into the garage. She parked it next to their truck and waited for Bobbie's squad to be ready and lead the way.
Some of their routine for the patrol now felt odd… They didn't have their rifles to pack, and they had very little in the rucksacks they'd been given… Bobbie hadn't told them anything about food, but Issy knew there was a barracks set up at the border of the sector.
Issy blew out a breath and shook her head.
In all honesty, it still felt like a dream… Or a nightmare if she acknowledged the circumstances that followed the squad's transfer.
While she waited, Issy pulled on the rest of her amour. She took the hard-plated vest out of her rucksack and clipped it on, pulling her jacket on after and shifting the vest around until it sat comfortably beneath her jacket. The shield slipped over her sleeve easily and Issy tightened the straps, so it didn't fall off during the drive. The added weight on her arm felt odd and she shook out her arm subconsciously.
Hec took the rucksack from her and handed Issy the tactical helmet instead of her other helmet. When Issy raised an eyebrow in silent question, Hector shrugged.
"Harrison thought it'd be better to wear. Your other helmet's in your locker."
Issy took the helmet and sighed. "Okay." Issy pulled it on and instantly her radio crackled to life.
"You ready Beta?" Bobbie's voice held a lot of static and Issy looked over to her truck. BD nodded at her from inside the truck just as the back doors slammed shut.
"Yeah, we're ready."
"Then let's go!"
xXx
The front lines were something else completely…
The 'front lines' sat on the borders of the Factionless territory and the other factions, and on the areas that didn't belong to anyone – what Dauntless squaddies had started calling The Oblivion. Sometimes the front lines slipped into the other factions if the Factionless managed to gain ground against the patrols, but the location was forever going back and forth like an extreme game of tug of war…
Towards the edge of Dauntless' territory stood a large building that the advanced squadrons used as a barracks. It wasn't anything like the one 226 stayed at while at Amity, hell, it didn't look like the Dauntless compound either. Instead Issy could only describe it as something similar to what prisons looked like in the old world. The building was cement block with a barbed wire fence running around. There was a large lookout tower next the checkpoints at the only way in and out.
The trucks came to a halt at the checkpoint and Issy's stopped her bike as Bobbie explained why she had a tail made up of one more truck and a bike. The 818 captain's voice echoed through the radio as she explained the new circumstances. Soon enough the soldier waved them through, grinning at Issy as she drove past, and the barrier lowered behind her.
They parked up in some of the free spaces. Once everyone was out of 226's truck, Issy rolled her bike inside. She didn't like the condescending gazes from the soldiers that walked past as they eyed her bike.
Each of her squaddies picked up their rucksacks and followed after Bobbie and her squad once they locked the trucks up. Whether it was subconscious or not, the males from both squadrons pushed the females between them and stood around them. Issy was about to protest but kept her mouth shut when some soldier sent lewd grins in their direction.
"That's one aspect that certainly hasn't changed…" Rainbow whispered, causing Bobbie to snort.
"Yeah, be careful. Some of the dicks that live here permanently will try to hit on you." Bobbie grimaced and BD sneered at a lad that whistled at Lani. "If they're feeling confident, they will use force to get what they want. Assholes…"
"Hey BD," Geek laughed quietly to himself before speaking again. "Can you remember when you socked a guy in the jaw for trying to assault Rainbow?"
BD growled. "Yep. Got suspended from duty for a couple of months since the fucker was an officer on barracks."
"Oh, I remember that!" Shaun chuckled. "Lawson never looked better than he did with a broken jaw."
"Fucker still work here?" Rainbow asked quietly as they came to a steel enforced door leading into the building.
"Nah, piece of scum got transferred to the fence after a few charges no one could pin to him."
"Morning Floyd." Bobbie smiled at the soldier sat at the small camera station by the door. "We got some newbies that new registering."
Floyd was far older than a lot of the members Issy's seen in the faction. His hair was whiteish grey and it wasn't that way because he dyed it. He wore glasses with thick lenses, which was odd for a Dauntless…
"Hello Bobs. We got some fresh meat?" Floyd grinned crookedly.
From behind Issy, Billy exhaled loudly. "How the fuck is that old goat still alive? He's gotta be like, seventy or some shit…"
A few of the squaddies laugh and Floyd turned to Billy and stared down at him over his glasses. "Oh god almighty," The squaddies laugh harder. "Who's leg you piss on to get back 'ere Joey?"
Billy sneered at the use of his real name. "It's Billy."
"Like I give a damn boyo."
"You'll give a damn if I shoved a knife up your ass…" Billy muttered.
Issy shared a grin with Hec at the old man's dismissive attitude towards Billy.
"Don't threaten me with a good time lovely," Floyd sighed and leaned his chin on one palm. "It's been so long since I've had a good ole rod up me ass, I'm startin' to miss the table service back at the compound…"
"That's disgusting." Someone mutters. Issy places a bet on it being Billy…
"Hey! Don't knock it 'til ya try it! Don't need no strippers when guys in the training rooms take their tops off with no reason. Actual hotties, if only I was years younger then I'd –"
"Floyd!" Bobbie shouts and the old man jumps slightly. "Newbies! They gotta be on the system!"
"Fuckin' newbies… These guys are already on the system since they last worked 'ere!" Issy pulls Hector and Lani to the front and cocks on eyebrow at him. Floyd stares at them. "Oh! Those newbies, I getcha." He turned to his computer and types for a moment. "Okay, put ya hand on the scanner and don't move!"
Lani moved forward and did as she was told. It was a long moment before Floyd motioned her away. Issy moved forward and placed her hand on the scanner. Floyd snorted. "Damn, kids are getting strange looking nowadays aren't they?" Issy turned her head and glared at him, the gold shifting through the blue. Floyd howled, slapping his hand against the wall. "Damn girl, you strange!" Her glare hardened but Floyd just laughed harder. Floyd motioned her away after a moment and Hector moved forward. "Hey! Hey! Baby Rodriguez! Look just like your papa when he was first on a squad." Hector blushes slightly and Floyd starts laughing again. "Bless!" He types for a moment again before nodding them through. "You're all clear!"
Bobbie pulls the door open and the joining's hiss quietly as it opens. She leads them through the corridors. "So, now your hands are on the system, you'll be able to access most rooms in the building: the training rooms, the armoury, the conference rooms and the cafeteria. The only time you'll really be in this building is if you've came here early before a shift and to get food. Literally nothing else." Bobbie opens a pair of doors and they walk into a smaller version of the cafeteria back home, but without the cavernous walls. It was a lot brighter too.
"Long time no see Cookie!" Rainbow calls out and a ridiculously buff man walks out from the kitchens.
"RAINBOW!" Cookie shouts and his arms are thrown out. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"
His slim tight top hides nothing about his fine physique and Issy catches herself checking the guy out. Her cheeks immediately burn, and she looks away. He looks nothing like Eric but damn, is he a fine specimen…
Hector nudges her and raises an eyebrow in surprise. "You wanna tell Bree or shall I?" When Issy rolls her eyes, he laughs. "You gonna tell Eric?"
Issy slaps the back of his head, hard. While she knows Hec was joking, she didn't appreciate the timing of…well, everything. The slap echoes and Hec's dad chortles.
"Bet he deserved it." Shaun grins.
"Oh, he did." Issy replies as Hec rubs the back of his head.
Rainbow runs over to the man and hugs him tightly. His arms wrap around her and picks her up, spinning her about. "Cookie!" She laughs. "Put me down!"
"NO!" He yells back and throws her over his shoulder. Cookie walks over to the rest of the group with Rainbow laughing and lightly slapping his back. He grins a wide toothy grin at them. "What happened? Clark pulls you all off the front – with perfect reasons of course – but then none of you come to see me? Fucking rude! Where is Clark anyway?"
"We got a new captain." Geek grins up at him and pulls Issy forward. She yelps and trips forward, headbutting Cookie in the chest. She staggers back, stammering out an apology and Red grabs her shoulders to steady her.
"She's a cutie, ain't she?" Issy blushes as her squaddies laugh. "Don't worry darlin, I don't bite." He winks at her. Shame – wait, what? Issy's eyes widen at her own thoughts and her head ducks down in embarrassment.
"I'd be careful there Cookie," Rainbow turned her head back to look at the buff man. "Her shadow is really protective of her, especially if guys flirt with her."
Cookie places Rainbow down on the ground and frowns down and the multi coloured woman. "Shadow? Who's her shadow?"
"Eric."
At first the large man looks confused and then it's like a light bulb went off in his head. "You mean Leader Eric?" When Issy nods slowly, he grins. "He's here in one of the offices if you want to see him?"
"No!" Issy quickly says before glancing to Bobbie desperately. "Is there anything else we need to do before the shift starts?"
"Uh," Bobbie points towards Cookie. "We need food for our break and then we're good to go?"
Red clears his throat from behind Issy and squeezes her shoulder. "Can we get a move on please?"
"Um, yeah sure… Cookie?"
Cookie stares at Red with a frown. "Sure," He motions behind him to the kitchens. "This way."
Rainbow ducks her head slightly and grabs Issy's hand tightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't think."
Issy realises a small breath. "It's okay."
Their lunches were quickly packed and Issy avoided conversation with Cookie, since he kept on trying to bring up Eric, that and she still blushed every time he talked to her.
When they walked back outside, Bobbie stepped next to Issy. "Do you have a problem with Cookie?" The other captain's voice was firm, and her eyes were hard.
"I have a problem with him bringing Eric up again and again."
One of Bobbie's soldiers snorted. "It's because of that fight you guys had right?" Issy stops walking and sets her golden glare on him. "One of my mates saw it in the control room and said it was about time you guys broke up – h" Even as Her glare hardened and his friends tried getting him to stop, the idiot carried. "We figured you'd finally realised you can do better than some dumb fuck of a Leader that's not –"
He makes an odd distressed noise when Issy pulls one of her guns on him. The barrel ghosts him forehead and he freezes.
Nobody moves to stop Issy.
She grins at him, her head cocked to the side. "That's not what soldier?"
He swallows and looks to Bobbie.
While the captain looks to Issy in shock, she simply shrugs at him. "You got yourself into this…"
"That's not what?" Issy repeats.
"He's not worthy of your time."
Issy smirks at him and takes a step forward, the gun pressing into his skin. "What is worthy of my time is none of your business. You don't get to decide who is and isn't worthy of my time." Issy lowers her gun and slips it back into the holster on her hip. She turns and picks up her rucksack from where she dropped it.
Obviously, the soldier's more confident when the person he's talking back to has their back turned on him, because he just carries on…
"He's still controlling you I see? Don't worry," He winks. "It would just be a quick romp in the sack."
Issy turned around and punched him in the face.
He fell on his back, clutching at his nose. "What the fuck?!"
She turned to Bobbie and shrugged. "I'm not apologising for it."
"I wouldn't expect you to…"
xXx
Issy felt a sense of déjà vu as she clung to the rails on the side of 226's truck. Except this time, Issy wasn't heading back to the barracks at Amity. This time, instead of goggles, she wore her tactical helmet and they were heading towards the location for their mission for today.
All of her squad were clinging to the rails wearing their own tactical helmets, except BD of course, since he was driving. In front of them, Bobbie's truck lead the way through the rough terrain, her own squad hanging off the rails.
Bobbie had explained during the drive through the radios in the helmets that the front lines had changed a lot since Rainbow and the others had worked on the front. It had changed from the usual patrols with more Factionless with guns to a warzone with each side trying to push the other back.
Now, instead of the patrols they were used to, the squadrons had the constant orders to get across The Oblivion and into the Factionless ground to secure a foothold there for the soldiers to defend. Bobbie also explained that after each patrol, their squadrons each had statistics regarding how much ground they captured or retook. The data was recorded from the tracking devices attached to the helmets. Apparently there was a scoreboard back at the barracks that got automatically updated every time the statistics of one squadron went up. Something to keep them all amused, Issy assumed. Though, the squadrons with the highest statistics tackled the bigger and more dangerous missions.
They pulled up and parked up at the small garrison where their commanding officer had made base. Issy pulled the face guard and squinted at the surroundings. There were sandbags packed into walls and the path dipped further ahead. Soldiers milled around, some of them were stationed at temporarily made lookout towers and others lined the sandbag walls with rifles peeking over the tops.
Inside the garrison was a large table with maps of the Front. On the biggest map that was held open by daggers in each of the corners, there were red shaded parts and pins dotted around with a small piece with the Dauntless symbol carved on at the location of the garrison. This was the ground that Dauntless owned. On the other side were parts shaded in grey with another small piece but this time it had a circle carved on. The circle was empty – the symbol of the Factionless. She guessed that's where they thought the base of the Factionless were stationed at.
In between the Dauntless and the Factionless was a large cross hatched area labelled The Oblivion.
Issy's eyes flittered across the map. Dauntless had very few footholds in the Factionless territory, but it seemed Factionless was gaining ground.
"Not a pretty sight, huh?"
Issy turned to see a large man leaning against the wall. He made Bulldozer look small and his hands held knuckle dusters. Issy turned back to the map, her fingers brushing against the territory Dauntless owned. "Is this because there's not enough squadrons?"
"Yep. Dauntless' soldiers are being spread thin. The children need protecting but so do the Lines. We're all thankful you transferred over, hopefully it'd inspire others to do the same."
Issy held out her hand. "Beta, Captain of 226."
He smiled slightly as he took her hand and shook it. "Brandon, Commander of 003 and third unit of Leader Eric's squadron." Issy nodded as she withdrew her hand, staring at him cautiously. Brandon caught the look and grinned. "Don't worry, the missions you get will be unbiased and down to the statistics of your squadron, not what he tries to convince me you'll be better on."
Issy smiles. "Thank you."
"Anyway!" Brandon claps his hands together, motioning everyone forward. He nods to Bobbie and she nods back. "Since you're early, you get an extended brief. There's been some movement on the bank in The Oblivion. It seems like the Factionless are trying to move their forces here –" He taps a finger on the map and Issy sees the location is the prime spot for a direct charge into the Factionless territory and to where the Factionless piece was place. Though, on the flip side of that advantage, it was also the prime spot for a direct charge into Dauntless' territory and to the garrison.
"Bloody hell." Bulldozer whispers.
"I don't think you need me to express how much we can't let that happen." Brandon grimaces. "Squadrons 119, 098 and 254 are already out in The Oblivion trying to get closer. You guys will be tapping squadrons 119 and 254 out but 098 will stay with you. If necessary, you can radio in to stay for longer than your shift. Are you all clear with your orders?"
"Yes Sir!" Everyone echoes.
"Squadron 818, step outside please." Bobbie's squad leaves the small room until her squad and Brandon are left alone. "226, do you understand what's expected of you?" Brandon sends a pointed look to BD.
Issy didn't expect to see the shocked expression on his face and she could see his confidence wavering slightly.
"I'm not regretting it," BD reassured them, his eyes not lifting from the map. "I just – I didn't realise it was this bad…" He shook his head and stared at her with a small bit of fear passing through his eyes. "Issy," BD said her name with so much emotion that her heart clenched. "We gotta stay. There's no way we're transferring back, not after seeing this map."
Issy looked to her other squaddies and the fear and shock in their eyes mirrored Bulldozer's. She turned back to Brandon and inhaled sharply as she lifted her chin. "It's like capture the flag," Issy shrugged. "Except life and death, and the safety of the city rests on it." A smirk twitches at her lips as she glances back to her squaddies. "Can I get a hell yeah?"
Their shocked expressions shift into wicked grins, their faces hardening. "HELL YEAH!"
Brandon nods with a smirk of his own. "You're dismissed. Don't forget to kick some Factionless ass!"
226 laugh as they leave the garrison and walk towards where Bobbie is. "We ready?"
"Yeah."
Issy slipped her face guard down and pulled out one of the guns from her hip holsters. Her squaddies readied themselves, slipping the face guards down and locking it into place. Weapons were drawn, the safety of guns turn off and voices cracked through the radio.
"Stay low." Bobbie's voice called through the radio. "We're heading forty clicks north east to where squadrons 119, 098 and 254 are camped waiting for us."
Issy turns to her squaddies. "If you guys have any better ideas than the ones set down by the other captains, please speak up. you don't need my permission to speak in those circumstances."
"MOVE OUT!" Bobbie yells as her squaddies nod their heads.
Crouched low, they followed the path to where it dipped and led onto The Oblivion.
Back in the days before the war and the founding of the Factions, this area would have been a river, maybe even a lake but now it was a warzone and a grave.
Large clumps of rumble and decayed building covered the terrain. Craters were left over from grenades and Issy bit her lip and looked away when she spotted what would have been someone with life and breath in their lungs but was now one of the many sacrifices of war.
Slowly, they made their way across the land. Eyes fixed on the opposite bank for movement.
It was eerily quiet.
No sounds of gunfire or the commotion of a fight.
The mud under their boots squelched from the rain of the last days of winter.
Issy's shoulders rolled and she let go of all the nerves and anxieties that told her this was a bad idea. Her attitude and mental barrier shifted, as did her eyes and the frown on her face. If Issy had a mirror to look in she'd see Beta staring back at her, with the vicious grin and the white-gold pupils. Beta wasn't scared of the adrenaline pumping through her body but was excited for the battle ahead.
Bulldozer grinned at her, a soldier's bloodlust in his eyes as he gripped a pair of throwing axes in his hands and a double headed axe strapped to his back. "Welcome back Beta."
"Pleasure to be back." She purred, eyes flashing dangerously though BD didn't react in fear, but exhilaration instead.
When they reached the camp next to large chunks of rubble covering it an hour later, guns from the waiting Dauntless turned on them. "Identify yourselves!"
Beta growled lowly as Bobbie responded. "Squadrons 818 and 226! Lower your weapons!"
"Apologies Bobbie." One of the soldiers said. Beta's nose scrunched slightly at the poor job of his bleached hair. "We had a blitz attack a few hours ago. None of them got away but we weren't expecting it." He turned to face 226 and Beta lifted her chin in challenge when his eyes overlooked her. "Beta. Captain Zion of 098."
She nodded back, her eyes narrowing on the jagged scar cutting over his jaw. Beta motioned to her squaddies with uttering a word, and they nodded before moving to stand on the perimeter, keeping watch as squadrons 254 and 119 packed up and lifted their wounded to their feet. When Issy had trained the rest of 226 when she took the title of captain, she made them all learn hand signals for certain orders and in the days the squadron waited for the response of their request, they taught the same hand signals to Sweets. Now Beta's thankful for it.
When the squadrons 254 and 119 left, making their way back to the garrison, Beta saw the reason why 818 and 226 weren't tapping 098 out too... 098 didn't look like a squadron, it looked like a small army… With nearly forty members, Beta realised how useful that amount of soldiers would be.
Beta eyed them, smirking a little when some of the soldiers flinched under her gaze. Her head turned back to the other captains. "Do we have a plan?"
Zion sighed. "That's what we hoped you'd have some insight in." He glanced between Beta and Bobbie. "Factionless have captured the half bridge overlooking the bank." The bridge he mentioned overlooked most of The Oblivion and would have stretched right across if it hadn't collapsed over time. "We're sitting ducks if we try to just walk towards it. Though from here, we can pick off the Factionless if they move closer to the edge."
"Shit." Bobbie hisses.
"Beta?" Cutie Pie says from her left, asking for her permission to speak, and she motions him forward. She sends him a pointed look since she had already given them all permission to speak. "What if we took the half bridge first? Taking it would mean Dauntless soldiers have the extra back up when crossing if we had a foothold there. Then we could have a direct charge at the bank with cover from the bridge if soldiers climbed the structure."
Zion frowned. "How would we get up there? Factionless would pick us off easy."
"You said if they moved closer to the edge of the bridge, you could pick them off." Beta stared at Zion until he slowly nodded. "They'd move closer to the edge if they thought we were trying to get to the bank –"
Zion snarled. "I am not sacrificing my soldiers!"
"In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice." Beta recited, having remembered reading it once in Erudite.
"Use the quickest soldiers to run back and forth." Bobbie said, earning Zion's glare. "Create a commotion so the marksmen can pick them off while another team head to the bridge and take it."
"No –"
Beta bares her teeth at him. "You got a better idea?" When Zion didn't answer, Beta cackled. "Then don't be a bitch about it."
"Fine! But if we die, it's on you." He points to Beta and she rolls her eyes.
The soldiers are ordered into sections as each of the captains take a part of the plan as their own. Bobbie leads the distraction, taking some of her own soldiers and Zion's to sprint. Rainbow and Geek stay with Zion and the rest of the marksmen that will pick the Factionless off as Beta takes the rest of her squad, a handful of Bobbie's and about fifteen on Zion's soldiers.
Beta gathers her new soldiers at the very edge of the camp, waiting for Bobbie and her crew to start the distraction. The marksmen lay on their stomachs, rifles ready to take aim.
"I hope you know what you're doing Beta." Shaun whispers from her left.
Beta hardly looks at him as she squats, peeking out from the large clusters of rubble. "Trust your son has learn enough from you to apply it in a real situation."
"Take aim!" Zion hisses and Beta watches as a row of Factionless appear at the edge of the bridge.
"Go!" Beta orders and they move forward, keeping close to crumbled buildings for cover. Shots are fired back and forth between the sides and orders are yelled on top of the bridge. The Factionless are chaos with guns, no order to their attack. When Beta and the others reach edge of one of the buildings, Beta halts. There's a large gap between the building at the shadow of the bridge. If the Factionless were to look down, they'd be dead. "One at a time and be quick!"
One by one, they ran across and hide beneath the bridge. Thankfully, the Factionless seemed more captivated by the distraction then what was happening beneath them. Beta was the last one to sprint across and once underneath the bridge she looked around.
"What's the plan Beta?" One of Zion's soldiers said.
"I dunno, got any ideas?"
"Wait! You mean to tell us that you don't have a plan? Fucking useless!"
Beta turned to the soldier in disbelief. "Kevin," The soldier blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting her to know his name. "Right now all of us are a team. Hopefully, I'm not the only one here with a functioning brain. Please, if you have any ideas, tell me."
Those that weren't of her own squad were struck silent, staring at her weirdly.
Even though it was only seconds, it felt like a long moment before anyone spoke up.
"Over there," Nina of Bobbie's squad points to their left. "The bank has been eroded away so the metal structure is accessible. We could climb that and then walk along the lower walkway to get at different parts of the bridge."
Beta wags her finger at Nina with a grin. "That's more like it."
"What if we split into groups and pen them in. Some at the start and end of the bridge, other groups on either side and just blitz 'em?"
"Yes. Let's move!" They jog to the metal structure and start climbing up, half of them on each side. "Try to be quiet," Beta whispers into the radio. "The gunfire should cover any noise, but we can't rely on that."
The soldiers climb it like spiders on a web and once they reach the lower walkway, they split into groups.
"Grenades first and then move in." Nina passes several grenade around, glancing to Beta for approval. "Wait ten minutes to get into position and then start the charge."
Beta nods. "Split up." She ends up with three of Zion's soldiers, Nina, Sweets and Red. Shaun stands with his son and she nods to him.
Beta leads her group to the wall where the bridge starts to jut out from the ground. They're a lot closer to the Factionless now, Beta hopes their heads are stuck in the battle to notice the other Dauntless penning them in. Crouching at the bridge at their position, Beta waits for the ten-minute mark as the grenade begins to feel heaving in her hands. From the other side, Red sharply nods and Issy pulls the pin, launching the grenade forward.
Explosions rattle her ear drums as she ducks for cover. The Factionless start yelling at each other in the chaos and Beta leads her group forward, gun raised. When the dust clears, Beta fires at any Factionless she sees. At the other end of the bridge, she see BD roaring, swinging his double headed axe over his head as Factionless try to corner him.
Beta snorted loudly.
"Beta move!" Red shouts and she jumps out of the way of a knife that was flung through the air. It hit a guy that had come up behind her, sinking into his chest.
Beta nods her thanks before moving forward. As she rounds a corner, a Factionless woman screams at her, and runs forward. Beta frowns, pressing the button on her arm guard and the shield panels slip out. Beta smacks the shield against the woman and the Factionless woman gets thrown to the side and over the edge of the bridge.
"Yeet!" Beta says sort of loudly and one of the soldiers laughs, shaking their head in disbelief. She gets knocked back a step when a knife hits her vest right above her heart and the knife sinks in an inch or two. She can already feel a bruise forming from the collision and she glares down at the knife. "Fucking rude!" Beta yanks the knife out and looks up. A Factionless man stares at her with wide eyes and Beta lifts the knife up. "You want this back?" His mouth opens, pointing to her and she shrugs. "Alright then." Beta throws the knife back and he has no vest to protect him from the knife sinking into his ribcage. "There ya go."
Beta grimaces at the bodies on the ground when the fighting is over. "Casualties?" She asks loudly.
"Seven with gunshot wounds." Someone calls out. "The rest are alright. Few scrapes, few bruises."
She juts out her bottoms lip as she nods. Seven out of twenty odd wasn't that bad. At least no one was dead… "Congrats Cutie Pie!" Beta shouted to where he stood reloading his gun with his dad. "The first half of your plan is working!"
Cutie Pie smirks at her. "Thanks!"
As Kevin and Nina wave a red flag with a black Dauntless symbol down to the others, Beta presses the but on the side of her helmet, connecting the radio to the garrison. "Commander Brandon, we've captured the half bridge sixty-five clicks north east, I repeat we've captured the half bridge sixty-five clicks north east."
There's a moment of silence before she gets a response. "Received Beta. Sending soldiers forward to set up station."
"Sir!"
xXx
It took two hours for Brandon's soldiers to come over to the half bridge and claim it as Dauntless' territory.
During that time, the rest of the squadrons joined Beta and the others on the bridge and helped them clear the bodies to the sides. No one from the ground crew had died either – Beta was sure to send Zion the smuggest grin she could – and only a few of the sprinters leading the distraction had been clipped by bullets.
The captains stood looking at the large building sitting on the bank that had been their original mission. Their shift time had ended hours ago, and the captains wondered if they should stay for longer to complete their mission or let the next squadrons it tackle instead. Beta wanted to stay longer, knowing that Cutie Pie would want to see an end to his plan, and she left Bobbie and Zion to argue about a decision.
Beta walked over to when the rest of 226 were sat together and she slumped to the ground next to Cutie Pie.
"What the hell happened to your vest Beta?" Billy asked her.
She shrugged. "Some guy tried taking me out with a knife. His throw was off so instead on hitting the chest plate, he hit the soft strap and the knife sunk in. I'll have a hella bruise, but he didn't do any serious damage."
"Thank god!" Rainbow laughed. "We wouldn't want our captain falling down now."
Beta snorted and flashed them a grin. "Like I'd go down without bringing them with me." She turns her head slightly when Bobbie sits down next to Beta. "So? We staying or we leaving?"
"We're staying." Bobbie says and Cutie Pie fist pumps the air. "While Zion doesn't want to stay longer, he'd like to get this mission finished." Bobbie smirks at them. "You're all doing a really good job on the first day. I think I cried or some silly shit, I wasn't ready to be thrown in the deep end."
All of 226 laugh at Bobbie's comment and Beta shrugs. "Nah, I'll probably do that in the safety of my apartment later tonight. I'm just numb to it all right now…"
Bobbie laughs before telling them about her first mission on the Front, causing them to snicker at Bobbie's younger self at how clueless and unprepared she was.
xXx
When Zion and his squadron were ready, he joined squadrons 818 and 226 as they strode towards the building.
Capturing the bank would have gone a hell of a lot easier if it hadn't been rigged with lots of C4 and exploded just as they were about to enter…
A couple of Zion's guys got seriously injured in the blast, something he held against Beta, but now the bank couldn't be captured by anyone since the rubble of the twenty-story building cut off the direct charge into the Factionless territory…
While they didn't complete their mission, Beta didn't see the down side of capturing and claiming the half bridge as Dauntless territory instead. For a twelve-hour day that should have been ten, Beta didn't think it was too bad…