The dining area of the compound was particularly busy that afternoon, the sounds of forks and knives clinging echoed throughout the hall as initiates and other members chattered away mindlessly. The instructors, and a few leaders, sat on the second level of the dining hall in order to keep a good eye on the four groups of transfer initiates as they ate. Eric and Four sat across from each other so that they each had a good angle of their initiates.

Mattie and her team sat two tables behind Isabelle's, with Nikki to her side and Warsan one table ahead of the strawberry blonde. Isabelle could hear everyone around her talking although she couldn't quite make out what they were saying clearly, the clattering noise of the dining hall drowning them out immensely; all the noise around her sounded like clutter, continuously piling on top of each with each passing second as she tried to concentrate. It seemed that it was so noisy Isabelle could barely think straight without being distracted by the noises around her.

The plate in front of her was bare and her coffee cup was hardly touched by the girl, who only sipped at it occasionally. Her other teammates—Aliyah, Virgil, and Avicus—were all eating silently as they watched their leader stare into her cup as she rested her chin on top of her knuckles, her fingers threaded together as she leaned on her elbows. Virgil and Aliyah kept quiet in respect of Isabelle, allowing her to think over their game plan; Avicus, however, was only silent because he was much too busy enjoying his lunch to care about Isabelle.

After a moment, Virgil spoke up, "Is?" he asked softly. She was silent for a second, still staring at her cup, before her eyes flickered up to look at the boy who sat across from her. "You should really eat something. You don't want to go into the course on an empty stomach now, do you?"

The brunette shook her head, grabbing her coffee and taking a small sip of it, "I'm not hungry—too anxious about our round." She couldn't help but genuinely find his concern to be cute—like a mother worried about her sick child. She smiled, bit it was hidden by her cup as she tasted the bitter drink on her lips.

"Anxious?" Aliyah asked, her dark eyes wide narrowed in slight confusion at her leader.

"The good kind of anxious; I can't wait to get back into the course."

Avicus scoffed, stuffing more of his burger into his mouth, "says the girl who made a fool of herself on the first day of training."

"Says the girl who is seventeen spots ahead of you on the scoreboard, second highest ranked initiate at this table" Isabelle snapped coldly at the black-haired boy, her hazel eyes locked onto his.

"And yet he wasn't assigned a leader in this little exercise… I wonder why." He spat back just as harshly.

"You know why," Isabelle retorted, trying to calm herself down, "Eric and Four wanted to pit me against my friends, nothing more." Even as she evened her breathing, she found Avicus' tone to be quite infuriating… just looking at him with that faux naive expression on his face set her nerves on edge in the most irritable sense.

"Oh I know why," Avicus continued as if the girl didn't give her explanation, "everyone knows why." He gave a sly wink to Isabelle, who was trying her best to resist the urge to reach across the table and break the boy's nose. Her eyes flickered upwards and spotted Eric talking with Max who was seated next to Four on the upper level.

Instead of restarting with a wisecrack, she merely shook off the comment, "let's stay on track, shall we?"

Aliyah nodded with a glare in Avicus' direction, "Yes, lets." She turned to Is who was seated besides her with a small smile on her thin lips, though the team leader could see the concern in her comrade's almond-shaped eyes, "I was just wondering if you had thought of anything yet? A strategy or something?"

"No," Isabelle answered honestly, "but I was just wondering, how do you feel about going against Warsan and his team? And don't lie, I need your honest feedback right now."

The other three were silent for a moment, thinking over what they wanted to say before Aliyah spoke again, "A bit nervous."

"Why?"

"Because Warsan's team is good."

"How so?" Is inquired, taking another sip of her coffee, "what makes you say that?"

Aliyah sat up straight on her stool, pursing her lips as she narrowed her eyes, trying to think of the reasons why she was nervous to go up against Warsan and his team.

"Warsan is a good shot," Virgil said suddenly, finding the silence a little irritating since they had a short amount of time to discuss their game plan. "He's stealthy too—the way he was able to evade Levy before he took her down, along with Conner."

"It doesn't take a whole lotta skill to evade Levy," Avicus countered, "the girl isn't very stealthy herself, plus her reaction time is slow. Have any of you seen her in the ring? Takes the girl a year just to assess a simple maneuver from her opponent."

"So what are you saying, Avicus?"

"I'm saying that you can't assume that Warsan's stealth is a reason to be nervous about facing his team in the maze; his aim and accuracy, however, are another story."

"I have the best score in handling firearms among the initiates," Isabelle replied, her eyes still appeared icy underneath the florescent lights.

"With Warsan right behind you in the second spot."

"I'm still the best in our class, so I don't see the point in your argument."

Avicus subtly rolled his eyes at Isabelle, hiding it by looking down at the table before he glanced back up at her, "If you didn't jump on my ass every second then I'd get to my point. You're only the best when both you and the target are moving, while Warsan is better when he is still but the target moves. You tend to overthink the shot and miss by a centimeter or so, while Warsan hits the bullseye nearly every time."

"So we keep him moving when we face off in the course," Aliyah said, catching on to what Avicus was saying.

The black-haired boy pointed to the girl with a smile on his young face, "Exactly. Warsan is a threat when he's stationary in a secure spot, so all we have to do is make sure to keep him on his feet, ensure that whenever he thinks its safe enough to get into position one of us is there to move his ass along."

"Alright," Isabelle said as she stared down at her metal coffee cup, "what about the other three—Sido, Morgan, and Anne? We need to consider all of them because we don't know which member Eric and Four will choose to be the hostage."

"Morgan is just about the same as Warsan; she's good with a sniper scope," Virgil said.

"But she's a stalker," Aliyah interjected, "Morgan will creep about with her eye on you if you're not cautious enough. If anyone on that team is stealthy, it's her."

"So what do we do about the sneaky bitch?" Avicus asked as he bit into his hamburger, some of the grease sliding down the side of his lips and down his chin.

"We corner her," Isabelle said as the dark haired boy wiped the grease with the back of his hand, "and don't call her that; just because she's better than you doesn't mean you have the right to belittle her," the brunette snapped at him as she gave him a stern side-glance. "We'll make Morgan believe she's stalking one of us while the two others follow and take her down."

"So is this pretty much the plan for all of them? We separate the group from each other and then lead one of us off as bait while the other two ambush the target?" Virgil inquired. The end of his lip curled upwards ever to slightly and there was a glimmer of something rather foul in his blue eyes. It reminded Isabelle of a mischievous cat that her aunt Patricia used to have; it would always sit on the counter in the kitchen and if you were stupid enough to place anything glass or fragile within its eyesight the damn thing would push it off the edge, shattering on the ground below. Isabelle always swore that it smirked down at her as she cleaned up the mess.

"I guess so," Is replied honestly. She didn't really notice that all of the plans they came up with were pretty similar until Virgil brought it up. Thinking over their game plan, she mildly was disappointed in herself for not being a little more diverse in her plan making. It wasn't her fault that Warsan chose initiates who thought and acted similarly to him, now was it? He was lucky that he was allowed to choose all of the members in his group, whereas Isabelle was stuck with an initiate that she thoroughly despised… it was better than if Eric put that punk in Nikki's team, Is thought, for at least she could keep an eye on the black-haired little shit. As she watched her own reflection in her metal coffee cup, she prayed that her plan would come together once they step foot in the course.

Isabelle had come so far in the passing weeks since her arrival at the Dauntless compound she feared that one mistake, great or small, could stain her appearance in the eyes of the leaders and initiates. She felt a great pride in her improvements, in her physical ability and her own personality, as she felt she had found Dauntless a place she could call home. It was somewhere she had made friends. It was somewhere she felt she could do great things.

Erudite was a fine compound, but Isabelle felt that she was so underwhelmed by what was asked of her there. She was a smart girl so all of her tasks and exams, the various tests she had to take, seemed so trivial as if they were just something she did to pass the time until she was to take a part of the Choosing Ceremony. She knew of the tests purpose, of what those they were supposed to do, but she never quite understood what it meant to her and her future. At Erudite she was either to become a teacher, engineer, or liberian/archivist like her mother, but none of those found any appeal in Isabelle. It all seemed like tedious, boring work to her. At least here at Dauntless she could push herself to do better. She can do something that actually mattered, by her own standards, by protecting the people within the safety and confinement of The Wall.

"Who do we go after first, then?"

It was Aliyah's voice that had broken Isabelle's train of thought as she looked up at the brown-eyed girl. They shone softly under the florescent lights of the dining hall, something the mock-leader hadn't noticed before. The girl was lost for a moment before asking Aliyah to repeat herself, to which Avicus repeated with over exaggerated frustration.

"I say we take out the leader first—Warsan." The black-haired boy suggested.

Isabelle couldn't help but disagree with him, but not for personal satisfaction, "I think we should leave him for last."

"And why's that?" Avicus inquired rather hastily as he finished off his lunch shamelessly.

The brunette girl lowered her eyes, not out of embarrassment but because she was focusing on the words she wanted to use, trying to find the best way to convey her point. "Warsan is very headstrong, but he let's his emotions and cockiness get the best of him most of the time. That's why he loses points, because he gets distracted by his own personal feelings which gives his opponents time to strike." Isabelle paused for a moment, allowing her eyes to glance up into Avicus', "it's psychological."

"What is?" he asked, unamused by her words.

"if we take out Warsan's teammates first we can taunt him for not taking care of his comrades, letting them die so to speak. I know Warsan, the stress and guilt of letting his teammates get attacked while he's done nothing will make him reckless."

"Or it'll piss him off and he'll want blood," Avicus added. "The situation could turn either way, but I'd bet the latter especially if you're gonna taunt him for it. But if we were take him out first, then finishing off the rest of his team should be a piece of cake."

"And why do you say that?" Isabelle said, trying to amuse the boy by listening to what he had to say.

"Take out the leader and the team unravels like a ball of yarn; they won't know what to do and panic. A team is only as good as their leader."

"A leader is only as good as his team," Isabelle snapped back, but to her surprise it wasn't as harsh or cold as she thought it'd be.

Virgil nodded, understanding what the two were arguing about, but he had to step in with his own thoughts, "we're not dealing with some low ranking initiates here, Avicus. Warsan chose people who can hold themselves up when things go wrong, it won't be that easy to unravel that bunch."

Avicus sat back on his metallic stool, his upper lip rising in a small snarl, his eyes narrowed in frustration, "why do you guys always back her up, huh?" Instead of shouting like Isabelle thought he'd do, the boy's voice was low and guttural. It was almost inaudible as she sat just across from him.

"Your plan was good, Avicus," Aliyah reassured kindly as she tried to not anger the by any further, "it's just Virgil's right too. We aren't the same initiates we were when we first came here, so we have to come up with a good plan in order to win. It's got nothing to do with being against you and for Isabelle or vise versa. It's just a matter of coming up with the best strategy and showing the instructors that we're worthy of being called Dauntless."

"So then what are we gonna do then, team leader?" Avicus asked bitterly. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Isabelle from across the table.

Isabelle took a breath before glancing around the dining hall, her eyes falling on Warsan's table. What is he thinking? Isabelle found herself wondering as she examined the dark-skinned boy's profile from just ahead of her to the girl's right; his dark curly hair bounced as he shook his head, having a heated discussion with his own teammates; what are you planning to do? That question kept running through her head as Isabelle's focus trailed off, not even really watching him anymore, merely dazing off into the space around him.

It wasn't until Isabelle heard a voice bark at her that her eyes shot up at the balcony at where the voice came from. She tilted her headwards up to see Eric standing at the railing, his hands on the metal bars as he leaned in forward; his sharp, icy blue eyes watched her intently.

"If I see wandering eyes again not only will your team be disqualified from participating and automatically lose, but you and your teammates will have points deducted from your score and be punished for disobeying the rules."

The brunette leader scoffed quietly. "That wasn't part of the rules," she mumbled under her breath as she casted her eyes down from him, finding his stare to be more menacing that she let on, and took a long sip from her coffee cup.

"What was that initiate?" Eric inquired as he cocked his head to the side, an eyebrow raised as his voice seeped with irritation.

"I said sorry sir, won't happen again." Isabelle replied loud enough for the leader to hear her clearly, flashing a cheeky grin his direction before tearing her eyes away from his intimidating, looming presence.

Isabelle watched out of the corner of her eye as Eric moved away from the railing of the balcony and turned back around to Four and Max who were still sitting at their table, finishing up their lunch. The girl returned her attention back to her teammates as they had their eyes on her, waiting for her to say something after that amusing interaction between her and Eric.

"I say we have a vote," the mock leader finally said as her hazel eyes wandered from Aliyah to Virgil, then finally over to Avicus' face, "would you rather attack Warsan first or last?"

It was silent a moment before Avicus spoke up, "why do you care what we think? You're the leader, your orders are final. Right?"

"That's true," Isabelle mused with a small smile lacing her lips, "but I don't want to do something if we're not all on the same page." Her eyes remained on Avicus as she silently asked him for his input, blinking casually as she calmly waited.

Avicus huffed, arms still crossed against his chest, "I still say take out Warsan first."

As Isabelle looked over at her remaining teammates just as the two of them exchanged glances with one another. Although no words left either of their lips Isabelle could tell that they were silently having their own conversation. The mock-leader had known that they came from the same faction, but she was still unsure if they were friends or not. As she examined their facial expressions and small, subtle movements she slowly began to understand that they had some sort of past relationship. Perhaps they are friends, Isabelle thought, or even ex-lovers.

"I like your idea, Is." Aliyah finally spoke, turning her head sharply to give her leader a curt nod, approving of her decision.

Virgil nodded in agreement, "same here. As much as both plans are valid, I feel that we'll have a greater possibility of success with your plan."

The brunette couldn't help but let a small chuckle surpass her lips, the end of her mouth curling upwards in a smirk, "you kind of sound like an Erudite, Virgil."

The red-haired beauty cocked a grin, his eyes shimmering with adoration at his leader's words, "I'll take that as a compliment."

She gave a quick nod before her eyes scanned over her other teammates, "it's settled then, we leave Warsan for last. When we enter the course we distract each member of his team in order to separate them from each other. Once that's done, we'll stalk and bait the individual until we can take them out."

"What if they reach their hostage first before we can successfully do that?" Avicus asked, a small pout lingering on his face.

"Then there's nothing we can do," she replied rather plainly, "we'll just have to make sure to take them out as quickly as possible so that they don't have time to find their hostage. If we take them all out quickly then we automatically win, so instead of wasting time trying to find our own hostage we'll eliminate the enemy instead. Does that sound good to everyone?"

The three of them nodded their heads, even Avicus though he seemed a bit reluctant to do so. Although he has the tendency to speak his mind and be brash with his words, after being straightened out by Isabelle that morning before their first match-up, he still listened to her instructions and did what he was told, so she didn't give it another thought.

The team finished up their lunch quietly after discussing their plan. Isabelle finished her coffee and she prayed that her plan worked; it wasn't that she wanted to be right and prove Avicus that she was worth being called a leader. No, that wasn't it at all despite her stubbornness. She prayed that her plan worked because she didn't want her teammates to suffer because she couldn't lead them properly—even Avicus.

Isabelle took a deep breath. This was one of the last times that she could prove herself worthy of being in Dauntless. Seeing that it was already the end of the week, the initiates only had one week left to improve their status before the instructors would examine the scoreboard and kick those who didn't make cut out of the faction forever. In two weeks time the second stage would begin. In three in a half weeks initiation would be over and those who were skilled enough to make it in would be given their new jobs and they'd start their new lives as members of Dauntless.

"Alright kiddies," Four's voice boomed through the dining hall, causing all attention to land on him, "it's time to go."