(A/N: Just for clarification, this episode takes place about a week after Milton's Minute. Want to know what happened during that period of time? Worry not, and see the Author's Notes below- until then, enjoy the story!)
~o.0.o~
She threw it away.
That was all Justin could think to himself as he rooted around in the kitchen garbage, pulling out papers and scraps of food to get a better look inside. After Ella had been given the revenge idol- the statue with the ability to eliminate anyone, any time- the girl had, predictably, been overwhelmed by the prospect. She didn't have a mean bone in her body- the thought of suddenly taking away someone's chance at the million was frankly appalling to her. Justin had figured she might feel that way.
"What are you going to do with it?" He had asked her that night, "It's a big responsibility."
She hadn't responded intially, her eyes still locked on the idol.
"Ella? Hello?"
Her eyes had darted up to meet Justin's.
"Oh, sorry! I know just what to do with it!"
She had skipped off with it then and there. No more had been said about the matter. Justin COULDN'T say anymore. After all, his recent falling out with Noah had left him under a lot of suspicion. If he pushed too hard to get the idol, or got caught trying to steal it, it would be over for him.
He should have just stolen it.
A few days after that night, Ella took a trip to a small Oregon town. When she returned, Justin decided to ask her about it.
"Oh, that old thing?" The response had been, "I threw it away!"
And that was led Justin to his current predicament of sifting through garbage. He knelt there, scowling to himself as his hand made contact with a rotting piece of god-knows-what. He pulled his hand away, getting to his feet and kicking the garbage over.
"Damn it- empty!"
He stood there, silent, until a voice called to him from the doorway.
"You just spend your days sifting through garbage now?"
Justin spun around, already armed with a dozen reports, but was caught off guard when he saw Quinn leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed. Justin eyed her suspiciously, before wiping his hands on a nearby towel.
"Dropped something in th- does it really matter?" He scowled, "Shouldn't you be strangling small animals or setting something on fire?"
"Meh. Loses the novelty after the first forty times," she shrugged, "I'm here for something much more interesting."
"And that is...?"
"A deal. With you."
Justin did not let his surprise show.
"And why would I make a deal with YOU?" He scoffed.
"Because, sweetie. You're desperate," Quinn said plainly, "we both know you're not searching through garbage for the fun of it. You're looking for the idol."
Justin frowned.
"How do you know about-"
"Word spreads. And you find the most interesting things laying around sometimes."
"Wait... You have it?" Justin demanded.
"Maybe. Maybe not," Quinn smirked, "now, as I was saying. Let's make a deal."
"...what do you want."
"Look, there are people I want gone, there are people you want gone. In my case it's Lucky, Johnny, Veronica, and that one girl who keeps giving me weird looks. Lucky for you I'm not asking you to get rid of them- for now I just want Mark and Margo gone."
"Mark and Margo? Why, exactly?" Justin asked.
"Because they might figure somethin out that'll get my friend and me kicked off the show. Look, you do this, and I'll get rid of Heather- and Alejandro."
Justin considered it. He was silent for a long time, before saying, "Okay... you have yourself a deal."
~o.0.o~
Tyler stood in front of the mirror, a determined look on his face.
"This is the day."
He slowly turned on his iPod, putting on a pair of headphones.
"I'm not going out so easy this season. This is the day everything changes!"
He hit play on his iPod. Moments later, Joe Esposito's "You're the Best" began playing.
"GET PUMPED BRO! WOO!"
With that, Tyler kicked his door open, speeding down the hall, nearly knocking over Margo and Deborah.
"What in the-" Margo started.
Tyler sped up to the deck, where everyone was having breakfast. He stopped at a table, grabbing some pancakes and shoving them into his mouth.
"WOO! CARB IT UP, BRO!"
"...that was my breakfast," Alejandro frowned.
"CARBS!" Tyler shouted again before rushing off.
Minutes later, he was air boxing in the kitchen while DJ watched in horror.
"You're freaking me out, man!" DJ stammered.
"Boxing, bro!"
It wasn't long before he had moved on to push-ups. He was back on deck, panting heavily as Alejandro and Bridgette looked on in concern.
"Two hundred and twenty four...two hundred and twenty five..."
"Amigo, please!" Alejandro said, "You'll only wear yourself thin for the challenge!"
"Nah... bro..." Tyler panted, "I'm... doing... just..."
Without another word, he collapsed to the ground. Julie happened to wander by just then, coffee in hand, stopping when she saw Tyler. She looked at him, and then to Alejandro and Bridgette before taking a long gulp of her drink and saying, "Don't want to know."
Tyler slowly raised his head, looking up at her.
"Did... Did I win?"
"Sure, Tyler. Sure." Julie took another drink. "Anyway, when you guys are done... doing this, get ready. We've almost arrived at our destination."
"Destination?" Alejandro frowned, "There doesn't seem to be much out here besides freezing waters..."
"Exactly," Julie smiled, "but more on that later. Right now I need to get everyone rounded up."
True to her word, a short while later, all eighteen contestants were waiting on deck while Julie explained the day's challenge.
"You need to bring your a-game, because this won't be easy," she warned, "this challenge comes straight from Milton himself. A Reality challenge based off of Survivorman, you will be spending a night in the Alaskan wilderness."
"Uh, excuse me!" Heather scowled, "We could DIE!"
"Relax, nobody's dying," Julie assured her, "we're supplying you guys with clothes suitable for the cold weather, as well as a small amount of food. You'll also be monitored by the camera crews- so I think you'll be more than safe. Your real concern here is going to be building a shelter for you to stay in. That's how you'll be graded- whoever builds the best shelter will be judged the winner. The other team WILL send someone home tomorrow night."p
"Great. Could this get any worse?" Heather complained.
"Don't tempt me, Heather."
~o.0.o~
The contestants were soon dressed in warm coats, and given their supplies for the night. Other than a few dry rations, they were also given a lighter, and a hatchet for cutting wood. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination- a dense forest with sparse patches of snow here and there. The contestants began to pile off, looking around.
"So, anyone have any ideas where we could set up?" Bridgette asked as she and her team began heading into the woods.
Heather simply began to wander off, shivering despite the jacket.
"Hey- where are you going?" Bridgette frowned.
"This way," Heather growled, her teeth chattering, "I could care LESS what you losers do!"
Heather turned, and continued walking off.
"What a jerk," Bridgette huffed.
"Still, best if we follow her," Alejandro shrugged, "sticking together IS the key to survival."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Bridgette sighed, "still, I wish we didn't have to deal with her."
At the back of the group, Quinn and Katie exchanged smirks.
CONFESSIONAL: Katie
Quinn and I have been planning what you might call a... mutiny. Heather had good plans- and now that we've stolen them, she doesn't really need to be here anymore. See, the plan is to manipulate Justin into eliminating Margo and Mark- if they figure out what REALLY happened to that stupid fox, our cover is blown. If they disappear before then, we're safe. Of course, what Justin doesn't realize is that, after that incident with Noah, he's under a microscope. He'll get rid of those two geeks, but he'll also draw a bunch of attention to himself. This works out, we've got four major threats out of our way.
END CONFESSIONAL
The Vault Hunters were walking through the woods, also discussing a game plan.
"Okay, what's our game plan?" Margo asked.
"Easy," Justin smirked, "we start by-"
"Uh... actually, I was more asking Johnny," Margo frowned, "he IS the wilderness expert here."
"...yeah!" Justin said, smiling suddenly.
He leaned over, putting an arm around Johnny.
"What's the plan, 'wilderness expert'?"
Johnny raised an eyebrow, quietly pushing Justin's arm away and assessingthe environment.
"Well, since we're good on food, we'll need to focus on wood for a shelter-"
"We're surrounded by wood," Justin smirked, "I don't think that'll be a problem."
"...and we'll need to find a suitable place for a shelter," Johnny continued.
"What would you suggest?" Margo asked.
"Two teams- one to gather wood, one to find a suitable place for a shelter. Once that's done we'll get building and try to work on a fire."
"Oh, wood gathering!" Tyler smiled, "I am so ON that!"
"Alright- Lucky and I will come with you to help," Johnny told him.
"-and the rest of us will look for a good space to make a shelter," Justin nodded, "good plan."
Every syllable was drenched in sarcasm, but Johnny ignored him, turning and walking off- with, of course, Lucky and Tyler following close behind. Once they got a good distance out, Tyler held out his hand expectantly.
"Gimme that hatchet, bro."
Johnny nodded, handing it to him- to his surprise, however, instead of hacking away at the lower branches, Tyler bit down on the handle as he began to scale on of the trees.
"Um, what are you doin'?" Johnny asked.
"Sawf sum goo bwanches up towp," he said, teeth still clamped down on the tool.
"...what?"
Tyler spit out the hatchet, now gripping it in his right hand.
"I said I saw some good branches up here, man- get ready to catch 'em!"
Tyler smiled, and began hacking away wildly at the tree.
"Oh man," he panted, "glad I... got those carbs in!"
~o.0.o~
"Okay- I think here looks good!" Bridgette announced.
One by one, the other members of her team began walking over to examine the area. There was a small hole in a nearby hillside- by no means a cave, and definitely not suitable shelter on it's own, however it was a good foundation. If they managed to build around it, they would be all set.
"Good work, Bridgette," Alejandro smiled, "now all we need to do is find some wood, and voila."
"Excellent idea," Finn agreed, "why don't Luna and I build a fire pit while the rest of you look for building materials?"
"Sounds good- vamos, everyone," Alejandro said before walking off. The others followed him, while Finn headed over, and began gathering rocks, whistling to himself.
Luna gulped a bit, before walking over to him, and followin suit. Once Finn was certain everyone was gone, he spoke up.
"So, have you thought about what I've told you?"
"About Quinn?" Luna frowned.
Finn nodded.
"W-well..." Luna sighed. "I just don't know. Why would she do something like this?"
Finn sighed, looking genuinely upset as he began to work on constructing the fire pit.
"As I've said- Duncan WAS a fierce competitor. And he nearly took her place in the finals last season," he turned to glance at her, "my guess is that she wanted to make sure he couldn't do it again."
Luna frowned, biting her lip.
"I still don't know... you did say you didn't have any real proof..."
"Luna my dear- sometimes you don't need proof," Finn said, standing up and putting a hand on her shoulder, "knowing what you know about Quinn, doesn't it seem like something she would do?"
"I... I guess..."
"And I did hear her confess to hurting someone on the show- wouldn't you say someone like that needs to be eliminated anyway?"
Luna was silent, looking at the ground.
"...but, if you're not convinced," Finn smiled, "why don't we do some investigating together?"
CONFESSIONAL: Finn
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't enjoy this sort of manipulation- too many lies, too many loose ends. But as long as suspicion is drawn somewhere else, the longer I stay in the game- and the more fun I get to have.
END CONFESSIONAL
Finn and Luna, however, we're not the only ones deep in discussion.
"I've been thinking, and I just can't narrow it down," Margo sighed, "who would do something like that to Point- and then blame ME for it?"
She and Deborah were walking through the woods alone, keeping an eye out for any shelter.
"I don't know," Deborah admitted, "no one on this team- and that does seem a bit cruel for even some of the villains. But my guess would be Heather had something to do with it."
"You're probably right," Margo agreed, "I mean, she and Mark do have a bit of a feud... that would be a good starting point, at least."
Deborah nodded.
"But how do we go about finding out without drawing attention to ourselves?"
"That's a good..."
Margo trailed off as she caught a glimpse of Mark walking by. Margo turned, rushing over to him.
"Hey, wait up!"
Mark didn't slow down, but eventually Margo caught up to him.
"Hey- how's Point doing?"
"Getting better. No thanks to you."
"Look, I told you- I didn't have anything to do with that! It must have been Heather!"
Mark turned to face her, scowling.
"Okay- but if it was Heather, how did she know to place it in YOUR room immediately after we had an argument? I think you were both in on it!" Mark exclaimed.
"What? Don't be stupid! Why would I team up with Heather?"
"I don't know- but I'm going to figure it out."
With that, Mark stormed off. Deborah slowly walked up to Margo, frowning.
"That went well."
CONFESSIONAL: Margo
I can't believe he thinks I'm working with Heather! I have to prove my innocence, quick!
CONFESSIONAL: Mark
What happened to Point was beyond messed up. And tonight, I'm going to get revenge- or at least a start.
END CONFESSIONALS
After a while, the three Vault Hunters had a large pile of wood, suitable for building a shelter. Tyler, however, was still high up in a tree, hacking away.
"Uh, Tyler? You can come down now," Johnny called up to him, "we have enough wood."
"Just... one... more...woah!"
A branch fell to the ground, followed by Tyler. He lay on the ground in a twisted, mangled heap, before suddenly springing to his feet and smiling.
"WOO! And he sticks the landing!" The jock cheered.
The other two boys merely stared at him in disbelief as he walked over, grabbing one end of the pile.
"Alright guys, help me lift this back to camp!"
Soon enough, the three arrived back where the group had initially split up. Miri had been waiting nearby, and she waved the group over.
"We found a good spot guys- come on, this way!"
Miri led them them to the rest of the group, who were relaxing in a clearing.
"This'll do nice," Johnny nodded, "we build there, there and there- and we should be good."
"All right guys," Miri smiled, "let's get to it!"
~o.0.o~
Meanwhile, the Enclave had also begun construction- well, some of them had. Alejandro, Bridgette, Finn and Katie were busy building, while Izzy was building a fire, and the others were... less occupied.
Quinn, for her part, was sitting against a tree, munching on some of the food that had been provided to them. Luna sat across from her, occasionally glancing up at the girl, only to avert her eyes moments later. Eventually Quinn sighed, wiped her mouth, and glared at her.
"Do you need something, or are you just looking to get your ass beat?"
Luna's face flushed, and she once again averted her eyes.
"Um... I-I just..."
"Y-y-you j-j-just what?" Quinn growled.
"I..."
Luna took a deep breath, before giving Quinn a determined look.
"Do you know what happened to Duncan?"
Quinn raised an eyebrow, before taking another bite and shrugging.
"He stepped in a bear trap and got voted off. Who cares?"
Luna immediately deflated.
"Oh, um, right... sorry."
Quinn shook her head, scowling, and was about to go back to eating when the two girls suddenly heard Bridgette scream.
"IZZY! What did you DO?"
The wood they had been using to fortify their shelter had gone up in flames completely, with Alejandro and Bridgette scrambling to put it out. Izzy was stood nearby, hands on her hips.
"Come on you guys, it's not THAT bad," Izzy laughed, "just put up an air freshener and BOOM! Good as new!"
"This isn't funny!" Katie snapped, "Go help us get water to put this out!"
"Okay, okay, fine!" Izzy huffed, before walking off. When she returned, she had a small amount of water clasped in her hands. She smiled, before rushing over and throwing it at the fire- which, of course, had no effect.
"Oh come on- REALLY?" Katie demanded.
Minutes later, the fires had died down, leaving only smoldering ashes. Everyone turned, glaring at Izzy.
"...at least it's a nice night, right you guys?" She chuckled nervously.
~o.0.o~
The Vault Hunters had finally managed to finish building their shelter, just as it began to grow dark.
"Huh... you know, this isn't half bad," Miri smiled, looking around the shelter.
"Meh. It's alright," Justin shrugged.
"Anyway, we may as well get to bed," Johnny suggested, "that way we can get an early start and head back."
"Sounds good- night, everyone," Margo yawned.
The contestants began to settle in for the night, except Veronica, who sat nearby, looking out at the water.
"Hey- can't sleep?" Miri asked, sitting next to her.
Veronica jumped a bit, before looking over at her and sighing.
"Oh, hey, Miri. No- I never really did well with camping trips or things like that."
"Yeah, me neither," Miri admitted.
The two were silent for a while, before Miri asked, "So... are we going to talk about what happened at that trivia thing?"
"Ugh. Could we not?" Veronica frowned, pulling her hood over her face.
"Well, maybe you'll like what you hear."
"Look, I- wait, what?" Veronica's head shot up, and she shook her hood off.
"Well, I mean..." Miri was actually blushing a bit at this point, "I'm not promising anything serious, but... I wouldn't mind hanging out with you some more and seeing where things go."
"Really?"
Miri nodded, and the two smiled at each other.
"I'd... I'd like that a lot, too," Veronica smiled.
They moved to touch hands, but were interrupted by a loud scream from camp.
"MY HAIR!" Margo shouted.
CONFESSIONAL: Mark
I may or may not have slipped some sleeping pills in her food, and I may or may not have shaved her head while she was sleeping.
...yeah, you mess with Point, I mess with you.
END CONFESSIONAL
Veronica and Miri rushed over to see Margo. By now of course, the other contestants were beginning to wake up.
"Margo- are you alright? What happened?" Deborah asked.
Margo, whose face had been concealed until then, turned, to reveal the sides of her he's had been shaved, the top cut into a messy faux hawk.
"...ewwww," Justin frowned.
"Who did this?" She demanded, "This isn't funny, you guys!"
"Please, calm yourself!" Ella said, "I'm sure if we just talk about-"
There was the sound of a twig snapping, and the competitors turned to see three wolves lurking nearby.
"Uh, Margo?" Miri gulped, "I think your screaming attacked wolves..."
"What do we do?" Veronica asked.
Tyler took a deep breath.
"Bro... I got this."
He took a step forward, waving his arms over his head wildly.
"YO! WOLF BROS! OVER HERE!"
"Tyler, what the hell are you doing?" Justin snapped.
"I can lead them away!" Tyler insisted, "Spent all day on cardio- come on, this way!"
With that, Tyler took off running, with the wolves quickly giving chase.
"...well, he's dead," Justin sighed.
~o.0.o~
About half an hour later, Tyler returned to the camp, panting and sweating heavily.
"Wait- you lost them?" Justin blinked.
"Yeah- wasn't easy, but after a while they lost interest and went after something else!"
The Vault Hunters clapped and cheered, congratulating him.
"You saved the day, dude!" Veronica smiled.
"Indeed- you're quite the hero!" Ella told him.
"All in the cardio," Tyler smiled proudly.
CONFESSIONAL: Justin
H...hero? HERO?! WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!
END CONFESSIONAL
"I gotta wonder though- what lured them away?" Lucky asked.
Meanwhile, a good distance away, the entirety of the Enclave was hiding up in a tree, while the wolves circled them.
"You know what sounds good about now, Izzy?" Katie asked cheerfully.
"What's that?"
"A SHELTER!"
~o.0.o~
Hours passed, and morning came. The wolves had eventually wandered off in search of easier prey, while the contestants headed back to the ship, where Julie was waiting.
"Well, I've reviewed the footage," Julie announced, "Vault Hunters, despite one or two incidents, you spent your night in relative comfort, while Enclave, you burnt your shelter down and stayed awake all night in a tree. I think it's clear who wins- congratulations, Enclave!"
"Wait- really?" Bridgette gasped.
"No. Go get some rest, you guys are sending someone home tonight."
"Aww," Bridgette frowned.
"Well, at least we know who's going home," Heather said, glaring at Izzy.
"...crap," Katie murmured to herself. For her and Quinn's plan to work, they needed Heather gone as soon as possible. But now it seemed like Izzy would be the one taking the loss.
"At least you guys have a while to prepare," Julie commented, "elimination will be at six o'clock this evening."
"Haha, come on guys. No hard feelings, right?" Izzy gulped.
Her team ignored her, silent heading back on to the boat.
"...oh crap."
Once everyone was on the boat, the day proceeded as normal. Or at least as normal as things could get. Margo frantically tried to do something with her hair, Justin was off make in-no-way-villainous monologues, while Katie and Quinn had a serious discussion.
"Look- everybody wants Izzy gone after what she did," Katie scowled, "we need a way to spin this against Heather. Unless we could just convince everyone to vote her off..."
"Like they would really listen to us," Quinn huffed, "no, we need to be smart about this."
"What do you suggest?" Katie asked.
"Hmm- we need a way to make her flip out I everyone," Quinn suggested, "we make her seem like a loose cannon- or a colossal bitch- and we have a higher chance of getting her sent home. The only question is what could we do to get her to lose it?"
"Hmm... I think I have an idea," Katie smiled.
Just before the elimination ceremony, the Enclave were peacefully eating dinner when Heather stormed out, fuming.
"WHO TOOK IT?" She demanded.
"Took what?" Luna frowned.
"My. Phone." Heather snarled, looking around accusingly at everyone. "It was on my dresser while I was in the shower, and now it's gone! One of you must have it!"
"Aren't phones against the rules anyway?" Bridgette asked.
"Not if they're deactivated," Heather scowled, "but you seem awfully quick to try and explain it away- EMPTY YOUR POCKETS!"
"This is ridiculous!" Bridgette exclaimed.
Katie and Quinn exchanged sly glances, fist bumping under the table.
CONFESSIONAL: Katie
I took a page out of Quinn's book- steal something and get someone else blamed for it. I really just threw her phone overboard, but I figured she'd overreact like this.
END CONFESSIONAL
Things quickly escalated into a slap fight between Heather and Bridgette.
"SHOW. ME. YOUR. POCKETS!" Heather demanded.
"You're crazy- get off of me!"
Alejandro quickly intervened, grabbing Heather and pulling her away.
"Ladies, please!" He exclaimed, "Show some dignity!"
"Attention Enclave," Julie announced over the intercom, "elimination in five minutes!"
"We'll settle this later," Heather scowled before walking off.
CONFESSIONAL: Bridgette
She is SO going down.
END CONFESSIONAL
Five minutes quickly passed, and soon enough the Enclave was in the middle of the ceremony.
"Okay," Julie said, "when I call your name, blah blah, you know how it goes. First bag of chocolate coins goes to...
Alejandro!
Bridgette!
Finn!
Luna!
Katie, and Quinn!
Heather and Izzy, it's down to you. And the last bag goes to...
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"...oh, silly me!" Julie chuckled, "sorry guys, I forgot to spin the elimination wheel. This'll just take a second-"
Julie turned, giving the wheel a spin- only for it to land on double elimination.
"Wait, WHAT?" Heather exclaimed.
"Double, huh? Heather and Izzy, pack your bags! Looks like you're both leaving!" Julie announced.
"Wait, you can't do this!" Heather shouted, "I'm the best player on the show! I-"
Julie quickly pushed Heather overboard, and on to the lifeboat below.
"That," the hostess smirked, "was satisfying."
"Ah well," Izzy sighed, "I'll see you guys later!"
She back flipped on to the boat, landing right on Heather.
"OW!"
"Okay guys," Julie started, "go ahead and get some-"
"Wait a second," Katie frowned, "there are only six of us! How are we supposed to compete against the Vault Hunters when they have ten?!"
"Hmm, and you guys did have two double eliminations," Julie murmured, thinking quickly, "...alright, I'll even this up. I'll be right back."
A few minutes later, Julie returned- along with Lucky and Veronica.
"Um, what are we doing here again?" Veronica asked.
"Simple- welcome to your new team!"
There was a collective gasp- Quinn, however, was not amused.
"Oh come on- ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"
(A/N: by now, you'll have noticed two things. One, OTA and RR have not been updated yet, and two, this was not written by a guest writer. Allow me to explain both with an enlightening quote once said by a famous philosopher:
"Shit happens."
But seriously folks, I've had a lot going on this week, and so did the almost guest writer. The good news is that Reality Rush and Off the Air are almost finished- but with an busy week ahead of me, I wanted to at least get out this new episode, and hope that RR and OTA will be released sometime next weekend. I apologize if you're disappointed, but know they're both nearly done and on the way! I hope you enjoyed this episode- it's the first I've felt really good about in a while. Until next time, have a good week!)