Eric's POV

Eric stood next to the net, a bored expression permanently plastered onto his face. When he was promised a leadership job right out of initiation, he had grand hopes of sitting in some gilded office, holding secret meetings and making high level decisions. Guess that was the Erudite in him. He sure as hell wasn't expecting to have to babysit a bunch of snot-nosed kids (sure, they were only a year younger than him, but who's counting?) and writing a bunch of cringe ass names on a chalkboard. Seriously, these soon-to-be-Dauntless kids were so uncreative. Wow, another Inferno. Great, not like we don't have five thousand of those running around this faction.

Eric watched with the same boredom as a girl in a Candor outfit fell into the net with her eyes shut. Here comes our second jumper. God, somebody put a .38 to his head already. "What's your name, initiate," Eric asked, fighting the urge to yawn.

The fact that she took a minute to think meant she was going to be picking yet another stupid ass "courageous" Dauntless name. Great. Yet another beacon of originality for this faction.

"Ariel. My name is Ariel." Seriously? Like the little fucking mermaid? That's not even badass. Also she wasn't even a redhead. "That's a stupid name," he scoffed, partly for the release of letting his increasingly more intrusive thoughts win, and partly because Eric was a massive sadist (and owned it!) who took great pleasure in putting others down.

"Really? What's your name? I bet it's so much better." Damn, bitter much? Eric must have really struck a nerve with that one. Nice. "Eric," he replied, leaning in. "You'd better remember that name because I am personally going to ensure that your new life here is a living hell."

"Eric?" she asked curiously.

"Hm?" he replied, pleased by the more subservient change in her demeanor.

"You'd better remember to use some Tic-Tacs next time," she smirked. Excuse her? What the fuck did she just say to him? Oh no. Hell no. No no no. He could verbally beat people up but he was a Dauntless leader and this little bitch was not about to disrespect him. Uh uh.

"You're going to regret ever opening your mouth, initiate" he threatened, getting as close to her as he could while the members behind him restrained him from actually touching her. He made a mental note to fire them later.

As soon as he had finished that sentence, she brought up a can of something and sprayed it into his open mouth. Minty. Wintermint, perhaps? Well, she'd be begging for winter when he sent her down to the fiery depths of hell where she belonged.

After showing the rowdy bunch of ragtag miscreants to their dorm rooms, Eric couldn't give less of a shit about being the next Dauntless HGTV rep and giving them some grand damn tour of the place, so he led them straight to the training room.

He needed to blow off some steam, so he grabbed his favorite Rock Island 1911 and began to show them some basic shooting stances. He fired off a few rounds, all of which hit the center of the bullseye, of course. Eric was practically the Annie Oakley of Dauntless and he took great pride in that fact.

He walked around the room observing the initiates as they pitifully attempted to handle a loaded gun for the first time, thankful yet also somewhat disappointed that no one had managed to blow off a body part just yet.

Then he got over to that mermaid bitch, observing the holes in the outer rings of her target. "Figures you wouldn't be able to get anything right on your first day," Eric sneered, towering over her to intimidate her. "Here," he said, roughly shoving her limbs into position, grateful for the opportunity, however slim, to pull that smart-mouthed bitch apart without some tight-ass security guard holding him back.

"A thank you seems to be in order, initiate," Eric toyed with her. She took a deep breath as he smirked. Finally this bitch was learning. "Eric, go to hell."

Ha. Ha. Ha fucking ha. Oh wow she should be doing stand up at the Apollo. God, she was just the next fucking Robin Williams wasn't she?

He grabbed her arm and yanked her over to the ring. Let's see how funny she was when he was pummeling a fist into her mouth.

He announced the fight to the rest of the audience, taking great joy at their fearful expressions. Ah, if only he had riled the same anxiety out of her. But no matter. All in due time. He just needed to show her that he could beat the living shit out of her in 10 seconds flat. Then the fear would come.

He sent some very powerful punches her way, but her lithe body enabled her to have quick reflexes such that she managed to dodge all of them. Eric was growing increasingly frustrated, until he had a nice little haymaker in line to make a perfect beeline to her temple. Bingo.

He felt her hand grab his wrist and in the next instance he was lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling trying not to groan at the throbbing pain in his head. Well she wasn't the only one with some tricks up her sleeve.

Eric kicked up at her and jumped up to his feet again. He tackled her to the ground and jabbed her in the ribs. He was absolutely going to win this fight, but he had to admit, no one in Dauntless, male or female, initiate or member, had ever lasted that long in a round against him. Had Eric been a stronger man, he would have tamped down the erection that thought gave him, but as this fight seemed to be demonstrating, Eric was a very, very weak man.

"This fight isn't nearly over," he whispered, trying to reclaim his fragile masculinity. She gave him a smile that make his southern friend expand while she leaned in as if she were going to kiss him. Eric couldn't help but hold his breath in anticipation. A woman who could almost (almost being the key word) kick his ass and also wanted to fuck him? Hell yes. He needed a good lay, and Eric never told anyone, but he loved fighting as a form of foreplay.

"Eric," she whispered in a breathy voice that gave him a quick vision of what their night would be like, "go to hell."

Eric lie flat on his back. Unbelievable. Well, it certainly took long enough. Finally, he had a real challenge.