Chapter 4: Let's Make a Deal

District Twelve

"So, Coulson made this out to be like some kind of big deal… and I'm telling you guys, I'm not seeing anything," Clint said with a frown as he scouted out the mine entrance. It was clear even without going inside that no one had been in the place for ages. No one in the district wanted to keep working there, and it didn't look like anyone else had stepped in to take over.

"That's what the intel said," Quill replied with a shrug. "It can be wrong from time to time, you know. That or …" He kicked a rock across the opening to the mine. "... you know. They already skedaddled."

"Operation that size? With forced labor? Would take a while to move," Clint pointed out, peering inside.

Quill just shrugged. "Bad intel?"

"Must be," Clint said, shrugging up one shoulder.

"Think we should bring Coulson something to prove it wasn't anything big? Maybe a handful of daisies or something?"

Clint chuckled at that. "If you can find daisies in the mines, that's some kind of magic trick, Quill."

"Well I meant outside … on the way back to the jet? There were a bunch of 'em out there." Quill grinned. "Put the Million Dollar Kid to use, show him how to make a daisy chain. Useful skill with the girls, kiddo."

"That how you got a wife and a mistress?" Clint had to tease.

"Just my great looks, apparently," Quill countered.

Clint looked him over for a long moment and then shook his head. "Don't see it."

"Well, I'd ask how you got two lady spies looking your way, but I don't think they even know the answer to that one," he deadpanned.

"One spy lady," Clint corrected him.

"Two," Quill argued. "That little redhead totally counts."

"Best friend. Don't read anything into it. I tried, and it didn't work, and we're fine as is."

"Uh-huh," Peter replied from a few paces back as he turned to Scott. "Wade calls it a 'Clintasha monster'. Says it'll come roaring to life and eat anyone in its path. I think it sounds legit."

"That sounds like a Wade thing to say," Scott said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, you can't base the validity of any relationship off of that guy," Clint argued.

"He called half the couples that are an item right now," Peter replied. "Or more. There is definitely something to Crazy Wade and his all knowing … whatever."

"Pete." Clint gave him a look. "Anyone with a working brain could have called half these couples."

"He called Scott and Clara," Peter said. "Before … well. Anything."

Scott turned to Peter with a more interested look. "When?"

"Shortly after the Reaping," Peter replied. "He said something about how … that was a much better blonde to deal with? I don't know. Half of what he says makes no sense."

"I didn't even know until after the Games that I wanted to date her," Scott admitted with a small frown.

"So her kissing you during the Games wasn't a big enough clue?" Quill asked with a frown.

"I wasn't exactly planning on surviving. Getting a steady girlfriend wasn't high on my priorities," Scott pointed out. "Getting Kamala out was much higher."

"Well, we need to work on your priorities just a little bit," Quill laughed.

"My priorities are fine," Scott said, one eyebrow raised.

As Quill turned to give Scott a hard time, Clint let out a little curse as he tripped on some uneven ground in the tunnel, and the next thing he knew, he was upside down, dangling high over the other's heads. An alarm had obviously been tripped, judging by how the rather dim lighting in the tunnel dampened even further and was replaced with a soft red glow.

"Well. Alright then," Clint said once he'd finished swinging, trying to steady himself, though he couldn't quite reach the sides of the mine, even with the tips of his fingers, and he was too high up to reach the others, either.

"You alright?" Peter asked.

"Fine," Clint said, trying to twist and see the rope that had him by the ankle.

"I think I can follow it back," Scott offered, tracing the line of the rope visually with one finger.

As Scott worked at how to get Clint down without breaking his neck, the sound of stomping feet echoed the tunnels. "Oh, that's just perfect," Quill muttered. "Stupid comms don't work this far underground. I'm going to run up and let Coulson know what we're up against. Try to be quick, Million Dollar Kid."

"We'll meet you out there," Scott promised.

Quill didn't look back as he ran out, comm in hand. When he finally hit the night air — which was amazingly uplifting after being in the mine even for that short time — he hit the button to call for help. "Hawkeye got caught up in some kind of rope trap," he said. "The others are trying to get him out, but you said you wanted updates on stupid crap like this so … consider yourself updated. I'm heading back in."

"Oh look," Hill said. "Fury won this pool. You were next to curse. Color me surprised."

Coulson glared her way for a moment before he returned his glare at the communications equipment. Quill wasn't answering — too deep in the mines — and he let out a breath of frustration, biting back the swear that he would have let out just because Hill was looking at him like that.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. "I need a check-in from the other teams," he said, straightening up after a moment.

Hill just smirked as she leaned forward and started down the list. "Mandatory check-in," she called out. "Everyone able to speak, do so. If someone is out, let us know now so we can have medical waiting."

All of the kids that were still out checked in quickly, though Kamala checked in with the addition of, "Did something happen?"

"We're not going to get into it over the air right now. First team back is going to run pick up for someone," Hill said. "So if you're done and still looking for action … now would be the time to hurry home."

"You know I'm always up for more," America said, the grin obvious in her voice.

Hill checked the radar to see where they were in relation to Quill's team. "Alright then," Hill said. "Coordinates headed your way. Stay under the radar when you get close to them."

Quill was panicking — but only a little bit — when he got back to where he could have sworn the others had been only to find a few cut ropes. Thankfully, there was no blood or anything that would have suggested that Clint had fallen badly, but … there was no Clint either. "Stupid move, leaving them alone," he muttered to himself. "Probably got mixed up … went the wrong way or ... " He raised his voice slightly, "... they're playing a prank on me. Bad timing guys."

But when he heard an unfamiliar voice echoing the tunnel, he muttered out a curse and rushed off as quickly and quietly as he could into a little side tunnel that was nowhere near big enough to hide more than one person sideways. He was thanking his lucky stars for having worn head to toe black as he covered his face and the Hydra guard walked right by him, shining his light down the tunnel that he'd come down.

He waited until they passed by and started to head down behind them when he quickly realized exactly how bad this could be. He turned back to the entrance, reminding himself that he'd already notified Coulson of the situation and that help had to be on the way. He only got a few steps, though, before his foot slipped slightly on something. He picked up his foot, knowing that there were no rocks in the tunnel itself. But the last thing he expected to see on the stony floor was a dart.

His eyes widened, and he looked back down the tunnel for a moment before he bent down to pick it up, swearing quietly to himself as he turned and headed for the entrance at a much quicker pace. He kept quiet until he was in the trees, and then he went to his comm, hissing out what he'd found as well as the fact that he could see already that the jet his team had flown in was in flames. "They freakin' know we're here! And I've got a dart that was just … lying on the ground!"

"How bad is it? Do you have eyes on any of your team?" Coulson asked, sounding concerned.

"No! They took them deeper into the mine, and I barely hid from the one guard. I can't go down there without a better layout of where I can hide, because let me tell you — bare walls? Pretty crappy!" He was shouting by the end of it, pacing and looking frustrated to anyone that might have seen him.

"Just calm down. We've got a team headed your way," Coulson said, though he sounded upset as well. "Keep an eye on the exits and let us know if they leave."

"There was only the one," Quill replied. "The rest are air shafts too narrow for anyone to get in and out of."

"Sit tight. Our team is en route."

The SHIELD leadership in the monitoring room were all waiting for an update on the situation in Twelve. The other missions had more or less wrapped up — successfully — and most of the teams were headed back in, but the second America radioed in that her team had touched down in Twelve, that's where the full focus was. Until someone broke into their comms.

"I do hope you didn't turn off all the comms," a familiar voice said, echoing the room. "But I'll give you exactly five minutes to get your jet out of this district before we open fire on them. Then … and only then, will I negotiate."

Coulson glanced at the other two, the microphone muted as he leaned in. "Negotiate," he repeated, the word like a curse. "At least that means they're alive."

"At least one, anyway," Hill said with a frown.

Coulson gave her a dry look for a moment before he went to the comm to relay what they'd heard to the team on the ground in District Twelve and to Quill — to tell him to get a move on if he wanted a lift out of there. It had been four minutes when Betsy signalled that they were in the air again, with Quill, and Coulson let out a breath.

"Don't go too far," Coulson told them. "We might need you to go in again if this goes too far south."

"More than it already has?" America shot back over the comms as they signalled that they were leaving all the same.

"Cutting it close," their guest speaker — recognizably Viper — said. "My demands will be sent shortly."

The three of them shared a look before Coulson was the one to answer — he was lowest-ranked among them and was well-known to run the Tahiti program. There was no sense in letting the woman on the other end of Clint's comm know how high up her audience went.

"Your demands in exchange for…" Coulson said, keeping his tone even. "I'm sure you know we're not just going to roll over at empty threats."

"I have three of your reanimated tributes, alive and well — for now. If you want me to make them scream as proof that they can still breathe, I will. Otherwise, I'll provide proof when I send my demands."

"And how can we expect you to send them?" Coulson asked evenly.

"Agent Coulson," she laughed, "unless you've changed all the channels and plan to block me off of this one — you'll find it soon enough."

"Why the delay?" Coulson asked. "Checking with your superiors?"

"No," she replied. "Just making sure that you don't try to double back or send in additional forces. Unless you think you can reanimate them twice? In which case … by all means. Send them back."

Coulson gritted his teeth, eyes narrowed. "Come on, Ophelia," he said. "Hard to meet demands we can't find."

"You've found us easily enough. Do you really think that you can hide completely?" Viper replied before she let out a very amused-sounding chuckle. "In ten minutes, check your broadcast. I'll keep the comm on so they can answer your questions as to how well they are themselves."

The team that had gone to Three was first to land at the SHIELD base of the many teams that had gone out. It was late at night, and it was apparent as they unloaded that Rhodes was still irritated.

"Some of us have to work for a living," he muttered out Logan's way as his fellow victor smirked at him.

"Don't be mad," Logan replied with a little chuckle. "They had no way of knowing which way that meeting was gonna go. It coulda just as easily been fifty ninjas instead of tea."

"And you'd've been just as happy," Rhodey grumbled.

Logan had to chuckle. "Yes. Yes I would."

"Getting all the cushy assignments since you got on Fury's team, huh?" Rhodey asked.

"I'm sure you can go play with 'em next time if you insist on it," Logan replied. "Just gotta go learn Japanese real quick first."

"Don't tempt me. I just might," he grumbled.

"You do that," Logan replied with a smirk as Tony laughed at the whole situation. After the initial irritation of the assignment, the visual of a still-smoking Rhodey against a pristine Wolverine was too much for Tony to not find it amusing.

"Come on, Rhodey!" Tony choked out. "If they wanted to have tea with him — you so would not have fit in! Too civilized!"

"Shut up, Tony."

"I'm just saying: it's not your kind of crowd," Tony said with barely restrained laughter.

The little group made their way to debrief, but all of them fell silent when they saw the big screen filled up with Viper, Bobbi, and the three missing kids — that they had no idea were in any kind of trouble. They stepped inside the room without a noise made between them. Coulson glanced at them quickly as Logan silently turned the knob to try and not give away that there were any more witnesses to what was going on.

"I'll make this short and sweet," Viper said, trailing a hand over Peter's shoulders as she spoke. All three of the boys were tied to chairs — but they looked untouched, at least.

She smirked as she gave Peter a little once over, and then she gently took his chin in her hand and tipped his face to hers with a contented little smile. "How do you feel?" she asked him.

"Um… tied up," Peter said a little shakily.

She smiled a little wider at that. "Such a lively sense of humor," she said before she shook her head lightly. "What I meant, little spider, is are you injured or in any pain?"

Peter swallowed. "Um. No."

"Wonderful," she purred. "Thank you for proving to Agent Coulson, and I'd assume Director Fury, that I kept my word." She turned to the camera, eyes glittering. "You can have your little Tahiti fighters back. I have no use for them myself. But I do have use of a few prisoners that you have locked up in your little secret base. So I am proposing a trade. Baron Heinrich Zemo, Dr. Arnim Zola, and Dr. Abraham Cornelius." She drew in a deep breath as she walked around to stand behind Peter and rest both hands on his shoulders. "You have no use for them, much like I have no use for yours." She leaned down, over Peter's shoulders, and let her voice drop. "And Mr. Parker would like very much to get out of here, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah… the gothic dungeon look isn't for me, thanks," Peter said, seemingly trying to angle himself away from her, though that was clearly hard to do.

She smirked a little wider and moved from Peter to Clint. "Do you have any questions for my guests, Agent Coulson? I don't think I need to demonstrate what I can do … but a girl does get bored waiting for the men around her to get it in gear."

"Bite me," Clint said her way, eyes narrowed, then paused. "No, wait, you would.'

"I would," she agreed before she turned her attention to Scott.

"Save the theatrics," Coulson said through his teeth before she could go any further. "You've made your demands."

"I've made some of my demands," she corrected him. "I want Wolverine to deliver them. Alone. No follow-ups floating around waiting to reverse the deal. No weapons."

"You're asking us to hand you another hostage," Coulson countered.

"No, I'm telling you that I have further business — or a colleague of mine does. Make sure that he knows Seraph is ready to collect."

Logan looked up at Coulson as Viper outlined where the trade was to take place, and he nodded once, though he didn't look happy in the least.

Coulson let out a sigh and turned back to Viper. "We'll be in touch," he said.

Logan was waiting for Coulson to gather his thoughts. He knew there would be questions — and unfortunately, Logan didn't have many answers for him, even though his mind was racing. He let out a breath and put his hands on his hips, his focus on the pacing agent in front of him rather than what this trade-off would mean, ultimately.

"What exactly did she mean — what have you got going on with Seraph?" Coulson finally asked.

"Ah," Logan said, hedging for a moment. "It was an open favor. I don't know what she wants. It was part of the deal I made to get Scott squared away in the arena."

Coulson paced another few turns before he let out a breath. "She's made deals with other victors, and it hasn't been this … dramatic," he told Logan frankly.

"Which was why I went along with it," Logan admitted.

Coulson nodded at that, still looking troubled. "Out of everyone Viper could have asked for… she knows you won't be unarmed, not after what happened when Hydra nabbed the whole of Tahiti. So she'll have to have some other countermeasure in place."

"Likely," Logan agreed before he drew in a breath and nodded to himself. "I'm going to prep."

"You can't be serious," Rhodey broke in with a frown. "That woman's had it out for you for years."

"All two of em? Come on, Rhodey. You got another idea?" Logan challenged. "Cause I'm all ears."

Rhodey opened his mouth to argue but didn't get far as the still-live comm on Viper's end crackled to life with a horrible scream that brought the whole room to silence for a moment.

"Tell her I'm on the way," Logan said before he slipped out of the briefing room, without waiting for anyone else to try and come up with a half-hearted plan with no bones.

August 11

District Twelve

The spot that Viper had picked was familiar to Kate, since she and her friends had used it as their stomping grounds — so Logan had an increasingly agitated Hawkeye in his ear all the way down to the checkpoint.

"There's no way you can clear out all the hiding spots. We specifically liked that area because it was perfect for hiding from SWORD hovercraft," she said grumpily.

"It'll be fine, Kate," Logan replied. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm just saying — you'll be totally surrounded. She'll have the high ground…"

"First time for everything," Logan replied, but when Kate only sounded more irritated, he tried to ease her through it. "Take it easy, Kate. It's a good thing I'm trained for a crowd," he said. "And … seeing as it's supposed to be a trade-off and a message …"

"Just shut up and let me worry about you," Kate grumbled. "It's my job."

"Isn't the Elf distracting you?" he asked. "Pretty sure that's his job."

"He's on the comm talking to yours," Kate said.

"So there's shouting, good to know."

"I can hear it from here," Kate agreed, and he could hear the smirk in her voice.

"This shouldn't be a big deal," Logan told her. "She's being dramatic."

"Yeah, well, she has a right to be. You like to make little things into 'oh no now I've managed to somehow get an entire army after me'," Kate pointed out.

Logan let out a sigh and shook his head. "I meant Viper was being dramatic, but I see your point. I'll talk to you in a little bit." He didn't wait for a response as he flipped off the comm and took the little jet in for a landing. His prisoners in trade were all mildly drugged to keep them from fighting him, and they all moved along without complaint.

The hike to the checkpoint was silent, and the closer they got, the more obvious the soldiers in the trees and rocky outcroppings became. Still, Logan kept facing forward, his captives trudging along mindlessly with him until he came to the well-shaded clearing.

When he came to a stop, he heard rifles cocking in his direction. Someone hidden in the trees ordered him to keep his hands visible, and he very carefully raised both hands, palms open, as the armed, green-clad guard stepped forward, gun trained on him. He called out for Logan to remain still, and two more men appeared and went right to searching him. When he was deemed 'clean', he was led, with his prisoners, to the exchange point. It wasn't until he was in place that Bobbi led the hostages out.

Viper had taken a disliking to Peter's smart mouth. That much was obvious to see when one side of his face was a deep purple, and his mouth still trickled blood beyond his swollen lips. He acted subdued, and Logan noticed that his hands were twitching slightly, and there was a worryingly large reddish-purple bruise forming at the crook of his elbow.

Scott had his arms wrapped tightly around his chest, bent over slightly and wincing with every breath. He sported a black eye as well, but more worrying was the fact that Logan could see through the torn fabric of Scott's shirt a circling, snake-like design, bright red and still fresh, emblazoned on the skin there.

Clint seemed barely able to recognize what was happening. There wasn't a mark on him except the lipstick stain that matched the shade Bobbi was prone to wear these days, but the archer couldn't even keep himself upright, curled in on himself and very quietly whimpering; it seemed every move was physically painful.

Logan took each of them in fully, worry etched on his features as Viper finally made her appearance. "I take it you're not too fond of my art?" Viper said with a little smile. "The hard part is making it personal for each of them."

"Didn't take you for the artistic type," Logan replied evenly, though it was clear that he was incredibly angry with her.

"It comes out on special occasions," she said, looking far too amused.

"Might be why it looks like shit then," he replied.

"Really now. Is that really something to say to your friends?" Viper asked. As she spoke, she strutted along the dirt path. When she reached out a hand to trail over Peter's cheek, he flinched at the touch.

Logan narrowed his eyes at her and tried to ignore her question. "You said they'd be unharmed."

"No, not really. I said they'd be in nearly the same condition I found them — and they nearly are."

He shook his head, looking like he'd much rather tear her to shreds than spend another moment dealing with her. "Let's just make the damn trade," Logan replied. "I brought your trio — so hand over mine."

"You did, didn't you?" she practically purred. "Such obedience."

"Very compliant," Bobbi added with a little smirk that had Logan frowning hard as he watched the two of them.

Viper had moved from Peter to Scott, leaning into him as she made a motion to some of her green-clad guards, several of which pushed Peter and Clint forward. "There you are. A deal's a deal."

"All of 'em, Viper," Logan said. "Don't hold out on me now."

Viper looked insulted for a second. "I kept my word," she said. "You have your Tahiti fighters back."

"What the hell do you call him then?" he challenged, the heat obvious in his voice as Scott did his best to pull back from Viper's touch. She smiled maliciously at his reaction as Bobbi drew Logan's attention.

"I'd call him a temporarily misplaced asset of Hydra's," Bobbi replied in a businesslike tone, ignoring Scott's muted swearing at the description. "We put the work in to revive him — and the money."

"Oh, come on," Logan almost growled out. "He's here because of the Tahiti process, and you know it."

"A deal is a deal, Logan," Viper told him. "You take what's yours, and I will take what's mine," she added, now playing with the frayed edges of Scott's shirt where the red brand showed through. Scott looked like he wanted nothing more than to deck her but for the dozens of Hydra guards that would shoot him.

"Leave the kid alone. He's got no business going with Hydra," Logan said. "Either hand him over or pick which doc you don't want breathin'."

At that, she laughed out loud. "That would be breaking our deal. Do that, and I won't let you pick which of your Tahiti fighters stops breathing next."

Logan was livid, his hands in fists at his sides. "What do you want for him?"

"Don't," Scott said, shaking his head Logan's way. "Don't play that game."

"Shut up, Scooter," Logan said sounding entirely irritated. "Bargaining chips don't get a say."

"Yes, hush now and let the adults talk," Viper purred his way with a flash to her eyes before she turned her attention back to Logan with a broad smile. "You don't seem to have any bargaining chips of your own left," she observed. "And I've already had an offer from Ronan. A hefty one, in fact." It was that threat more than anything that clearly had Scott more worried — and quiet for just a moment as it sank in how bad this was.

Logan was shaking his head so slightly, it wasn't even something he was aware he was doing. "Just spit it out," he said, sounding almost resigned to it already. "I can't give you anything if you want to play games."

Viper leaned forward, her eyes glittering. "I could be persuaded into a trade," she said softly. "No stipulations, just a simple tradeoff."

"One stipulation," he replied. "All three of them are allowed to leave safely — with no interference from you — and I'll take his place myself."

"Seems fair," Bobbi said with a small shrug.

"Don't be an idiot," Scott said, eyes narrowed Logan's way.

"Look who's talking," Logan shot back. "I'm trying to get you out of here."

"Either way, she gets one hostage — don't be stupid."

"No, this way, she gets one instead of two," Logan replied before he looked to Viper. "Seein' as Seraph isn't here to cash in — isn't that right?" Viper shrugged and waved for her men to drag Scott over to where the others were. "Deal's done, Slim. Go home."

Scott looked livid as Viper made her way over to Logan — a few steps behind the two Hydra soldiers that came forward to restrain him. For some reason, though, neither Scott nor Logan was quite prepared when Viper pressed in on Logan and kissed him for what seemed like an overly long time … and a few moments after she stepped back, it was clear there was something very wrong with Logan as he began to crumple, going first to his knees, and then to the ground.

"You're free to go," Viper directed to the three teenagers before she took the comm off of Logan's belt and tossed it at Peter. "You should leave quickly before I forget what the stipulations were."

"Like hell we will," Scott muttered her way, though Peter tugged on his sleeve to get his attention and gestured to the still-curled Clint with a look that clearly said he needed help getting the older boy out of there.

It still wasn't an easy decision for Scott to make, though, as he watched the Hydra soldiers dragging Logan off in Viper's wake. He let out a noise of frustration before he turned to help Peter move Clint, both of them wincing in sympathy with Clint when the motion had him gasping again — though once they were settled, Scott took the comm to radio for backup. "We need an evac, medical — and a backup team."

"Proceed to the coordinates in the comm if you're able," came Coulson's reply. "Where's Logan?"

"That's why we need the backup team," Scott said through his teeth. "Viper took him. He went with her."

"What do you mean he went with her?"

"I mean he offered her a new trade when Hydra backpedaled," Scott grumbled, still clearly sore about how the whole thing had gone down.

"Are you telling me that Hydra now has one of their missing royalty, two mad scientists, and Fury's secret weapon?"

"I told him he was an idiot, but for some reason, he didn't listen," Scott muttered.

"He said you were special; let's hope he was right. Get back to base if you can; we can't send medical to Twelve, or she'll blow you both up. Part of the stipulations."

"Of course it is," Scott muttered.

"Can you fly?" Coulson asked, sounding strained on the other end of the comm.

"Yes," Scott replied. "I'll get us in the air and on the way."

"Check in as soon as you're airborne," Coulson replied, leaving Scott and Peter to get Clint to the plane that Logan had left behind.