Notes: Aaaaaaaand we are now officially past the victory tour! *long, heavy sigh of relief* Now it's time to start picking up the pieces and start hurtling these kids toward the next Games… and the eventual revolution. (Come on, we're not gonna let Thanos STAY in power. What do you take us for?)

Chapter 36: "Vacation Benefits"

January 16

Office of the President

As Fury waited in the ornately decorated room outside the president's office, opposite the desk of his current unlucky secretary, he could hear the muffled voices of Thanos' children in the room next door. And considering how well-fortified the walls were, that likely meant they were arguing with one another. Again.

Whatever the meeting had been about, though, it wasn't long, and when the door opened and the three favored children of Thanos swept out of the room, it was with both princesses looking murderous, while Ronan looked like he just might smile if not for the fact that he was still maintaining his best intimidating glare at the rest of the people in the room.

It wasn't hard to guess what the conversation had been about, though, since Quill had reported that the three had been arguing over not only how to split Selene's business empire among themselves but also which of them would be allowed to punish her for holding back their cut of the profits. Clearly, Ronan had won Thanos' favor on this matter, though considering his specialization, that wasn't all that surprising.

Thanos' little secretary motioned Fury next into the room, and when Fury arrived, it was to find the president leaning forward in his throne, clearly deep in thought about something before he seemed to finally notice Fury was there and looked him over once with a slight frown on his face.

"Your newest victor is unpredictable," Thanos said in an almost accusatory tone.

"He is certainly handling his new station in life differently. But it was that unpredictability that got him through the Games alive. I'm sure we can make a few … adjustments," Fury said with an even tone.

Thanos nodded at that, still looking thoughtful. "You have until the Quarter Quell to get him compliant."

Fury nodded slowly but was sure to give an affirmative as he waited for whatever else the president had to say. "I'll see to it personally."

"Good. I don't need to tell you that this year's Games should be free of distractions." Thanos looked almost amused as he said, "The scuffle with Selene was entertaining, but only for so long. If the boy continues to play unchecked in affairs over his head, he may start to think he holds sway in my palace and my Capitol."

"I'll be sure that he understands his place," Fury promised.

Thanos nodded again and leaned back in his throne as he seemed to still be mulling something over. Finally, he said, "He could be useful," though it wasn't clear if the comment was directed at Fury or if he was simply thinking out loud. But then all at once Thanos looked Fury's way again. "This... Quarter Quell — I have to admit, the premise is intriguing, but last year's tributes were, frankly, underwhelming by the end. And I do get tired of replacing Head Gamemakers."

"I can say for certain that the pool we're looking at now is far more … competitive than in Games past," Fury said carefully.

"It had better be, for your sake," Thanos said.

"We found a way to deal with the problem with Victor Creed as well," Fury said, knowing that out of all of the 'younger' victors, Creed had been a liability for far too long — and the fine line that they'd had to walk to deal with him last year was one that had the Royals' attention in all the wrong ways.

Thanos raised both eyebrows as he looked Fury over. "I suppose we could try this your way, but you should know my children have already proposed methods of their own to solve that problem," he said with a flicker of amusement in his gaze.

"I'd like to make sure that his sister, makes it into the Games this year," Fury said. "If all the information is correct, she's formidable, and he's very protective of her. I thought it a fitting punishment for his behavior in recent years."

Thanos looked honestly amused at the prospect. "Fitting indeed," he agreed with a smile.

"It might be interesting to see Creed actually trying on behalf of one of his charges," Fury continued. "Seeing as he's tried to alienate every major donation source since he won."

"Yes, let him feel the consequences of his short-sightedness," Thanos mused. "When he comes crawling for donations, he'll find the Capitol unforgiving, I expect. It could be amusing to see desperation on him."

"I'll be sure that we keep a camera and an agent on him in case he gets desperate and threatens the wrong person."

"If he does — his title won't save him," Thanos said with a wicked grin. "Though if that's the case, hold off on the arrest until after the Games are over — it would be a welcome distraction in the interim as our next victor heals to see an old victor crumble."

Fury inclined his head toward Thanos in agreement. "Of course."

"And, director," Thanos said, turning to Fury to give him the full force of his gaze. "If these Games fail to deliver — if you give me more tributes like last year's, you will be joining him."

"Outside of a few more average tributes, bloodthirsty has been a requirement this year, sir."

Thanos nodded at that and waved his hand to indicate to Fury that he could leave. "Don't disappoint me, director," he said in parting.

As Fury left the president's office, he waited until he was well out of the reach of cameras and recording equipment before he went to his communicator. "Coulson, get that team member of yours ready to go. We need to move on this fast."

"Yes, sir," was the quick reply before, a moment later, Coulson added, "She's packed and ready."

"Have you told her what the assignment is yet?" Fury asked.

"Not yet — we've had a few other things come up."

"Keep her in the dark," Fury said before he paused and actually stopped in his tracks from the quick pace he'd been moving. "What kind of other things came up?"

There was another pause before Coulson replied, "Not over the comms, sir."

"I'll be right there," Fury said before he swore to himself and picked up his quick pace again.

When he arrived at Coulson's office, his team member wasn't there — instead, she was waiting outside the secure room — but Maria Hill was there, and she looked agitated. "We have a problem," she said as soon as the door was closed behind Fury.

"Multiple problems, it seems," Coulson added with a deeply settled frown. "The most pressing of which we just discovered this morning — Victoria Hand was found dead in her apartment, and we don't have any leads on her killer. Forensics has swept the place, but all we've found so far is what we believe to be the murder weapon."

"Which someone decided to put in the dishwasher and run it on the longest cycle," Hill added with a look that was both a glare and almost half a smirk at the cheek of their unknown intruder.

"She was reading over the workup of the possible tributes for the Quarter Quell when it happened — the files were still on her desk, but we can't be sure her killer didn't commit them to memory or take pictures," Coulson said. "But that information might be incidental compared to what a member of my team has been leaking."

Fury frowned as he waited for Coulson to explain, already sure that he wouldn't like what he heard.

The normally stoic agent looked honestly angry as he explained, "Special Agent Grant Ward, Level Eight, has been feeding information to an unknown entity. An entity that staged an ambush on two of our Tahiti operatives and managed to kidnap one of them before his friends arrived and killed any witnesses." He shook his head. "It could have been worse — and it still might be. Ward had access to a lot of the Tahiti program."

"Do you have any good news for me?" Fury asked with a clearly irritated tone.

"The rest of the missions run in the Capitol were a success, and aside from the districts you already know about, so were the ones run during the tour," Hill said. "The intel we've received on Tivan indicates he suspects something about our tribute choices. He's been doing psychological evaluations of his own, looking for patterns."

"He won't be relevant for much longer anyhow," Fury said with a wave.

"He'll try to use it if he thinks he's losing his job. He's already proven how desperate he is to cling to that," Coulson said. "Thankfully, he doesn't have enough to back up the threat, but it could be enough to spark rumors and curiosity from other parties."

"I'd suggest sending a team to set him on the wrong path — or feed him false information, at least until after the Quarter Quell," Hill put in.

"You're on that then, Hill," Fury said distractedly before he turned to Coulson. "Where's your leak, and what have you learned there?"

"He's in a detention facility far removed from anything even remotely close to Tahiti," Coulson said. "So far, the only thing he's given us is that he works for Hydra, or some organization that thinks it's Hydra continuing on from the Civil War, at any rate."

"We don't follow any ancient laws on torture — get what you can however you can," Fury said. "I need to go give our newest liability an attitude adjustment."

Coulson looked toward Hill. "May invited you, if you want to help her," he said simply, which just got Hill to nod.

"Good luck in Seven," Hill said Fury's way, and there was no mistaking the smirk on her face. "I hear it's chilly this time of year." With that, the three of them parted ways —Coulson and May headed to where Ward was being kept as Fury went to go collect his travel partner.

When Fury got up to the lab, Skye was waiting with Fitz and Simmons, and all three of them fell silent on his arrival.

"Grab your gear," Fury said to Skye as he stalked through the lab.

The young woman looked positively frightened as she wordlessly grabbed her bags and gave Fitzsimmons a look that was a clear 'goodbye' as she followed after Fury.

There was, of course, a private transport waiting and ready to go when they got to the flight deck, and Fury didn't say a word until they were nearly at their destination, leaving the young woman to the mercy of her imagination as to what was going on.

She never looked out the window on the way, and just before landing, Fury finally spoke up. "You might want to zip up. It's cold out there."

She let out a sound almost like a squeak before she did just that, zipping up her hoodie and her jacket before she glanced out the window to see the trees and mountains that were a dead giveaway as to where they were. "Is this some kind of… punishment or… execution or…."

"We'll see how well you do your job," Fury replied with what would pass on anyone else as a glare.

"Which is… what exactly?" she asked tentatively. "Coulson didn't exactly go heavy on the details."

"You have two weeks to teach my newest pet project how to get around the security protocols on the palace."

"Two weeks?" she repeated, a bit wide-eyed. "That took me ages to work out on my own-"

"Which is why you're perfect to teach it. You already know how. You just need to make sure he can do it too."

She glanced uncertainly out the window. "Does… does he even know his way around a computer?"

Fury just gave her a look before he glanced out the window again. "What do you think?"

She swallowed convulsively a few times and nodded. "Right. Yeah. Okay. Two weeks. Great. Good. Okay. I'll ... make it work."

When they got out of the transport, the wind was blowing straight out of the north, bone-chillingly cold as it blew snow across their path. Both of them had to lean into the wind and keep their heads down as they trekked through the town and down several roads until they found themselves in a protected kind of cove in front of a big, heavy door.

"You'll be staying here," Fury told her before he knocked once and simply pushed the door open. "Timeline moved up," Fury called out as Logan stood up to see who was barging in.

Skye just… stared at the newest victor, completely taken aback and clearly not having expected anything like this for her teaching assignment. Or her living arrangements.

Fury pulled her inside and closed the door behind them. "This is Skye; she'll be starting off your training," Fury said. "When I get back, we'll need to have the official talk on how much trouble you're in with the Royals."

"So they got over the novelty already then?" Logan said with a little smirk as he made his way over to them. "Damn."

"Just ... be reasonable for Skye, she's trying to help," Fury said. "And when you get back to the Capitol, you better remember your manners and the fact that things have not changed. At all. Not really."

Logan nodded once and looked between the two of them before Fury turned to Skye. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be okay," Skye said in a higher-pitched voice than usual. "I'll ... see you in two weeks."

Fury gave her a look before he shook his head, turned right back around, and left into the howling, cold wind.

"Couple extra rooms upstairs to the left. I'm on the right," Logan said as he turned back around to stoke up the fire. "Pick one you like and try to relax."

"Oh. Okay." Skye stared around the place for a good long while before she finally got her legs moving again. "Thanks." With that, she grabbed her bags and hurried along to find a room, trying very, very hard to look professional and not red-faced, though that was pretty hard to do.

January 17

Tahiti Wing

Bobbi was in a great mood when she set foot in the Tahiti wing, grinning to herself and clearly more relaxed than she had been in a long time. Coulson had told her on her arrival at SHIELD that Selene had been arrested that morning — by a couple of Ronan's lieutenants. So she was likely either dead or dying by now.

Of course, Coulson was sure to tell her to take the news with a grain of salt, since the royals were already divvying up Selene's business among themselves, and the only reason business had stopped was that they were too busy determining just how much money they'd been cheated out of — and determining just how they were going to run things their way — to care about actually, well, running things.

But that wouldn't last forever — and Bobbi was determined to enjoy it while it did. And with such a good mood surrounding her, the first thing she did was head to the shooting range to see if she could surprise her favorite archer.

But he wasn't there. And he wasn't in the training room, or the cafeteria, or the rec room, or anywhere else, which meant he had to be in the med bay; that was the only place left she hadn't checked.

Since the victors hadn't been in on what was going on during the victory tour, Bobbi was surprised when she arrived to find that not only Clint but three other kids were there, in various states of recovery. Sin was just there to get one last check up on her mild concussion, her arm in a cast and a look of annoyance on her face at having to be there. Peter was still hooked up to a few monitors, and Bobbi had to frown at how pale he was, though if she'd been around during the tour, she would have known that he was actually showing more color than he had for days. Kurt was resting peacefully, his head and chest bandaged — and there was Clint, actively arguing with Claire about whether or not he should stay in the med bay any longer.

"Look, you said yourself it was out of my system after twenty-four hours," Clint argued.

"That's not the only concern — you still haven't recovered from the surgery to remove the bullet in the first place," Claire shot right back, hands on her hips and clearly having none of Clint's nonsense.

"Sounds like you might need to go back in and pull his head out," Bobbi said as she headed his way with a smile. "I leave you for five minutes, and you end up with a gunshot and … poisoned? Really?"

"It happened at the same time," Clint said with a wave. "It's not like I went out, got poisoned, got better, and then went back out and got shot. That would be a horrible track record." He made a face to accentuate his point before he switched gears and flat-out grinned her way. "Long time no see, Bobbi. You look great."

"That's because I'm pretty sure that was the best trip to the Capitol I've ever had," she said as she took a seat on his bed, facing him.

"Really?" He leaned away from Claire and blatantly ignored her as he beamed at Bobbi. "What happened — really good late Christmas present?"

"Oh yeah, you know," she said, grinning. "Murder and mayhem in a roundabout way. That and Victor Creed was MIA for the first two days, so that was pleasant."

"Sounds like," he said, nodding his agreement before he grinned wider and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

She just grinned wider and stole a proper kiss before he could lean back again. "So how'd this happen?"

He shrugged lightly but didn't drop her gaze. "Details are a little sketchy on that, Bob. Honestly. There was a black-clad assassin involved, who shot me with a bullet laced with poison, and then that was the worst hurt I've had in my life for about twenty-four hours, so nobody's really taking my word for anything that happened while I was half-delusional. Apparently, Steve couldn't even carry me right, so I guess that makes my testimony null and void." His tone was light but his expression clearly read that he was annoyed.

"That sounds more like Charles' territory than anything else," Bobbi said. "And he should be here later."

"Good, because if it was who I think it was? And I really think I'm right on this, Bobbi. I really do. But if it was? We've got problems," he said in a low whisper, his eyes wide. She held his gaze for a moment before he let out a frustrated noise and waved his hand.

"The last few weeks have been wild," she said when it was clear he didn't have anything further to say outside of just generally looking annoyed about whatever had happened. "Ups and downs all the way through. It's ridiculous."

"Yeah, well, it looks like it ended on an upswing for you at least," he said, gaining back some of his grin.

"The last part was … pretty spectacular," she admitted. "It was even dinner and a show."

"See, now I have to throw out all my plans. Whatever happened clearly upstages Clint Eastwood and some kitchen scraps," Clint said in a little whisper with a troublemaking look in his eyes.

"I might have to disagree," she said with a smile that matched his in trouble. "It's not so much what you do as it is who you're with."

"So I'll pick you up after training?" he offered. "I'll even dress nicer. I've got… three shirts, and one of them is even decent."

"I am so tired of dressing up," she said, shaking her head at him. "I'm game for sweatpants at this point."

"Great. Sweatpants, Clint Eastwood, and 'Ro said she could swing a jello dessert from the kitchen that the ladies may make too much of and need to get rid of the extras somehow. Who knows where it'll go." He grinned. "It's a mystery." With that, he swung his legs around and got to his feet. "What say we take a walk and call it physical therapy?" he teased.

"Lead the way," she said, offering her arm for him to lean on.

He grinned even wider at her the entire way out of the med bay, and they made it down a few halls with him just smiling her way before he had to spill on some of the stuff she'd missed. "Did you know our resident vampire actually can doctor when he wants to?" he asked, and she didn't miss that he'd said it when they were in a hallway close to Essex's office.

"I did know that, as a matter of fact," she said. "He's very good at his profession."

"Yeah, that's what people keep saying. Talented doctor, smart physician, pain in my… well. You know the rest."

She shook her head and pulled him around a corner so she could give him a squeeze. "It's so nice to be back."

"Yeah, missed you too, Bobbi," he admitted as he wrapped her up in a proper hug before he suddenly stopped and straightened. "Oh — hey — waitaminnut. I've got something for you," he said as his grin got that much wider.

"Did you leave it somewhere hard to reach, or should I search you for it?" she asked, almost straight-faced. Almost.

"See, now I wish I had it on me, but nah, it's in my digs," he said. "At least, I think it still is. Told Steve to put it there."

"Well, you want to just meet up with me later so you can properly prepare?"

Clint considered this for a second before he grinned. "Yeah, I think I like that plan." He leaned over to steal a quick kiss. "Think I like you when you're in a good mood. And here I thought you'd be cranky coming back from the Capitol.

"Normally, you would be right," she said with a nod. "See you in a little while." She turned to walk away, grinning to herself.

He didn't wait long to catch up to her again, this time more properly dressed in less med-bay-issue clothes — jeans and a purple tee shirt and a hoodie he hadn't zipped up all the way. "Excuse me, miss, but are you interested in a movie and a little dinner company?" he asked with a sideways grin.

She gave him an easy once over, grinning wider as he got closer to her. "I think that'd be an acceptable way to spend the evening."

He chuckled a bit and offered her his arm as they headed to the rec room together — which she noted he'd somehow managed to clear out.

"Is this where I frisk you?" she asked.

He grinned and closed the door with his foot, giving her an easy shrug in answer. "You're the SHIELD agent here. I'm just the thief with the goods on his person."

"That sounds suspiciously like a confession, Mr. Barton," she said, laughing at him just a bit.

"If I tell you it was part of my cover, does that ruin the roguish image? Because then I won't tell you that," he replied easily as he pulled her onto the couch with him, practically toppling over backwards in a somehow still-graceful move.

"No, that doesn't ruin a thing for me," she said before she looked him up and down again. "Did you know that they trained me to look for hidden items?"

"No, but I figure a smart girl like you probably already knew that stuff," he said with an easy smile.

She leaned in to give him a quick kiss, and as she did, she slipped her hand into his hoodie pocket, though what she felt there had her stop in her tracks. "Where … what did you do?"

"I'm a thief, I told you," he said, though he looked a little more serious. "Things went south at one of the places I was supposed to bug, so we made it look like a break-in."

She pulled her hand out of his hoodie and just … stared for a moment at the cut gems there. "Okay, so it's just a treasure hunt then?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Pretty much," he agreed, smirking. "And if you think it was easy to get those out of the weird setting they were in, you haven't seen Norman Osborn's pumpkin obsession."

"Ugh," she said, making a face at the mere thought of her obnoxious fellow victor. "Yes, I kind of have." She stood up and pulled him to his feet to properly frisk him, though she stopped short of the full effect when she'd emptied out his pockets. "Back pockets were my favorite," she informed him when she was through and they were both grinning.

"Wasn't sure about 'em, but you were in a good mood," he said with a crooked grin.

"Well … the front pockets were fun too, but that could have gone an entirely different way."

"You're an efficient frisker, Miss Morse," he said, still with that same grin. "And now you've got some pretty rocks to wear around your neck next time you have to deal with people — and you can know it's Norm's."

"Oh, I'm not wearing anything like this around them," she said with a grin.

"Really? For me, that'd be half the fun. Knowing Osborn's missing things and has no clue they're under his nose," Clint said.

"Well, I'll have time to think about it," she said. "No scheduled trips back for a while." She couldn't help but just grin wider at the thought.

"Hey, I like news like that," he said as he dropped into the couch again and pulled on her arm. She snuggled into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. "I missed you while you were gone, and I didn't get the chance to thank you for the Christmas presents til, well, just now."

"You liked that, then? Please tell me that wasn't the reason you ended up in medical."

"It wasn't," he promised, grinning down at her. "Actually, ol' Pale Vampire Doc Man has been pretty…" He paused. "What is the word for friendly when you're not a friendly person?"

"Fake."

"Yes, that. Didn't even bat an eye when he walked in on the kids holding hands and sweet talking each other. Just did the doctor thing and told Katie to check on her friends too."

"Well, he does tend to put the medical issues first and then worry about behavioral issues. That's kind of why Charles is even here. After the breakdown last year with … one of the Tahiti people."

"I didn't know that," Clint said, sitting up a bit so he could look at her better. "You mean like Bruce and his temper, or... ?"

"No," she said, shaking her head lightly. "We're not entirely sure what went wrong with her. Hank blames Essex, Essex blames Hank — I don't think either of them is really to blame though. All things considered. The process worked perfectly, and Essex's work was flawless."

"So you think it was a problem with the kid herself," Clint surmised.

"Yeah, I do," she said. "There were factors that no one knew about until afterward and … she really needed a shrink."

"Sounds like that's kind of on par with most of us, though," Clint pointed out. "Not like me or Nat was in that good of shape to begin with, and Pepper just about went nuts beforehand…"

"She wasn't a Career, so you can't even blame the training angle," Bobbi said. "And her injuries were nowhere near as … extensive as Pepper or Peter. Or you."

Clint just shook his head. "People like that've got no reason being in the Games in the first place."

"She went AWOL after she was here for a few months," Bobbi continued, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Coulson is still mad about that."

"I bet," Clint said with a bit of a smirk. "How much money you think he dumped into each of us? SHIELD's gotta be in the red for a loss like that."

"No idea, but she didn't get any training to speak of afterward either because of the psychological concerns," Bobbi said. "Not as much as the kids they have now."

"Why not train her?" Clint asked with a frown. "Or is she more like Cassie and Pep — just… seeing if it works?"

"No, she was a fighter in the Games," Bobbi said. "But ... she was broken."

Clint frowned as he thought it over. "Games do that to kids," he said quietly.

"She was broken going in, Clint," Bobbi said seriously. "She was an abuse victim. The Games just made it worse."

"Yeah, well, Charlie would say the Games make anything that you bring in worse. But I've sat in on a lot of his sessions, so maybe that's just me," Clint said, waving his hand.

"No, he's right," Bobbi said. "Though I should probably stop in for tea one day soon. I very nearly did something stupid — it was a rookie mistake too."

"Didn't think you made rookie mistakes," he said as he settled into a tighter snuggle with her, his nose in her hair.

"I got ... desperate," she said honestly. "I wanted to see this woman get her due, and ... I took Viper's advice."

Clint pulled away from her for a moment so he could look her in the face. "What for?" he asked, clearly taken aback.

She let out a long breath and sat upright as she pulled her feet up off the floor and halfway under herself. "There was this … woman that made it her business to make sure the victors were all extra miserable and I just ... had it with her. So. I thought I'd try out one of Viper's concoctions."

Clint watched her with still-wide eyes as she told him the story. "And…" he prompted quietly.

"And our newest victor stopped me from doing something that would have blown up in my face."

"Huh." Clint watched her still for another long moment before he finally let out a sigh. "Remind me to thank him next time I see him, then. I prefer you not exploded," he teased lightly.

"I didn't know he had her set up for a fall already," she explained. "By the way, she's dead now."

"Well, that was a rollercoaster of a back-and-forth," Clint said, shaking his head, but his gaze was still on her expression.

"And that was just one day," she said. "It was like that. The whole. Tour."

He smiled a bit at that and leaned into her for a kiss. "Glad he stopped you. Doing stupid things is my job."

"Clearly. That's why you ended up in medical," she pointed out.

"True story," he agreed before he kissed her again, being very gentle about the whole thing as he very carefully pulled her close. "So you gonna be okay, or do we need to tell Charlie you're listening to Viper?"

"I think he already knows I had a lapse in judgement," she admitted. "It spread like wildfire with the victors once Peter Quill broke loose from Gamora."

"That sounds like way too much politicking for my tastes," he said, making a bit of a face. "Rumors and all that crap. Easier on this side — just point me at someone and shoot 'em. I don't know how you do both sides of this."

"This is my vacation time," she admitted. "Honestly, I don't know how the other victors don't do this when they're not expected to smile at those people. Though, smiling apparently isn't mandatory anymore either."

"So… I'm a vacation benefit?" he asked with a troublemaking smile, clearly trying to get a grin out of her.

"Yes. Yes you are," she agreed before she slipped closer and kissed him a lot better than she had before. "But I might need to frisk you again to be sure you're not hiding anything else."

He grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders, bumping hers as he did so. "Got nothing to hide, but you're welcome to search," he teased.