Chapter 14: "On the Side"


July 5

District Seven Suite


Scott had the score announcements pulled up on the television in his room where it was quieter and he couldn't be bothered by the drama going on outside his door. Creed had wanted to know how Clara had done and what she had done to impress the judges, and that had more or less fallen into an argument — so he'd gone somewhere quieter so he would be sure not to miss anything, not about to let Creed make things any harder than they already were as he prepared to take on the arena.

But he was already sure he knew how this was going to go, all things considered. After all, he had no illusions about what was going on behind the scenes, the more he saw of the Capitol.

He had only missed the beginning fanfare by Tivan and Uatu over the sound of the Creeds arguing, which was a relief, and he'd just really gotten settled with a pencil and notebook when the first of the scores was announced.

The Careers didn't fare nearly as well this year as they had the previous year. Both of One's tributes got eights, and so did the girls from Three and Four, though Two's girl got a nine, and so did the huge guy from Four. Two's brother got a seven, which was respectable, since Scott knew they weren't trained — and the half-drunk kid from Three somehow managed a four, though Scott had no idea what he would have even done to get that. It was all higher than average, but it was, as Tivan noted, one of the lower-scoring Career groups in recent history. Not a one of them broke double digits.

Still, Scott had to frown down at the notebook where he had scratched the numbers beside the list of names. The redhead from One had to have done something impressive to get the same score as the other girls, who were actually terrifying — and that didn't quite line up with the Jean he knew. He just… couldn't think what she would have done.

The guy from Five, the one who was best friends with last year's tribute, had gotten an 8 as well, but that wasn't surprising. His district partner only had a four, and that was surprising, because Scott had seen her at the weights and knew she was stronger and faster than she let on. And Six's boy had a seven, which was high for an outlier district — though Scott had to frown at Kamala's three. She'd been putting so much work into training, and she really was getting good. She should have had a higher score if she'd shown the judges anything like what she'd been doing with Logan.

Or maybe they knew about what she'd been doing with Logan and gave her that score because of it.

The more Scott thought about it, the more he was sure that was it — that the Capitol knew about the training they weren't supposed to be getting from Logan and was making sure it came back to hurt them for breaking their precious rules.

Scott was really settling into a glare by the time the scores for Seven came in, and when they gave him a five, he almost wasn't even surprised. Of course he had a five; what did he expect — that they were going to let him get away with being part of the group breaking the rules with Logan and be in Logan's district when his ex was one of the judges…? He was screwed from the start. It probably hadn't even mattered what he did in his assessments; they weren't going to let him win.

Clara fared a little better. She'd gotten a seven, which had been Logan's score last year, though honestly, Scott had expected her to get much higher. She could be dangerous if she wanted to be, and he knew she'd been holding back when she sparred with him in the rooftop training… Scott shook his head and chalked it up to the same problems. They were getting punished for being part of Logan's team.

Eight's boy got a six, which surprised Scott, because he hadn't seen the guy do much of anything besides flirt and try to steal everything he could, though the spider-girl had a respectable five too. She had been working hard at the hand to hand station, and it must have paid off.

Kitty also got a five, but Alex — Alex came in at just a four, and Scott just leaned back for a moment to stare at the ceiling. This was what happened when his brother didn't listen to him. Though considering the low-scoring trend of everyone who was part of Logan's class ... he just wasn't even surprised anymore.

The first tribute to break into double digits was the boy from Ten, though Tivan and Uatu were positively cackling over the girl's score of eleven, the highest out of anyone so far — and likely the highest in the Games, since there were only two districts left. Tivan seemed delighted that Ten was continuing the trend of putting up a real challenge.

Miles matched Kamala's score of three, and Scott was surprised to see that, since the kid was actually pretty good at the showcasing part — he wasn't shy like Kamala was, so he should have been able to show off something. But again, there was the fact that he was in Logan's group… His district partner, on the other hand, got a seven, of all things.

Billy also scored low, at a four, but Scott was just as shocked as Tivan and Uatu at America's ten. He had expected her to score high, but not that high, not when she was in on Logan's group and had been trying to fly under the radar and not overshadow her partner. Still, she definitely deserved it. He was just surprised it wasn't Clara's score too. She was just as dangerous, if not moreso, and the more Scott thought about it, the more he was sure that she should have scored in the double digits if she had been anywhere but Seven — or if she had stayed away from Logan.

Scott sighed and set aside the notebook. The scores didn't tell him much except that there were a few surprises in Eight and Eleven. Besides that, the Careers and the Tens were the real threats to watch out for, but he already knew that…

He shook his head. That was a lie. The scores told him plenty. The problem was that they were also a nail in his coffin, and he knew it.


Logan was getting ready to leave. He'd just changed and was watching Clara handle her brother like a damn pro as he shrugged his flannel shirt on to head out when Scott stepped out looking more serious than should be allowed for someone his age — even considering his station in life at that moment.

"So. Interviews tomorrow. Don't let him get under your skin and you'll do fine," Logan said over his shoulder. It was plain to see that Moira was the real coach for interviews anyhow, and anyone that had seen Logan's interviews would know better than to ask him for tips.

"Like it's going to help anything," Scott bit out his way.

Logan glanced up at him from where he'd paused at the door. "You wanna let him run the narrative, go for it. Probably will anyhow. Just don't get mad when it's all about your brother."

"That would be a nice change of pace," Scott said. "Instead of all about you."

"Nobody cares about me," Logan promised.

Scott didn't look like he believed that in the least. "Oh yeah, that's why everyone you've been coaching scored less than a six — well, Clara's got her brother's … whatever to help."

"The scores don't mean a damn thing. No one pays attention to them anyhow." Logan shook his head and just let out his breath. Scott was clearly too keyed up to listen to reason.

"Easy for you to say from this side of the Games. The rest of the kids getting punished for you breaking the rules might see things a little differently," Scott said, his arms crossed as he fell into more of a glare than before.

"Slim, I don't know what's got you all knotted up, but I'm telling you: They don't mean a thing. They're made up. I don't even remember what the hell they gave me."

"It was a seven," Scott said.

"That's rich. I didn't do anything for it but stand there and glare."

"Probably got the score from the girl, then," Scott said. "Thanks for that, by the way, great help having her in a judge's seat."

"What girl?" he asked with a frown, though his interest was certainly piqued.

"The one from the Capitol that used to live with you," Scott said. "I'm sure she had nothing to do with the scores last year or this year, though."

Logan looked openly surprised at that. "She wasn't there last year. And she … wasn't living with me. She was working with me for a couple weeks." He looked a little irritated as he continued much lower, "She told me she had nothing to do with the Games."

"Well now your ex is giving out scores," Scott shot back, the irritation clear in his tone as he tipped his chin up at Logan.

"Which ex?" Creed called out with a smile from the far side of the room, and Logan gave him a flat look as Scott got more riled. "I thought I saw more than one walk out."

Scott looked livid. "Do you even consider how your actions affect people?"

"Have you considered the source?" Logan shot back. "All he does is stir up trouble. And I'll find out why the hell that girl was there. She shouldn't have been."

"And everyone around you has such a reputation of being where they should be," Scott said.

"I don't have time for your little tantrum right now," Logan muttered.

"Yeah, I'm sure dealing with your tribute is really cutting into whatever the hell you get up to instead of doing your job," Scott shot back.

"I'd consider that a shot if you listened to one thing I've ever told you," Logan replied.

"Say something worth listening to then. All I'm getting is excuses."

"Rest up. Or don't. I'm going to find out what the hell is going on. Maybe you can try on Vic for a while." Logan glanced over toward the two of them. "Seems like the two of you could have a lot to bond over."

"That's your advice? A handoff before you leave? Typical."

"It doesn't matter what I tell you to do — you'll do the opposite. Unless, of course, I advise you to do something monumentally dumbass — then you'll latch on to that one with both hands."

Scott glared at him openly before he spun on his heel. "Go screw a Capitolite or whatever it is you're going to do," he called over his shoulder before he slammed the door to his room shut.

Logan scrubbed a hand over his face. "Vic …"

"Hey. I couldn't let that one slide," Victor called back. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Logan shot him a look that bordered on murderous before he shook his head and headed out.

It took him a lot more time than it would take Victor to get to the Triskellion. At least at this time of year, it was expected for the victors to be moving about from one building to the next, but by the time he'd been stopped for the fifth or sixth time, he was in no mood to even look at anyone, let alone try to be approachable. When he did get to the Triskellion, he socked the security guard in the face when he asked for an ID badge and just kept going — though the second guard had seen the display and gave him a little wave as he passed.

He went through the paces as it was expected of Fury's secret team to do, and when he got to the 'office' they met up in, he slipped through the hidden door in the back of the room to come out in the secret passageway into Fury's labyrinth of hidden rooms. By the time he got to Fury's briefing room — geared up and set to go — he was ready to kill someone. As a means of relaxation.

To add insult to injury, Creed had still managed to get there first. Logan scowled and dropped into a seat far-removed from the bulky blonde, grabbing the file in front of him. Tonight was a simple assassination. The back-up team was from a group he hadn't worked with, and the orders were pretty strict to keep the lines of communication closed unless totally necessary.

Team X was to go in well ahead of the hit and set it up to look like an accident — or a suicide, whichever seemed more believable once they got there. The back-up wouldn't engage unless the exits were blocked or their transport was waylaid. Oh. And fun on top of the joyful festivities of the day? Skye was the one running communication between the two teams. Perfect.

"Full masks. Nothing should be visible at all on anyone. Not hair color — Victor. Tuck that damn ponytail before I cut it off," Fury said with a glare, and to even Fury's surprise, Vic grumbled, but did exactly that. "The mark is one of Tivan's closest competitors. Normally, I'd sit back and enjoy that little hissy fit, but the man has a solid suspicion on one of our top secret programs, and he needs to go." He turned to Logan with a little smirk. "All yours."

Logan glared harder at him for a moment and flipped open the file again, a bit more aggressively than what was strictly necessary.

"You'll be showing one of my other teams how this is supposed to look, so do both of us a favor and stay on your game," Fury said. At that, Fury looked between his team members and let out a sigh. "You have ten minutes until we load up." He waited for Logan to look his way for acknowledgement before he turned and left — with Victor on his heels already pestering to be the trigger man in spite of the fact that Fury had told him perimeter was his focus.

Skye waited until the room was cleared before she leaned over with a smile. "Don't worry — I'll run the tech this time, so you don't have to worry about that."

Logan glanced up at her, still far too irritated to even consider a decent conversation, and instead of just trying to ignore it … "What the hell were you doing giving scores on those kids?"

Skye's entire expression fell, and she let out all her breath. "It… was a promotion. Sort of. I didn't ask for it."

"Yeah? Holding out for assistant Gamemaker?"

She shook her head hard. "No. No way. The sooner I can get away from anything to do with the Games…" She paused and glanced at him. "Not you, I mean. That's not what I — I just mean the Games, not—" She seemed to just give up entirely and put her head in her hands. "I actually really hate this job."

"Yeah. I'm sure it's gotta suck when the kids actually pop up in front of you that you picked out." He stood up and closed the folder before he simply headed toward the exit, fuming.

Skye picked her head up and looked openly hurt. "I swear, Logan — I swear — I begged and I pleaded, and they still put Scott on the list."

He stopped and straightened up to turn slowly to face her again. "I thought you didn't have anything to do with it but some algorithms."

She looked even more miserable as she nodded. "That… I swear, I didn't know it was being used to pick out kids. I swear. I never would have… I swear, Logan, I had no idea until after your Reapings were already over."

"I have to get to work," he said with his jaw locked. "More people to kill, you know."

"God — I'm sorry, Logan," she mumbled miserably.

"Get it together," he said through his teeth. "Unless the goal is to get me caught tonight too. Maybe we'll talk later. After the Games when you've had time to get your story straight."

She looked up to see the way he was holding himself, all tense and looking ready to hit something, before she nodded. "After the Games," she repeated. "I'll tell you the whole story." She paused and took in a deep breath before she added, "And I won't get you caught."

He looked her way for a moment. "You'd have to go out of your way. No one breaks my sneak."

She almost smiled at that. "Yeah. I know."

"If I were you, I'd worry more about the other team. Victor is too entertained to let me die tonight." Logan turned back to the exit. "So you know."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, considering who we're talking about," she said, this time with an actual, albeit small, smirk.

He shook his head and headed out at a jog. The clock was already running, and Fury made to wait was no fun at all.


"Relax," Natasha said to Peter as he simply couldn't seem to calm down. The two of them were set to provide backup to Fury's hand-picked team, and while Natasha had done that very thing since she got out from under the Red Room, it was clear Peter wasn't in the least bit prepared for this step. "This is good. It's like a promotion. And it's easy enough work. Just … do as you're told and be quiet."

"See … you're new. And you might not have heard. But I don't do really well at… either of those things," Peter said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I've read your file, including your psychological profile," she said easily. "I know. But your job is easy tonight. We're just support — and with this team, they probably won't need us at all."

"Wait, wait, back up — you've read my what now?" Peter goggled at her for a moment, holding his hands in the T for time out.

"Open intel for anyone in the program," she defended with an easy shrug and wide eyes. "You can read everyone's. You just have to ask."

"Why would you ask?" Peter gaped at her. "That's so personal!"

"To learn more about my teammates," she said, as if it was the most easily understood concept in the world. "And I'm not sure how personally you can take it. It's a shortcut to qualify to work with everyone faster."

"Okay, okay, listen. You are going to have to work on your people skills, because — that is just… don't do that."

"It's in my file. You should read it," she said, shaking her head with a smirk.

"Files are not nearly as good as the actual person," Peter said, waving his hand at her. "They don't have the important things. Like sense of humor."

"No? The team we're watching doesn't have any files to read. What does that mean?"

Peter looked honestly surprised her way for a moment before he nodded to himself. "It means you have to actually talk to them. I know it's hard, but we'll break you of your wallflower ways."

"It means they don't 'exist'," Natasha said with a little laugh. "And I have talked to them. All of them."

"Yeah?" Peter tipped his head to the side for a second before he had to ask. "Was this when you were murder Natasha or good Natasha?"

"Good murderer Natasha," she said with a broad smirk and a raised eyebrow. "For Fury." She shook her head. "I can't believe you haven't read up on anyone. Basic spywork, Spidey."

He grinned at her use of his codename before he shrugged openly. "I am not a spy. I would be the worst spy ever. Have you met me?"

She nodded. "Yes, yes you would be the worst spy ever," she agreed. "For instance: right now? You should be telling me how their point man is doing."

Peter let out a little 'oops' before he rushed to go do just that, though it only took him a few moments before he was just shaking his head to himself. "He's doing fine. I, um, I keep losing track of him, actually."

"You haven't spotted him, have you," she said with a smile in her voice.

"Noooo," Peter admitted in a rush of breath. "But that means he's doing great work. A+. Right?"

"Yeah, he's … the sneakiest," Natasha said with a smile before she flipped off her mic for a moment and simply laughed to herself a bit at the situation while she checked in on the other team, really only listening for the checkpoints … though her timing was exquisite as always as infiltration was in the middle of choking out the mark, so the relay was a bit … muddied. She flipped the mic on for Peter while making sure the one for the X guys was off.

"Okay. Keep an eye on the exit point if you want to try to track him. It's over."

Peter straightened up. "Really?"

"Really."

"That was fast," Peter said as he leaned over to try and spot the black-clad soldier, though it wasn't until Natasha pointed him out that Peter spotted him.

"This team is quick," Natasha told him. "Don't blink."

"That's going to be a problem for my corneas," Peter laughed.

"We need to move," she said, packing up already. "Meet me at the checkpoint. I'm getting static from their original ride."

"Oh. Okay." Peter quickly moved to get up and go —this part he could do, the jumping from place to place and being the awesome rescue if need be.

When he got to the checkpoint, Natasha was waiting, still fully cloaked and covered from head to toe. "No talking," she reminded him as they lifted off to head to the X team's checkpoint, and he mimed a zipper over his mouth. "If you can't handle it, say so now, and I'll tape your mouth shut."

He mimed throwing away the key to his zipper-mouth and then gestured for her to show him the way, though he was grinning under the mask as they met up with Cassie, their pilot, who was also decked out in all black.

The flight was a short one, and when they got to the spot to pick the guys up, they were only on the ground long enough to level out before the two men boarded and dropped into their seats, both of them partly out of breath. They were barely in the plane before the taller one handed a tablet to the shorter one, and there was some serious … something going on.

It was really, really hard for Peter not to say anything when he saw the team, too, because he had never seen a pair so incredibly mismatched in the height department, even if they were both broad and looked like they could probably kill Peter with one hand. Just the one hand, nothing else.

He really, really wanted to ask the giant guy if he kept the short one around to make himself look even taller, and he was sitting on his hands and biting his lip to keep it to himself.

But about the time he was really considering throwing out the radio silence rule and just running with the joke that had to be made with both hands... the tablet was passed back, and the two of them looked far too serious to interrupt as they 'chatted' with hand signals at a rapid pace. When they looked done … 'talking', the shorter one leaned his head back against the wall of the plane, and all seemed to fall into total stillness. It was almost distracting after watching what had to be a wicked conversation with all the signals being tossed back and forth.

And shortly after the big guy did the same, Fury's voice rang out through all their comms, commending them on a clean mission. All the operatives on the plane seemed to relax a bit, and the big guy, in addition to relaxing his shoulders, moved to fiddle with his collar. The shorter guy looked up at him for a moment in what could only be interpreted as disbelief before he smacked the big guy and tipped his head, though the big guy had already let the long blonde ponytail out of the back of his collar.

The pieces started to click into place for Peter — because there was only one guy in all of Marvel that he could think of that was that stupidly big and had a ridiculous blonde ponytail like that. The part that Peter couldn't figure out was who on Earth could be on a team with Victor Creed. Like ... was that even possible? It shouldn't be possible. Especially since they seemed to actually be… working… together?

It was taking every single bit of self-restraint Peter had not to burst out with something along the lines of, "This is hurting my brain."

The transport made its way to the checkpoint for the X guys to unload, and for a moment, Peter found he was scrunching up his nose as the smaller guy cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders in a little bit of a familiar way he couldn't quite place. The two of them turned toward the Tahiti operatives for a second and gave them a little nod before they jumped out — still a solid ten feet from the ground. Both of them hit the ground at a run, too, disappearing into the darkness.

"You can talk now," Natasha said as the hatch closed.

"Oh good!" Peter let out all his breath in a rush, as he had been holding it in to keep from imploding with everything that needed to be said. He shook his head hard and turned to Natasha. "Do you know who that guy is?" he asked her urgently.

She reached up and flipped off his mic, then nodded. "Yes. Which one?"

"The Victor Creed one!" Peter threw his hands in the air to illustrate his surprise. "You know the other one too? Because… because who the heck can work with Victor Creed? It's hurting my whole head."

"Several people actually," Natasha said, trying to sidestep the question. "There are four people on that team, and three of them are professionals."

"HOW?" Peter looked like you could blow him over with a feather.

"As I have been told, there are a few understandings in place, and he doesn't like the current system any more than we do."

"That — Natasha. Natasha. We were in the same plane as a psychopath. Nobody told me!"

"At least one," she teased.

"You don't count — Clint already okay'd you," he teased right back.

She gave him a dry look and brushed off his shoulders. "I wasn't talking about me, Spidey."

"Well, you weren't being specific, were you?" he pointed out. "That's your own fault."

"I'd be more specific if I could read his file. Unfortunately, it's sealed."

"Well, when you find a way inside, would you share please with your fellow spider? For reasons?"

"Unless you figure out how to get in first," she countered.

"That," he said, pointing a finger her way, "is a challenge. Which you will totally win."

"It is," she agreed. "Unless you get your computer teacher friend to help you."

Peter drew himself up a bit. "I can do it on my own, thanks. But…" He paused. "Maybe that would be a good class project," he mused half to himself.

"It really would," Natasha said, nodding. "I'm sure she wouldn't even argue with you about it if you asked nicely."

"Especially not if me and Tony promise to help her cheat the next time we have a face-off," Peter grinned widely.

"If she's coaching who I think she's coaching?" Natasha said. "She'll help."


When the two Seven victors got back to Fury's office — cleaned up, changed, and looking fairly fresh — both Skye and Fury were waiting for them for the quick debrief.

Logan looked exhausted and ready to drop, worn out from the job he'd pulled off and the building stress. He fully handed most of the debrief to Creed to cover, though when it got down to the nitty gritty of exactly how the target had been killed, Logan had to do that part himself. He frowned all the way through the retelling of what had happened, and it was clear to not only Skye but to Fury and Creed too, that Logan wasn't exactly thrilled with playing hitman on someone like that — a Capitolite who, despite being underhanded and too smart for his own good, didn't know how to fight in the least. It was too bad that Creed wasn't anywhere near as sneaky as Logan was, and that Fury clearly preferred Logan's methods to Victor's.

But even with prompting, Logan's description of events was spartan at best, and Fury looked almost irritated with the lack of fine detail that Logan offered without extensive prompting. When they were all done, the four of them shared a few looks, then simply parted company

Skye didn't even look at the director before she took off back for the area of the Triskellion that was reserved for Coulson's team. She knew her mouth could get her in trouble, and if she looked Fury's way, or Logan's, she was sure she wouldn't be able to stop giving Fury a piece of her mind. Which he totally deserved anyway.

Still, she somehow managed to keep her mouth shut all the way back to her room, where she pulled up her laptop and immediately started to go through all the files she'd kept from all the projects she had been asked to work on. If Logan knew the kids were being picked for the Games, then there was no reason he shouldn't know everything, right?

She was all about full disclosure, after all.