Chapter 31: Drawn Out


July 13: Morning of Day Seven of the Games

Presidential Palace


It wasn't too surprising for Fury to receive a summons to the presidential palace, especially as the Games were really starting to get moving, with half of the tributes out of the running. The rain was scheduled to stop as well, which would open up more opportunities for the tributes to find each other — but none of that was why Thanos had summoned Fury to his office that morning.

Frankly, the president was bothered by the apparent repetition — another Team Awesome didn't sit well with him. It was too much collaboration between the districts, too much unity. Add to that the fact that the fierce Creed he'd been promised was babying her allies, and Thanos was not happy with the way the alliances were shaping up.

Nor was he happy about the newest victor, who seemed to be working the rules at a level that he should not have been able to do during his first year, not only getting his own tribute a substantial gift but somehow getting one for both of his allies. Thanos knew that the boy had been involved in Clara's too; Creed didn't have enough friends left in the Capitol. Not ones with money, and not ones that could be on the approved sponsor list in the Capitol. The man's allies had been blacklisted, after all.

So when Fury arrived, it was to find the president in a deeply settled glare, which was never a good thing for anyone summoned to his office.

He came to a stop in front of him and waited for instruction, as was the usual way of handling the President when he was in a mood like this.

"They're calling it the second Team Awesome," Thanos murmured out at last, turning to Fury. "I was promised a much more violent Games, but the Careers crumbled yet again. They had no teeth to their talk." He glared harder as he added, "And the Creed girl still isn't dead — or playing the game."

"The alliance with the Twelves is being overplayed," Fury said calmly. "They won't last nearly as long as the alliance from last year, and the Careers … well. I can't defend them. All signs pointed to them being much more formidable — though losing the big guy from Four so early on was a severe blow." He took a breath and carefully weighed his words. "The Creed girl was always slated to die. She won't make it out."

"See that she doesn't. You've been wrong about every other promise you've made to me for this Quell," Thanos said, still glaring beyond Fury. He seemed to take a breath and paused, though. "Now… the poison, on the other hand. It's a good touch. You aren't using it to its full potential. That Five boy should have died in agony."

Fury nodded. "The intention behind it was to draw tributes in for the kill, but I'll make sure that the next one sticks."

"Make sure it's one from those annoying alliances," Thanos said. "The loners don't quite do the job — and they seem to be the only ones playing the game at any rate."

"Yes, we were planning on using it to break up the Twelve alliance. Take their hope first, then kill one of them."

Thanos smirked, just the slightest bit. "Good." He folded his hands in front of himself as he seemed to move on. "Now. That victor of yours. I told you to control him."

"He's run out of tricks to pull," Fury said. "Both he and his tribute are cornered, and when his boy dies, Howlett will lose many of his supporters."

Thanos nodded, looking thoughtful. "He's attached," he said. "You aren't exploiting those attachments as well as you could — there are plenty there to utilize."

"I'll lean on a few of them. Just to cover my bases," Fury agreed. "Do you have a preference?"

Thanos waved his hand. "Any will do. Just get him under control. His ingenuity is good to see; I'll use him at the palace later. But it must be directed."

"Yes, sir," Fury agreed.

Thanos nodded and then waved his hand in a clear dismissal of the director. "If these Games continue to be so… lacking, you will not be back next year."

Fury didn't have anything to respond with for that — and he knew it wasn't expected, particularly since he'd already been waved off. He was halfway to the Triskellion before he got to his comm. "Coulson, get Logan to my office. Now."


In the Arena


The previous day had been a bust for Clara, Scott, and Kamala. The Careers had already moved on from their camp, and in the rain, it was difficult to find where they'd gone off to. But someone else had clearly run into them — since Trevor's face had been in the sky that night.

"So," Clara said when it showed up in the sky. "One left for us to take down."

"You gonna be okay with that?" Kamala asked, her gaze on Scott, but Scott just nodded.

"Let's just focus on finding her," he said with a determined sort of frown.

Clara had already decided that she would take Jean out if Scott couldn't do it, but she wasn't advertising that fact.

"Do you think the rain's done for good?" Kamala asked when the conversation had fallen into enough of a lull that she couldn't stand it anymore. They had been walking in silence for most of the morning since breakfast, and while she had total confidence in Clara's ability to track down the Careers … or, the Career … there were other considerations.

"Likely," Clara replied. "They gave us enough to drown with. We probably won't see any more."

Kamala nodded quietly and screwed the cap back on the water bottle to put it in the backpack. "Guess we're back to conservation," she said with a small sort of smile.

"We'll be fine," Scott assured her, still following close behind Clara. "We were fine the first few days, and we'll be fine now."

"Besides, you'll probably be out of here before we need to really worry about it," Clara said, her attention clearly more on their surroundings.

Kamala stopped with a little 'oh.'

Scott shot Clara a little glare when he realized what Kamala had misinterpreted. "She means the Games will be over by then," he told her.

"With a new Six victor," Clara said as if it was the clearest thing in the world. "That's what I said."

Kamala looked between the two of them before she nodded quietly. "That means I'll be dealing with the big red guy every year," she said, making an exaggerated face in an attempt to regain some of her good humor.

"Yeah, but you'll have Logan to help you," Clara replied with a little shrug. "You'll be fine."

"Well, and my escort is pretty awesome too," Kamala agreed, smiling.

"She seemed nice," Scott agreed, though he didn't remember much of Six's escort except that she usually walked Kamala up to the roof while they had been in the Capitol.

"See? Fine," Clara said with a shrug before she stopped and frowned at the walls of the canyon around them. "Does that … are the walls moving?"

Kamala let out a little squeak and slipped closer to Scott and Clara, and Scott glanced around with Clara, frowning hard in the split second before a large, brown, slimy salamander pounced on him — with another three slithering seemingly out of the rocks themselves.

Scott and the salamander went into a roll as the surprisingly strong jaws snapped an inch from his face. He didn't have the staves that Clara had given him anymore, but he had a long dagger, and he managed to get that between himself and the salamander, one arm raised in defense as he tried to keep the jaws from snapping around anything important as he drove the blade into the center of the slippery creature.

The creature let out an unearthly sort of noise, but it seemed to try harder to pin Scott down, four slippery legs clawing at him as he kept fighting to get out from underneath the creature, though it was slippery enough that he was having a hard time finding purchase.

He finally managed to yank the dagger free, and it made a slick squelching noise as he did so. He could feel the creature's blood slicking the ground beneath them, though the sharp claws raked over his arm, and he let out a harsh cry before he drove the dagger up through the salamander's neck, all the way to the hilt, just beneath its jaw, where it was less protected.

For another few moments, the salamander trashed before, finally, it fell still, and Scott heaved it off of him with a mighty shove, looking immediately to where the girls were so he could dive in and help.

Clara, meanwhile, had made sure to try and keep Kamala behind her as she clawed at the creatures. The best thing about her clawed gloves was the simple fact that she was unable to drop them or hold them wrong, so any swipe she made was a good one that ripped open the salamander mutts with a tearing noise.

The heads were incredibly hard, though, and it wasn't too long before Clara realized that going for the salamander's head was just wearing her out, so she dove forward to land on top of the thing before she sunk her claws into its belly and tore it wide open. "Avoid their heads!" Clara shouted as the one she was on scrambled to get away, leaving a bloody mess in its wake.

"They've got glass jaws, though," Scott said as he joined the other two, splattered with black blood. "If you get them from underneath."

"I'll try it," Clara called out as she slashed at the next one that came at her.

Kamala, meanwhile, was faring pretty well, considering. She had a knife of her own and slashed at any salamander who got close — though it seemed most of them were off-set from trying to get to her when both Scott and Clara were so fierce about keeping them away from their smaller ally. But she also wasn't going to sit around and let those two do everything for her.

One of the bigger salamanders rushed toward Clara, its jaws snapping angrily when Clara responded with her claws, and Kamala saw her opening when Clara's hard hit knocked the creature sideways. She darted forward, away from Clara, and drove the knife all the way into the creature's jaw, in the spot that Scott had pointed out.

The big brown creature stilled, and Kamala stared down at it, her eyes wide as she was suddenly overcome with a rather queasy feeling.

"Nice job," Scott said as he came up beside her. With one salamander badly injured and retreating, there was only one left, and he and Clara handled it easily enough. It couldn't fight an attack from both sides, and when the dazed creature backed away from Clara's shining claws, it only found Scott there ready to slice the underbelly as Clara had done — and then Clara was there right beside Scott to help finish the job.

They thought they had the salamander mutts well in hand when the biggest one they'd seen yet appeared seemingly out of nowhere and positively bowled Clara over. The hard landing into the rocky though still wet ground knocked the wind out of her, and she only barely got her right hand up to sink her claws into the flesh under the salamander's chin before it started snapping its jaws, trying to get a bite on her. She didn't realize at first that it had stepped on her other arm until she tried to pull her arm out and realized that she was pinned — and losing ground as the strength in her right arm began to wane.

She tried to kick it off of her, but between its slippery skin and the thing's sheer size … she just couldn't do it.

So it was a surprise when the creature suddenly listed sideways. Apparently, Scott had decided to simply rush it, his shoulder to the mutt to push it off of her and flip it sideways as he went — with Kamala's knife and his own dagger in hand as he jammed both of them into the bottom of its jaw, up through its brain.

When the salamander finally stopped thrashing, Scott glanced up at Kamala and Clara and stood back up to hand Kamala her knife back and then offer Clara a hand up. "You okay?" he asked.

She waited until he'd pulled her up to her feet and then wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He was clearly surprised by the move but returned it as best he could with an embarrassed, "I'm covered in blood, Clara."

"I don't care," she said quietly.

He cleared his throat and took a step back at last, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced at Kamala. "Hey, you okay?" he asked when he saw that she looked a little pale.

"I'm fine," she assured him, and even though she looked a little off, she was grinning widely.

"Right." He put the dagger away and looked around the valley. "Let's get moving before more of those things show up."

"Hopefully, that's the last of them," Clara said as they started to walk. They hadn't gone far, though, before Clara looked up to the bright sun. "I think we should find some shade," she said. "I don't … I don't think I can hold up to another attack right now."

Scott frowned at that and took another step closer to her. "You get hit?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm dizzy," she said. "Not terrible, but still."

Kamala rushed over too, her eyes wide. "You can lean on us if you need it," she offered without hesitating, and Scott nodded absently as he looked her over.

Clara tried to wave off their concern, knowing that Scott was probably going to make a bigger deal of it than she wanted him to. "It's not that bad, I just .. don't think the heat is helping me much."

"Let's try along that ridge, then," Scott said, pointing to the closest area that looked viable. "I want to take a look at that arm if it's bugging you that bad."

"Sure," she said, nodding a little bit to herself. "Lead the way, fearless."

Scott and Kamala shared a look behind Clara's back before they headed off toward shelter, with Scott frowning at Clara the whole way and watching her for any sign that she was hurt more than she let on — which wouldn't surprise him in the least.

By the time they found a small crevice they could use for shade, he was downright concerned, and when he saw the deep claw marks on her arm, he shook his head, digging in the backpack for the scraps of fabric they had dipped in water earlier for his burns. "That looks bad," he said.

"It's just a scratch," she replied, though she didn't pull her arm away.

"If that's a scratch, then I got a sunburn from Jean," he countered, already working to clean it. It was hard to see his expression properly with the glasses, but the deep frown made it clear he was concerned on her behalf.

"I just got … slime in it," she said, though she didn't really sound like her usual snarky self as she leaned against the rocky wall.

"Kamala, can I use the water for a minute?" he asked, holding out his hand without really looking up, and Kamala very quickly nodded, hovering close by with wide eyes as she winced in sympathy when Scott ran some of the water over the cuts.

Finally, when Scott felt like he'd cleaned the cuts thoroughly enough, he started to wrap, glancing up every once in a while at Clara to see how she was until he was finished. "Alright. We're staying here until the sun goes down," he told them both.

"Good idea," Clara agreed, then slid down the wall and tried to lay on her side. "Wake me up if you spot that girl, would you?"

"I'll have Kamala let you know," he said with the slightest smirk before he patted Kamala on the shoulder. "I'll take a quick look around. Shout if you need me."

And for the first time since they teamed up, Clara didn't argue but nodded, mostly to herself, as she simply closed her eyes and started to drift off.


Since the sun had come back out, and with it the oppressive heat, the "second Team Awesome" hadn't been able to do much out in the open. Billy was doing better, but after they'd finally nursed him back to health, relatively speaking, America wasn't about to subject him to dehydration.

They did move to a new place before the morning had settled in too much. After all, the Careers had ambushed the last place — and with America and Kitty unable to find a trail on the last Career, it was better to just start over.

"I still can't believe I missed all the cool days — weather wise, I mean," Billy grumbled as the sun finally started to set and America was already pulling out his tarp water-gathering system to set out before she took Miles to go hunting. She wasn't about to leave Billy and Miles alone again after what had happened last time, so she or Kitty stayed at the campsite to watch out for the boys at all times.

"You were in your own little reality," America said, waving him off. "Probably better than the rest of us, really. Miles here nearly got swamped, isn't that right, Spider-boy?"

"Nearly?" Miles raised an eyebrow.

"Sad little half-drowned spider," America sang his way, though there was no mistaking the teasing tone in her voice.

"Please don't sing that song," Miles said. "Please?"

"I wasn't gonna since the whole thing, but now you're just asking for it," she teased.

"You really shouldn't torture your allies," Billy said, though he was grinning too.

"Save it for the Careers — and whoever else we end up fighting, then? Got it." America grinned at him and ruffled his hair affectionately.

Billy tried to bat her away and gave her a glare as Kitty rejoined the group as well, back from a quick patrol of the area. They hadn't talked about it, but the truth was, there hadn't been a cannon, and they were all keeping an eye out for any sign of other tributes — in case someone came to make a last-minute kill to stave off a poisoning.

Though… the last time, there hadn't been an immediate cannon. There hadn't been anything until the next morning. And they weren't talking about that, either.

"Anything?" America asked, and Kitty just shook her head. She let out a sigh. "Maybe I should go hunt someone down and come back?" she muttered in a low tone to Kitty. "Pretty sure there's a Ten out there somewhere too… and the Two girl, even if she's not with One…"

"If there is a Ten out there," Kitty said quietly. "Do you think we can hold her off?"

"You and me? Sure," America said with a little shrug. "The full crew?" She tipped her head to where Miles and Billy were joking around with each other. "Miles is more likely to hit one of us with his stars than what he's aiming at."

"Fair point," Kitty agreed. "What about the Sevens? I'm not concerned at all about Scott — he's a good guy. But the girl …"

"If she's anything like her brother now that the Games have started, I'm really not going to feel bad about punching her face in," America said. "But she was nice enough when I… 'visited' Seven with my stylist."

"Kamala said she invited her into their alliance," Kitty replied.

"You're making it real hard for me to find somebody to kill, pretty kitty," America grumbled.

"Not my intention, Miss America."

America smirked her way and bumped shoulders with her. "I'm going to do one more check, be back before the parade, one way or another," she told her in a low tone. "If I can't find anyone…"

"I'll keep the boys safe while you're gone," Kitty promised. "As much as they can be anyhow."

"You and that sword of yours should be plenty," America told her with a grin.

"Provided that the stupid between them doesn't multiply, you mean."

"I better hurry," America said with a smirk before she did just that, rushing off to climb the nearest ridge and try to find a good angle, something she could use to spot even someone in the distance.

But if there were other tributes out there, they were doing what America and her alliance were doing — keeping to the shadows while the sun was out, waiting until the temperatures dropped to something more habitable. The one bit of movement she did see was a rattler, who sort of glared at her, his tail going the whole time she skirted carefully around him, but beyond that, it was frustratingly quiet out there.

She let out all her breath and pushed her hair back from her face as the sun began to set behind the mountains before she made her way back. She hadn't realized how far she had wandered until she got back to the group. It was already turning into evening, the desert cooling off as the stars came out.

She met Kitty on the way into the hideout and gave her a sad sort of shrug as she shook her head. "Not a peep," she reported. "Everyone's hiding until dark — which means we've got to step up our nighttime game."

"Not surprised somehow," Kitty replied. "Though I was almost the next face in the sky — there were a few times I thought I was going to die from the horrible jokes and puns going on in here."

"Your sacrifice is appreciated," America said seriously as she slipped past the brunette to check on the boys, who were, as Kitty had reported, in high spirits and trading stories back and forth.

She leaned against the wall, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face as she watched the two of them, though she tried to hide it when they looked up. Last thing she needed was to get this attached, and she knew it. Kitty and Miles were going to have to die so Billy could get back home. But still… she liked having them around, and she hadn't seen Billy having this much fun since he was an idiot and volunteered back in Twelve.

The music started up outside, and all four of them paused in what they were doing as the daily recap of deaths announced itself. There hadn't been a single cannon that day, and even though they had tried not to address it, the cloud of that fact was hanging over all of them as the final notes played out and they held their breaths.

The silence rang out in the desert for only a few seconds before, all of a sudden, Billy let out a horrible gasp, and then he simply started to scream.

The other three kids all startled, but America was the one to rush to him and try to figure out exactly what she could do to help. He wouldn't calm down enough or take enough of a break from the writhing and screaming to even consider giving him the last of the pain medication they had, and she was at her wit's end quickly when left unable to do anything for him. That didn't stop her from trying, though, grabbing hold of his hands to keep him from thrashing and rubbing his back or his arm or… anything. Any comforting gesture she could think off, shushing him in a tone that she had simply never used before.

Kitty and Miles stared at the two of them for a few moments, trying to process what was happening, but when it was clear that America would try, at least, to help Billy, Kitty grabbed Miles' arm. "We need to watch for any tributes coming in to investigate the noise. Try to protect them."

Miles looked wide-eyed at that but nodded, partly because he wanted to get out of there. The screaming was bad enough, but the look of pure panic on America's face was downright unnerving. "Right. Right," he said, following Kitty out and leaving the two Twelves to themselves.

Even before the others left, America didn't even bother trying to hide the terror in her expression as Billy continued to try and scream himself hoarse. The whole thing was made worse by the knowledge that America had, in the back of her mind, that the last time there hadn't been a death, the next cannon hadn't been until the following morning. And watching Billy… it had only been a few minutes and already she felt like it had been too long. She didn't know if she could make it with him until morning like this. But she would. She'd stay right there.

She had him gathered up in her arms, holding him tightly to her with his head on her shoulder as she just… tried to get him to relax. If she could get him to relax, maybe she could give him something. He was writhing and didn't seem to be aware of who he was with or what was going on, but she kept her grip on him and kept trying to shush him — but she couldn't think of anything else to do. She could knock him out, she supposed… but she didn't know if she could bring herself to do that. To give up on him. If she could get him through this, he'd be fine. He'd already had half of whatever was in that stupid tracker anyway — maybe there wasn't enough left to kill him.

So she couldn't give up on him. It was a long shot, but it was all she had.

America wasn't entirely sure how long that went on, but it was long enough that Billy had gone hoarse — which made it worse, somehow. Instead of deafening screams, there were just quiet gasps and whimpers, and with every breath, she clutched him harder, fighting the panic and tears. He wasn't coming out the other end; he still wasn't relaxing enough for her to do anything.

And then, very suddenly, he stopped, and a cannon blast rang in her ears.

She went very still, and she had even stopped breathing herself as she looked down at the young man she had clutched to her chest. He was sweaty and pale, but his eyes were closed — not screwed shut like they had been before.

Very quietly, America rested her forehead against his, and her long, bushy hair fell over both of them. It would have been an effective way to hide the fact that she had completely lost it if her shoulders hadn't been shaking.

But when she finally emerged from their little hiding spot with Billy in her arms, knowing they couldn't just leave him there, she had moved on to something much more deadly. Neither of her allies said anything as America very gently laid her district partner in the sand, and she went back into the cavern for another few minutes. They could hear rock crumbling and several loud shouts before a significantly more dust-covered America emerged once more, all of their gear packed up in bags that she tossed to the two of them.

"We're going hunting," America said, and neither of them argued with her as they headed out into the moonlit desert.


In the Capitol


The gathered victors — those of them that actually still cared about the kids in the Games anyhow — were all silent as they watched the feed of Billy's last moments.

The sympathy directed Black Bolt's way was of course well-practiced by most in the room, but none of them were pleased with how drawn-out that had been. The cameras had cut away to show what the other kids were up to over time, but every time they'd gone back to the two Twelves, it was the same — and Billy was always screaming. Or trying to. Until he just … wasn't.

Logan had fallen incredibly quiet, the warnings from Fury still overly fresh in his memory — moreso now that he'd seen what Fury was warning against.

Of course, it wasn't the kids getting poisoned that had him worried. It was the well-being of those on his 'bait' list that the Capitol was holding over his head. He'd been too brash. Too pushy with working around the rules and regulations that governed how things ran for funding the kids.

He honestly didn't see what difference it made who funded who — as long as the Capitol got the best show they could get. Not that it was really his angle. Of course, he wanted the kids to get as much time as they could. He was thankful that he'd maxed out on the kind of help he could offer, because the mental image of Peter Parker's aunt going through what little Billy Kaplan had just suffered … No.

To make matters worse, there were no more missions for him to run while he was there for the Games. Naturally, the sponsorship had gotten too much of a spotlight his way, so the chances of getting out were less than zero. Which meant full time dealing with … those people.

If he wasn't so disturbed by all of if, he'd be drinking, which he was actively trying not to do for now.

"You doing okay?" Bobbi asked as she slipped into a seat right next to him, looking honestly concerned as she looked him over.

"Sure," he said without thinking. "I'm always okay."

"You shouldn't try to lie to me. Not when I already know the answer is 'of course not, Bobbi; that was horrible, and only psychos would be okay after seeing it.'"

He gave her an appraising sort of look. "Yet you seem fine."

"I… have a mentor who specializes in some very 'interesting' stuff."

"Yeah, I have no idea what that's like. Mine's a straight up teddy bear," he deadpanned.

She smirked and shook her head at him before she leaned forward, angled so the cameras wouldn't quite catch it as she whispered, "I know about the chat with Fury."

"You the only one, or did you share with your new bestie?" he whispered back into her hair.

She let out a noise of disgust. "I wouldn't give that woman anything she didn't already know," she said, a little heat to her tone despite how quietly they were whispering.

He was quiet, though he turned to look her in the eyes before he continued. "Don't lie to me either, Bobbi. You'd tell her something if you thought the payoff of intel was big enough."

She met his gaze for a long while before she nodded slowly. "Something," she agreed. She kept her gaze on him for a while longer before she straightened up and tossed her hair over her shoulders in view of the cameras. "Viper wanted to know if you'd drink with us — don't worry, I'll handle the glasses," she said with a smile nothing like the expression she'd had before.

"You really think I care about that?" Logan asked.

"You looked like you could use a belt," Bobbi pointed out.

"Is there a good reason for me to go along with this, or do you just want a read on her?"

She glanced over at her mentor for a moment and bit her lip. "She asked me to ask you," she admitted. "It's up to you if you want to go."

"Do you think it'll help you figure her out?"

"I think it'll impress her if I get you to do anything at all, even if you leave early," Bobbi said, giving him a pointed look at that last part.

He never dropped eye contact with her as he thought it over. "I don't mind being bait if it'll help you do your job."

She gave him an honest smile and squeezed his arm. "Thanks," she whispered, though she paused before she stood up. "Watch your back, though. She's interested."

"Yeah, I got that memo." He gave her a little smirk that was most definitely forced. "Just … tell me when and where."

"Just after midnight, out on the balcony," she told him. "Oh, and try to get annoyed with me, if you can manage that," she said, this time with a bit of a smirk.

"Why, so you can leave us alone? I don't know about that," he replied, matching her expression.

She shook her head. "No, so she doesn't think I'm too friendly. Or interested." She had to make a little face his way, to tease him while it was the two of them.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the only reason she's interested is because of long-term brain damage." He leaned forward a hair. "All those years with all those chemicals can't be healthy. Especially if she's cookin' up that crap." He tipped his head toward the screens.

Bobbi couldn't help but smirk at the brain damage comment, though her expression fell when she glanced up at the screens. "Oh. I wouldn't be surprised at all," she said softly.

"She's too smug for it not to be her work," Logan pointed out.

"I'm still trying to figure out who she had inside SHIELD that's letting her play in this kind of thing," Bobbi admitted out of the corner of her mouth.

"You sure it's SHIELD?" Logan asked, almost too quiet for her to catch.

"Inside SHIELD — it has to be to get the access she needs. Loyal to SHIELD? Unlikely."

But he shook his head lightly. "Not what I meant," he said. "I'll explain after this mess is over. See you later."

She squeezed his arm again before she tossed her hair once more and put on a distinctly more smug look as she headed back over to where Viper was, and the two women fell back into chatting together and making commentary on everything that was going on in the Games, with Viper speculating on whether the next hit would be even worse, since Bucky had been tame comparatively.


Just upstairs from where the victors were all gathered together, several of the stylists were watching the Games in a group, though when Billy had started screaming, several of the stylists had excused themselves. They'd all been through the Games before, and they had seen horrible deaths, but that — that wasn't like anything they'd had to endure before, just agony and death without any of the violence. No mutts, no fight, just… a very hurt boy.

Billy hadn't technically been Noh's, but that didn't mean Noh was any less attached, especially since Noh's stylist partner had done next to nothing for him. He'd been a sweetheart, and Noh couldn't help but hope along with America that she could get him through the Games back home to his beautiful lover.

Instead, he spent his last moments in pure agony and torture, and Noh was simply livid about it.

"This," he said quietly as he watched America kick apart an unsteady rock formation after she'd laid Billy down outside, "this is why I'm glad to be leaving the Games."

Jubilee looked incredibly pale as she stared out the window — anything to not look at the screen. "I'm sorry …"

"Do not apologize for their actions," he said, sounding incensed — something he didn't usually do.

"I'm sorry he went through that," she said. "He was a sweetie pie. I liked him."

"He was," Noh agreed, losing some of his earlier heat as he leaned into her shoulder. "Jubilee, I'm tired of this," he whispered to her, low enough that she was the only one to hear it.

"I could use a bit of fresh air," Jubilee replied in her normal tone. "Noh, would you please join me?"

He smiled tiredly at her, knowing exactly what she was doing. He'd done the same thing when she was in her first year, reminding her that the cameras were watching even them. He let out a slow and measured breath before he climbed to his feet to offer her a hand up. "I'd be delighted to accompany you," he told her, allowing her to lead him out to the balcony — and away from all the Games footage for a while.


Tahiti Wing


The reaction underneath SHIELD from the two former tributes from Twelve was … rough from the moment Billy started to scream.

They had all started out in good moods, talking about Team Awesome 2.0, as Peter insisted it was called, chatting about the missions they'd been sent on — since, well, half of them were incapable of keeping it a secret, and while there were a few holdouts like Clint and Natasha and Wade, of all people, they all agreed that the latest missions felt better. Like they were really helping people.

They had been comparing notes, trying to talk the holdouts into spilling who they had been sent to help protect, teasing Sin about her small girl army weakness the second Jan brought it up… and then the mood of the room shifted entirely after the parade of faces ended and Billy's tracker pumped poison into his bloodstream.

Not a one of them had expected it to go on for as long as it did — which was, of course, part of the problem. Kate and Cassie kept waiting for the moment their friend would be gone, not wanting to leave, even as it just… kept going.

Kate was pale and quiet, latched onto Kurt's shirt with both hands with tears streaming down her face. She didn't quite seem to hear the fact that Peter had turned the volume down to nearly nothing, Billy's screams replaced in her mind with Clint's from her own Games as she gasped and cried quietly. But every time Kurt asked her if she wanted to leave, she dug her heels into the couch as if she was afraid he might try to move her himself, so he didn't.

Wade had done more or less the same with Cassie, though Luke had hung around nearby looking stricken when Cassie had chosen Wade to curl into over him. Wade had wrapped her up as much as he was physically able and cradled her in his lap as he kept her in a tight hug, muttering into her hair that it was going to be alright, and that he'd handle whoever was involved.

It helped when the footage focused on someone else for a while, though both girls were still clearly upset, knowing that meant their friend was still suffering out there somewhere. But when, finally, the cannon rang out for Billy, Kate more or less crumpled into Kurt, while Cassie buried her face in Wade's shoulder and quietly asked, through her tears, to leave.

He didn't have to be asked twice, and he simply stood up and carried her out quickly, clutching her closer as he put some distance between them and any working television screen.

It took a bit, but after they were settled into a quiet corner, Cassie did finally start to sniffle her way back to him, though she looked honestly stricken when she glanced up to his face and then laid her head back down on his chest. "I just don't… why would they do that?" she asked, whisper quiet.

"Because they are evil and clearly want to die," Wade replied. "There's no reasonable explanation for what just happened."

"But SHIELD runs things," she said. "Why would they do that to Billy?"

"I don't know," Wade replied. "I really don't know."

She glanced up at him again for a moment, her gaze searching his face, before she laid her head back down and closed her eyes, trying to relax. "We can ask Coulson when he gets back," she decided quietly.

"Somehow, I doubt he'll have the answers you're looking for," Wade replied, though he tucked her head under his chin and gave her a tiny squeeze. "But I'll find out who needs to be interrogated."

She smiled for a moment and leaned into him. "Thanks, Wade."

He kissed the top of her head in response and settled in, planning to spend the night like that — and he did, waiting with Cassie until she'd calmed down enough for her body to catch up with her exhaustion, and long after she'd drifted off, he did too, still watching out for her.

By the time morning came around, she seemed to be doing a little better, though when he gently took her down for some breakfast, he already had a pretty good idea for how to cheer her up. He kissed her cheek and left her with her French toast for the moment before he all but sprinted down the hallway to his room, where he had kept his treasures from his mission to Twelve.

He had the stuffed bunny behind his back as he slipped back into the cafeteria and casually slid into the seat beside Cassie, watching her eat for a moment as he tried his very best to school the smile when she was still upset. But he was horrible at keeping it reined in — that much was clear when she turned his way with her head tilted and an eyebrow raised in a clear question as to what on earth he was up to.

"Alright," she said, shaking her head as a smile tugged at the very corner of her mouth, almost like she hadn't quite realized it was there. "What are you up to?"

"Well. I realized I'd be a pretty crappy boyfriend if I didn't try to do nice things for you … and try to bring you tiny little tokens to show how much you mean to me …"

The smile tugged at the rest of her mouth as she shook her head at him. "Okay, I give up. What is it?"

At the prompting, he pulled the little stuffed rabbit out from behind his back, and almost instantly, Cassie's eyes brimmed with tears as she all but snatched it out of his hands, clutching it to her chest before she threw her arms around his neck in a good, long hug, a little disbelieving laugh escaping her as she did so.

"Where did you… how did you….?"

"We-lll," he said with a mischievous smile. "I kinda had a mission in Twelve, and I thought to myself, 'Self, you should swing by Sweet-Cassie-Lang's place and see what kind of magical treasures you can find for her.'"

She hugged him tighter for that one. "Tell yourself thanks from me," she said with a little laugh.

"So I did alright then?"

Her response was just to press a kiss to his cheek, and then she nodded. "You are just… the sweetest sweetheart in the world," she told him, quickly wiping at her cheeks.

"Runs in the family," he replied before he gave her another hug and a kiss on her temple. "Now. You should finish your breakfast."

She had to chuckle at that. "Yeah… I guess so," she said before she kissed his cheek again and laughed before she went back to eating, beaming his way around every bite with the bunny seated upright in her lap.


24. Monet St. Croix, District Eleven Female, Killed by Arkady Gregorovitch

23. Jessica Jones, District Five Female - Killed by Zebediah Kilgrave

22. Skurge, District Four Male - Killed by Clara Creed

21. Brian Braddock, District Two Male - Killed by Giuletta Nefaria

20. Giuletta Nefaria, District Three Female - Killed by Elizabeth Braddock

19. Alex Summers, District Nine Male - Killed by Brock Rumlow

18. Brock Rumlow, District Six Male - Killed by James Barnes

17. Arkady Gregorovitch, District Ten Male - Killed by Remy LeBeau

16. Amora, District Four Female - Killed by Clara Creed

15. Gwen Stacy, District Eight Female - Killed by a long fall

14. Zebediah Kilgrave, District One Male - Killed by Yuriko Oyama

13. Remy LeBeau, District Eight Male - Killed by Gamemakers' mutts

12. Trevor Slattery, District Three Male - Killed by America Chavez

11. Billy Kaplan, District Twelve Male - Killed by Gamemaker poison