"So, I've got to ask you," murmured the man, spinning his knife between his fingers. "How'd you see me back there?"

Katniss' eyes were currently scanning the interior of the town's little general store. Her plan of setting up in some cover and taking potshots at her distracted foes had not worked. It could have, in theory, since she could see Twilight sitting next to Poppy across the street from the can-lined windows. But Snake- she was pretty certain that was his name- had been paying attention in the chaos that ensued after Holly and Poppy barked out their orders, and had followed her. Maybe she stood a better chance indoors than out in the street. There were two aisles to work with, neither one particularly sturdy. There was a counter, behind which there were a few jars of pickled eggs and sausages. A flimsy-looking door in the back was marked as leading to a restroom.

"Back where?"

"When I was on the roof," he said. He had a low, growling sort of voice, like he was perpetually angry. Maybe he was. He took the hand that was not spinning a knife and reached into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a thin, white cylinder which he placed between his lips. He then drew a second object, a small, metal box, and flipped the top half off. He stroked it with his thumb until it coughed out a little flame, which set the cylinder in his mouth alight. He pressed his mouth shut tighter and inhaled, and the burning end glowed more brightly.

"What's that?" she asked, determined to give herself more time to assemble a viable strategy around pickled wieners.

"This?" he said, pulling it out of his mouth. Silky white smoke escaped from between his open lips. "You ain't ever seen a death stick?"

"No."

"Well, then you're lucky. It's hard to quit 'em if you ever start. Do you want to answer my question before, or after I put this knife under your ribs?"

"Before," replied Katniss, eyes still wandering.

"Then get around to it faster than I can decide that I'd rather not know."

Katniss exhaled, unable to put it off any longer. She would work with what she had.

"I just… had a feeling."

"You mean, ESP, or precognition?"

"No. We had just been talking about you. It made sense to sit a little lower."

"But- you know what I'm talking about," he snarled, frustrated. "I put my crosshairs over you and you moved. How did you do that?"

"I saw your scope," she answered.

"The scope?"

"On your rifle. It caught a little sun."

Snake wasn't sure what to make of the response. He was almost certain that he had brought the scope beneath the tarp, to shield it from the light. Even if he hadn't, it would have been very difficult for her so see such a tiny glimmer at a range, unless she had some super-powered vision. Either she was lying that she saw the scope, or she was lying that she saw it because of the sun. But he didn't care anymore. He wasn't going to get answers out of her.

"Okay, then, kid. If you'd like, I can make this pretty painless."

Katniss subtly moved her feet apart from each other, adopting a wider stance. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."

Snake only cared for children so long as they could provide valuable information, so the girl had outlived her use to him. He spun his knife back into the palm of his hand and leapt forward. Katniss placed her hand on the aisle next to her and pulled it toward, wrenching it from its footing. The shelves fell into Snake's path and caught him by the chest, causing him to fall beneath them as they deposited their contents onto the floor.

Now, to get a little distance between us…

Katniss backpedaled a few feet and vaulted on top of the counter. She swung her bow off of her shoulder and nocked an arrow, drawing the string back. She had failed to form a plan around pickled eggs, but she had devised one nonetheless. She had found it very odd that he was the second person she had fought in a military-grade sneak suit this round, but then again, if there was ever a place to run into people in sneak suits, this would be it. Snake carried much more equipment on the belts than Tally did. He was loaded down with pouches and knives and grenades, fitting for a slower-moving, more professional soldier.

He kicked the shelves away, knocking aside canned meats as he rose to his feet. A singular opportunity presented itself, and Katniss took it, letting the arrow fly. The fallen shelving blocked Snake's path, he could not evade it in time. He was trapped, as the arrow whizzed past his waist.

"You missed," growled Snake.

Katniss knew otherwise, but she couldn't rub it in. That was the sort of thing that Holly or Ryuko would do, but she had a much greater appreciation for life than either of them. She threw herself over the soldier's head, landing behind the remaining shelves. As soon as her feet hit the ground, another arrow was being drawn back. She swung around the corner of the aisle and caught Snake in mid-charge.

"Hold it right there," she barked.

Instead of holding it right there, Snake rolled out of her line of fire, down the other side of the shelving. She had maybe a second left. He was no doubt plotting his next move, when a metallic clink gave way to a low hiss. Snake looked down at his belt, which was currently emitting a great deal of white smoke.

"Oh, hell."

He quickly removed the offending grenade, but it was too late. The thick white screen had already surrounded his own body, and was rapidly filling the small space of the store.

Damn, she didn't miss at all… she pulled the pin on the grenade.

He could hear her boots falling on the floor, giving him a general idea of her location. The footfalls moved behind him, roughly to where the shelves he was crouched next to ended. He turned, replacing his knife and drawing his silenced pistol. He could still fire into the smoke- a stray round or two might be all it would take to dislodge or incapacitate his opponent. A sudden clattering against the cans from the fallen shelf redirected his attention.

She tried to jump again, but she fell.

Snake fired three times in the direction of the sound. Something hit the floor, but not by the cans, but behind him. Realizing what had happened, Snake laughed weakly.

"Played like a fiddle," he smiled as Katniss' knife entered his neck. She wiggled the blade, making sure to destroy as much as she could, before releasing his head. He slumped onto the floor, blood collecting quickly beneath him. Humans were very much like animals, in that they resorted to hearing when sight failed. Since most creatures did not have eyesight as sharp as a human's, they could be fooled by using sound as a distraction. Snake was no exception. Katniss moved carefully through the smoke until her feet bumped into the cans. She crouched, running her bloody hands over the floor until she found the arrow she had been looking for. There was another, somewhere, from when she had shot the pin off; but she had spent enough time holding her breath. Following the direction of the fallen shelves, she sprinted out the door, breathing wonderfully fresh air.

"Now, what about that?" asked Twilight. "Your robot went down, and you've lost at least one fighter. We're putting on a pretty good show."

Poppy's grey lips twitched upward slightly before settling back into a flat line. "Yes, you are. How fascinatingly illogical."

"I-I'm concerned about you," the unicorn murmured.

"You should be. I am concerned about me. It's really your fault, Twilight Sparkle. Yet, I cannot bring myself to end your existence because of it."

Twilight gulped. "Excuse me?"

"Your spell… was very powerful indeed."

"My spell?"

"Perhaps I have said too much. Voicing my concern… another symptom of my condition."

Condition? What is she talking about?

Katniss crossed the street with worrisome glances up at the carnage unfolding above, at the hands of the airborne fighters and giant robots. "Twilight, what are you doing over there?"

"Talking with Poppy. It is just as weird as that sounds."

"I don't mean to sound rude, but shouldn't we be killing her, instead of talking to her?"

"Don't make me laugh, insect," oozed Poppy confidently. "You're here to defeat my team, a difficult task. Defeating me is an impossible one."

"Didn't Holly give you a speech about doing the impossible?"

Twilight whinnied nervously. "Do you maybe want to not rile her up while I'm a foot away?"

"My current form's donor gave a speech about taking a defiant stance against all logic. To extrapolate a further meaning such as that would be…" her voice trailed off as her incomprehensible eyes widened. "Amazing," she whispered.

"Oh, you are really scaring me," muttered Twilight.

"Same here," Katniss added.

"I am scaring myself."

The buzz of mechanical wings signaled the arrival of Holly, brandishing her Neutrino.

"Yeah, you are, aren't you?"

"How many more times must I explain that fighting me is futile?" sighed Poppy. "You could be assisting your allies, instead."

Holly landed, keeping her sights on her doppelganger. "Yeah… and you'd get us while our backs were turned."

"Don't you trust me more than that?" asked the elf-thing.

"No," said everyone else.

"Oh," murmured Poppy softly. "It does not make a difference. Even with your two most powerful warriors, you could not defeat me. That is not opinion, it is calculated fact. As much as I would like to see you try… I would not advise it."

"So what are we supposed to do?" wondered Twilight. "Just keep sitting here?"

Holly put her Neutrino away. "Until everybody else is done… yeah. That's the safest option with grayscale in the mix."

"Grayscale, feh," harrumphed Poppy. She then stepped to the side, as a slab of metal tore through the planks she had been standing on.

"Die," Mikasa grunted, hefting the Buster Sword back into the air. Poppy halted her next swipe with a single finger, which evidently pushed back enough to force the scout to fall to the ground. With careful eyes on Poppy, Holly rushed to her friend's side.

"Mikasa, are you-"

Rolling the girl over, she saw something she hadn't from a distance- branching, scattered scars, like hundreds of snowflakes, traveled from her neck up across her cheeks. Her hands were jagged messes of missing flesh, with a few bits of red fabric clinging to them. Holly intertwined her small fingers in the human's bigger ones, forcing magic into the wounds.

"What happened to her?"

Holly would have expected the question from Katniss, but she knew that the Tribute was already familiar with the wounds. Twilight might not have known, or she might have, given the breadth of her knowledge. All the same, the elf was surprised to hear the words from Poppy.

"This- these are electrical burns. The scars are from her blood vessels- how do you not know?"

"I have not taken much time to consider what kinds of harm can come to insects," she replied. "She fought Cloud. He had electrical magic."

Katniss and Twilight were shocked to see Poppy's eyes waver. For a moment, she was not quite so frightening. It was not long, perhaps a second- she seemed upset. Holly was too busy directing her healing magic across Mikasa's body to notice. She pulled her hands away from the scout's and moved them up her arms and body, until she reached the pink branches on her cheeks.

"My hands," Mikasa croaked. "I… can feel them again. But-"

"No buts. Be quiet and let the magic work," instructed the elf. "You need it to work. You didn't have much time left." Holly stood up, blue-green streams of magic trailing off of her hands. "You know, I don't really care if you're invincible or not. I think I need to teach you some sympathy for the mortal condition. Twi, Katniss, come on."

The girl and the unicorn exchanged a nervous glance before moving to Holly's side and preparing for battle.

"Hmph," grunted Poppy, folding her arms behind her back. "Don't say I didn't warn you."