Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or The Hunger Games.

Note: And here we go! *scoots story on over to crossovers* Yay! The X-Men/Hunger Games crossover page has five stories now! Represent!

The tribute list is at the end of the chapter, and the page is up on the website. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted; I know it's been a busy end of the semester for a lot of folks, and I'm delighted I got as many submissions as I did. Everybody got at least one tribute in, and I am definitely looking forward to writing this bunch. So without further ado, here's a word from our coaches.


Prologue
Limits


Penelope – 098, 13

March 13th, 10:42 MST
MAAB Headquarters – Calpet, WY

"Another list?"

Penelope glanced down at the file Alvin had tossed onto the table, a list on top with the names of contestants. It was the third time this month, and he was clearly as frustrated as the rest of them. "Well, if mutants would stop disappearing, we wouldn't have to sit down and have these lovely conversations every week."

Ian shrugged casually. "You could always just make do with the ones that are left."

Alvin sighed. "You'd like that, wouldn't you."

"I've told you before, it's not me. I don't remember the last time I even slept."

"Four months, three days," Alvin admitted. "But that doesn't mean the rest of you—"

"I haven't heard from Diana in months," Maria insisted. "We have no way of knowing how long she can survive in the dreamworld once her body is dead. She may just be … gone."

Penelope flipped through the stack of papers beneath the list Alvin had provided. Diana had been one of the first contestants to die the year before, her parachute shot down before she even landed on the island. Just like Rachel, one of the mutants Penelope had been working with. It hadn't even been a year, but it seemed like such a long time ago.

It seemed like a lifetime.

Maybe it was another lifetime. When she'd been collected for the Games, she'd tried to run. She'd been running her whole life, so it had seemed the natural thing to do. But now … now there was no point in running. This was her life now, and it was her responsibility to make the most of it.

It was Maria, of all people, who seemed to have grasped that. Together, the two of them had been working to develop the best possible training regimen for the mutants who had been assigned to them this year. But it was difficult when, as Alvin said, their potential contestants kept disappearing. Not all of them, certainly, but enough that they'd had to shift things around almost constantly. Piper's success was making everything harder for the rest of them.

It was almost certainly Piper; that much, the MAAB had been quite clear about. What had happened to her after the Games, Penelope wasn't entirely sure, but things clearly hadn't gone as the board had expected, and now she was free. If spending the rest of her life trying to stay one step ahead of the MAAB in order to snatch unsuspecting mutants from their grasp counted as 'free.'

Penelope quickly glanced over the list of names. Twenty-eight names in all, which meant seven for each of them. Most of the names were familiar, but a few changes caught her eye. She quickly flipped through the file. "Another chronokinetic? Are you sure two is a good idea?"

"Chromokinetic," Alvin corrected. "Color manipulation."

Ian raised an eyebrow. "Why? That's not dangerous."

"Camouflage," Penelope offered. "It'd be useful for trying to stay hidden, I suppose."

"That's not the point," Vincent mumbled.

Penelope glanced up, surprised he'd spoken up at all. "What do you mean?"

"Whether they're dangerous or not isn't the point, is it?" he asked, turning to Alvin. "You just want mutants who will put on a good show. Color manipulation, starlight manipulation, shadow animation. You want powers that will look good on camera."

"Mack suggested—"

Vincent cut him off. "Mack wants ammunition for the bill he's trying to pass. If he can make people afraid of the girl next door who can bring her shadow to life or the boy who leaves them in the dust at a track meet, then he can make them afraid of anyone. It's exactly what he needs to cement public opinion on his side and pass that damn law that'll relocate every last one of us." He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "It makes sense. I don't like it, but at least it makes sense." He shook his head. "But I think you've bitten off a bit more than you can chew this time."

"If you're talking about the weather kids…"

"Two weather manipulators? Who thought that was a good idea?"

"Lillian," Alvin admitted. "Most of the rest went along with it. I advised against it, but I think we know how that goes."

"They assumed you were being paranoid," Maria agreed. "Because if things get out of hand, you can always turn their collars on."

Alvin sighed. "Exactly. But that's not how weather works." He shook his head, turning to Ian. "It's math. It's physics. Objects in motion. Complex interactions within a system with enough variables to make your head spin. We have a hard enough time predicting weather when there aren't mutants involved. Throw two of them into the mix…"

Ian nodded. "Preaching to the choir, Alvin. Did you tell the rest of the board?"

"Of course. They filed it under 'acceptable risk' and moved on with their day."

Penelope looked up. "Then maybe we should do the same."

"What do you mean?" Maria asked.

Penelope tucked the papers back into the file. "I mean, there's no point in arguing about whether these are the contestants we should have. In a few days, they're going to be the contestants we do have, and we owe it to them to be as prepared as we can."

To her relief, Maria agreed. "Okay. Looks like we need to shift things around again."

Ian sighed, flipping through his copy of the file. "Okay, then. So we have a kid who…" He trailed off, peeking over Maria's shoulder and pointing at a word. "What's lexi—"

Penelope was already ahead of him. "Mine."

Maria looked up, surprised. "Are you sure? I used to teach—"

Penelope shook her head. "No. I've got this. Trust me."

That was all it took. She was still surprised by that sometimes. She was the youngest, after all. But her power – and the fact that she'd actually survived the Games last year – made her more equipped to handle a few of the more dangerous contestants. Penelope skimmed through the rest of the new additions. Meanwhile, Alvin plucked a few sheets of paper from the table and handed them to Vincent, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"I think you might want this one."


"Nothing's real to you 'til you've named it, given it limits."


And here's the list!

And before anyone points it out ... No, I didn't get the numbers wrong in the chapter. I know that 28 is not 30. (Although if you ask nicely I can show you a mathematical proof of why it is.) And one chronokinetic is not the same as three, no matter how wibbly-wobbly the timey-wimey gets. Trust me, I didn't mess up the numbers.

Spelling, on the other hand ... If I misspelled anything either here or on the website, please let me know. As much as I try to double-check, it does happen, so I'd rather you tell me now than halfway through the story when I've gotten used to a certain spelling. Also, if you have a different picture you'd like me to use, just let me know. (Again, sooner is better.)

And here they are!


Contestant List:

Alannah Cavan, 12
Kenji Rose, 12
Fae Tomasini, 13
Joseph Harris, 13
Henry Helstrom, 14
Alphonso Bell-Garcia, 15
Emery Mullins, 15
Kiara Moore, 15
Manaka Shizue, 15
Elio Haines, 16
Kylena Albright, 16
Makenzie Norwood, 16
Sebastian "Seb" Krause, 16
Coburn Hughes, 17
Evelyn Hong, 17
Frederick William Phillip Bouvy, 17
Concepcion "Lea" Cervantes, 18
Olivet "Liv" Holle, 18
Viorel "Vi" Voclain, 18
Iola Boman, 19
Marcus Del Rio, 19
Richard "Rick" Clifton, 19
Savannah Kingston, 19
Jaime Sanchez, 20
Ansel Moore, 21
Elena Burleigh, 21
Sybil Herveaux, 21
Lilith Haywood, 23
Caihong Li "Lee", 25
Florence Roos, 114