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

Note: Thank you to santiago. poncini20, Wonder Tribute, JabbyAbby, and sock-feet-and-stirring-sand for Alphonso, Makenzie, Lilith, and Liv, respectively

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Dr. Lillian Stowe, 58
08:15 EST

Big cities always made it easier for them to hide.

Lillian glanced around as she made her way briskly down the Miami streets. The streets were already full of people, and a greater concentration of humans also meant a greater concentration of mutants. But even accounting for that, there always seemed to be more mutants in cities, because it was easier to blend in. It was easier to hide a few physical quirks in an environment where modern fashion changed so quickly anyway. It was easier to go unnoticed when everyone was looking at the ground, or at their phones, or trying not to look at the beggar on the street corner.

It was always easier to hide in a crowd.

Fortunately, that also gave her an edge. Sentinels were becoming a more common sight in larger cities, so the two of them following her at a somewhat discreet distance weren't drawing much attention. And there were enough people around that no one was likely to figure out they were following her. Getting her job done, of course, didn't require that no one figure out what she was doing, but it never hurt to have the element of surprise.

Besides, it wouldn't be good to have too many witnesses. Part of the idea behind the Games was that the mutants were 'volunteers,' and if enough people knew otherwise, that part of their game was up. That moment had to come eventually, of course – the moment when the public found out that they weren't volunteers at all, and that they had been told to fight to the death, rather than it happening spontaneously. It would happen. But it didn't have to happen yet. People weren't quite ready.

Not quite. But they were getting closer by the day. Some people on the streets actually seemed to relax when they saw the Sentinels. That was something she still couldn't quite wrap her brain around. On a conceptual level, it made sense. The Sentinels were supposed to represent protection, serve as guardians to keep normal, ordinary people safe from mutants.

But the truth – the truth that people didn't seem to notice – was that they often caused as much damage as they were supposed to prevent. They were large, a bit clunky, and rather careless of the objects or even the lives that might stand in their way. As long as their mission was accomplished, they didn't seem to care about which humans might end up as collateral damage.

Lillian shook the thought from her head. Of course they didn't care. They were robots, not human beings or even mutants. They couldn't care; they could only do what they were programmed to do. And they were programmed to hunt mutants down and bring them in. That was it. They weren't supposed to take care of all the little details, because those sorts of things always needed a human touch, anyway.

And they always would.

After all, that was why the MAAB had been formed in the first place. The president could simply have asked for dozens or hundreds of more Sentinels and sent them out to collect mutants. It had taken a team of humans to explain why that wasn't the best course of action, why they couldn't simply start with rounding up mutants and dragging them off, why the Games would convince everyone – eventually – that what they were doing was necessary.

And it was necessary. Yes, there were mutants who were perfectly harmless. There were probably a few of them walking down the same street as she was right now. Most of them were simply going about their business. But there were also mutants who would kill her – or any other human – without a second thought. And it was impossible to tell which was which until it was too late.

The solution wasn't a pretty one, but important decisions never were. It had taken some members of the board longer to come to the conclusion that the Games were necessary, but most of them were on the same page now. And the others – Alvin and Francine – at least accepted that this was they way things were now. Whatever the purpose of the MAAB had been when it was founded, one of their most important functions now was making sure that the Games continued to function.

She had little doubt that they would now. She'd had some questions last year, especially when a few of the contestants had refused to play along with the Games. But they had been a very small minority. Most of them had realized what had to be done. Most of them had chosen their own lives, even if it meant killing.

And at the end of the day, humanity would do the same. Given the choice between humanity and mutants, most humans would choose their own kind. And fortunately, they were still the majority. Mutants may have some extraordinary powers, but at the end of the day, there were simply more humans.

And that mattered more than most people seemed to think.

Alphonso Bell-Garcia, 15
Miami, FL

08:23 EST

He could only keep hiding under his covers for so long.

Alphonso groaned a little as the doorbell rang again. His mother and stepfather were out of town for the weekend, and Rafael had Sunday mornings off. Normally, that didn't pose much of a problem; Alphonso was perfectly capable of making breakfast himself when he woke up, which was generally a good deal later than this on Sundays. He certainly wasn't expecting guests. Who would be here a little after eight in the morning on a Sunday?

Alphonso stretched his arms a little, wishing he could use his power at this range and simply will whoever it was to go away. But it didn't work like that. He wasn't sure exactly how far away he could manipulate someone, but he'd never had much success if he couldn't see the person, and closer was better. The closer he was to someone, the more likely he was to be able to persuade them to do something specific, rather than simply causing their personality to become more erratic.

The closer he was physically, at least. Emotionally … well, that was a different story. He'd never been able to manipulate those he was the closest to. His mother. His stepfather, Vicente. His butler, Rafael. His father … he'd never had the chance to find out. He'd left in the middle of the night not long after Alphonso had discovered his secret – that he was a mutant.

Alphonso pulled his blankets a little farther over his head. If Alphonso had known then that he was a mutant too, things might have gone differently. As it was, he hadn't been quite sure how to react to his father using his powers to move things around the kitchen. He'd kept quiet, but maybe he should have said something. Maybe he should have reached out. Maybe then his father would have stayed.

Maybe then he wouldn't be quite so alone.

But his father had left, and his mother had practically fallen apart until she met Vicente. He'd had to take care of himself, and look after her, as well. At times, it had seemed like too much to handle. Too much for a young teenager who was supposed to be a child. He had never asked for that sort of responsibility.

But he hadn't had a say in the matter. So he'd tried everything he could to cope. Anything to take a bit of the edge off, to help him forget the weight on his shoulders – if only for a little while. When the alcohol had lost its edge, he'd turned to drugs. He'd spent more nights than he wanted to count passed out on the bathroom floor after hooking up with someone who had seemed hot at the time. Sometimes it helped. Sometimes it just made everything seem worse.

Then his mother had met Vicente, and after a few weeks, they'd hired Rafael. He was a butler, yes, but he was the first person Alphonso had met in what seemed like years who hadn't treated him like some pathetic little rich kid who was ruining the incredible life he'd been handed. If Vicente had helped his mother get back on her feet, Rafael had been the one to pull Alphonso back from the brink. He never scolded, never lectured, never judged. He listened. He cared.

That was more than Alphonso had come to expect from anyone. People will use you, his father had told him, when he'd still been around to tell him anything. People will use you the first chance they get. But Rafael had never tried to use him. Never asked for anything from him. He'd never been anything other than kind. In Alphonso's experience, that was a rare thing.

So he was doing his best, trying his hardest to stay clean and sober, to make the people he did care about proud. But it was just so damn hard. It was easier to turn back to a bottle of alcohol or a night of drugs and sex than it was to deal with the stress, the bullying, the reality of what his life had become. It was easier to run away.

It was easier to try to hide.

The doorbell rang again, but this time it was followed by a loud crashing noise, coming from the front door. Startled, Alphonso threw back the blankets and leapt to his feet, immediately regretting getting up so fast. The room was still spinning a bit from the night before. He took a few steps towards the door, peering out into the hallway towards the front door.

Or at least, where the front door should have been. It was gone, along with a good portion of the wall. A woman stood where the door had once been, glancing around. Finally, her eyes came to rest on him. "Hello, Alphonso."

Alphonso froze. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lillian Stowe. I'm a doctor."

"What happened to the door?"

She shrugged. "You didn't answer it. So the Sentinels removed it."

Removed it. Right. It took him a moment to register the word that had come before that. Sentinels. They came after mutants who were dangerous, mutants who had to be controlled. But there was no way the government could know about his power, right? If they did, Lillian would certainly be more careful. She wouldn't have gotten this close – close enough for him to…

Alphonso took a deep breath and concentrated. Lillian took a step back, but even as she did, she pressed a button on some sort of remote, and a Sentinel crashed through what was left of the wall. Alphonso turned to run, but a giant hand closed around him before he could get anywhere, breaking his concentration. Something snapped around his neck, and Lillian pushed another button. "That's quite enough of that."

Alphonso squirmed as much as he could. "If you could do that from the start, why would you let me—"

"—try to use your power on me? Curiosity, mostly. I'm a scientist, Alphonso; I wanted to know what it felt like. Though it's not an experience I'd care to repeat." She shook her head. "Mutants like you are the reason the MAAB exists, Alphonso. You didn't think twice about fiddling around with my mind, trying to convince me to do something I didn't want to do."

"Because you're trying to kidnap me!"

Lillian scoffed. "Can you honestly tell me you haven't done the same to anyone else? That you've never used your power – intentionally or accidentally – on someone who meant you no harm?"

Alphonso said nothing. He had, of course. Yes, he'd used his abilities on kids who had bullied him at school, but he'd also been practicing. It was the only way to get better, to learn how to control what he could do. He had to practice, didn't he? How else was he supposed to learn?

But he had a feeling that excuse would get him nowhere with Lillian, so he said nothing as the Sentinel dragged him out to a large van. "What's going to happen to me?" he asked. Lillian shrugged.

"You're going to have the opportunity to show the world what you can do."

Makenzie Norwood, 16
Holly Hill, SC

10:11 EST

She'd never even thought about hiding what she could do.

Makenzie gave Trent's hand a gentle squeeze as the pair of them stepped out of the church and back into the sunlight. It was bright, which should have made it easier to hide. After all, no one would notice a shadow in broad daylight. All she had to do was keep it on the ground where it belonged and no one would have known the difference.

Instead, she gave her hand a twirl, and her shadow danced around a little, circling the pair of them before coming to rest on her shoulders, as if she was giving it a piggy-back ride, bending over a little to shield the pair of them from the sun. Trent beamed as they headed for the nearby coffee shop. They still got a few strange looks, but most people in Holly Hill knew Makenzie pretty well by now.

It had been years since she'd discovered her power – or, more accurately, since she'd discovered that other people couldn't do what she'd been doing as long as she could remember. She'd been five years old when her mother had come home and found her playing blocks with her shadow. Her mother had tried to explain to a very confused youngster that not everyone played with their shadow when they didn't have any other playmates. That most people simply couldn't, and that she would have to keep what she could do a secret.

Even then, she hadn't been able to keep a secret. She'd told Trent, and between the two of them, it hadn't been long before everyone in the school knew. A couple of the kids were scared at first, but most of them thought it was cool. By the time she'd used her shadow as a soft place to catch a younger kid who had fallen off the monkey bars, most of them had warmed up to the idea of having a mutant in their class.

Besides, it wasn't as if her power was anything dangerous. She couldn't control just any shadow; it had to be hers. And it was just tangible enough to give a gentle tap or a warm hug or a soft place to land; the few times she'd tried to hit someone with it, it had simply bounced off, harmless. Completely harmless.

Not that she'd ever really wanted to hurt anyone with it, anyway. It was much more fun to make people laugh with it. She was a hit in every English class where she would morph it into different shapes to go with the stories they were reading. A few years ago, she'd started reading to the younger children at the library during story time, with her shadow acting out everything she read. Last year, she'd been cast as Wendy in the school's production of Peter Pan, and the director had been delighted that they hadn't needed any special lighting tricks to pull off the scenes with Peter Pan's shadow.

Then, shortly after their last show, there had been an incident up in Alaska. People all over the country were up in arms about mutants and the dangers they posed. For a little while, people had kept their distance. But it hadn't taken the children long to decide that she was one of the safe ones. That her power wasn't a threat. Not like those other mutants.

She didn't like using that as leverage – that she was one of the nice ones. One of the good mutants. There were far more mutants like her, after all, than there were dangerous ones. It was just that the dangerous ones were the ones who made it on the news. They were the ones people saw. If they would just realize how many mutants were simply trying to go about their lives, maybe they would stop overreacting.

"Everything all right?" Trent asked, opening the door to the cafe. "You seem a bit…"

"What?"

"Quiet. Is something going on?"

"No, it's just … it's been almost a year now."

"Since what?"

"Since all that stuff up in Alaska. You would think people would be over it by now."

"People need time."

"How much time? I mean, it's not like they wiped out a city full of people or anything. There were, what? Thirty mutants? More people than that get shot every day by ordinary, average humans. But because they got the whole thing on tape, suddenly everybody's upset."

Trent chuckled a little. "You expect people to have reasonable, well-thought-out reactions? To the news? What world are you living in?"

He was right, of course. People always overreacted to whatever they saw on television. "I just wish things were different." She caught the look on Trent's face as they sat down. "Not for me, I mean. I've got it pretty good, but—"

Trent shook his head. "But nothing. You've got it pretty good because you're earned it. You've never used your power to hurt anyone. You registered as a mutant the second they passed a law saying you should. You're one of—"

"The good ones," Makenzie finished, but the words tasted sour in her mouth. "I just wish … I wish that was the assumption people would start with, rather than assuming that we're dangerous and us having to work to prove otherwise. If we were innocent until proven guilty, you know, rather than guilty by association until we prove we're the right kind of mutant."

Trent laid a hand on hers. "That would be nice. And we'll get there someday. We will. It's just that people are scared right now, and they want to feel safe. They want to know that they're protected. And all the laws, the Sentinels … They make people feel safe."

"And the camps?"

"The what?"

"You saw what they've been proposing on the news. They want to separate mutants into different settlements, send us to live there."

"Just the dangerous ones."

"No. All of us. That's where this is going, unless—"

"Now who's overreacting? They're not worried about mutants who can bring their shadow to life. They just want to keep everybody safe from the ones who can bring down entire buildings or blow up an island."

Makenzie swallowed hard. "I hope you're right." But even that … even that didn't make it better. Because it was just a matter of luck that she'd been born with a rather harmless power. She could just as easily have been one of those mutants. She hadn't had any say in what her power was.

And neither had anyone else. Even the mutants whose powers were more dangerous or destructive hadn't chosen their powers. Sometimes they couldn't even control what they did with them. It was only a small minority of mutants who actively chose to harm others, and that number probably wasn't any higher than the percentage of ordinary humans who made the same choice.

"Makenzie Norwood?"

Makenzie turned to see a woman standing behind her. "Can I help you?"

"I need you to come with me. Just a little update to the paperwork regarding your mutation."

Makenzie gave Trent's hand a squeeze, her shadow curling up protectively around her shoulders. "What sort of update?"

"Nothing huge, and it shouldn't take long, but I do need you to come with me now."

Makenzie hesitated. In the nearly two years since she'd registered as a mutant, nothing had needed updating. They'd never come to see her – not even about using her power in the school play. Something was different now; there was an urgency in the woman's voice that normally didn't accompany discussions of paperwork.

But there wasn't much of a choice. She'd gone along with everything up until now. Why should this be any different? As long as she didn't mean anyone any harm, she didn't have anything to worry about. Did she?

Slowly, she stood up from the table and gave Trent a hug. "I'll be back soon," she assured him, her shadow wrapping around behind him, holding him a little closer.

She just hoped it wasn't a lie.

Lilith Haywood, 23
Dublin, GA

11:28 EST

"You have to hide! Now!"

Lilith looked up, startled, as her girlfriend Theo burst through the door. Her face was red, and she was breathing heavily. Immediately, she bent over, panting, trying to catch her breath. "Now, both of you!" she insisted again. "You have to hide, or run, or … or something. They're coming!"

Lilith was at her side almost immediately. "Easy. Easy, Theo. Slow down. Who's coming?"

"Sentinels. They're heading this way – three of them. They're coming for you; they have to be. You both have to get out of here, quick!"

Lilith glanced over at her twin sister, Meghan. Her eyes were already wide, terrified. Lilith couldn't exactly blame her. If the Sentinels were coming for anyone, it was probably her. Her power – the ability to turn herself into liquid – was the more obviously dangerous one. Lilith's ability to dampen other mutants' powers wouldn't even affect non-mutants. If anything, the government would probably want mutants like her to be able to use her abilities.

Technically, she could also amplify other mutants' powers, but that was something she'd only tried a handful of times, never with good results. For the most part, she simply helped her sister control her own abilities, helping her master them. It wasn't the flashiest power, maybe, but she couldn't deny it had been useful.

Lilith glanced over at her mothers, both of whom were already scrambling to close the door behind Theo and barricade it with one of the couches. They'd known this was a possibility the moment Meghan's abilities had started to appear. They'd been careful, of course. The whole family knew about the twins' abilities – their mothers, grandparents, Aunt Penelope, and their cousin Colin, but outside of them, Theo was the only person any of them had told.

Now, Lilith was just thankful she had, because now they had some warning. But where were they supposed to hide? Where could they really run? "Out the back door," their mother Mel suggested. "Get as far away as you can. We'll try to hold them off as long as possible."

Lilith shared a quick glance with Meghan. It wasn't much of a plan, but she didn't have a better idea. Lilith wrapped Theo in a quick hug, and the two of them took off as quickly as they could. Out the back door. Down the street. Past a few people who looked confused for a moment before deciding the two of them were probably just out getting some exercise. They simply went back to their business.

Suddenly, she could feel her sister's hand starting to melt in hers. "Don't," Lilith hissed. "If they see you using your power, we're done for. Right now, they don't have any proof."

Not that they needed it. Not that they couldn't simply catch them and test whether or not they were mutants. But if they didn't see Meghan using her power, there was no way they would immediately know which of them was which. If she was right about them wanting to take Meghan, they could buy themselves a little time simply by not giving away which one she was.

So she gripped Meghan's hand a little tighter, calming her power down as they ran. Okay. Okay, they could handle this. They just had to get far enough away. And then … and then what? They couldn't just keep running forever. And their family…

A lump formed in Lilith's throat as she realized she hadn't thought twice about leaving them. She hadn't even considered what the Sentinels might do to them if they tried to interfere. But it was too late to go back now. Lilith risked a glance behind her. She couldn't see any Sentinels. What if Theo had been wrong? What if the Sentinels had simply been coming in this direction, and not wanting to capture either of them?

Lilith gasped for breath. Better safe than sorry. She'd heard too many stories of mutants simply disappearing. Schools being raided. Mutants being taken. Nothing that made it to the news, of course. The news always reported it as dangerous mutants being taken into custody for their own good, or for public safety, or some similar bullshit. The truth was, the government was simply rounding up anyone they thought was too dangerous.

But Meghan … she wasn't dangerous. Not really. Sure, what she could do was pretty impressive, but she'd never tried to hurt anyone. Neither of them had. Why would the government waste time coming after them when there were mutants who had actually tried to cause real damage?

"Lilith?" Meghan's voice was shaky as they ran. "You don't think this has something to do with … with what happened last year? Up in Alaska?"

Shit. Maybe she was being paranoid, but maybe she was right. The people on television had said the incident was a documentary, that the mutants involved were volunteers. But who would really volunteer to be stuck on an island in Alaska? Sure, people did all sorts of stupid shit for the chance to be on television, but the mutants had never acted like they were particularly excited to be on a show.

Lilith gave Meghan's hand a squeeze. "Probably not. But I don't exactly want to stop and ask them."

Meghan couldn't help a laugh, despite their predicament. Just as the two of them crossed the next intersection, however, she could see them. Sentinels, up ahead. "Shit," Lilith hissed, and the two of them ducked behind the nearest building. "What are they doing there?"

The answer was obvious, of course. There were more Sentinels in the area than the ones Theo had seen. Or they had decided to try to head them off instead of chasing them. Or maybe she and Meghan had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Either way, there would be no escaping them now.

"Okay," Lilith gasped. "Here's the plan. You run that way. I'll run this way. Whoever they catch, pretends they're the only one and claims the other one is still hiding at the house. That should give the other one of us time to get away."

Meghan's face was pale, her eyes wide. "Are you sure."

"Yes." No. No, she wasn't sure at all. But she didn't have a better plan. And they had to do something, or the Sentinels would find them both. "On three. One. Two. Three."

Lilith raced out into the streets. She didn't dare look back to see whether Meghan had done the same. That might give her away. Meghan was probably the one they wanted. If she could distract the Sentinels long enough, maybe her sister could get away.

Maybe.

Suddenly, one of the Sentinels stepped out in front of her. Lilith tried to dodge, but a hand reached down and closed around her waist. Immediately, the Sentinel took off, flying back in the direction they had come – but not all the way to their house. It stopped beside a large van, where a woman was waiting. "No trouble?"

"None," the robotic voice reported.

The stranger gave a little smile. "Lilith Haywood?"

Lilith froze. They had been looking for her. Maybe they weren't after Meghan after all. But why would they want her? She said nothing as a collar slipped around her neck. There was nothing she could do now. Nothing but hope that Meghan had gotten away.

That would have to be good enough.

Liv Holle, 18
Gainesville, GA

12:41 EST

Sometimes she wished she didn't have to hide.

Liv pinched the bridge of her nose as she stared at the next question on the scholarship application. It was the question she'd been dreading, the one she always put off until last because she didn't want to lie, but she also didn't want to ruin any chance she might have of actually getting the scholarship. Are you a mutant?

She didn't like lying. And it was pointless, really, if they decided to check the lists of registered mutants. She had registered shortly after the Mutant Registration Act was passed. For the most part, it hadn't changed anything. The list wasn't public – officially, at least – and she hadn't given them any excuse to leak her name to anyone. Only her family members knew, and that was usually just fine with her.

But sometimes … sometimes she wondered what it would be like if people knew. If she could stop lying and just say something when the topic came up. If she could tell other people that most mutants were simply trying to live their lives, that she didn't want to be able to affect the weather, that more often than not, it was just an annoying little thing that happened.

She didn't even have much control over it. Weather in this part of Georgia was more than a little unpredictable anyway, so it was hard to tell what was due to her influence and what was just … well, weather. But it had been too much to be a coincidence. Too many storms that had cleared up just when she'd wanted them to. So when she'd confided in her parents that she thought she might be a mutant, they'd taken her in to be tested.

They could test for the mutant gene now, after all. It was quick, painless, and had confirmed their fear. For the most part, her parents never mentioned it. She got a few strange looks from her family whenever there were storms in the area, as if they might be wondering whether it was her doing, but none of them said anything. Maybe they thought that if they didn't bring it up, it would eventually go away.

But it didn't work like that. Unless something changed, she would be dealing with that question – Are you a mutant? – for the rest of her life. It had been on the college applications. It was on the scholarship applications. Most likely, it would be on applications for jobs, for loans, for housing opportunities. There would be no escaping it.

So all she could do was lie. Lie, and hope they wouldn't check. She didn't like lying, but what else was she supposed to do? The truth would get her application chucked in the nearest trash bin. No one wanted mutants at their school, at their jobs, in their homes.

Liv sighed, and checked the box that said "No." It wasn't the end of the world if she didn't get this particular scholarship, of course. Her parents had offered to help with tuition if she didn't get enough scholarships to cover the cost, but that wasn't the point. They shouldn't have to help. She was a straight-A student, the top of her class, as well as the top coxswain in her school's rowing program. She'd gotten perfect scores on both the SAT and the ACT, although it had taken her a few tries – five, in fact – to get the latter up from a 34 to a 36. She was an excellent candidate for any school, and for any scholarship.

Or at least, she would be, if it weren't for her pesky mutation.

It was the one thing she couldn't control, the one thing she couldn't perfect. If circumstances were different, maybe she could practice until she had control over it, and then use it for everyone's benefit. Make sure the skies were clear during races, maybe even calm down some of the weather during hurricane season. But she hadn't worked up the courage to really try to use her power like that. What if something went wrong? What if someone noticed?

Right now, she was doing a good job of flying under everyone's radar. In a few months, she would graduate as her class valedictorian. Acceptance letters for the Ivy League schools she'd applied to would be sent out near the end of the month; if all went well, she would be accepted to at least a few. Maybe more than that. Then she could start preparing for medical school. She had her whole life ahead of her, and a fair amount of it already planned out. She couldn't afford to do anything that might jeopardize that.

So she would just have to wait for this whole mutant thing to blow over. And it would – she was sure of that. Everything did, given enough time. She just had to be patient. It would just take time.

She just had to keep telling herself that.

She told herself the same thing about Mel – that it was just a matter of time. The two of them had been low-key dating for almost a year now, but only in secret. Neither of them was ready to come out to their parents, their siblings, their school. But once they started college … well, maybe that would be the right time. Once they were away from their families. Once she was away from her church.

Then maybe she would be ready.

A knock at the door shook Liv from her thoughts. Liv waited a moment for someone else to answer the door, but her parents were at some church picnic, and her sister Claire was probably in her room listening to music. She probably hadn't even heard the door. So after the second knock, Liv made her way to the living room and opened the door.

A woman stood on the other side, smiling a little too broadly for Liv's liking. "Olivet Holle?"

Liv raised an eyebrow. Most people didn't use her full name. The stranger didn't look like any of the college scouts who had come to one of her races, and it would be odd for one to show up at her door on a Sunday anyway. "Yes," she answered at last. "Can I help you?"

"You certainly can. It's about your registration."

"My registration."

"Your mutation."

Liv closed the door behind her and glanced around, making sure none of the neighbors were around. "What about it?"

"Just a little extra information we need. I just need you to come with me, and we can get it all worked out."

Liv glanced at the van behind the stranger. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a few Sentinels down the road. Whatever this was about, it wasn't paperwork – that was clear. But it was just as clear that she didn't have a choice. One way or another, she was going.

So maybe it was best to play along for now.

Dr. Lillian Stowe, 58
En Route to Calpet, WY

14:56 MST

Eventually, they wouldn't have to hide what they were doing.

Lillian shook her head as she leafed through her files one more time. That part hadn't been a lie; there was a lot of paperwork involved. Some of the mutants surely knew better than to believe that was all that was going on, but enough of them had gone along with the idea, because it was what they wanted to believe. They wanted to think that this would just take a few hours of their time, and then it would all be done.

She couldn't remember who had fielded that idea last year – telling the mutants that all they wanted was some routine paperwork. Whoever's idea it was, things were certainly going more smoothly this year because of it. They only had a half hour left until they reached Calpet, and then most of her part in this would be over. Last year, she hadn't gotten in until after sunset, and at least one of her colleagues hadn't arrived until well after midnight.

Of course, the other factor that played into that was their choice of location. Instead of flying all the way to Alaska, they'd chosen a much more central location. Hopefully, that would mean the contestants wouldn't be nearly as exhausted in the morning. After all, they only had a few days before they would be fighting for their lives.

Not that they realized that yet. Or if they did, they were keeping it to themselves. The four mutants in the back of the plane hadn't said much, or they were talking too quietly for the microphones to pick them up. Not that it mattered much, really. They would all be filled in eventually, and if they figured it out a little early, there was no harm.

Lillian stretched her arms a little as the plane began its descent. Eventually, they would be able to be more open about what the mutants were being collected for. She wasn't sure exactly how that was going to work, but Mack would figure something out. He always did. If anyone could come up with a system that would keep mutants and their families from lashing out at people who came to collect them for a death match, it would be Mack.

Eventually, they would accept it as a part of life. For now, though, it was easier to lie. Easier to manipulate them into coming quietly. Easier to cause as little of a scene as possible, because that meant fewer witnesses who might figure out what was going on. And for the moment, they still had to hide what was going on.

For now.

But not for long. A few more years, perhaps, if things went according to plan. If Mack could successfully convince Congress to go along with his plan, most of the potential witnesses would be other mutants. And would humans really trust anything they had to say?

Maybe. People were gullible, yes, but they also had a penchant for conspiracy theories. There were already people who were speculating that last year's Games might not have been all that they appeared to be. Eventually, the truth would come out. Sooner or later, the would have to stop hiding.

She just hoped that when that moment came, people would realize that what they were doing was for the best. That humanity had to be protected. That the only way to do that was to keep the mutant population under control. And that, for the moment, the best way to control them was to convince them that they were outmatched. Outnumbered, yes, but also that they could easily be overpowered if it came to an actual fight. And what better way to do that than to show how easily mutants would turn on each other, when the time came.

It was a lie. Or at least, a half-truth. Yes, the mutant contestants would turn on each other, as last year's had. The lie was a lie of omission; they were blatantly ignoring the fact that humans in a similar situation would undoubtedly do the same thing. It was a lie, but it was a lie that the human population would want to believe. They wanted to believe that they were different from the mutants they saw on the television, that they were superior – if not in abilities, then by some sort of moral standard. Everyone wanted to claim the moral high ground, but the truth was – morally, at least – there wasn't much difference, if any, between their mutant contestants and their human counterparts.

But it was their job to hide that.

"We can't hide from the world; we must live in it."