Penelope's Web

by Zevoros

In silence, the first tick of the clock rings out. Dawn rises, but the Hunger Games steadily grind onward. The tributes stand in preparation for the journey ahead, and Seneca Crane stretches out his hand. The gears slip forward and Gadget knows that the first hour is here.

5. Shattered Glass

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~~(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)~~

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Author's Notes:

Triage: Day 02 and Day 03 of Training. Gadget has some ups to balance all the downs she's been having. But this is the Hunger Games, just how many ups can there be, huh? Please read, review, and of course, we hope you enjoy. Oh, have a cookie on the way out.

Zevoros: Special thanks to Team Shadow! Additional thanks to CragmiteBlaster.

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Penelope's Web

Chapter 5

Shattered Glass

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Edible bugs. Edible bugs. That's all they were. Gadget would need to be used to them, because if she didn't have any food, she would need to find bugs she could eat instead.

The thought made her gag. She didn't want to do this, but if she wanted to survive, she would have to.

Would she really have to stoop so low as to eat insects in the arena in order to survive?

She wished that fishing or hunting animals were a readily available option. But who was she kidding? She could barely stomach the idea of killing anything, to say nothing of having to kill peers, many of whom didn't have those same reservations as she did.

Gadget pushed herself back on her knees and looked around the gymnasium. She had gotten there earlier than the day before in order to train. Neither Corduroy nor Lace had yet to arrive, which sent her stomach spinning.

The Careers laughed and hovered around the weapons stations. Gadget didn't think she had seen them touch anything but the weapons stations.

But as long as they didn't come to mock or bother her…

Gadget blew out a breath and tore her attention away from them and to the other tributes. Finch stood at the edible plants section, the same one Gadget had started at the day before. Katniss and Peeta practiced their fire-starting abilities. Tamora from Six was at the electric station and Gadget could only wonder what she was trying to accomplish.

Gadget cast a glance at the first aid station. It hadn't been as difficult or complex as she had anticipated. The trainer was patient when she explained the intricacies of first aid. How to tie a bandage and many other basic necessities.

But none of it mattered if Gadget didn't have the correct supplies to tie a bandage or stop an infection from spreading.

As if the Games needed to be any more difficult for her.

Gadget swallowed and looked down at the insects that crawled about the station she currently resided in.

The first day of training had passed in the blink of an eye. Far too quickly, in Gadget's opinion. Not when she had so much to learn and memorize in so little time.

Gadget prodded at one of the insects with her fingers, but it was unmoved. So, so hesitantly, she pulled the bug between two of her fingers.

I can do this, she thought to herself. I can, I can!

But it was so much easier said than done. The insect began to squirm in her grasp and Gadget could only stare as a pit of anxiety formed in her stomach. Why did this station have to be one of the only ones to have nobody at it?

No trainer, no tributes. Here, Gadget was all on her own. Next to her were textbooks that told her how to tell the difference between a poisonous insect and an edible one. All in the margins it told her how to tell based on how they looked, and the texture they felt like in the palm of her hands.

"Come on, Gadget," she whispered to herself. "You can do it." It was so easy. Just put the insect in my mouth, chew, and swallow. It's that simple.

Still, Gadget didn't think she could do it. She didn't think she could go so low as to eat an insect.

But if she couldn't so that…could she ever will herself to…to kill someone else? To end the life of another person?

A shiver ran up and down Gadget's spine and she swallowed again. Her dry throat felt like sandpaper.

She could have thrown up.

"I should've known you would be here of all stations," Binary's voice sounded behind her.

Gadget squeaked and dropped the bug. If there was any moment she might have ever felt grateful for her district partner, it was just this once.

"B-Binary," Gadget stuttered as she spun around. She stood up from her position in the edible insect station.

"Me," Binary agreed.

Gadget took an instinctive step back. Last time she had been alone with Binary he had hurt her. Hit her in the stomach and stomped on her leg.

She could feel the phantom pain in her leg flare up and she winced.

"I have yet to see you take my advice," Binary said conversationally. He stepped over to the textbooks and flipped one open. "The survival skills are always useful, which I think is where the Careers fall apart at."

Gadget glanced at the Careers at that. They appeared so scary to her. How menacing they were with a weapon in their hands. And Cato and Clove…they scared her without one.

"But knowing how to use a weapon is just as important, I think," Binary added. "And I haven't seen you use a weapon yet."

Gadget took another step back. Nobody seemed to watch them, which wasn't unusual. Until the Games began properly, Gadget was forgettable and invisible.

"I-I haven't seen y-you u-use one, ei-either," Gadget replied stuttering.

Binary shut the book and Gadget jumped at the loud sound it made of all the pages slamming back together.

"That's true," Binary acquiesced. He took a step forward closer to Gadget, who took an immediate step back. "My mother, though. She helped me understand the basics of weapons I could use."

His mom?

Gadget shook her head confusedly. "Y-your mom?" she asked.

"That's right," Binary said. He stepped forward again and crushed an insect underneath his shoe with a crunch.

Gadget took another step back. She might be completely in the open, for anyone to see her, but it wasn't a chance she was willing to take.

"Do you remember what I told you about Gizmo?" Binary asked.

Gadget remembered. Because what had followed his question was the misery he'd inflicted on her. "I remember," she said softly.

Binary nodded. "Gizmo Kassver was a tribute Grid trained during the 59th Games. But you remember that, don't you?"

Gadget shrugged. She glanced over Binary's shoulder to see if Corduroy or Lace had arrived yet.

"It was during the same interview he announced Grid was his mentor, that Gizmo said he had a girlfriend at home." Binary rapped his fingers on the textbook. "She wasn't very happy when he died."

"Th-that makes s-sense," Gadget ventured nervously, cautiously.

"So, Gizmo tried his very hardest to come back to District Three. To see his girlfriend and family again. Evidently, he never did."

Gadget didn't understand. Why was Binary telling her this?

"No, Gizmo was torn apart by the Careers and the one outlier they invited in that year." Binary crushed another insect beneath his heel. "Can you tell me who that was?"

Gadget shook her head. "I don't…" she started, then trailed off.

"Cecelia O'Neill. The victor." Binary palmed his hands together. "She was a victor that managed to get into the Career Pack. Does that sound familiar to you?"

Gadget clutched her arm. And so where Binary was going with his little story was revealed to her. "Y-yes," she answered quietly.

"I had hoped so," Binary replied. "The very same thing we should be trying to do. And in order to do that, we need each other."

Gadget swallowed. She did not want or need Binary with her. Whether it be as an alliance partner or as he was now, her district partner.

"So, you'll have to imagine my surprise when I saw you getting along with the tributes from Eight," Binary said flatly and Gadget felt her heart jump to her throat. "Neither of them are Careers."

"B-but…" Gadget bit her lip. "Y-you were talking w-with the boy f-from Nine."

"To build a safety net around us."

Gadget felt a dim fire of defiance burn in her. "How is that a-any different than what I-I was doing?"

Binary's features changed into annoyance. "Because you didn't build a safety net. You built an alliance."

Binary stepped closer to Gadget and the embers of defiance were swiftly snuffed out in her. She dropped her eyes to her feet and made no effort to step away from Binary.

"So, what you've done, Gadget…it's not good for us; it's not good for anyone."

Gadget looked at the elevator at the far side of the room when the door opened. Corduroy, Lace, and a few others stepped out. None of them said a word, all of them silent in the presence of each other.

Binary stepped back then, and Gadget let out a breath at the increased space. She felt like she could breathe again. He must've seen them, too

"So, if you were to ask me, I think you should cut them loose. It would be wrong to be so devious, no?"

Binary turned and walked away, but his shadow remained. He wanted her so badly on his side, to be nothing but a tool for him to use. Just as he treated her at home. Nothing would change in the arena between them, not really. Only that one of them would die. And Gadget knew that out of the two of them, she would be the one to do it.

She would be the one to die.

And she knew that Binary was aware of it, too.

Gadget wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear, but that unfortunately wasn't an option here. She cast her sad and dead eyes down at the edible bugs station. How lowly Beetee and Wiress…Septimius…how lowly they must see her.

"Greetings," Corduroy greeted when he and Lace reached her.

"H-hi," Gadget quietly responded. She watched as Lace made a face at the edible bugs.

"Was that your district partner?" Lace asked. She looked away from the insects and at Binary, who had dropped down to the electrical station.

Gadget instinctively rubbed her arm. "Y-yeah. That was…was Binary."

Lace's face brightened. "He seems nice."

"Why do you not get in an alliance with him?" Corduroy asked as he turned away from watching Binary.

Somehow, it didn't surprise Gadget that Lace didn't see what she saw in Binary. He always seemed to…get lucky with those kinds of things.

But it was Corduroy's question that made her freeze. She had been so naïve to think things would change between them, when they headed into the Games together.

How wrong she had been.

All she got from him was false hope. False comfort, because although she and Binary had never gotten along, at least he was from home?

Gadget knew that, to Binary, she was just a tool to help him survive. She was sure of it.

"We…" Gadget stuttered and dropped her gaze down to the edible bugs station that she and Corduroy and Lace stood a good distance from. "We d-don't really get along. A-at ho-home."

Lace frowned and Corduroy offered Gadget a look of sympathy.

"Oh," Lace said awkwardly.

Corduroy's features remained ever carefully neutral and Gadget waited nervously for what he would say. He could kick her out of the alliance between them at any point in time…

Finally, he said, "That really is too bad." He looked over his shoulder at the edible bugs. "Do you know which of these insects are not poisonous?"

Gadget smiled slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes. Alliances in the Hunger Games. She wondered if it was a mistake.

Both Corduroy and Lace were closer to each other than they were to Gadget. Which only meant that they could and probably would turn on her should they want to.

Not for the first time, Gadget wondered if she should side with Binary and his plans to join the Careers. But…she would need to make them see her as useful if she ever wanted that to happen.

And…I'm not useful, Gadget thought to herself. The best she could manage was to build something, but that would never impress anyone to sponsor her, she was certain.

There was…nothing impressive about her, Gadget knew.

"Y-yeah," Gadget answered Corduroy's question. "Some."

Corduroy nodded and flashed Gadget a smile. "I think we should take a look at that station." Gadget grimaced. "You never know when food will be scarce in the arena."

"Gross," Lace said quietly, but she crouched down next to the station regardless.

"You, uh…" Gadget bounced her eyes Lace to Corduroy and then back again. "You go ahead. I wanna t-try o-one of the w-weapon stations."

"That is a good idea," Corduroy agreed. He glanced at the weapons stations and then looked at Gadget. "Good luck, Gadget."

"Th-thank you," Gadget responded.

She stepped around them and looked for a weapons station that was empty or at least had few people.

There was one. The same one Cato had been at and tore apart the training dummies with his sword. The dummies had since been replaced, but Gadget remained unsure.

But for now, it was empty. If just for the moment. And Gadget could use all the help she could get when it came to using a weapon.

She approached the station and the trainer, a stern-looking man, eyed her up and down critically.

He scoffed and Gadget flushed.

But she powered through.

"I…want to learn h-how to use s-something," Gadget said meekly. Her hand drifted up to rub her arm, but she stopped herself midway.

The trainer just stared at her and Gadget flinched under his gaze. She dropped her gaze down to her feet and didn't dare to look back up.

"Fine," the trainer said and Gadget let out a silent sigh of relief. "Let us see what you can do."

Gadget raised her head timidly and the trainer gestured to a rack, filled with all kinds of different weapons.

Gadget regretted coming there in an instant. She wasn't prepared for it, and when even a trainer disregarded her…

No, there was no point in thinking about it. She was here, in the Capitol, and with each second, she got closer and closer to her death within the arena.

Gadget swallowed and blinked away the tears in her eyes.

She recalled what Beetee and Wiress told her and grabbed a knife from the rack, one that was about the length of her arm.

She turned and moved back towards where the training dummies were and glanced at the trainer. He stared back at her.

"Um…" Gadget faltered. She took a step closer to the dummy and raised her knife, then abruptly brought it back down to slice into the dummy.

Her attack was weak and Gadget knew it. The knife barely penetrated the dummy and she grimaced. She pulled back and thrust harder and the knife embedded itself into the surface of the dummy.

It was a horrendous attempt. All Gadget could imagine was herself as she swung the knife into the body of a tribute. Someone that was there in the very room.

She blew out a breath and glanced around the gymnasium. All of the rest of the tributes had arrived and filled the giant room, each doing a different task.

Surge practiced first-aid while Tamora stood across from him awkwardly. Gadget wondered if she was there to try to make an alliance with him or just wanted to use the station.

Serin of Nine worked on the knot-tying station. Gadget couldn't remember exactly what the station was for, but she thought it was for devising snares. It would be useful to take a look at, at some point.

Rue fired a slingshot at a target dummy, and Gadget watched as each of her shots hit. It wasn't…exactly useful, Gadget knew. But it could be if she found something more lethal than pebbles to fire.

Peeta and Katniss, Gadget noticed, had taken the opportunity to practice with spears. Like her, Gadget figured that they waited until the Careers were gone to practice on it. Her heart thudded in her chest at the same time one of the spears were thrown.

And those were only the few she could see immediately. And in a few days, all of them would be dead. Gadget included. She knew it. She didn't stand a chance against them.

A thirteen year old had never survived the Games before, so there was no reason for her to think she would be the first.

She wouldn't be.

"Your form is all wrong."

Gadget spun, frightened. The trainer had gotten closer, and his face impossibly dispassionate.

"And your swings take too long."

Gadget gripped the knife harder in her hand, enough to turn her knuckles white. That was why she was here. She couldn't do it otherwise. She couldn't.

"Here," the trainer said and put his hands on Gadget's shoulders roughly.

She let out a short gasp as she was turned around to face the dummy again. She felt the knife slip out of her hand and the trainer stepped from around her.

"When you swing like that," the trainer began, and he threw his arm back over his head towards the dummy. The knife embedded itself in the head of the dummy loudly and Gadgef winced. "It gives your opponent time to counter and fight back."

Gadget nodded. That…that made sense to her. Too much time on the swing.

"Never have your foot extend before the weapon," the trainer continued with a step of his foot. "Then your leg is gone."

Gadget watched with a growing sense of nervousness. She knew she wasn't at all prepared, but…

The trainer stepped back and offered the knife back to Gadget. She reached out and noticed that her hands were shaking. It's okay, it's okay, she told herself.

Gadget looked at the dummy and held the knife close to her chest. It wasn't a person. It wasn't real. She wasn't really hurting anyone.

But she would. Not now, but when the Games began, she would have to. Nobody ever came out of the Games without killing anyone, and if she wanted to survive, she would be no different.

The trainer put his hands on Gadget's waist and she froze. He tugged her back slightly and all she could think of was Binary. How he'd hurt her on the train. How he hurt her at home.

How, given the chance, there was nothing to stop him from hurting her in the arena.

Her mind flashed to the Remake Center and her prep team. Mortimer. How they stripped her down to nothing and turned her into a doll just for the Capitol.

Tore down everything that made her comfortable.

"Foot back. Foot forward," the trainer said roughly and Gadget complied instantaneously. If she followed his instructions, then maybe he wouldn't hurt her.

His hands left her waist and Gadget almost sobbed in relief. He left her side. She was safe.

"Okay…okay," Gadget mumbled. As long as she stayed in the gymnasium, nobody could hurt her. She was in front of too many people and someone…they couldn't hurt her with so many people watching.

She swung the knife and it landed in the dummy with a thwack. It stuck in further than her previous attempt had but Gadget didn't feel relieved. She didn't feel excited.

She closed her eyes. It wasn't a person. She was only learning. That was it. That was all.

Gadget pulled the knife out and mimicked her action from before. It sliced into the dummy smoothly.

Gadget wondered if that's how it would feel to cut into someone's flesh and she shook her head roughly. She didn't want to think about that. This was only training. This was all it was.

"Why don't you try this one?"

Gadget turned and squeaked. Out of any of the tributes to come by, she had hoped it wouldn't be anyone proficient with a weapon.

But there Ridley stood, two small knives in his hands. He smiled amusedly at Gadget and held up two knives.

"That one's a bit large, so," he said. He offered the handle of one of the knives. "Bit hard to use something like that."

Gadget glanced around the gymnasium, but Monkshood was nowhere near them. Why is Ridley here?

Slowly and hesitantly, Gadget took the knife from Ridley's proffered hand. She eyed him nervously and waited for an attack that would never come.

"The trainer isn't very helpful, is he?" Ridley asked with a sideways smile. He turned the knife over in his hand and Gadget took a discreet step back.

"I don't…I don't kn-know," Gadget stuttered. What was Ridley's aim? Why was he being nice to her? Septimius and her mentors…they had a reason to be nice to her.

So what did Ridley want? She was certain he wanted something.

"I can teach you, if you want," Ridley said and Gadget was taken aback. "At the risk of sounding narcissistic," he added and puffed out his chest dramatically. "I'm pretty good with a knife."

An amused breath escaped between Gadget's lips. Whatever she had expected, it wasn't that. But did she want to take up his offer? Would he use it to drag her into his alliance with Monkshood?

Monkshood didn't seem to be particularly interested in seeing her as part of her grouping with Ridley. Gadget understood why. It was hard not to. Gadget was weak, so why would anyone with a sound mind want her as an ally?

"Um…" Gadget shuffled unsurely from foot to foot. "O-okay."

Ridley beamed. "Perfect!" He stepped away from the dummies and Gadget followed unsurely.

A spike of fear went through her heart suddenly. Would Corduroy and Lace see this as an act of betrayal? Was that what Ridley and Monkshood's plan was? To make her betray her alliance before the Games even began so that they could pick up Corduroy for themselves?

Her mind ran wild with the idea. Monkshood had been interested in Corduroy as a potential member of her group, so what if that was what she was trying to do? Gadget could recall the cunning in her eyes.

It was a look she was very familiar with from Binary. Of his plans in class when he knew he'd come up with an idea nobody else had thought of.

Or when he had made her life that much more miserable at home. Made her home feel less and less like a home.

Gadget searched desperately for the edible bugs station with dead eyes. Corduroy and Lace would still be there, she knew. And when she looked, she found Corduroy looking back.

Please, please… Gadget begged internally.

But Corduroy just smiled encouragingly at her.

Gadget eased. He didn't see it as a betrayal. Almost against her will, she smiled back.

"These knives are pretty awesome," Ridley said and Gadget looked quickly at him. "They're small and light, so you can use them quickly."

Ridley swung the knife and Gadget took an impulsive step back. She could hear the whistle of the knife cut through the air from the speed of his swing.

"And as you can see from Clove," Ridley said with a nod at something behind Gadget, "pretty easy to throw."

Gadget very much disagreed. Clove was a Career for a reason. And those knives…she had seen Clove throw those knives and not a single one ever missed.

Gadget couldn't do something like that. And especially not in the limited time she had to learn.

The Careers had been training their whole lives, how could Gadget expect to learn the same things that they could do in only three days?

The answer was that she couldn't. She couldn't.

"So," Ridley started and Gadget looked at him closely. "Say that I have a knife," he said and held up his knife. "Or, see that I have a knife." He grinned slightly. "And you have one, too. Which do you think is more important? Stabbing or disarming?"

Gadget blinked. One stab wouldn't bring down someone unless it was extremely well-placed. She had seen enough of the Hunger Games to know that. That, and common sense.

"Disarm?" Gadget asked quietly.

"That's right!" Ridley smiled cheerfully. "Disarming makes sure that whoever you're fighting has less of a chance of killing you."

A less chance of killing me…and he said it oh, so casually.

"Watch me," Ridley said, then adjusted his stance, and thrust forward with his knife expertly.

Carefully, Gadget copied his movements, but Ridley was fast. He captured Gadget's hand in his own and she gasped quietly in surprise. She hadn't been sure what he'd been planning to show her.

Ridley's second hand, his own knife forgotten somewhere Gadget couldn't see, crushed her fingers and she winced. And then the knife was torn out of her hand.

"And now, I have two knives," Ridley said as he reached down to pluck his original knife from off the floor.

"Oh," Gadget said anxiously. She eyed the two knives warily. He had taken it from her so easily. Which only meant that he, or someone else, could do the same thing in the arena and take it from her there, too.

"Funny thing about these knives," Ridley started casually, "is that it's easier to disarm someone without a knife than it is with one." He held out the handle of one of the knives to Gadget again. "In my experience, anyway."

Gadget took the knife slowly, almost like Ridley was going to strike her at any second. "A-are you a Ca-reer?" she asked hesitantly.

Ridley's smile dimmed and he glanced to the side, where Gadget knew the Careers were gathered around one of the weapon stations.

"I'm not with them, if that's what you're asking," he said politely, but his tone booked no room for continuing that line of thought.

"S-sorry," Gadget apologized with apprehension. She felt that she'd crossed a line she didn't know was there and fought to retreat back over it. Ridley was helping her and she didn't want to upset him.

"That's alright," Ridley said at once, and his smile returned, dimples and all. "I'm going to lunge at you now."

Gadget didn't have time to question him before Ridley lunged forward with his knife raised towards her face. She swallowed her scream and raised her hands to defend herself.

But neither of her arms reached her face before Ridley's second hand swatted them out of the way, and her knife slipped through her fingers.

Gadget closed her eyes in preparation, and she knew she would be dead before she even arrived in the arena. She wouldn't get a chance to prove herself. She would just die in the training center before the Games could even begin.

She wished her family loved her. She wished they would miss her.

But she knew those wishes were misplaced, because her family could never love someone like her. Not someone as worthless as she was.

Gadget's fear spiked and she mewled softly. I don't want to die…

But the knife never impacted and she felt no pain.

Slowly, she reopened her eyes and all breath left her. Ridley's knife was only a hair away from her eye.

"P-please," Gadget whimpered.

The knife dropped and Ridley's face came into view. He looked vaguely amused. "I'm not actually going to stab you."

The statement didn't help to cease Gadget's worrying. Just because he didn't do it here in the gymnasium didn't mean he couldn't do it in the arena. He showed himself perfectly capable of killing her in that mere instant.

She glanced to the side and saw that the trainer actually looked wary at their interaction. No doubt for what would happen if someone died before the Games even truly began.

Ridley cleared his throat and took a step back away from Gadget. "Well, that is what's going to happen to you if you don't figure out how to use a knife." He gestured to the weapon rack. "Or any of those things."

She nodded mutely at his advice. Her knees were trembling. She wanted to collapse and curl up. But she couldn't! That was tantamount to suicide at this point, especially out here. And Corduroy and Lace would throw her aside when they realized that she was beyond pathetic.

Beetee...Wiress and Septimius, they'd be so disappointed.

She closed her eyes and willed away all the fear before she completely spiraled. Oh it was all still there, but she could push it all aside for now. She could not afford to show weakness. Not here.

Ridley seemed to be studying Gadget closely, eyeing her reaction and everything about her. His roaming eyes had her shivering again but for a different reason.

It reminded her so much of her stylist and the way he had violated her.

That reminded her that there were interviews to be had...and that man would be tending to her dressing again!

"Oh, look! The crybaby thinks she can play!"

Gadget jumped and whirled around to see Clove and the other Careers arriving.

This time, Corduroy had a hard expression on his face.

Cato stepped forward and Gadget took short, quick steps back. The knife Ridley had given her clattered on the floor.

Where did Ridley go? Gadget wondered, but she didn't dare take her eyes off of the brute from One.

Gadget heard a laugh from somewhere. One of the Careers, she was sure. She tried to turn to leave, but Cato's shoulder caught hers and she lost her balance.

Down, down she fell onto her back as the Careers loomed over her with smirks that made her shiver.

"Gonna cry, little girl?" Glimmer asked with a mocking tilt of her head.

Gadget dropped her hands and pulled her knees to her. They can't hurt me here, she reminded herself. They couldn't.

Cato reappeared in her vision with a sword in his hand. He spun it around easily. "Let me show you how it's done," he said.

He jumped into action, and he was fast. Very, very quick. He swung his sword at an arc and cut into dummy after dummy. Twisting and turning to impale them one after the other.

With each movement, Gadget paled. He was showing her what he would do to her. Her heart raced and she squeezed her hands tightly, hard enough to dig her smoothly filed nails into her skin.

"Ah!" Cato roared, and with a twist of his hips and rotation of his arms, his blade cut through the throat of a dummy.

Gadget could only watch in growing horror as the head fell and rolled towards her. She released her palms and grabbed at her own throat in fear.

"Nice one, Cato!" Glimmer cheered.

Marvel raised his hand for a high-five. "That was amazing. Could even almost say it was…marvelous, huh?"

"Shut up the fuck up, Marvel," Clove said with a sinister look. Then she looked towards Gadget and she smirked.

Gadget didn't like the way Clove smirked, and she liked the person it belonged to even less. She moved to stand and Clove walked to the knife Gadget had dropped. She crouched down and plucked it up in her hands.

"One of my knives," Clove commented. She flipped the knife between her fingers and she looked at Gadget. "Do you know what will happen if I find you with one of these?"

As if Gadget didn't know. She knew very well what the Careers would do to her. Torture her for the pleasure of the audience. Get her to beg for a mercy that would never come.

Gadget had seen enough of the Hunger Games to understand how the Career Pack worked.

It made her shake in terror and fear.

"Y-yes," Gadget said quietly.

"What was that?" Clove challenged with a grin. She was enjoying it.

"Yes," Gadget said meekly, but louder than before.

"I thought so," Clove said. Slowly, she stood up, but her eyes never lifted off of Gadget.

With a flick of her wrist, the knife flew through the air with impeccable aim and cut into the chest of a dummy that stood a good distance away.

Gadget's fear mounted.

But so did something else.

Not anger…at least, not directly…yet. But the surmounting resentment of being everyone's punching bag was starting to get to her.

She pushed herself up from the floor, and though she towered over the fifteen-year-old Clove, she still felt small compared to the Career girl.

"Hey," Marina called out nearby, and made Gadget whip her head in her direction. "You think Ridley is going to be your ally? Just because of what he did for you just now?"

Gadget didn't answer, but merely stared helplessly past Marina, before lowering her gaze and turning away.

"You underestimate how cruel he is, Longfin," she egged on. "When he finds you in the Games, he'll be smiling as he bleeds you out. We would be a mercy compared to him!"

She had enough, and started walking towards Lace and Corduroy, but Marina continued to taunt her.

"How about a wager, Longfin? I'll let you have a weapon if you can outlast me past the Bloodbath!"

The other Careers laughed.

The Careers...Gadget gritted her teeth at the thought of them. She wasn't prone to hatred...not even when Binary was at his very worst back home. But she was coming close to it with this lot. She earnestly wished she could do something about them.

They were making her appear worthless. The problem with that was they weren't wrong!

She couldn't do anything to rectify the humiliation and embarrassments she'd just suffered at the hands of that lot, and now all the other tributes would be seeing her as easy meat.

Nothing more than a tribute to die in the Bloodbath.

Step after step took her further away from that debacle, and closer, inadvertently, to Corduroy and Lace.

She managed to not flinch when Lace gently rested a hand on her shoulder, and Corduroy nodded at her in solidarity.

The sound of a whistle resounded through the gymnasium and the flinch Gadget held back was unleashed.

"Everyone to the Gauntlet!" Atala shouted. "Your first compulsory exercise of the day begins now!"

Gadget could feel herself wither. The first compulsory exercise…which only meant that, soon, there would be a second today, as well.

"Oh…no…" Lace shook and her face went pale.

"Lace, remember," Corduroy said rather calmly, "it is just something for kids to play on. That is all."

"Yeah…yeah…that's it…" Lace agreed with tearful eyes.

Gadget wondered how someone could manage to be so cheerful and panicked at the same time. Corduroy seemed to have a decent handle on calming Lace down and Gadget wondered if they knew each other back home.

But she didn't have time to dwell on that thought. The Gauntlet awaited.

---

"Everyone has one turn at the Gauntlet," Atala announced sternly. "If you complete it, you're done. If you fail, you're done."

The trainers had lined them all up in what seemed like a random order to Gadget. Rue stood at the front of the line; she would be the first one to enter the Gauntlet.

Then Monkshood would follow. Surge from Five. Jason. Thresh. Husk.

Gadget.

Everyone would see her for who she was.

A failure.

One that was easy pickings once the Games began.

Gadget hugged herself around her middle. How could they expect her to do this? She stood no chance. Not when the Careers could so easily decimate her.

The Careers. Gadget didn't need to look behind her to know that Glimmer was right behind her. And she would see everything Gadget failed to do perfectly.

"The goal is simple," Atala said as she fingered her whistle. "Make it from one side of the Gauntlet to the other without attacking the trainers, or touching the ground."

Gadget looked away from Atala and at the Gauntlet itself. Two trainers stood in the middle of a series of elevated platforms. Each platform looked, from Gadget's angle, evenly spaced out from one another with holes that separated each platform.

At the far end of the last platform was a landing that was long enough that Gadget knew they would have to use to turn themselves around and come back on the other side.

Both of the trainers held large batons in their hands, and although Atala had said nothing about what the trainers would do, Gadget knew that simply running across each elevated platform would not be easy.

Without warning, Atala blew her whistle and Rue was thrown into the Gauntlet.

The diminutive girl from District Eleven was nimble and quick on her feet. The Gauntlet's true nature was revealed to Gadget. It wasn't just platforms that they had to deal with, but moving floors that raised at an angle, making it impossible to stay balanced for more than a second before they were sliding to the ground.

And the trainers wielded staves with cushioned ends. Not that that was much of a mercy. An impact from that would send them flying to the ground. Injuries were more than possible.

No matter how nimble Rue was on her feet, she was unprepared for one of the trainers to swing his baton at her feet.

Rue tried to clamber back up, but the trainer whacked her in the head and sent her between the ledge from the two platforms.

Although Gadget could only see Thresh's back, she saw it tense with what she knew in her heart to be fury.

"Next!" Atala snapped, and Monkshood started forward.

But although Monkshood had gone next, Gadget found it hard to care about whatever she was going to try to do in the Gauntlet. All Gadget could focus on was the simple fact that she could never complete something like the Gauntlet.

And if she couldn't complete a simple obstacle course, then how could she ever survive the Hunger Games?

Because that was what it always came back to: the Hunger Games.

Monkshood jumped over one of the trainer's swings and nearly lost her balance, but she continued onwards. A look of focus appeared on her face as she moved from one platform to the next, even as they changed under her.

Gadget wished she had as much determination as someone like Monkshood exhibited in just that one action.

But she didn't.

"Do you know what they say about you Careers?" Gadget could hear Binary's voice, so very near.

Gadget didn't need to look to know that Glimmer turned around in her place in line. She flicked a strand of blonde hair over her shoulder that Gadget felt fall down her back.

"No, no I don't. Why don't you enlighten me, little boy?" Glimmer asked, sugary sweet.

Gadget did not want to be here. An alarm rang in her head. Glimmer was close. So close. But what was Binary doing? Was he making his move to get into their alliance?

"You sound like you think I'm the one to think this. No. They all say it behind your back." There was a pause and all Gadget could hear was the chattering of the other tributes. "It's all very broad. How you're all brutes and little more than that."

"Brutes, and yet we always survive," Glimmer said with mocking playfulness. But it screamed at Gadget. Something that screamed and warned to not cross the line.

"Like I said," Binary said tonelessly. "What they say. Our mentors, even." Another pause. "Their mentors."

Glimmer laughed. "Do you really think I care about what some lowly victor from a decades old Hunger Games cares about me?"

"Next!" Atala yelled, and then Surge was off.

But Gadget didn't care about who was on the Gauntlet. Because soon it would be her. And from what she heard of Glimmer and Binary's conversation…they didn't help to quell her nervousness for it.

"No, and I don't either," Binary said. Glimmer didn't say anything and Gadget took it to mean that she was surprised. "But they were really thorough with their disregard for you and your allies."

"Oh yeah?" Glimmer asked. "What did they say?"

"I think you already know."

"Tell me."

A pause. "They called you a slut. A little blonde wh-"

Gadget heard Glimmer move so that she was no longer at Gadget's back so close. "Finish that sentence and I'll cut your shard off," Glimmer said dangerously. All traces of playful sweetness had vanished.

The line had been crossed.

"Next!"

And there went Jason.

"How rude of your mentors to say such things," Glimmer said.

"Not my mentors," Binary corrected carefully. "My district partner's mentors."

Gadget felt her hackles rise. What? She started to turn, but stopped herself. She couldn't let Binary or Glimmer know she was listening.

Binary was supposed to be her district partner. And yet he threw her into the sparks so thoroughly. Her body shook as a cold wave of fear washed over her.

"The stalagmite?" Glimmer hummed in thought. Gadget heard her dainty foot take a step. "And how do I know you're not just trying to convince me into killing your partner for you?"

Gadget's heart sank. Is…is that what he is trying to do?

"Next!"

Closer and closer, now.

"Pretty cunning plan," Glimmer admitted. "Have all your mentors focus on you, huh?"

"That's not my plan," Binary said vaguely.

"Why not? Only the strong survive. And between the two of you, you are very clearly the strongest."

Gadget swallowed. She wouldn't look to see them. Even as their words cut deeper and deeper.

"Regardless," Binary said, unmoved, "her mentors aren't the only ones to think like that about you."

Glimmer moved again. "Oh yeah?" she asked. "Do you?"

"Look around," Binary replied, "all these outer district bugs. You say the strongest survive?" Gadget heard Binary step. "But these ones, they keep coming back in numbers. Do you know why?"

For once Glimmer said nothing.

"It's because they've become wiser to the tricks of Careers. They know how they work because the strong don't have a reason to evolve. They defy the course of nature…don't they?"

"Next!"

"What are you trying to say to me?" Glimmer asked. Gadget thought she sounded distinctly displeased.

"What I'm trying to say…" Binary said slowly, "is that you should consider getting an outside perspective. To help show you how to think in a manner of someone as weak as them."

Silence. Gadget's heart beat so, so fast.

"And that someone is yourself," Glimmer stated.

"Yes," Binary agreed.

Again, the silence returned. Gadget wondered if they were just staring at each other, sizing the other up.

"I'll bring it up with Cato," Glimmer said at last. "But you need to prove yourself, too. Only the strong in our alliance."

"Only the strong," Binary agreed.

Gadget went over the words in her mind as she watched Husk finish the Gauntlet. She was next.

But Binary…had he done it? Made it into the Career alliance?

What did that mean for her? What would the Careers do to her then?

Her fear spiked and Gadget hugged herself around her middle.

I can do this. I can do this.

"Isn't that right, Gadget?"

Gadget froze and her heart stopped.

Slowly, she looked behind her. Binary smiled at her, he had known she had been listening. But Glimmer…

Glimmer smirked at Gadget with an air of superiority. She knew that she would kill Gadget in the arena. Was confident of it.

"Next!"

She had never been so glad to be next for a veritable death trap.

"Go!" Atala yelled and Gadget was almost instantly thrown off, unprepared.

But still, she ran up the first steps of the Gauntlet, and the trainers sprung into action.

"Ah!" Gadget yelped as a trainer swung his baton against her chest, but she quickly spun to the side with a desperate agility she didn't know she had. The baton sailed harmlessly by her, and Gadget hurried up the next two platforms.

She still had so much to go. Six more platforms to jump to, and then another ten to return to the starting line.

But the trainer was distracted as he reorientated himself and Gadget jumped to the next one. It shook under her and she had to stop her knees from buckling.

It began to sink and wobble, but Gadget hurried on before she would lose her balance or get knocked off by a trainer.

Almost there, Gadget told herself, even as her foot slipped and she stumbled to her knees against the platform.

"Mmph!" Gadget groaned. She needed to prove herself. She had to.

She tried to reclaim her footing and glanced up to see her surroundings. And sure enough, a trainer pulled back his baton to swing at her.

Gadget squeaked and pushed herself back right on time for the baton to smash down between her legs. Right where her torso had been.

No, no!

Gadget pushed herself up. A significant challenge given the shakiness of the platform, but she hurried into a jump as the trainer swung for her a second time.

Closer and closer she went. From platform to platform until she made it to the last one in the row. She hurled herself forward right as a baton came down on her foot.

One foot landed on the platform, but the other could not, and Gadget skid and fell onto her back. All air left her lungs at once

But she'd made it halfway. She was certain that was more than what Binary expected of her. And if she could do half of it, then she could do the rest.

"Okay," Gadget whispered to herself. She pulled herself up and stared at the Gauntlet. Of what she still had to do.

The trainers had vicious looks on their faces that made Gadget gulp. They looked so determined to not let her complete it.

But she could. If she'd made it this far, she could go further.

"Okay," Gadget said to herself again. And then she leapt forward, and the trainers were prepared for it.

Gadget felt a heavy pressure against her chest, followed by a flood of pain. She quickly lost her footing and the platform shifted under her weight.

Gadget bit her lip and made to reorient herself. But then a second blow smashed into her chest, far more painful than the first.

"Ah!" Gadget cried, and she fell backwards off the platform onto the hard floor. Another rush of hot agony exploded from her lip, and she could taste the awful taste of something metallic on her tongue.

She heard the laughter emanating from the entrance to the Gauntlet. She knew who were the ones laughing. They'd been on her since the first day. Glimmer was particularly loud and obnoxious.

Gadget's eyes filled with unshed tears. Why had she thought she could do it? A worthless girl can't do worthwhile things.

There was no room for a worthless girl to prove herself.

Gadget looked up at the Careers, who snickered and laughed. Cato and Clove had sinister smiles that Gadget did not like at all. Marvel and Marina snickered. And Glimmer laughed at the failure that Gadget knew she was.

The metallic taste of blood slid down Gadget's throat and she winced. She had split her lip when she fell off of the Gauntlet.

No matter how much she screamed at herself to stop looking at the Careers, she couldn't. Her eyes slid to Binary in the hopes that maybe he would be sympathetic to her, just this once.

Binary smirked at her.

Gadget shut her eyes tightly, but it was too late. She felt a tear go down her cheek.

"Oh, the poor baby's crying!" Glimmer mocked.

Please…stop…

Gadget stood up slowly and kept her eyes low. She didn't want to see the Careers. Out of the corner of her eye, in a booth she'd managed to avoid peeking at and thinking about until that moment, she saw the Gamemakers watching her.

She saw Seneca Crane watching her.

Gadget hadn't wanted to acknowledge them. But she couldn't put it off forever. They had been there, talking amongst themselves, and watching the tributes, since the day the tributes arrived in the gymnasium.

And now, Seneca Crane had his eyes on Gadget completely.

The man who could change her fate in the Games should he call for it.

And his gaze was on her for this one brief moment.

"Yes, very mature." Corduroy's voice rang out.

Gadget snapped her head to Corduroy, who wore an impression of someone who was distinctly unimpressed.

"Next!" Atala said, but Glimmer made no move to race the Gauntlet. She, like the rest of the Careers, were focused on Corduroy.

"So defensive," the nearest Career, Marvel, said. He leaned closer to Corduroy. "Do you have a thing for her? I can give you tips." He leaned closer. "Like the tip of my spear shoved down your throat."

"Defensive, and here you are, making threats," Corduroy said back.

Marvel scoffed and a cocky appearance fell over his face. "That wasn't a threat. It's a fact of what's gonna happen."

"I said next!" Atala said again, louder.

"Is that so?" Corduroy asked with a polite smile and a raise of his eyebrow.

"It's so," Marvel said. He took a step closer into Corduroy's personal space, but Gadget saw that her ally seemed to refuse to give any ground. "And when we're done with you, we're gonna kill her next. And let me tell you, it'll be marvelous."

Gadget shivered and stepped back. She didn't want to be here any longer than she needed to be. Corduroy and Lace would be okay.

"Next!" Atala shouted and blew her whistle. But the Careers didn't seem to care. They were viruses that saw data to corrupt, and they wanted it.

Gadget peeked at Seneca Crane from the booth and to her, he appeared intrigued by where this was all going. Was he envisioning one of his little plots in his head?

"I find it hard to take the words of a cheater to heart," Corduroy said blankly. Gadget swung her head back to Corduroy. Her usually dead eyes widened with surprise.

Marvel looked like he'd been slapped. So did Glimmer. Cato, Clove, and Marina looked maddened by wrath.

"How dare you!?" an affronted Glimmer yelled.

"I changed my mind," Marvel snarled. "I won't just put my spear in you."

Marvel took a step to Corduroy's side. Gadget felt fear for him.

"I'm gonna shove my spear so far up your ass you'll be chewing on steel." Marvel leaned close to Corduroy's ear, but he was loud enough for the room to hear. "And that. That'll be marvelous."

Someone actually groaned audibly.

Marvel shoved Corduroy back suddenly, and he couldn't catch himself fast enough before he was on the floor.

"Hey!" Atala shouted. "What did I say? No fighting!"

Corduroy glared at Marvel, and the latter's fury seemed to dissolve bit by bit. The arrogant smirk flittered to his face once more.

Corduroy…he stood up for me…

Gadget couldn't fathom why someone would do something like that for her. Why would someone put themselves into the line of sight of the Careers. Why?

It touched her heart in a way nobody had done for her before. Someone had stood up for her.

She didn't deserve it, but still, Corduroy made that effort.

"You have more strength than you realize, Gadget…"

"H-hey!" Gadget yelled meekly, and the Careers turned their bloodthirsty eyes on her. "L-leave him a-alone!"

"Oh, it looks like she likes you, too, District Eight," Marvel said, hovering above Corduroy's prone form.

Gadget flushed. She fought her desire to turn and run away from them. "Leave him a-alone."

She felt like every eye was on her. Judgment weighed down on her at that moment, and though she wanted nothing more than to break and run crying, she rooted herself, and even Atala stared in mute surprise.

But something was exchanged between Corduroy and her then. A firmament of an agreement that had until then been sealed only on quicksand.

Now, it was built on a concrete foundation.

He smiled down at her, and behind him, Lace was beaming like she had received a dozen presents at once.

"I won't say it again!" Atala spoke suddenly. "Next, District One!"

Glimmer's beautiful face morphed into a hideous scowl. She shot one last backwards glare at Corduroy, and then Gadget, and sprinted into the Gauntlet.

She didn't bother to watch Glimmer's performance, as she knew that the Career was likely to ace it easily. Gadget made her way to the exit of the Gauntlet, trying not to wince at the still bleeding self-inflicted cut to her lip.

She sat down on a bench as the Gauntlet continued to chew and spit out tributes in various states of injury and slumped shoulders or upbeat attitudes.

Glimmer, to Gadget's growing sense of unease, expertly dodged and weaved between every strike the trainers threw at her. The most they had managed was a sweep to her legs and shoulders that failed to knock her off.

Gadget hoped to imagine Glimmer fell off halfway through like Gadget herself did.

Atala's voice rang out loudly, calling tribute after tribute. Finally Gadget saw Corduroy emerging from the exit, with Lace not far behind. Lace darted to the nearby first-aid station, and Gadget made her way towards them.

"Say ah!" was the first thing Lace ordered when Gadget reached them. Lace looked at the cut on Gadget's lip and held what looked like the same kind of cream Gadget applied on her foot two days back.

More out of surprise than compliance, Gadget's lips parted, and Lace dabbed a bit of the cream on the cut.

The sting was brief and minute, enough that she didn't react to it.

"Th-thank you," Gadget said. She was rather flustered at Lace's behavior and didn't know how to take it. But she was helping, so she felt mostly grateful.

"You were so brave!" Lace said, smiling, then rubbed her left arm nervously. "I-I would have died on the spot if it were me…"

Gadget could only stare in disbelief at Lace's proclamation. Me? Brave? A word she would never in a million years apply to herself, yet this girl from District Eight thought she was brave.

"I-I…I…" She was at such a loss for words, she could only squeak when Corduroy entered her field of vision from the side.

"You certainly did not have to help me, Gadget," Corduroy said, "but you did, with nothing to gain, but the ire of the Careers and your district partner. So really, thank you."

He smiled at her, and Gadget couldn't help but return the smile, something she felt she'd never done before.

"Oh! We should set-set-set up for some swimming lessons!" Lace announced abruptly. Her excitement was such that she was stuck on the word 'set'.

And she darted off to the swim instructor, leaving Gadget alone with Corduroy.

"Listen," Corduroy started, and Gadget's green eyes fixed on him, "we all know how the Games will play out in the end. But until then, I am going to make you a promise. And I can safely say I speak for Lace in this: we will not betray or harm you, at least until we are the very last ones left...if we are still alive by then."

Gadget was taken aback. He sounded like he truly meant that to her.

He offered her a hand. "We have an accord?"

It sounded so formal, but more shocking was the willing offer of non-aggression from Corduroy and Lace. Was her standing up for him that worthy of such treatment?

Still, she was not one to look at a gift computer in the casing, and she gingerly grasped the offered hand, shaking it once, firmly.

"Come, I believe Lace has got us some time to learn how to swim. Are there rivers or lakes in District Three?"

"N-not really." Gadget replied quietly, "I-it's...uhm...rather concrete. At least...wh-where I li-ve"

Corduroy nodded his head in understanding. "A shame. But now is your chance to learn. Lace and I live near a lake. We used to play there a lot, but we never really learnt how to swim."

"Is...is it hard?" Gadget asked.

"Yes. Extremely." Corduroy had an expression the girl couldn't fathom. "The hardest thing for me was learning to lie still on my back and just float."

Gadget blinked, paused, stared at him, then blinked again.

Did Corduroy just tell a joke?

Gadget would have laughed out of disbelief, if nothing else. Had she been capable of it in that moment.

But she wasn't.

Because she hadn't yet forgotten where they were. The Hunger Games. And although they weren't in the arena, it was closing in fast.

She glanced at the Gamemaker booth. Seneca Crane had long stopped looking at her and now looked elsewhere. He laughed at something a Gamemaker said.

And Seneca Crane's fist closed tighter around them. Around her.

"Come on, guys!" Lace said as she swung by them. She grasped both Corduroy and Gadget by the arms and tugged them towards the back of the gymnasium. Corduroy's smile was more relaxed around Lace, Gadget noticed.

"I-is this where th-th-the s-swimming thing is?" Gadget asked quietly.

Lace hummed in affirmation. She pulled them towards a large glass doorway at the far end of the gymnasium. When they reached it, the door slid open into a small room.

Gadget, Corduroy, and Lace entered and the door shut behind them. The second glass door in front of them, however, refused to open.

"This way, please," a voice called. "That room's only for when you're done and ready to dry."

The trio turned to look at a tall woman who smiled cordially at them.

"I'm Antonia," she introduced. "Any of you got previous experience swimming?"

Corduroy and Lace's hands shot up. Gadget flushed and looked down. This somehow felt like a failure on her part yet again.

She didn't see the assuring smile on Antonia's face, but her tone was kindly.

"It's okay if you don't know how to swim. That's why you're here."

Gadget looked up then, wondering.

"Why don't you two practice for a while on your own over there?" Antonia said towards Corduroy and Lace. "I'm gonna walk her through some of the basics of swimming."

The District Eight teens nodded their agreement and both gently plopped into the pool, whilst Antonia patiently explained the basic principles of swimming to Gadget.

Once she got her through the basics, they were soon in the water. The experience was quite novel for Gadget, as she'd never really been submerged. But she briefly remembered how one of the tributes of her district before her had been killed.

A brute had held him under the water until he drowned.

Gadget fought the urge to leap back out of the water, when a gentle but firm hand caught her arm.

"I know…" Antonia said. "...I know what you're thinking. But do your best to set that aside for now."

Antonia was quite different from the other trainers. She seemed to genuinely care about the tributes. She didn't even scold Corduroy and Lace when they playfully splashed each other.

"You serve yourself best by learning all you can here. Nevermind about putting on a good show. Just make sure you'll do all you can to survive. Okay?"

It sounded so much like Syncis and Septimius, that Gadget just mutely nodded, and started to practice the simple strokes and holding her breath as long as she could.

Corduroy and Lace had joined her eventually. They too practiced staying submerged for as long as possible. As Corduroy had explained it, "The Careers, aside from the ones from District Four, are land-locked as much as most others. If we can evade them by water, so much the better."

Antonia taught them all the importance of conserving energy by treading water, and how to frog swim, which allowed them to travel very quickly underwater.

"Doing good, Lace," Antonia complimented when she managed to outpace everyone in a quick race.

Gadget realized she felt her face muscles straining in an odd way, and it took her a while to realize she was smiling. She never had much reason to do so before. But at that moment, with the kindly instructor, Corduroy and Lace...Gadget was having fun.

Whilst the likelihood of it was slim, Antonia also warned them about cramps and swimming after a full meal. "You need to understand how your body works, and look after it…as best as you can, anyway."

She left them alone for their last half hour to do whatever they wanted. As far as they could tell, they had the whole pool to themselves, and no one was watching. Though, this being the Capitol, they were bound to have some kind of monitor in place to prevent even an accidental death of a tribute.

After nearly three quarters of a century, the Capitol had developed a near-foolproof system to keep the tributes alive and well right up until the Games, then their fates were in their hands, the sponsors, and the Gamemakers.

"Hey, can you do this?" Lace asked, snapping Gadget out of her thoughts as the petite girl arched her back and did an underwater back-flip.

Corduroy hummed lightly, and then did an underwater somersault. The two popped their heads up and different grins.

It honestly looked fun. Gadget tried to imitate what Corduroy did, but she panicked when her motions caused her to instinctively inhale as she was underwater and took in water. She coughed and gasped loudly as she resurfaced, looking completely flustered.

"Did you breathe in water?" Corduroy asked knowingly. "Happened to me the first few times too."

"R-really?" Gadget coughed out.

"Yes, really." Corduroy gave her a mystifying look.

"You're doing really great for a first-timer!" Lace said excitedly. "We could use the waters as cover if the arena isn't freezing."

And just like that, the trio fell silent at the sobering reminder that everything they were learning or being trained for was for a life-or-death situation.

"There is little point in dwelling on the fact, Lace, Gadget," Corduroy declared, "better to just accept things as they come and deal with them then."

"Right. Thanks Cordy," Lace said. "Hey Gadget, let's try the frog-swim some more!"

Without waiting, the girl was underwater, with Corduroy following a moment later, and Gadget last, mostly because she was puzzled how easily the two tributes had welcomed her into their fold and into every activity they did.

She was not excluded or alone.

A chime told them that their time was up, so they reluctantly clambered out of the pool, a little unsteady after so much time of continuous bobbing in the water. They entered through the room that Antonia had earlier indicated was to be used after they'd finished with their swim lessons.

In just a few seconds, they were dried and refreshed, and headed out.

They made a slow trek towards the main training center, and made small talk along the way.

For once, it was Gadget who initiated the conversation.

"I...I d-don't understand. Uhm…" She brushed her hair back nervously, trying not to meet any gaze given her way as she spoke. "...wh-why would y-you both...de-defend me."

Corduroy looked inscrutable as he thought of an answer, and Lace looked surprised. Gadget caught their expressions from a furtive glance before she looked back at her feet.

"You are not used to it, are you?" Corduroy asked.

"Use-used t-to what?"

"Having somebody, anybody, sticking up for you."

Although she had the answer, Gadget nonetheless hesitated to answer, and she thought to see if she could count any one person in her painfully short life who even remotely showed her kindness, helped her, protected her, the way Corduroy or even Lace did.

She could only extremely barely count Syncis in that, but she answered Corduroy with, "N-no."

"We've got you," Lace piped up helpfully, "we'll stand up for you!"

Gadget made to protest, but it died on her lips when Corduroy broke in.

"See it as life balancing the scales for you. If you have had nothing but bad, bad, bad, all this time up until now, with the worst being reaped for the Games, then perhaps it is time for some good to make up for it."

"I-I…but I'm…" useless, Gadget wanted to say.

"I would like for us to be comrades, Gadget," Corduroy said formally, "I swear on everything I hold dear, that I will not harm you for as long as is possible, until we alone remain."

Gadget was shocked, to say the least. He had said more or less the same thing earlier, but now he was guaranteeing it, in front of a witness. This was the closest one could get to being served a gift on a golden platter.

Guarantees can be broken.

Lace beamed and said, "I-I swear it too!"

She couldn't stop a single tear from falling down, but she managed to stammer out, "I…th-thank…I swear it too."

Lace gave a tiny squeal of delight, as if Gadget had given her a present, and she pulled both of them into a three-way hug, causing Gadget to squeak in surprise.

Lace liked to hug, it seemed, and honestly, Gadget thought she might like it too.

Atala's whistle cut through the air viciously, bringing all activity to a halt around the arena.

"All right, everyone, front and center!" she barked.

When they were gathered in a loose gaggle, she stated, "Let's see how well you do with the monkey bars, the lot of you."

"Ohhh, Gadget, you and I could do this easily!" Lace chimed. "We're light!"

Gadget agreed that Lace was light, but she wasn't sure about herself.

Oh, she wasn't a fool. She was malnourished and underfed, but she still had heavy bones. And she didn't have much in the way of strength. She wasn't sure she could lift her own weight across ten meters, let alone anything longer than that.

Corduroy said nothing, but he lined up behind Lace. Unfortunately, because Gadget had faltered a moment, she was neatly obstructed by the tributes from other districts until she was a fair distance before Lace and Corduroy noticed where she was.

Corduroy gave her an enigmatic, yet encouraging smile, and then turned back to speak to Lace.

So far, all the trials were physical, which was to be expected. Idly, Gadget wondered if the technical lessons contributed to the overall grading and scoring of the tributes.

She saw how quickly Finch had matched and identified plants and fruits on the computer yesterday; she could only imagine that having quick wits and a sharp eye would count for something.

Atala's sharp voice cut through her thoughts and reverie as she needlessly instructed the tributes to go one after another. Unlike Antonia, this woman was like a drone, and lacked any warmth, but had plenty of sharp edges.

"Go!" She blew on her whistle right in Cato's ear.

Gadget couldn't help the smirk, but made a mental note not to stand right beside the woman when her turn came.

It was no surprise that Cato practically sprinted across the monkey bars in record time. Gadget made a mental note of how he tucked his legs in and pulled them against himself as he swung his arms to each ring with a limber grace.

Perhaps she'd try to imitate his style.

"NEXT!" Atala blew on her whistle again.

The other tributes had the same idea to imitate Cato's method, with varied degrees of success. Marina nearly missed the last ring, but caught herself and corrected her movements and, with a soft snarl, was across.

"NEXT!"

Lace hesitated for a split second, and then all but bodily threw herself, skipping the first two rings. A risky move, but it paid off, as she nearly matched Cato's record.

She too, had tucked her legs in and swung herself arm over arm quite gracefully. Again, Gadget smiled, happy for her friend. She realized with a small start that for the first time in her life, she had people she considered friends.

Atala nodded upon seeing Lace complete the course, and simply nodded at Corduroy, blowing on her whistle.

Corduroy did not try Lace's feat, but seemed to be easily crossing the bar, but Gadget immediately noticed he was faltering towards the middle of the course, and she made a soft noise as she foresaw danger.

She was right.

Corduroy couldn't maintain his hold, or he let go at the wrong time before his other hand had caught the next ring and he fell down the large gap between the floor and bars, landing extremely hard on his left leg. The sound reached them all the way to the back. A few of the tributes in front and behind Gadget winced.

"AH!" Corduroy rolled quickly onto his back and clutched his injured leg with both hands.

"Corduroy!" Gadget and Lace cried out at the same time.

She didn't even know when she had moved, but she had scrambled back down from the starting ramp to kneel beside the boy, Lace catching up scant seconds later.

"H-how bad is it?" Lace asked worriedly.

"I...do not know, Lace." Corduroy's voice was strained, but he still managed a smile at her.

Two medics hurried over, and Gadget stayed by his side, ignoring Atala's shouts to get back in position.

"Step aside," one of the medics instructed.

As she reluctantly stood up, Corduroy caught her wrist, and said in an urgent whisper, "Do not give in to fear, Gadget."

"O-okay." she agreed.

Lace followed beside her district partner, and Gadget suddenly became aware of eyes intensely focusing on her. She looked up to the booths above the arena floor, and could see the Gamemakers and other honored guests, all watching every little thing with keen interest.

To say nothing of the tributes and Atala's increasingly impatient calls.

"Get back to your position, girl!"

Gadget began to move when she noticed Seneca Crane again, but instead of just a passing glance like it had been previously…

His gaze locked on her, and Gadget could practically see the gears turning behind his remorseless eyes.

Gadget sucked in a nervous breath. What did he have planned for her? If what he said during that interview she saw was true, then she feared for the endless possibilities of cruelty by the Gamemakers.

"Do I have to say it again!?" Atala screamed. "Back to your position!"

Gadget dropped her head and kept it down as she climbed back into her position in line, and ignored the snickering of the tributes behind her. She noted that Peeta was behind her, and was one of the few who wasn't smirking or laughing at her.

Thresh was the next to go. He was utterly graceless about it, but the reach of his arms meant he was almost vaulting across, skipping multiple rings, and neatly breaking Cato's record, earning a scowl from him.

If it bothered him, Thresh didn't show it as he strode past.

Before long, it was Gadget's turn. Atala scowled at her, but didn't say anything, only blowing hard on her whistle.

She didn't try anything fancy or ambitious. All she wanted to do was get across in one piece.

Grab the next ring, then let go, and repeat, she told herself.

She had to grab for the rings more than once each time, before her fingers could catch on.

Her weight pulled down against her as she hung and she did her best to maneuver forward. But her hands and fingers protested against her and fought to release.

Gadget wasn't strong enough, and she wanted to drop down so badly.

Don't look down.

Her fingers clasped around the next bar, and she pulled herself forward towards the next one. The end of the course approached quickly. One bar after another.

Her grip slipped.

"No!" Gadget cried.

She desperately threw her arm backwards and grasped the previous ring. Her legs swung around wildly below her, frantically searching for leverage to latch onto that she knew wasn't there.

The mocking sound of laughter from the Careers reached her ears.

Ignore it, Gadget.

But it was hard. It was so hard.

Their jeering echoed in her head even as she worked in that brief moment to correct herself. They'd managed to get through the course so easily, compared to her.

Gadget whimpered in despair and her breath hitched.

She tucked her legs in and threw her hand out for the next bar. Her hands ached against holding the entire weight of her body up.

But she pulled herself forward that tiny bit further.

And finished the course.

She dropped her body against one of the poles at the end that held the bars up. Her arms uselessly fell to her side and she fought to catch her breath.

"I can't wait to meet her in the Games," Marina stage-whispered to Cato.

Cato answered by leering hungrily at Gadget.

Don't give in to fear...don't give in to fear, she reminded herself, chanting Corduroy's advice like a mantra.

She barely maintained a facade of serenity as she straightened and left the course ground. Most of the tributes had dispersed after the mandatory training to attend other things. Eventually, Atala's voice and whistle ceased.

She saw Elm and Surge kneeling together in the fire-making course. They met with quick success as a flame burst from the gathering of twigs and leaves they'd piled together. Their satisfied grins showing their happiness at the success.

"Gadget!" Lace's voice cut through the din of voices and activity, she was half-supporting Corduroy with her shoulders, and the boy seemed to be humoring his friend more than he actually needed the support. His left leg from the foot to the knee was covered by an exoskeletal support frame.

"Did you make it across?" Lace asked eagerly.

"Y-yes…" Gadget replied, "it w-was harder than it l-looked."

"Great job, Gadget," Corduroy praised. "Better than me, at any rate."

He took his arm off of Lace to stand on his own. "We should try the blunt weapons training course next, I think."

"So many weapons…" Lace commented, "...do you think a staff is better than swords or a knife?"

Corduroy nodded gravely. "It might be even better."

"H-how?" Gadget asked, perplexed.

"A quarterstaff or spear has much greater reach and parrying capability than even a sword," Corduroy explained. "A person well-versed in using one could even fight two people wielding swords at the same time."

"No way," Lace said.

"Do you remember old Stringfellow Twine?" Corduroy asked, referring to someone the two knew from their own district.

Gadget started to open her mouth to ask, but shut it again. He might not want her to know, and the less questions she asked, the less a chance she would offend anyone.

"He was an eccentric old man who fought in the war as a teenager," Corduroy said suddenly. "He kicked up a fuss when his granddaughter was reaped a few years ago. Two Peacekeepers tried to pacify him, but his walking staff turned into a deadly weapon, and he crippled one Peacekeeper, disabled another, and nearly killed a third before he was put down. He proved a staff was more efficient a weapon than their batons or knives were."

Gadget goggled at the boy. An eighty or ninety year old man managed to take on and severely incapacitate three Peacekeepers all by himself?

"I remember him," Lace said sadly, "I miss him."

Gadget didn't need to guess the old man's fate. When Corduroy said he'd been put down, it was permanently.

The trio made their way towards the staff-training, and there was a small line. Katniss was just ahead of them. The instructor was just showing them some basic moves. The tributes could choose from a two-handed staff or a one-handed type that was akin to a sword, but had a blunt edge or spiked end, based on the shape of the training weapon.

Inspired by what Corduroy had told her of Stringfellow Twine, Gadget, Corduroy and Lace all decided to go with a two-handed staff to train with. Examination of the weapon proved that Corduroy was right. It seemed like a weapon that had tremendous defense, and decent offense.

"Hey Jason, where's my knife, huh!?"

Gadget started and looked over her shoulder in the direction of Cato's voice.

"I didn't touch your knife." Jason's reply was accompanied by a confused frown.

"I put my knife right there!" Cato angrily pointed wildly towards a raised platform.

He was practically nose-to-nose with the younger tribute, and was trying to grab his collar, but Jason was having none of it.

"Get off me! I didn't touch your knife, man!"

Another tribute, Kernel, ventured over to help Jason against the much bigger Cato, and two Peacekeepers were already rushing over, as Cato's body language was screaming imminent violence.

"YES YOU TOOK MY KNIFE. I KNOW IT!" He shouted, roughly shoving aside Kernel's feeble attempts at placating the increasingly irate Career.

"WHY WOULD I WANT TO TAKE IT?!" Jason shouted back, "I WAS JUST SITTING HERE! WHERE IS THE KNIFE IF I TOOK IT, HUH?"

He gestured around himself and looked left and right.

From a number of paces away, Gadget finally noticed Thresh smirking at the arguing pair, then glance upwards.

Gadget followed his gaze to see his district partner, Rue, lying on a mesh of nets, knife in her hands, and she was smiling down at the arguing pair.

"YOU TOOK MY KNIFE, YOU LIAR!" Cato persisted, the Peacekeepers had reached the arguing pair and moved between them, urgently pushing the enraged teen back. "YOU LITTLE PUNK…HEY GET OFF ME! I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE!"

"I DIDN'T TOUCH YOUR KNIFE, YOU TUNNEL-EYED IDIOT!" Jason protested.

"I'll finish you right now, kid!" The Peacekeepers shoved Cato firmly away, but he never took his eyes off Jason. "Actually, better yet. I'll wait for you in the arena. I'm coming for you first. You better watch your back!"

He finally stormed away, rejoining the Career Pack, with the whole lot exchanging predatory looks at Jason from time-to-time, who now looked alarmed and justifiably upset.

Rue in the meantime, slipped out from the nets, and secreted the knife under the bleachers near her.

The threat Rue represented now skyrocketed for Gadget. She was a young girl that looked and acted shy and timid, but based on what she'd just done, she proved herself to be quite devious, even cruel, considering the fate she consigned Jason to before the Games even began.

Cato seemed extremely vindictive and had a hair-trigger temper. He was definitely going to go after Jason first. His fate in the Bloodbath was all but guaranteed.

But that was the way the Hunger Games were played. Where you had to be ruthless in order to succeed.

Or so Gadget had been led to believe.

Gadget clutched the staff hard in her hands and glimpsed at Corduroy and Lace from beneath her lashes. She didn't think she had what it took.

Lace's shoulders rose and sank at something Corduroy said that Gadget couldn't hear, but she felt her heart squeeze.

She hated the Hunger Games with a passion.

"Hey," a deep voice suddenly spoke up just behind Gadget, making her jump in fright and whirl around to see its owner.

Although tall, Husk was broad enough to make Gadget seem tiny in comparison.

"You got some guts," he remarked abruptly to her.

"I-I-I…wh-what?" Gadget couldn't believe where this was going. She had guts?

Husk's chuckle was like a deep, low rumble. "I saw you when you stood up to the Careers for your friend there."

He chucked his chin at Corduroy, who was placidly watching the exchange between Gadget and him.

"You didn't throw punches, but that don' always define who's brave?" He hummed and nodded to himself, as if he decided on the answer already.

Gadget rubbed at her arm and threw a glance behind Husk, but nobody seemed to pay them any attention. Not even the trainers.

"Me, I hope you'll live past the Bloodbath. Gonna be interestin' to see what you can do."

He started to turn, but then stopped, and gave Gadget a severe look.

"Can' say the same 'bout my partner, Monkshood."

"M-Monkshood?" Gadget questioned, thumbing her fingers along her staff agitatedly.

Husk hummed. His eyes slid from Gadget to Corduroy, and then briefly to Lace, before they stopped on Gadget again.

She had the distinct impression that he hadn't come there just to be kind.

"Since you gave the Careers a talkin' to nobody else has," Husk said slowly, "I'll give ya somethin' in return."

Husk looked elsewhere and Gadget followed his narrowed stare across the gymnasium, where his district partner sparred with Ridley.

"If I trusted her, I would'a joined with 'em." Husk crossed his arms. "But I wouldn' trust 'er as far as I could throw 'er."

Gadget and Lace gaped as he turned, gestured with his head to them and he limped away. He had said the words so simply, but a dozen different meanings filtered through Gadget's head.

"Wh-what…what just…" Gadget couldn't speak.

"Uh-huh…" Lace said, agreeing.

"I think you just got a non-aggression treaty from half of District Ten," Corduroy said, nodding contemplatively.

"R-really?" Gadget felt hopeful.

"I believe so, but we cannot be absolutely certain. Still, it would be best if we did not do anything to provoke him against us at the start."

"Y-yes," Lace stammered, "he did say until after the Bloodbath, and perhaps a little more after! So…we just don't pick a fight with him."

"I concur," Corduroy said. "What about you, Gadget?"

Gadget marveled that Corduroy genuinely sought her opinion, valued it, and didn't just order her obedience like Binary did.

"Yes…uhm…I think." Gadget was uncertain, but Corduroy took it for an affirmation.

---

Gadget let out a sigh as she stepped through the elevators leading back into the Training Center. It was the last day for training.

She had run into her stylist that morning. Septimius had politely but firmly driven the man away from the dining table so that Gadget could eat in peace and not fear something getting slipped into her food or drinks.

Not that he would do that, not when he had no need or reason to.

Still, Gadget would never forget.

The facility was almost quiet, and devoid of anybody save for some instructors and Peacekeepers. There was a low hum of noise that could be the power surging through the entire facility.

She closed her eyes and basked in the sense of peace while it lasted.

The elevators chimed, announcing an arrival, and Gadget cast a glance to see a morose Jason stepping out, followed closely by his partner, Tamora. She whispered something to him and patted his back encouragingly, before she wandered away.

He noticed Gadget standing by herself and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Hey," he greeted casually.

"H-hello…" Gadget replied, mystified by why he'd want to talk to her.

He folded his arms in front of him, and took slow, measured steps towards her.

"Do you hate the Careers and the Hunger Games as much as I do right now?" he asked after a moment.

She took a moment to eye him warily, but she gave an honest answer, "Yes."

He nodded, "I...I kind of wish the Capitol just destroyed all the districts when they won the war."

Gadget honestly couldn't disagree with that sentiment.

"This is a slow, agonizing torture…" He scuffed his shoes against the smooth surface of the floor, "...anyway...hey, you're from District Three, right?"

At a nervous nod, he smiled.

"I've always loved the trains...yeah, cliché, I know. I'm from the transportation district, so yes, I'd love any and all vehicles. But I love trains in particular. If I hadn't been...if I wasn't reaped, ever...I'd totally be working the trains."

Gadget wondered why he told her that. Was it to make her feel bad if she tried to kill him? To make her hesitate?

Jason began to gesture with his hands, forming a circular shape. "My dad got me a train set when I was five. Hover train just running in circles. But I never got sick of watching it, you know? Your district supplies the anti-grav units, right? Is it true they're producing the new Huon-class generators now? I heard the output on that thing works even if half the parts are broken."

Gadget nodded slowly. "Y-yes…they-they do."

"Speedy," said Jason, "I love that. Hey, I'm gonna go join Tamora...you're okay, to me. I'll see you around."

He smiled at her and walked away.

Gadget pondered the interaction she'd just had, though she barely said anything. Maybe Jason just needed a friendly ear more than anything else. Who was she to deny him at least that?

Then she saw Thresh and Rue arriving. Thresh stared at her for a moment, and Rue gave her a shy smile and small wave, which Gadget nervously returned. She didn't forget that Rue was essentially Jason's executioner.

There wasn't as much training that day as the previous two.

It was the 'final exams', so to speak. Most of the day was dedicated to presentations of their biggest strengths. It was their last chance to impress the Gamemakers.

The make-or-break.

Beetee, Wiress and Septimius walked her through everything they could think of that might help her do her best in the presentation.

She'd seen Peeta and Katniss. She shyly wished Peeta luck, which he returned with an affable smile.

Ever since she'd formed a friendship with Corduroy and Lace, Gadget had been trying to be more social, though not forgetting that all pretense of civility ended when the Games officiated.

The District Eight pair came by before too long, and greeted her warmly. Corduroy's sincerity and Lace's enthusiasm buoyed her spirits despite her uncertainty of what she was going to do for her presentation.

They were called into the inner sanctum one-by-one, the male tributes first, then the females, in order of the district numbers.

So Binary and Gadget didn't have long to wait, as they were right after the first two Career pairs.

Binary gave her an unreadable look, but said nothing.

And by the time her name was called, Gadget had more or less decided on the reckless and probably poor idea of running a repeat of the Gauntlet.

Seneca Crane stood there, front and center, gazing impassively down at her. The other guests were watching with bored expressions. How many times had they sat through this and watched kid after kid present themselves every year?

"H-hello…" Gadget's voice was barely above a whisper, but somehow the volume was amplified, and she went on before she'd completely lost every last nerve she had, "I-I'm going to r-run the Gauntlet course…"

As if the words triggered a cue, platforms and elevations began to appear before her in a rough circuit. Instead of trainers with cushioned quarterstaffs, though, there were rotating turrets that held a cushioned club.

This was a bad idea!

With no choice, Gadget started her run...