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.

12. Honor Amongst Thieves

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

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Author's Notes:

Triage: We're here to keep you trapped in this chapter. I'm personally going for broke. I wanted to write over 200,000 words for this chapter alone, but Zevoros wouldn't hear of it. Like a tortoise, Zevoros just pulled back into a shell and wouldn't come out until I acquiesced to just 50,000 words or less. I'm annoyed.

Zevoros: Absolute libel!

Special thanks to Evie Rose and Team Shadow! Additional thanks to CragmiteBlaster and Cal_the_Wandcrafter.

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Penelope's Web

Chapter 12

Honor Amongst Thieves

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The whistling melodies of mockingjay birds woke Gadget from a fitful, weary slumber. She cracked her eyes open to the sight of the sun that beamed down on her face and she tiredly shielded view with an arm. It was just as bright as it was when she fell asleep. The only sign that time had passed was the chill in the air. As opposed to the heat that came down on them earlier. Gadget rolled down her sleeves as she sat up.

She'd worked well into what she thought was the night with her newly sponsored materials. Combining them together to build something amazing. But Cato's face kept appearing in her mind's eye, and mixed with the sun that refused to dip over the horizon…it made sleeping difficult.

Cato…was dead. And Gadget was the cause. The fact that he would not hesitate to end her life if he had the opportunity gave her little comfort.

Hesitantly, she looked down at her hands, but there was nothing on them, yet it felt stained with red. She had murdered someone. How did the Careers withstand this? The guilt of tearing someone's life apart? With the sound of a cannon in the sky, she had ended the life of another person. How did they bear the tremendous guilt that crushed her? How? How could anyone be so cruel? Clove, Marvel, Glimmer, Marina, and Cato, they all enjoyed killing the other tributes. Gadget had heard it first hand during the Bloodbath.

Gadget released a breath and sniffed. Don't cry, Gadget, she reminded herself. Cameras could see everything she did. Why was she still being supported by sponsors? How were Beetee and Wiress getting this support for her when she'd proved time and time again that she was weak and worth nothing?

Did…did killing Cato really get her that many more sponsors?

Gadget felt bile in the back of her throat. The more tributes that died, the more the sponsors would shift to other tributes…but also, the more the prices for things went up.

She blew out another breath and looked across from herself where Monkshood lay, eyes closed and a look of peace etched onto her sleeping form. Clutched in her hand was her dagger. She wasn't the only one. Gadget palmed the hilt of her knife. The same knife that she'd fallen asleep with clenched in a fist. Unlike Peeta, it didn't surprise Gadget in the slightest that Monkshood slept facing her. Peeta, for reasons that escaped Gadget, trusted her enough to have his back to her while he slept.

Monkshood did not.

"But I wouldn' trust 'er as far as I could throw 'er." Husk's words repeated themselves to Gadget again and again. A constant reminder to be wary of the girl that slept across from her.

As before, she left her ally to sleep whilst she began to continue her work on her plan. But it was hard. It was so, so hard. She couldn't delay working on any part of it longer than was necessary, and she was already running behind on time. Yet she was delaying working on it, especially after what she'd done to Cato. The weight of his death was a stain on her conscience she could never wash away, and she truly did not wish to kill again.

But you have to…

If, and that was a big if, she survived all the way to being one of the last two or three tributes...she would have no choice but to fight. She couldn't count on being lucky enough for her enemies getting themselves killed, leaving her the sole survivor by default. That had only ever happened once, a long time ago. The Gamemakers would sooner throw a mutt to kill her than let her hide and hope for the best. Of course, this assumed her own sanity didn't do her in, first. That…thing…of Cato kept showing up and disappearing at will, and then, seeing Lace's bloodied form, hearing her voice talking to her, but that cold, dead expression was most unnerving.

She wasn't sure her mind wasn't already fractured from what she'd done.

Gadget sighed and hunched down in front of her work. "K-keep it together…Gadget."

She only hoped Corduroy and Peeta were doing well. She smiled to herself as she thought about them.

But they might have to fight each other too…

That thought wiped her smile away as soon as it came. Would she even be able to look them in the eye anymore after what she'd done? The Careers...oh, they were going to be so furious.

She shuddered as she thought about Clove. If she saw correctly what she'd seen, Cato and Clove in their own sick ways cared for one another. And as horrid a thought it was, Cato was the more level headed one. What would an unhinged, unleashed, uncontrollable Clove be like? Gadget's breath shook. She pulled what she'd built closer to herself and got to work. She used her knife to screw pieces of material into place. It was going to be a slow process without the tools from her belt, but it was better than no progress at all.

She took the opportunity of the steady but peaceful process of her building to examine the clearing that Monkshood and her had set up camp in. There was a campfire, long gone out, but they'd put it together when they saw that the sky wasn't getting any darker. It reminded Gadget of the damp clothes that hugged her. Idly, Gadget fingered the wet bandages around her arm and torso. They needed to be replaced. She glanced to where Monkshood lay, sleeping ever so peacefully under her sleeping bag, and eyed the backpack strapped to her.

As she slid a rivet into place, she looked around the clearing further. She'd made sure to keep her very limited supplies on her at all times. She remembered very well the possibility of someone entering the clearing, and it would be very, very bad if she couldn't use anything to defend herself. This was a machine that would make or break her chances in the arena. If she completed it, she actually had a chance to win. If she failed…well, that wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

She couldn't count on Beetee and Wiress' support forever. It was going to dry up eventually. The Capitol would soon see that she wasn't what they thought of her as, or whatever Caesar helped build her up as simply wasn't true. And then she'd be on her own for good.

In the arena, I could be anyone. And what did I decide to pick? Myself. Pathetic and useless.

Gadget slotted a metal plate of nano-titanium in and used her knife to twist the screw in. She mentally cursed her luck at losing the invaluable tool belt. Most tools were there, obviously. Now she only had whatever she'd kept in her pockets on her person. She quietly thanked Septimius for teaching her the value of pockets. It was true that one could never have too many of them.

Enough buffering, Gadget mentally chastised herself.

She turned her full focus on the task at hand, doing her best to stop her mind from wandering, from thinking about what she'd done. Most of the parts were close to completion, and it was just a matter of putting them together to complete it. By the time she was done, she'd finally have a decent chance of standing up to most challenges left. So now she was reminding herself not to get cocky. That was also Electra's mistake. She grew self-assured at the wrong time, and lost a hand for it.

I'd probably lose my head…

This had her thinking about making some protective headgear and neckwear. She wanted to be as well protected as possible.

But it needs some offensive capability…

She sighed. This was going to be hard. As soon as she thought of combat, she recalled Cato, and she could almost see that thing from the corners of her vision, smirking at her, just wanting her to look at it.

"You're not here," Gadget whispered under her breath.

"What're ya workin' on?"

Gadget's heart spiked and she twisted around quickly, her knife firmly in her hand. But as she turned, all she saw was Monkshood, bearing a slightly amused expression, and her dagger held close.

"I'm…" Gadget trailed off and looked between Monkshood and her work. Her heartbeat settled back into its normal rhythm and she bit her lip unsurely. The only people who knew what she was working on were Beetee, Wiress, Septimius, and also Grid and Qwerty.

She had shown them her plan on the train. But then…there, Binary had seen it, too. He knew what she was working on! That was not good. The more people that knew what she was working on inside the arena, the worse her situation was. And Binary…what was he going to do with that knowledge?

"Just a…thing," Gadget said awkwardly with a shrug. She turned back towards her work to hide the worry and fear she knew was brewing on her face. Her heartbeat picked back up again.

Monkshood could quite literally take this as an opportunity to stab her in the back. Gadget could hear her rise from her sleeping bag - the sleeping bag she stole from Gadget - and make her approach towards her. Gadget gripped her knife tighter. Hard enough to dig the handle into her skin. Make her think you don't suspect anything, she told herself. Monkshood's steps came closer and closer and she tried to remember what Ridley helped teach her in the Training Center.

Did he ever expect to have to use them against his ally? Maybe he was prepared, but didn't expect her to double-cross him like she did. In the opening minutes of the Games, no less. Did he ever expect that she was going to have to use them against his former ally? Gadget felt her heart thud against her ribcage. What did he…what did he think in his final moments before Cato and Clove snuffed it out of him?

What did Cato think in his final moments? The thought made Gadget bite her lip harder. He must've felt so much fear in the end. As much fear as his victims did. But Gadget was the one to kill him. How did that make her any better than him? The only difference was that he had killed before. She gasped quietly, and suddenly, when she felt her lip split under the pressure of her teeth. Gadget, you idiot! she scolded herself.

"Fine," Monkshood said, "don't tell me."

Gadget could feel her gaze on her back, and then over her shoulder at the mechanical pieces in front of her. She heard Monkshood turn and walk back to where her sleeping bag was. She released a breath and darted her hand forward to grab another piece of nano-titanium, but she stopped halfway as a cool, wet sensation dribbled down her arm. Was she bleeding? Gadget slid the knife into her belt and drew her sleeve up to look at the wet bandages that wrapped around her arm. They needed to be replaced. Badly.

"I-I…" Gadget stopped and turned slowly in her spot. "I need s-some bandages."

Her eyes landed on Monkshood as she sheathed her dagger into her belt. Did the guilt weigh on her as much as it weighed on Gadget? The guilt of leaving Ridley behind. She was just as much responsible for his death as Clove was to end his life.

Just like how Gadget was for Cato.

"Yeah, I got some," Monkshood said, crouching down beside her backpack. She fingered the zipper, like she was contemplating something, then unzipped the pack and pulled out a first aid kit.

Gadget rubbed her bandaged arm carefully. It was a shame that she had to undo Corduroy and Peeta's work and replace it. It…made her feel closer to them, as pathetic as it was.

Monkshood clicked the case open and pulled out a balm from a container. "'ow 'bout a quid pro quo?" Monkshood offered as she applied the balm to the scratch marks on her cheek.

Gadget rubbed the blood off of her lip that she bit too hard on. A quid pro quo? And one with Monkshood? It didn't bode well. It didn't bode well at all. Deals should be made with someone she trusted. Or as a last resort. This…was neither of those things.

Monkshood just shot Gadget a charming smile. "'m not gonna make you do anythin' terrible, paper shaker."

Gadget's brow furrowed as she tried to decipher the slang term. What does…

The girl across from her, though, went silent as she moved the balm away from her cheek, and to the bruise above her eye. Monkshood grimaced as she applied it. "You got me good there," she admitted. Gadget watched as her eyes fell to the top of her torso. "Think I got you jus' as good."

Gadget frowned. It was because of Monkshood that she had seen such terrible things because of tracker jacker venom. What kind of person put that kind of stuff on their knife?

The kind that wants to win the Hunger Games. What a stupid question. If an opportunity to do something like that arose, of course she would've taken it. Would she have done the same, Gadget wondered. Or would she have deemed it too much of a risk to bother trying?

Was she hoping that the visions would make her kill herself? Whether by accident or on purpose? Because Gadget had almost done that. The bandage around her arm was a stark reminder.

"What's th-the deal?" Gadget asked skeptically.

Monkshood smiled and she put the balm away back into the first aid kit. "Tell me what you're buildin', and I'll redo your bandages."

Gadget's frown became more pronounced. There were worse deals. But this was the arena. If she told the wrong person what she was planning, it could put her at an extreme disadvantage. And she needed those new bandages. She needed to make sure her injuries didn't get infected, and the only person here that had a first aid kit was Monkshood. She could decline giving her the kit if she wanted to. They weren't allies, after all. Gadget rotated her arm experimentally. She wasn't good when it came to these kinds of things.

Anything related to healing injuries and the like was completely out of her depth. She had tried her best to learn in the Training Center, but all of the plants looked the same. How was she supposed to trust Monkshood at all when even her own district partner thought her to be untrustworthy? But her options here were limited. Accept the deal with the knowledge that Monkshood could use it against her in the future…or risk an infection without the proper supplies to treat it.

I could lie, Gadget thought. Monkshood wouldn't know. There would be no way for her to tell. Or…I could steal it and run.

Her options were few and none too appealing. On the one hand, she could take the deal, knowing full well that Monkshood would use it as a knife to the throat down cyberspace - or dare the treacherous gamble of an infection, left to fester and rot without the proper supplies to stave off its insidious advances.

Neither path promised solace or salvation. They were mere forks along a treacherous road, each one shrouded in a haze of dread. But the notion of baring her intentions to Monkshood felt akin to unleashing a ravenous beast, with consequences that would surely rend her spirit asunder. Yet, how could Monkshood decipher the fragments of her enigmatic creation? The scattered pieces held their secrets, waiting to be united with the remnants concealed within the cave, the true purpose left a mystery she could only blindly guess.

Restlessly, Gadget clasped her hands together, their touch a clash of unease. And then, with a shudder in her voice, she muttered, "It's...a t-taser." The words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of foreboding, as if a storm was brewing on the horizon of her fate. Monkshood tilted her head, her gaze piercing beyond Gadget's trembling figure. The weight of those eyes traversed the length and breadth of Gadget's handiwork, scrutinizing every intricate detail. In the depths of her being, Gadget sensed the unspoken deliberation that unfolded within Monkshood's mind, a silent jury assessing the authenticity of her words.

"Bit big for a taser," Monkshood finally spoke, her voice dripping with skepticism, like acid eating away at Gadget's confidence.

Gadget's cheeks burned with a searing blush, her self-assurance crumbling like a fragile edifice. Oh, how she wished she had concocted a better lie, something more convincing to shield herself from this relentless interrogation, rather than the feeble facade she had chosen.

"Unless you're incompetent, and I know you ain't." The words dripped from Monkshood's lips, laced with a subtle mockery that scorched Gadget's cheeks with embarrassment. A retort, her voice laced with a venomous certainty. "I've seen your handiwork, got a good look at that staff you fashioned for Twelve."

"His name is Peeta," Gadget retorted, her brows furrowed with a mix of defiance and wounded pride, striving to cloak her humiliation beneath a fragile veil of composure. "We…we ha-have names. It wouldn't hurt to...to use them…please."

Monkshood arched an eyebrow, a sardonic grin spreading across her face.

Gadget quailed internally. She'd let her temper get the better of her. And for that matter, why was she getting so irritable?

Because Peeta's my friend…

That made sense to her. She never had anyone she valued before the Games, and vice versa. They cared for her, against all logic, and so help her, she cared for them right back! That was why she managed to maintain eye contact with her current adversary.

Well, I suppose we can't quite classify ourselves as enemies, she thought to herself, grappling with the implications. After all, we do have a fragile truce...however precarious it may be.

Monkshood's gaze pierced through Gadget's facade, a predator's unyielding stare clashing with the unflinching gaze of her prey. The air between them grew heavy, pregnant with unspoken intentions. It was as if the girl across from her, draped in her sinister presence, measured the value of Gadget's existence, contemplating whether to unleash the venomous bite of death or let her slink away, spared to breathe another day.

"Peeta, then," Monkshood said slowly, much to Gadget's surprise. She rose from her hunch and let her eyes fall to the dirt beneath her feet, avoiding Monkshood's gaze. Though the latter was a good foot shorter, her very presence loomed over Gadget, casting a shadow of malevolent intent.

"It's..." Gadget spoke in a halting voice, choosing her words carefully. She needed to sell this lie, to convince Monkshood of its veracity. "A p-po-power pack," she stuttered, "for a lo-long distance t-taser. It's go-going to shoot ou-out an arc of electricity…like…like a gun."

All a lie, of course, but she couldn't let Monkshood know that. Gadget couldn't bear to meet the other girl's gaze, fidgeting with her sleeves nervously as she awaited her verdict. Monkshood had the power to make or break her. The fate of the bandages lay solely in her hands. They were not allies, nor were they even acquaintances. Their only bond was that of pain and suffering inflicted upon each other. It was a fragile thread that could snap at any moment.

"Interestin'," Monkshood spoke with a curl of her lip. She cast one last glance at the strewn materials around Gadget, as if inspecting the evidence of a crime scene.

Gadget pressed her gaze into the dirt beneath her feet and she held her breath. She touched her arm softly, and with every passing second, she could feel the throes of the hallucinations that Monkshood forced her to endure. Those tracker jackers and what they had made her see and do to herself…if she couldn't stave on an infection, and her arm started to rot and decay…it would be just like what they made her see. Drenched in maggots that tried to eat and consume her dead flesh. Maggots that would burrow under her skin, and Gadget would be helpless to stop it.

Gadget gagged, swallowed, and released a shallow breath. Her heart pounded against her chest like she'd been zapped by volts of electricity. That couldn't happen. It couldn't. It can't!

"Alrigh'," Monkshood said suddenly and Gadget looked at her in surprise. "Sounds like a dangerous weapon," she said as she took a half-step backwards to pick up the first aid kit.

Gadget didn't say anything. She awkwardly jumped from foot to foot. If she said anything at all, it could pique Monkshood's suspicions about her lie. The slightest tell could give it all away. The slightest tell could make Monkshood decide that their deal was off.

"Guess I can't ask that you don't use it on me," Monkshood commented.

Gadget blinked. Was that…a joke? The quirk of Monkshood's lip suggested it was. Her shoulders dropped as she felt some tension leave her. But not nearly enough to put her at ease. She lowered herself to the ground and pulled her sleeve up to reveal the bandage around her arm to the air. A shiver ran down her spine as the warming air touched the skin above her elbow.

"So sure of yourself, are you?" Monkshood said and Gadget stopped. Her gaze shot back to Monkshood who looked back at her with an easy smile. Almost lazy. She wiggled her fingers against the first aid kit in her hand.

"I-I thought…" Gadget started, then trailed off. Had she read the situation wrong? Did Monkshood not believe her? She needed to rectify that. Now.

"Those bandages look good," Monkshood said in lieu of an answer. She wiggled her finger at Gadget's forearm and the girl blushed, and pulled her sleeve back down quickly. "Who did 'em?"

What was this? Why did Monkshood care? Was she trying to get as much information out of her that she could? Gadget felt like she was drowning. Like she was waist-deep in water that she couldn't swim in, and help was just out of reach. She was all alone out here in the forest. All alone except for the girl across from her that she couldn't trust. And that girl was the only one close enough to stop her from sinking beneath the surface before it was too late.

"M-my fri-friends," Gadget stuttered weakly. Her hand traced patterns on her sleeve, into her bandages.

Monkshood raised an eyebrow and hummed thoughtfully. "Which one? Corduroy or Peeta? Or did you pick someone else up, too?"

Gadget frowned. Why did it matter? Why did Monkshood want to know at all? "Wh-why does it m-matter?" Gadget asked.

Monkshood shrugged and stepped forward. "It don't," she admitted. "But I was curious."

Gadget watched uneasily as Monkshood crouched down beside her. Other than the time they fought, was this the closest they'd ever been? Gadget couldn't recall, but it felt like it. Her eyes stared down at the first aid kit as it was flipped open. For the second time, she pulled her sleeve up. Gadget released a breath, and pulled her knife out of her belt. An action that Monkshood took notice of quickly and repositioned herself in a way that made reaching her a challenge. But Gadget ignored her. Slowly, she pressed her knife gently against the bandage. Hard enough to split the fabric open. She wondered what it would be like to press it deeper. To cut open the veins in her arms and let herself bleed out. It would be so easy. So easy.

As quickly as the thought came, it was discarded, and Gadget withdrew her knife and placed it down at her side. Monkshood fell back into her view a moment later and placed her hand on the bandages. Gadget hoped she wasn't making a mistake, trusting Monkshood with this. But Monkshood flashed a polite and charming smile and Gadget was quietly taken aback. It reminded her so much of the girl she had seen with Rue. How she gently coaxed Rue into speaking aloud. So different from the girl that left Ridley behind to die.

She began to unroll the bandages and took out a bottle of disinfectant fluid and a clean piece of cotton cloth from the kit. Again, Gadget was struck by what a contrast of character this looked like on Monkshood. Like night and day. It was becoming quite exhausting to keep up the level of wariness she held with the girl. But she just couldn't take the chance. Not with Monkshood.

"You ain't sure which one it was, aren't ya?"

Gadget blinked, slightly distracted by the new question. "I-I…"

Monkshood chuckled softly to herself, "Way I see it, I think it's Mister Eight…sorry, I mean…Corduroy, that did this. Looks like his style; plus he's from the textile district, and if anyone knows how to wrap something up firmly, it'll be them."

She wasn't sure why, but Monkshood's level of familiarity with Corduroy did not please her, and made her feel possessive towards her friend. Perhaps it was the ease with which she seemed to know some things that even Gadget didn't about the rather guarded boy. He didn't seem the type to openly share anything. Perhaps he dealt with his own version of Monkshood back home.

Someone you wouldn't trust as far as you could throw them.

Sigh.

"M-maybe…" Gadget begrudgingly agreed.

After she removed the last of Corduroy's work, Gadget firmly gripped the tattered bandages. Nothing went to waste in the Games unless you wanted to die. That was the main reason. The other being that she didn't want to let go of something that reminded her of her friend. Monkshood made no comment, but started dabbing the wound with the disinfectant, and then began to apply the new bandages.

When she was partway through, she looked up to see Gadget looking at her with a slight frown.

"What?" she asked.

"H-how do you kn-know s-so much about…about Corduroy?" Gadget finally inquired.

Monkshood chuckled. "Me knowin' about District Eight's primary trade makes me so knowledgeable about Cords?"

She grinned unapologetically when Gadget's brow furrowed some more.

"Are ya jealous?" she teased, clearly unable to resist egging Gadget.

"N-no." Gadget retorted quickly. Maybe too quickly.

"Honestly, there ain't a reason to be jealous," Monkshood said casually. Very casually. Gadget watched her carefully as she rolled the bandage around her arm once. "Not like there was much tha' was gonna happen round 'ere 'tween anybody. Know what I mean?"

Gadget couldn't argue that. This was the Hunger Games.

Only one person walked out alive.

Peeta.

Corduroy.

Out of the three of them, they were the only two to stand a remote chance at all in surviving this. If…if it somehow came down between herself and one of them…she hoped they could make her death quick and painless.

"Allies. You can't trust 'em!" She shot a finger-gun at Gadget.

She flinched, and Monkshood grinned in amusement. But it didn't stop her mind from whirling in thought. Monkshood knew something that she didn't. And that thought made her chest pang in anxiety.

"I almost forgot that yesterday," Monkshood continued, rolling the bandage around her arm twice, "you didn' know what I meant."

Gadget bit down on the inside of her cheek as what Monkshood said the day before replayed in her mind's eye. The very epitome of what Gadget thought was how the girl beside her knew something. And knew something that she didn't seem to be in any hurry to share.

But it involved Corduroy.

"W-what?" Gadget asked warily and unsurely.

Monkshood rolled the bandage around Gadget's arm once, twice, thrice, before she fluttered her gaze to Gadget's own. "Imagine tha'. Trustin' someone enough to rescue them, and they don't even tell ya how they got into that little problem."

"I…" Gadget shook her head, but she didn't move. How much longer until Monkshood was done? "I did-didn't think ab-about it," she stuttered.

Monkshood's grin widened. She was enjoying this. Watching Gadget squirm even as she helped her. Gadget wished she could pull away, but that was not a possibility here. Pull away and the bandages around only one half of her injuries would be taken care of. Pull away, and she would never know what Monkshood knew about her friend.

"Well, now you're wonderin'," Monkshood said. "Rue and me, we saw the whole thing go down."

Gadget's fingers fidgeting around the handle of her knife. The pressure of the bandages wrapping around her arm felt like resolve. Even if what Monkshood said was a lie or not, it was better for her to at least be…in the know.

"But I won't tell you unless you politely ask, 'Monkshood, how do you know?'" Monkshood continued to say. Her fingers nimbly tightened the bandages around her arm.

Gadget released her grip on her knife and slid her hand through the blades of grass under her. "H-how?" she asked.

"Nuh-uh," Monkshood said and Gadget looked sharply at her. Her grin grew into a sickening smirk. "'Monkshood, how do you know?'"

Gadget narrowed her gaze. Fine. I'll play your game. It was a small price to pay for gathering what could be vital information. And as far as she knew, any information about her friends qualified as vital.

"Mon-Monkshood," Gadget started, falling over her words in anxiety, "how do y-you kno-know?"

"Because…" Monkshood said slowly, and her grip around Gadget's arm tightened, "he, Rue, and I, were partners."

Gadget's mind stopped. What? She made to retract her arm, but Monkshood's grip was firm. Too firm.

No, that…that didn't make any sense! Corduroy had turned down Monkshood's offer of an alliance back in the Training Center.

Gadget's body tensed and her face went pale. Maybe because…she couldn't save Lace, and Corduroy saw how much of a failure she really was. She failed his friend. His district partner. And she would fail him, too. No matter what his words were that tried to comfort her or insist that it wasn't her fault, the underlying message remained the same. Always the same.

It's your fault.

But…that timeline didn't add up!

Did it?

The tracker jackers had knocked her out for a time. A whole day, Corduroy and Peeta had told her. That was enough time for him and Monkshood to find each other, right? If Peeta wasn't looking.

Why was she entertaining this? It was a lie! Monkshood was lying! She had to be!

"What?" Gadget said softly. The word slipped through her lips before she could stop it. It didn't make any sense!

"Yeah, ain't that a bite," Monkshood replied and Gadget stared at her. She watched as Monkshood's lip curled in amusement, and her second hand found her arm and tightened firmly.

Corduroy, Monkshood, and Rue. How? When?

"Wonder why your ally decided to not tell you that," Monkshood continued. Her words were like poison. They wormed their way into her ears, into her head, and tried to stick there.

He just didn't have time, she reasoned to herself.

We only had a whole morning, afternoon and nearly evening… a more treacherous part of her mind told her.

Corduroy would've had his reasons! It's not like they…they knew each other like he and Lace had. He didn't owe her anything. Gadget tried again to pull her arm away. She didn't want to hear this. She didn't want it. Whatever Monkshood said surely was not true.

"I ain't finished," Monkshood said firmly, and her hands pressed down into Gadget's arm, stopping her in place. Whether she was referring to her arm or Corduroy, Gadget didn't know.

"I-I don't be-b-believe you," Gadget stuttered in a raspy tone.

Monkshood just raised her shoulders in a shrug. "I don't care if you do or don't. Ridley and I were supposed to be partners," she said, and the non-sequitur threw Gadget for a loop. "That didn't work out."

"Because you be-betrayed him!" Gadget said. She winced as Monkshood applied pressure to the bandage around her arm, and her fingers stuck into the wound through the fabric.

"As if you wouldn' have done the same," Monkshood said in reply. "Sell out your partner or get brutalized by one of the Careers. I know which one I'd rather pick."

Gadget squeezed her eyes shut to stop the pricking of tears. The pain Monkshood applied to her cut through her, and mixed horrifically with the growing paranoia. Would she have done the same? Would she have betrayed Lace or Corduroy to the Careers so that she could get away? Lace had done just the opposite, moments before she died. Where the Careers heard them and she struck out in order to distract them. Even when she was about to die…she saved Gadget.

"Y-you…" Gadget choked on her words, and her tears slipped down her cheeks, "you bastard…"

"Nobody likes a hypocrite, Gadget," Monkshood said, unphased. "Besides, I bet you've been thinkin' of ways to kill me since you woke up."

That wasn't fair.

"You…" Gadget tried to say, but stopped before she could get her second word out, and tried again, "W-when?"

"Was wonderin' when you were gonna ask that," Monkshood said. She tilted her head to the side, just a fraction. "An hour after the Bloodbath we ran into each other."

Gadget sniffed and drew her free arm across her face to wipe the tears of pain from her eyes. Her paranoia warped and clawed at the recesses of her mind. Okay. Just…get the information out of her, Gadget. What Monkshood said didn't have to be true but…but it could be useful.

"An-and then w-what?" Gadget stuttered. Monkshood's grip around her arm eased, like she was sure she wouldn't try to move again. And to that end…Gadget acknowledged that she was right.

"Then we had Rue join us," Monkshood revealed. "It took some convincin'. Gave us some supplies she got from Thresh, I think his name was."

"Oh…" Gadget breathed softly. Is that…is that where he got his knife from?

The more she tried to deny it, the more Monkshood's poisonous words sunk into her and clung to her like a shadow.

"And you're angry-"

"I-I'm not angry!" Gadget denied quickly...and a little angrily. She looked sharply at Monkshood, her dead green eyes meeting Monkshood's own brown. "Not…not at Corduroy…"

At last, Monkshood released Gadget's arm and she sat back slightly, and out of reach. She cocked an eyebrow.

"Yo-you're trying to m-make me doubt him!" Gadget said, upset.

"Am I?" Monkshood asked with an infuriating and almost teasing grin.

Gadget hesitated. Wasn't she? Wasn't that why Monkshood told her all of this? To get under her skin and fuel her doubts? She couldn't be sure of what happened after the Bloodbath happened. They'd made a plan but…sometimes things fell through…

And…and it wasn't like everything planned before the arena would work out. Lace wasn't supposed to die. Gadget and her…their positions should have been swapped…

"He was really insistent on findin' his district partner," Monkshood said, as if she had read her mind.

Gadget caught the handle of her knife in her fist again. She missed Lace. So much. She didn't deserve what had happened. She didn't deserve to be cut and sliced apart like how Clove had done. That…that was a fate that Gadget deserved. Not Lace. Never Lace. But here she was now. Alive while someone who deserved it so much more than her was dead.

And dead because of her. Dead because she had run into the Bloodbath and pretended to have been killed. Dead because the Careers held a grudge against her and took their anger out on her friend. Dead because she had been too stupid to come up with a plan to save her.

"Anyway," Monkshood trilled, standing up to walk away from Gadget, "it all makes me wonder how you can find yourself so trustful of someone you know nothin' about." She stepped up to her backpack and slid the first aid kit back inside.

Gadget flushed red. Because…Corduroy, Lace, and Peeta gave her no reason to be distrustful. They'd been kind to her when they hadn't needed to be. But now Monkshood dropped this and she didn't know to believe her. Even if it was true…Gadget didn't care that Corduroy allied with Monkshood. It had been brief. What mattered was that…he didn't tell her.

"Ya want some bread?" Monkshood asked and Gadget looked at her. She held out a quarter of the total loaf that Gadget had taken from the Cornucopia. "Not a lot left. And mold is tryin' to grow on it."

Gadget bit her tongue and didn't answer. She twisted around to avoid looking at the other girl and lifted her knife in her palm. Then, carefully, she flipped her jacket and shirt up to examine the wet bandages that hugged her torso. She released a breath through her nose, and touched the tip of the knife against her chest - right over her heart.

I would deserve it. It would hurt but…she deserved it. Pain was the least she deserved.

Gadget held down the knife, steadily increasing the force with some insistence as it cut into the fabric around her chest until she could peel it away. She dropped her shirt again, and pulled the bandages off and let them drift to the ground.

"Did I do that?" Monkshood asked from behind her and Gadget had to blink away the stinging sensation in her eyes. "Yeah. I think I did."

It was like a cold bucket of water fell over her shoulders.

And then, all at once, her entire body felt hot, flooding through her insides and coiled in her stomach.

"You made me…s-see things," Gadget bit out, clenching her fists tight at her side. She sheathed her knife in her belt and stood up, staring balefully at the girl across from her.

Monkshood just shrugged, though. "Rue spotted a tracker jacker nest, and we decided to use that to our advantage." She let her free hand drop just out of view. "Usin' the environment to your advantage is just how the Hunger Games works."

Gadget didn't care how Monkshood defended herself. What she saw…the things the tracker jacker venom made her see was among the worst things she had ever seen in her life.

And Monkshood didn't even seem to care.

She should leave. Get out of here. There was nothing for her here. Corduroy and…and…

Did Corduroy want to see her, still? Or was he glad that she was gone? She wasn't there to weigh him down anymore. Why didn't he tell her about his alliance with Monkshood? If Rue managed to get the tracker jacker venom on Monkshood's dagger, did she do the same to Corduroy's knife? It only made sense. Corduroy had run away from the Bloodbath, and if Binary was right and the knife was far too nice to be sponsored this early…then that meant Monkshood was telling the truth. That she got supplies from Rue and shared a knife with Corduroy.

Why didn't he tell her? Does he…does he not trust me enough? The thought pierced her through the heart. Or maybe it just wasn't that important and he didn't think it necessary to tell her!

But…

Maybe it really was, and he did truly loathe her for letting Lace die.

Gadget's mind was a whirl. She couldn't get her thoughts straight. Corduroy allying with Monkshood after the Bloodbath meant nothing to her. But it was the implications of his silence on the subject that made her head spin. She wanted to curl up and cry. To disappear forever and never be found again. Gadget took a scrambled step back and Monkshood took one forward. The bread in her hand, apparently forgotten in favor of the dagger she pulled from her belt.

Run or fight, Gadget, she told herself. Had their truce already come to an end? She wasn't ready. She couldn't just leave her things here. It was the only chance she had. Her hands unclenched and fear overtook her face. She didn't want to do this again. She had already killed and it was the worst experience she had ever felt. She had murdered someone. Ended Cato's life. But she was in the Hunger Games. That was what the rational part of her mind told her. It was inevitable that she would need to fight again. Now more than ever if she were ever going to get back to Corduroy and Peeta.

Gadget grasped the knife at her belt and unsheathed it. She tried, desperately, to remember the things Ridley taught her about disarming and fighting with a knife. But she could remember none of it. It fled from her, just out of reach. And she was so hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since the berries that she, Corduroy, and Peeta had found yesterday. The fruit snack packet burned in her pocket. Between it and the limited berries she'd saved, she didn't have much food left. Monkshood dropped the bread to her side and Gadget's eyes followed it as it fell.

"I would rather we didn' do this, Three," Monkshood said. Gone was any friendliness she'd held, and Gadget could see the cunning in her eyes. "You gonna go off alone?"

Gadget frowned, and her free hand came up to rub her arm. She didn't want to be alone. Even Monkshood's company was preferable to the…those things of Cato that mocked her.

"You know tributes are only half of your problem here," Monkshood continued. She dropped her dagger, just a bit, and enough for its blade to catch a glint in the sunlight. "You still gotta worry about what the Gamemakers will do to ya."

"I…" Gadget started to say, but stopped. This was Monkshood trying to rework their truce. She didn't outright say it, but she was looking for an alliance.

Oh…

Which made Gadget valuable to her. An asset. She tried to calculate it all in her head. Gadget had underestimated the girl across from her. She was far more cunning than she gave her for.

"D-does it…bother you?" Gadget asked abruptly.

"What?"

Gadget looked straight into Monkshood's eyes so suddenly that the other girl actually flinched. "T-turning on-on people just like…that."

Monkshood arched an eyebrow, clearly confused at where Gadget was going with this. But for once, the latter's green eyes looked anything but dead, because it just hit her.

"You ab…ab-ab…abandoned Corduroy!"

Gadget grabbed and fiddled with the zipper of her jacket, but even as her anxiety pricked at her, she refused to take her eyes off of Monkshood. What else was there to explain? Husk called it. She couldn't be trusted. Logic said that if Monkshood was so treacherous, it stood to reason, even Rue was betrayed by this girl before her.

"It-it's j-j-just a matter of time…is-isn't it? For me?" She shook her head. "Ev-everyone's ju-just a st-stepping stone f-for you."

If Monkshood was flustered, she didn't show it. Her face was a blank mask that hid everything. Then she shrugged.

"You don' think I feel bad for leavin' Ridley behind?" she asked. "And even if I did do that to Corduroy, it ain't like others wouldn't do that t'ya," she rebuffed. "'m just actin' preemptively. It's the Hunger Games."

"Th-that's just your excuse for your b-behavior." Gadget said, and then glared at her. "You killed Rue, too, didn't you?"

Monkshood sniffed disdainfully. "You seem to have made up your mind about me, so what's it matter?" She stepped back, holding her dagger ready. "So. Round two then?"

Gadget watched her for a moment, her anger ebbing a little, but she now knew at least that the most probable reason why Corduroy never mentioned his brief alliance with Monkshood was probably embarrassment. Or he wanted to take the girl down himself and withheld the information lest Gadget or Peeta felt compelled to act on his behalf. She didn't want to do this. This was far, far away from what she wanted to do. Gadget took a half-step back, half-step to her left. Was Monkshood going to attack?

Gadget scolded herself internally for letting her emotions get the best of her. She shouldn't have said those things. It was much better to keep it to herself. Monkshood hadn't needed to know her suspicions. But before either of them could move, everything went dark and Gadget blinked her eyes several times to make sure her eyes weren't forcibly shut. She looked skyward and dropped her mouth open in confusion when she saw just how bright the sky was.

What?

"The hell?" Gadget heard Monkshood say from a few yards in front of her.

"I-I-I don't know what's h-happening," Gadget stammered.

She did not like how this was happening all of a sudden. The Gamemakers were pushing or forcing events and confrontations. Yesterday, it was a fight with the Careers, and in a twist, Gadget succeeded in killing the leader of the Pack.

Maybe this was a blowback for that.

It was the least she deserved, for taking a life.

"This arena gets more and more dangerous every second," Monkshood said, but her tone of voice did not change.

To that, Gadget could agree.

"A Game is only as good as its cast of tributes." Gadget remembered Seneca Crane saying in his interview with Caesar, "Each tribute should be developed for the audience."

Was that what was happening here? Her story being developed?

They are definitely trying to kill you, she reminded herself furiously. That they're interested just means they'll go harder on you!

"Your story is…engaging to me," Seneca Crane said. She could almost hear his voice in her head.

Those haunting, horrible words.

If anything, being of interest to Seneca Crane simply meant he'd throw more horrible and terrible things at her, and anyone unfortunate enough to be in her vicinity.

She glanced over at where she'd last heard Monkshood's voice, and felt ice fill her veins. What if Monkshood used this to her advantage and attacked!? Gadget couldn't see anything, and…and although she wasn't fond of Monkshood, she didn't want her to die! Much less…die because of her. What had Seneca Crane released into the darkness? The thought made Gadget's body tense in fear.

"Ha-" she choked, and then tried again, stretching her arm into the dark. "Hand. Gi-give me your hand!"

It only made sense, if they wanted to get out of this sudden darkness together. Running would only make things worse! Because if they ran…they had no idea where they were going, and Gadget could barely see a foot in front of her. But Monkshood didn't make a sound and Gadget's heart spiked. She hesitated and started to lower her arm down to where she'd sheathed her knife. This really was the perfect opportunity for Monkshood to betray her, if she was going to.

"M-M-Monkshood?" Gadget stuttered fearfully. But there was no reply from the other girl. Not a sound of feet on the soil or branches splitting under her shoes…there was nothing.

Had the Gamemakers just provided Monkshood the perfect opportunity to ambush her? She looked left and right, but all she saw was the empty void of blackness. From which anything could come out. A mutt…or a tribute.

"M-Monkshood?" Gadget stuttered again. She shuffled backwards and held her breath. Her knife slid out of her belt quietly and carefully. No sound as to tell the other girl what she was holding.

Then…

"I'm righ' 'ere," Monkshood said at last, her voice coming slightly to Gadget's left.

Gadget released a shallow breath. She slid her knife back into her belt. Monkshood had not said a word until then. Had she been deciding to kill her? If killing her was a good idea or not? The thought made her stomach churn.

"G-give me y-your hand," she said nervously, anxiousness seeping into every part of her being deeper than it already was.

Reluctantly, she held out her hand and the sound of Monkshood's footsteps reached her ears. "Thr-Gadget?" she voiced cautiously.

"Y-yeah?" Gadget asked, apprehension leaking into her voice. The thick darkness…it was so overwhelming. It was everywhere.

"Thank you," Monkshood said, and again, Gadget was taken aback as a hand clasped around her arm, before it snapped down to where her hand was, and she could tell just how nervous Monkshood really was.

"D-do you have a flashlight?" Gadget asked.

"In the backpack," Monkshood answered. Gadget could hear as she carefully moved about, darting her foot this way and that to catch onto anything. "Over 'ere."

Gently, Gadget allowed Monkshood to pull her, step by step, closer to the backpack.

"W-we should get o-out of here," Gadget said. She flicked her head around, staring aimlessly into the darkness. A shiver ran down the base of her neck.

It felt like something was watching her.

"You don' need to tell me twice," Monkshood muttered. She stepped forward and Gadget followed.

One, two, three, Gadget started to count in her head for each step they took. Four, five, six…

She trailed off and stopped as Monkshood stooped low, grabbing the backpack. While she did that, Gadget peered around her desperately. Maybe they'd just been so used to the bright daylight that this sudden darkness looked like pitch blackness to them.

All encompassing darkness. How? Why did Seneca Crane do this? Hadn't she had enough? Her heart pounded and she felt sweat begin to form on her brow. She couldn't stop herself from looking every which way as anxiety started to gnaw at the insides of her stomach.

"M-M-Monkshood…" Gadget stuttered weakly. Was this what it was like to be afraid of the dark? Always the possibility that something was lurking. Watching. Just out of sight.

A prickling sting burned into the back of her skull and she turned quickly.

But there was nothing but the black void of darkness.

"Yeah, I got 'em," Monkshood said suddenly, and Gadget felt her free hand fill with something cold and metallic.

"Th-thank y-you," Gadget said, quiet and desperate. Her hand left Monkshood's and she felt for the switch. She needed to see. This kind of blanket of darkness that shifted with the wind and hid anything inside the abyss was beyond any kind of darkness she had ever felt in her life.

Her thumb found the switch, and relief flooded her. It would be okay. Just a little bit of light and…

"No…" Gadget breathed. She flicked the button on the flashlight, but nothing emitted from it. No light in the dark to help her. "No, no…" she mumbled. It would work, it had to! She flicked the button again and again, over and over.

But nothing came. No light to cut through the darkness that shrouded her and Monkshood. Whatever it was that Seneca Crane had unleashed upon them…they would get no help from the flashlights. Monkshood cursed as Gadget listened to her fidgeting with something. But it sounded as though she'd come to the same conclusion.

"Wha' do we do now?" Monkshood asked. Gadget heard her shuffle slightly, and then the sound of her throwing the backpack onto her shoulders hit her. Gadget wondered if the girl beside her was just as terrified as she was, or if she was just that much better at hiding it.

Dimly, she appreciated that Monkshood grabbed the backpack. She didn't know how many supplies she had or had picked up, but anything could be useful. The darkness…the Gamemakers were going to use it to torture the two of them. Seneca Crane was already in the vestiges of her mind, hadn't he hurt her enough!? Did his cruelty know no bounds!? Gadget gripped Monkshood's hand like a lifeline. Maybe it was. She didn't know what would happen if she let go. If a mutt would crawl out of the dark and take one of them away. The Gamemakers were capable of doing anything here.

The sounds Gadget had gotten used to over the course of her few days in the arena were gone. Not a sound of the trees rustling. Or of animals skirting about or making any kind of noise.

There was nothing. Completely, eerily, silent.

Gadget held her breath and she glanced around fearfully.

"Awful quiet out 'ere," Monkshood stated the obvious.

Gadget nodded mutely, then realized that they were both effectively blind, so verbalization was necessary. "Y-yes...b-b-but…that means…uhm…we can h-hear anything that's coming…"

"Not if it's glidin' in," Monkshood retorted.

That was entirely plausible. In fact, this could be a mutt attack. Maybe she was meant to die at the Careers' hands. That was her intended story according to Seneca Crane? So now he made a no-win no-escape scenario? She couldn't run away from what she couldn't see or hear.

The silence was torturous, and Gadget could feel her heart beating in her chest so loudly.

Where could they go? What could they do?

"Can ya see anythin' at all?" Monkshood asked.

Gadget jumped at the sudden voice, and she felt the other girl tense at her reaction. While they held hands, there was no way to hide such reactions.

"N-not m-m-much," she admitted bitterly.

Lifting her free hand, Gadget made out a slight silhouette, but the darkness was nearly absolute. And in the Games, the ground and trees could move as needed. They'd likely be bumping into trees all the way until whatever it was that the Gamemakers were devising showed itself.

That sensation of being watched still felt strong.

"D-do you feel l-l-like…like we're being…uhm…watched?" Gadget asked after a while.

"It's too dark, ya can't see anythin," Monkshood said. Then, she added something softly that Gadget almost didn't hear. But it made her shiver. "If you're human."

"I-" Gadget tried to say, but nothing came out. A growing sense of terror and dread filled her very being, grasping her in a cold, unforgiving grip.

"Keep an eye out," Monkshood said, her words quivering only slightly. The only tell that she was just as terrified as Gadget. "An' let's stay close."

Who was she trying to convince? They couldn't see anything, but their options were limited and Gadget wanted to get far, far away from this place. She felt a cold bead of precipitation on her brow at the very thought.

"We need to go. Now," Monkshood said and her grip on Gadget's hand became tighter, imbued with the trepidation of the growing blackness all around them. Monkshood said, "Any bright ideas?"

Bright ideas. How funny, Gadget thought, almost deliriously. "I-" she tried to say again, and swallowed her terror, "I m-might," Gadget replied.

She couldn't figure out why the lights wouldn't work. Could the dark somehow absorb the light? Was that even possible? The best thing she thought of was using her staff to feel their way around and just moving carefully. Every instinct screamed at her to run. To leave this place and never look back.

"L-let's go."

She put the flashlight in one of her pockets and drew her staff with her free hand. Holding it out like a blind man's stick, she began tapping the ground, moving it left to right as she took halted steps forward. Monkshood followed along, just as carefully.

Neither of them said a word. The oppressive silence clung to her like a perverse cloak. She could feel something's stare on her. Something that wasn't human.

Gadget's heart raced, pounding in her chest like a deranged drummer. A dozen terrifying thoughts clawed at her mind, each one worse than the last. This was undoubtedly one of the worst places in the cursed arena. She tightened her grip on the staff, the cold metal biting into her sweaty palm as if it were a shield against the encroaching darkness.

But the darkness...it was suffocating. The once vibrant forest had plunged into an abyssal blackness, a void that devoured all light. A shiver crawled up her spine as she stumbled upon a metallic object, its harsh clang echoing through the eerie silence. "I-I need t-to get my th-things," she stammered, her voice trembling in the oppressive air.

Crouching down, Gadget felt the icy touch of fear gnawing at her insides. Monkshood mirrored her movements, mirroring the exigency that swelled within her. "Hurry, then," Monkshood urged, her voice laced with a desperate weight.

Gadget found herself in a macabre synchrony with Monkshood, their thoughts intertwined in unspoken terror. Her fingers danced frantically over the ground, desperately seeking and seizing the fragments of her creations. Abandoning them would be a fatal mistake. If she left them behind...

Suddenly, Gadget's gaze snapped upward, her eyes darting frantically around the desolate clearing. The oppressive weight of an unseen presence bore down upon her, its malevolence crawling beneath her skin. It felt...it felt just like Mortimer's vile stare - the gaze of a sadistic predator.

Monkshood's sharp intake of breath jolted Gadget, causing her to whirl around, her eyes wide with fear. "Wh-"

"Shut up," Monkshood interjected, her voice slicing through the air like a blade. Gadget's words evaporated into thin air, lost amidst the suffocating darkness. Then, as if moved by some malignant force, Monkshood raised their intertwined hands, a gesture that Gadget could only follow, her confusion mingling with a mounting sense of dread.

As if guided by an invisible puppeteer, Gadget's head jerked around with a sickening crack, her neck protesting the violent motion. And there, in the frozen depths of the lightless void, she beheld it. Two glimmering orbs, distant yet all-consuming, stared back at her. The mere sight of them seared her soul with terror, the abyssal depths of those eyes sending chills down her spine. They were motes of light, but there was no trace of warmth or benevolence in their unearthly glow. They were beacons of maleficence, harbingers of unspeakable horrors lurking just beyond the veil of darkness.

There was nothing...nothing else, that she could see aside from those two almost beady motes. It seemed both near, yet far. Compounding the situation was its stillness, but Gadget knew in her heart, this thing was...alive. It was unnatural, outside the laws of nature, an impossibility, but for all that, it lived, and it gazed right at her. The strange soft noises, akin to a wounded creature, were coming from both herself and Monkshood. They both knew that things just got worse.

Monkshood pushed her backpack into Gadget's arms and she was privately glad she'd kept it close to her, just this once. Nonetheless, Gadget needed both hands to work quickly, and she did not wish to take her hands off the two beads of light in the distance. She also knew she couldn't stay still, nor did she wish to remove her hand from Monkshood's, lest she lost track of the girl. So she did the best and only thing available to her, and moved Monkshood's hand to her shoulder. The girl seemed to understand, and the trembling hand gripped Gadget's shoulder painfully tight.

As soon as she had both her hands free, she began to feverishly fill the pack with whatever she could grasp that did not feel like rocks, dirt, or twigs.

"G-G-Gadget…h-h-h-hurry up!" Monkshood stammered.

It was a terrible sign that Monkshood now sounded like her, but Gadget was worse off since she couldn't speak at all anymore, only ragged breathing, an erratic heartbeat, and audible gasps gave signs of her still being alive. As soon as she was done, she sealed up her backpack, and retook Monkshood's hand, straightening as she did so. All the while, she had not taken her eyes off of it. She could feel its sheer malevolence, but it had not yet moved, as if it waited for something. Perhaps it wanted her to move first.

The motes disappeared, and both Gadget and Monkshood let out a short cry of terror as they lost the only means of telling where it stood.

"Where'd it go!?" Monkshood demanded, and through their held hands, Gadget could feel Monkshood's head swiveling wildly.

Her head was doing the same.

What was it doing? Why didn't it attack? It had all the advantages, and Gadget was no match for anything or anyone...unless mitigating factors were tilted heavily in her favor

And she couldn't count on that happening ever again.

No, she had to figure out the creature first. It was a mutt, for sure, but nothing like what she had ever seen. As far as she knew, this was the first time anyone employed environmental darkness to support a creature so terrifying, its mere eyes were sufficient to make one soil themselves. This was all speculation. The fact was, she had no idea what it would do.

There was a sound, like it came from deep within herself. Gadget couldn't begin to comprehend it, or understand how it worked. It was so low, one could scarcely begin to describe it as audible, but it built from within her stomach, moved up her chest, and into her head until she thought it was going to rattle. Was this how it attacked? Perhaps the mutt had some kind of sonic ability, like the Howlers. Her legs felt like jelly, and she tried her best not to let them buckle…but they did, and Monkshood fell to her knees with her. The rumbling echoes were heard and not heard all at once, building like a pressure in her head.

Those motes of light were back, now mere feet away from the girls. From the shadows, all Gadget could make out were silhouettes of horror, of darkness within darkness. She couldn't actually see it, but her mind played tricks on her, she imagined she saw the face, like a mockery of a human, but the mouth was too wide, the nose too narrow and too flat, the lidless eyes which held its own ominous golden light, and the head far too large for a human, attached to a long, thin neck, flowing smoothly to thin shoulders and impossibly skeletal long arms that were more ape-like. A gaunt, curved torso led to its spindly thin grey legs. Overall, it was gigantic, gaunt, and utterly, utterly horrific.

And it. Was. Opening. Its. Maw.

A high-pitched, deafening shriek let itself out from Gadget's mouth, and was echoed by Monkshood before the former felt herself being violently pulled away by the latter. She was of no mind to quarrel with the direction chosen so long as it took them far away from that…malignant…malware. It was like a horrid malware, and she felt its eyes still on her, she didn't dare look back, lest she find it right on their tails. But that feeling of being watched did not abate. They were being stalked. She did not like this feeling, and wanted it to end, so badly.

The girls grunted as one when Monkshood slammed against a tree or something else solid. Gadget couldn't tell since she collided with Monkshood herself. They both turned to press themselves flat against the hard object, hands still gripping each other tightly, and they looked around frantically. Where did it go? No, the sensation of being watched did not get any less. It was nearby. Biding its time.

"M-M-Malware...St-Stalker…" Gadget stuttered.

"What!? Monkshood demanded.

"I d-d-don't think...an-anyone...has ever seen th-this befo-before," Gadget replied, "we g-get to name it…"

"Oh, how nice!" Monkshood cried. "Now we have a name t' put t' the thing that's gonna kill us!"

Gadget closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her heart as best as she could. She was aware that the Stalker was near, watching. For whatever reason, it was not trying to kill them quickly. Most mutts were straightforward with their purpose of being, especially in the Games. The solution to dealing with them tended to be equally simplistic. But never before had she seen one where the environment changed to adapt to it. At the most, they'd shift the lighting when the Games were close to conclusion, to fit a situation. But there were still quite a few tributes left, it would be too soon for a climatic event, and it wasn't a usual nighttime, but an all-consuming darkness.

This made the girl pause, as she realized that if it was pitch-black, surely it would be boring for the audience. This whole arena was for the entertainment of the masses. Perhaps there was something that altered the lighting that only affected the girls. That was plausible, but Gadget saw no help in that line of thought. It certainly didn't tell her how to beat the Stalker, or how it killed, and kill was what it would definitely do. It was only a question of when and how.

The deep noise that shook her body and made her grip her temple with her free hand returned, only the build-up was immediate and stronger than before. She struggled to stay upright and realized belatedly that her eyes were clenched shut and her own cries were intermixed with this terrible sound. She felt more than she saw the Stalker. But she knew it had drawn close.

And true enough, when she forced her eyes open against the pain, there it was, with that unnatural face, glowing gold eyes, and an impossibly large maw for a mouth, just above her and slightly to her left, between her and Monkshood.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Monkshood screamed.

The pressure in her head built until Gadget wanted to fall to her knees again. But then she saw the Malware Stalker had reared back, the dull silhouette of its arm drawn back, and she could finally see that its arm ended in long clawed fingers. Eyes widened, Gadget froze in an instant of abject terror and awaited death, but Monkshood had slipped under the Stalker, and because they still clutched hands so tightly, Gadget was pulled along in the other girl's wake and they were fleeing blindly through the darkness.

"W-WAIT!" Gadget cried after a moment.

Ahead of them, the Stalker's eyes gleamed. Were there more than one of these things?! Monkshood saw it a moment later, and she made a noise of frustration. A small tug by her and they were speed-walking through the woods, with Gadget leading, using her staff to avoid them crashing into a tree or anything else. Even so, the pace was not ideal. They couldn't see anything, except for the Stalker's eyes, and it seemed to always be ahead of them, no matter where they turned or how fast they moved. Either they were surrounded by a horde of them, which was plausible, or there was just one, and it was impossibly fast.

Neither odds were favorable.

Gadget shrieked when she nearly collided face-first with the Stalker when it suddenly showed up right in front of her when she'd been looking to her left and right. Its great maw was so wide and so long, it looked like both she and Monkshood could fit their heads in with room to spare. The reverberating noise it emitted put such pressure on her skull and eyes, she felt like they were going to melt, especially at this proximity. This was it. They were going to die here. Any moment and the cannons would sound twice.

Then she was reminded that Monkshood wasn't as scared as she was.

"NNNNAAAAAHHHHH!" Monkshood surged forward and through their shared grip, Gadget felt the other girl's muscles tense as she seemingly struck out with something, probably a knife. The Stalker's eyes actually dimmed and its maw snapped shut abruptly. It could be hurt! The pressure in her head abated, flooding her with sweet relief.

"It can…it can…" Gadget stammered.

"MOVE IT, THREE!" Monkshood shouted as she yanked hard on Gadget's arm.

Stumbling clumsily after her, Gadget struggled to see where they were heading. With this much darkness, they could easily be heading back to the campsite. Though, given the mutt's speed, it didn't seem to really matter. When she saw the eyes right beside her, and then it vanished, only to reappear several meters ahead of them, she felt like it was reading her mind. It was proving that it was indeed capable of great speed. It also seemed...angrier. Monkshood's weapon had hurt it badly, or perhaps just made it more furious. Either way, they both now had to contend with potentially more unpredictable acts.

"M-Monkshood!" Gadget cried and tugged hard.

"Woah!" Monkshood all but fell back and narrowly missed having her head sliced off by the Stalker's clawed swing. At least, that's what Gadget thought might have happened. She could barely see.

Gadget watched as the mutt live up to its name by stalking towards them. She could only see those gleaming orbs floating closer towards the two. Where could they run that it couldn't follow? It seemed to know the terrain entirely or could perceive it in ways the girls couldn't. They could fight it...possibly, but if it closed its eyes, they'd truly be fighting blind. It barely made any noise save for the deep, thrumming sound that was potentially a hypersonic attack. She didn't understand how it did that, only that she didn't want to know what would happen if it was allowed to sustain an attack like that and it did it right in her face.

She saw the silhouette of its enormous maw opening and Gadget cried out, "DON'T LET IT SCREAM!"

"What do ya expect me t' do!?" Monkshood demanded.

Unsure of what else to do, Gadget turned away to flee blindly, but she felt something pull on the backpack she wore. Crying out, Gadget stumbled backwards, and then lurched forwards, trying desperately to escape the Stalker's grasp. She used her peripherals to see that its maw was wide open! The contents of the backpack were spilling out when she felt and heard a tearing noise. Her precious parts and construction were strewn on the floor and she couldn't see it.

She just felt the start of that sound when it abruptly grunted and made a pained noise. A wet crunching noise which Gadget found familiar was her only clue that something happened. Abruptly, the darkness began to lighten. Shapes began to form in her eyes. There was a familiar voice grunting with effort and another sick wet crunch, another unnatural groan.

"LOOK OUT!" Kernel's voice sounded and Binary, because that was who it had to be, abruptly jumped backwards, knocking into Gadget and sending her sprawling to the ground.

The darkness receded more, and now she could see the Malware Stalker in its full form. It looked like a severely deformed biped of enormous height, reduced somewhat by it being so hunched over it was almost bent double. Its fingers were long enough to wrap around a tribute's head twice over, each finger ended in long sharp claws that looked strong enough to cut through wood. Its head wasn't especially large, but its mouth appeared to be capable of extending to a ridiculous size. Its eyes were large, round, and seemingly devoid despite there being two glowing orbs within.

Binary and Kernel's forms were distinctly visible and it was starting to look more like natural nighttime now, something that went completely at odds with the bright sky above them. The Stalker's torso and right thigh sported bleeding holes, courtesy of Binary's spear. He'd run it through several times now, but it only served to make the Stalker even angrier, as it now began to swing those deadly arms about. When outstretched, its arms had greater reach than even Binary's spear, forcing the boy to retreat backwards, but he never moved far and kept trying to get under its swings, thrusting his spear as he did so.

A sudden warbling tune from Monkshood made Gadget realize that the girl had released her hand at some point and was now directly behind the Stalker. The mockingjays began to pick up the tune and whistled it in perfect harmony, but at their own time. It made the Stalker look up and then behind itself.

Right at Monkshood.

But it was the exact mistake Binary needed the Stalker to make, and he lunged forward, running his spear right through the back of its head and then into the ground.

Even with that much damage to it, the Stalker kicked out and flailed its arms wildly. "KERNEL, STRIKE ITS HEART!" Binary ordered.

As the other boy moved to obey, Monkshood ran around the scuffling pair and grabbed Gadget's arm. Now that they could see, Monkshood moved with a purpose. Still in shock, Gadget managed to sheathe her staff, then allowed Monkshood to just lead her. But she knew that they weren't far enough away from the boys. The Stalker's death rattles only proved that point further.

Monkshood had chosen a fairly good hiding spot, however, behind narrow vines, tree leaves, and rocky outcroppings. To the outside eye, it looked like nothing could hide in there, and there was even a narrow slit between the crevices a determined person could fit through.

Soon though, they could hear the sounds of heavy footfalls, and it was clear the boys were hunting for Gadget and Monkshood.

Gadget's hands flew to clutch a palm over her mouth. The bark of the tree dug into her back hard enough to sting. Why, why, why!? She had lost them! The parts she needed! Monkshood's shoulder pressed into her own as she shuffled through the torn backpack. What else did they lose?

A squeak curled up through her throat, muffled by the palms covering her mouth. That was her chance. And now it was gone. She couldn't…she couldn't help Corduroy and Peeta without them. She really was useless.

"What the shit was that thing!?" Kernel voiced. A question that Gadget herself wanted to know, but she doubted she would ever get an answer.

"I don't know," Binary answered. "But they're here somewhere. Or at least, they were."

From the Stalker to him. From being prowled by one monster to another. The darkness that surrounded them started to thin. Was that because the Stalker was gone? Gadget didn't care. The window to get out of there was rapidly closing.

"That's half gone," Monkshood whispered to Gadget and she looked at the girl beside her. For the first time in what to her felt like hours, she could see her face again. Monkshood glared at her, then, and Gadget grimaced.

"Nice work tracking," Binary complimented. His and Kernel's footsteps circled the clearing, searching for something.

Searching for her.

"This is why havin' a partner in the Games just gives you deadweight," Monkshood whispered, ranting quietly in irritation and annoyance. She looked furiously at Gadget and she ducked her gaze to her lap.

"Thanks. Didn't think I'd be able to do it accurately, but…" Kernel trailed off. "...what's that?"

Gadget's stomach sank. There was too much happening all at once. The Stalker. Binary and Kernel. Monkshood's anger. It was so much. Too overwhelming, she could barely think straight!

Binary didn't answer Kernel's query, but Gadget knew that they'd found her stuff. That was it. She'd never be able to complete her plan without those pieces. It was done.

"I'm…s-sorry," Gadget whispered to Monkshood. She clutched a palm to her head and blinked rapidly. The Stalker was gone, but she swore she could still hear it. Still had its screams rattling around in her skull. The deep sound of its sonic attack.

Monkshood murmured something Gadget couldn't hear, but when she opened her eyes, her fury hadn't lessened at all.

"They tracked you," Monkshood finally said, loud enough for Gadget to hear, but quiet enough that Binary and Kernel couldn't.

What else could Gadget do but apologize? This was all her fault. She had no one to blame but herself.

"These aren't worth anything without the person who built them," Binary griped to Kernel. Why…why does he want me? Pieces of her creation were in Binary's hands but…he couldn't do anything with it. He didn't know how they worked.

Gadget peeked out at Binary and Kernel, though she couldn't see much. What she could see, though, was Kernel's questionable stare, and the back of Binary's head.

"You fell outta use faster than Rue did," Monkshood said scathingly, and Gadget twisted around to stare at her in shock. Her whole body felt cold. Ice in her veins left her unmoving.

"W-what?" Gadget stuttered softly, breathlessly. She had accused her earlier, but she didn't really think that-

"Binary didn' kill Rue," Monkshood confessed, and her hands rose rapidly to catch Gadget by her wrists, and held her still, "I did."

No…

The words rang in Gadget's ears, reverberating around in her head. She should've known better to take Monkshood's words at face value but she didn't think…she didn't think…

She tried to move, to pull free of Monkshood's grip, but she wasn't strong enough. Just like when Monkshood tried to stab her, Gadget wasn't strong enough. And then, without warning, her body was thrown backwards and she fought to catch herself before she fell out of cover, but it was too late.

She crashed to the ground with a hard thud and looked up at Monkshood. She couldn't stop it. Her eyes shone with unshed tears as her mind tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Monkshood had just betrayed her.

She climbed to her feet as best she could with the limited time she had and she made to dash out of the clearing, but Binary was faster, and the blunt end of his spear slammed against her chest, knocking her back to the ground.

"No!" Gadget cried, and she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. This was it. This was where her life ended.

"There you are!" Binary said with a despicable grin on his face. Kernel stood just over his shoulder, staring at her neutrally. She must have been a truly pitiful sight.

Gadget flicked her head in Monkshood's direction desperately. "P-please!" she begged. She didn't care if Binary or Kernel saw her begging to her, she was the only person here left.

But Monkshood just raised her hand in a taunting wave, and tore off, flinging her pack onto her back and disappearing into the edges of the brightening darkness.

"That's a shame," Binary remarked. "Can't imagine how it feels to be betrayed like that." He was in no hurry to go after her, was he?

Gadget gazed submissively at the ground beneath her hands. Tears slid down her cheeks and she tried to hide the fact that she was crying to Binary and his ally. This was where she died. This was where Binary had Kernel kill her. She was never going to see Corduroy or Peeta ever again. And she thought that she had come to terms with never seeing Beetee, Wiress, or Septimius ever again when she stepped onto that hovercraft, but all she wanted was to see them again.

She didn't want to die like this!

"Guess we're letting her go, then," Kernel remarked blandly, grabbing an apple off the ground. One of the many things the Stalker tore from the backpack.

"I-" Gadget started to say, to plead with Binary, in vain though she knew it, to let her go, but his foot crushed against her stomach before she could say anything.

"Quiet," Binary commanded. He looked at Kernel, almost like he was silently communicating with him. Why was he taking so long? Was he going to prolong her agony by making her suffer?

The very thought made Gadget's eyes go wide in total fear and she began to struggle under Binary's foot. "N-no!" she cried, sobbing pathetically. "Pl-please don't!"

"I told you…" Binary said and swung his second foot into Gadget's ribs and she felt an explosion of pain behind her eyes. "To be quiet!" It hurt! It hurt so much! It was like fire inside her bones. Agony that Binary subjected her to time and time again.

Kernel made a noise of discomfort, but didn't say anything else. Gadget's tearful eyes met his, if only for a second, and she saw the pity in them. And then he turned away to collect the pieces of machinery Gadget had built.

"I thought I told you this wouldn't end up well for you, Gadget," Binary told her, and Gadget swung her dead gaze to his own eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Now look at you. Right where you belong."

Gadget squeezed her eyes shut, a whimper escaping her lips. Binary was so, so much worse than anything the Stalker could have done to her. He was taking his sweet time dealing with her and that fact made her want to throw up.

"Be glad you owe me," Binary said suddenly, and his foot slammed against her stomach, forcing her to heave out a breath. "Because I don't throw away things that are useful."

Oh…

That was why he didn't kill her. Because he had some use for her to fulfill. She should've known. He'd spared her in the Bloodbath, even after she had cost him his sponsors, because he still wanted something from her.

She didn't say anything and swallowed the bile swimming in the back of her throat. It hurt so much, the places Binary kicked her in. She wanted to curl up and hide, but that wasn't an option here. Not with him standing over her with a spear at his side.

Everything hurt. The kick to her stomach and ribs made it harder to breathe. And she didn't want to move. The slightest movement could send pain hurtling through her form. What did Binary plan to do with her? The very thought sent waves of fear through her, paralyzing her to the ground.

"You made everything so much harder than it needed to be," Binary said, and his foot lifted off of her. "The Careers are not fans of you." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Gadget whimpered again, staring up at Binary. The boy who made her life outside of the arena hell. The boy who tried to control what she did inside the arena with a plan that she did not understand, and was far from beneficial towards her. The boy who tried to make her leave Corduroy and Lace. She tried to send him her most defiant look, but Binary looked far from impressed.

Binary raised his foot and kicked down hard again into her stomach, and Gadget screamed as icy hot fire raced through her and bile spewed up through her throat. She twisted around as fast as she was able and threw up onto the ground beside her. She felt so dizzy, and her vision blurred from the pain. She opened her mouth to beg and plead, but nothing came out.

Binary scoffed. "This is the girl that killed that virus Cato?"

How does…how does he know that? Gadget blinked in shock, swallowing down the disgusting taste of the remnants of her retching. She gazed fearfully at Binary, any chance of bravado gone in an instant.

He lowered himself down, jutting his knee into her stomach and he raised his spear right above her head, and Gadget winced in preparation for another painful strike.

Please, don't! Gadget pleaded internally.

But nothing came and instead she felt a swift breeze as the spear crashed into the ground beside her head. Gadget glanced at it frightfully, and then at Binary. He was enjoying this. Just like when he made her suffer in District Three. She shouldn't have said those things to Caesar. She should have stayed quiet. There were so many different things that she should have done.

"Eight and Twelve were your allies, yeah?" Binary asked, pressing his knee into her stomach enough to make her gasp. "Are you regretting your decision to go with them yet?"

Never…

Gadget shook her head and shut her eyes and sniffed, whimpering again as her tears slid down her face. Why did she have to be separated from them? She missed them. So much.

Binary made a noise of irritation and Gadget released another whimper as he dug his knee into her stomach just a little bit harder. "Trust me, you will," he said coldly.

"Pl-p-please," Gadget stuttered softly and weakly, sniffling again. There was not a doubt in her mind that she looked a truly pathetic sight. "Ple-please do-don't kill m-me."

For the first time, Binary looked genuinely confused. "Kill you?" he asked. He released a breath that could've been a scoff or a laugh or a dozen other things that Gadget couldn't decipher. "No, you're too useful for that," he told her.

Gadget watched him with tears in her eyes. She flickered her gaze to Kernel as he pulled her pieces of machinery into a backpack. It didn't look like it would fit at all. Was that how it looked when she was carrying them with the other backpack? Gadget wasn't sure but it didn't matter. She looked back at Binary again. She was so, so scared at the idea of what he had planned for her.

"Gizmo Kassver was a tribute during the 59th Hunger Games, one that Grid Croil was responsible for training," Binary said suddenly and Gadget listened warily. There was nowhere that she could go. All she could do was listen. "Gizmo was killed when the Career Pack that year tortured him and tore him apart." There was a look in Binary's eye that she did not like. "They kept him alive as long as they could, tearing his flesh off, and even cut off his foot eventually." Gadget clicked her teeth together. She shook with tension, but she still listened to what he had to say. "It wasn't a Career that killed Gizmo, though. It was the outlier. Do you remember her name, Gadget?"

Gadget opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She remembered. She remembered very clearly Binary's warning to her. Of getting into the Career Pack because, to him, that was their only chance of survival. Why had he waited so long? Had he tried at all yet?

"C-Cecelia," Gadget stuttered out. "Y-you told m-me they l-let in an outlier ca-called Cecelia."

"That's right," Binary confirmed, sounding vaguely pleased. "Cecelia O'Neill killed Gizmo when the Careers asked her to prove her worth to them. Not that it mattered, since the Pack imploded about a day later anyway," he said with a shrug.

Why was he telling her this? He kept bringing him up. Why? What point was Binary trying to make that she couldn't see?

"Gizmo's death was Cecelia's turning point," Binary told her. He lifted his spear into his hands, tapping the sharpened edge against his palm. "Then she figured out how it was kill or be killed." He thrust the spear back into the ground and Gadget jumped. "I tried to make you understand that; how allying with the Eights was a stupid idea."

Gadget grimaced and looked away. She already knew what Binary's next words were going to be, and he was right. It was because of her agreeing to go with Corduroy and Lace that what happened…happened.

"Your cowardice," Binary sneered, "got that Eight girl killed. You know it wouldn't have happened if you went with me and my original plan." Gadget looked back up at him. Why couldn't she stop the tears in her eyes? Why was she so pathetic? Why couldn't she do anything right?

Kernel entered her field of vision beside Binary, wearing both the backpack filled with her machine parts and a rather mystified expression on his face. Binary had never filled him in on his plan to join the Careers. She could use that! Turn him against Binary! The idea clicked into place within her mind in seconds. She only had one shot at it, so she needed to make it count.

Binary pushed his knee into Gadget's stomach, causing her to release a sharp gasp, and he gripped the strap that belonged to her baldric and her staff from around her shoulders and yanked it free with little effort. That was another one of her weapons gone. Her eyes widened with anxiousness as Binary slipped the strap on over his own shoulders, before dropping his hand down to the knife in her belt, and tore that free, as well. And with it, her last line of defense.

She was defenseless. The last of her supplies had just been taken from her. All she had left was a flashlight, but that wasn't good enough! It was nowhere near enough. She needed to act now before it was too late!

Gadget opened her mouth to speak, to tell Kernel about what Binary planned and, hopefully, kept him in the dark about. But Binary was quicker and he rammed the blunt end of his spear into her gut, stopping her and cutting her off before she could say a single word.

"AH!" she yelped.

Binary stood, looking down at her with calculating eyes. "Can you get her up for me, Kernel?" he asked, far more kindly than anything he'd said to Gadget.

"Fine," Kernel acquiesced. He spun his spear around and shoved it into the dirt before he bent down to grab Gadget by the arm. She shook and trembled, but she allowed herself to be pulled up. Her dead, scared eyes, however, were not focused on Kernel, but on Binary.

He pulled Kernel's spear out from the ground and rotated it in his hand, spinning it slightly. Gadget's heart hammered against her chest, and her knees wobbled unsteadily beneath her. She'd lost her chance.

Kernel turned and reached out for his spear that wasn't there, before he stopped. Gadget could see his shoulders tense, but she said nothing.

"Can I have my spear back?" Kernel asked, holding his hand out. He looked between Binary and Gadget, like he was silently deciding if she was going to try to jump and attack him.

"You're not gonna need it," Binary responded, tilting his chin up. He dropped the spear to his feet and withdrew his knife from its place beside the crossbow clipped to his belt. The knife that almost glowed a sickly red.

"Binary?" Kernel asked, sounding alarmed. He took a step back out of what Gadget could only guess was surprise.

"He-he's go-going to t-take us to the C-Ca-Careers," Gadget stuttered. She wrapped her arms around her torso, rubbing her shoulder in some attempt to comfort herself. How did everything go so badly so fast? She should've been quicker. She should have told Kernel what she knew faster!

"What?" Kernel asked, and this time he sounded hurt.

"Let's not be stupid," Binary said, an exasperated expression taking up his face. The kindness he had shown Kernel up until that moment was gone. "One cut of this and you'll be dead in seconds."

Nightlock.

Binary had them trapped. Running was too much of a risk. The darkness might be lifting, but Binary was right. All it took was one cut of his knife and they were dead. And Gadget didn't think she had it in her to run. She could barely stand straight as it was.

"I trusted you, Binary. I had an idea that you were using me," Kernel said, and he truly did sound hurt and betrayed to her ears, "to get to her," he said, motioning to Gadget. "But I…I thought we understood each other."

Binary looked at Kernel, the knife held by a steady and sure hand. There was no hesitance in his eyes. "You needed an ally, and so did I. I didn't lie about anything, but I did tell you what you wanted to hear. Didn't I?"

Kernel shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Gadget couldn't blame him for taking Binary's words over her own. He could be…convincing when he wanted to be. It was how he got other people to do things for him back at home. Always a leader. Never a follower.

"There's only one winner in the Hunger Games," Binary said, and his eyes swiveled over Gadget, "we were gonna have to go double-cross each other eventually." Gadget winced, and her legs threatened to collapse from under her. This was so much. "Something apparently neither of you have learned."

Gadget saw Kernel squeeze his hands together and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he trying to figure out a way to get out of this? There was no reason to. Gadget knew in her heart that there was no reason to. She wouldn't be getting out of this, and neither was Kernel.

"What's the point?" Kernel asked incredulously. The hurt had given way to distress. He must've figured out the same thing she had. "The Careers won't have any respect for you!" Then the distress mixed with something that was close to anger. "We'll just add a number to their Pack, that's it! Unless this is some grandiose way of committing suicide."

Binary lurched forward and brought the knife up to Kernel's throat, and if he was going to say anything else, the words died on his lips. "You two are my way into the Pack. My two slaves."

Slaves. That's all they were now. Tools for Binary to use. Gadget had already known that, but to hear it from him himself was an arrow through her chest. Did Beetee and Wiress know Binary was planning this? But even if they did…there was nothing that they could have done.

"This…" Gadget shook her head and rubbed her eyes with her hand. "Th-this isn-isn't going to g-go ho-how you think it-it's going to g-go," she stuttered. She had to convince him, but she already knew it was pointless to argue. Binary had his mind set and he wasn't going to change it. "The-they hate me-e."

"Which is why I'm going to be the one to negotiate," Binary said. His knife didn't lift an inch from Kernel's neck. Gadget wondered what was going through his head. The sting of betrayal. Both of them had just been betrayed by someone today.

"Why?" Kernel asked, raising his hands in surrender. "We don't have to do this."

Binary gave Kernel what could almost be a sympathetic smile. "We all have our parts to play, Kernel," he replied. "You were always my backup option, and now, that safety net is no longer needed from you."

This wasn't going to work! Clove was going to kill them all before they could even say a word as they walked into the Cornucopia! Gadget had seen how unhinged she was. This was only going to end one way and that was with her death.

"Pl-" Gadget tried to say again, but Binary pointed his spear at her and her words got caught in her throat.

"No, no more talking. Now we go to the Cornucopia. Together." Binary bounced his eyes from her, then to Kernel, and back again. "Now start walking."

There was not going to be any getting out of this. She was stuck. Kernel backed up beside her and Gadget turned, defeated, and they started the long march to the Cornucopia.

---

Gadget didn't know how long they'd been walking for, but it felt like hours. Hours that she had been marching towards her death on aching feet. With every step, she got closer to her execution. The Careers…they weren't going to spare her after she killed one of their own.

Clove was going to make her suffer. Gadget knew it. Just as she made Lace suffer, she was going to be even worse to Gadget. Her mind spun at the infinite amount of possibilities that Clove could use. She had seen the horrible things people could do in the arena. People like Sperren.

Her breath escaped through her lips rapidly as her thoughts descended into the possibilities of the torture Clove could put her through. There was no stopping her panic as it grew and grew. She should've stepped off her platform early. It would've saved her from this. It would've been merciful compared to any of this.

Gadget couldn't stop her panicked breathing. Her arms wrapped more firmly around her torso and she released yet another shallow whimper. She was already dead long before she would reach the Cornucopia. Even if Binary's plan failed, he would just use her as a distraction. And…she really was the perfect one, wasn't she?

Binary, though, was insistent. He pushed his spear into her back every time she slowed as fear threatened to overtake her. She could only wonder what Kernel was thinking, but she couldn't pay attention to anything he tried to say to Binary in some attempt to get him to stop.

"W-what's th-the plan her-here?" Gadget managed to get out, holding her hand to her chest. She had to get out of there before it was too late. Was it already too late?

"You'll let me do the talking," Binary said simply, and he didn't expand beyond that.

"Sacrifice us to get into their alliance, will you, captain?" Kernel asked, sarcastically, yet shakily.

"You're too useful for that," Binary replied, but Gadget didn't know if it was directed to Kernel, herself, or to both of them. He didn't give control over that. It had to have been a lie. Binary would sacrifice her, she knew. If that's what it took to get into the Career Pack, what his aim was all along, then he would sacrifice her to do it.

She wanted to throw up.

How many steps had she taken since Binary took her and Kernel? She wished she'd been counting them. Gadget tried to glance at Kernel, to gauge his expression to the best of her ability, and maybe…maybe they could get away if they did something right.

"No, straight ahead," Binary commanded coolly, his spear jabbing into her back.

"S-sorry," Gadget apologized, almost automatically. She turned her head forward, into the forest ahead of them. The darkness had long left them, replaced by the brightness of the sky that she had become accustomed to within the arena.

Up ahead, she could see it. The clearing to the Cornucopia. This was it. This was where she was going to die. The place she had faked her death and ran away from, only to come back and die. Her legs wobbled beneath her again and she tried to catch herself, but Binary was unrelenting.

He pushed her forward and Gadget threw her arms out to catch herself on a tree. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered. She was never going to see Corduroy or Peeta ever again. Her heart thudded against her chest hard enough to hurt. She had craved death, wanted it so bad before the Games had even begun…but she didn't want to die like this! Not in the torturous, long and brutal way that the Careers were going to do it!

Binary grabbed her by the forearm and pushed her forward.

And out into the clearing.

And there it was. The silver Cornucopia that stood menacingly in the center of the field. Launch pedestals that remained in a crescent form around it, abandoned. There was no stain of blood on the grass, or anything that could stand as a reminder of the Bloodbath.

There, at the center of it all, was the Careers, chattering loudly to one another. All of them. Marvel and Glimmer. Marina…

Clove.

Gadget tried to stand. To run in spite of the consequences that Binary promised. But it was useless. Her body froze in pure, horrified terror. She couldn't move. All she could hear was a ringing in her ears, like an alarm that refused to go off. She barely noticed as Kernel stepped out into the clearing a moment later, followed by Binary.

They'd moved all of the supplies, Gadget dimly noticed. And they'd set up a proper camp. Tents and sleeping bags were set up around a few meters in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia. It all almost looked peaceful, were it not for the very sharp and dangerous weapons each of the Careers held.

This was her last chance to get away. Before the Careers noticed them and cut them apart.

Gadget made to stand, frantically grappling the ground as cold fear swept through her being. But it wasn't enough, and she felt Binary's foot collide with her back, forcing her back down with a grunt.

No…

"Oh, look! We have visitors!" she heard Marina shout.

Oh…no…

Gadget squirmed under Binary's foot. She had to get away! She had to! She had to! She couldn't think of anything but the want - no, the need to escape. Was this why Monkshood backstabbed Ridley? This fear that was so consuming she barely think?

She didn't like it! This couldn't be happening! This couldn't be it!

Binary's hold on her was strong. He'd always been stronger than her.

"Stop squirming," Binary hissed, and it was then that Gadget realized that it was useless. There was no escape from this.

"Perfect," Glimmer said. She notched an arrow in her bow easily as she began her approach alongside the rest of the Careers. "I've been looking forward to killing you, Stalagmite," she spat, gesturing with an arrow at Gadget.

The rest of the Careers began their approach, each of them with their own different weapon that threatened so much harm. Marvel and his spear, Glimmer and her bow and arrows, and Marina and her serrated sword.

"Oh yeah, three for one," Marvel said with a sickening grin. "Couldn't get enough of me, eh?" he asked, his gaze directed towards Gadget.

Marina scoffed with clear amusement. "What made any of you think that this was a good idea?" she asked.

Clove took the lead of the Pack, her previous smirk gone and replaced with cold hatred for Gadget. She stared down at her, slowly withdrawing a knife from the many she had sheathed in her vest. "She's mine," she said coldly. Her face went red in rage. "That bitch killed Cato."

This was exactly what she'd been fearing. The promise of revenge that the Careers wanted from her.

Binary's foot left her chest and he stepped just behind her. "Let's try and hold off on the murder until I say what I have to say," he said in a rather casual tone, but Gadget knew him well enough to hear the underlying nervousness in his tone.

Clove scoffed, and a somewhat amused grin took over her features, but the rage and insanity Gadget could see in her eyes didn't dwindle in the slightest. "You don't have any leverage here, Three." She flipped her knife around into the air, catching it easily by the handle.

It wasn't going to work! Whatever Binary's plan for negotiations was, it wasn't going to work! If Clove took Cato's place as the…leader of the Pack…she was too unhinged!

Gadget must have looked truly pathetic to the rest of the Careers, and Clove continued her slow approach, tossing her knife up, and catching it again. Then, for just a moment, and so quickly Gadget might have imagined it, she could've sworn she saw Glimmer glance at Binary, before she looked back at Clove.

"I say we hear him out," Glimmer said with a lazy shrug. "I haven't killed anyone since the Bloodbath, this is the most entertainment I've gotten since."

Clove's hand twitched in what Gadget could swear was annoyance, but her expression didn't change. "Then entertain yourself by giving a good show using that Nine boy," she said without looking away from Gadget.

"Why kill them when they can be your slaves?" Binary asked, interrupting before any of the Careers could say anything. But Gadget could tell that he had gotten their attention. Glimmer smirked and Marvel looked intrigued at the idea. Marina's face looked so extremely skeptical, and Clove…

Clove glanced at Binary contemplatively, eyeing him up and down, but it hardly registered to Gadget. Binary had just offered her and Kernel up as slaves to the Careers. To do their bidding unquestionably. This was wrong…this was so, so wrong…

"Make it quick," Clove ordered threateningly. "If I get bored…" she trailed off and her eyes landed on Gadget again. "I'm gonna measure her topmost layer of skin," she purred.

Gadget shivered. Was Binary going to even bother trying to protect her? Or did he bring her specifically as a…gift to the Careers? The thought made her squirm, but Binary stopped her with a kick to her side.

"Me, and Kernel," Binary started, and Gadget heard him shove Kernel forward harshly, "we can dig up the mines under the pedestals."

What?

That was his bargain? That kind of weapon in the hands of the Careers…it would make them unstoppable! It would make anyone with that kind of weapon unstoppable!

Gadget shifted in her position on the ground, but she couldn't show her displeasure. This was out of her control. If Binary had set his mind to it, then this was what he was going to do, and she couldn't stop him. No matter how she would beg him that this idea was suicide.

"We could set up the mines around your supplies," Binary continued, "and that'll stop anyone from stealing from you without getting…blown up." He stepped closer to Gadget and she closed her eyes and winced in preparation. "No one like Gadget, here," he said, delivering another kick to her side that made her head spin.

Gadget risked a glance at the Careers despite the tears in her eyes. Marvel and Glimmer, at least, looked contemplative of the idea, although Marina looked doubtful. But the only one that really mattered to Gadget was Clove. She seemed to have become the new leader after…after Cato died.

And Clove's face was impossibly blank. She spun a knife around, twirling it within her hand. If things went badly, that knife would find itself in Gadget first. Would she even bother with the others? Binary and Kernel? Or would she leave them to Marvel or Glimmer or Marina? Or would she let them go to hunt down later?

The Capitol anthem interrupted whatever Clove was going to say, if she was going to say anything, and Gadget released a squeak of surprise. Were the days becoming shorter? It…felt like it. The sky was still bright, with a sun that was directly above them. The only hint that it was the evening was the chill in the air.

Gadget glanced up at the Capitol seal in the sky and her heart skipped a beat. She had heard no cannons today, but what if one went off while she was asleep!? What if Corduroy or Peeta were killed and she didn't even realize it!?

But the seal disappeared a moment later, and relief struck her. They were okay. They weren't dead.

"I don't like it," Marina spoke first. She'd directed her statement towards Clove, but she hadn't turned or gave an inkling that she was listening to her. "Why change something that still works?" she asked.

"Because it's a minefield," Glimmer said with a small smirk. She brought her hand up to look at her nails exaggeratedly. "And I'm tired of being the one to stay behind to make sure nobody steals from us again."

Gadget flinched.

"That's because you volunteered to stay behind," Marina countered with a sneer. "You tryin' to get sympathy from-"

"The tributes have been slippery this year," Glimmer said quietly, but loud enough that Gadget could hear, "these three know how they work. How to think like them."

"Yeah, you keep reminding us," Marina remarked flatly.

Glimmer pouted. "Only the strongest survive, Marina," she said in a sing-song voice. She stretched a hand out to tap Marina on the nose, but she swatted her hand away before she could. "And you're far from the strongest."

Marina scoffed. "If that isn't the trout calling the salmon-"

"I love your cat fights," Marvel interrupted, and he truly did sound amused, "but how about you save it until we aren't talking about having a minefield!" he said, sounding like an eager child.

Glimmer and Marina stared at each other for a moment, before the former said, without taking her eyes off of her, "Clove?"

Clove flipped her knife into the air, and Gadget watched it flip once, twice, three times before it hurtled back down into her hand, and Clove wrapped her fingers around the handle again.

"Gives us more time to hunt down the rest of the tributes," she said at last. She tossed her knife up again. "Hunting is the best part, and now that I have more time to do it…"

Clove's eyes fell back down to Gadget, and she saw the rage and insanity swimming again within them. Binary had offered no use for Gadget to do, she noticed belatedly.

With a gasp, she threw her arms backward in an attempt to escape that she knew in her heart wouldn't work. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Handed to someone who despised her by her own district partner.

She managed what would be a full step back before a knife thudded into the ground right where her face was going to be. She froze in pure terror, and tried to think of a way out of this, but nothing came to her.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this," Clove said, and Gadget could hear the pure glee in her voice even without looking at her. "It's too bad I won't get to kill your other allies in front of you," she said sinisterly, and Gadget finally turned over to look at the other girl.

Clove was so much shorter than Gadget was. Only a few years older, too. And yet she was so much scarier than Cato. Clove spun her knife around in her grip, before her free hand reached into her vest and unsheathed a second knife.

"P-p-please," Gadget stuttered uselessly. She held her arms out in front of her, as if that would protect her. She apologized again and again internally to Syncis. Beetee and Wiress. Septimius. They all believed in her, and she failed them. She knew she would've, but this…this hurt more than she possibly imagined.

"I wouldn't do that," Binary said, and Gadget opened her eyes in shock as he stepped around her, and positioned himself right in front of her.

Clove snarled furiously. "You think you can demand anything from me, Three?" she said coldly. "I agreed to your proposal. You're the bottom rung. Just slightly higher than him," she added, gesturing to Kernel.

If Binary was anxious or afraid, Gadget couldn't see it. He didn't turn away from Clove, nor did he step out of her way. What was this? Why was Binary doing this? Why was he sticking his neck out for her? What game was he playing?

"I understand," Binary said, raising his hands. "I'm not trying to demand anything," he continued, "you're the leader, which means that it's your decision alone, right?"

Gadget looked away. She didn't want to see the murderous expressions that she feared could appear on Marvel or Glimmer or Marina's faces. What was Binary trying to accomplish? He hated her. Why was he trying to keep her alive?

Because…I owe him. The reminder slapped her across the face. Binary had said nothing and let her go when she'd tried to play dead during the Bloodbath. For whatever reason that Gadget couldn't comprehend, none of the Careers killed him then. Neither Glimmer or Marvel, who Gadget didn't think were very…occupied at the time.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter. It doesn't matter. If Binary thought that she owed him…he was going to try to protect his investment.

"I have no use for her," Clove said. "Cato's killer deserves every bit of agony for taking him from me." Gadget finally looked up again, right on time to meet Clove's gaze. A gaze that promised pain and suffering. "I killed her friend," she said mockingly, "and I'm going to do the same to her."

Lace didn't deserve it. She deserved so many things, but what Clove did to her…it was unspeakable. It was…it was truly horrible. And Clove's dismissive and mocking tone of Gadget's first friend made her blood boil.

But you deserve it, though. Lace didn't…but Gadget did. As quickly as it came, the anger fled her and guilt replaced it. She deserved it more than she ever had. She had killed someone. Ended the life of another tribute. Of another person.

"Sure, kill her, then," Binary said, and he stepped to the side. Gadget's heart dropped. All of that…and he was going to let Clove kill her. Was he just putting up a fight so that…so that the people at home in District Three thought that he wasn't just selling her out, and he was trying to protect her?

Whatever the case, it didn't matter. A smirk crept over Clove's features. One that promised a lifetime of pain and suffering.

"N-no!" Gadget said, but Clove took a step forward, twisting her knives this way and that. "Ah!" Gadget yelled, and covered her head with her hands, as if that would stop Clove.

Why fight? You know you deserve it.

"Unless you don't want Gadget's invention," Binary added offhandedly.

Clove hesitated, and Gadget blinked up at her. What was…oh no.

"Elaborate," Clove demanded.

This was what Binary was using her for. It wasn't to save her. It was to get something that he wanted out of it.

"Gadget is building armor," Binary revealed. "She showed me her plans. One to build some kind of, ah, mech suit."

And…there it went. Her only chance. Her plan. Out in the open for the worst possible people to know about. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't! Gadget felt like she was in a daze, one that she would wake up from at any moment. Though she knew she wouldn't. This was very much reality.

The Careers looked intrigued by Binary's reveal, and Gadget knew that her fate was sealed.

"Explain, District Three," Clove said, and it was only after a moment that Gadget realized that she was talking to her. She looked at Clove, then to Binary, who merely raised an eyebrow at her.

Why? How could…how could he have just ruined everything so easily? What did he gain from this? Hadn't he hurt her enough? Couldn't he have just let her have this one thing? A plan that seemed to become more untenable by every minute that passed, but at least it offered Gadget a chance.

Now…it offered her nothing.

Not that Gadget ever deserved that chance. Especially not now. Killing someone…murdering someone…it was too much. It was too much to bear. Whatever deranged torturous way to kill her Clove had, Gadget knew that she deserved it.

Gadget looked to the other Careers. Marvel, Glimmer, and Marina. Glimmer looked so impossibly smug, and Marvel looked like a child that just found a piece of tech from the junkyard that they were missing.

Before she could gauge Marina, though, Clove's foot slammed into her chest and knocked her flat against her back. A moment later, Clove loomed over her with an unhinged grin that split her face.

Gadget squeaked and whimpered in fear, and Clove's grin only grew. She planted her foot against Gadget's chest and leaned in closer above her. She tossed her knife into the air before catching it again.

"I know all the arteries to cut that make it painful," Clove began, "for you." She tossed her knives up again. Front-flip. Back-flip. And then they fell back down into her hands again. "And I won't let you die until I want you to," she spat, rage briefly overtaking her, and she swiftly sheathed her knife in her vest before planting her palm against Gadget's chest.

Gadget whimpered in true despair, and Clove grinned again. A sadistic smirk spread across her lips.

"I…" Gadget tried to say, but the words dried up in her throat. What could she say? That Binary was lying? It would only get herself killed, because at least Binary was promising something to them. He was useful to them.

"Explain, Three," Clove said, icily cold. "Or I'll get bored."

Gadget swallowed. There was so much madness in Clove's eyes. She had to give her what she wanted. It was the only way that she would live. Why? Why did things have to be this way? Why bother even trying anymore?

"I-it's a-a steam-p-powered ex-exo-suit," Gadget explained weakly. It was largely inspired by Electra's work. But Gadget had added improvements and better protections to it. She did not desire losing her arms or having her own protection backfire on her. She had a wild idea for electrifying her staff too, making it into a potent offensive tool. But none of that mattered anymore. It was out of her hands now. "A-armor th-that protects y-you," Gadget managed to stutter out. "An-and an el-e-ele-electrified sta-staff."

There it was. All out in the open.

All of her chances diminished.

"But you don't need that anymore," Clove purred. She touched her knife to Gadget's cheek, and she winced. The coldness of the metal rushed through her and she whimpered again.

"I-I-I c-could build it f-for you!" Gadget said quickly. She couldn't mess this up! She had to be useful to the Careers in some way! It was her only shot. She felt Clove still above her. "Y-you'll be th-the strongest tr-tribute in the a-arena!"

Clove scoffed. "I don't need armor to be strong," she said.

"B-b-but you'll be uns-un-unstoppable!" Gadget said, even quicker than before. And…it was true. The suit, if she managed to complete it, in Clove's hands, would make her unstoppable.

Clove hummed, though Gadget didn't know if it was out of contemplation or…something more sinister. She tapped her knife against Gadget's cheek, like she was deciding where she should cut first.

"And if she stops working on it, you can kill her," Binary suggested, and Gadget felt her heart stop. What was Binary doing!? This wasn't going to help him in the long run! This was…this was…

"I like the sound of that," Glimmer commented with a wry smile. "An unstoppable force. Turns out you outliers are good enough for something, after all," she said, leering at Kernel, who grimaced, but otherwise said nothing.

Marvel said something that Gadget couldn't hear. Her mind was spinning too fast to understand. Why were they so excited for this? Didn't they understand that if she did this, Clove was going to be the one to get it?

Or…maybe that's why Glimmer, and Gadget supposed Marvel as well, were excited. They planned to take it from under Clove before she could use it herself.

The sound of metal and material hitting the ground made Gadget look at Kernel, who had dumped what she had built onto the ground. Almost everything she had built.

"Is that all of it?" Clove asked. She pressed her foot hard against Gadget's chest; a warning to not lie. What would happen if she did? How would Clove know? Gadget weighed the options in her head, but Clove's pressure increased, and Gadget knew that there was only one answer.

"N-no," she said softly. "Th-there's m-more." She pointed weakly. "A c-c-cave. Th-that way."

Clove craned her body forward, pressing all her weight down on top of Gadget for a moment.

And then she removed it and stepped away. "We'll go tomorrow, then," she said, her tone booking no room for argument. "Time for you to get to work, Three."

Gadget gazed weakly at Clove. She could practically feel the other girl's itch to stab her and butcher her with her knives. But for what felt like the first time since she had met Clove, she refrained.

"Okay, get to work," Marvel yelled at Binary and Kernel. "Dig up those mines! Better make sure that it's marvelous, or one of you is going to die!"

Neither Binary nor Kernel said anything in response, and the former led the latter to the edge of the Cornucopia. Gadget tried to meet Kernel's gaze as they went past, but his eyes were firmly on Binary's back.

"I said…" Clove began threateningly, and her foot struck out just as Gadget started to sit up, knocking her breath out of her as she crashed back down to the ground. "Get to work!"

"I-I'm s-so-sorry," Gadget stuttered. Tears pricked at her eyes and she fought to blink them away. She couldn't let Clove see just how much it hurt. How much it affected her.

She could only do so much without any tools or new materials. Was this how the rest of her life was going to be? Waiting for Clove to grow bored of her and torture her to death?

Gadget stood on weak legs and walked as quickly as she could to the supplies around the edges of the Cornucopia to find any tools that could be useful. She wasn't going to survive this, she knew in her heart. Forced into being nothing but an Avox for the Careers. She was already dead. She could feel Clove's gaze on her. Watching her. And the rage and insanity that belonged to their owner.

Distantly, she heard the audio chime of a sponsor, but Gadget didn't look up. No smile appeared on her face as the sponsor container landed in front of her. The only relief she could think of was that at least Beetee and Wiress were, for some inexplicable reason, still looking out for her.

Mechanically, she opened the container and got to work.