Alliances & Betrayals
“We need to find food and water.” Pepper told him, brushing the leaves out of her hair as she stood up. “We can’t stay here forever.”
She was right. They couldn’t. They hadn’t been able to find a suitable place the night before, and had settled for sleeping in the shrubbery beneath a large oak tree. It had been largely uncomfortable and he’d barely been able to sleep at all, but at least they had been hidden from the other tributes.
“I know.” Tony told her, standing up. They were eight hours and six deaths into the Games. “There must be a river around here somewhere.”
“I’ve seen a few animals in the woods.” Pepper mused, sounding thoughtful. “Maybe we could set up a snare.”
“We don’t have any weapons.” Tony pointed out. They had both run away from the bloodbath and had run into each other soon after. Which, unfortunately, meant that they had no supplies whatsoever.
“We don’t need them.” She said, gracing him with a small smile. “I spent a lot of time at the traps and snares station in training. All we need to do is find some strong vines and a good tree.”
“I don’t really know what I’m looking for.” Tony admitted. It was times like this when he was reminded of how much he admired Pepper. He hadn’t thought much of her in training- the girl from Twelve who didn’t even know how to hold a knife- but there was a lot more to the games than fighting. If he could get his hands on some electronics, or even some welding equipment, he would be golden. But he had no idea how to find food or set traps for deer.
“That’s okay. I’ll find a tree, you just look for some vines or rope.”
Half an hour later, they had put together a serviceable snare. There weren’t any hanging vines- this wasn’t that kind of forest- but Tony had managed to unwind some of the brambles and braid them together into a decently strong rope. Pepper, meanwhile, had found a tall young sapling over some deer tracks that could be bent down to the ground. When the deer walked over it, its feet would become caught in the snare, which would then pull tight and hold it in place.
“I wonder who the sixth death was.” He mused aloud as they traipsed through the forest. The nightly broadcast had shown five dead from the bloodbath- Ororo from Four, Banner from Six, the girl from Nine, and the boys from Eleven and Twelve- but there had been another cannon only minutes after the broadcast.
“Maybe it was Killmonger.” Pepper suggested hopefully. “Or Romanoff.”
Both were unlikely. But either one would give them a significant advantage in the Games, in that they were both fearsome competitors. And Killmonger had killed Bruce Banner, which Tony was still very upset about.
He sighed. “I guess we’ll see tonight.”
He couldn’t help but wonder if it had been Jane. She was his district partner, a fellow science geek, and he didn’t want to think about her being killed. Still, she hadn’t exactly seemed like a survivalist, so it was entirely possible that… no. He didn’t want to think about it. It was more likely that it had been Mantis- that frail little girl from Seven- or maybe Gert Yorkes.
“There’s no sense waiting here until a deer comes by.” He changed the subject. “We’ll be better off looking for water and coming back to check on the snare in a few hours.”
Pepper agreed. “Let’s look for a place to camp while we’re at it. We shouldn’t stay out in the open if we don’t have to.”
Charles Xavier opened his eyes. The air was warm and moist and there was birdsong coming from the trees around him. It took a moment for him to remember where he was, and why- but when he did, he almost wished that he hadn’t.
Natasha Romanoff’s scowling countenance was the first thing to greet him as he stepped out of the tent. “Chase left.” She told him bluntly.
Charles blinked. That was… not entirely unexpected, but still disappointing. He’d thought that Chase had chosen their alliance over his friends from the other districts. He could hardly fault him for remaining loyal to his friends, of course, but it was a distinct loss to their alliance.
“Why did you not wake me?” He asked her. A perfectly reasonable question, in his opinion. “I could have convinced him to change his mind.”
“He was gone when I woke up. Took a bag of supplies with him, too.” She sounded angry about that, and quite rightfully so.
“And Erik?” Charles questioned.
“Out hunting.” She told him shortly.
Natasha had made no secret of her dislike of Charles. She had quite emphatically declared, both to Charles and to other members of their alliance, that Charles was ‘dead weight’ and ‘not fit to kill anyone’. On the second count, at least, she was not wrong.
“We have plenty of food.” There was nothing wrong with stocking up, of course, but meat would go bad within a few days and they had much more pressing concerns than that.
She raised an eyebrow. “Not for food.”
“Oh.” Charles knew, logically, that there was no way to escape the Games apart from winning. And to win, of course, would require all of the other participants to be dead. But still, it was unpleasant for him to think about committing cold-blooded murder- especially when the killer in question was Erik, of all people.
“Haven’t heard any cannons,” she continued, “so he must not have found anybody yet.”
“What a shame.” He said flatly.
“Not really.” She smirked, leaning in just a bit closer to make her words hit harder. “Leaves more of them for me.”
Charles grimaced. “I think I’ll go find Erik.” He decided. “Do you know which direction he went?”
Natasha pointed. Charles nodded, thanked her, and left the camp, grabbing an apple on his way out. It was extremely unlikely that he would actually find Erik, of course, but he would take any excuse to get away from Natasha for a little bit. He could quite honestly say that he had never been frightened by anyone more than the coldhearted redhead from District Two. He hated the way she looked at him, like she was dangerous. Like she was sizing up her prey. Yes, this was the Hunger Games, but Natasha seemed to act like it was an actual game. Like they were all just pawns on the chessboard and she, of course, was the queen.
Charles wasn’t exactly what you’d call a survivalist, but he liked to think he was good with people. He’d managed to convince Natasha and Erik to take him on, after all. And he was, even more so, good at reading people. He could tell that Erik was a good person, even though he was willing to kill to survive; he’d been able to tell that Raven was just a desperate little girl and not a thief, and now she was his sister. But he couldn’t read Natasha. Whenever he tried, it felt like she was reading him instead. And that was a thought that scared him.
As Charles walked, he kept a close eye on his surroundings. It simply wouldn’t do to be brutally murdered in the middle of the woods because he had been distracted thinking about Natasha, of all people.
There was a footprint on the forest floor. It was small- too small to be Erik’s- but if Charles had seen it, Erik probably had too. That meant he was on the right track. He walked in the direction that the footprint had been pointing and soon enough found himself on a deer trail.
As much attention as Charles was paying to his surroundings, it was apparently not enough. He didn’t notice the trap until he’d walked into it, snapping tight around his legs and pulling him to the ground. He screamed as he felt the snap of bone.
Charles tried to pull his legs out of the trap, but every movement was agony. The ropes were tight around his legs, holding him firmly in place. All he could do now was wait, and hope that whoever found him wasn’t the one who had set the trap.
“Are you sure this is the best place?” Jane asked him again. They had made the trek from the cornucopia and walked all through the night, until they’d reached a place where the ground was mostly flat and there were more elm trees than rocks.
“Of course I’m sure.” Thor gave her a dopey smile. “See, the ground is flat enough to build a camp, but high enough that any water will run down that way. And the trees give us just enough shelter to be the start of a hut.”
“But we’re only a day’s walk from the Cornucopia.” She fretted. “What if someone finds us?”
“They won’t.” He said simply. “And if they do, I’ll fight them off.”
Thor had been one of those favored to win the games. Jane had been one of those largely ignored by the Capitol- not good enough to be a favorite, but not bad enough to be laughed at either. But Thor had, for whatever reason, sat at her table the first day of training and made an offer of friendship. Jane had been skeptical at first, but now here they were, a day into the Games and still alive.
“So how to we build this thing?” She asked, giving him a smile. He beamed back.
It took most of the morning to build their little lean-to. It was a quiet morning, and although Jane kept an ear out for other tributes, she heard nothing. There weren’t even any cannons to signal a new death.
“What do we do now?” She asked him when they were done.
He blinked, obviously not having thought this far ahead. “Er, I suppose we should gather some food.” He suggested after a moment. “I’ll admit I don’t know anything about plants…”
“I do.” Jane told him. “Come on, I think I saw some berries over this way.”
They walked through the trees, and soon enough, they came across a little blueberry bush just where Jane remembered it. Beside it ran a small stream, where she could see small minnows darting to and fro.
A cannon went off. Jane jerked her head up to look at the sky, but there was nothing there. Of course there wasn’t. There wouldn’t be until that night, when the anthem played and they were shown images of the dead. Still, she couldn’t help but be shaken by the reminder of the constant danger they were in.
“Hey.” Thor gave her a soft smile, as if sensing her discomfort. “It’ll all be okay. We’ve got food and water and a house. You don’t have to worry about the others.”
“Maybe for now, but sooner or later they’ll come for us.” She pointed out. “We can’t hide forever.”
That was true. They both knew it. The Games had to end eventually. Only one person was going to make it out. No matter how long they stayed here, eventually someone would find them, and there would be a fight.
“Don’t worry about that.” He soothed her. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
There was something about this place that Nico couldn’t quite explain. She was in an arena, being watched by hundreds if not thousands of Panem citizens, and yet she felt like she was at home. Not her actual home, of course- that was all glass walls and apple orchards and pretending to get along with her parents. This felt different.
Okay, maybe Nico did know what it was. She just didn’t want to admit it. Her house in District Eleven hadn’t felt like home in years. Ever since Amy died. Her sister had been the very first tribute killed in the very first year of the Hunger Games. With her gone, there was nobody that Nico had felt close to.
But here, in the Games, she’d found friends. She might even go so far as to say she’d found a family. Karolina, Alex, and Gert (and Chase, she supposed) were her family. And yes, Alex was dead (and if Nico ever found out who had done it, she would find them and make them suffer, Capitol be damned) and Chase had blood on his hands from the day before, but they were a family.
“Are you okay?” Karolina asked her, coming to sit beside her on the hill.
Nico glanced up at her with a small smile. “Yeah. Just keeping watch.”
“Mind if I join you?” She asked, absentmindedly tucking a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear.
“Yeah.” Nico smiled. “Sure.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Karolina spoke again. “I’m sorry about Alex. I know you and him were close.”
Nico’s smile faltered. “Yeah. We’d known each other since we were kids.” Since before Amy had died. Since before Nico’s life fell apart. Since before she knew that she was attracted to girls and boys both, and Alex had been the one to hold her as she cried about it.
“Is that a parachute?” Karolina asked suddenly. Nico followed her eyes to see that yes, actually, there was a little silver parachute falling at the base of the hill.
“I’ll get it.” Nico offered, but Karolina was already on her feet.
As Nico watched, Karolina vanished into the forest below. She could see the parachute hanging down where it had snagged on a tree. Then it was gone, pulled to the ground by a hand that must have been Karolina’s.
She waited. Karolina should have been back by now. The parachute hadn’t fallen that far away. Nico stood up to go check on her. At that moment, there was a scream.
“Nico!” Karolina screamed. She sounded more afraid in pain, which was something at least. Nico took off down the hill in search of her voice. The call came again. “Nico!”
Nico stumbled. She skidded down the hill, scraping her hands and knees on the rocks and stones. As she came to a stop at the base of the hill, she looked up into Karolina’s frightened eyes.
“Barton.” Karolina gasped out in way of an explanation, helping Nico to her feet. “He’s here.”
Nico’s blood ran cold. She pushed Karolina behind her, ignoring the sting in her hands. Sure enough, Barton came out of the undergrowth only seconds later. There were scratches on his face and skin and a wild look in his eyes.
“You don’t have to do this.” Nico tried, keeping a wary eye on Barton.
“You killed her.” He snarled. “She’s dead because of you.”
“Get back to camp.” Nico murmured to Karolina. If they were lucky, Karolina could get Gert and Chase to help her; if not, at least Karolina would be safe. To Hawkeye, she said, “I haven’t killed anyone. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.” He spat. “Laura. She shouldn’t have been in these Games and they killed her.”
“That’s not my fault.” Nico said desperately, taking a step backwards to keep the distance between her and Barton. “It wasn’t me, it was Erik- the boy from Two- he killed her, not me.”
“It doesn’t matter. The Games killed her. The Capitol, they- they don’t care, about her, about us, about any of this.” He continued desperately. Nico’s eyes widened imperceptibly. They all knew that, of course, but to say it was suicide.
She continued backing up the hill as she spoke, praying to whoever was listening that she didn’t trip. Barton continued advancing, aiming his bow at her chest. His hands were shaking so much that it was a miracle he could hold the bow, much less aim it.
“You need to calm down, Barton.” She told him in a soothing voice. She was desperately going over plans and contingencies in her head. She had her staff, but she’d dropped it when she fell down the hill. Karolina had a sword in the camp, but that was no use if Nico was dead before she got back. Barton probably couldn’t shoot her, judging by how much he was trembling, but that was little consolation when he could just as easily overpower her physically or shove her off a cliff.
She stopped. Shove him off a cliff, her mind repeated. They were almost on top of the hill now, the sides were steep- it was risky, but if she could get close enough to push him… the side he’d come up was easy enough to scale, as well as the side that hid their camp, but the side opposite the camp was rugged and steep. She moved until she was standing just by the edge, and then she waited.
“If it’s a fight you want, Barton, you’ve come to the wrong place.” She told him, keeping her voice level. “We’re on the same side here. I can help you find Erik, if that’s what you’re after. I can help you get your revenge.”
“I don’t need your help.” He argued, but he lowered his bow slightly. He was listening. Just one more step.
“We’re on the same side.” She repeated soothingly. “I know you miss her, but it’s not my fault.”
His face drew into a snarl and he raised his bow. Nico shoved. His eyes widened as he stumbled backwards, tumbling down the side of the hill. His head smashed against a rock at the bottom and he was still. A cannon sounded.
“Nico, are you okay?” Karolina’s voice came from behind her, breathless and afraid. Nico turned around.
“Yeah.” She took a deep breath, sitting down before her legs could give out. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Is he dead?” Gert asked, looking hesitant to get too close.
“He must be.” Chase responded rom beside her. “We all heard the cannon.”
“He didn’t shoot you, did he?” Karolina demanded breathlessly. She dropped the sword that Nico hadn’t noticed she was holding.
Nico shook her head. “No.” She said. “No, he didn’t hurt me. What was in the parachute?”
“The parachute?” Karolina asked, looking down at the torn silver fabric in her hand as if she’d forgotten in was there. “I have no idea.”
She passed it to Nico, who tore open the package. Whether it was actually funny or just the exhaustion, the contents of the package were the final straw and Nico broke down into laughter.
“Heart-shaped candy.” She shook her head, still laughing, as she wiped a tear from her eye. “All that over a bit of heart-shaped candy.”
“We should probably go check on the snare.” Pepper suggested. She and Tony had spent most of the day hunting for a place to camp, but they hadn’t found one yet. Tony had received their first parachute- it had contained a small vial of gunpowder and a jar full of nails. She didn’t know what Tony was doing with it, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Alright.” He agreed easily, settling down the thing he was tinkering with and slipping it into his pocket. “Which way?”
Pepper led him through the woods. By the time they were getting close to the deer trail, Tony seemed to have recognized their surroundings, and he took the lead.
“Shh.” Pepper hissed suddenly, grabbing Tony’s arm to stop him from going any farther. “Listen.”
She was sure she’d heard a noise, but now the forest seemed silent. After a moment, just when she was ready to keep going and accept that it had been nothing, it came again. A muffled sob, coming from just ahead on the deer trail.
She ducked behind a thicket and Tony followed her. “Who is that?” He mouthed. She could only shrug in response, creeping along the forest floor as they drew closer to the source of the noise.
“Charles, my friend.” It was unmistakably Erik’s voice that spoke, although he didn’t sound like he had been crying.
“Erik.” Charles’s voice responded. He sounded strangled, like it was taking a tremendous amount of effort for him to speak.
“Oh, what happened to you?” Erik murmured. Pepper peered around the bushes to see what was going on. Erik was kneeling over Charles’s mangled body, while Romanoff stood stoically behind him. And Charles…
She clamped a hang over her mouth, choking back a noise. Charles’s legs were a bloody mess, bent in ways that legs weren’t supposed to. Wrapped around them was the string from her trap. She felt like she was going to vomit.
“We’ll get you out of here.” Erik promised Charles. “You’re going to be fine.”
“He’s dead weight.” Romanoff pointed out. And, despite everything Pepper thought of her, Pepper couldn’t help but agree. Even if Charles did, somehow, make it out of the games, he would likely never walk again. There were some miracles that even the Capitol couldn’t perform. And it was all her fault.
“We can’t just kill him.” Erik argued with her in defense of his friend. “He’s a part of our alliance, he’s…”
“Not worth anything to us.” Romanoff finished his sentence. “We should kill him.”
“He’s our friend.”
Her tone softened ever so slightly. “He’ll never survive in this state. It would be a mercy to kill him.”
There was a moment of silence. “I’ll do it.” Erik said after a few seconds. “Can you…”
She nodded and walked away. Erik drew his knife and held it to Charles’s throat, but hesitated. He lowered the knife. “I can’t do it.” He whispered. His words were only meant for Charles, but Pepper heard them anyway, a white-faced ghost in the bushes. “Forgive me, my friend.”
When he was gone, Pepper took a trembling step out of the bushes. She didn’t want to look at Charles, didn’t want to know how much damage her trap had done, but she had to. She owed him that much, at least.
“Pepper, what…” Tony trailed off as he saw Charles’s limp body. “Oh.”
“A nail.” Pepper managed to say, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.
“What?”
“A nail.” She repeated. “Now.”
Tony wordlessly passed her one of the nails from his pocket. Pepper took it and bent down next to Charles.
“I’m sorry.” She told him quietly. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I am so, so sorry.”
Charles turned his gaze on her, but his eyes were glazed over with the pain. She doubted he could even hear what she was saying. Pepper took a deep breath and, in one smooth motion, slit his throat.
His warm blood bubbled up over her hands and Pepper choked back her vomit. After a few seconds, Charles went completely limp. The cannon sounded.
She looked up at Tony with blood-soaked hands and tear-soaked cheeks. She took a deep breath and stood up. “Let’s go.” She told him, willing herself to be strong.
Jean had no idea how things had gone so badly so quickly. First she’d betrayed her alliance to run off with Scott- and wasn’t that bad planning on her part- and then he had died, leaving her with no friends and no allies.
She supposed it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She had supplies, at least, and the knife she had retrieved from Scott’s dead body. Nobody knew where she was and nobody was out to get her specifically. But still, she doubted there would ever be a night that went by without her seeing Scott’s face, blood still leaking from his eyes where Drax had hit him.
She had to rejoin the alliance. It was a risky move, at this point, but it was the only one she had. Erik didn’t like her and there was no way Natasha would trust her, but Charles would probably convince them to take her back. He was her district partner, after all, and he had been nothing but kind to her. So all she had to do was find her old alliance (somewhere near the Cornucopia, her mind told her) and convince them she was trustworthy.
It didn’t take her long to find them. They weren’t exactly hiding, after all. They had three tents set up and what seemed to be a dead chipmunk roasting over a spit. Erik looked up when he heard her footsteps.
“Jean.” His voice was wary. “Come to rub it in, I suppose?”
“I- what?” She blinked. That had not been a part of the script. “No, I came to rejoin the alliance."
Natasha scoffed, giving Jean a disbelieving look.
“I know I betrayed you,” she plowed on, hoping to at least say her piece before they decided to kick her out, “but I can be useful. I have supplies.”
Erik scoffed. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill you where you stand.”
Jean hesitated. “Where’s Charles?” He would be on her side, she could count on that much at least.
Erik’s eyes darkened. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” But the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. Jean recalled the cannons she’d heard earlier in the day. Had one of them been Charles?
Jean saw the attack coming before he even moved. She dodged, drawing her knife and holding it tightly. “Who killed him?” She wanted- no, she needed- to know.
“Does it matter?” He scoffed. “You left us, and he died. Now are you going to fight me, or are you going to run?”
Jean ran. She ran through the forest, dodging trees and leaping over brambles until she could no longer hear Erik’s footsteps behind hers. He was strong, but she was fast. She collapsed beneath a tall pine tree, gasping for breath.
“Carol?” A small voice asked. Jean tried to scramble to her feet, but slipped on the pine needles beneath her and fell down again. The voice squeaked.
As Jean caught her breath, she began to look around for the source of the voice. There was nobody there, but… her eyes caught on a glint of black in between two rocks. She shifted so that she could see between them, and found that it was not a cave exactly, but still a somewhat sheltered space where the rocks were leaning on one another. And in that space, shivering and looking up at Jean with wide black eyes, was a frightened child.
“Please don’t kill me.” Mantis squeaked.
Jean sighed. “I’m not going to kill you.” She promised.
Mantis relaxed, but only slightly. “If you kill me,” she said, “Carol will be mad at you. And you don’t want Carol to be mad at you.”
Jean couldn’t help but laugh. “No.” She agreed. “No, I definitely don’t.”
She hadn’t known Carol had allied herself with Mantis, although it made sense. She didn’t know Carol well, but from what Jean could tell, she was honorable. There was no way she would leave an innocent thirteen year old alone in the Games.
“Where is Carol?” Jean asked her. Because Carol was strong, and smart, and honorable, which meant that she was very much someone Jean would like to have on her side.
“One of the others found us- Chase, the boy from Four.” Mantis explained. “She tried to lead him away.”
Jean cursed under her breath. “How long ago was that?” She asked, hoping it hadn’t been too long.
“Hours.” Mantis replied. “It must’ve been just after dawn.”
Jean cursed again. It was twilight now. Carol had been missing for a full day.
“Well,” She took a deep breath, “I guess it’s about time we found her.” She stood up and offered Mantis her hand.
Mantis took it with a shy smile. “Allies?” She asked.
Jean nodded. “Allies.” She said.