Well, it's not like I don't want to kill Carnage. I want him dead, very much so. So I agree with Cassie's idea, and so does Pietro.

We spend a long time going over our plan. While going over the details, we eat. Pietro and Cassie have some food but not enough, so I chip in with some dried fruit from my pack. With water, it makes a pretty good meal and the three of us all feel refreshed and eager to kill Carnage.

After our meal, Pietro, Cassie, and I leave our safe basement and head out of the desolate skyscraper. The road is covered in rubble, an overhead pass ahead of us having partially collapsed and blocked the way, and fine dust mingled with the glass shards from nearby windows coat the cracked pavement. It's a desolate wasteland out here, and I love it.

There's something thrilling about seeing the city in ruins. A cold thrill, one that almost frightens me as I stand there with Cassie and Pietro, seeing the destruction all around. I shake it off as Cassie takes a deep breath.

"Okay, so we know Carnage hates fire," she says. "And we have the fire bombs." She holds up a glass jar in her hand, filled with gasoline. Pietro was able to find enough of various accelerants in order to provide fuel for seven fire bombs, as well as extra for the torches we've created out of the remains of the few trees in the city. Each of us has several matches from Cassie's box. Hank Pym had sent a big box of matches to her early on in the Contest, which we all bet was for this exact moment: to kill Carnage.

"And the torches," Pietro reminds her, waving his stick in the air.

"And Loki's magic," Cassie adds, giving us a wry grin. She may only be fifteen, but she's already got a mischievous grin to beat mine. I know her stylist played up the little girl angle in the pre-Contest appearances, but Cassie is no ordinary girl, and she's certainly not little. Perhaps in size she's smaller than either I or Pietro, but she makes up for it in heart and sheer willpower. Her moniker of Stature was well chosen.

"Let's do this," I say. "Let's kill him and end this."

The three of us nod and turn. Quickly, we scatter the fire bombs across the space we've outlined to fight Carnage in, leaving three out for us to start the attack off with. Some of the leftover accelerant is stashed as well, along with the extra torches. We're prepared.

"Ready?" Pietro asks us.

"Yep," Cassie says. "Remember the plan."

"Of course we remember," I reply. "I'll always remember the plan." Indeed, we went over it so many times I believe I always will remember the plan, until the day I die.

Cassie and I retreat into our hiding places as Pietro zips off to find out where Carnage is and draw him out. The seconds tick by as we wait anxiously for his report, adrenaline surging through my veins. I almost can't sit still but I do, through sheer force of will. This plan has to work. It has to.

Pietro returns, a smug grin on his face. "I ran some circles around him, made him angry. He'll be stopping by any time now," he says, then races off to antagonize the symbiote some more.

"Ready?" Cassie whispers to me.

"Of course," I respond. I had made the mental image of the illusion perfect; Carnage will most certainly be fooled by it.

"He's coming," Pietro says on his next pass by. "Loki, prepare the runner." And then he's gone.

I can hear Carnage's roars of frustration at the Quicksilver as he can't catch the speedster. Any second now. Any second now.

And then the symbiote bursts into view, the redness of his slimy covering instantly drawing the eye. I cast the mental image into magic and throw it up on the street like it is emerging from my hiding place.

Natasha Romanoff, her red curls vibrant, her black bodysuit complete with the glowing blue piping, takes off running away from Carnage. The symbiote instantly sees it and launches himself after her, Pietro forgotten as he targets the new victim, the slower victim.

"Now!" Cassie yells, and she and I dart out of our hiding places, dropping the matches into the fire bombs and hurling them towards Carnage as my illusion of Natasha fades. The bombs smash against his shoulder and side as Pietro throws one at his back, the gasoline and fire running over his skin and eagerly licking at the new fuel.

Carnage screams, a bloodcurdling shriek that makes me want to find cover but there's no time to waste. Cassie lifts her arm, bending her hand down to shoot a Pym Particles disk from her wrist gauntlet. A red disk hurtles from the gauntlet and strikes Carnage, the symbiote instantly shrinking to a miniscule size.

"Quick!" Cassie yells. "He won't stay small long!" Indeed, even as she speaks the words, I see Carnage's red, gelatinous mass shifting, reforming. Apparently, due to his symbiotic nature, he regains his normal size quickly.

Torches ablaze, we rush Carnage, shoving the lit ends of our fiery sticks towards the tiny serial killer. Carnage's screams are no less chilling in miniature form and up close it's even easier to see him growing larger, the symbiotic mass bulging. We are soon forced to take steps back, still searing his flesh with our torches.

Then all of a sudden he's back to his normal size. Flinging his arms out, the symbiote launches blades at us. Cassie dives to the floor, Pietro goes into super speed mode, and I deflect them with my spear, it snapping to full length in my hand.

"Again!" Cassie yells, and she throws another fire bomb. In the air she manages to shoot it with an enlarging Pym Particles disk, the blue of the disk flashing right before it strikes its target, so the small jar of accelerant and fire turns into a massive container of flames.

It hits Carnage, falling on him as the fire burns inside. It doesn't break. It needs to break, needs to pour the fire and gasoline all over the symbiote and kill him.

"Pietro!" I shout. "Break the glass! Hurry!"

Carnage is shoving the jar off of him when Pietro bolts into action. Before anyone can blink, a rock is hurtling at top speed towards the jar. I can't even see it, just the dancing shadows it leaves in its wake. It shatters the glass, spilling the fire and gasoline over the symbiote.

"Argh!" Carnage screams, flailing around in the flames as he seeks some escape to the pain. That's my cue. I lift my hands, focusing all my attention on the flames. Projecting more fire to surround the symbiote, I make it seem like he's trapped in hell, nothing but flames as far as the eye can see. I situate the illusions just far enough away from him that Carnage won't touch them in his howling rampage, for once he touches them, they will show their true colors and fade.

The fire's working, it's slowly killing him. Cassie stands holding a bucket of accelerant for Pietro to throw on the flames and he races forward to grab it from her. But after he takes the bucket and turns to throw it, a portal opens before him, he's going too fast to stop, and then suddenly, he's gone.

The electric blue edging the black portal closes just as quickly as it opened and Cassie and I stand astonished. Pietro's gone. There's no sign of him anywhere, and the blue and white shadows that always spring up in his wake fade to nothing where he had been.

The two of us run to grab our fire bombs, two each, and we throw one apiece at Carnage, sticking close together as if that can prevent a portal from taking one of us. The glass breaks on his arms and shoulders and he roars louder, but the real fire is dying down and it won't be long before my illusions are found out for what they are.

Our first set of torches has dwindled down and we hurl the leftovers into the blaze. Cassie grabs us some new ones, lighting hers right as Carnage screams and charges through the fire.

My illusions are torn to shreds as he lashes out with his blades, shooting them in all directions. Most of them land in buildings or hit the ground harmlessly. One almost takes my head off but I duck to avoid it at the last second, feeling it pass over my black hair.

When I look up, Cassie's bleeding.

She's flat on her back, a blade lodged in her chest. Her eyes stare up at the sky and she's gasping for breath, her inhalations mixed with sobs.

"No!" I yell, because this is too much. I've lost Hogun, Peter, and now Cassie in the space of three days and I can't stand it anymore. I snatch up my fire bomb, light it, and sprint towards Carnage.

There's a voice in the back of my mind telling me this is reckless, this is stupid, but I don't listen, I can't listen. I run until I have the perfect shot and then fling the fire bomb with all my might.

It crashes into Carnage's face and there's screams as glass and fire go everywhere. I dart back to Cassie's side, grabbing her lit torch, and hurl it at the symbiote like it's a spear. It hits where the fire bomb did, and I throw Cassie's last bomb just to make sure. While he's preoccupied with his burning face, I light the last torch, glance down at her but she's staring up at the sky drawing quick, short breaths, and then charge Carnage.

He's not paying any attention to me as I come up right in front of him. He could kill me right now if he could see me, but he can't. So I thrust the torch into his chest like it's a spear and then race back to Cassie as he screams louder, stumbling backward, his body struggling to absorb the weapon and failing.

Carnage seems to realize he should go before he gets hit with something else, and staggers off down the ruined street, screaming and clawing as the flames continue to burn. I sink to my knees beside Cassie as I watch him go, making sure he's not planning on coming back before I glance down at her.

"Loki," she gasps, her face pale. Her hand finds mine and squeezes tightly, so tightly it hurts but I don't say anything. "Carnage?"

"Ran away," I say, my voice breaking just the tiniest bit. "He's still on fire."

"Kill him," she tells me. "Or let someone else do it. Just don't let him win."

"I swear to you," I tell her, my voice fierce. "He will die for this."

"I want you or Pietro to win," she tells me. "One of you has to go home."

Me.

That's what I want to say, for that's what I've sworn to Peter and to Gamora. But from what I've seen, Pietro's not bad. If I can't win, I would rather it be him, or maybe Veers.

"Give my rabbit to my dad," she tells me. "He'd want to have it."

"I will."

"Tell him...." Her eyes drift away from mine for a moment before they're suddenly looking into my eyes, razor sharp. "Tell him he's the world's best grandma." Her voice cracks on the last word and I don't understand the joke as her mouth manages to twist into a slight grin, but it's important to her.

"I will."

"Thank Dr. Pym and Hope for me. Tell my mother I love her, and tell my stepdad thank you. Tell Pietro that, too."

"I promise."

Cassie looks like she wants to say more but can't, so I just sit beside her, holding her hand and stroking her hair. Her forehead is sweaty and her hair is damp as I smooth it out of her face. She whispers "Thank you" to me; I can barely hear her.

Unlike Peter, Cassie doesn't believe she has anything to apologize for before she dies. She owns her life and thanks those that helped her along instead. She just stares at the sky, her face resolute as she gasps for breath, and I say nothing. Then she gasps, louder than before, and mumbles, "I want my daddy."

Then she's gone. I hear the cannon as her grip relaxes, her body drifts into ash, and that's it, she's gone. I'm left kneeling beside a pile of dust, some flakes left in my palm from her fading.

I don't know how I make it back to the basement, but I do. The box of Cassie's matches is in my hand, for future use, and I drop them on the ground as I close the door behind me. Then I collapse onto the floor and fall over onto my back.

How can I do this? How can Thanos do this to us? I never realized how hard it would be to compete in the Contest of Champions. My siblings made it look so easy when it wasn't, it so clearly wasn't. How can I win when I know all these people I've grown to care about can be ripped so easily from me, like a snap of the fingers?

How come death is so...inevitable?

It's as I'm lying there, with no idea what to do now or how to go on, that I remember. Pietro may have vanished off to some other part of the arena and I don't even know if he'll want to be allies if I see him again, but there is one contender who thought highly enough of me to kill her own district partner and Starforce mentor. Someone who's still in this fight, as far as I know, someone I admire and respect, someone who may have to die before I go home but who I don't want to die.

When I say the name, it's loud in the quiet of the basement.

"Veers."