Lunch is a noisy, friendly affair, everyone grouping together for the meal. Last year, the contenders all sat separate, but nobody feels like doing that this year, apparently. The tables are moved so they are all together.

Veers and I meet up, exchanging quick notes on the champions we've interacted with. "I think Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne are definite possibilities for allies," I tell her in a low voice. "Especially as we will need tech people, considering there are so many of them here."

"A former Avenger," Veers replies in a thoughtful voice. "Wonder what Thanos would think of that?"

Oh, right. I had already shown my sympathies toward the defeated Avengers through my volunteering for Heimdall last Contest. If I ally with another one, it might show a pattern Thanos doesn't like.

Screw that, Thanos already doesn't like me. As long as I win, right? All of my allies will be lost or dropped off along the way. I have to win alone. I have to. "What did you find out?"

"Bruce Banner doesn't like you," Veers says. "Not quite sure why, but he doesn't."

Bruce Banner, District Two. I'd killed Natasha Romanoff, the contender from his district, last year. He'd probably mentored her. "How does he feel about you?"

"He likes me at least slightly better than you," Veers says. "But I'm not sure he thinks that much of me."

Well, I'm not sure how that fits into my current theory. Veers had been responsible for the death of the other District Two contender, Clint Barton. So did Bruce know the Black Widow outside of Contest affairs? Interesting, interesting.

"Eddie seems like a decent guy," Veers continues. "Mutters to himself a lot and is more often than not drenched in sweat. But I don't like the idea of teaming up with a symbiote. Not after Carnage."

"Would you rather fight him?" I ask quietly. "We can discuss him more later, though. Let's get back to our scouting."

Veers gives me a tight smile before we head to the tables with our lunches, making sure to sit together. The conversation is easy, most everyone joining in at some point. And it shows me clearly just how much Veers and I are outsiders in this group. The only advantages we have are that several of them seem to feel they owe me for my courtesies to their dead contenders.

Afterwards, we divide to conquer once more. I do some survival skills training with Strange and Mordo, but while Mordo is grim but decent enough, Strange is arrogant. The training devolves into a sorcery contest – Strange wins, but only because I decide killing him would be detrimental right now. I make the decision to kill him in the arena instead.

I end up training with T'Challa and Shuri for a while, doing more survival stuff, but I can tell that an alliance with them would never work. I killed one of their contenders, and the other was killed by someone who was saving me. T'Challa is very reserved and incredibly focused, and Shuri makes wisecracks while we work. I dislike both of them, and the feeling is mutual. After doing some hand-to-hand combat with Ava Starr, I run into Tony Stark at the shooting range, where he's with Peggy Carter. She's teaching him how to shoot a handgun.

"Ah, Rock of Ages," Tony greets me, noticing me standing there. "How nice of you to join us." He turns away from the target, handing me the pistol he'd been attempting to shoot. "Here. Have a go."

He saunters off, leaving me with Peggy Carter. I turn to look at her, still holding the pistol. "Um, hello," I say cautiously.

The old Avenger looks at me with a thin smile. "Loki Odinson," she returns. "Ever handle a gun before?"

"No, not really," I reply. "I mean, I understand the basic concept. Aim, pull the trigger, and there you have it. Am I correct?"

"In the bare theory," Peggy replied dryly. "But there's a little more to it than just that." She steps beside me and gestures to the gun. "May I?"

I nod and she slowly takes it from me, spending about ten minutes explaining how to load, aim, and fire it before handing it back to me. "Now give it a try."

Aiming the gun at the target, I take a moment to correct my grip before pulling the trigger. The weapon kicks slightly, then I see the hole in the target – not in the bullseye, but in the middle arc of rings. Peggy gives a nod. "Good, for your first try. But again."

I shoot again – decent, but not the best. Peggy makes me shoot again and again, offering critiques on how to improve. After I go through the first clip, the Avenger shows me how to reload the pistol, then fires it herself into the target, three times, without any warning. As I start back, I see a perfect cluster of holes dead center.

Bullseye.

As Peggy reloads the pistol with a slight smile, I tilt my head, looking at the target. Who better to satisfy Hela's ally requirement than one of her own allies? I already want one Avenger – what's the harm of two? Thanos already hates me.

After I finish up with Peggy, I head to the automated dueling section and program in a training session. Summoning two knives with my magic, I lash out at the first silhouette to appear, daggers cutting through it and causing it to dissipate. The second one attacks but I pivot and hurl a dagger right through the center before ducking, the sword of the third silhouette sweeping over my head.

Conjuring up an illusion of myself, I send it rushing at one of the silhouettes and it falls for the trick, locking on to my illusion. It swipes at the image, which shimmers green and disappears as I stab it from behind. I continue through the course, using my illusions, magic, and daggers to kill every attacker.

When the simulation shuts off, every single champion is standing on the sidelines, watching me.

Veers and I go back to our floor afterwards, where we meet up with Hela and Valkyrie in the dining area. Neither of us feels like staring at the immobilized Nebula. "How did you do today?" Hela asks, sweeping into the space. "No, don't answer that. I had requests from a lot of mentors today, wanting you to ally with their champions, Loki. I know I told you to find allies, but damn." She lifts an eyebrow.

"What did you do?" Valkyrie inquires, her eyes narrowing.

"Fought," I answer briefly.

"He used illusions," Veers elaborates. "Really showed them what he's capable of." She gives me a smile, reaching over and lightly touching my hand.

I squeeze hers in return, to keep up the show, and then glance back at Hela. "If I'm going to have allies, then I want Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, and Peggy Carter."

Valkyrie's gaze seems to soften. "Because of Cassie and Peter?"

Sharply, I glance at her, as Hela adds, "And Banner? Eddie Brock?"

"No to Banner." I look at Veers.

"No to Brock," she finishes.

Hela waves that aside. "We can finalize this later. Just continue as you've been doing."

She walks away, and Veers and I exchange a look. Valkyrie lingers for a moment, just looking at us. "Hela's been thinking about a token for you, Veers. Something to match his." She nods at me. "Further than that, Jane wants us all to show unity."

"Unity is what got us into this mess," I say darkly.

Valkyrie shoots me a look as Veers' shoulders stiffen. "Shut up, Loki. Hela, Jane, and I are still working over final designs, but I wanted to run a few options by you. Your prep teams threw in a few suggestions, also." Taking a small bag, she empties the contents onto the table and spreads out the objects. Veers and I both look at the potential tokens.

One is a baseball cap, marked with the stenciled outline of a bird. I frown – I've seen that logo before. Picking it up, Veers lifts an eyebrow at Valkyrie. "Really? This?"

"That was Flash's contribution," Valkyrie admits. "I agree, not the most practical."

The second option is a plastic purple watch, with a cartoon character and an LED readout. It looks like something for a little kid, and this time both me and Veers give Valkyrie a look. "I don't see how this says unity," I remark.

Veers shakes her head. "Neither do I."

Valkyrie frowns down at the assorted objects. "Wait, these aren't the token ideas at all. Hela must have given me the wrong bag." She sighs, scooping the watch, hat, and several other items up and putting them back in the back. "Damn hag. Must be her idea of a joke."

I furrow my brow. I may not have the best relationship with my sister, but Hela's idea of a joke was not something as harmless as swapping out bags.

As Valkyrie walks away, Veers and I exchange a glance. "I'm guessing we're not seeing the tokens tonight," she comments.

"Suppose not," I reply, standing. "We should probably get some rest before tomorrow. We have another hard day of training and ally making ahead of us." I offer her my hand.

With a slight smile, Veers takes it and rises. "I know Hela wants us to make alliances, but at the end of the day, I'd be fine to just work with you."

"Really?"

"You're the only one I can trust. Because you're the only one who will be anywhere near honest with me."

And as Veers and I head off to our rooms, I ponder on both how true her last statement is, and how sad that I'm the only trustworthy person to her right now.

/**/

And finally, an update! I know it's been forever - between my senior year classes and work on my senior thesis, I've been very busy. But now that I've graduated and have a couple months before grad school, I should have more time to work on this story!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!