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Chapter Text

~

If his father could see him now he’d probably be asking him what he’d done to Stark industries. While yes things had once been going so smoothly it all had gone downhill in a downward spiral that Tony wished not to remember. It had been a turbulent train crash. The worst part was that it now left Tony with debt up to his eyeballs, a pregnant wife to look out for and an apartment to pay for. Juggling all these responsibilities was painful, especially with the lingering tension from the blowup that was Stark industries. But Pepper stuck around much to Tony’s shock but their relationship was tense to say the least now. I mean Pepper had been - and technically still was - CEO and she was also feeling the effects of Stark industries. The debt was massive but the business was still technically standing, so Stark and Potts had been slowly but surely chipping away at the debt through restarting and reforming Stark industries.

Dealing with the reforming of the company had been draining so he’d gone back to the drink. He’d been at his usual bar and had been watching the news on the bar's small TV. As usual gang activity in New York had increased as being reported by the news anchor, mainly brought on by the gang run by ‘The Mad Titan’ as his goons called him. But everyone knew the other aliases he’d gone by over the years, Thanos being his other more well-known name to the folks. Tony shuddered at the memory of the man and his goons, knowing he’d been in deep with the man due to paying him a ‘protection fee’ back at the peak of Stark industries performance in the day. Thinking back to those days, Tony had no idea why he was even paying that fee considering he had his own men that he was paying to protect the Tower and then Compound when the industry moved out of town.

~

“Shit, shit, shit no-” Tony cursed under his breath as he ran down the stairs and watched as the train he was supposed to be on disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. He stamped his foot on the ground out of frustration as he pushed his fingers through his hair. If he told Pepper he’d missed the train back, she’d surely ask where he’d been and he had a feeling that if he tried to lie she’d dump his ass quicker than he could tell the truth. He slumped down on a nearby bench, hands still running through his hair as he debated what to do. As he sat on the bench, a man in a business suit came walking in Tony’s general direction. Tony paid him no mind, assuming ‘hey, he was a busy guy. Maybe he was waiting for a train.’

But when the man stopped to sit down next to him, it gave Tony pause before he looked up at the man and properly took him in. He looked basic at a passing glance with a clean grey suit and a lithe body. As Tony took in the man's face - noting the man’s distinct features - the man had finally noticed and had turned his face to look at Tony who promptly moved away slightly. The man in response smiled. And it was that smile that sent an uneasy feeling down Tony’s spine. The smile seemed genuine but there was a coldness to it that Tony couldn’t get out of his mind.

“Sir, do you have a minute?” The guy spoke. Tony raised a brow in response. The man continued. “I’d like to offer you a great opportunity.”

Tony’s brow furrowed as the man continued once more as he sensed no resistance on Tony’s end. “Would you like to play a game with me?”

The sound of a briefcase opening caught Stark's attention - I mean he hadn’t even noticed it - and in it was… money. Money and… cards? Blue and red specifically. The man had noticed Tony looking so he explained. “Play Ddakji with me. Each time you win, I will give you 70 dollars.”

Ddakji?

Tony thought, and the confusion must've been obvious on his face. So the man explained.

“Ah, let me explain. Ddakji is a game we play over in Korea. Your goal is to flip this card.” He raised one of the Ddakji cards. “By hitting it with the other card. If you win, you get 70 dollars. Does that sound fair?”

The man’s smile was clearly trying to relax Tony to an extent, but Tony was still confused. “Wait, so if I flip your card- I mean your…. Ddakji over, you’ll give me 70 dollars?”

“Yes, that is correct.” The man replied. “However, each time I win, you must give me 70 dollars.”

There was a small pause before the man continued. “I’ll let you go first.”

And in a moment where Tony should've been figuring out when the next train got there or calling Pepper to let her know what had happened, Tony was instead chucking a blue card at a red card, hoping for it to flip to get that 70 bucks. It was a desperate attempt at getting some money - although Tony believed it may have been a scam. Perhaps because it was his first time playing but he ended up losing hard.

And all Tony could do was look like an idiot at the man. The man simply stared back expectantly.

“Do you not have any money?”

“Money…” Tony trailed off as though he’d forgotten the concept of money.

“Then you can pay with your body.” The man replied so easily that honestly it should've tipped Tony off immediately that something wasn’t right. “I’ll shave off 70 dollars per slap.”

“My body?” As Tony spoke, he found himself being shut up by a nice, hard…

Slap

Tony stumbled back in shock, his hands immediately coming to his face. He was so shocked that instead of just walking away he instead raised the blue card again and angrily sputtered. “One more round.”

And that’s where Tony found himself. Round after round. Slap after slap. The man winning over and over. But the rounds continued. Even as the people from the passing trains would drop them off, one cart at a time. The people walking off that train witnessed the desperation of one Tony Stark getting himself slapped over and over again like an idiot. And all for 70 bucks.

And finally, after what felt like hundreds of attempts, Tony finally got the stupid card to flip. He overreacted, admittedly. He cheered, he squealed like a pig, he yelled over to the man “I won! See that?” and all the while the man calmly stood there, slowly clapping with that smug smile on his face.

“Now get your ass over here.” Tony yelled in exasperation as he swung a hand at the man, attempting to slap him. But the man stopped Tony in his tracks. He grabbed his wrist with that stupid smile on his face as he calmly handed Tony the 70 dollars.

“Here’s your 70 dollars.” He put it into Tony’s open palm of the hand the man was still holding. “Congratulations.”

Tony’s face fell slightly, mumbling a small “Oh right.” as he counted the bills slowly.

As the two sat back again on the bench with Tony counting the dollars again, the man watched him with keen eyes before he spoke up again amidst Tony’s swimming thoughts, breaking him out of his trance.

“You know sir, you can make big money playing games like this for a few days.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, this must’ve been some sort of pyramid scheme, no? Tony wasn’t that dumb to fall for that shit. “And why should I call you?”

The business man smiled, before calmly explaining. “Mr. Stark, your company - Stark Industries - owes millions of dollars to the government including back taxes. Need I go on, Anthony Edward Stark?”

That immediately freaked Tony out. “You know my name? You did a background check on me? What the hell?”

But the man did not reply nor did he hesitate as he continued on as though he hadn’t just said all of that.

“If you are interested,” The man spoke as he stood up, briefcase in tow as he offered Tony what looked like a business card. “Spots fill up fast. Give me a call.”

And with that, the man walked away and onto a train. He stood by the doorway of the train and watched Tony as the train's doors shut and began to speed away. The man never stopped looking. When the train left, Tony assessed the card he’d been given. Three shapes on one side and then a number on the other. It… confused him admittedly and scared him. What else did that freaky guy know about him?

~

When Tony finally got back to his apartment, he was met with a worried Pepper Potts. When he shut the door, Pepper immediately stood up and it was clear she wanted an answer so Tony attempted to defuse the situation, despite his nerves still being fried from his encounter.

“I’m sorry, the train left la-”

Slap

“Where have you been Tony? I almost called the police out of fear you’d been kidnapped by a loan shark or god forbid one of that Titan’s goons!” Was followed by the slap from Pepper. To be fair, she looked positively devastated and to be fair, Tony had really affected her today.

“I’m sorry Pepper I- I’m being honest when I said the train left early or well rather I didn’t make it there in time. I had to wait for a later train, honest Pepper.”

There was a brief pause between the two of them, but a million words spiraled between the two of them. The two of them held onto each other as the emotion died down. They eventually chose to sit down on the couch and discuss what Tony had done that day, how deeper of a pit had Tony gotten them in or if they’d managed to surface up slightly somehow amidst the debt. The conversation continued over light, cheap but healthy microwave meals before the two eventually went to bed.

But after Pepper drifted off, Tony had gotten out of bed and walked over to the balcony to think about that business card. The man had said he’d get more money if he played games… And while Tony was convinced it was definitely some sort of scam, his interest had been peaked and so eventually, he called the number to the sound of the gunshots in the neighbourhood.

~

It had been awhile since Loki had been a part of the Mad Titan’s gang. He’d escaped to the countryside while his sister Sylvie had taken over his old apartment just in case the ‘man’ came knocking. While she could get under his skin, Loki had to admit she was great to have in his corner even if sometimes her loyalty reminded him of Thor but even Thor wasn’t crazy to come hunting him down after they’d cut contact. For now in this quaint postcardesque village, Loki had managed to land himself a job at a small cafe run by an older gentleman. The two got along quite well, even if it unnerved Loki to have to see the man pay out those same protection fees he’d seen get mailed around in New York but this time it wasn’t his gang so that put him at a slight ease.

The owner of the cafe was a short but stumpy man by the name of Mobius M Mobius. As mentioned he was an older gentleman and it seemed as though - judging by his hair - he’d been a part of the community since its creation. Despite his cold demeanour, Loki would confess that clearly he’d grown soft around the man. Even seen him as someone he could… Settle down with?

No, that was a stupid thought, Loki shook the thought away as he walked to the bus stop in the night, checking the time every so often. He'd played a game with a man outside the cafe when Mobius was counting stock called Ddakji. He’d naturally gotten a hang of the game rather quickly and had won more times than he’d been slapped. As he made it to the bus stop, he stood by and awaited for… something. He wasn’t sure what he was actually waiting for to be honest. But that something arrived in the form of a van. The door opened and Loki assumed it was for him. He could see others in the car but they seemed to be asleep. He fiddled with his sleeves as he cleared his throat.

“A-are you the guy? The one I called?” he stuttered, feeling unnerved by the pink jumpsuit and the mask. He flicked his eyes over the mask and he could definitely see some sort of shape similar to one of the shapes on the card. He licked his lips as he hesitantly got into the van. He recognised that if he needed help or had gotten kidnapped then he had people who’d look for him like Mobius or Sylvie or… Well that was it, Perhaps if his mother- Frigga was still alive maybe she’d have… Maybe she’d have worried for him.

But no, even before she died the two had very clearly buried the hatchet and cut ties long ago.

As he sat back in the van, the door closed and eventually a gas began to fill the space. He didn’t even really have a chance to respond before eventually he passed out from the inhalation.

~

Loki eventually awoke to the sound of some bizarre music playing over a loudspeaker with bright lights overhead. As he sat up, he noticed two things. One, he’d been sleeping in one of the many bunk beds that were in this massive room. And two, was the clothes. A bizarre turquoise jumpsuit with the number ‘056’ on it. He blinked in rapid confusion as he looked around and noticed all the other people waking up in similar positions to Loki. They must've all been brought here the same way as him, he thought as he managed to crawl out of the bed and down into the growing group of people down below. As he walked down, he noticed a few key characters as he made his way down. A brunette man with a white streak in his hair sat on one of the mattresses, looking around at the group of people but making no attempt to climb down. Loki also noticed a fair few other faces, like a bulky man with light brown almost ginger hair with scars on his face, some woman with red hair and then as he joined the crowd and made his way to the front he saw the face of the man he wished to never see him again. Or well to be more specific - as there were many people Loki wished not to see again - the face of a man belonging to a bald man with muscles upon muscles…

The Mad Titan.

Chapter Text

~

Oh no

Oh Norns

Why him?

Were the words that ran through Loki's head as his eyes fell to the man standing amidst the crowd in the same jumpsuit as everyone else, though Loki could see the number ‘400’ on his back. By that number, there must have been hundreds of people here. He bit his tongue and decided he’d stay clear from the giant if he could help it. He attempted to back away but after bumping into a few too many people, he opted to instead just awkwardly shuffle to the side and hide within the crowd of people. However as he awkwardly bumped shoulders with people, he ended up bumping into a pair of familiar broad shoulders. And the sound of the man, replying to that action with “Loki?” already cemented who exactly it was. 

Loki attempted to just walk away, but a firm hand kept him in place as the blonde oaf finally came into his view. 

“Loki?” Thor repeated. “What in Odin’s name are you doing here?”

Loki grew cross at Thor’s tone. He glared at the number on Thor’s chest. ‘343’. If the numbers meant the order of which they’d signed up then Thor had signed way after him… Great.

“Thor, now is not a great time to really discuss these things-”

“I thought you were dead, dear brother.”

That threw a spanner in Loki's response but he’d always been a quick thinker and a master manipulator since he was a kid so… 

“That’s not the first time I’ve done that.”

“That does not matter, brother-”

The sound of some sort of alarm broke the tense atmosphere, causing not just Loki and Thor to look up and to shut up.

~

All the players paused in their conversations at the sound as the elevator doors opened up and in walked in the pink guards with their ‘O’ masks strapped firmly to their face, being led by a similar guard with a ‘□’ mask. The guards walked in in an orderly fashion, the guard with the square mask coming out last but still standing in unison with the rest of the guards before he eventually stepped forwards. 

“I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all.”

The players remained quiet. The guard continued.

“Everyone here will participate in six different games over six days. Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize.”

A quiet hush fell over the crowd until a feminine voice broke through the conversation.

“And why should we believe that?” A woman with short red hair spoke up near the left side of the room. She stood next to another player with blonde hair who continued her friend's reply. “My sister’s right. You took our stuff and knocked us out with that gas, you brought us to this warehouse and now you're claiming you’re going to pay us if we play some games? I see no reason to believe you.”

“We reluctantly took all of those measures to maintain confidentiality as we brought you here.” The guard was quick to reply. “We’ll return everything once the games are over.”

A hand shot up before the girl - who had a Sokovian accent - meekly spoke. “Why do you wear masks? If it’s something as simple as playing games, you wouldn’t need them, no?” A man next to her with silver hair nodded, agreeing with her clearly.

“We do not disclose the faces and personal information of our staff to any of the participants. It’s a measure we take to ensure fair games and confidentiality. It’s a measure we take to ensure fair games and confidentiality. Please understand.” The guard concluded.

“Why should we trust you?” 

Both Loki and Thor looked over to the direction of the voice, both men recognising it immediately. The two managed to spot their sister sitting without a care in the world on one of the higher bunks. 

“You drugged us and smuggled us here. And while I don't personally care, some of these people have families to get back to, so stop making excuses to not show your faces to us or give us a reason why we should believe anything you thumbs have to say.”

The guard didn’t flinch. Instead he responded with something completely different. “Player 065, Sylvie Laufeyson.” The lights went out. “Age, 24 years. Former gang member. A runaway with a bounty in the millions. Current loss, 6 million dollars.”

And the guard kept going, listing off the player’s numbers, names, ages, their occupations and their debt until - it seemed - that they’d successfully silenced their critics.

“Every person standing here in this room is living on the brink of financial ruin. You all have debts that you can’t pay off. When we first went to see each of you, not a single one of you trusted us. But as you all know, we played a game, and as we promised, gave you money when you won. And suddenly everyone here trusted us. You called and volunteered to participate in this game of your own free will. So this is it. I’ll give you one last chance to choose.” The guard paused before he continued. “Will you go back to living your old and depressing lives. Getting chased by your creditors? Or will you act and seize this last opportunity we’re offering here?”

The silence lingered in the air as the players looked between themselves. No one really wanted to speak up. Until…

“What game are we playing then?” A man with a beard spoke up.

“In order to play fair, we cannot disclose any information about the games ahead of time.” The guard acknowledged.

“One question.” Loki turned his head, only to realise it was his brother speaking, Thor's hand raised as though his booming voice didn’t get him enough attention as it was. “If we win, just how much do we get?”

At his question, the guard in the square mask raised his arm and pressed a button on a remote he held in his hand. The lights in the warehouse dimmed and a bright golden light came from above, causing the players to look up. Hanging from the ceiling and slowly descending down was a large translucent piggy bank that looked almost gold in the light, its descent orchestrated with music you’d only hear in places like an arcade or a casino. As the players stared, the guard continued to explain. 

“Your prize money will be accumulated in there after every game.”

The piggy bank stopped its descent. The music stopped as well. 

“We will disclose the amount to everyone after the first game is over. If you do not wish to participate, then please let us know at this time.”

~

The players waited in line in a row of two, each player being given a contract to sign. Tony had seen plenty of contracts in his past and he knew how shady those contracts could be so he was paying close attention to the words.

Player consent form

Clause 1: A player is not allowed to stop playing

Clause 2: A player who refuses to play will be eliminated

Clause 3: Games may be terminated if the majority agrees

Huh, that’s it?

Tony thought to himself as he reread the form. He looked up at the guard infront of him. 

“Is that it?”

He was greeted with silence. 

He looked around. 

He could see other people signing without even batting an eye. He wondered if anyone else thought this was as weird as him. But he chose to go against his better judgement and signed the contract with his signature.

I thought my signing shady contract days were over. 

 ~

Once they were done signing the contracts, the players were directed to the game hall to a weird jingle that was being played over the speakers. The sound of a woman telling players to follow staff guidance and to make their way to the game hall. As they walked, Loki found himself annoyed. Mainly because he had an annoying bug in his ear. This annoying bug being his brother. 

“Loki, we need to talk about this.” Thor tried yet again to get his baby brother to speak to him. He could see Loki's annoyance but Thor needed to know. “Why are you here, brother? In fact, where have you been?”

Thor was met with silence. Loki felt as though Thor did not deserve his answers. 

It’s funny, he thought. Odin’s favourite child still somehow ended up here just like him. Just like Sylvie. The thought amused Loki greatly which annoyed Thor greatly. 

Eventually the players made it to the game hall where the speakers directed the players one at a time to face the camera and smile. 

As Loki got to the camera and turned to face it, he shot Thor a look, warning him not to say anything else to him, before Loki looked back over to the camera. He gave a smirk in response to the camera's instructions. 

~

When Loki wasn’t listening to his brothers incessant need to discuss their situation, Loki had been observing the playing field, watching his fellow players make it up the stairs. He’d noticed the brunette from before and had finally managed to get his number. ‘024’. Seeing the number made Loki think back to how the numbers were organised. If he was right and that it was by call in time, then… 

This guy must be desperate for the money.

But at the thought, it made him shake his head at his own thoughts. Who was he to judge? He was here as well after all. Playing these games the same as the rest of them, wondering what these ‘games’ would even be. Maybe it’d be jump the rope, or that Ddakji game he and that business man had played behind the cafe that night. 

~

Eventually the players made it to their destination. The doors leading to a big landscape… Or much rather the illusion of one. The walls were constructed high, with fake trees and a fake sky and fake grass being painted onto the walls. The floor underneath them a mix of dirt and sand. It reminded Aidan of the astroturf fields he’d played on as a kid in school, the sound of someone hitting the floor and scraping their body against the sand, only to stand up with all those pieces of it still clinging to them. It wasn’t a fond memory as Aidan was usually the one who’d eat shit on the turf, but it was definitely a memory. I mean he’d been bullied for his ‘feminine features’ his whole life, so being shit at sports was just another reason to be bullied. He clenched his hands into fists at the memories but he was taken out of his thoughts by a man's hand on his arm. It made Aidan flinch and he was all but ready to shoot a dirty look the man's way, but then his face softened when he recognised his own damn husband. 

“Aidan? The hell are you doing here? You should be back home.” The sound of Ben’s animated voice rung out clear to him amidst the murmurs from the other players. The man always wore his heart on his sleeve and it was an admirable trait. To the both of them, Ben was and always would be the heart. Aidan was just the brains and brawn (not that he had much to begin with). 

“I should ask you the same.” Aidan replied without hesitation, the emotion that Ben had had in his voice was totally lost on Aidan who had always spoken matter of factly. But Aidan wasn’t focused on the conversation and rather the number on his other half’s chest. ‘027’. It was something Ben seemed to be doing to him as well. 

“You were visited by the business man too?”

At Ben’s question, Aidan only nodded. He understood exactly why they were both here. His eyes lingered on the healing bruise on his lover's eye and it made his heart lurch in his chest, though he didn’t show it. 

Ben clearly wanted to say more, perhaps to try and figure out what was going on. Aidan's nose scrunched up in annoyance as Ben kept looking down at his side. That feeling of vulnerability hit him hard and heavy, and it was something he was firmly keeping to himself. Ben was going to say something, but Aidan cut him off.

“Ben. Let’s talk after the game. Please. We can discuss this stuff later, I promise just… Come on.” As a way to seal that promise, Aidan offered Ben his hand to hold. 

“Fine. But you’re making dinner tonight.” Ben sighed reluctantly as he took Aidan's hand.

~

“Attention all players. After you enter the game hall, please stand behind the white line drawn on the field and await further instructions.”

The speaker blared. The players continued to pour onto the field. 

“Once again, will all players please stand behind the white line and await further instructions.

Once they were all on the field, the green doors closed. 

Two players, a man with light brown hair with the number ‘004- on his jumpsuit and a girl with the same light brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail with the number ‘222’ on her jumpsuit stood towards the front of the group. They were discussing amongst themselves in Welsh before Player 222 pointed to the end of the field. “Hell is that thing anyways?”

The thing at the end of the field she was pointing to was a tree with no leaves. But what was more interesting was the big doll thing in front of it with one of those pink guards standing opposite the thing. On the wall at the end was a grey screen. 

“Look’s like your sister, Sade.” Player 004 teased, leading to the two players giggling in amusement at the comment. 

“Here is the first game.” The speakers came alive again. “You will be playing Red Light, Green Light.” As the speaker announced the name of the game, the doll spun around and placed its hand on the tree. The speaker continued. “You are allowed to move forward when ‘it’ shouts out, ‘Green light’, stop when ‘it’ shouts, ‘Red light.’ If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

The players looked between themselves. A bulky man with blonde hair that was near Tony muttered. “Red light, green light?” He turned his head to Tony. “The kids game?”

As the speaker repeated the rules, Tony turned to the man - Player 456. “I think that’s what she said.” 

Red light, green light

Tony thought. I mean they did say they’d be playing games. 

“Those players who cross the finish line without being eliminated within the five-minute playtime will pass this round.” The speaker continued. “With that, let the game begin.”

The grey screen lit up with red numbers. A five-minute countdown. 

And then…

“Green Light.”

The thing by the tree at the end of the field spoke. The two players at front immediately ran for it while the other players jogged behind them. 

“Red Light.”

The players paused, the doll turned around. 

However, player 004 hadn’t stopped moving in time, stumbling on his feet as he tried to still his movements. 

“Player 004. Eliminated.”

Bang

The sound of a shot being fired rang out across the field and Player 004’s body jumped, stumbling before eventually falling to the ground. 

Everyone remained quiet. 

“That was a gunshot.” The player by Tony, commented lowly, just enough for Tony to hear. Tony did not respond but he certainly heard the man. 

The doll eventually turned its head around again. “Green light.”

Everyone shuffled forward, Player 222 - or Sadie as 004 had called her - then meanwhile made her way to 004. Before she could do anything, the doll turned and called out again. “Red light.”

Sadie was close enough to 004 that she managed to whisper to him. “Dude, you got eliminated. Get up, Kioshi.” Instead Sadie was treated to the sound of gurgling as Kioshi’s body began to spit blood. The sight made Sadie pause as the horrible realisation came over her. Kioshi wasn’t playing. 

As the doll looked around, their eyes caught onto Sadie's attempts to try and inch herself back into the crowd. She eventually tried to run. 

Bang

Sadie’s body fell to the ground, her blood landing on Player 418. The poor guy reaching up to his face, wiping the blood and having the normal reaction to scream upon seeing it. His screams caused a chain reaction within the group, causing people to run. 

And the bloodbath begun from there.

Gunshots rung out, players fell and eventually almost as soon as the chaos had started, it was already over.

“I will now repeat the rules.” The speakers rang out, breaking the silence that had fallen over the field amidst the deaths. “You are allowed to move forward when ‘it’ shouts, ‘Green Light’ stop when ’it’ shouts, ‘Red Light.’ If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

The speaker repeated itself once again.

“With that, let the game resume.” the doll turned it’s head back towards the tree, shouting out “Green light.” once more.

But no one moved. People were too afraid to. And for good reason.

“Red light.”

Aidan and Ben kept close, their hands remaining locked together despite the chaos while Ben's other hand had found itself grabbing onto Aidan's jacket. The two had practically melded themselves together when the chaos had erupted. Aidan could feel Ben’s shivering and if it weren’t for the doll, its rules and the consequences Aidan would’ve definitely had his arms around Ben in a heartbeat. But Aidan wanted to keep them alive. 

“Green light.”

As the time counted down, Aidan's desire to save his husband grew more prominent so with a careful arm on Ben's back, their hands remaining locked together, Aidan slowly pulled Ben forwards. 

Seeing the couples display of movement made other players choose to follow suit. Their movements slow and cautious. 

“Red light.”

The movement once more paused. 

~

As the game continued on, Steve knew he had to move. During the chaos he’d been knocked down and he understood that if he didn’t get up, he probably wouldn’t make it. Once the doll shouted ‘green light’ Steve quickly got to his feet, managing to still his shaking body when ‘red light’ was called. He almost gave himself away when he flinched as a man in front of him was shot. 

While no words had been exchanged, Loki had found himself hiding behind his brother. For once the oath actually had a use other than being a blabber mouth. And while every second ticked down, Loki could’ve taken this one moment to actually say something nice about his brother.

“You’re a good wall brother.” 

He could’ve. Doesn’t mean he was obligated to.

~

As the final minute ticked down, more and more people managed to get to the end of the field, sprinting over the finish line like their life depended on it, which it did to be fair, while others were gunned down all the same as they had done back at the beginning. 

And as the final second counted down, Tony had only just managed to jump to the finish line before the doll had turned its ugly head again. His chest heaved as it hit the floor before he quickly pushed himself up again and looked over to the field again. 

The players still left on the field looked around at one another before the shots rang out once again, ending the lives of all that were left on the field, leaving the winning players in silence once more as the roof overhead began to close, leaving the players left to count themselves lucky that they weren’t in the group of 250 who’d been eliminated. 

Chapter Text

~

As the players returned to the warehouse, to say things were tense would be an understatement but reactions were to be expected I mean, people died. Hundreds of them. Of course reactions would be extraordinary. 

People were distraught, they were crying and no one was crying more than player 200. But who could blame her? She’d lost her brother during the game and had only just found out afterwards when she’d seen his body. It was an understandable reaction to the point that another player was hesitantly trying to comfort her through patting her back. But sadness wasn’t the only thing that was running through the warehouse. There was anger, confusion and of course disbelief. It was a stew of emotions and with how everything had happened, they were all completely valid reasons to be up in arms. But those emotions were - while definitely being felt - were being kept to themselves - aside from Player 200 - leaving the room quiet but filled with a tension that was soon going to burst. 

Both the lights and the sound of a horn going off alerted everyone to the guards who had stepped through the doors. Their movements were organised as always and with their appearances, they seemed uncanny to the human eye. The guard in the square mask stood in front of the rest as usual. The players slowly filtered down from the corners and beds they’d been sitting in. To say the players weren’t thrilled to see the guards was an understatement.

“You have all made it through the first game. Congratulations. You’re moving on. I will now announce the results of the first game.”

With that, the number on the screen above the doorway soon began to countdown with a jingle that sounded like a slot machine. The number counted down from 456 to 201. The players watched with conflicting emotions. To know the numbers on the screen were - or rather used to be - people who had once been breathing just like the rest of them. It was a tough pill to swallow and some could clearly handle it more than others. 

“Out of 456 players, 255 were eliminated, and 201 players successfully completed the first game.”

At that time, no one knew the exact amount of deaths. There were guesses but that was it. To see it so blatantly laid out sent an audible gasp to jump out from each player’s throats. 

Player 456 stood next to Tony, meaning Tony was able to clearly hear the man mumble. “That’s almost half… “

A man with dark brown hair and wearing glasses with the player number of ‘001’ looked over to the two before shaking his head and whispering back, “No. it’s over half.”

Player 200 had still been sobbing - just more quietly - when the guards had entered, but she got up from where she’d been sat, brushing off the player who’d been trying to comfort her. “Please, sir.” Her voice broke between fitful sobs, rubbing her eyes repeatedly with her damp sleeves. “I’m sorry for all of the debt… And I'll pay it in due time just please let me go home.” Her sobs echoed through the room as she fell to the floor. A new player had now taken the mantle of trying to comfort her. Like the aftermath of a storm with the players it’s water, the players slowly trickled forwards to grovel and beg for forgiveness to be able to leave the games, promising to pay their debts back whilst airing out their reasons on why they should be able to leave. 

But it wasn’t enough it seemed.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding. We are not trying to hurt you or collect your debts.” The grovelling didn’t stop so the guard continued. “Let me remind you that we’re here to give you a chance-”

“A chance?” Player 001 spoke up. The hints of an English accent were clear in his voice which was already clear enough. “You’re killing those who fail your games and you think that’s fair? That’s not chance, that’s suicide.”

“We may be in debt but even where I come from that does not permit us to pay with our lives.” A russian accent rung clear through the voice, coming from the blonde that had been stood next to the red head before the games. 

“This is just a game.”

Outrage and shock spread between the players at the guards lax attitude towards the murder that had just taken place. 

“The players were simply eliminated for breaking the rules of the game. If you just follow the rules, you can leave this place safely with the prize money we promised.”

“Oh just keep it! I just want to go home!” Player 200 cried. And with her cries, the grovelling from the other players returned. 

“Consent form clause 1. A player is not allowed to stop playing.” The guard spoke as he pulled out a revolver from his pocket and shot at the wall.

Bang 

The sound caused the players to duck down for cover, many crying out in fear as a few of them raised their hands over their ears. 

“Consent form clause 2. A player who refuses to play will be eliminated.” 

There was a stillness in the air from the tension. But then a player stood up fully, the accent unmistakably player 001s. 

“Consent form clause 3. If all of the players agree to stop playing, the games can be terminated. Is that correct?”

“You are correct.”

“So let’s take a vote.” 001 kept a strong face, fixing his big round glasses over his face. “If the majority wish to leave, then let us go home.” The air was still, crackling with tension like a thunderstorm waiting to happen.

“All right, as you wish. We will take a vote to decide on the termination of the game.” The sound of relief was clear as the players slowly started to get up. “Before we vote, let me announce the prize money for the game as previously promised.”

With a click of the remote, the piggy bank descended down from the rafters as before and with the sound of a casino jingle money soon started to filter into the  piggy, the sound of the money thumping against the plastic being drowned out by that jingle as all the players watched on in awe. 

“A total of 255 players were eliminated during the first game. A hundred million dollars is at stake per player. Therefore, 25.5 billion dollars of prize money has been accumulated so far. If you wish to give up on playing, the 25.5 billion dollars will be sent to the bereaved families of the late players, 100 million dollars each. However, you will all return home empty-handed.” 

Aidan and Ben looked between themselves, their minds quickly doing the math before Ben spoke up.

“If we were to play all 6 games… And there were 456 of us, that means we’d get…45.6 billion dollars… No?”

“Correct, Player 027. Since there were 456 players, the total prize money is 45.6 billion dollars. And with that, we will now begin the voting.”

~

Stood between the group of players were two simple buttons. An ‘O’ on one and an ‘X’ on the other. 

“As you can see, there are two buttons in front of you. If you wish to continue playing, press the green button with an O. If you wish to stop playing, then please press the red button with the X instead. After you finish voting, move to the other side of the white line and wait. Voting will be done in reverse order of the numbers on your chests. Player 456, please cast your vote.”

The players all looked around before the called upon player stepped forward. Tony watched him move forwards with a perplexed look. 

~

Steve got to the little box, his palms sweaty as he stared down at the two buttons which - at a glance - looked meaningless and plain but in this moment, it was a life or death, literally. Steve took in a breath in through his nose before exhaling it through his mouth before he eventually pressed his palm down on the red button, which both beeped and glowed a bright red upon the pressure of Steve's hand. A counter on the screen showcasing the amount of presses for each button went up by one on the ‘X’ side. Steve stepped away, exhaling as he awkwardly walked away to the side of the warehouse past the line that had been drawn on the floor. 

Steve watched from his spot, the sweat growing as more and more and more players cast their vote and joined him on the other side of the room. As the votes became 50/50 a man who had not yet voted called out to the woman who’d just voted ‘O’. “Are you nuts? We need to get out of here.” With the man next door to him tapping him on the hand. The woman - with tan skin, a black ponytail and a temper yelled back. 

“And what if we leave? What actually changes? It’s just as bad out there as it is in here, or have you forgotten that?”

A small murmur broke out as the woman joined the growing group of contestants who’d voted. Loki couldn’t help but roll his eyes, crossing his arms. He was going to say something but the voice confirmed it to him that it was indeed his sister Sylvie. “Did some of you leave your brains on that field? You lot don’t stand a chance of paying your debts out there. But in here… Well in here there is a chance. You’re all idiots if you don’t take that chance.” 

“We will not condone any act that impedes this democratic process.” The square guard called out, cutting off the growing back and forth though the tension remained. “Now let us resume and continue voting.”

And with that the votes continued on until eventually the votes were at a 100/100 split with the final player that remained. Player 001. 

The warehouse was silent, but the looks from the others were loud enough for Dylan. He got to the buttons, taking a moment to look over his options as though a third option would somehow magically appear. But that didn’t happen. He was still being presented with the same options as everyone else but the stress all but remained the same. 

His hand trembled as he shot out but for what purpose he didn’t know as he had found that he didn’t actually know how he was going to do this. His hands grew sweaty, before he shut his eyes, trying to block out the world and to imagine a better place than here. And with the memory in his mind he finally came to a decision as his hand moved to the right. 

Beep

Half of the players cheered as the count between O and X changed from a clean split to a 100/101 split. All while the other half were left disappointed. 

“The majority of the players have voted to terminate the game. Therefore, the game is now terminated.”

Several of the O voters quickly began to beg to continue playing without the people who’d voted X but the man behind the mask kept his steady tone.

“It truly is a pity that we must say goodbye to you like this. However, we will not completely seal the door of opportunity for all of you. If the majority of you wish to participate again, then we will resume the game. So, goodbye for now.”

~

In the dark night, along a quiet road hidden by trees, a van drove along, running over potholes as they went. The van drove at a leisurely pace before it slowed down to a stop. The door opened and three bodies were pushed out as well as three bags. All three groaned in pain and as the driver of the van drove away, Tony immediately panicked. 

“Hey! Where are you going? Don’t leave us out here!” He managed to roll onto his knees as he attempted to stand up but failed. He continued to call out but his attention was soon drawn to the sound of shuffling and hushed voices. While Tony had been yelling, Aidan and Ben had quietly helped one another out of their bindings and blindfolds whilst allowing Tony to look like an idiot. By the time Tony had finally heard them, Aidan and Ben had gotten their clothes back on and were debating whether or not to just leave Tony. 

“Oh Aidan, he probably won’t even be found-”

“So? We should focus on ourselves-”

“Yes, and we already have. Now pass me the knife - I don't even know why you have this-”

The mention of a knife immediately caught Tony’s attention who panicked once more. “No, no wait, what are you-”

He was cut off by someone taking his blindfold off and pulling his hair back. Tony recognised him immediately. He’d seen him in the game. Honestly he was sure everyone had. He assumed the man’s husband was just out of his sight. 

“You-” Tony began again but immediately went white when he saw the man pull out a blade. Through his panic, he almost didn’t notice a voice shout out this man’s name. 

“Aidan-”

“Listen.” The brunette said, his voice cold in contrast to his other half. “Stop talking. Or I’m not going to untie you. I’ll leave you to die in the street like a dog since you keep barking like one.” His voice was cold but direct, delivered with an easy air as though he were used to making threats of this magnitude. However whatever threatening aura had permeated from the man was gone as his other half came around and casually yoinked the knife from Aidan's hand. 

“Ben-”

Aidan sighed dejectedly as he watched his blonde beau walk around and cut Tony free, first by his wrists and then his ankles. Tony exhaled. 

“Was that really so hard, man?” Ben muttered as he shot a poignant look at Aidan who despite not really physically reacting much, clearly sunk out of embarrassment. Ben turned his attention back to Tony who was staring at him in a mix of fear and confusion. But mostly fear thanks to the knife which Ben carefully folded up and tucked into the pocket of his jacket. “Anyways, I’m sorry for my… Darling of a husband.” Aidan seemed to sink further in on himself. “He gets… Jumpy, shall we put it. And is naturally very distrustful.”

Tony looked bewildered before he bluntly remarked. “I don’t care his reasoning, he was threatening me with a knife!” 

“And I’m sorry about that.” Ben sighed, exasperated. “He’s sorry, alright?”

Tony didn’t believe that. 

That was until Aidan had grabbed a bag and chucked it at him with the bag opening up and revealing it had his belongings. So maybe this man was trustworthy. He still looked at him with distaste. Ben looked very uncomfortable as he tried to calm the situation. 

“Again, my condolences.” he sighed. “Perhaps we can pay you back with a meal?” Tony raised a brow.

~

“Wow, I mean, wow that’s quite something.” Tony spoke up between delighted bites as he dug into his meal. It turned out he’d somehow ended up in the South Bronx area with the two men. They had cooked him some shell pasta with some tin meatballs, paired with a few bits of herbs. 

Ben couldn’t help but smile in amusement and pride. He’d always been proud of his cooking. “Thank you, Mr. Stark. I usually only ever cook for myself and my husband and while I always appreciate his comments,” Ben replied as he reached his hand out to his stoic lover whose glares had softened into stern glances, but those stares again softened when he’d put his focus back onto either his food or especially his husband. He was currently looking at him like a lovesick fool. “I still appreciate it nonetheless from anyone else.”

Tony nodded, understanding where Ben was coming from. He decided to ask the biting question. “So what’s a happy couple like you two doing competing in games like the ones we were just in?” 

The room was silent for a moment before a soft laugh came out of Ben before he responded. “We’re middle class, or rather we used to be. We encountered a medical issue.” There was a small pause as the lovers exchanged glances before Ben looked back at Tony once Aidan nodded. “Aidan’s family… Cancer runs in their family and well it finally caught up to my dear.” Ben sighed. Tony couldn’t help but look at the brunette with sympathy who quietly stuck his nose into his food, as though hiding away from the conversation and Tony’s looks. 

No wonder you hide behind a stoic guard. 

Tony couldn’t help but think, the sad story somewhat making Tony turn a blind eye to the man’s actions earlier. He could see similarities in him that Tony would rather not join the dots on.

“It was renal cancer and we caught it early enough that it wasn’t fatal but he did lose an entire kidney. We had to wait a while for a donor and because of how weak he’d grown waiting, he couldn’t work - which luckily for now he’s kept his job and is expected to go back next week, thank god.” He sighed. “But only having one income coming in was tough so the debt has been building.”

Aidan looked small at that moment. And he felt it. Knowing the debt that hung over their heads like a blade on a guillotine ate away at him but he managed to mask it. “To be fair though, we didn’t imagine we’d end up in the games together. We got the cards separately at different times.”

“And I’m still furious at you for going there given your state.” Ben shot Aidan a poignant look but there was no anger, just concern. A light smile fell over his face as the comment made them both laugh.

Tony watched both men in amusement, to see a couple in poor straits yet still be happy with one another it reminded him of…

Oh shit

“Um, do you two have a USB-C charger I…” Before Tony could respond, Aidan had already gotten up and grabbed a wire attached to a plug from the kitchen and brought it over, with him finally saying something directly to Tony, even if it was to interrogate him further.

“Say, we’ve told you a lot about us, Tony. Why don’t you open up to us? I mean, why did you join the games?”

Tony paused mid chew, looking down at his plate. He could see Ben was going to scold Aidan but Tony stopped him before he could. 

“For my wife. She and I used to own a business. Stark Industries. We were making advancements in technology. But the costs got too much. Investors started dropping out and while the business technically hasn’t gone under we’re not at our peak anymore. We’re millions of dollars in debt and all we can really do is watch it sink. And with a child on the way we…” Tony trailed off. Ben and Aidan looked at each other, both with sympathetic faces on their faces. “We’re struggling. My wife despite everything still loves me somehow but she deserves so much better than me - she deserves the world! And I…” he raked a hand through his hair before he put his hands over his face in frustration, his voice muffled . “I can’t give it to her. I’m a terrible husband.”

He didn’t expect it, but he found himself getting hugged from behind by the blonde, his hand rubbing his arm as he told him. “I’m so sorry, Tony.”

“You’re not a terrible husband, Tony.” Aidan spoke up from the other side of the table. He hadn’t gotten up but he had leaned forward to put his hand on Tony’s. “You’ve just gotten a bad hand. But you’re still trying. You’re still fighting Tony. And sometimes that’s enough for some. Clearly your wife can see that and she understands it’s not your fault.” His thumb stroked the inside of Tony’s hand. The warmth of both men soothed Tony’s mind somewhat. “I mean, really man. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Fighting will be worth it, I promise you that. I mean that’s what me and Ben have and still are doing.”

The man laughed. “As kids, me and Ben were bullied quite a bit. Me for having feminine features, being shit at anything sports related and among other things while Ben was bullied for most of the same things other than the feminine traits. Primary was hell for us but then when secondary came around…” he trailed off as he noticed Tony’s confusion. “We’re both from Britain, Stark. Primary is like elementary and secondary is like High school.” Tony nodded at the explanation so Aidan continued. “We were kindred spirits and stuck together. At the end of primary I got sick of the bullying, especially since we’d both been getting bullied for being gay so over the summer I started jogging and working out. By the time summer ended, I had muscles and was capable of defending myself and Ben. Sure by the end of secondary I’d let that go but the nail still stuck.”

Aidan noticed he’d definitely been talking too long so he wrapped everything up as quickly as he could. “Moral is, me and Ben fought and have fought our whole lives. Keep fighting for Pepper. For your marriage and your bond.”

~

“Tony?”

The sound of Pepper’s voice immediately brought an ache to Tony’s heart as he walked through the door, especially as the woman he loved so dearly hugged him… Before she slapped him again.

“Where do you keep disappearing to? I’ve been worried sick thinking you’ve been at the bar again!” She cried, wiping a tear from her eyes as she rested her hands on Tony’s cheek.

“I haven’t, honest. I’ve just been working.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Tony confirmed as he wrapped his arms around his lover, rubbing his hands down her back as he took in the smell of her perfume. Peppermint. Ironic. “Enough about me, how are you? How’s the baby? You’re 3 months along now so how are you holding up?”

His hands moved down to Peppers arms as the two gently sat down on the worn couch. His hands gently moved down to her stomach in a quiet gesture. 

“The baby’s fine, Stark. I’m fine. Just been a bit stressed is all. Both over you and some bounced checks but it’s all okay now that I know you’re okay.” Pepper smiled. Tony’s heart melted and in that moment he realised what he wanted to do. 

So when Pepper was asleep, Tony changed and wrote a letter. He understood the risks so he wrote two messages. One for if he didn’t come back and a second one for if he did. He was taking a big risk. His wife at least deserved to know where he’d gone. So with one final kiss to his wife’s forehead, he snuck out, leaving behind any personal or expensive things behind. 

~

“No, Aidan, I don't want you to go back there.”

“Ben, for gods sake-”

“Aidan-”

Ever since Tony had left, the two had been arguing over the games. The money had been tempting them both like a grub on a stick for a fish but the two of them didn’t want one another going. 

“Ben, listen. You’re the one who can work, not me. Let me go compete while you work-”

“Aidan for gods sakes you’ve just had an organ transplant!” 

“An organ transplant that I’m not even fully convinced will keep me alive!”

There was a small pause between them. Aidan continued.

“Benjamin I have AB negative blood for gods sakes. Who knows if it’ll accept the kidney I got-”

“It will!”

“How?”

Ben stuttered. “I-It has to do! I can’t lose you!” He rubbed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned away from Aidan. Aidan looked on in guilt as he grabbed jacket. 

“I’ll give you some space to cool off. I think we need it.” Aidan couldn’t meet Ben's eyes as he kissed the top of his head before he got his shoes on and stepped out of the house. 

And Ben let him. But that was because Ben knew what Aidan was doing. He wasn’t dumb. So instead of letting him get away with it, he decided that two could play that game as he grabbed his keys. 

~

Since he’d left basically anything of value, money or personal wise Tony was left in a basic ensemble of jeans, a basic t-shirt and a thin cheap jacket. As time ticked on, Tony began to have doubts. Maybe this was a stupid idea. As he thought that, the van ended up rounding the corner. 

Tony sighed, inhaling the last bits of fresh air he’d get before he stepped into the van and accepted his fate.  

Chapter Text

~

The air was bitter and cold as the sound of a van drove on. Mere moments ago, Steve had been in that car alongside another man. Now the two were outside a convenience shop, eating whatever they could pay for (For Steve it was a cornish pasty and for the man next to him, it was a sausage roll). They were sat in a silence that wasn’t nice or tense, just awkward. Neither wished to talk about what had happened just hours ago and both were willing to ignore it, it seemed. 

“So why were you there?” The man asked, looking up at Steve through his round spectacles. Honestly to Steve the man looked way too young to be on his own.

“Same reason I assume you were there. Money.” Steve’s response seemed to amuse the man greatly, who laughed.

“Fair enough.” 

They seemed to be moving back to silence before the man offered Steve a handshake.

“My name is Dylan. I’m from the UK if you can’t tell.” Dylan smiled. Steve had noticed but he hadn’t said anything. “Say, you remind me a lot of my middle brother. Did you join the army at some sort?”

Steve smiled in amusement. “Actually yeah, I did. I assume your brother did as well?"

Dylan nodded. “Yeah. My other brother and I had plans to enlist as well but for one reason or another we couldn’t.”

Steve nodded as he took a bite of his pastry. “So what did you and this other brother do instead?”

“My other brother?” Dylan repeated. “I lost contact with him awhile ago after his wedding but from what I heard he developed cancer - it runs in the family so one of us was bound to get it - not sure he’s alive honestly.” That made Steve frown. But Dylan just continued.  “I tried to find his husband who moved to Detroit after the diagnosis but the man is quite hard to find admittedly. Hell, when my company opened a new office in Chicago, I applied and then was transferred over whilst also getting promoted to manager.” 

Steve managed to pull a smile. “That’s great, Dylan.” He finished his pastry. “So, how come you needed the money? I’d have thought being a manager would’ve gotten you good money, so what changed?”

Dylan hesitated. “Pay cuts. Everyone had their pays cut by over half and with inflation I started struggling to pay my bills so I got entangled with loan sharks. I’m still struggling to pay them back so that’s why I need the money those games are offering.”

Steve nodded in understanding. “Yeah. Inflation hit Brooklyn pretty bad. My friend and I have been struggling to make ends meet since we got out of the army.”

Dylan nodded, understanding that 2008 had been an awful time.

“I see now why you need the money, Mr…?”

“Rogers. Steve Rogers. But please, call me Steve.”

Dylan nodded. “Of course, Steve.”

The two exchanged a few more bits of conversation including exchanging phone numbers before they soon walked away. Both men assumed they’d never cross paths again and both were happy to leave on that note. 

~

When Steve got back to his apartment, he found the door unlocked. When he walked in, he found his childhood friend, Bucky and his best friend, Sam playing cards at the dinner table. The smell of Chinese food was wafting through the air and Steve could tell it had not been long since it had arrived. 

“Hey, Rogers. Where have you been?” Sam spoke up, a cheery smile on his face along with a teasing glint in his eyes. Bucky didn’t say anything.

“Traffic jam.” Steve replied as he sat down at the table. He looked over at Sam’s cards, reaching over to move one to the other side as he moved on. “So how many games have you played?”

“Not many. I didn’t plan on staying around for long.” Sam admitted, which gave Steve pause. 

“Oh? How come?”

Sam paused, looking over at Bucky before looking back at Steve. “Well I was buying some bird seeds for my falcon,” Steve rolled his eyes. Falcon wasn’t an actual falcon. Falcon… Was a budgie. A little black bird that Sam absolutely adored to the point he’d shoot Steve dirty looks each time Steve would correct him about what Falcon was. “When I ended up finding a half naked Bucky on the side of the road, tied up like an idiot.”

The words made Steve’s heart drop.

“So I thought he’d been robbed but no, his clothes and belongings were in a bag right next to him. He won’t tell me where he’d been or what happened but since he’s not injured I assume a debt collector tried to shake him down, went too far and just left him to save his own ass.”

While Sam had looked back down at his cards, Steve had noticeably grown paler as he looked to Bucky who was hiding from Steve’s eyes by pretending to be interested in the card game again. Steve knew exactly why Bucky had been on that street. And he knew once Sam was gone, they’d be having a discussion about it. 

~

The hard floor hit Loki hard, knocking the wind out of him. His chest heaved as he shifted onto his knees. He noticed the sound of a second pair of lungs breathing in and he attempted to get help from whoever it was so he got back onto his side and shifted his weight so his back was near the person. He strained his arms back enough for his hands to grab the blindfold and yank it off, earning him a startled gasp from the person.

“Hey. Do me a favor. Untie my hands. I’ll return the favour.” Loki shuddered when the person behind him was quick to start biting off the rope, loosening them just enough for Loki to get out of the ropes. He sat up once again, reaching up to pull the blindfold off and then reaching down to untie his feet. As he worked, he looked over to the person only to find himself shocked. The person had shared the emotion to the point he’d said nothing. 

“Mobius?”

“Loki?”

The two men stared at each other, both still in their underwear as they had no words really. Or well Mobius had one.

“Why are you in women' s underwear?”

Loki blushed furiously as he stuttered. 

“It’s none of your business.”

To admit to an old man he was genderfluid, whilst also having to explain what it even was, was something Loki didn’t want to do. 

And while Loki wanted to leave the situation immediately, Loki also knew he had just said he’d return the favour so with a sigh, he crawled over to the bulkier man and began to untie him. In the silence, Loki thought about the situation that had just happened. But he was also thinking about…

“Why were you there? Aren’t you-”

“-Too old for this shit? Yeah.” Mobius sighed. “But I gotta be honest, Loki. I’ve been lying about the cafe being good financially. Paying off the bills is tough and between paying staff as well. It’s been tough.”

Loki stared at Mobius in sympathy, his hands pausing on his friends' ankles as he sighed. “Mobius, if you were struggling to pay you could’ve cut my pay-”

“Stop.” Mobius sighed again as he put his hand on Loki's shoulders. He looked tired.  “I’d rather pay you for your work. It’s fine, don’t worry.”

As Loki finished untying him, the two looked away from one another to get dressed. When Loki looked back, he found Mobius in one of his ridiculous jumpers. A light blue knitted jumper with knitted white clouds and knitted fields with sheep on them. It was ridiculous. But so… Mobius. And paired with those jeans and tattered boots was how Mobius had always been painted in Loki's mind. Loki personally was just in a simple fully black suit ensemble. 

As Loki fixed his collar, he continued to look over at Mobius, trying to figure if it really was true that he’d seen Mobius in the games. But honestly Loki had been more focused on his brother and sister. 

“You’re not the only one that was there that I recognised, you know.” Loki started the dialogue, causing Mobius to look up at him. “I saw my siblings there…”

“Siblings plural? You have more than one sibling?” Mobius asked. He’d only ever met Sylvie and her alligator (Seriously, how was she allowed to keep that thing as a pet).

“Yeah. I actually have three.” Loki explained as the two began to walk in a random direction, hoping it’d take them back to their quiet town. “Hela - who wasn’t there - who I think is somewhere in Taiwan. She’s the eldest. Thor, who’s older than me, is my brother. We lost contact awhile ago after I left therapy and moved away. And then well you’ve met Sylvie, who’s younger than all of us. The ‘oops’ baby.” Loki snickered, even if admittedly sometimes he felt that he was the ‘oops’ baby. “But yeah. I saw Sylvie and Thor there. The oblivious oaf kept asking me why I was here even though it was obvious.”

As they continued to walk, Mobius continued to listen to his friend rant about his family though his mind was still preoccupied with how the man’s slender hips had looked in that underwear and how his chest filled that bra (it hadn’t). His thoughts were definitely sinful and would get him sent to hell if he acted on them. 

“Mobius? Are you still listening to me?” Loki’s words cut through his thoughts as Mobius quickly nodded his head, trying to hide his flushed cheeks. 

“Of course. Nothing else to focus on except you.” But there were other things to think about. Like the fact that it seemed Mobius was less straight than he thought he was. I mean it sort of made sense but he shouldn’t act on it, he still had kids to think about as in his late twin brother’s kids. Both his twin brother, Don and his wife had recently passed away in a car accident and all custody had been given to Mobius even though Don’s wife’s sister Ravonna had been trying to get custody out of fear of the kids being put into an ‘unfit environment’. But to hell with that woman and her freaky ass cat! 

~

The two had managed to get back to their town, the familiar signage and trees coming into view. Loki had still been talking about themselves for the past hour they’d been walking but Mobius didn’t mind. Loki had a way of speaking that could rival said man’s idol Shakespeare. Whatever story he conjured could make you feel as though you were right there in the moment. And Mobius was definitely hooked. 

Eventually the two got to Mobius’ cafe and what stood opposite the cozy building with its flat. A rundown shop that had never reopened after the previous owner had put it up for sale and then later passed away. But on top of that shop was a flat that looked just as rundown but had been bought now. Loki’s flat (And shop but neither Loki nor Mobius knew that technically Loki had also bought the shop).  

“Say, when I see you next, you want to come on a run with me to the shops to try and spruce up your humble abode?” The offer came out of Mobius' mouth easy enough, the smile even more so. It always shocked Loki on how easily Mobius could smile. 

“Of course.”

But Loki had known when he pressed the green button that might not ever happen. He wanted- no, needed that money. And he’d do anything to get it. Even if that meant paying with his life. 

Chapter Text

~

The blinding lights of the warehouse were quick to stir Mobius awake, his eyes moving under his eyelids as he begun to stir. He could feel the fabric of the jumpsuits against his skin. He’d have liked to go back to sleep honestly but the sound of an English accent woke him from his slumbers through repeating his name. When awaking, he was face to face with Loki who was attempting to wake him up. 

“You’re here?” Mobius spoke up as he sat up from the uncomfortable mattress. “So you came back here as well?" 

“Yeah, I guess.” Loki mumbled as he sighed. “I got scared. I knew you’d come back so I opted to go back as well. To protect you.” 

Mobius felt his heart flutter. He laughed softly. “I won’t die that easily, Loki. Have more trust in me.”

And to that, Loki raised an eyebrow before he replied with a smile. “I know you won't. But I thought it’d be best to come and give you some company.”

Mobius smiled. The two decided to look around. “A lot of people came back.”

Loki nodded. “The money must be too good to pass up.” He looked around before his eyes landed on the screen. “187.”

Mobius followed his gaze. “There were 200 left last time, no?”

“201. 93% of us have returned it seems.” A new person’s voice entered the discussion, their footsteps soft as they descended down the stairs. “14 are missing.”

Loki and Mobius turned their heads. It was a woman with a braid in her dark hair. 

“And who are you, 96? Another desperate soul?”

The woman laughed, making it known that she found Loki amusing. “Valkyrie. But my friends call me Val.”

Loki nodded curtly, Mobius instead offered his hand out for Valkyrie to shake. 

“Strange but unique name you’ve got there, Val. I’m Mobius. Mobius. M. Mobius.”

Valkyrie burst out laughing. “Seriously?” She turned her head to Loki. “Don’t tell me-”

“Loki. Just Loki.” Loki replied. He didn’t like how relaxed she was. 

Valkyrie still looked amused. “Ah, so my parents aren’t the only Nordic lovers.”

~

“Guess everybody’s desperate.”

Tony, Steve and Dylan had been having a similar conversation as the other three. Hell, most people were having similar conversations. 

As they talked, Dylan ended up pointing someone out. “Isn’t that the girl that lost her brother in the first game.” 

Tony and Steve looked and sure enough it was player 200. She looked more composed then she had done before. 

“I’d not have come back if my brother died.” Steve commented under his breath and Tony was going to agree until Dylan replied.

“I don’t know, if my brother had been killed in a death game for money and then you weren’t compensated for it… I’d come back just to avenge him and try to kill all those who were complicit.”

But Tony didn’t say his thoughts as he’d noticed the couple he’d met outside of the games were sitting on one of the lower bunks. They looked to be talking about something. 

 “You know this reminds me a lot of the military training camps I was in before the actual military.” Steve commented as he looked between them all. Dylan looked mighty impressed. 

“You two keep talking, I got some business to attend to.” Tony spoke up before he walked over to the bunks where the couple were at. “Hey, you two.”

~

Before Tony had approached them, Aidan and Ben had admittedly been arguing over the fact that the other had joined the games again. But all that anger had gone out the window when Aidan had revealed he’d snuck in a switch blade which is what the two had been discussing about. 

“Hey, you two.”

The two’s conversation paused as they recognised the man’s voice. Tony. Ben smiled as he hopped down and shook Tony’s hands. Aidan sighed as he slipped down as well. 

“Tony, I didn’t know you were coming back as well.” Ben spoke up in surprise.

“I can say the same to you. How come you’re back? I’d have thought with Aidan’s kidneys you’d have stayed home.”

The two men looked awkwardly at each other before Aidan bluntly remarked. 

“We had a fight about it. We couldn’t agree. And well here we are.”

It was awkward so Tony decided to change the subject. “Right well, do you want to join my group? It’s small but it’s got some good people.”

“Of course, we’d love to!”

Aidan wanted to decline but Ben had already answered before he could so Aidan reluctantly followed behind the two men. He was assuming there’d be no issue but… Then he saw him. 

And Dylan stared right back.

But nothing was said. And neither Dylan nor Aidan said anything, choosing to just keep the peace for now.

“Attention. Your mealtime begins now. All players, please form a line in the center of the room. Let me repeat the instructions. Attention, Your mealtime begins now. All players, please form a line in the centre of the room.” 

~

As instructed, the players all formed an orderly line in order to receive a lunchbox. As Dylan sat down to open it, he quickly noticed the contents. An egg, a sausage, some kimchi, white rice and black beans. He’d had quite a few of these before but never together. It was interesting.

“Reminds me of the ration meals the military gave out.” Steve commented, a sense of fondness in his eyes that Dylan picked up on immediately. 

“They could’ve at least warmed the rice.” Ben commented, when everyone looked at him, he just shrugged. “I mean, it’s easy to tell they have cooked it but it’s gone cold and they haven’t bothered to reheat it, you know.” Ben looked meek so Aidan spoke up.

“You’d make a better rice than them, no doubt. I’d bet three grains of your rice beats this.” Aidan gestured with his fork. Ben smiled. Tony couldn’t help but add.

“I’ll say, this man made shell pasta and meatballs bought from a corner shop taste like a five star meal, straight from a gourmet restaurant."

“You can do that? That takes a lot of skills.” Steve commented.

Ben was incredibly flustered. To the point he hid his face behind his sleeve. “Oh stop!” He bumped his head against Aidan's arm who happily wrapped said arm around his shoulders. A genuine smile graced Aidan's lips.

But as the group continued to talk, Aidan’s eyes wandered and he noticed a blonde girl sitting with a bulky man that he recognised very well.

~

It was time for bed. But one person wasn’t resting. The blonde from before. She was kicking up a storm in an attempt to get the guards to open the door so she could go to the bathroom. 

Aidan had been watching her from where he had been laying in bed with Ben (Even though the mattresses barely fit one person, Aidan and Ben didn’t want to stay apart. Ben would say it was because he didn’t like sleeping alone. Aidan would say it was because he wasn’t sure which night would be the two’s last.), wondering if she’d actually get her way or if she’d be forced to just piss on the floor. 

Regardless, Aidan had his reasons for staring at her. She’d been talking to that man after all.

So to say Aidan was shocked when she got her way was an understatement. But before the guard could escort the blonde away, Aidan got up.

~

“I need to go too.” As the lean man came up from behind her, Sylvie frowned. 

“I didn’t see you begging on your hands and knees.” She scoffed. The man paid her no mind and just slipped past.

~ 

Sylvie hadn’t actually wanted the toilet. In fact, she was actually looking for something specific. A vent to climb through. However she’d noticed that she was too short to actually reach it so she’d given up. She was sitting on the toilet, debating what to do when the stall door was kicked open. And there stood the strange man that had followed her in. She jumped before she asked out of shock. “Are you going to rape me? Is that why you followed me in here?”

Aidan shook his head. His face was emotionless. “No. Not in a million years. I just want access to that vent up there.”

Sylvie furrowed her brows in confusion. “You want that vent as well?”

Aidan didn’t respond as he walked over to where she sat and casually climbed onto the toilet bowl without any regard for Sylvie. Sylvie in response sighed in frustration as she weaved between the man’s legs, making sure not to get stepped on as she used what little strength she had to help push the man up closer to the vent. Aidan didn’t need the help. But he appreciated her compliance all the same. He got his knife out and started to slowly unscrew the vent. So he decided to ask the question that had been on his mind.

“I saw you talking to a player during mealtime.”

“What? The ginger? Player 279?” 

The first screw came off. 

Aidan nodded. “Does he have a scar across his eye?”

Sylvie paused as she thought about the question. She couldn’t help take glances at the man and notice the physique. 

“Why should I answer?”

Aidan paused as he got the second screw loose. He stuffed both screws into his pocket. He looked down at Sylvie. “Because,” he sighed as he leaned down enough to lock eyes with her. “Who you were speaking to was my brother. If you give me information on him, I’ll tell you what I can see in the vents.”

That’s not a bad offer. Sylvie thought. 

“Okay, yes he had a scar. I couldn’t see it that well cause his hair hides it.” 

Aidan nodded. “Yeah that’s him.” He pulled out a bobble from his pocket and tied his hair back. “Keep him outside busy and the information is over. You’re better at theatrics than I am.”

Sylvie scoffed at Aidan but before she could say anything, the man had already stood on her shoulders and was climbing up. She cringed but managed not to scream as she helped push him into the vents. 

~

“So, what did you see? You were gone for quite a while.” Sylvie felt like she’d been asking for ages, but the man didn’t budge. Instead staying silent as they walked back to their respective beds. Before Aidan could turn, Sylvie grabbed Aidan by the arm and sternly whispered. “I did not pretend to be constipated just for you to go back on your word.” 

Aidan sighed, pulling his arm out from her grip. “I saw them melting sugar. The liquid they were pouring it into looked yellow.” He turned his head to Sylvie. “That’s all I saw.” 

Sylvie didn’t look amused. Aidan sighed. “Like I said, they were just melting sugar and pouring it into the yellow mixture and stirring it in.”

Sylvie hummed. “Do you think maybe that’s what they’re making for breakfast time or do you think it’ll be part of the games?”

Aidan thought about it. “Could be either. I think it’s more likely to be part of the next game.” He turned to Sylvie, extending his hand to her. “Thank you for helping me. I bid you good luck in the next game.”

Sylvie thought about it before she nodded his head and reluctantly shook his hand. “You too. Thanks for doing what I couldn't.”

Aidan nodded. He was about to walk away before Sylvie grabbed Aidan's wrist again. 

“Random question. Don’t have to tell me and I’m trying not to be rude but… What are you? You…” she hesitated. Aidan didn’t look back. So she continued in a meek whisper. “I mean I don’t really care. But the guard allowed you into the same restroom as me yet you’ve clearly got different… Autonomy than me. Yet your face and body…”

Aidan kept quiet, looking down at his body before deciding to be honest. “I’m both in a way. I started off as a girl, had the procedures done to remove and replace the unwanted, tried to make myself as manly as possible but eventually decided that I couldn’t really change much so I decided to live in the nuance.” They turned their head back to Sylvie. “I don’t mind what you call me. Anything is fine, so long as this stays between us, if that’s alright.”

Sylvie nodded, looking at Aidan with an appreciation. “It’s all good with me, man. I don’t stick with one gender either.” She smiled before she patted Aidan on the back and walked away. 

The two were unaware of it but someone had been listening

~

“Attention. It is now time for breakfast. All players, please form a line in the centre of the room.”

As expected of the players, they were all hungry so they all began to line up as per usual. 

As Aidan walked back to the corner their little makeshift group had claimed, he found another presence beside him.

“I heard you talking to that blonde girl. I heard what you said.” Dylan spoke, adjusting his glasses.

Aidan didn’t respond. 

“You said they were melting sugar into a yellow mixture? I think I might know what it is.”

That made Aidan pause. He turned his head down to Dylan.

“In Korea, there was this treat called a Dalgona or Ppopgi. It’s made from melted sugar and baking soda. Usually it tastes of brittle honeycomb toffee.”

Aidan scrunched his nose up. “How would you know?”

“I went there and let me finish.” Dylan spoke. “But in Korea, traditionally they’ll stamp a cookie cutter down into it and the goal is to cut the shape out. If you do it, you get a free cookie.”

Aidan paused, the pieces coming together. “That’s the second game.” 

Dylan nodded. “Shall we keep this between us?”

The notion of hiding it from the group confused Aidan greatly. “What? How come?” 

Dylan sighed. “I mean, would they believe us?”

Aidan didn’t say anything. Rolling the information in his head for a bit as he started walking back to the corner. He knew he was definitely going to tell Ben. 

~

As they got back, Aidan noticed that two new people had joined their group. A man and a… Kid? Aidan didn’t say anything, opting to sit in between Ben and Steve as Dylan opted to sit between Steve and Tony. 

“So, who’s this?” Dylan asked. Tony smiled in glee as he gestured to the man.

“This is my good friend Bruce Banner, he worked with me back in the day.” 

The man - Bruce - nodded his head in greeting as he looked down at the teenager. “And this is Peter. He’s my apprentice.” The kid meekly waved his hand as he chewed into his bread. 

Aidan thought about Dylan’s words before deciding to be honest. “Me and Dylan were talking while we were walking back. We think we know what the next game will be.”

The group paused, looking at Aidan. So Aidan continued despite Dylan’s eyes baring into him.

“Last night, I snuck into the vents. I saw those guards melting sugar into this golden coloured stuff in a pot they were stirring. I told Dylan and since he’d been to Korea he was able to tell me what it was-”

“Dalgona?” Bruce spoke up. “I’ve heard of that. I remember trying it and the cookie was actually quite nice. The challenge was actually pretty fun.” 

Aidan nodded. “That’s what Dylan theorises it’s going to be.” 

Peter looked anxious so Steve spoke up for once since this conversation had started. “I’m sure the geniuses can tell us how to play.”

Banner smiled as he leaned over and tousled Peter’s hair.

~

“Attention. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall. I will now repeat the instructions. Attention. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.”

The players all looked between themselves as they all began to make their way from the dormitory to the game hall. Ready to face the next game ahead of them.

Chapter Text

~

“Attention. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall. I will now repeat the instructions. Attention. The second game will begin shortly. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.”

The players all looked between themselves as they all began to make their way from the dormitory to the game hall. Ready to face the next game ahead of them. Thanks to Dylan’s insights, the group had an idea on what the next game would be. As the doors opened, the guards with the triangle masks filtered in first, carrying their guns with them as usual. The players followed in suit where their eyes were met with a peculiar room. 

The room was a light blue with clouds that looked to be drawn on with blue chalk. Laid against the wall were colourful fences in a colour palette consisting of red, yellow and green with a clear pattern between them. Like the first game the floor was made of a thin layer of sand. In the room itself were a bunch of jungle gyms in the same colour palette as the fences as well as a roundabout and a slide. 

Admittedly Tony thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, however Banner seemed to either see it as well or be sharing in his madness as Tony overheard him say. “Why’s this playground so big?” Before the announcer came over the speakers.

“Players, welcome to the second game. We will begin shortly.”

The players looked around.

“Players, before the second game begins, choose one of the four available shapes you see on the wall. Once you’ve chosen your shape, please stand in front of it.”

Tony felt a small hand touch his shoulder, and when he looked, Tony saw that Banner’s apprentice had been the owner of the hand. “Sir, does she mean those?” before the kid pointed over to the doors that everyone hadn’t noticed until now.

On the opposite side of the entrance stood four doors, each with a symbol on them. From left to right was a green circle, a red triangle, a yellow star and a blue umbrella. There were guards stationed between each door, still holding their guns. 

Dylan was silent.

“Choose a shape and stand in front of it immediately.”

Slowly but surely, the players began to trickle forwards, choosing a shape and standing in front of it. 

“We should split up.” Dylan spoke up, causing the group to look over at him. Aidan especially. “We don’t know what shape is easier to cut out. You know, assuming it is what I hypothesised.”

We don’t know? 

Aidan thought. 

Wouldn’t you know? You’ve done this before. According to you. Are you trying to trick us?

Aidan didn’t like the thoughts he was beginning to think but they didn’t come from a bad place. It wouldn’t have been the first time Dylan had wronged him and others. 

“Then me and Ben are taking triangle.” Aidan spoke, flicking his eyes down to his hand again - which had been in Ben’s this whole time - before looking over at all the new eyes on him again. “Since Dylan is telling us to split up.”

Dylan didn’t seem all that pleased before he hummed. “Then I can take me and the kid to the circle.”

That just left the star and umbrella. That also left just Tony, Steve and Banner. 

The remaining three looked at each other. Steve decided to make the choice for them. “Tony,” He began. “You and Banner should take the star. I’ll take the umbrella.” 

Stark raised a brow. “You sure about this? I mean if it really is about cutting stuff out of a fragile cookie then perhaps you should take the star? I mean…” he vaguely gestured to Steves… everything as the man was incredibly jacked, especially compared to the rest of them. Steve laughed awkwardly. 

“No, I’ll be fine. But if you’re so sure, you can take it.”

“Then I’ll take it.” Tony agreed. “I’ll take the umbrella, you can have my star.” 

~

As more and more people chose their shapes, Loki and Mobius were starting to look weird as they hadn’t chosen yet.

“I feel like we really should choose the circle.” Loki spoke up but Mobius shook his head. All the two knew was that they were sticking together.

“But triangle would be easier-”

“We don’t even know the game yet Mobius-”

Their argument continued. Until two familiar blondes came forwards, the smaller of the two practically jumping on Loki. These were obviously Loki's siblings, Mobius thought.

“Well, me and Thor are also undecided so why don’t we all go to the ones we want to do.” Sylvie smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes as she was looking at something else. Loki frowned.

“Gods don’t tell me.” But Loki noticed the look and followed her gaze, recognising the brown haired man with his blonde friend. He looked back at Sylvie. “Why are you looking at him?”

“Not that it concerns you but she followed me into the bathroom.” Sylvie explained. “I helped her get into the vents and she then told me what she saw. My guess is she told her beau what it was and they know what the game is.”

Loki hummed. He watched the two for a moment longer before he sighed. “Then you and Thor can follow her. But me and Mobius aren’t-”

“I can talk for myself.” Mobius interrupted. “And I say we take the risk and go with triangle. If that girl really does know the game, it’s worth the risk.”

Loki sighed, recognising he’d been defeated. “Fine.”

~

“The time to select your shape has ended. I will now explain the rules of the next game.”

The doors with the numbers opened. More guards came out. O guards. Behind the doors were smaller rooms with an O guard standing behind a table with a bunch of silver circular tin cases. 

“All players, please take one case each from the table at the front of your line.”

The command was repeated as one by one, the players came forward and took their cases, a few attempting to figure out what was inside by shaking it gently. 

“Please take a moment to open the case and check the contents.”

As Tony opened his case, he was greeted by the sight of a needle and the umbrella in the honeycomb.

“The second game is Dalgona. The shape you have chosen is the shape you must remove from the honeycomb.” 

Tony stared at his honeycomb as if it had just disrespected his wife as he looked up with a single thought in his mind. 

I’m fucked. 

“The time limit is ten minutes. You will pass if you trim out the shape without it breaking or cracking within the time limit. With that, let the game begin.”

And with that, the timer began and the players got to work.

~

No words were exchanged between any of the players, their minds too occupied with their carving to pay their fellow players any mind. They were so focused that they didn’t even process the sound of someone’s cookie snapping, followed by their silent pleas for mercy. 

Bang

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the room followed by the sound of a body falling down the slide. The gunshot startled a lot of people, causing them to look up. The shock caused another person’s shaky hands to snap their cookie, leading to another shot, even as she begged for mercy.

Bang

And just like with the first game, the bloodbath began.

Snap after snap.

Shot after shot. 

~

4 minutes had gone by. The shots kept coming steadily, unnerving and startling those who still lived. 

6 minutes had gone by. The shots had stilled and at last, someone had finally passed as heard from the speakers.

Player 1, pass.

And overtime, more and more players began to pass, including but not limited to-

Player 24, pass.

Player 27, pass.

Player 105, pass.

Player 394, pass.

Player 455, pass.

Player 12, pass.

Player 200, pass.

Player 279, pass.

Player 227, pass.

Player 288, pass.

~

All the counting down was beginning to get to Tony, his palms sweaty as he tried to use the needle to draw the shape out of. 

Player 343, pass.

Player 29, pass.

Bang

Now Tony was sweating bullets. His hands shook as he kept his head down and continued to work. 

Player 456, pass.

Tony looked up and behind. Steve was stood in front of the guard who’d been monitoring him. He looked guilty. That expression deepened as the two locked eyes. But Tony didn’t need the sympathy. Instead Tony smiled at him, nodding his head, trying to calm his nerves. Steve in turn, nodded his head, a silent acknowledgement between them that Tony would get through this before Tony looked back down and Steve walked out. 

Bang

A shot made Tony jump, his head darting up before looking up at the timer. 

3 minutes. 

Player 111, pass.

Bang

Player 56, pass.

As Tony worked, his sweat began to drip down onto the cookie. The sound of footsteps went past him and when Tony looked, it was the raven haired man he’d seen a few times during the games. The man who he’d seen hanging out with the older gentleman. Player 56 was looking down at him, equally sweaty as he wiped his brow, stuck his tongue out and pointed to it before walking past to the exit. 

Tony was left flabbergasted at the gesture as another droplet of sweat dropped down onto his cookie. He looked down and picked up the cookie. He hesitantly began to lick it. He licked it a fair few times before he lifted it up to the light. He noticed the discoloration and how the cookie seemed to be getting thinner. 

The outline. 

He connected the dots, and eagerly began to lick. 

~

Similar to how Player 24 had snuck a switch blade in, Sylvie had snuck in a blade of her own as she expected to have used it to get into the vents. But instead, here she was, sitting under the slide and using her knife to dig into the outlines. She was surprised it was working, admittedly. As she managed to cut the cookie out, she tucked her knife back into her pocket and stood up, offering it over to the guard. The guard looked at it.

Player 65, pass. 

Sylvie smiled, taking a bite of the triangle. “Hmm, pretty good.” She murmured to herself. 

Player 120, pass.

Player 400, pass. 

~

With a minute and 20 left, Tony was still licking. Licking like his life depended on it whilst also raising it up to check for his progress. It was a bizarre scene, especially given the fact that people were beginning to look. 

Bang

It looked less odd now given that people had started to take after him. 

As the count came down to the final seconds, the outline had finally grown thin enough to finally break. He breathed a sigh of relief as it came out in full.

Player 300, pass.

He sobbed in relief, his body shaking as he continued to hold onto the umbrella by the top, scared of breaking it despite him already passing. He continued to tremble as he heard the speaker go off.

“Your time to remove your shape is now up. All successful players, please leave the playground immediately.”

~

When Tony returned, he immediately walked back to the corner he and his friends (Could he call them friends? I mean he could definitely call Banner a friend and perhaps Aidan and Ben, but the rest of them, he wasn’t sure yet.) There was an air of tension between the group which Tony chose to try and break.

“So, did you miss me?” He flashed them all a charming smile. It was a smile that both Banner, Peter and Ben seemed to return to him. He then noticed something. “Hey, wait,” he began. “Where’s Aidan and Dylan?”

Ben looked awkward but Steve cleared his throat. “They had a disagreement on something so they took it over to the left corner. They didn’t want any of us really interfering with it.”

Tony immediately looked suspicious before his eyes glanced at Ben who looked like he really wanted to say something but was choosing not to. 

“Right. Okay… So long as they don’t physically fight then I guess it’s fine.”

Chapter Text

~

“Were you trying to sabotage them?” Aidan spat. 

He and Dylan had been locked in this stalemate for a good while since coming out of the game. The way Dylan had tried not to tell anyone the aim of the game and keep it to himself and Aidan left a bad taste in his mouth. His hands remained on his jacket.

“Not you-”

-But them, right?” 

“Yes, but it was for you.”

Aidan scoffed, rolling his eyes as he pulled out his switch blade, making Dylan gasp. 

“You are such a dickhead-”

“I would’ve given you and Ben the easy shapes, honest. I just wanted to give you a better chance of winning. You and Ben.”

Aidan’s grip on his brother’s jacket grew tighter.

“That’s not fair on them, Dylan and you know that!” 

Usually Aidan would’ve probably been happy with the sabotage however there was something about it that just left a foul feeling in his gut.

“What about Tony? He’s got a damn kid on the way Dylan! And Steve? He’s probably got a wife and kids too! And player 301? He’s a kid, Dylan! Like an actual teenager!”

Dylan’s silence egged Aidan on. 

“For gods sake Dylan.” His nostrils flared in anger. “Would you have told us if you’d figured it out without my help?”

“Ashley, you know I would’ve-”

The old name being used immediately brought Aidan’s knife to Dylan’s throat, grazing the area as Aidan’s anger flared. 

“You wouldn’t have. That’s just something you won’t acknowledge because you’re weak.” he paused as he looked back over to the group, debating whether to push him out of the group now or through a vote. “We’re going to go back over there and pretend this never happened.  And if anyone asks, we’ll say it was a family matter. And if anyone pokes, I will tell them the truth, Dylan. I will be very honest with them. But you have a chance to make it right.” He pulled the knife away. His free hand let go of Dylan's jacket. “One.” Aidan repeated, leaving Dylan with a want for the floor to swallow him whole.

~

The two eventually returned to their group who were chatting away about something. Their conversation died down when they arrived. Aidan could feel Ben’s eyes on him but he chose to ignore them as he and Dylan sat down, with Aidan obviously sitting next to Ben who, in response, began to braid some small bits of Aidan’s hair.

“So, we all made it through that game?” Dylan asked, obviously trying to make small talk amidst the threats Aidan had made his way. 

The others nodded their heads, Dylan looked over at Peter. “How’d you find the game?”

The kid nervously mumbled back. “Oh it was scary, obviously. I found myself a few times almost breaking the cookie but I got it out in the end. It was quite sweet when I tasted it.”

Their conversations continued like that for a while until eventually the speaker crackled to life.

“Attention, players. I will now announce the results of the second game.”

All the players looked up to the screen and as the player number went down from 187 to 2 with the cash prize rising with each 100 million meaning one death. 

“Out of the 187 players who participated, 79 players were eliminated.”

A transparent tube lowered down from the ceiling and into the piggy bank, with the stacks of money flowing down, filling up the already half full piggy bank. The sound effects getting louder before it let out a chime similar to someone saying ‘ta-daaaa’ as the money stopped spilling in. 

“The prize money accumulated this round is 7.9 billion dollars. The total prize money accumulated so far is now 34.8 billion dollars.”

~

“Attention. Your mealtime begins now. All players, please form a line in the center of the room.”

The usual routine followed without much issue. A boring routine birthed within the game of death.

A soda and an egg was apparently the only things the remaining players were worth it seemed. 

Player 455 remained quiet as she and her sister, player 288 alongside her best friend, player 394 stood to the side, staring at their ‘rewards’. 

“Well it’s definitely not a cooked breakfast.” Player 394 shrugged, sighing as he cracked the egg on his forehead and attempted to peel the shell away. 

“Yeah, it’s definitely shitty.” Player 455 shrugged, brushing her red hair away from her forehead as she did the same. “Still, bird brain, you gotta eat so eat.” she spoke up again, earning her a scowl from the man.

“Clint.” Player 394 corrected as he took a bite of his egg. “I’ve told you this yet you never listen.” He sighed as his eyes flicked over to a shaggy man, missing an arm.

Player 288 noticed, so she spoke up. “If he doesn’t want to come over here then leave him to it. James does not need to stick by you like a lost puppy just because you know of him.”

Clint wanted to argue but Natasha put a hand on his shoulder. He shook her head at her sister.

“Yelena.” She spoke. “Leave him be.”

Yelena said nothing else as she took a sip of her soda. 

~

Loki and Mobius sat next to each other in Mobius’ bed. Neither of them wanted to say goodnight as the lights turned off for the night. Instead, Loki felt a chill to the air. He’d noticed it when they’d given out the food for the day. It felt like so little and some didn’t even get to eat. Loki felt like it was deliberate so he opted to stay down on the bottom bunks with Mobius in case of trouble.

“I don’t get to give out compliments to anyone but, you’re a good person, Loki.” 

That immediately caught Loki’s attention. He’d been observing the room for anything but the comment made his head snap back like a wind up toy, his eyes immediately going to Mobius who smiled in amusement.

“I mean, even outside of this, you’re a good guy, even if you can’t see it yourself.” Mobius paused. “I mean you do magic tricks to entertain kids to entertain them when I’m running particularly late on orders, you learned how to make most of the stuff I bake for my customers in under a week to help with the loadout, I mean christ you’re like a god-”

Loki was incredibly red in the face, the darkness hiding this fact as he remained silent, which was a bad mistake.

“-And I mean that. You have the body of one too-” 

Loki's brows furrowed before he began to pick up the pieces. 

“Are you… flirting with me, Mr. Mobius?”

Mobius unfortunately did not turn the red as Loki wanted to. Instead the man looked… Guilty. 

“I know, I know it’s too little too late but I didn’t really notice until I realised how much I wanted to stay close to you during all of this.” The old man sighed. “It’s not to save myself from this place it’s.. I’ve felt it since you started working with me at the cafe.”

“What are you trying to say Mobius?” Loki feared the answer that was about to come from the man’s mouth. Mobius could never…

“I’m trying to say that I fear I won’t live to tell you another day so I’m telling you now. That I love you.”

No.

Mobius, how?

It was one of the few things Loki could bring himself to think amidst the chaos. Never in his 40 something years of existence could he have possibly imagined Mobius saying that.

“I thought you were straight, Mobius.” 

“I did too.” Mobius laughed. “But no. As it turns out I’ve got a preference. A preference for chicken breasts and sausage.”

A silence lingered for a moment.

Mobius sheepishly added. “Sylvie told me to say that.”

Sylvie?!

“When she came to visit the cafe that one time with her pet gator. She read me like a book and told me to say that. I don’t know why I remembered that.”

Loki huffed. Trust Sylvie to take advantage of Mobius’ innocence. 

“But enough about that I… I need to know how you feel, Loki.”

Loki stayed silent. He’d tried to put a name to what he and Mobius were a long time ago. Coworkers? Friends? Regardless there was never a way to describe it. But maybe this is what Loki had been missing. Love. But was this wise? To fall in love in a death game?

“Mobius.” But he couldn’t finish his sentence. Not with those blue eyes looking at him. He shut his mouth, licking his lips before he eventually leaned forwards and hugged the man. He physically felt Mobius deflate in his arms as the bigger man wrapped his arms around him in return. 

What did Loki think about earlier? That it was unwise to fall in love in a death game? Loki decided that he’d throw caution to that wind. If love came now then so be it, and he already knew he’d be willing to die for Mobius before so why not now?

“You know what? Yeah, I love you too, Mobuis. I’m already willing to die for you so why shouldn’t I say it back?” And Loki managed to smile. Mobius looked ecstatic but then he calmed down. 

“Loki…” And with the close proximity of their bodies, they slowly leaned forwards and locked lips. 

It was gentle, the hairs on Mobius’ mustache tickling the space between his upper lip and nose. Loki let himself be consumed by the man’s warmth. It felt… unnatural to be so open to anyone, let alone a man he’d only known for under a year. But gods did he need it… He felt so small in Mobius’ grasp and the moment of vulnerability caused him to cling closer to Mobius, his fingers digging into the fabric, making Mobius gasp. It was an intimate exchange, filled with longing and need. It felt like Loki had been yearning for this man for decades even though he’d only known him for around a year.  He sighed in relief, his body crumpling into Mobius’ body as he brushed his nose against the man’s nape. 

The moment was pure bliss for both of them. That was until a sound caught both their attention.

Screams

Loki immediately went on edge, the alarms making the both of them cautious as chaos soon erupted from the players. Loki could feel Mobius’ eyes on him and he could tell the man was waiting for Loki to make the next move, so Loki did. He grabbed his friend (Lover?) by the hand and made a dash to the corner he’d seen that other group in. It wasn’t a full proof plan but judging by the amount of them Loki had seen earlier, he’d have rather taken his chances with them than staying in the open, especially as Loki was aware that one of them had helped his sister. 

~

The panic and fear of the situation had caught everyone off guard. For Steve, his main concern was keeping everyone safe and alive, a difficult thing to do when Aidan had already disappeared into the chaos and darkness that surrounded them. As a result, Steve had stopped anyone else from going after him, including Ben who called Steve a ‘wanker’ in response. Steve’s training in the army had greatly helped him to prepare for situations like this where he opted to delegate matters. He’d gotten the more fit bodies to attempt to arm themselves with whatever they had while the more vulnerable stayed behind the armed. Steve wanted to protect everyone. 

~

Aidan didn’t know what he was thinking when he ran into the open. His plan was to find that blonde girl he’d met in the toilets as well as find another weapon that wasn’t just his knife. He was aware that perhaps it wasn’t needed, I mean the Steve guy was a beef cake and while he was sure the others could pack a punch, he was sure that their group looked weak to others - He’d noticed a group with a shaggy man in their midst and they looked much stronger than Aidan would've liked to admit. So getting that extra bit of intimidation could help greatly. 

He weaved and ducked through the beds, avoiding most with ease. While he wasn’t good at sports, he’d always been quite a fast runner, though that was something he had to learn to evade from the bullies when he was younger. After weaving his way through to the other side, Aidan came across one of the toppled beds. He grimaced as he examined the area and found a pair of legs sticking out from under one of the beds. He pushed his thoughts away as he started groping around at the metal beams, pulling to determine if any of them were loose enough to pry off. He paused for a moment when he pulled a loose pole. He quickly looked around before getting down on his knees to judge the screws. He began to twist the screws. 

As he worked, Aidan didn’t hear the sounds of a player approaching, the footsteps hidden by the chaos of the hell around him. However before the player could get a stab on the man, the player himself was stabbed. Aidan heard his gasp and turned around, finding the blonde girl he’d been looking for behind the player, a smashed bottle falling from his hands. Aidan let out a breath as he looked at the woman and her friends, his eyes lingering on the ginger before he shook his head. 

“I need your knife. To unscrew this.” 

Sylvie nodded and despite her brothers telling her not to, she ducked down and started unscrewing the tighter screws off while Aidan focused on the looser ones. And while the flashing of the lights made it difficult to tell what was happening and if they were getting anywhere.

But eventually, the pole came free and Aidan and Sylvie managed to pull it free. With some adjustment, Aidan managed to pick the pole up, tightening his grip on it as he looked at the group and with a nod, he began to direct them back to his grip. He may not have been good at reading people like his other half was, but this wasn’t the first time this player had helped him. So Aidan chose to put his trust in her and the group of friends she was with.

~

“Aidan!” Steve managed to hear Ben say clear as day as the aforementioned man came running through, holding a bar of metal from one of the beds as well as leading people to them. Five in total. A blonde girl, a blonde but buff man, a lanky man with greasy black hair, an older gentleman and a well built light brunette almost ginger man. Steve had no real time to really process each one as they came in but it became clear they were just looking for safety so Steve didn’t push, instead opting to delegate matters again as well as getting Aidan to give his knife up so that Tony could use it for the screws to get more poles to use as weapons. Despite visible reluctance, Aidan agreed however he did make Steve promise to get it back to him before the chaos was over. 

The situation was tense. People screaming, the sound of falling beds. It was like hell had crawled up and made itself at home in the dormitory. 

~

As the group hunkered down, a multiracial woman came towards them,  followed by a group of men. Loki - recognising the woman - quickly turned to help while Steve followed suit, though his reasons were less personal than Loki and more out of kindness. As a result, a rumble occurred between the group, eventually leading to Aidan coming down, swinging the pole. He even accidentally hit one of the men with it, causing the group to stumble back. Aidan huffed and grunted as he adjusted his grip, keeping himself ready in case they stepped forwards. As a result of the scuffle, the rest of the group stepped forwards, shielding the woman. Loki paused in fear however when he realised who the man Aidan had whacked was…

Thanos. 

The bald head, the olive skin, the built body, it made Loki’s blood run cold as he stared at the man with fear. 

Thanos smiled. “Protecting randoms won’t get you very far.” The man next to Thanos rubbed the blood off his head. 

Steve paused, staring at one of the men behind Thanos and the bloodied man, but Steve said nothing about it and instead kept his stance. “Is that a problem?”

“It will be, especially with what else you’re protecting. Low lives.”

Loki felt himself freeze up when he realised Thanos had most definitely noticed him and recognised him.

~

Before a big fight could happen again, the lights turned on and the sound of the doors opening blared through the dormitory. The pink guards walked through and one of them shot up into the ceiling, garnering the attention of the players. The guards spread themselves out, securing the area and players as they went. Players raised their hands and dropped their weapons as a result. The guards began to go around, checking off the bodies as they went as well as taking weapons where they could in case of another unprecedented riot. The player numbers on the screen went down while the prize money went up. It went from 108 to 80. The prize money then went up from 34.8 billion to 37.6 billion.

~

After the guards were finished, the players were left to deal with the aftermath of the guards. Thanos sat on one of the beds, remaining silent as his goons discussed what came next. All except for the shaggy haired man. Player 105. The man had been looking over at the group that had protected the woman. Thanos couldn’t help but speak up just enough for him to hear. “105.”

105 looked up at Thanos. “400.” he spoke.

“You keep looking at the group. A shame we couldn’t kill that bitch, eh?”

105 managed to keep his composure. “We killed 28. Isn’t that enough?”

“Then are you looking at someone in particular you wished you could’ve killed?”

The questions were getting on his nerves. “Not particularly.”

~

Aidan and Ben remained held together during the rest of the night, not engaging in conversation but just drifting in and out. Or rather Aidan was drifting in and out while Ben was rubbing his hand through his hair, getting him to sleep. As Ben remained quiet the blonde girl from before stepped forwards. 

“65.” Ben greeted her.

“27.” She greeted Ben in return, offering him her hand. “But my name is Sylvie. You?”

“Ben.” He responded, taking her hand to shake. “What brings you here? Can’t sleep?”

Sylvie smiled, laughing slightly at his questions. “I wanted to say thank you to your husband.”

Ben hummed in response. “Oh? How so.”

“He’s been a friend to me since we got here.” She explained. “I helped him get into the vents the night before Dalgona. In return he told me what he saw. And tonight he brought me and my family here to your lots group.” She laughed slightly. “Obviously I have helped him in return. I protected him when he was getting that pole. I told him about his brother, Kris.”

Ben followed as Sylvie gestured to the light haired brunette. Kris was Aidan’s younger brother but was Dylan’s older brother. “Ah, I see.”

A slight pause.

“You called your group your family.” Ben pointed out. “Who’s in your family?”

Sylvie smiled as she gestured to the bulky blonde who’d fallen asleep keeping watch. “That’s my brother Thor,” she then pointed to the lanky man and the old man, who were both swaddled together under a blanket. “That’s my other brother and his new boyfriend. They’ve had the hots for each other since they met and finally decided to take the chance despite the games. It’s definitely something but I think they’ll make it work. Even if my brother is…”

“A can of worms?”

“Yeah,” Sylvie smiled. 

Ben returned the smile. “Yeah, I got that too.” His hands stilled in Aidan's hair. “My idiot here is… All over the place. Horrible past but a good person despite his actions.”

“Actions? What kind?”

Ben hesitated. “My lover has committed murder. I do not blame him for what he’s done. I wish to not share the details but his father did deserve what happened. He luckily got a short sentence but it strained his relationship with his brothers.”

The two fell into silence, with Ben’s hands going back to stroking Aidan’s hair. Sylvie processed this new knowledge. 

“That man must’ve deserved it.” Ben’s head shot up at her conclusion on the knowledge he’d shared. 

“He did.” Ben nodded.

“He really did.”

Chapter Text

~

For everyone involved, Dalgona was less of a tragedy and more of a stepping stone. It was tragic to limit it to such a simple thing as people at the end of the day still died but that was the way of war.  A similar thought process could be used for the killings that just took place. 

As the lights turned on, Tony stirred and looked over only to see Steve still wide awake. 

“Hey, man did… Did you stay up all night?” At Tony’s voice, Steve turned his head. The dark circles under his eyes made it very clear he’d indeed been awake.

“I wanted to make sure we weren’t attacked.” Steve responded, looking away as though he was ashamed of what he’d done. 

“How come you didn’t ask any of us to stay awake with you?” Tony pressed.

“It’s alright. I was in the army, Stark. I know how to handle myself on little sleep.”

That didn’t ease Tony’s worries but he wasn’t really able to continue talking as the speaker system crackled to life.

“Attention, players. The third game will begin momentarily. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.”

The pink guards walked in, guns in their arms as usual. 

“Let me repeat the instructions. The third game will begin shortly-” 

~

As the players walked into the next game room, they were greeted by surgical white walls, matching the stairs they descended, contrasting with the players, the guards and their uniforms.

“Players, welcome to the third game. For this game, you will play in teams. All players, please divide yourselves into teams of ten people. Your time limit will be ten minutes. Ten minutes.”

As the woman repeated the instructions and the players continued to walk in, Tony began to do the numbers, specifically for the group. He came to a realisation.

~

“There’s more than ten of us.” Tony blurted out after he looked away from the time. “This game requires ten, there’s thirteen of us here.”

Tony’s words made it very clear that three people needed to go but no one was really ready for that conversation. No one wanted to voluntarily leave. 

“Something that has teams of ten…” Dylan trailed off as he thought about how to cut all of them up. He’d understood clearly they couldn’t stay together like this.

Aidan, Sylvie and Loki stood quietly next to each other, understanding where it was going but they’d chosen to stay out of the conversation. Aidan turned to look down at Sylvie. 

“I think we should separate via the groups we were in.” Aidan spoke softly. “So your group goes into one team and my group goes into another team. If anyone wants to go with you or with the other group, it’s fair game.” 

Loki turned his head to the conversation. “That… Sounds reasonable.”

Sylvie nodded. “Good luck then, 24.” She offered Aidan her hand. Aidan nodded aswell and shook Sylvies hand. Sylvie then went over to lay out what would happen with the teams which everyone quickly agreed to. As Sylvie and Loki’s group, Dylan ended up deciding to go with them while 96 also went with them. That left Tony, Steve, Banner, Peter, Ben and Aidan in one group with Loki, Sylvie, Mobius, Thor, Valkyrie, Kris and Dylan in one group.

~

“What kind of game do you think it will be?” Peter spoke up as he stood by Banner who was thinking. “Luck based?”

“I’m not sure but we should probably look for strong people.” Banner concluded. “Preferably men-”

“Women can be strong too.” Ben commented. “I mean,” he continued once everyone looked at him. “I saw some pretty strong women here. Perhaps we could ask them.” Ben pointed over to the trio consisting of the red haired women, the dyed blonde and the man. 

Steve made note of them. “I can go ask them if they want to team if you want. Good spot.” Steve smiled as he patted Ben on the shoulder as he walked over to them.

“We need a guy now, to level it all out.” Tony spoke. 

Aidan didn’t pay attention to Tony’s words as he’d already been looking at someone else. Without another word, Aidan walked away and in a certain direction, leaving everyone confused.

“Or you can just walk away…” Tony trailed off.

~

Steve moved through the crowd, cringing as he felt his arms and body brush against people. He was bulky, don’t get him wrong and if the game was strength based then Steve knew his bulk would come in handy. 

Natasha, Yelena and Clint were standing in the corner, discussing what they should look for in their teammates when a large man approached them. Natasha raised a brow as the man awkwardly fumbled over his words, trying to think of a way to speak up.

“Do you three have a team?” The man spoke. “If not, would you like to join us?”

The three looked between themselves. Clint spoke up. “Is that for all three of us?”

The man nodded. “All three of you.” He looked over at the other two before Steve attempted to point back to his team only to notice Aidan had disappeared. He continued. “My friend noticed you three. Said you looked strong. He wanted me to invite you if you’re willing.” He smiled politely.

The three of them looked between each other. Clint shrugged. “I don’t mind going with He-man over here, Nat?”

Natasha and Yelena looked at each other before they both nodded and Natasha pushed herself off of the wall, hands in her pockets as she looked at Steve. She then offered her hand. “Let’s play.”

~

Player 200 was sat on the stairs, picking at the skin on her fingers. She had given up hope long ago. Seeing her brother Pietro die had done her in. She hadn’t originally planned to return but leaving would’ve meant her brother had died for nothing. But to say she had no regard for herself anymore was an understatement. She’d cried herself to sleep more times here than she had in her life. She hadn’t been looking for a team so she was surprised when the shadow of a figure fell over her. She looked up, not bothering to move her hair from her face. Stood in front of her was a man… She thought. He was too thin to be a man, right?

“What do you want?” She spoke quietly, her accent not as strong as it had been before the first game.

The man stayed quiet before he offered her a hand. “Play with us.”

Wanda stayed still. “Why? Can’t you find anyone else?”

“I could. But I’d rather you. You look strong.”

Wanda quirked a brow. “Strong?”

“You look like you can hold your own.”

The man never lowered his arm. Wanda continued not to take it.

“I saw you and your brother.” 

Wanda’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t know him but I doubt he’d want you to die all because you didn’t try.”

Wanda pursed her lips in thought before eventually she stood up and shook the man’s hand before she quickly put her hands in her pockets as she looked up at the man. “Okay.” 

~

Thor stood amongst his team, counting out the numbers again. They needed three more people. But no one was really appealing to their eyes. Dylan was looking at someone and admittedly Kris had noticed.

“You want to get someone, brother?” Kris whispered to Dylan. Dylan cleared his throat and awkwardly nodded his head but didn’t speak up. “Then go ahead. Time’s ticking.” Kris smiled.

Dylan looked over at Thor. He understood Thor had been listening. Thor gave Dylan a nod and in response, Dylan decided to go ahead with it. “Okay, I’ll be back.” he spoke up before he turned tail and walked away. 

Sylvie, seeing this happen, clicked her tongue before she shrugged her hands into her pockets. “Well, in that case, I’m going to go get two more people.” She declared with a smile as she walked in the opposite direction as Dylan. 

~

Dylan had noticed the man a while ago. That was why he was so keenly interested in him. 

Player 120 stared down at Dylan as the brunette approached him. They recognised Dylan from seeing him often during the games. So to see Dylan approaching him made him interested. 

“Play with us.”

Dylan expected to have to convince the man more. To grind him down perhaps. But that’s not what happened. 

“Okay.” 120 shrugged as he offered his hand. 

Dylan raised a brow before going ahead and shaking the man’s hand. “Dylan.”

“Fenrir.” 120 grinned.

~

Sylvie walked around, weaving her way though different people as they mingled. Her original plan was going to recruit player 200 but as she’d noticed Aidan going that way she decided not to and instead chose a different direction. As a result, he found a brunette with heterochromia eyes who was stood in one of the corners. She had noticed people coming to him but hadn’t noticed him going with anyone.

“Hey,” Sylvie spoke up. The man turned to her. “Wanna team?”

The man - Player 227 - raised a brow before he replied. “I’d like to but only if my partner can join. Can you spare us that?”

A man Sylvie hadn’t seen earlier stood up from where he’d been sat. He had shoulder length purple hair that faded into a black. He awkwardly stood behind 227.

Sylvie gulped before she smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, of course. We have room. Come play with us.”

The two men looked relieved and exchanged conversation before they followed Sylvie back to the group.

~

As the time reached zero, all the groups were either stood or sat in a circle discussing what they thought would be the next game. The speaker blared to life, cutting all discussion. 

“The time for forming your teams is over. All players, please line up with your teammates at the entrance to the game hall.”

Tony furrowed his brow as he looked between his teammates. “So we’re not staying in here?”

Steve sighed, feeling his nerves spark to life as the dread set in. 

~

The yellow doors slid open, revealing a large, black room. Two large yellow towers stood to each side in a pit, their intimidating presence bathed in lights that adorned the towers. On the floor lay yellow stripes to keep the teams in order. 

“I would now like to welcome you all to the third game.” A pink guard spoke up. “Today’s game is Tug of War. In order to win, you must pull the rope towards your platform in an attempt to drop your opponents down below.” 

The players looked up at the structures in front of them, many of them concerned and dreading the games ahead. The players in Thanos’ group looked gleefully at the structure as they were all men.

“Now, I will draw numbers to decide which two teams will play first. Everyone, please sit down.” The players all hesitantly did as asked. 

“First, the team that will play on the left tower.” The guard paused as the other guard to the left of him stuffed his hand down into a box. He pulled out a ball with a number on it. 3. 

“Team three. Team three, please stand up.” Thanos’ men stood up with Thanos included. Bucky bit his tongue. “And now, the team that will play on the right tower.” A guard to the right of the speaking guard shoved their hand into an identical box. He pulled out a ball with the number seven. “Team seven, please stand up.” Team seven pushed themselves onto their feet, looking less confident than team three.

“Team three and team seven will be the first teams to play. Will both teams please go to your towers.”

With a guard moving to each tower, the two teams followed suit. Team three moved with determination and confidence while Team seven moved with an air of unease and tension. The players still sat on the ground watched with unease and discomfort.

The players were shackled to the rope with all 20 people holding onto the rope as tightly as they could. Two guards on each tower waved their flags and the guard who’d been speaking beforehand raised a gun and fired into the ceiling. 

The sound of the metal shackles clinging together as well as the sounds of the players yelling and grunting filled the room as the players from below watched timidly. As the flag in the centre of the rope began to lean one way, the sound of team seven’s fear became clear through their raised voices. Team sevens head man, 356 slipped, causing a domino effect leading to the others falling suit and with the rope still being pulled by the opposing team, it caused team seven to slip further and to eventually fall off the platform. Their bodies dangled from the rope by their shackles before a blade in the centre cut the rope. Both teams fell. Team three merely toppled over whilst Team seven fell to their deaths. The players below watched in horror as Team seven’s screams left their ears as they plummeted to the bottom. 

“The following players, Player 356, Player 7, Player 15, Player 38, Player 82, Player 319, Player 320, Player 42, Player 23, and Player 18 are eliminated.” The usual woman announced on the speaker. No one mourned them. Instead the other players took their deaths as a warning for what would happen if they didn’t pull their own weight. 

~

“I will now draw the teams for the next round.” The square guard spoke up. The same two guards put their hands into their boxes and pulled out the next team numbers. “Team One.”

Steve felt the oxygen leave his lungs as he hesitantly stood up, followed by the rest of his team. 

“Team Five.” Said team arose as well. 

“Team one and team five, please go to your towers.”

Chapter Text

~

The walk to and into the elevator leading up to the tower was tense as the group got in. As the elevator shut its doors, no one said anything as it eventually began to slowly raise. 

No one had any confidence going in. Especially after seeing the previous groups demise. 

“There’s more to tug-of-war than just raw strength. There’s brain behind it as well.” Ben spoke up.

“Do you expect us to be able to speak to them into letting us win?” Yelena scoffed, her russian accent ringing clear. 

“Don’t be daft.” Ben rolled his eyes, his hand having never once left Aidan’s pocket - because that’s where Aidan’s hand was. “It’s a game of strategy, combined with good teamwork. It’s a good way to win against the stronger teams.”

Wanda swallowed, the fear beginning to clearly rise in her eyes and body as she looked back to Ben. “Only god can save us now, I know it.”

Aidan tilted his head at the comment. 

“No offense blonde but you’re not exactly screaming strength here.” Yelena commented. “So maybe keep your strength for the upcoming battle ahead.”

“Hang on, hang on.” Banner spoke up, raising his hand. “Let’s hear what Ben has to say.”

Ben smiled before clearing his throat. “Tug-of-war can be a lot more complicated than at first glance. When I was younger, even when the odds were against me, I’d always win through this strategy. You need a good leader, who can keep their eye on the front and how the other team is performing while the rest of the team focuses on said leader and follows their lead. If the leaders spirit falters, the game has already been lost. At the end, you need someone strong and dependable, akin to a ship’s anchor. Afterwards, it’s all about the arrangement. It should be a pattern. One person right, one person left, one person right, etcetera.”

~

Ben’s words and technique had gotten the others to change tactics and to at the very least, give it a go.

“Feet should be straight forward.”

Tony stood at the front, staring straight ahead at the opposing team. In order, from the head of the rope (Which was Tony) to the back was Tony, Clint, Natasha, Ben, Wanda, Banner, Peter, Yelena, Aidan and Steve.

“The rope should be in your armpits so everyone can pull their weight.”

Natasha and Clint looked between themselves, nodding at one another. 

“Once the game begins, for the first ten seconds…”

As the gun was shot from the square guard, The team held their ground, pulling but not yanking. They leaned back, pushing their lower abdomen to the sky as hard as they could as well as leaning their head back to the point they could see the person behind them. The action kept them rooted and kept them from being pulled to the other side. 

After ten seconds, the opposing team began to get frustrated and tired. But despite the pulling, the team did not budge.

Tony despite his position kept his gaze on the other team, waiting for that moment where they slipped and once they did… 

“They slipped! Go!” Tony yelled and like the snap of his fingers, the team rearranged and began to pull, jumping in time with one another as they pulled the rope. They grunted and yelled and put their all into it but despite having been able to get the rope pretty far to their end, the opposing team had begun to win against them again. The team began to fall apart slowly in response as the panic of going over the edge began to set in. 

“Okay! That didn’t work! What now?” Tony yelled behind him.

“We startle them!” Clint yelled back, a determined look on his face as he continued.” On my command, we take three steps forward towards the edge! They’ll get startled and fall, trust me!”

“But that’s certain death!” Wanda yelled back.

“We pull back straight after! Trust me!” Clint screamed, frustration boiling in his gut. 

“There’s no way in hell we’re doing that!” Wanda yelled 

“We may as well try! He’s gotten us this far!” Tony yelled behind him as he got himself prepared to take those steps forward. “On your command!”

Clint nodded. “On my command! One! Two..”

“Three!”

As Clint said ‘three’ everyone took three steps forward. As they did, the opposing team fell but the push from everyone else caused Tony to dangle over the edge and eventually go over. However Natasha and Clint who were near the front quickly managed to pull Tony back over, with the group quickly falling back in line with their usual pulling method. 

The other group struggled and struggled, trying their best to fight against the pulling but eventually it was all over like that. All ten of the male players soon fell off the edge. The blade in the centre cut the rope, leading to the other team falling from the tension. As they laid there, the only sound noticeable was their breaths as they tried to catch it from the stress. No one thought about the ten dead bodies at the bottom of the pit. All they thought about was their escape from death through their win.

~

The elevator back down was tense, aside from Wanda, no one was talking. 

At this point, Aidan was convinced Wanda had lost as she mumbled a prayer under her breath. He knew everyone was entitled to their own beliefs but…

“Hey, girl. You do realise your ‘god’ does not exist?”

Wanda ignored him. Aidan tilted his head.

“You think your god saved you?” Aidan crouched down to be on her level on the floor. Ben slapped Aidan's shoulder, trying to deter him from stirring the pot. “The reason you’re still breathing isn’t because of god, you precious little bitch… It’s because of my lover,” he nodded in Ben’s direction. “And the guy near the front who came up with that three step method. The one you denounced.” 

Ben couldn’t help but shake his head in dismay. This wasn’t the first time Aidan had gotten into an argument because of religion and Ben knew it wouldn’t be the last.

“If there’s anyone you should be thanking. It’s them, not God.” 

Wanda finally stopped praying. She looked up at Aidan before promptly slapping him hard across the face. “You sad pathetic man, what would you say about those who’ve sacrificed themselves for our salvation today? I pray to the Lord on behalf of all us sinners. I give thanks to their sacrifice. Today, God made a decision to help our team win. That is what I should be giving thanks to.”

Aidan had not been deterred when he’d been slapped. Even as his nose began to bleed from the slap. He stood back up and leaned against the wall again, staring down at her. “Bullshit. I understand you’re still grieving over your brother but let’s face it, you killed those people out there.” Aidan smirked as he put his hands together, mocking the prayer. “Oh! Maybe if we say some prayers, that little act of sin will be forgotten about by God and we all get to heaven! I should pray too if it’s that easy!”

At this point Wanda had gone back to praying, so Aidan had followed suit, the blood dripping into his mouth at this point. “Our God who art in Heaven, we worked as a team to send people to your side. And we sent a bunch of them today. And please help us with a whole lot more to be with you. And I hope that from now on-”

“Be quiet!” 

Aida hit his head back against the wall as he kept his hands clasped. He rolled his eyes, dropping his hands to his lap as he looked down at the man who’d ruined his little ‘prayer’. Ben. “You mean me? Or the crazy bitch-”

“Both of you.”

The elevator came to a stop.

One by one, the players walked out, feeling their muscles aching from the experience. 

~

As they walked back into the dormitory, they were greeted with the sight of Thanos’ group who stared right back at them as they walked in. Steve particularly - Tony noted - stared hard at Player 105. And Player 105 stared right back at him. 

~

40. 40 was the number of players still left alive once the other winning teams came back. Loki’s group had joined back in with Tony’s and while Wanda was keeping her distance from Aidan, the people that had been recruited during Tug-of-war remained. 

“-And honestly I thought we were going to die but then sir over here came up with that brilliant plan and oh as soon as we all leaned back all I could feel was how strong we were as a group!” Peter excitedly exclaimed as he took bites of his corn. “All I could think was ‘oh my god, is this really going to work?’ and it did! Wahay!” He looked over at Ben who admittedly hadn’t been paying attention. “How’d you know to do that?”

Ben raised a brow, perking up a bit before he replied. “Childhood. Played tug-of-war a lot when I was younger, especially during Dydd Chwaraeon, didn’t we Aidan?” Ben nudged Aidan’s side who quickly nodded his head.

“Dydd Chwaraeon?” Peter repeated. “Never heard of that.”

“What is that?” Tony spoke up as the group looked over at Ben and Aidan.

“What? Sports day?” Ben raised an eyebrow. Everyone else seemed to understand then.

“Oh, right! So what you just said, is that a different language?”

“Welsh.” Kris spoke up. He’d sat himself in the bottom corner, listening to the others communicate. “Me, Ben, Aidan and Dylan are all from Wales. Moved here all at different times.”

The other players nodded their heads in interest as admittedly it was very interesting stuff to hear. It was clear the others wanted to learn more about Wales and why the four had moved but the sound of the soft ringtone rang through the dormitory, followed by the woman’s voice.

“Players, your bedtime will begin in 30 minutes. Please return to your assigned beds and prepare for lights-out.”

The team grew uneasy as the previous night's events lingered in everyone’s mind.

“Another fight could break out tonight.” The purple/black haired man spoke up. He’d been curled up against the man with heterochromia eyes this whole time. “We should come up with a plan if that’s cool with you all.” 

“That’s not a bad idea.” Tony concluded as he stood up, thinking over what they could do.

“We should kill the other team’s.” Loki suggested, earning him a slap on the wrist from Mobius. 

“And say if we do successfully manage to kill the other team’s, what does that then leave us with for the rest of the games?” Aidan spoke up, a smirk spreading on his face. “Just leaves us. Do you think we’ll play nice and just… Share the earnings?” he snickered, earning Aidan a scowl from Loki.

“Exactly, no murder.” Thor spoke up, “Not for those reasons though.”

“Why don’t we make a barricade?” The man with heterochromia spoke up. “Before the lights go out. We could dismantle some of the extra beds and create a base of sorts.”

“And then we could have people keeping watch in turns throughout the night. Since there’s so many of us, we could do 30 minutes each round.” Player 120 offered. 

“All excellent ideas!” Tony declared. “Let’s do it!”

~

As the clock ticked down, the entire group worked together to build a fortified shelter out of the beds. As Loki positioned a frame, he ended up face to face with Thanos who shot Loki a smug grin. 

“Do you think this will be enough?” Thanos spoke up. 

Loki still had a bit of fear regarding Thanos but he also knew he had a group now to rely on at least in this place. “I’d be more worried about yourself, Thanos.” Loki commented, keeping his gaze on him.

When Thanos didn’t come up with a response straight away, Loki continued. “I’d be more concerned with your group than anyone else’s. You’re a big man, Thanos. You’re likely the strongest here. I’d go for you if I was them.”

And with that little exchange, Loki covered up the frame with a panel and turned away. Despite how calm he’d been during the conversation, his heart was hammering in his chest from anxiety. 

~

As the final minute ticked down, the group had already figured out who’d go on first watch so now they were just learning one another’s names and in order they’d learned the names of the new players. Player 96’s - the player that had joined them during the night riot - name was Valkyrie. The players that had joined Tony’s group was Natasha (455), Yelena (288), Clint (394) and Wanda (200) while the people who’d joined Loki’s group were called Fenrir (120), Zennra (067/ the purple/black haired man) and Elliott (227/the man with heterochromia). 

And as the final seconds ticked down, Steve and Natasha took their positions while everyone else got into bed so that when the lights finally went off, they were ready in case anything indeed went down.

~

“You were also in the military?” Steve questioned as he looked at 455. He never would’ve expected her to have been in the military at all.

“Yeah, me and my sister Yelena migrated from Russia to the US. We then went into special forces as me and her were originally in the Russian military. Thought we could put our talents to use.” Natasha smiled. “So what about you? How come you were in the military?”

“I felt the need to serve.” Steve replied. “As a kid, I was frail, admittedly. Asthma. Got me rejected multiple times but eventually I doctored a note and managed to get my way in to fight alongside my best friend, Bucky.”

“What war did you fight then, if you don’t mind me asking?” Natasha spoke up.

“Iraq.” Steve replied. “Yes, that does give you the right to call me old even though I’m like… Only 47-”

“Jesus christ, Steve!” Natasha couldn’t help but smile. “You’re going to make me cry here!” she giggled. 

The two’s conversation continued on, talking about military life and what they did outside and before that. The conversation then sparked up about their loved ones.

“I got out of the army without much issue shockingly. My friend on the other hand, not so much.” Steve explained as he decided to point out Thanos' group. “My friend Bucky is over there, working with Thanos. He’s got this metal prosthetic arm that no matter the weather, he always chooses to keep it covered with a jacket. Me and Sam tell him it looks ridiculous but he usually scowls in response.”

Natasha nodded in understanding, feeling sympathy for a man she’d never even met. “War left him fucked up then, I assume.”

Steve nodded. “Took him ages to get a system in. He refused to leave the house, barely slept, stayed in the army routine for almost months after we’d left the army. Me and Sam we’d… Take care of him as much as we could, yknow?”

Natasha nodded in understanding. “I don’t have experience with that sort of field but I understand what you mean. How did he heal?”

Steve looked away and out into the open space, his eyes lingering on the area where Thanos’ group were. “He didn’t heal. He just… Processed and began to move on. Me and Sam got him a new routine, helped him get medicine and therapy and from then on he began to move on.”

Natasha nodded quietly. She found listening to the man interesting despite the differences in their lives. 

But eventually, their conversations had to come to an end. 

~

Tony had been keeping watch for at least an hour now after Steve and Natasha had retired for the night. He could feel himself beginning to fall asleep admittedly but he forced himself to remain awake. 

As another drowsy spell hit him, Tony’s head almost hit the pole before a hand patted his shoulder. He woke up with a jolt, looking around before he eventually noticed it was the teenager, 301.

“Kid?” Tony groggily spoke up. “Go back to sleep.”

“You almost fell asleep sir.” 301 commented. “And my name’s Peter, you know?” Tony shrugged as Peter continued to speak. “Besides I thought you could use the company, you were falling asleep.”

Tony begrudgingly accepted his company, so he changed subject.

“So why are you here kid? Aren’t you too young to be in debt?”

Peter laughed but he looked away with a slight hint of sadness in his eyes. “Ah that… That is an interesting question.” he looked up. “You go first, Mr…”

“Stark. Tony Stark, but Tony is okay.” Tony replied as now it was his turn to look back, like he was imagining the memories right there. “I had and operated a huge company, or well technically I still do. My wife was the boss, cracking the whip and making the demands while I worked on the actual product making side of things.” Tony explained, not failing to notice Peter watching him. “I got a bit too big for my britches admittedly. It started with a night out in Vegas, then a night in Tokyo, then London and the next thing I knew I was a playboy and an alcoholic. Eventually I stopped sleeping around because I fell in love but the alcohol never left.”

Tony didn’t really wish to continue but he forced himself to. It was probably best to get it out in the open not just for Peter but for himself. “My reputation made Stark Industries suffer. Investors started pulling out, I started drinking more heavily, my wife Pepper started feeling funny and the next thing we knew Stark Industries was millions of dollars in debt, we had to move out of our apartment in New York and we have a baby on the way it’s-” Tony rubbed a hand over his face and raked it through his hair. “I’m here because I’m doing this for her.”

Peter had listened quietly, legs curled up to his knees as he rested his head on said knees with his arms wrapped around his legs. He was so invested in this man’s shortcomings and tragedy that he hadn’t even noticed Tony had finished and was looking at him expectantly. Peter raised his head. “Gosh that’s a lot.” Peter mumbled.

“Tell me about it.” Tony shrugged before he leaned against the bed frame. “So tell me about you.”

“It’s not as bad as yours, Mr. Stark.” Peter replied. Tony waited. “My uncle Ben recently fell ill. They think it’s cancer. We’ve been flooded in debt back in Queens and it’s been hard on all of us, my aunt May especially. I’ve taken odd jobs here and there but nothing that can pay all of it off so…” Peter paused, rubbing between his eyes. “The man in the suit asked me for a game, the money, the cards…”

“The slap?” Tony spoke up, Peter looked confused.

“No slaps. I beat him more than he beat me and I was always able to give him back the money he’d fork over.”

Tony looked slightly defeated. A damn kid was better at that game than he was. 

“Right, I’m sorry to hear about your uncle, kid. What kind of cancer is it?”

Peter hummed. “It’s alright Stark. And it’s renal but since we caught it late he’s not got much time.” Peter sniffed. “Why do you ask?”

Tony shifted his weight, moving his body to be facing in a certain general direction. He pointed to Aidan and Ben who were swaddled up together in a sitting up position that did not look that comfortable. “You see 24 and 27? They’ve had a cancer scare as well.” Tony looked back at Peter who was staring at the two in empathy. “It’s not my place to say who had it but I know they had a hard time getting a donor too.” 

With that, Tony rested his hand on Peter’s shoulder, patting it. “If you feel like talking to someone about that, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind speaking to you about it.”

Peter nodded, before commenting something that made Tony snicker. “I don’t mind 27 but… 24 scares me a lot.”

Tony managed to keep a straight face. “24 isn’t bad once you get to know him. He’s just protective and superstitious. He wants to protect his family, that’s all.” He patted Peter’s shoulder again. “Talk to Ben first - the blonde guy - if you want to get to Aidan. Ben’s a sweetheart and Aidan is head over heels for him.”

Peter nodded, a smile on his face as he made note of this for later usage. “Was 24 - I mean Aidan - the one with the cancer?” As Tony nodded, Peter continued. “He doesn’t look like he should be in here, he still looks ill and pale.” 

At that, Tony decided to look a bit closer at Aidan’s form. The man did indeed look quite pale. It made Tony pause. “Huh, I never noticed that honestly until now. Good eyes.” 

Peter smiled before choosing to change the subject. “You know, 302? Mr. Banner?” Tony nodded. “He’s helped me out a ton. I mean he’s my mentor obviously so he’s helped me out in school but he’s also helped me out during the games.” Tony admittedly looked very interested. “In Red Light, Green Light I tripped over a body. He grabbed me by my shirt and kept me up. It was terrifying but he kept me going. I think I’d be dead if it wasn’t for him.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, Banner’s always been pretty strong. He doesn’t look like much but he’s something alright. Not sure if he’s mellowed out over the years but he’s got a mean left hook on him and a bad attitude.” Peter laughed softly. “I’m being serious. When I’d work with him, I always tell him ‘you gotta sort that anger out, Bruce’. He did not like me saying that.”

“He’s been kinder to me than he has you it seems.” Peter laughed. Tony couldn’t help but smile in amusement. 

“You’re a good kid, Peter.” Tony patted his shoulder once more. “Now go wake Aidan up. I could do with the sleep.”

~

Aidan didn’t wake up without too much of a fuss, in fact he said nothing to the kid after he’d woken up and instead had only said for Ben to go back to sleep. The two were sat in an awkward silence. Peter had many questions to ask the man but the man didn’t seem keen on speaking to him much. 

“You keep staring at me.” Peter practically jumped out of his skin. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay. I understand I’m a peculiar thing to look at. Stare all you want.”

And Peter took that literally as he moved to the man’s right side to look at the man’s skin markings (Vitiligo), scars and the dried up blood under his nostril which was still weeping slightly.

“I have a question,” When Peter received no response, he pressed onwards. “I was talking to Mr. Stark and he talked about how you and your partner dealt with renal cancer.” Peter paused when he noticed Aidan tense visibly. “I’m sorry if it’s rude to ask but my uncle has it and I wanted to ask how you two coped.”

There was a pause. But it wasn’t uncomfortable or anything like how it was before. 

“I was the one with renal cancer.” Aidan spoke, keeping eye contact with Peter the entire time as his face softened slightly out of sympathy for Peter and sadness of his own state at the time. “It runs in my family and while we caught it early, it wrecked me quite a bit due to the wait for a donor because of my blood type.” 

Peter kept his gaze fixated on Aidan the entire time. To hear of his own battle was strangely comforting for Peter. “How have you fared with it?”

“At first, I thought I was going to die.” Aidan admitted with a short laugh. “I remember just staring at my husband a bit more every moment I saw him because I was trying to memorise his facial features one last time just in case I never got the chance to again. Every night I’d wake up in cold sweats, fearing the worst. I’d pace on my balcony, take sleeping pills to make me go back to bed. It was a nightmare. I had to take time off eventually from work because I’d pass out randomly and I’d end up in hospital. It was that bad. But,” Aidan paused. “Then it happened. I got a donor.” Aidan subconsciously put his hand on his side. 

“I adapted quickly despite the blood type not matching mine exactly. I’m still managing somewhat - I still catch illnesses quite often because my immune system was shot - but overall I’m recovering well.”

Peter nodded, deciding to change conversation as admittedly it had been bugging him for a while. “You made fun of that girl for praying to god. How come?”

Aidan sighed. “My father was an abusive drunk of a man. Whenever he’d beat me and my brothers he’d pray to God for forgiveness. To ‘cleanse him’ of the sin he was committing. Despite apparently feeling guilt, he never stopped doing it. My mother was dead so we had no one to save us. So I had to take control.” he raked a hand through his hair. “When he was distracted with beating my youngest brother, I got in the way and I ran to the kitchen and stabbed him with a kitchen knife. I obviously went to prison but not for long.”

Peter nodded. His opinion on Aidan had changed but Peter figured Aidan was the type to kill someone in self defence.

The two kept their eyes on one another for a few minutes longer before Aidan scrunched his nose up as he felt something was off. He turned around and was met with green eyes staring at him. Aidan didn’t flinch. Peter did. 

As soon as that happened, the owner of the green eyes came forward. Loki.

It became clear that Loki had been watching for longer than the two realised. 

“Loki.” Aidan greeted the man as he walked over to them.

Loki leaned down and patted Peter’s shoulder. “You go sleep, I’ll take over.”

Peter didn’t really want to but he was in no position to argue so he said goodnight to the two of them and went back to sleep as Loki took his place. 

~

“So, you murdered your dad and had cancer, huh? Cool.” Loki smiled. 

Aidan scrunched his nose up. “I still technically have the cancer-”

“You look it.” Loki smirked.

“I can assume you have a relationship with the bald guy?” Aidan changed the subject. “Did you fuck him?”

Loki went bright red. “What?! Do you seriously take me the type-”

“I was joking.” Aidan’s deadpan delivery made Loki even more furious. 

“Oh for fucks sake- I used to work under him. Classic mafia, yknow? Ran away after a few years.”

“So seeing him now is making you shit bricks? Classy.” Aidan smiled. 

“I’d have rather never seen him again.”

Aidan nodded his head.

After a small pause, Loki spoke up again. “Who do you think will win?” He turned his head to face Aidan but Aidan didn’t give him the same pleasure.

“I don’t think anyone will win.” Aidan replied as he looked up at the piggy bank again. 

Loki was a bit surprised. “Do you mean as in our group or?”

“Everyone.” Aidan replied. “No one is making it out of this.”

Loki waited for clarification. Aidan eventually turned his head to face Loki. 

“I do believe that a winner will emerge victorious from this, yes. But that victor will wish they never won.”

Loki nodded, taking in his words. He watched as Aidan began to pick at the loose threads on his jacket. “And the rest?” Aidan raised his head. “What will happen to the rest? What do you think they’ll do?”

Aidan paused as he twirled a loose thread between his hands and yanked it, watching it fray. “I think,” He yanked again, the thread snapping in two. “We’re going to tear each other to pieces.”

Chapter Text

~

The shrill sound of an alarm blaring through the speakers rung out through the dorm as the lights came on. The players all looked confused as they woke up from their spots as the guards came walking in, carrying their guns and a… Coffin. Loki grimaced as he forced himself awake and stood up like the rest of his teammates to look down at the sight. To see the commotion though he was disappointed to see none. 

“Attention. All players,” The women over the speaker spoke. “Please make your way to the center of the room.”

As she repeated herself, the guards came around, pointing their guns at people's faces as they awkwardly shifted their way to the center. No one wanted to come forward admittedly but they also didn’t want to know what would happen if they just didn’t listen. Most assumed death. As they moved, the group of guards holding the coffin came closer to one of the taller bunk beds that hadn’t been knocked down. 

Loki didn’t understand it at first, but when he overheard a woman asking ‘Where’s player 11?’ Loki was able to put two and two together.

“What’s going on?” Mobius mumbled as he quietly approached Loki after having put his jacket back on, wrapping his arms around the man’s admittedly snapped hips. Loki looked down at him. 

“It’s definitely something to do with a player.” Loki pointed out the coffin and the guards. Loki took the chance to move forwards to try and get a better look as Mobius awkwardly stepped in tow behind him, trying to ignore the guards. As Loki predicted, it hadn’t been for a good reason. 

From some bedsheets tied at the top of the bunk bed and hanging from a makeshift noose was the missing and now ‘eliminated’ Player 11 as the women announced as the guards managed to cut him down and then lowered him into the coffin. As he was announced eliminated, the prize total went up once more.

~

After the coffin was removed, the players were all lined up in the centre in their teams. Despite the tension, especially with the guards looking them over, Mobius still felt the need to hold onto something of Loki’s, anything. As he stared at the man’s back, his eyes wandered down to their jacket which was wrapped around their waist. It made Mobius realise they’d accidentally swapped jackets and while Mobius didn’t mind, he was interested in making a joke about it. 

“Hey, Loki-”

But his words were drowned out by the announcer. “Attention. The fourth game is about to begin. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall. Let me repeat the instructions. The fourth game is about to begin. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.”

One by one, the guards at each team line began to walk towards the doorway, leading the teams to the next rooms. As the players climbed up the stairs, most often no words were ever spoken, however Mobius couldn’t resist.

“Hey Loki,” Mobius spoke up. Loki looked back but didn’t stop. Mobius took that as a response. “Have you noticed your jacket looks a bit loose on you?”

Loki hummed as he quickly looked behind him again before he looked down at the jacket and well… “Ah, this one’s yours.” Loki spoke up after reading the number ‘111’. “I assume you have my one then.” Mobius shook his head, making Loki confused. 

“Nah, I’d like a piece of you with me, especially if yknow…” he left his sentence at that, especially as Mobius noticed Loki's shoulders tense. “Sorry, I shouldn’t say that.”

Loki shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t but… If you want my jacket, that’s fine with me, my dear.” Loki turned his head to smile at Mobius who in turn smiled right back at him despite his shortening breath. In turn, Loki slowed his pace so that he could manage to walk side by side with him. Eventually Loki even wrapped his arm around Mobius’ waist to show his support for him. 

~

As the players filtered down and into a similar white room to the previous game, the players remained quiet, their thoughts clearly occupied by trying to figure out what game would be played next. As they grouped themselves back into their teams once again, the speaker came on again. 

“Players, welcome to the fourth game. For this game, you will be playing in teams of two. Please look around and find someone you wish to play with. When two people agree to play together, shake hands to show you have become partners. Let me repeat the instructions. For this game, you will be playing in teams of two. Please look around and find someone you wish to play with. When two people agree to play together, shake hands to show you have become partners. There can only be two players per team. You will have ten minutes to find your partner.”

~

Admittedly the group wasn’t sure how to split themselves up. It was easier to add to the team then divide if that made sense. 

“I already have my partner in mind, so count me out guys.” Steve stood up. Tony stopped him. 

“Woah, woah, woah big guy. Where are you going? We need you here-”

Steve paused before he sighed. “I already know who I’m teaming up with Tony. Just let me go, alright?” 

Tony hesitated. “If you’re so sure then you better come back alive, okay?”

Steve nodded. And as Tony let go, Steve waved a small goodbye to the rest of the group and walked away. 

“So there goes Steve.” Tony sighed. As he looked around, he was met with his team still sitting on the steps awkwardly without an idea on what to do. “Guess we should try and figure this out.”

Aidan turned his head to look at Ben, their hands locked together. He was about to speak up when Dylan got up and walked over to Aidan. 

“Aidan.” As he spoke up, Aidan turned his head, exasperated by Dylan’s mere existence. “I think me and you should team. Just in case.”

Aidan shot him a displeased look. “In case what?” 

“In case it’s not about teamwork.” Ben murmured as he stood up, patting Aidan’s shoulder. “It’s alright, dear. You work with Dylan. I’ll see you on the other side.” Ben kissed Aidan straight on the lips but before he could go, Aidan grabbed Ben’s wrist and stood up.

“Wait,” he spoke up. “Give me your jacket, just so I can feel like you’re still here, with me.” 

Dylan snorted, “Christ, seriously?” But to his amazement, Ben complied and the two traded jackets. Once Ben walked away, Aidan turned to Dylan and nodded but he didn’t shake his hand.

~

As Steve walked through the crowd of players, he already had a target in sight. And he soon found him tucked in a corner, arms crossed. 

“Bucky!” Steve called out, causing the player to look over at him. Seeing him with only one arm was surprising, it had been a good while since Steve had seen him without his prosthetic. “Hey, let’s team.”

Bucky grimaced as he finally recognised Steve and couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions. “But… Why? You have a team I presume.” 

“Yeah, but I want you. You’re my friend. Isn’t that enough?” Steve pressed. 

Bucky sighed, pushing himself off the wall. He uncrossed his arms.

Steve offered his hand to Bucky who looked at it in kind and hesitantly shook hands with him. “Fine.”

~

“Play with me.” 

Ben looked up, only to see the towering figure of Kris standing over him. Ben stood up. “Why?”

“I can’t see you begging anyone else. Plus I’ll make sure that you win. Scout’s honour.” Kris smiled. 

“What will you do?” 

“Whatever it takes.”

Ben thought about it, his hands in his pockets as he spoke up again. “Did you and Dylan somehow plan to keep me and Aidan apart? How come?”

“He did that?” Kris questioned in confusion before he shook his head. “No, we didn’t plan this. But I have a feeling that something isn’t right between them. Dylan has done this on purpose.”

Kris’ words immediately made Ben distrustful as he shook his head. “No, no this isn’t right.” Without warning, Ben moved past Kris and headed straight to where Aidan and Dylan were and grabbed Aidan by the sleeve. “Something doesn’t feel right. We’re staying together, me and you.”

Seeing Ben’s insistence, Aidan nodded and shook Ben’s hand before walking away with him, leaving a frustrated Dylan and a confused Kris who looked at Dylan. 

“What did you do?” Kris asked, Dylan looked taken aback.

“I didn’t do anything-” He looked over at the timer before he cursed under his breath and offered his hand out to his brother. “Look, we can argue later just team with me.”

Kris scoffed. “Hell no. You’re planning something and I want no part in it.” With that, Kris pushed past Dylan, bumping his shoulder as he left. As Kris left, Dylan had spotted the player with the snake bites. 

~

Tony really had no idea who to pair with really. He had been looking, especially after he started seeing his team start to team up with one another. Admittedly Tony was beginning to lose hope when he ended up bumping into someone. As he grabbed him to stop him from falling, Tony immediately realised who it was. “Kid?”

“Mr. Stark?”

As Tony noticed how shaken up Peter seemed - The fear in his eyes was obvious and Tony couldn’t help but feel sorry for the kid - and with time running low, Tony offered his hand to Peter. “Hey, it’s okay. Let’s stick together, alright? We’ll be okay.”

Peter didn’t hesitate, clasping Tony’s hand in his and quickly shook it. “T-thank you, Mister Stark.” 

~

“The time for finding a partner is now over. All players proceed to the game hall with your partner, immediately.”

As the pairs slowly made their way into said hall, Kris stood in utter defeat in the clinical walls of the pairing room. The realisation of his lack of a partner setting in. As he counted the numbers he recognised the odd number and he couldn’t help but feel dread as he looked over at the guards that had shut the curtains over the door. He took a breath as he attempted to stand his ground…

~

“Attention. All players, please follow the staff to your designated positions for the game.”

A guard came over to each pair before guiding them away from the entrance of the game hall.

As they moved, Tony couldn’t help but notice the design of the hall was definitely different from how it had been in the past. Fake houses littered the place with brick walls separating them. It was like a suburban maze. Tony patted Peter’s shoulder as he could practically feel the man shivering. “Hey, we’ll get through this, kid. Don’t worry about it.” Peter managed to smile but it didn’t meet his eye. 

Eventually the guard guiding them stopped.

“Players, please take one bag each from the staff member before you.”

The guard in front of them raised his arms and offered the two of them a bag. Whatever was inside clicked and rattled together. As the two took them and opened the contents out of the bag, the speaker spoke up again.

“There should be a set of ten marbles in each bag. Please check to confirm the number.”

“It’s marbles.” Peter spoke up as he looked up at Tony. Tony nodded. 

“In this game, using your set of ten marbles, you will play the game of your choice with your partner. The player who manages to take all ten marbles from their partner wins. Let me repeat.”

Tony felt himself deflate. He didn’t need the instructions repeated. He looked down at Peter who visually looked even more shaken up than before as he looked up at Tony. 

“Tony?” Peter’s voice cracked.

“You will have 30 minutes for this game. Let the game begin.”

~

“Well shit.” Aidan managed to utter out as he slumped onto the stairs. Ben meanwhile was left standing, staring at his bag of marbles with both fear and sadness.

“Nothing’s been this sad since the Iraq war.” Aidan snorted. “I should know, I was in that one. Tragic.” He grinned to himself as he looked over at Ben. “How’d you wanna play then? Loosey goosey? Tighty whitey?” He snickered, causing Ben to snap his head towards him.

“Aidan. Not now…” Ben whined, shaking his head as he walked over to him. He loved his husband dearly but there were times he wished he’d pushed more for Aidan to get that bipolar diagnosis back when they were in the UK. “Look, what do you want to play?”

Aidan shrugged his shoulders as he straightened up and tossed his bag of marbles into the air before grabbing it again. “Dunno. Maybe we shouldn’t play at all.”

Ben raised a brow. “Seriously? Are you taking this seriously-”

“We could just gamble on one throw. Winner takes all.” Aidan offered, looking at Ben with earnest. “We could finish it in one round then. And then for right now… We could just talk.”

Ben thought about it, before he nodded his head. “Okay, I’m listening.”

~

“Hey, it’s okay. Take a deep breath.” 

Peter turned to face Tony again, his heart hammering in his chest as he pushed his closed fit forwards to Peter. They’d gone through this a few times, each fist making the pair sweat. 

“Do you think it’s odd or even?” 

Peter gulped as he looked down at his hands before he closed his fists and offered his fist over. 

“Odd.”

Tony hesitated before he turned his fist over and opened his hand.

Even.

Peter’s hands shook as Tony gulped and stated his prediction.

“Odd.”

Peter turned his fists and opened his hand. 

Odd.

As Peter put his betted marbles down into Tony’s hands, Tony felt nothing but pure sadness. He was going to get this kid killed. 

~

Bucky and Steve had both been playing the same game of betting but weren’t getting anywhere. They were playing quickly and loosely. Neither discussing what should happen once someone finally won. They both were aware their lives were on the line and instead of just talking they were instead just… Betting. Neither men wished to discuss their feelings. And neither men were thinking straight. 

Whilst Bucky and Steve played, literally just a group away from them was Loki and Mobius who were doing the opposite of the muscle bros. They’d decided to do something similar to Aidan and Ben which was to sit back and talk about what they were going to do. 

“Hey, can you promise me something?” Mobius spoke up, looking up at Loki who was pacing. “When you get out of here with the money, can you… Can you look after the cafe for me?”

Loki immediately looked at Mobius with a scowl. “Who’s to say I’m the one getting out of here? You have an equal chance here.” Loki walked over to him, sitting down next to him. 

Mobius nodded quietly, taking in Loki’s words. But Mobius had already made up his mind as he stood up and over to a wall before patting it. “Let’s toss our marbles over here. Closest to the wall wins.”

Loki scrutinised the idea before he stood up and walked over to the wall again. “You know what? Sure. Shall we do it now?”

“Sure, saves us arguing.” Mobius laughed as he patted Loki’s lower back - and accidentally patting his ass instead - as the two walked away from the wall to get into position. “Winner takes all.”

~

Eventually, the players began to get executed, their numbers getting announced over the speaker. 

Aidan and Ben stood in front of one another, the draw already made. Aidan clutched the bag of marbles, all traces of his humor having left when Ben had purposefully let the marble slip in his hand. It had been a complete 180 for Aidan seeing Ben give up completely like that had made Aidan's face fall and all colour drain from his face. 

And yet Ben was okay with this. He was smiling. His hands were in Aidan’s as he tried to offer comfort. “Hey, it was bound to happen. We said we’d stay with one another till the end, no? I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Ben smiled. Aidan’s lips trembled as he grabbed Ben by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall, leading to Ben having to stand on his toes. 

“Ben… I don’t know if I can…”

“You can.” Ben replied as he raised his hands and gently cupped Aidan’s face, hands trembling as his thumbs wiped the tears that fell from his darling's face. “You’ve always been the rock in our relationship my dear. I mean… Who can survive both prison and renal cancer!” Ben laughed in amusement, causing Aidan to do the same.

“You dick.” He stuttered. “You absolute fucking plum!” 

“It’s just butter fingers, dear.”

Aidan shook his head, lip trembling as he surged forwards and locked lips with Ben who reciprocated the kiss for a few moments before the two pulled away. They stared at each other longingly before Ben slowly pulled away from Aidan who helplessly let him. They couldn’t cling to each other forever. Ben stopped a few paces from Aidan where a guard was ready. Ben managed to give him a huge smile. 

“Come on, dear. I’m giving you a smile so give me one, kay? I’d rather have a good memory over a bad memory right about now.” Ben spoke up, giggling. “Please?”

Aidan choked out a sob before he managed to turn his sobs into laughter, leading to him giving Ben as big a smile as he can.

“I’ve always loved your smile, Aid.” Ben sputtered. “Cause no matter how many times you try, your overbite will always make it look like you’re a part of that silly British cartoon band you used to adore. It’s always suited you, fy cariad.” Ben winced slightly as he heard the fabric of the guard shift as he pulled out the gun. “Ennill I fi, iawn cariad?”

Bang

Player 27, eliminated.

Aidan flinched at the shot, his body raking with both sobs and laughter as he brought a hand up to his face and felt his lover's blood on his face. He didn’t dare wipe it off as his hand instead trailed down and rested it on the number on his jacket. Not his jacket. Ben’s.

“Why are you so insistent it’ll be me who wins?”

There was three minutes left on the timer. Loki and Mobius stood at the line drawn in the sand. Before they tossed their marbles however, Loki looked to his left and ended up noticing Tony handing his marbles over to the guard before walking back over to Peter to hug him tightly. Loki could see the pain in the man’s actions as he witnessed him beginning to cry. 

“Because you have the brighter future.” Mobius shrugged as he looked over to his right and saw a dead Natasha on the floor. “I don’t.”

Loki looked back at Mobius before he looked to the wall. “I don’t. I was a part of a mafia gang Mobius. That’s not exactly bright.” And then he took his throw. It was a pretty good throw but nowhere near close to the wall.

Mobius smirked. “I’d have never thought that.” He looked up at Loki before he looked down at the marble in his hand. “Say, I taught you how to cook the stuff in my cafe, no?” Before Loki could respond, Mobius’ fingers slipped and the marble dropped to the floor. “Whoops. Guess you’re the cafe owner now.” Mobius smiled, a tired but genuine smile that reached his eyes. 

“Why didn’t you-” But Loki was cut off with a quick but chaste kiss. When Mobius tried to pull away, Loki pulled him back into a deeper kiss. When they pulled away yet again, all Loki could do was shake his head and let go of him. “You’re a fucking twat.”

“But I’m you’re twat.” Mobius laughed as he grabbed the marbles from the floor and put them in his bag before handing said bag to Loki. “For all time,”

Loki bit his lip as a shaky hand took Mobius’ bag. As the timer hit zero, Loki managed to reply with a simple “Always.” before a single shot rung out. 

Player 111, eliminated.

Loki clutched the two bags in his hands as he walked over to the guard to show them. As he did, he heard the sound of a second shot and looked over, bearing witness to the death of the kid, Peter. 

Player 301, eliminated. 

And Tony was beside himself. So Loki awkwardly pushed himself forward and offered a consoling hand to Tony who was still on the floor, kneeling over Peter’s cold body. Tony looked up before he wiped away some of the blood and took Loki’s hand, pulling himself. In silent mourning, the two walked on to the entrance, not daring to touch on the conflicting feelings running through their brains. As they got close to the entrance, the two had also passed Steve and Bucky just as Bucky had been shot. 

Player 105, eliminated.

Steve didn’t say anything as he clutched at the marbles desperately, as though they’d make him come back. They must’ve however helped him sense things because he eventually turned to face Tony to Loki. There were no words exchanged. Instead, Steve simply stood up and joined them in their mourning as the three ‘victors’ walked out of the now desolate makeshift street.

Chapter Text

~

As the bodies had started to pile up, Sylvie and Thor hadn’t moved from where either leaned against the wall. They knew what they had to do but neither had the confidence to speak it. Neither wanted to play. 

“You should take my marbles.” Sylvie spoke. “You have more to lose than I do.” 

Thor looked down on her, his eyes squinting and his lips parting at his sister's words. He didn’t have the words to reply, so she continued.

“I mean, face it Thor. You did better than me, than Loki, hell… Even Hela who… God, if she was still here to see us now.”

Having Sylvie name all their siblings off made Thor cringe. Their parents had always been extra but so had their parents. Generational extraness as Loki had called it. Thinking of Loki made him wonder how he and his partner were fairing in the games. He had hoped Loki had found a partner, but admittedly he hadn’t looked, though he’d seen the other bulky man get dragged away when the time ended. But the mention of Hela left a bad taste on Thor’s tongue. She’d been the eldest and the brightest out of all of them so her death back when they were teenagers had left a huge scar on the family as it had opened the flood gates to just how emotionally disconnected they all were as a family despite their lavish upbringings. 

“Sylvie, I don’t have the words-” Thor spoke up but Sylvie cut him off, a scoff leaving her lips.

“Then let me continue.” She began. “Listen, you had every chance to make dad proud. He always loved you, hence him giving the family business to you, despite all your mistakes.”

Thor had admittedly not got the ability to read between the lines like his siblings. “Is this all coming up because you and Loki are adopted- I can give you a piece of the business, i-infact-”

“Thor!” Sylvie cut him off. “Don’t you get it yet?  You have the most to lose! Me and Loki haven’t got any reason to get out of here because what awaits us out there is worse than what’s in here!” Sylvie sighed, rubbing her hand over her face as she tried to explain.

“Let me give you my marbles, Thor. Walk away and keep going.” 

Her words made Thor’s eyes widen as even wasn’t thick enough to not put two and two together. “Sister, I can’t let you give up.”

“You will,” She affirmed. “Just do me a favour and take care of Croki, will you not?”

Thor scrunched his nose up. “The crocodile? Are you serious?”

“Alligator.” She corrected. “And yes, I’m serious. My poor boy won’t survive outside.” 

Thor stared at her. He couldn’t understand how she could talk about her own death so easily. Before Thor could say anything else, Sylvie had already put her bag of marbles in Thor’s hands. His mind had finally caught up with him and his grip on the marbles tightened as he looked at his baby sister in grief. “I cannot convince you not to do this, can I? Even if I were to say that if I died here, you and Loki would get the business?”

Sylvie smiled. “I’m afraid not, dear brother.” Her tone was candid and eerily calm. “Just tell me brother, why are you here? Why join me and our other brother in these death games?” 

Thor paused, swallowing his spit. “The business isn’t the issue if that’s what you’re wondering I have just… I have made another off of the success of it and it has been suffering. I was going to use the money won here to keep it afloat.”

Sylvie nodded, satisfied with the answer. She put her hands in her pockets as a guard made their presence known. Sylvie sighed. 

“Welp, guess that’s it. Tell Croki I said bye, kay?” With a final brief hug that the two shared, Sylvie stepped away and turned to face the guard, calmly speaking to whoever it was under the mask. “I lost. Shoot me.” 

~

Between the rounds they’d play, Dylan and the player with the snakebites would ask one another questions about one another. It was through that structure that Dylan had learned many things about the man like, for example, the man’s name was Fenrir, he was around the same age as him and he was in debt because of student loans. Fenrir in turn had learned about Dylan including his name, age and what had gotten him here in the first place.

“You… wanted to stop the games?” Fenrir repeated as he picked up the marbles from Dylan’s palm. “So you… You were aware of these games?”

Dylan nodded solemnly. “Five years back when I was living in South Korea I participated in these games and won. I managed to pay off my debts but I always felt dirty… and wrong to use it. To me, I hadn’t won. I’d lost. I was the biggest loser in Ssangmun-dong as far as I was concerned. Ended up coming to the States for a fresh start but… It haunts me, the events do.”

As the two fell into silence, Fenrir processed Dylan’s words, churning and digesting his story before he fell onto a conclusion. “So you’re not in debt? How did they recruit you?”

Dylan nodded. “I assume I look desperate enough, plus maybe the recruiters over this side of the pond didn’t realise I had played before.” He soon changed the conversation as he offered his hand out after rattling some marbles in his hand. He pressed his fist to Fenrir’s. “Even.”

When Fenrir revealed his hand to indeed have even - something that should’ve made Dylan happy - he deflated which Fenrir noticed immediately which made him ask as Dylan took some of Fenrir’s marbles. “Say, why’d you come back?”

Dylan paused in his actions before he sighed. “I wasn’t going to at first. I thought ‘oh, I couldn’t go through it again’ but I eventually…” He trailed off, biting his lip. “I hit a dead end. I felt like giving up. So I joined, expecting to die but when I saw my family here… It hurt. In that moment I knew I couldn’t just leave them for dead so I kept going. I got everyone out the first time but I joined back just in case my family had joined back as well and once my suspicions were confirmed, I did my best to try and help.” Dylan looked away, his knuckles white as he dug his nails into his hands. “I knew about most of the games because they had matched up with the games I had played. And I wanted to use that knowledge to help people even if in the end, I actually lost what little trust my family had in me. First with my brother Aidan in Dalgona, and then both my brother Kris and Aidan’s husband Ben now.”

Fenrir nodded in understanding. “You should’ve told them you’d gone through this before.” He tilted his head down to look at him. “Were these games the exact same? Or were they different?”

“Aye, a mix of both.” Dylan replied. “Red light, green light was the same. Dalgona was the same but I didn’t play tug of war in my time, I played hide and seek and then marbles.”

“So you knew this was going to happen?” Fenrir spoke up to which Dylan grimly nodded his head. As Fenrir processed, Dylan emptied out his bag of marbles, closing his fist around them as he looked up at him. 

He offered his fist over to him. “One more game? Even or odd?”

Fenrir paused. This game felt rigged from the start, but not in Dylan’s favour. It was like he was trying to fail but Dylan hadn’t said anything. “Odd. You have five in your hands.”

Dylan calmly in response opened his fist. Five marbles. “These are my last ones. You’ve earned it.” he smiled as he casually tipped his marbles into Fenrir’s hand. Fenrir sucked in a breath. 

“You won, man. Congrats.” Dylan spoke again, fixing his glasses on his nose. “The last thing I’ll tell you is that when I played these games, the fifth game was on a bridge. Jump rope they called it.” He looked down at his empty bag before he tossed it on the ground. “The sixth game was called Squid game.”

Fenrir took in that information before he furrowed his brows. “Squid game? Never heard of that before.” he paused when he saw the new addition to their conversation. The shadow of a guard. 

“I don’t remember anything about it. So I bid you good luck with it.”

Fenrir wanted to ask more questions, he really did. But when he opened his mouth to speak again, he ended up flinching away as the guard in front of them shot Dylan straight between the eyes.

Player 1, eliminated.

And as the guard aimed his gun at Fenrir, he quickly raised his bag full of marbles. “Calm yourself, I won, don’t shoot!” He trembled, tasting Dylan’s blood on his lips as he spoke. As the guard lowered his arm, Fenrir trembled as he got to his feet and picked up Dylan’s empty bag. “Thank you, dear friend.” He whispered as he kissed the bag and put it in his pocket before he soon made his way to the exit.

~

When Tony walked back into the dormitory, he was a mess. A mess being carried by the two other men with him. While Steve had always been there as a supportive role, the other man was someone Tony had never really spoken to properly. Loki. And judging by the silence, the three weren't the only ones in mourning. The silence mirrored that of a funeral. A somber eeriness that lingered after the loss of half the players. But Tony couldn't focus on that. Hell he barely payed attention to where he was going, leading to him not even noticing that the rooms had been cleaned and organised again and that Kris was still alive and had just been laying in bed. 

Maybe if he'd played with someone else, things would've been different. Maybe Peter would've been saved or perhaps he'd have still died a gruesome death. Saying that, there were worse ways to die in here but this… This was worse. This was worse in so many other ways. 

Steve guided Tony down to sit on a bed near where their area had been with Loki leaving to sit on his own soon after. Tony could feel the silence and loneliness beginning to linger despite Steve being right there. While Steve had tried to get Loki to stay, Tony made no effort, mainly because he understood Loki's need to grieve. He was ready to just let himself cry when he heard movement. When Tony looked up, he was greeted by Player 27- no 24. The guy had his jacket up, making it hard to tell and- god he looked a mess. He was still covered in blood for Christ's sake. 

“Aidan.” Tony greeted. Aidan didn't say anything in return, instead opting to sit down next to him. He bit the inside of his mouth before Tony spoke again.

“Peter's dead.” He spoke. Tony felt the tears brimming in his eyes. He sniffed. “He's dead and there's nothing I can do.” He brought his hand to his mouth, biting on his finger as he stopped himself from bursting into fitful sobs. 

He was greeted with no outward comfort. Instead Tony was treated to a hand on his back, slowly rubbing circles. He wasn't sure who it was but judging by the proximity he assumed that it was Aidan. There was silence, before…

“Ben’s dead too.” Aidan spoke barely above a whisper. “I understand.” He shook his head in shame as the situation weighed on his heart. He managed to pick his head up to look at Tony and Steve. Steve stared back in sympathy and shock. Sympathy for Aidan's loss yes, but he was also taken aback because of the blood. 

Tony only had sympathy. “We all wished for something different.” Tony agreed. “I mean, I'm sure if we knew… we'd have changed course-”

“It was on purpose, wasn't it?” Steve spoke. “To break the teams up so alliances could be broken. We can’t give up now-”

“How can you say that? Do you hear yourself?” Aidan cut in, his eyes brimming with tears. “I know you’re all about positivity Steve but now is not the time for that! Who’d you lose in there?”

“Hey, wait, hold on-” Tony put his hand on Aidan’s chest, stepping between the two. “Relax, relax-”

“I lost my childhood friend in there. He was my best friend.” Steve spoke up, his voice now devoid of emotion. “That’s who I lost in there.” A brief silence followed his words so Steve attempted to bring the determination back into his voice. “But I am not going to lose myself to my grief because that’s what they want. To divide and separate us by killing our friends. We can’t let them do that. Bucky wouldn’t want me to crumple and so I won’t. I’ll mourn once I’m out of here.”

Tony nodded in response before turning his attention back to Aidan who had visibly calmed down slightly from his anger. Aidan stared at him before he also nodded his head and hummed.

“You’re just trying to help, I know. I’m sorry.”

Seeing a stubborn man like Aidan admit he was sorry was shocking, but both Tony and Steve understood, “It’s okay man.” Tony spoke up as he stood up. “Here, let’s go clean you up. You’re covered in blood.” he offered his hand to the man.

The man stared in response before he nodded his head and took Tony’s hand. Once Aidan was up, Aidan began to walk but Tony paused, turning his attention to Steve who simply waved his hand. 

“I’ll be okay.” He stated. “I’ll wait for the others to come back, don’t mind me, okay? You go help Aidan, he needs it.” As Steve finished his sentence, as if on cue, other people began to walk in. Tony took that as his incentive to follow Aidan to the bathroom, walking under the screen displaying the number of players still alive. That number being exactly 17.

~

Chapter Text

~

The sound of running water flowing through the pipes of the taps echoed on the tiled walls as the lights buzzed from above. The sounds felt muted and distorted, twisted and unneeded as Tony washed his hands in the sink. He turned his head over to Aidan who stood next to the sink, his eyes glazed over from tears that had long since burst with the blood still staining his clothes. Admittedly Tony was not fairing better as in the silence the two had created, he’d long since let his tears flow (After he’d made sure Aidan was okay with it by waiting to see him cry). He took his time, using a torn piece of his shirt to wet as he carefully cleaned the taller man’s face. As he took his time, he noticed certain things he’d never noticed before. How his eyes seemed to be slightly different when compared to each other yet are still brown or how his vitiligo patches contrasted with his mostly pale skin. Tony could see why Ben would put a ring on his finger. The two had said nothing in this moment, but they preferred it that way, their thoughts too jumbled and hectic to voice aloud. Even as Tony wiped away the blood on Aidan’s neck his hands were visibly trembling and even now all Tony could only think about Peter. How terrified he was. Gods it should’ve been him.

But no. He can’t let himself think like that. He needed to be strong. Mourning was fine but letting the pain eat away at him was a bad idea.

“Hey, turn your head.” Tony commanded gently, tilting Aidan’s head to the side without issue as Aidan wasn’t doing anything against him. Tony sighed. “Hey, talk to me, you still there?” 

Aidan finally managed to lift his head up to look at Tony and as their eyes locked together, Tony managed to pull a smile together for him. “Hey, look.” He began. “Our situation is shit, I’m highly aware of that. And while I don’t wish to use his name in vain, I don’t think Ben would want you to just… Give up like this and frankly I think he’d want you to keep going despite…” He trailed off as Tony tried not to insult Aidan at all but he was… struggling. He felt wrong for just saying that kind of shit.

But Aidan didn’t say anything. And honestly Tony wasn’t sure if he’d broken him.

But like a miracle, Aidan did something other than stare. He wiped his eyes, taking a moment to breathe before he looked away from Tony, using the sound of the dropping water as a way to distract himself for the moment.

“Don’t Tony. I know I need to keep moving on, I don’t need you to tell me what to do.” His lip trembled as he stared at Tony, appreciating his support but also understanding there was only so much Tony could do. “Peter is dead. And so is Ben. Nothing is bringing them back and there is nothing we can do.” Tony swallowed, feeling sick at the mention. “But, we can’t stop now.”

Tony perked up, feeling surprised at the change in tone but he was secretly happy that Aidan wasn’t just staring at him without anything to say. To see some spark in his eyes was good.

“If I give up now, Ben would’ve died for nothing. And as much as I’d like to say that I deserved to die more than him, I think he’d rather me do that after I win.” Aidan finished his sentence with a slight cough into his sleeve as he managed to bring himself to give Tony a smile. “It seems bleak now but we… Should we try to stick together? Please? I don’t think I can be on my own right now.” 

Hearing Aidan actually beg for company was something Tony thought he’d ever see in the time he knew Aidan… But…

“Yeah,” He replied. “Yeah, we stay together despite all odds. No one should be alone right now.” He offered his hand to Aidan who took it and firmly shook it. “And I know this is hard for you. To be open to someone like this, butI’m glad you did it.” 

Aidan swallowed his spit before he nodded his head and let go. “Don’t make me regret this now.” He teased, making Tony laugh as the two walked out of the bathroom, the taps still dripping and the rag left abandoned on the sink.

~

As the lights flashed on, the sound of the elevator woke up the players who all looked around in confusion. As the guards marched in, carrying the casket, it all but confirmed what had happened last night. As Loki stirred from his curled up position on his bed, he turned his head to follow their movements before his breath hitched as his eyes fell to the sight of the purple haired man that he’d met during the third game. He bit his lip as he dug through his brain to look for his name. And then it hit him just as the announcement played.

Player 67, eliminated

Zennra

The man’s name… It was Zennra. He was the husband to the man with heterochromia. 

With the information in hand, it didn’t take long for Loki to put two and two together on why he’d done such a thing. But no one said anything. Some stared on as the guards carefully - and admittedly respectfully - cut him down from where he hung. Others turned their attention from the scene in order to watch the money pile into the piggy bank, the number of players decreasing by one and the money increasing to $44,000,000,000. Maybe at the start Loki would’ve turned away to the money screen but he couldn’t look away. 

“Attention, all players. The fifth game is about to begin. All players, follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.”

What a great time for the announcement to come on.

~

As the players walked into the room, they were met with a similar white room like the previous game, the striking colours clinical in nature. But the room wasn’t as empty as the previous had been. Instead, standing in front of the players were 16 white mannequins with numbered bibs that had the same reddish pink colour that the guards had on their clothes. As the players finished walking in, the announcer spoke up.

“Welcome, players, to the fifth game. Before we begin, please make your way down the steps and choose one of the mannequins that you see presented before you. Once you’ve chosen, take the corresponding vest. They are numbered 1 through 16. Let me repeat the instructions.”

As the instructions were repeated, Loki immediately began to calculate what the best number would be to take. He took in deep breaths, thinking carefully about his choices but as he thought to himself, he heard the sounds of footsteps. When he looked over, he found a person with tan skin walking over to the vest with 6 on it. Player 240 bit their lip before they pulled the vest off the mannequin, moving away once they’d chosen. That caused an influx of players to swarm in and start to take the vests in the middle, a few of the players to do that including people Loki knew like Thanos, Thor and Bruce. As the players walked away, that only left either the front or the back. Loki could feel his palms begin to sweat as he looked around at the remaining players and the remaining vests. 8 Players left. 8 vests left. As Loki thought about what number he should go for, the speakers turned on.

“Your attention, please. The numbers you see on the mannequins correspond to the order in which you will be playing. Please make your decision carefully.”

Loki bit his lip as he hesitantly walked to the left side of the line of mannequins, however his rational changed mid walk, leading him to pause like an idiot. He turned his head, planning to go to the back again but then he saw Steve, Tony and Aidan run over and pick up the vests at the back bar from one. The very back. 16. 

Loki contemplated as he ran over to the number one vest, his heart beating as he gripped the fabric. His lip trembled as he was all but ready to make his decision when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around slowly only to be greeted by a woman. Player 200. Wanda.

“I’m sorry sir but… Could I have that?” She asked politely. As Loki took her in, he could see that the games had really not been kind to her. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them and she looked frail and weak, her complexion as pale as a pearl with her hair stringy and unkempt. Loki stared back at her as he debated what to do. Being in either positions weren’t great but given his choices what should he do? He thought about it as he looked down at the number again before he eventually let go and stepped away. Loki watched as the woman gave him the most sincere smile he’d seen since he’d been in here.

“T-thank you! Thank you, sir!” Wanda sobbed, the tears brimming at her eyes as she quickly took the vest. And yet Loki couldn’t return her smile. As he took the 16th vest from the mannequin, all Loki could think was one sentence.

You’re going to die, you poor bastard. 

~

The red doors in the white room opened, revealing a large room with flashing lights and a constantly moving spotlight. The room reminded Wanda that of a circus with its colourful lights and red walls. As the head of the line, she did her best to appear brave despite her fear of the unknown. As she stepped in further, the announcer over the speaker spoke up again.

“Hello, players, let me welcome you all to the fifth game.” The players stared ahead, facing forwards as they took in the sheer size of the room. It was just as big, if not bigger than the third game’s room. Wanda gulped as the announcer continued. “The fifth game is Glass Stepping Stones.” Wanda couldn’t help but look down, only to see the two panes of glass.

“The stepping stones before you are made from one of two types of glass, one will be tempered glass and the other will be normal glass. The tempered glass stepping stone are strong enough to hold the weight of two people. However, the normal glass will break even if just one person steps on it. For this game, you will guess which one of the next two tiles is the tile made of the stronger tempered glass, and only step on those across the 18 pairs of tile. You may then cross over to the other side safely and pass this game.”

Wanda felt physically ill. She didn’t need to be told twice what the numbers on the vest now meant. Swallowing, she mumbled under her breath. “How are you supposed to tell them apart?” But no one answered aside from the announcer who didn’t actually answer her.

“For this game, you will have 16 minutes. Players must cross the bridge within those 16 minutes. And now, with that, let the game begin.” The announcer continued. “Each player, take off your shoes, then go up to the tiles in order.”

Wanda flinched as she heard the timer begin to countdown. Her heart hammered in her chest as she hesitantly kicked her shoes off and got onto the edge of the platform. But she couldn’t move. She was trembling, sweating and felt ready to hurl as she stared between the panes. Even as a few of the players yelled at her to hurry up because of the timer counting down, she wouldn’t move.

The bulky giant that was Thanos (Though he wasn’t the only bulky one there admittedly) ended up stepping over to the edge to ‘gently’ remind her of the time. “You should start moving, otherwise I’m pushing your scrawny ass.” he threatened.

“I’ll go! Okay, okay I’ll go.” Wanda burst into tears as she stared at the man with fear as she looked back to the tiles. Player 2 - who fittingly was also the one in the second vest - spoke up quietly.

“Hey, make sure you pick right, okay? I believe in you.” He managed to smile to which Wanda attempted to smile back. She took in a breath before she jumped to the left tile. Everyone flinched, including Wanda, as they expected her to fall through… However she remained intact. As she opened an eye, she was relieved to see she was still alive. The few choruses of relief from the other players helped relieve her further as she stared through the glass, the nausea still churning in her stomach. She eventually got the courage to decide which pane to jump to and made a jump for it.

Crash

The sound of the glass pane cracking and breaking under her feet echoed through the room as Wanda screamed before she fell to the floor, silencing her forever. A tragic end to a tragic woman.

The rest of the players looked between themselves, visibly trembling as they looked to the second person in line. Player 2. 

~

Player 2 sobbed uncontrollably as he stood on the right pane, staring down at Wanda’s body before he turned his attention to the panes again. It was so hard to understand and make a good guess here and with the timer going down alongside the pressure from the group behind him led to him choosing the left side.

Crash

And that was the end of Player 2’s life.

~

Kris was amazed that the glass had held him, even if the glass was tempered. He was by no means light but he guessed that it didn’t mean much honestly. He stared between the tiles but decided ‘hey, it seemed like he was going to die here’ so he may as well risk it. So he took a running jump and began to hop from one tile from the next, managing to get at least three tiles down before-

Crash

He eventually fell through, his life ending the same way as Wanda and 2 but leaving the remaining players with something else. Confusion. 

But he left one person something else. Kris left Aidan with a mix of sadness yes but also pride that he’d managed to live for so long up until this point. 

~

Eventually the players figured that they couldn’t continue drip feeding players to the killer that was gravity so they slowly began to move across the tiles they knew were safe until they managed to get to pair 5. Clint stared, his old eyes struggling to figure out what way Kris had gone first. He felt nervous but showing fear was not an option. He turned to look behind him, seeing Yelena right behind him on the tile. “Hey, which one did he jump to next?” He asked, his breath hitching. 

Yelena thought about it, but a few other players spoke up quickly before her, claiming different results. Yelena managed to get her words out above the other players. “I think it was left, Clint.” She carefully spoke, thinking carefully about the answer as she knew it meant life or death. For both of them. 

Clint nodded at her answer, turning his attention back to the tiles before he jumped to the left and…

Crash

He had chosen wrong. And all Yelena could do was stare in horror as she watched her friend lose his life over a wrong guess. Her wrong guess.

Eventually Yelena too also bit the bullet, managing to guess the rest of the tiles Kris had landed on before his death. She had managed to get far and she was sure her sister would’ve been proud alongside the partner she’d played with in marbles, Player 50. But her luck eventually ran out and on the 8th pair, she guessed wrong and fell to her death, falling not far from her sister's best friend.

~

But the games weren’t over and so the players kept going, with Player 240 now in front. However everyone grew impatient with them so the player behind them - Player 29 - attempted to throw them forwards. However it was 29 who ended up meeting his fate as Kiro fought back and managed to push 29 forwards, causing him to fall through the right tile straight to the floor below. Kiro gasped in shock at their actions but eventually moved forwards to the left. But before they could sigh in relief, they were pushed forwards, their body falling through the tile and to the floor as the player who’d done it - Player 313 - took his place as head of the line.

313 trembled as she stared behind her and was quick to speak up to Thanos who was a tile behind her. “Hey, that was an accident. Don’t push me. I’ll cross soon okay?” Thanos grinned maliciously at her trembling form as she soon pushed forwards, going to the right and miraculously surviving. She could hear Thanos jump to the tile she’d just been on. 

~

As the players continued on, Loki watched from the back as the people in front of him began to go ahead until it was his turn to start moving. He took his shoes off and got to the edge but paused when he realised he couldn’t recall which one was the correct choice. He stared, the anxiety rising as he stared between the tiles. 

“It’s left.” Loki whipped his head up, only to be greeted by the man with the British accent. Aidan, who was looking intently at Loki. “It’s the left tile, okay?” He repeated, making sure Loki got the message. And he did. Loki nodded as a thanks before he took his first steps onto the left tile, feeling relief when he didn’t fall through. 

~

Meanwhile, 313 continued to feel the pressure from Thanos, even as she managed to guess the correct tile for the 11th pair. She could feel the nausea building, leading to her gagging as she got to her knees and began to dry heave. Thanos stared at 313, his brows knitted together as he yelled. “Are you kidding me?” 313 ignored him and so in response, Thanos crossed the path and grabbed Soup by her bun and her jacket before he went as far as to toss her over the left side, causing her to fall through the tile. Thanos didn’t care about the life he’d just taken, because to him, it just meant he was one step closer to winning this whole thing. 

But his confidence seemed to have taken a hit as he realised that he was now the head of the line. So in response, he turned around and took advantage of his intimidating posture. “Everyone! If you want to cross this bridge. Well, you better go first then.” And this caused a standstill.

Bruce - who was in the 10th spot - glared at the man as he cursed. “You selfish prick!” Thanos glared in response. “If you don’t go, I’m going to fucking kill you by pushing you off!” 

From where he stood and from the way the lights reflected off of him, Tony honestly thought Bruce was turning green. 

Thanos could only laugh at Bruce’s angry face before he yelled back. “Then go ahead and try, short stack! You wouldn’t dare!” But oh did Banner try. He tried hard. He jumped onto Thanos’ tile and attempted to wrestle him off but to Tony’s shock, Thanos easily threw Bruce off the tile, the man falling straight down with a shrill cry. Tony almost mirrored that cry as he watched his long time best friend get thrown by the beefcake of a giant. He wanted to cry, wanted to scream, wanted to get revenge but he was too far away to do anything about it, so he kept his silence and instead just silently mourned the death of his friend, wishing he’d said more to him before the games had begun. 

But now was not the time for that as there was still a hulking giant in his way. 

In fact there were now 2.

Thor stood a tile between him and Thanos, the two staring at one another like two goats ready to battle one another. Or bulls in a china shop. Thor had a feeling how this was going to end so he recognised his need to be cautious about how he went about his next plan. 

“You don’t know me, but I know of you very well.” Thor spoke under his breath, just loud enough for Thanos to hear who continued to glare at him. “Your reputation perceives you… But now that I meet you face to face, I realise you are nothing more than a coward who manipulates to get your own way.” 

Thanos gritted his teeth. “Then if you’re so determined, go ahead.”

Thor didn’t even flinch as he pushed himself forwards onto the tile Thanos was on. He stared forwards at the 6 pairs still left to be solved before he turned back to Thanos. He then suddenly grabbed Thanos by the collar, managing to catch him off guard as he held him in place. “You hurt my siblings with your gang. So let me return the favour.” 

As he pulled Thanos closer and closer to the edge, he turned his attention to Loki who was all the way in the back and yelled out to him. “The sun will shine on us again brother! On sister! On all of us!” Before he pulled himself backwards, bringing the two giants down onto the tile, smashing on impact as they crashed down to the floor.

Loki watched in horror but said nothing, biting his tongue to shield himself and stop himself from crying as he pushed forwards regardless.

~

As Fenrir eventually fell to his death after going right, Aidan couldn’t help but think about the small conversation they’d exchanged between themselves while going up the staircase.

“You’re Dylan’s brother, no? I have information you might want to know in case I don’t survive.” Is how Fenrir had started the conversation. It had admittedly piqued Aidan’s interest so he’d decided to bite.

“Yes, but what’s your point?” He spoke up, but kept his voice low as Fenrir continued to follow behind him.

“Your brother was in these games before. He planned to sacrifice himself for you.” When Aidan turned to glare at him, Fenrir continued. “He told me what the last game might be. It’s called ‘Squid Game’. And if this is the last game, then I think you should know.” 

~

Aidan wished he’d thanked Fenrir in that moment, because now there was no way he’d ever be able to because his corpse was now rotting on the bottom of this pit. 

With Fenrir’s death, it left only four players remaining. Steve, Tony, Aidan and Loki. As Steve hopped onto the fourth panel on the left, he paused before he crouched down to double check. When he paused, Tony panicked. “What are you doing?”

Steve raised a finger to shush Tony as he replied. “I’m colourblind but I can see the differences between the glass.”

Tony furrowed his brows. “Why didn’t you do anything before?” It was harsh words but at this point Tony didn’t care.

“Because I was grieving and weak!” Steve yelled back as he stood up again and quickly jumped forwards to the left side, landing with a thump on the tempered colour. “And why should I have done that? You saw how everyone reacted! How selfish one can be!” As Steve continued speaking, Tony couldn’t help but feel unnerved at how Steve was talking. This was not the positive, outgoing man he’d met in the beginning. 

“How can you tell? Is it something we can also do?” Aidan spoke up, cutting himself off quickly as he coughed into his arm. Steve turned his head to face Aidan before nodding his head and explaining. 

“While I’m not sure how you all see it, I can see that the temperate glass has a rainbow-like sheen to it. It’s faint and hard to see because of the lights, but if you let me just use my eyes, I can get us across.” He stared out at the 16th pair of tiles, trying his best to look out for the signs as he eventually leaped over to the right side of the pair, stabilising himself once more before he crouched down again. “It’s most noticeable when you look at it from its side.” He added. 

But just as Steve had finished explaining that, the lights on the last two pairs went off. However Steve managed to push through and jump to the next correct tile. But he didn’t move down to look when was faced with the final pair of tiles. 

“It’s no use, I can’t tell now. Not in the light.” He concluded, turning to the other three with shame before he looked up at the timer. When he saw that there were only 20 seconds left, he chose to do the honourable thing for his friends. “If any of you get out of here, Find Sam Wilson for me. Ex-air corp. Lives in Brooklyn. Someone needs to tell him what happened to Bucky and I.”

As Steve edged closer to the edge, Tony realised what Steve was doing. “Steve wait-” 

Crash

And with that, the final tile had taken the final life. 

Tony gasped, Aidan flinched and Loki swallowed his spit as the remaining three players quickly hurried along to the end with Loki getting there just in time as the timer displayed 0. And just as it did that, the remaining tiles shattered into a million pieces, flying upwards into the sky as they did, causing a few closer ones to hit the remaining three players but not killing any of them.

At least not yet.