The Black Widow | A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Training

Cashmere didn't talk to me after we came back from the parade. In fact, she all but disappeared. Instead, the next morning, Gloss told Jupiter and I at breakfast that we were swapping mentors. Jupiter was not happy about this, but he couldn't really do anything about it.

"Today is about getting to know your allies," Gloss told them during breakfast, when Cashmere still hadn't shown up, "learn their strengths, learn their weaknesses, make them like you. Just don't get too close."
"How do we do that?" Jupiter asked,
"Show them your skills with weaponry but make sure you see theirs too. Don't point out any flaws in their technique. Make them think that it's perfect. Make conversation and share some details about yourself but not too much. Make them think they matter to you."
"Won't they be trying to do the same to us?" I queried. Gloss shook his head,
"District 2 training is almost fully concentrated on strength- they are less into playing the game and more into indiscriminate killing. Don't trust them. District 4 depends on the tributes, but generally their best skills will be to do with fishing- they're more likely to have shortcomings with other weapons. But never underestimate them." We both agreed but Gloss continued, "make sure to watch the outlying tributes. Most will try and hide any strengths but watch where they look. If it comes to it, bait them into showing you what they can do. It's no good to go into the games blind."

An hour later, we were stood in the training room listening to the instructor speak. I was only half listening as she told us not to neglect the survival strategies. Finally, she dismissed us and I went over to meet up with my alliance.
"Okay," Hildegarde said, trying to take charge, "What are everyones' strengths?"
"Trident," Morgan answered immediately,
"Sword," Mason said,
"Also sword," Jupiter added, shooting a poisonous look at Mason. So much for being the strongest: now he didn't even have a unique weapon.
"Throwing knives," I said, although that wasn't the half of it,
"Bow and arrow," Oceane said and I wondered why a girl from four had decided to pick that up,
"And an axe for me," Hildegarde finished, "So what we're going to do it_"
"Who picked you as leader?" Jupiter asked, still probably a bit sore from the revelation of Mason's weapon of choice.
"No-one, but someone has to take charge,"
"And you just thought that would be you?" Morgan challenged. Hildegarde didn't answer, she just changed the subject,
"We need to start showing off. If anyone has any better ideas, let's do that, but until then, let's start showing off our specialties." I smiled coyly and nodded as everyone else begrudgingly agreed: I knew now that when the alliance broke down, dear old Hilda would be the first to go.

We started at the weights. Mason, Hildegarde and Jupiter immediately piled eighty kilograms onto theirs and began to benchpress it as if it was nothing,
"That's very impressive," I told Morgan with faked innocence as the other two boys reached their twentieth rep, "but I bet you could do that too. Can you show me?" I looked at him with my eyes wide and my lashed fluttering. His neck flushed and he stumbled for words, "It's okay if you can't," I continued, running my hand along his bicep, "I just thought all that muscle had to come from somewhere." Morgan immediately started to pile weights onto a bar and lift them as well. I pretended not to notice that his weights were ten kilos lighter and he was having alot more difficulty.

Oceane shuffled over to me as the others were lifting and I engaged her in conversation,
"Have you been observing the other tributes?" I asked her, she nodded, "What have you seen?"
"The pair from seven keep glancing over to the axes- I think they might be good with those."
"They'll probably go after Hildegarde to get them. There'll likely only be one or two axes in the cornucopia so I recon she'll probably kill at least one of them when they fight for them. They're not a threat, especially not without an axe."
"The boy from ten looks strong."
"He probably works in the slaughterhouses. He'll be okay with a knife but I'm more worried about the girl. Do you see that look in her eyes? She looks like she enjoys causing pain." Oceane shivered as she looked into the dark eyes of the young girl.
"What about the boy from eleven?"
"Strong but seems too protective of the little girl from his district. She'll slow him down and he won't be able to kill her. They'll probably skip the bloodbath so he won't have a weapon. Next."
That went on for a while and Oceane seemed impressed,
"You flirt and act dumb, but you're smart. Why?"
"I'm just playing the game. You should try it."
Finally, the others stopped lifting weights and came over to us, drenched in sweat,
"Alright, who's next?"

By the last day of training, I knew my competitors pretty well and I had a general idea of how the games were going to go. I was second to go for the individual ratings, just after Jupiter, so the gamemakers were fresh and almost completely focused on me. I introduced myself and made my way over to the throwing knife rack.
I began to perform my demonstration, completely focused on the muscle memory. By this point, I had done it so many times that I could do it in my sleep. It went perfectly and every knife hit dead centre, exactly where I aimed. By the time my five minutes were over, I was sweaty and exhausted so when I left, I went straight to my room and fell asleep.

Gloss came to wake me up not long after for the scoring. Jupiter was already there as was Cashmere, who turned away from me as soon as I entered. Five minutes later, Caesar Flickerman appeared on the screen with a piece of paper in hand,
"Now it's a very special time folks. I have just received the tributes' individual training scores from the gamemakers and we have some very impressive scores here today. Starting off strong, Jupiter Jewel with a score of ten, Rose Gold with a score of nine." Caesar continued reading off the scores: Hildegarde and Mason both got tens, Morgan also got a nine and Oceane got an eight. She must be shitting herself with that- nobody wants to be the weakest in the career pack.
Most of the others got predictably low scores although the pair from seven got a seven and an eight, the boy from ten got a six while the girl got a seven.
I wasn't too worried about the outlying districts or Oceane, I reckoned there would be quite a few deaths in the bloodbath, it was more the other members of the career pack. But I could handle them: I had a plan and it was already in motion.