Chapter Text
Sparky - Voltaea
The thing that has surprised Voltaea the most about training is how much she’s enjoying it. It’s sort of like being at work - tasks to focus on, banter among comrades, new things to learn - it’s perhaps not everyone’s idea of a great time, but it’s hers. So long as I don’t think about their inevitable deaths, anyway. She’s had to push that thought out of her mind more than once - it’s a worry for later - for now, she’s trying to enjoy the time she has with her newfound allies. She seems to be the only one in her group that isn’t completely exhausted by the time the intercom clicks to life overhead and calls them to lunch - I owe Alara a thank you for that, this stuff really does give me an edge over the rest of them .
The second food is mentioned, Coulomb and Bashir race ahead to the cafeteria attached to the side of the training hall - too tired for more climbing but not for lunch, huh? Voltaea and Sarah trail along at a more leisurely pace behind them - she takes the opportunity to bring up their encounter with Cymbria and her sidekick to her new ally - “I hope we’re in agreement that the girl from One is bad news?”
“Oh yeah, creep central. I don’t like how cold she looks behind the eyes - like she smiles and says all the right things but she’s plotting our deaths at the same time, y’know?” Sarah looks around to make sure no one else is listening. “What I don’t get is why you had me tell her we’d think about her offer - we aren’t teaming up with them, right?”
Voltaea shakes her head - “No. But I don’t want her to know that yet.” They walk through the doors to the cafeteria - Coulomb and Bashir have already found their way to the buffet and are heaping their plates full of all kinds of food she can barely wrap her head around. She drops her voice to a whisper - “What I’m hoping is that if we string her along for a while, she’ll give us some useful information. Either about herself, or the rest of the Careers.”
Sarah smiles and pushes her shoulder playfully - “Knew you were smart, Sparky. I would have just told her to fuck off, and we’d have nothing to show for it.”
Voltaea shrugs - “She might not tell us anything useful, but at least we’ll have tried.” They walk together to the buffet - Sarah starts loading her plate with at least six different kinds of meat that Voltaea can’t identify. “Do you even know what half that stuff is?”
“Nope! But we don’t get a lot of meat back home - I’m taking as much advantage as I can.” She continues down the line - Voltaea is slower to decide. Strangely, she hasn’t really felt hungry all day in spite of the exercise they’ve been doing. She forces herself to pick out a well-rounded meal, though nothing nearly as heavy as she’s seen the others taking - bread, vegetables, and some sort of thinly sliced steak. Once their plates are full, they take their seats at one of the rounded tables with their district partners. Coulomb looks up from his food just long enough to smile at them before digging back in. Their company has become a strange slice of normalcy among the chaos of the Games - she could almost get used to it. If I didn’t keep thinking of what comes next.
Just as she’s about to take a bite of her own lunch, Voltaea swears she hears a familiar voice whisper in her ear - “ Don’t get too attached, darling.” She spins around to look - no one is there - there’s no other sound but the chatter of the other tributes and the faint humming of the lights overhead. Weird. When she turns back, Sarah is staring at her while chewing a mouthful of food - “You alright? You look kinda pale.”
“I’m fine, I was just checking on our competition.” Liar. Voltaea picks up a chunk of bread and takes a huge bite in an effort to seem as fine as she says she is. Her heart starts thundering in her ears again - off-beat - th-thump . She feels sweat beading up on her forehead and tries to wipe it off with her napkin before anyone notices - the others seem preoccupied with their food. Voltaea glances over her shoulder again, scanning the room for any sign of where that voice could have come from - it sounded like Alara, but she can’t be down here, can she? She turns back and blurts out a question to her comrades before she has a chance to think about it - “Mentors aren’t allowed on the training floor, right?”
Sarah shakes her head - “Nope. They’re not allowed down here at all. I don’t know where they hang out all day, though, but I think they watch us.” She narrows her eyes - “Is that who you keep looking around for? I thought you said you weren’t scared of her?” Coulomb stops eating, giving them both a concerned look.
“I’m not scared! I just…” a low, static buzz starts to rise in Voltaea’s ear as she wracks her brain for a believable excuse - “Someone in here just sounds like her, it was weird - that’s all.”
Coulomb pipes up, mouth half-full - “V’s just sensitive to noises, don’t worry about her. It might even be helpful for us when we’re in the arena.” He gives her a small wink - that was actually a really good deflection. Did I tell him that? Or did he just figure it out?
“Helpful how? Like can you hear what people are saying from far away?” Sarah looks almost excited now - that’s better than suspicious - “Can you eavesdrop on the other tables for us?!”
“No, nothing like that. I have a really hard time making out what people are saying if too many of them talk at once. It’s more like certain other sounds stand out more to me.” She closes her eyes for a moment, focusing on the humming of the lights overhead. They’re almost a unified chorus - almost - but she notices one has a slight whine to it. She points upward “There - two lights back and to the left from the one right above us. If you watch long enough, that light will probably start flickering - or maybe dimming, depending on what type of bulb it is. It’s starting to wear out.”
Sarah and Bashir both turn to look - sure enough, after about a minute, the light flickers. Bashir turns back and mutters “How did you notice that?”
“The other ones hum, that one has a whine to it. You can probably hear it too if you pay attention. I just… can’t really tune things out like most people do. Not without tuning everything out at once.” Voltaea shifts uncomfortably in her seat as the others tilt their heads to the ceiling, trying to listen.
“Okay, yeah! I do kind of hear it now that you’ve pointed it out.” Sarah looks back at her - “It’s still pretty cool that you notice that shit without even trying - I bet you’ll be the first one to know if they stick the mutts on us.” She curls her hands into claws and makes a strange barking noise at Bashir, who flinches.
He drops his gaze back to the plate in front of him and whispers - “I don’t wanna think about mutts - nothing scared me more when we had to watch the Games back home than those.”
“Ah shit, sorry bud. I didn’t mean to freak you out.” Sarah pats him on the shoulder. “I promise I’ll take ‘em down if any get close, alright? But hopefully Sparky warns us quick enough that we outrun them.”
Voltaea nods - “I’ll do my best.” she looks to Coulomb - “Though before we drop this - we should have a sign for mutts. In case we need to warn each other quietly.”
He makes the same goofy clawing motion that Sarah had before - “I mean - this is pretty clear right? Just leave out the barking.”
“I’ll definitely remember that one, at least. Gotta be honest with you guys though, I don’t know if I can keep track of all this stuff in the heat of the moment. I get the basics, but I’ve already forgotten all your signs for different people.” Sarah leans back in her chair with a slight frown. She’s not as quick to pick up on things - it bothers her.
Voltaea reaches over and squeezes her hand in an attempt at empathy - “You just have to remember the danger signs - don’t worry so much about the rest. We can always catch you up on any details once we’re out of harm's way.”
“Alright, deal.” Sarah twists her hand around to shake Voltaea’s - “I’ll trust you guys to keep me in the loop.”
They spend the rest of lunch practicing some of their basic warning signs with Sarah - Attacker, Trap, Mutts, Quiet, Run, Hide, Fight. It’s enough that by the end of it Voltaea is confident that Sarah won’t signal her to do the wrong thing at the wrong moment, at least. When they head back to their afternoon session - she notices Cymbria at a distant table staring straight at them. A chill runs up her spine - How long have you been watching us? And what have you figured out? She makes a mental note to talk to Coulomb later about not practicing their secret signals so publicly - even if Cymbria couldn’t hear what they were saying, she’s likely aware that they’re doing something - and she’d rather not give her any more details than they already have.
As they walk back into the training room, Sarah stops them - pointing at a station that they haven’t been to yet - the one I’ve been avoiding . “Hey Sparky - you said you knew a lot about traps, right? Maybe you can show us a thing or two.”
Voltaea remembers Alara’s instructions from breakfast - “ Don’t reveal all your secrets to the competition.” She shakes her head - “I don’t think it’s a good idea… someone might see what we’re doing. Let’s find something else.”
“Awww, come on! I showed you my tricks earlier - it’s only fair.” She loops her arm through Voltaea’s elbow and starts dragging her towards the trapping station before she can protest, Coulomb and Bashir follow close behind. “And if you show us now, we’ll be able to help you find what you need to make them once we’re in there. The gamemakers might even leave us a little present at the cornucopia if you manage to impress them enough.” I was going to save that for the private sessions… but she has a point.
The instructor is leaning up against the wall with his eyes closed - Is he asleep? Has nobody else been here today? She looks around the station and sees that there’s all sorts of rope, wire, cables, bits of glass, assorted scraps of metal - even a car battery. That catches her eye the most. She recognizes it from when Markus showed her the inner workings of their work truck - he’s one of the few people in Five allowed to use a vehicle regularly because of the nature of their work - with extensive supervision, of course . Alara’s words from earlier ring out in the back of her mind again - “ Look for clues to the arena, the Gamemakers love foreshadowing.” She looks around again, closer this time. This time she notes the distinct lack of naturally occurring materials anywhere at the station - it’s all man-made things for the most part, apart from some rocks piled up in a box near the trainer. So what does that mean for where we’re going? Nothing natural, lots of scrap metal. A junkyard, maybe? A city? I don’t think they’re sending us to the woods this year, that’s all I can say for certain. She opts to keep her speculation to herself for now but her mind buzzes with the familiar thrill of having a new puzzle to solve.
Voltaea glances back at the trainer - he doesn’t seem to have moved at all - very useful, thanks . Sarah goes to tap him on the shoulder and she motions for her to stop - “We’ll wake him if we need something, for now just sit, I’ll grab some materials.” She spends a few minutes gathering up materials - it’s like every time she turns around she sees something new and interesting to work with - They even have magnets! The selection here is wider than any she’s had access to before, even with help from her coworkers bringing her supplies to practice with - it’s like this place was made for me ! A huge grin forms on her lips - if we have access to even half of this stuff in the arena I could have so much fun . There’s plenty of supplies to make some of her deadlier designs - but she decides to save those for her private session - Don’t give away all your secrets . She tries to contain the growing excitement in her voice when she speaks again - “Alright, we have everything here to build an electrified snare I designed. We’ll start with that.”
She sets Bashir and Sarah to work building a tripwire - it’s simple enough to do while still being applicable to a wide array of her designs. “If we were setting this up in the arena, we’d want to make sure it’s hidden somehow - but this is fine for now. Tighten that end a bit, it’s too loose -” She’s not used to teaching, but they seem to follow her directions well enough to capture the vision she has in her head. She recruits Coulomb to help her with the electrical portion, figuring they’ve both had some safety training with live current from their schooling in Five - he’s less likely to fry himself in the process, at least. Within twenty minutes, she’s ready to connect the pieces - she saves this part for herself. “Alright, I’d stand back... just in case. I’m not sure how we’ll be able to test how effective this is, but -”
An unfamiliar voice cuts her off - “Seems a little elaborate for catching rabbits, doesn’t it?” Voltaea spins around to see the station trainer watching them with one eye open from his position on the wall. None of them noticed him wake up - or was he just watching the whole time? “Impressive work, though. It’s the most creative I’ve seen anyone get with this stuff today.”
“Oh, this isn’t for rabbits.” She flashes him a smile - it feels good to have someone admire my handiwork . “I have bigger targets in mind.”
His eyes fly open, face lighting up with excitement - he returns her smile - “In that case - I’ll be right back. I know just the thing you can test this with.” He walks to a metal door nearby with a keypad lock - punching in a code and leaving through it. He returns after a few minutes with a cart carrying a very beat-up looking training dummy, full of what looks like arrow holes and knife-wounds. “This is an old model we used one year for the target range. It actually walks on its own, single direction only though. They kept getting knocked over too easily - the balance was off - so we ended up replacing them with the ones on tracks you see now. Still - it should be exactly what you need for your purposes.” He lugs the dummy off of the cart with considerable effort - Sarah leaps to her feet to help him balance it a few feet in front of their tripwire.
The trainer pulls a datapad from his pocket, fiddling with it for a moment - the dummy’s face lights up in response. “Alright, it still works! Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll walk him forward.” Voltaea connects the circuit she made with the battery to the rest of the device - listening for the tell-tale hum and crackle of live current. She hears the wires singing their familiar tune in response - here goes nothing .
She gives the trainer a thumbs up - “Do it.” He presses down on the datapad and the dummy lurches forward. One step, then two - then - a loud CRACK pierces through the room as the dummy steps into the tripwire and the snare snaps around its legs, pulling it upward until it dangles helplessly above the ground. Smoke starts to rise from where the wire touches it - it reeks of burning plastic - she can see where the current has singed its legs. Voltaea lets out a triumphant scream - “YES! That’s PERFECT!” she starts laughing - she can’t contain it - this is too good! The trainer moves to quickly cut off the power supply before the dummy catches fire - but it works! Better than I could have hoped!
She feels Sarah’s enormous hand slap her on the shoulder - “Nice work, Sparky! You killed it - or at least knocked it out.” the girl from Seven chuckles along with her - “I think you might be the loud one now, though.” Voltaea claps a hand over her mouth - Oh shit, calm down - she takes a deep breath through her nose as she looks around the room to see how much of a scene she’s made. There’s a few tributes staring in their direction now - Cymbria, one of the twins, and both tributes from Two have all stopped what they were doing to see what the commotion is about - oops. She locks eyes with Cymbria, who winks at her before turning back to her sidekick - that could be a problem. Sarah leans down and whispers - too loudly - in her ear “Don’t worry about them, you’re gonna have ‘em all so worried about looking for tripwires that they won’t see me coming with my axe.” Fair point… but still… I might have given away a little too much.
Voltaea decides she’d better not do anything else too attention-grabbing for the rest of today - back to the basics, remember Alara’s rules. “Maybe we should go work on first aid? There’s too many eyes on us here…” she whispers to the rest of the group. Bashir and Coulomb nod in agreement, but Sarah looks disappointed.
“But we were just starting to have fun - “ Bashir tugs at her arm, standing up and attempting to drag her up with him. She sighs - “Fine. But I wanna come back tomorrow, I barely learned anything.”
“I’ll see if I can get permission for some extra gear to play with if you do - ” The trainer pipes up from behind them when they turn to leave “- I don’t get a lot of interest over here, and that was quite a show.” - Voltaea waves to him with a smile as they walk off. Maybe we drew some positive attention too? I hope…
The rest of the afternoon flies by in a blur - the excitement of her success fuels her racing thoughts. I hope I’ve impressed the Gamemakers… and Alara… and gods, I hope I’ve learned enough by the end of this to win. She barely registers the chatter between her companions as they work through the basics of first aid with their new trainer, it takes all of the focus she has left just to get through. Bashir seems to be the best with suturing - Coulomb takes to building a splint - Sarah mostly goofs off, pretending to be a pirate as she makes herself an eyepatch-style bandage. She nods along, laughing when the others do - but her mind is elsewhere. She checks over her shoulder periodically, to see if Cymbria is still watching them - she’s occupied with teaching her sidekick how to wield a knife properly. She likes those, doesn’t she?
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the intercom crackles to life overhead - “Tributes should return to their District quarters in five minutes.” The trainer motions for them to put their supplies away - it’s been a productive day, all things considered.
Voltaea turns to say her goodbyes to her companions - but it’s just Sarah standing there - “Wait, where’d Bashir go?”
She laughs - “Oh, he bailed the second the intercom went off. I think he went upstairs already.” Before Voltaea can say anything else, Sarah pulls her into a rib-crushing hug - she’s really warm… and I can barely breathe - “You guys have been great, though. Just don’t forget to make things official with your mentor tonight - we can pool sponsor funds if you do.” Voltaea feels her face burn in response - it’s nice to make friends. Even if I can't keep them. She releases Voltaea and does the same to Coulomb, less crushing - she’s careful with him.
Voltaea is still trying to catch her breath, but manages to squeak out - “I won’t forget - see you tomorrow?”
“Definitely. Enjoy your night, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Sarah waves as she walks off towards the elevator, leaving her and Coulomb behind in the training room. They spend a few minutes helping the trainer clean up their station - a task that their allies conveniently left without doing - thanks a bunch, guys . When they finish, the two of them head up the elevator together - Coulomb chattering away about how excited he is for dinner and to tell ‘Mr. Orville’ all about how well he did with teaching them their code today. Voltaea just smiles at him, there’s only one person she’s excited to see right now and it’s definitely not the chirpy man with the awful suits. I just hope she’s proud of me…
The elevator chimes and the doors slide open, Coulomb sprints out ahead of her as she lags behind - looking around the main living area for any sign of Alara. All she sees is Orville and his avox chatting next to the bar - he waves at the two of them as they enter the room. “Mr. Orville! We did so much cool stuff in training today! I -” Orville scrunches his nose up when Coulomb closes the gap between them.
Before Coulomb can finish his thought, Orville chirps - “You need to shower , my young friend - you’re covered in sweat and you smell of burnt plastic.” My bad. The boy’s face sinks - Orville pats him gingerly on the head - “But you can tell me all about your day as soon as you’re cleaned up alright?” Coulomb nods, taking off down the hallway to his room as Orville grabs a napkin from the counter to wipe his hand off. He turns to Voltaea - “You should probably have one too before Alara gets back -”
“She’s not here?” Voltaea cuts him off, her heart pounding into her throat again - Why isn’t she back yet? “Do you know when she’ll be here?”
“I… I’m not sure, exactly. But I wouldn’t worry - she’ll turn up soon enough. I can show you to your room if you’d like.” He moves from behind the bar, but Voltaea holds up a hand to stop him.
“It’s fine. I know where I’m going.” She slips out of the room and down the hall towards Alara’s suite before he can protest, I’m sure she won’t mind me using her shower again. She breathes a sigh of relief as she enters - the familiar smell of cherry-blossom and rose tinged with stale smoke is comforting, even without Alara’s presence. The television is still running - does she always leave that on? Her power bill must be absurd. Maybe they don’t have power bills in the Capitol? A talk show that she doesn’t recognize hums along softly with the rapid beating of her heart. She closes her eyes - taking a moment to breathe it all in before heading to the bathroom - I hope she comes back soon.
The bathroom is quieter - Voltaea can hear the static in her ears again. She opens the shower, spinning the handle for hot water before stripping off her sweat-soaked training outfit and discarding it in a corner of the room. She jumps into the shower before it has a chance to heat up - cursing herself for her impatience as the ice-cold water pounds against her back - but the noise of the streams pattering against the tiles is preferable to the silence outside. It heats up far quicker than their shower at home, and she has to fiddle with the handle again until it’s a tolerable temperature - just hot enough to burn her racing thoughts away - Perfect. The patch slips off her shoulder as the water coils its way underneath and loosens the adhesive - it’s fine, I don’t need the edge for now - she leans over to pick it up and flicks it outside the shower towards her pile of clothes.
Voltaea starts humming along with the rhythm of the water against the tiles as she cleans herself. After she’s washed, she decides to sit on the floor of the shower for a while - leaning up against the wall and savoring the sensation of hot water on her skin - this is incredible. She lets her eyes drift shut - still humming, her heartbeat finally calming enough that she can’t hear it thumping anymore. Even better. It’s comfortable enough that she could almost fall asleep right here on the floor - until a loud slam shocks her into the moment once more.
Alara stumbles through the now-open door to the bathroom, slamming it shut behind her - “Voltaea!” her voice is heavily slurred, tinged with the type of venom she usually reserves for Orville - whats going on? She slides the glass door to the shower open as Voltaea’s heart leaps back into high-gear - shit, did I mess up? She pulls her knees up to her chest to cover herself - what did I do? Alara leans against the wall to steady herself - eyes glassy, face scrunched into a frown she’d hoped to never see directed at her. Her cheeks are bright red as she slurs through every word she says - “I have - hic - several bones to pick with your performance out there today.”