Welcome to my new story! Totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm giving it a shot.

Just to establish a couple things before hand, here.

In this story, Panem isn't a part of our world. It's a separate planet, introduced to our world through the power of the rainbow bridge in Thor.

Thor agreed to supply our world information of the other galaxies out there, to find out if any are a threat to us. The world of Panem came across SHIELD's radar. After discovering the dictatorship of President Snow and the way the Capitol treated the districts, and also discovering the horror that is the Hunger Games, SHIELD decides to intervene. How? Well, I'm not going to give that away yet!

Pairings are Tony/Pepper, Jane/Thor, and Clint/Natasha. Nick Fury, Darcy, Bruce, Steve, and Loki are all in this as well. Ratings for the Mature themes that are the Hunger Games, and also for some language, since I couldn't find a way to write Tony without it.

Hope you enjoy!

"Ohhh...shiny galaxies abroad!" sang Tony, prompting a glare from Pepper. "What?" he asked as innocently as possible.

"Seriously, Tony." said Darcy. "We're only learning about, I don't know, a whole freaking new world here? Would it kill you to shut up for a minute?"

Tony sat down with a small smirk on his face, but turned his attention back to Thor and Loki, who were supposed to be informing them of some new, alien world out there. Fascinating. He checked his Stark Phone with a sigh, checking for a reply from Channing Tatum about the Vegas trip they had been planning. Nothing.

Bruce and Jane, of course, were as attentive as ever. Jane especially, since the wealth of information being opened to her was beyond anything she ever dreamed. Steve looked puzzled, which was no surprise. Most of the talk of new galaxies was beyond him, but he did his best to keep up.

"Which world we covering today, blondie?" asked Tony, ready to get the show on the road.

"There is a world," said Loki. "That our people just became aware of. It is startlingly similar to this one, really."

"My brother and I-" interrupted Thor, inciting a glare from Loki. "Have taken the liberty of venturing into this place."

Loki let out a small chuckle. "And you mortals believed I was evil."

"Uh, Frosty? You took out the core of Manhattan with a creepy, scaly, alien army. If that's not evil...?"

Loki glared at Tony, who simply gave him a patented Stark smirk. Then he realized that his smirk hadn't been patented yet. He made a mental note to talk to Pepper about it later.

"This place," Thor said firmly, "Is known to the inhabitants as the nation of Panem. It's very big, and it's very controlled..." He glanced at Loki, completely losing where he was supposed to go with this. Loki rolled his eyes and motioned for him to go sit next to Jane, which he did happily. Darcy slid a strawberry Pop Tart across the table to him, which made him smile even wider.

"The nation of Panem is something like a communist nation, if I may venture to use your mortal term." Loki said, brisk and informative now that his lug of a not-brother wasn't by his side. "It is run by a very odd place known as the Capitol. The nation's wealth flows into this large center. The rest of Panem is made up of 12, there used to be 13, other districts. Apparently, according to the few locals we were able to talk to without-" He paused to glare at Thor. "Standing out like a sore thumb."

"Brother! That was not my fault! He was disgracing the maiden's honor." Thor said firmly. Apparently, they'd had this conversation before.

"You're not my brother." Loki said. He caught Tony and Darcy mimicking him. "And you're not funny."

"Uh, yeah we are!" laughed Darcy. She and Tony swapped hi-5's across the table.

"Darcy!" said Jane, eyeing her former assistant fondly.

"Tony," said Pepper, eyeing her boyfriend not so fondly.

"As I was saying..." Loki continued. "According to the locals, the Districts were put in place in order to maintain order and control by the Capitol. They are forced to work for the Capitol in various tasks, dependent on their District. District One makes the luxury items, District Three manages electronics and such, and so on."

He paused, and realized that he finally had the attention of the room. He tried not to come across as pleased by this development and continued. "About 74 years ago in your mortal time, the Districts became tired of being subject to the reign of the Capitol. There was a battle, an uprising by the Districts. They were eventually brought down by Capitol, which regained control."

Clint and Natasha had been silent in this conversation thus far. Natasha preferred to stay silent when Loki was around, and Clint was simply sitting back and observing everything. His observations came to a halt when he realized that Thor looked downright furious, and even Loki looked angry with something. Clint realized, his outer facade fading, that Loki didn't just look angry. He looked uncomfortable.

Red lights. Flashing danger zone sign. Clint knew that if the freaking god of Mischief looked uncomfortable about something he was about to say, it could not be good.

"What happened?" he asked, looking unfazed on the exterior.

Loki sighed. "This is where it gets...complicated. The 13th District that I mentioned earlier was wiped out. Destroyed by the Capitol. The rest of the Districts were brought into submission. But the Capitol...it wanted to find a way to regain its control over the Districts. And so they brought something called the Hunger Games into play."

It wasn't stormy outside, but it certainly was across the god of Thunder's face. He muttered something that made Jane look up at him in surprise.

It was Steve who asked the obvious question. "What are the Hunger Games?"

Loki opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed. It became immediately clear that he-the smooth talker-did not know how to explain the Hunger Games to the people within the room.

"Loki," Natasha asked softly. Clint glanced over in surprise at her entering the conversation, his face mirroring Loki's. "What are the Hunger Games?"

"A cruel, sadistic way to maintain power, I can only assume." sighed Loki. "Something that even I would not have dreamt of in the days when I fought to take over your planet. Every year, there is something held that is known to the inhabitants as a Reaping. Two people, one male, and one female are chosen by draw from each District. They are placed in something called an arena, and are pit against each other in a massacre. A fight to the death."

"What kind of sick place is it?" Steve exclaimed, staring at Loki wide eyed. Fury just shook his head.

"Tell them the rest, brother." Thor interrupted.

Realization of how upset this whole Hunger Games thing had made Thor and Loki hit Darcy when Loki did not retort with his infamous "You aren't my brother" line.

Loki ran his hands through his hair. "When all but one stand, that tribute, as they are called, is declared the Victor. The tribute is sent on a District Tour, bathed in riches...the home District receives similar treatment. But..." he fought for words. "The Tributes are children."

Silence reigned in the room for a few moments, before Bruce broke the air with the obvious question. "What," he said, his voice low and deadly. Tony felt for his wristbands, just to be on the safe side. "Do you mean that they're children?"

Thor answered what Loki appeared to be unable to. "What my brother means to say is that those who are chosen for the Games must be between the ages of 12 and 18. That is the law of the Capitol."

Again, there was just silence. Clint leaned forward, no humor within his voice. "This had better be some hell of an Asgardian joke."

"We do not jest, Agent Barton." said Loki coolly, apparently regaining his composure. "We are completely serious about the Panem government's actions."

"How long as this been happening?" asked Natasha.

"For 73 years." sighed Loki. "This will be the 74th."

"No." said Jane firmly.

Everyone turned to stare at her, and the physicist blushed. "I mean, there has to be something we can do. That's just...it's just wrong."

Fury stared at his team. "Does everyone feel the same as Dr. Foster on this?"

Bruce, Clint, and Natasha all nodded tersely. Steve sighed. "It's just...how could you make war a game? With children? As the soldiers? Of course I feel the same."

"Do I get a vote?" Darcy piped up.

Fury glared at her. "No."

"Aw." Darcy pouted. "If I did, I'd say let's kick some bastard butt."

"Stark?" asked Fury.

"Hell yeah!" said Tony, banging the table with affirmation. He smirked in Pepper's direction, who did nothing but shake her head.

"Good." Fury leaned back. "Because that means we have a plan."

"What plan?" asked Steve, leaning forward.

"With Thor and Loki's help in the use of the Tesseract," said Fury. "We have a plan to infiltrate the Hunger Games, and end this reign of...whatever the hell they call it in Panem. We're going to stop the Capitol."