As head peacekeeper of the armed forces, I feared no man. I went toe to toe with the toughest, cockiest, wannabe careers that thought they were all that, and won the Hunger Game that I had volunteered for. But after my victory, I found that I missed the discipline and routine that had came with my academy days. I fixed that by joining the peacekeepers.
I had got through peacekeeper training, being verbally, physically, and mentally harassed by sadistic peacekeeper instructors. I didn't quit the training when many others had thought it was too much to handle. The journey was tough, but it was well worth it.
And then there was the peacekeeping training for being a peacekeeper in a career district. It was much harder than normal peacekeeper training, but so much more satisfying. I was at home in District Two, and from all the districts I visited, I still thought my home district was the very best one. And then there were the leadership courses. Those were tough, but I was tougher.
And then there were the criminals that thought they could break me. They were wrong. They could swear at me, threaten me, hit me, break parts of my body, but they couldn't break my drive. My sense of duty. They couldn't stop me.
Everything considered, nothing seemed to phase me.
But that woman though. She scares me. I don't know what it is about her, but there's just something about her that says don't fuck with me. An aura of dangerous surrounding her. Many people might not be able to see it as she looks relatively harmless, but it's more of a thing you sense rather than see.
Or maybe it's because she is the most powerful woman in Panem that can have my head delivered to her on a plate if she so desired.
Straightening my tie outside of her room, I couldn't help but wonder what she could of wanted me for. She had asked for me personally to come to the Capitol to discuss something of sensitive nature, but for the life of me, I didn't know what it was. I could guess what it was, but I doubted that we were thinking of the same thing. But then again, it wasn't everyday that the head peacekeeper of the armed forces was called to the Capitol to meet with the president.
After finally straightening out that damn tie and smoothening out my dress uniform, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and calmly knocked on her door.
"Who is it?" I heard a feminine voice call from inside.
"Head peacekeeper Keystone, Ma'am." I responded calmly, not letting the situation take control of me. Not letting her hear my fear.
"Come on in." She instructed before I opened the door and came into her office.
It was impressively clean and organized, almost perfect. It was amazing really.
President Lightning, a svelte, but incredibly tall, ivory skinned woman in her early forties with the brightest yellow hair I had ever seen, sat behind a solid oak desk that was stacked high with papers. She was wearing a pair of glasses as she signed her name on documents.
Even though she was Capitol, she didn't look the part. A trend among presidents ever since President Snow. "Sorry about the mess." She sighed as she took her glasses off and gave me her full attention. "Take a seat, sir." I did as she instructed before she continued. "I'll try not to waste too much of your time as I know that your time is precious." I found that a little funny that the most powerful person in Panem was saying that to me, but I continued to listen. "As someone in your position might know, we are having some trouble in the districts at the moment. Namely, we've got a problem with rebels."
So it was what I had been thinking of. This changed everything. I guess I really did need to be here. Maybe she was coming up with a plan to wipe them out.
"Yes ma'am." I told her. "My peacekeepers and I have found increased number of rebels and rebellious acts in the districts. No matter what we do, it seems that we can't flush them all out. Or at the very least, put them out of commission temporarily. Because of their increased numbers and resources, they've grown bolder and increasingly violent."
There have always been rebels in Panem. From the very founding of Panem, The Dark Days, the start of the Hunger Games, and now. Though the worst of times were the unstable days before the creation of the Capitol and the districts, The Dark Days, and The Mockingjay Rebellion.
We of District Two were proud patriots, or at least, the vast majority of us, and supported the Capitol proudly during The Dark Days and The Mockingjay Rebellion. We were always the ones that influence the balance of power. If we hadn't been able to repel the rebels from taking over our home during The Mockingjay Rebellion, who knows where we'd be right now.
Probably under the District Thirteen president's rule. Thankfully, District Thirteen didn't exist anymore, this time for good. Ten years after that rebellion, an elite group of peacekeepers managed to sneak their way into their headquarters, plant explosives within their compound, and detonate them.
The fools thought that the Capitol wouldn't retaliate against them because they hadn't technically taken part in the war, but they had more than enough participated in it to allow their demise.
Good riddance.
But at this moment, while the rebel movement wasn't as large as they were during three major events, they were reaching uncomfortable levels. Not the first time that's happened, but left unchecked, there could be a forth major event of chaos.
"Yes," Lighting replied understandingly. "That makes if difficult doesn't it." I nodded my head once. "I've got a plan Sir Keystone. It might or might not work, but right now, it's the best plan that I can come up with. And with your permission, I'd like to go over it with you and maybe get your stamp of approval on it."
Wait... Wasn't it supposed to be the opposite way around? I was confused, but I was listening. Even if it wasn't going to go into effect, there was no harm in listening.
"Honor is all mine, ma'am."
"Wonderful." She said before she slid me a piece of rectangular paper no bigger than my hand.
I picked the card off the desk and read it out loud.
"For the twelfth quarter quell, to remind the rebels of how unexpectedly your attacks came, the tributes of this year will be taken from their homes and sent straight into the arena."
I looked at President Lighting and asked her what was on my mind.
"Where are you going with this?" She smiled and started to explain her plan to me.
"Sir Keystone, this card basically says that we get to kidnap whoever we want and send them straight into the arena, no questions asked. We could use this to our advantage. Kidnap some rebel supporters and hopefully break the moral of the rebels." She then held up her hands slightly. "I'm not saying that it'll work right away, or even if it'll work at all, but it's an idea that I wanted to share with you."
I hummed as I thought about that plan, looking over the quarter quell card again.
"Won't you need to announce this?" I asked.
"That card had specific instructions not to tell attached to it." She told me. "I announce it to the world after the tributes are in the arena."
"I see." I said as I examined the card some more. "But won't people get suspicious if all the tributes are rebel supporters? We'll need some innocents to make it look legit." If we went upon this the wrong way, it could make things worse than they already were. With peacekeepers being assaulted and murdered in vicious ways, I didn't want anymore harm to come to them than was already happening. And then there were the people we were supposed to protect.
All out war. We were trained for that. Ready for it. But if anything, we'd rather avoid it.
"Yes yes, excellent point." President Lighting said evenly. "Have some innocent souls go into the game to avoid suspicion."
"All in all ma'am, I think this is a great plan. As you said earlier, it might not work, but I think it's worth a try."
The president smiled at my approval.
"Wonderful." She exclaimed happily. "So as you know Sir Keystone, nothing leaves this room."
"Of course." I answered, understanding that this was of utmost secrecy.
"One last question before I release you." Lighting said to me. "How good are your peacekeepers at kidnapping?"
A/N: Long story short for how I got this idea, my friend got me to listen to a song, I remembered a story I had done before, didn't finish it, deleted it, and now I'm doing this instead.
Welcome to another SYOT being made.
If you're interested, the form is in my profile. PM me your filled out form and see what happens from there. Just a couple of things I want to go over. First of all, I don't want everyone to submit rebel supporters. I'd like maybe five innocent tributes or something, and tributes that don't even support the rebels but are still breaking laws.
Examples might be like: Someone bribing the peacekeepers with real food so that they won't have to eat bad tasting MREs in exchange for letting them get away with things. Or someone prostituting them self to the peacekeepers for money.
Examples for rebel supporters: Being a message courier for the rebels. Hiding rebels from peacekeepers/using your house as a rebel safe house.
What I don't want to see: Being a rebel leader. Someone that assassinates peacekeepers for the rebels.
I've got the D12 tributes ready (as they were made by me) and the next chapter should be out tomorrow. The other chapters however... Not so quickly.