"That's..." Beetee adjusts his glasses and flattens the blueprints yet again, "Genius. But completely unpredictable. Truly ingenious."
From behind me I hear the door open and slam shut, someone walk over and peer over my shoulder. By the smell of alcohol I can judge that it is most definitely Haymitch. The alcoholic man who, for some reason, Katniss adores.
"Well that looks dangerous." It's comments like this that make him seem like such an idiot. Of course it's dangerous. It's supposed to be dangerous.
"Of course it is." I snap bitterly, rolling it back up and shoving it back into it's container. As I'm walking to the storage bin to get another, the old man spins me around. He looks grim, almost afraid. I laugh. "What?"
He snatches the container from my hands and pulls out the blueprints. I let him spread them out, see the plans. He shakes his head a bit and rolls them back up.
"So when would we use this? Hmm?" He throws me a hard look and shoves them at my chest.
"Perhaps during our attack on the main square of the capitol?" Beetee shoots him a look that I can't decipher, but it only seems to make Haymitch more angry, if anything.
"The end justifies the means, Abernathy." I snap, and he sits down, propping his feet on the table. I let out a strained breath.
"Does it really? What rules are playing by? What values do you have?" He throws me a superior look, as if he of all people has values.
"Their rules, Abernathy! The ones they're playing by! There's no chance to get the support we need in the Capitol if we play nice!" Beetee just nods once and sets his jaw. That's the problem with all these softhearted idiots. They just can't commit to the cause. "All the soldiers in this compound would gladly give their lives for the rebellion."
"It's not the soliders I'm worried about."
"Then what is it?"
"It's the lengths you're willing to get what you want. You're playing with fire, Hawthorne. You don't know what you're dealing with. Any of the other victors-"
"I don't care about the other victors! They're a bunch of washed up nut jobs! Morphlings and alcoholics! Crazy! Always talking about sentimental shit! Well I don't need a basket of flowers, Abernathy! I need to win a war!"
He looks at his arm, giving me a mock grin, "Well I'll let you get back to your destruction of ethics. I have to go check on our resident nut job."
After he leaves, Beetee flicks on the holo diagram of the Capitol, zooming in on the square.
"Who do you think he meant?" He asks, pressing a few buttons to set of the simulation.
"Peeta." Beetee stops for a moment, his eyebrows coming together.
"What? Why? He's back?"
"Yup. I went to try and make Katniss cheer up a little, but apparently she freaked out."
"That you went to get her boyfriend?" I tense a little, biting my lip.
"He's not her boyfriend. She doesn't even like him very much. She just feels guilty about it. That she ruined his life or whatever. Doesn't seem like it's very ruined to me, but whatever. When he came back from the Capitol, his head was all fucked up. Thank god."
"Why thank god?"
"If Katniss is going to marry anyone, it should be me. Mellark is too soft. He barely survived the games without her coddling him. For god's sake. I don't know what anyone sees in him. She deserves someone smart. Strong. Besides, everyone already knew we were meant to be together. Why mess it up?" I press the button to begin the simulation. A few holographic capitol children appear in a concrete corral, a District 13 hovercraft marked with a Capitol insignia appears over them, dropping silver parachutes. There's a miniature explosion, leaving some of the children bleeding. District 13 medics run onto the holo-image, helping the injured children. Then the rest of the parachutes go off.
A single word pops onto the screen, "Success."
"To ensure her survival, she had to pretend she loved him, but maybe they could be friends."
"I don't want her to be friends with him. She's my friend. She's always been."
"Isn't that a bit selfish?"
"Probably. But I can't really be bothered to worry about it. Plus, they'd be horrible together. He doesn't understand her. Not like I do."
Beetee doesn't say anything, just turns off the holo projector and checks his arm.
"We have lunch. If you want to talk to Everdeen, this is your chance."
I shoot him a smile, "Perfect."