Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plotline.
Katniss Everdeen has a psychotic break, as president. The flock get caught in the middle.
Birds of a Feather Fly together... or do they? What about birds of different feathers, say, a Mocking Jay and an Avian Hybrid?
UPDATE: Max's part was completely rewritten 6/10. I only kept the last few lines. Next, I will post Chapter 4, and after that, Chapter 2 will be redone.
Thanks for Reading.
Katniss
Katniss Mellark grabbed her face with her hands and sighed. It was going to be another long day.
Katniss had her inauguration as president today. It surprised both her and Haymich that she was elected. Apparently, the public had forgiven her, for murder. How depressing.
At least there was a bright side. After the ceremony and speech, Katniss was going to go see her children and husband in district 12. There were having a celebratory dinner together. She rarely saw them during her campaign, and it made her very eager to see them.
During the inauguration, Katniss walked purposefully upon the stage, her shiny dark brown hair bouncing along behind her. Shewais quickly followed by Hamich, only slightly stoned. Katniss reached the microphone and glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper in her palm, her speech. Katniss scowled when she reaches out to take the microphone and realizes her hand is trembling. As a girl, in the Hunger Games she had been fantasizing about killing various people, mostly former President Snow, bless his heart. Now however, when faced with a speech in front of a very large crowd of various people she was scared.
It was humiliating.
The oddly dressed multicolored crowd started clapping and cheering. Katniss raised her right hand and then dropped it. The crowd slowly quieted. She stood up straight, and cleared her throat, preparing to "blast them away" with a speech when a messenger girl entered the stage.
"Mrs. President! Mrs. President! You must come with me. Something horrible has happened, it's urgent!"
Hamich paled, considerably quite a feat when considering how much he had been drinking. "can thissss isss ss wait?" he said slurring his s.
"Not here." The girl hissed.
She led the pair off stage and brought out a small hand held device that everyone in the capital, child, man or woman seemed to possess. The screen expanded flooding the wall with color. On the screen was a blackened house, flames pouring out of every opening.
Katniss stood, stunned. That building was from district 12. The rebuilt district 12, her wedding gift to Peeta. More importantly, that was her house. That was where she kept her children hid, refugees from the press. That was also where her husband, Peeta was this weekend.
"Peeta.. my children!" "Please tell me, are they safe?"
The girl glanced at her, concern in her eyes.
"This isn't a live feed this picture was sent to me, it was shot an hour ago, just 15 minutes ago local firefighters retrieved the bodies of your family, I'm sorry, there were no survivors"
Katniss howled, her voice reverberating through the quiet room.
Hamich slipped his arm over her shoulder "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry. We should go. We need to go to district 12 see, what happened, we can reschedule, I'm sure the public would understand" emotion was heard clearly in his voice even through the booze.
Katniss shook him off.
"No."
"No more pity parties for the 2 lost lovers from district 12." Her hand trembled precariously, an aftereffect of the Hunger Games, PTSD.
"I'm going to do this now."
Katniss walked back on stage, the pre-planned speech spiraling from her hand and floating slowly to the floor before she reached the microphone.
"Hello everyone. I would like to kick off my presidency today with re-instating the Hunger Games.
The room was silent; one could have heard a pin drop.
"Well," she continued,
"I'm not going to bore us all with crap numbers or statistics or facts of it stimulating the economy. I'm doing this because I want to."
Most of the people in the very large room stood up and started cheering their little hearts out. These lovely people of the Capital had clearly been missing the blood-thirsty action.
Katniss just glared at them.
"What are you cheering for? You lot are going to be sending two of your kids too." "See how you like it." She grumbled.
Hamich, at the edge of the stage stood in shock
. "Katniss, what da hell? Ss… sweet heart you can't do this. Is this really what you want?"
Katniss ignored him.
Someone from the crowd, with faint leopard tattoo all over his body yelled out,
"Who will be the game maker?"
Katniss's wide grin nearly split her face in two.
"I pick….Hamich."
Hamich stumbled out on stage grabbing her arm.
"Why would you do thissss… isss… Katnisss?"
Katniss glanced back at Hamich, a serene smile playing at her lips
"Because, if I can't be happy, then no one can."
Max's escapades
Maximum Ride, glanced around, surveying her surroundings. The white background of the walls contrasted sharply with the pristine metal tables and various medical equipment.
There were few outright significant things about this girl, her standard brown eyes and brown hair tended to blend in with the average teenager. However, she did have wings, and startling enough, she was sitting despondently in a dog cage.
Even more startling was that there were other children next to her, in their own dog cages.
Spotting no one, the girl carefully removed the IV from her arm. She delicately put the IV point inside the lock outside her cage, the boy next to her, a blond boy about age 8 was quick to shove his in also. A few minutes later the lock clicked to her cage.
The pair smiled grimly. Max exited the cage, stretching luxuriously, reveling in her newfound freedom. The girl approached Gazzy, the young boy, and dutifully picked his lock.
Soon, all the cages in the sterile room were opened. The figures stood in the center of the room, clearly not knowing what to do next.
A girl, twelve years, African American glanced down at her classic hospital outfit, scowling. Clearly this fashion forward teen was offended by the clothing.
She wasn't the only one whom looked out of place in the clothing. A teenage boy on the left of Max looked like he belonged in black garb to match his steely expression and pale skin.
Max began to speak, directing her words to him.
"Fang, would you block the door?".
The teenager nodded and strode towards the door, limping slightly.
A small blond girl sat on a table, massaging the area in which the IV was inserted.
The children all had a pair of wings. Tattered and dingy, they were not in pristine condition. The muscle part of the wing was wilted, as if it didn't even have enough muscle to support itself. Furthermore, the children were scrawny and gaunt almost to the point of malnourishment.
All six figures jumped, surprised, when a large bang was heard outside the door.
They glanced at each other anxiously. The small blond girl, Angel, held a dog tightly to her chest in fear.
Fang, Max and a strawberry blond boy ran to hold the door shut. In their weakened state it wasn't long before there was an explosion and the three were thrown backwards.
A dozen or so of armed security guards emerged from the door. As if in a trance the children met the group with an unmatched ferocity.
The small girl lept inbetween their legs and popped up from behind, kicking one in the back of their knees. The man in black fell forward and was quickly dispatched by her brother, Gazzy.
Max quickly eliminated several by slamming their heads together. Fang was quick to join her. He sidestepped the sedation dart and continued to intercept the attackers.
Unfortunately, Nudge was not so lucky. The dart hit her right above her collarbone. She swayed and hit the ground.
Max gave a roar of fury.
Nudge lay on the cold floor convulsing, foaming slightly at the mouth. Iggy rushed in front of her to protect her in her weakened state.
Even though he was blind he could still effectively kick butt. The good thing about the school is that it was nearly all white. He could discern a few shapes in the darkness. His depth perception wasn't the best though, so he preferred to rely on his hearing.
With an expert snapping kick he broke the neck of one of the assailants. When he emerged from his adrenaline filled state the battle was over.
Iggy sat over Nudge's unconscious body, a knot in his throat. Fang patted his shoulder,
"She'll be fine. Until then, we'll all enjoy the quiet." Iggy chuckled slightly.
Iggy stooped and picked Nudge up, careful to not apply pressure to her wings.
Max ran out of the room, looking for an exit.
The rest of the flock followed her.
The children ran cautiously through the white halls, looking for an escape route.
They found what they were looking for.
A large room dwarfed the figures. Strange aircraft lined the sides of the room. The sunlight glinted off of the metal of the aircraft.
Gazzy yelped with recognition. He rushed over to push a red button on the wall. The opposite wall of the hanger flickered and then dissolved, in a rapid display of technology.
The avian hybrids and the dog boarded an aircraft in the side of the hanger. Five of the children sat in the cargo area while Gazzy tried to figure out the controls.
Iggy sat on the side of the cargo area. He stroked Nudge's hair. She was still unconscious.
"I would feel a lot more comfortable if Nudge was driving." Everyone nodded in agreement. Nudge was their go-to person with electronics. Gazzy was probably capable, but it certainly wasn't instinctual for him.
Max gasped as the aircraft raised erratically into the air. All six children paled dramatically, which is quite a feat when referring to Fang.
All of the avain hybrids hated flying in aircraft of any kind. All the flying they needed came from their wings. All other kinds caused claustrophobia.
They flew for about four hours before Max was beckoned to come into the cockpit.
"Max. We're running out of gas. We need to get off this ship." Max furrowed her eyes in confusion.
How?
Before, they could just fly out with no trouble. But, now it was likely that none of them had the strength to fly.
Gazzy answered her question. He pointed to a cupboard.
"I think there are parachutes in there."
Parachutes, of course. They sound terrifying.
"How much time do we have?" The ship lurched in flight and teetered precariously back and forth.
Gazzy tilited his head pensively.
"Now would be good."
As if in response, the plane gave another lurch.
Max tossed a parachute to Gazzy and he strapped himself in. She ran to toss the others to the rest of the flock, tripping and hitting her kneecap in the process.
Ow.
The children hurriedly put on their parachutes and tentatively jumped outside.
Max kept her eyes closed until the landing. She didn't trust the man-made apparatus, and her stomach was tumbling with fear.
After landing, the group set out to find food.
Gazzy soon found a rabbit, but it soon grew evident that he was quite attached to it.
"Its name is Benard." Angel furrowed her brow and whined.
"Ma-a-a-ax I'm hungry!" Max covered her hand with her face. She had no solution. There was no middle ground. Neither party would agree to cut off a few limbs of the rabbit and then let it go. Either the Rabbit died and Angel was happy or the Rabbit lived and they stayed hungry.
Angel, angry, made a decision.
"It's either Benard, or Total that I'm going to eat tonight. Take your pick."
Total huffed, a peculiar noise coming from a mutt.
"Some dogs may find that offensive. Especially talking dogs. Eating talking dogs is as bad as cannibalism, 'cause, you know, I can talk."