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"Peeta!" Prim calls, rushing to meet us as we exit the elevator nearest the hospital wing. "You look terrible." She tells me sadly.
I nod and sigh. "I feel pretty awful. I got what you asked for though, and a few other things." I tell her, as I hold out the box for her to take. I unsling the duffle bag from my shoulder and place it gently on the floor. It gives a pitiful meow.
Prim looks up at me sharply and I give her a rueful smile. "You didn't!" She gasps, discarding the box and kneeling down as she quickly unzips the bag.
"He practically begged to come with me." I tell her, as I watch the two stare at each other for a few moments, before Prim scoops the cat up in her arms.
"Buttercup! I've missed you! How are you still alive, you crazy cat!" She murmurs into his fur while he purrs.
"Let's go." Haymitch growls stepping up beside me; good to see he was back to normal.
"Go? Go where?" I ask, following behind him, looking back with a shrug at a startled Prim.
"To see Coin." He tells me, his tone also tells me this is something I should know.
"Right now?" I wince at the obvious whine in my voice.
He turns to glare down at me. "It was part of the agreement I had to make with her to let this whole thing happen."
"But what does she care about what we saw there?"
"Just hurry up. I'm not in the mood to deal with your endless questions. Please though, feel free to ask her." He says with a wicked smile as he picks up the pace.
I sigh and struggle after him, with everything that has happened today my leg needs a break; hopefully this meeting won't take too long.
Everyone is already at command by the time Haymitch and I step through the door. I slide into a seat as quickly as possible and take in the scene, no one looks very pleased.
"What did we miss?" Haymitch asks the group.
"Nothing yet." Coin assures him. "We have to wait and see what the great Peeta Mellark has to say."
I don't like your tone, is the first thought I have, but I don't say it. "You want to know if I'm ready." I tell her with a frown. We survey one another for a moment before I speak. "Alright, well, here's the deal; I've been giving this a lot of thought and the truth is: you want something from me, so it's really only fair if you give me something in return."
"Go on." Coin snaps. I can't help but smile at her.
"I want you to guarantee not if but when you rescue Katniss, you will get the other victors out of whatever captivity they're in. Mainly Annie and Johanna-"
"We can guarantee no such thing Mr. Mellark."
"Oh, well, I had thought you would want to agree to my terms to get me to agree to do whatever it is you really want me to do here for you."
"I think what President Coin is trying to say is that it will be difficult, risky, expensive, it will likely compromise many people still in the Capitol we have working for us." Plutarch says trying to placate me.
Coin says nothing. "So once you figure out that that really is the best idea for everyone involved, you'll give each of them full pardon for anything they may have done, or you think they may have done while in captivity. You will announce all of this before the entire district." I tell them all slowly.
"No." Coin says sharply. "It's one thing for us to barge in there and take all of these people; we don't know what they have done, what if they really work for the Capitol."
"The only likely tribute working for the and with the Capitol was with District 2, she probably isn't even still in captivity there. Annie is obviously no threat to anyone; you know why they have her. If you can sit here and say Johanna was working with the Capitol the whole time, you really have lost your mind. Katniss knew nothing of what was going on in the Arena, let alone here; she will be unable to tell them anything." I take a deep breath. "Frankly, I'm a bit confused as to why none of you are trying to jump on this chance; you can have what you want if you get her out. Your Mockingjay"
"We will consider it. Anything else?" Coin asks slowly.
"Just one more thing. The Everdeen's, they had a cat, he somehow got on the ship back here. He stays."
There is immediate chaos around the table. All of the people who had grown up here in Thirteen are a bit outraged, is sounds like they have never had a pet. The few people scattered around the table from the Capitol don't seem to find this an unreasonable request.
Coin settles the crowd after a few moments. "Fine." She says with a glare in my direction. "We will grant the Everdeen's the allowance of a pet, we will not be sacrificing our food supply on him, so we will move them to a room with a small window so he can hunt. He will also be held accountable for a curfew. We will lock windows at current lights out time, if he hasn't made it back inside he will simply have to wait it out until morning."
"Alright." I tell her quickly, I can't afford to give her time to change her mind for the sake of Prim.
"You will move with them."
"I'm sorry?" I ask, taken aback.
She points her hand in my direction, gesturing to the medical band still around my wrist. "I want you kept somewhere near medical personnel when you are out of the medical wing, since you seem to keep popping back up in there."
"Okay." I acquiesce.
"We will discuss the other issue and let you know when we make a decision on it." We are all silent for a moment before she speaks again. "You may go now."
I frown and my eye meet Haymitch's, I am hoping he will fight to keep me here but a short nod of his head and I push back my chair and retreat from the room.
Back in the hospital wing I settle down in my bed and eat the small lunch provided for me.
"How did it go?"
"Which part? The district visit or my short meeting with Coin?" I ask wearily.
"Ohhh, the meeting with Coin, definitely. Do tell." Finnick quips with a smirk as he ambles over to my bed.
I relay the events of the meeting and the day quickly; leaving Finnick looking a bit shell-shocked.
"I would have thought for sure she would have said yes to you, even if you thought you should ask for the moon."
I shrug. "I just hope this decision doesn't take her too long to make."
"Doubt it will. At least, if she's as smart as she has been since we got here, it won't take her long." His voice is far more upbeat than he looks.
"Right, well, I guess we'll have to wait and see."
The words are no sooner out of my mouth than Haymitch runs in through the door. "Decision's been made. You're in."
"Yes!" Finnick cheers, pumping his arms in the air. "When will they rescue Annie?" He asks quickly.
Haymitch frowns. "No decision on that yet. Probably be a while in the making, it will be a big deal you know, getting all of them right out from under Snow's nose. For now though, get some sleep, both of you, tomorrow Peeta you're to report to command after breakfast."
"What about me?" Finnick is asking, getting up from my bed.
Haymitch frowns and shakes his head. "No word on you yet. As soon as I hear anything I will let you know." Finnick looks close to tears. I wonder how badly feeling like he's not helping is eating him up inside in addition to Annie being held captive. Haymitch sees it too. "Look, Finnick, you need to focus on being well, for Annie, you need to be strong for her once we get her back."
"Right, you're right." His eyes become hard and he flops down into bed. "For Annie." He whispers before rolling away from us. "Goodnight, Peeta."
It's on the tip of my tongue to tell him it's only afternoon, but I don't. I finally notice how truly exhausted I am as well. "I think I'm with him on this one Haymitch, I need sleep, badly."
"That you do. Command tomorrow, don't forget." He growls at the door. "I'll see about getting you out of here and back into your own room for tomorrow night." He says before leaving.
He doesn't need to elaborate, I know why, and I'm thankful for it. I try to keep my breathing slow as I drift into sleep. Images from the day flashing before me, but I try to push them aside, try to think of the rescue attempt and how I would hopefully be seeing Katniss soon.
I try not to frown too much as I get makeup caked on my face. I'm still not sure this is necessary, the makeup part at least. Finally they step back and survey their work, Plutarch steps forward.
"No." his sigh is heavy, mine is equally so.
"Can we take a break?" I ask, before the makeup artists can swarm me again to clean off my face and start over.
"I suppose." Plutarch tells me with a frown as he waves away the four people who had been working on making my face perfect for the past two hours.
I stand and stretch, then pull my pants away from my legs. Leather and sitting for that long really don't go well together. I shake my legs out and move over to a small table set up with all of the makeup and a few glasses with a pitcher of water. I pour myself a glass and drink it quickly.
"Plutarch." I say, stepping over to the former gamemaker. "I don't want to undermine you, and your pretty impressive idea, but I have to wonder. These messages you're filming to try and air in the capitol. All of those people there, they've never seen me like this. I know you want me to seem larger than life and scary, and imposing…" I trail off, running out of good words to use here. "Anyway, my point is, they're used to seeing me in the arena, dirty, bruised…no makeup. Even when I had to do the District victory tour I never wore makeup, even for my interviews my makeup then was minimal. I think I wore some eyeliner in my first interview. That was always the idea, for both Katniss and I. Keep it simple, let them see us for who we really are." Plutarch is still frowning. "I still really like your idea, it's great, really. I just wanted to possibly toss out a small idea to maybe consider. Everything is, as always, completely up to you in the end." I give him a winning smile, and he recoils slightly. I turn back to the table for another drink of water. I can't even imagine how garish that must have looked with the makeup I have on right now.
It only takes a few minutes. Plutarch is back over talking to the makeup crew, who are all grumbling, but nod. Then he turns to all of us milling about in this studio room they've set up for filming. "We'll be going in a different direction." He says loudly. "More organic."
"Do I need to loose these amazing pants?" I ask.
A few of the women grin as Plutarch looks me over. "Keep the pants." He decides. Well, there went that idea.
I sidle back over to the chair, and the crew pounces immediately. I find myself thinking about my prep team. I realize with a jolt, that I miss them. I try not to wonder where they are or what may have happened to them.
In moments I am ready and I pass inspection quickly. A few people usher me over to the stage, touch up my makeup and then back away. Plutarch walks over to me, shuffles me about until he is satisfied and then steps back.
"Alright!" He says "Lets run some backgrounds." He surveys me for a moment. "Peeta, I want you to look angry."
"Angry?" I ask, startled.
"Yes, angry. You're angry at the Capital." I screw up my face in what I hope is anger. I am angry, yes, but my anger tends to be more self-contained than anything. I am angry, and sad, and hurt and exhausted. I try to convey that.
"Get him a gun!"
"I-what?" I ask dumbly as a gun is thrust into my hands. Though I have been going to the military training as often as I can; I'm still pretty hopeless at using it. Dismal at best.
"Just act normal." Plutarch is saying dismissively while waving a hand and me.
"Oh, sure!" I try not to roll my eyes; this is anything but normal for me. "So what do you want me to do?"
"We're already filming you."
"Why?" This is going spectacularly so far.
Plutarch punches the bridge of his nose and sighs heavily. "Don't worry about it right now Peeta. Right now I just want to you think about how you feel towards the Capitol and what they're doing."
"What they're doing to Katniss or to Panem?"
"Both. Just start talking and we'll go from there."
I nod, look down at the gun, adjust it in my hands, try to get more comfortable, look more comfortable with the gun. I can hear people starting to whisper and decide to give up on looking natural with a gun.
I look up into the camera and take a deep breath. There are so many things I could say, that I want to say; I'm not sure where I should start. I do know though that I can only begin to imagine what Katniss might be going through right now so I quickly to decide to avoid that topic for now and focus solely on Panem.
"Tyrants." I say quickly. The word has everyone looking up at me. "When I think of the Capitol I can only think of that one word. What other kind of people would do what they do? Kidnap children away from their homes to fight to their deaths. Living in fear for a whole year until the next reaping when your name might be called and during that whole year do nothing but work, and for what? For the benefit of the citizens of the Capitol. I understand we need to be kept inline, because of something our ancestors did, but to make the majority of the districts live in squalor for your benefit, and then to take their children. It's disgusting." I take a deep breath. "So I just want you citizens of the Capitol to ask yourselves this: are you really that surprised by this uprising?"
"Cut!" Plutarch calls. He is frowning, I worry that I said the wrong things, but I notice a small scrap of paper clutched in his hands, Gale is standing beside him and Haymitch is hurrying through the doors.
"What's happening?" I ask, stepping from the stage and moving towards them.
Haymitch looks up, and growls. "District 8."
I nod, even though this tells me nothing.
"How long ago did this happen?" Plutarch asks.
"Minutes maybe." Gale says. "They were broadcasting it. Coin wants a team in there soon."
"Soon as in now?"
Gales smile is grim, "Of course."
"I want to go." I say quickly. All three of them frown at me.
"You can't" Gale hisses at me.
"Why not?"
"You're valuable."
I shrug. "To who? You, Coin, Thirteen? What about the other districts. I can help. District 8 liked us. I can lift spirits or something."
"It would be good for the propos we have planned. Peeta in action. The people would love it."
"I also doubt they'll be back soon." Haymitch supplies. "They'll want to lure them into a false sense of security, that's what they like to do, just look at the history of the games."
A line forms between Plutarch's eyebrows and he looks like he might say something to Haymitch but instead he just nods. "I'll talk to Coin about it, see what she says." And with that he leaves the room.
"Come with me…both of you." Haymitch calls, following Plutarch out of the room.
Gale and I hurry after him.
"Where are we going?" I ask after a few minutes of tense silence.
"Just keep quiet and follow me."
Gale and I exchange a brief look; eyebrows raised, but do as he says as we descend deeper underground.
We pass through several security doors and then we are at our destination. The room has nothing but weapons in it and situated directly in the center of the room is Beetee in a wheelchair seated in a strange sea of green amongst all of the steel surrounding it.
He sees us immediately and wheels out to greet us. "Peeta! It's wonderful to see you again." He says taking my hand in his own and shaking it. "Gale, Haymitch." He nods to each of them in greeting.
"So I guess it's time?" he asks, looking to Haymitch, who nods.
He bites his lip for a moment, nods and then wheels away from us. "Follow me!" He calls.
"Gale, this is for you. Well, rather, it's one of the prototypes I've been working on with Katniss in mind, but since you've mentioned your skill with a bow as well I've modified it a bit to suit you better."
"When have you talked to Beetee?" I blurt out.
Gale barks out a short laugh. "I've been down here plenty of times. Beetee and I have been working on traps."
I narrow my eyes and shake my head, trying to sort out what this might really mean.
"Traps." Gale says again. "I hunt, I'm good with traps, and we're trying to see if we can modify them for humans. Make them bigger, less obvious."
"Huh." Is all I find I can really say in response to that.
"Go try it out over there." Beetee tells him, gesturing to a small shooting range not far from us. "There's three different arrow types in that quiver Gale. Center are your regular one, left is explosive and right is incendiary." Gales face lights up with glee and he hustles over to the range.
"Now, Peeta." Beetee says, wheeling around to look at me fully. "How are you?"
I shrug noncommittally. "I can't complain I suppose."
He nods solemnly, and I know he understands what I meant in all of the words I didn't and couldn't say.
"Now for you I have a few things. I didn't have quite as much time to work on yours though as I did with Katniss' and Finnick's since I wasn't really sure of your strengths really. Katniss I had the time to draw up schematics before the games and keep them all in my head. For you I only had rough ideas. Let's start over here." We move over to a low workbench that has a whole host of unusual items, strangest of all is the prosthetic leg. "This is yours." He says, leaning forward and hoisting it up. He passes it on to me and I almost drop it, its heavier than then one I have now. "I wouldn't recommend using this one right away, it will take some getting used to, but once you do, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it."
Haymitch and I exchange skeptical glances.
"I'm still trying to work a few things out with it, but it should be good to go in a week or so. See these?" he points to the ridges and bumps along the top of the leg. "These are your new secret weapon." I don't see what he means by this until he presses down on one of them and a panel pops open in the leg and a small knife springs up. It would be easy to grab if I was down in cover somewhere. "There are all sorts of tricks to this leg. I won't do them all here, it's a bit dangerous, but it's a bit like having your own armory tucked away in your leg." My eyes are wide with wonder and Beetee smiles at me. "We'll go over it more once I have it all worked out. Now, onto the real piece for you to use. Another multi-tool if you will." This time he picks up a large rifle. My heart sinks.
"Don't worry." He says seeing my expression fall. I've built it to compensate for you for now. It works with you, adjusting your aim and target automatically. Voice controlled, so only you can use it efficiently, you can tell it what or where your target is and it will lock on it. Then here…" He points to a small button above the trigger and depresses it. A knife pops out above the barrel of the gun. "Excellent for close combat panic situations if you have no time to reload." He leans back with a smile. "What do you think?"
"It's amazing." I breathe. "Thank you."
"Of course! Now… let's get your suited up. I used Cinna's basic design for Katniss, tweaked a few things, made it all black and a bit less streamlined."
"What does that mean?" I ask, as I follow him over to a long wall made up of doors.
"You're a big guy Peeta, muscular big, I put that into the design." He threw the door wide and there it was, in all of its dark, shining glory. "Go try it on, you haven't much time. We'll wait here."
I hand my weapon off to Haymitch and pull the armor down from the rack and step into the small room. I smile as I finally take off those dreadful leather pants, but my joy is fairly short lived. The pants on my fatigues we much tighter, but at the same time more breathable and flexible. It didn't take me long to get into it and I stepped back out, headpiece in hand.
"What do you think?"
"I like it!" I tell him honestly, and it's true. I feel good about it.
"Alright, we've got to go Beetee. I'm sure we'll see you around soon." Haymitch is saying, pulling Gale back to us by the collar of his shirt. He thrusts my gun back at me and I barely have a chance to wave goodbye to Beetee before the doors are closed on me.