Annie's rescue from the Capitol.

PPOV

We're back in the Remake Room while Haymitch and Beetee apply the extra pieces of armor to my uniform. Cressida has fitted the six volunteers' helmets with small cameras since none of the camera crew will travel with us. Plutarch and Coin don't want to miss the opportunity for us to get footage of Annie's rescue from the Capitol.

Katniss has already changed out of her Mockingjay uniform and it's been packed away now for safekeeping, in the unlikely event that she'll need it again after our son is born. I had to chuckle a little when the clothes they brought for her to change into included a pair of darker grey pants with some sort of elastic panel across the front. I guess they'd finally found their missing stash of maternity pants.

Rye, Gale, and Boggs, and I make up the rescue unit, along with two other volunteers who I don't know and don't really care to know right now, as long as they help us get the job done and get us back here safely.

Haymitch and Beetee finish with me and wish me good luck as they head out of the room, leaving me alone with Katniss. Rye and Gale have gone down to the shooting range so Rye can get a crash course on shooting a pistol, and Boggs and the other two soldiers have already gone down to the hangar to prep the hovercraft.

I turn to look at Katniss. She's sitting on a chair in the corner and playing with the end of her braid, her wedding ring catching the artificial light in the room. I walk over and crouch down in front of her with my hands on her thighs, but she refuses to look at me.

"Katniss," I say quietly. She tugs harder on her braid, but her grey eyes stubbornly stay focused on something over my shoulder.

"Katniss," I repeat, a little louder this time. She shakes her head, still refusing to look at me, even when her lower lip starts to shake. "Love, please look at me."

"I don't want to!" she cries, with tears now rolling down her cheeks. My heart lurches in my chest, and I reach up to brush her tears away. Instinctively, she tilts her face against my hand and I lean forward, pressing my forehead to hers.

"Why, Peeta?" she asks, her voice thick. "Why do you have to go? This is so dangerous! And you don't need to prove anything to anyone."

I exhale loudly and press my lips firmly to her forehead. "Yes I do. And not just to me, but to our son also. I don't want him to grow up thinking that his daddy is a frail, feeble excuse for a man."

Katniss looks up then, a look of shock and despair on her face. "You're not-!"

I reach up to cup her cheeks. "Yes. We are. All of us. My father, my brothers..., Katniss, none of them ever really stood up to my mother. Not really. My father knew what she did to us boys, and he never did anything to stop it. My brother Bannock? He was such a coward that he let the love of his life go, because he was too afraid to stand up to our mother. And Rye, well, he just tried to run away from his problems instead of facing them. He never wanted to inherit the bakery, but he was too scared to stand up for himself. And I can't... I can't let that continue! I can't let my son grow up thinking that all of the Mellarks who came before him were weak, pathetic men. Because it's going to stop, right now, with me. I'm going to put a stop to it, Katniss. Because I don't want my son to think this way about me when he's older. I want my son to be proud of me."

"So getting yourself captured, or even killed, will make him proud of you?" Katniss retorts. "How will that help? Leaving me a widow at seventeen?"

"Katniss," I sigh. I move my hand to her chin, keeping her from looking away from me. "Plutarch says that the Capitol's air defense system will be down by the time we get there. They won't see us coming, and they won't be able to fire at us even if they do see us. I'm not going to leave you a widow. And with the cameras installed on our helmets, you'll be able to watch the whole thing, if you want."

"Of course I want to watch!" she snaps. "I'm not going to be able to rest at all until you get back, you know that!"

"Katniss!" I say, louder than I meant to, but at least it gets her attention. "Think about it! If we're able to do this, it'll be a huge blow to the Capitol, and to Snow. And then we'll be that much closer to ending all of this. That much closer to going home! And I owe Finnick! He saved your life so many times in the Quell, I owe it to him to do the same for the woman he loves."

"Annie's not his wife, and they don't have a baby on the way," she says quietly, but she knows she's grasping at straws now.

"You know they'd be married if they could," I say as I tuck a stray piece of her hair behind her ear. "They were trying to keep their relationship a secret. Finnick was trying to protect her."

She nods, finally reaching her hands around my neck. "I just feel helpless, and I hate feeling helpless," she whispers. "And I don't like you going somewhere dangerous without me. I wish I could go with you."

I get to my feet and pull her into a tight hug. "But you understand why you can't, right?" I say, putting my hand on her belly.

She nods against my chest, trying to stifle her sobs. "Please be careful. I'll be watching, and if you do anything stupid or reckless I'm going to be very angry with you."

I can't help but laugh a little. "I promise." I lean down to kiss her lips, all salty from her tears. She threads her fingers through my hair and pulls a couple of times as her tongue slips into my mouth, which causes my hips to automatically grind against her.

"That's to give you incentive to come back alive," she says against my lips.

"That's good incentive," I whisper, kissing her firmly again. "I'm gonna remember that."

Haymitch knocks on the door then, poking his head into the room. "They're ready to go, Boy," he says somberly.

"All right," I say quietly. I pull Katniss into another tight hug, kissing her forehead as I release her to pick up my bow. "Take care of her while I'm gone, will you?"

"Hopefully I won't have to," Haymitch retorts. Then he claps his hand on my shoulder. "You just be careful, and hurry back, okay? Sweetheart's no good without you."

"I will."

Rye and Gale are waiting for me down at the entrance to the hangar. Madge is here too, clinging to Rye's arm and looking like she's been crying. I immediately feel a twinge of guilt, thinking that Rye's only coming on this mission because he's worried that I'll flip out again. But once we've boarded the hovercraft, he tells me that he and Madge had been going round and round for a while, arguing about sending a team to try to break into the Capitol for intelligence purposes. So, since this trip will serve that purpose as well as to rescue Annie, I feel a little better after hearing that.

"Our intelligence source tells us that the two Victors, Annie and Gloss, are being held in the Tribute Center, and that Enobaria isn't with them," Boggs says. "So that's where we're heading." The Tribute Center. Such a fitting place to house prisoners, since that's essentially what the tributes are when they're there. Even when we were in the Capitol on our Victory Tour, Katniss and I couldn't come and go without an escort while we were staying there.

The flight to the Capitol is uneventful for the most part. Gale and Rye spend most of it talking about various weapons, with Gale showing Rye how his crossbow works and explaining the use behind the safety feature on Rye's new pistol. "Just make sure to turn the safety off when you try and shoot the bad guys," Gale says to him, earning him an elbow to the ribs.

We're about thirty minutes out from the Capitol when Boggs receives a message over his radio. He listens intently for a few minutes, then turns to the rest of us. "Katniss and Finnick are filming live propos while we're approaching the Capitol's airspace," Boggs says. "These are being broadcasted to every district right now, and if Beetee's successful with breaking into the Capitol's broadcast feed again, then Finnick will continue to air live during the entire time that we're here, effectively jamming their communications for as long as Beetee can keep us on the air."

That sounds good, at least in theory. "And if Beetee can't break in to the Capitol's feed?" Rye asks Boggs.

"Then we'll only have fifteen minutes to find and extract the prisoner. Plutarch's contact inside the Capitol can't guarantee keeping the false communications feedback loop up for any longer than that."

I gulp. Fifteen minutes isn't that long, considering how huge the Tribute Center is and our lack of intelligence as to where exactly the Victors are being held. "Then let's hope Beetee's able to break in." I say. "Fifteen minutes won't be enough time."

Boggs nods. "You should take point when we arrive, Peeta," he says. "Since you've been in the Tribute Center before, you're the expert on its layout."

I gulp again as I nod. I'm really only familiar with the lobby and twelfth floors of the Tribute Center, and I can remember a little about the attached hospital. I wrack my brain for a moment, trying to think if I remember anything out of the ordinary about the hallways or elevators in the hospital when I was there. I can vaguely recall being amused by the fact that the floors in the hospital seemed to skip the number 3..."

"I think I might know where they're being held," I say excitedly. Boggs leans in, listening intently. "When I was in the hospital after my Games, I thought it was odd that there wasn't a third floor. The elevator buttons were labeled 1, 2, 4, and 5, with the button that would've indicated the third floor just a blank. I'll bet that's the floor where the prisoners are."

Boggs nods once, speaking into his radio. He nods again when he's finished a few minutes later. "All right. We'll go on that information first."

My heart leaps into my throat shortly after that when Boggs indicates that we're about to enter the Capitol's airspace. All the air in the hovercraft seems to stand still as we all hold our collective breaths, praying that Plutarch's operative was able to disable the perimeter defenses. But our hovercraft passes through without issue, and I lean back into my seat as I exhale shakily. Boggs then demonstrates how to use the lines we'll be using to enter the building through the roof. I try to pay close attention through the pounding of my heart in my chest. Somehow, it'd never crossed my mind that we would enter through anywhere other than a door. On the ground. Like small, enclosed spaces, I don't do all that great with heights either.

"All right, helmets and masks on!" Boggs calls as the hovercraft approaches the landing platform on the roof of the huge Tribute Center. "Turn on night vision, all the lights will be out!"

The six of us stand near the platform as the hovercraft lands, our helmets and masks fastened and the cameras filming. The platform opens and Boggs shoots two large projectiles of the knockout gas through the glass ceiling, shattering it with a loud crashing sound as they fall thirteen stories to the floor below. He motions us to attach our lines to the hovercraft supports. "Unless there's a problem, the hovercraft will stay here and wait for us. But if they're detected, then they'll pull the lines back up and circle overhead until we're ready for pick up."

This is starting to sound worse and worse, but I have little time to dwell on it as Boggs double checks his line and jumps, down through the shattered ceiling and into the pitch black depths of the huge building. Gale indicates for Rye to go next. He looks over at me wide-eyed before taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing!" he says as he jumps down.

The other two soldiers go next, and then Gale nudges me with his crossbow. "Your turn!" he says. I nod, swallow hard, and jump. It feels like I'm falling down forever, and I just barely remember to apply the line brake at the last second to slow my descent. I land heavily on my feet, but unhurt, with my bow still clutched in one hand. I breathe a sigh of relief, remembering that Katniss is likely watching every move I make by now.

"That was incredible!" Rye whispers loudly through his mask as we all regain our bearings for a few seconds. "It was like I was flying!"

"More like free falling," I mutter. And I'd just as soon never do that again. Just as that thought finishes, Boggs taps me on the shoulder to lead us over in the direction of the hospital.

"This way," I say, pointing with my bow. We walk through the lobby, stepping over the unconscious bodies of a few Peacekeepers, and down a long hallway before reaching a door that leads to the stairs. We make our way up the six flights of stairs, where Boggs has to use some sort of electronic lock-picking device to get the door to open onto the third floor.

"Good work Peeta," he says as the door hisses and unlocks. "It's unlikely this door would be locked like this if they weren't trying to hide something." He opens the door a crack and throws two more vials of the knockout gas into the room, waiting a few seconds before motioning for us to follow him.

The scene that greets us when we pass though the door is shocking. We enter into a room that cannot be described in any other way than a torture chamber. There's shelves and counters full of sharp items of all shapes and sizes, different colored liquids filling jars and bottles, and row after row of syringes that look to be at least eight or nine inches long. Two rectangular metal tables, loaded with several sets of thick, leather restraints, sit in the middle of the first half of the room. A violent shudder passes though my body as I take it all in.

"What is this place?" I hear Gale say off to my right.

"I don't think I wanna know," Rye replies, standing behind him. Even though his helmet and gas mask I can see the look of horror on his face, a look most likely mirrored in my own expression.

"This way," Boggs says, pointing ahead of us. I can see what looks to be like a row of what could only be prison cells on the far side of the room.

We step over the bodies of three more Peacekeepers as we make our way closer to the row of cells. Through the fog of gas filling the room, I can see the slight figure of Annie Cresta slumped over awkwardly against the bars in the first cell.

"There's Annie!" I say, motioning to Boggs. He uses the lock-picking device to unlock the cell door, and I sling my bow across my back as I enter the cell and crouch down to pick her up. I can make out the outline of a few bruises and scrapes littered across her exposed skin, and through the almost paper-thin gown that covers the rest of her I can see that she's even thinner than Katniss, but she seems relatively okay otherwise.

"We should see if Gloss is here too," I say as I emerge from the cell with Annie in my arms. "He did warn us about the attack on Thirteen, so we owe him."

Boggs checks his watch and then nods at Gale and Rye to move down towards Gloss's cell. His door is surprisingly unlocked, and Rye hoists the tall Victor over his shoulder quickly.

"All right, then let's move out!" Boggs says. I can see the gas fog starting to dissipate as we walk back towards the door leading to the steps, where Boggs stops us abruptly, listening to something over his radio. Suddenly everything goes blindingly white in front of my eyes. I immediately drop to my knees, barely managing to keep a hold of Annie while I grapple frantically with the side of my helmet, trying to turn off the night vision.

"We need to hurry!" Boggs calls. "Beetee just told me that he's lost control of the feed, so we only have a few more minutes before we'll be detected."

"Shit! Then let's get moving, this guy's heavy!" Rye says as we race down the steps and across the now-lit lobby floor, with Gale bringing up the rear. Thankfully, our lines are still hanging there waiting for us, and I hand Annie off to one of the other soldiers as I help Rye hook Gloss's unconscious body to one of the lines. He's taken up immediately as I hook myself to another line, grabbing Annie back as we're both raised rapidly back up onto the roof of the building. The medic that we brought along takes Annie from my arms and towards the back of the hovercraft as I rip the mask away from my face, gulping in the deep breaths that I couldn't the whole time it was strapped to me.

"Let's go, go, go!" Boggs cries as he races onto the hovercraft and hauls the platform back into position. "The perimeter defense system is rebooting!"

"What does that mean?" I cry frantically. I cringe when I remember that Katniss is most likely still watching us, and try to roll back my panic a little. "What does that mean?"

"It means we need to get the hell out of here!" Gale cries. "Right now!"

My heart starts to pound rapidly as the hovercraft lifts off and shoots through the night, racing against time to make it to the border of the Capitol's airspace before the perimeter defense system is once again activated.

"It's activated!" Boggs says a minute later. Fear immediately grips my body. We're still a good couple of minutes from the border.

"So what's going to happen?" I manage to choke out, looking around at the rest of the group. But no one answers me. This type of thing has never been attempted before in any of our lifetimes. No one is sure of what will happen. My eyes briefly meet Gale's from across the aisle, and he looks scared. As scared as I've ever seen him. As scared as I must look to him.

But nothing happens. We cross over the border, and I can see Boggs asking to verify our position with the pilot afterwards, absolutely dumbfounded that the Capitol's defenses just let us pass through like they were still disabled. But I could see the lights marking the outlines of the gun towers as we flew by. I could see the electricity turning back on in the city as we left it behind. It seems like they just let us go. Why in the hell would they do that?

"Every gun they have was aimed right at us, and they let us go!" Gale says in a shocked voice. "Why would they do that?"

Boggs shakes his head. "I don't know, it doesn't make any sense. Let's just get home."

Rye sinks further into his chair and removes his helmet, running his hand through his hair a few times. "I don't care why they let us go. I'm just glad they did, because Madge told me she'd kill me if I didn't come back in one piece."

I lean my head back, thanking our lucky stars or whoever was up there listening for letting us go. I've closed my eyes, almost dozing off, when a commotion from the back of the hovercraft gets my attention. I look up just in time to see Gloss shoving the medic out of his way and stumbling up towards the front to where we're sitting.

Rye and Gale jump to their feet to try and stop him. Gloss is easily as tall as Gale and as broad as Rye, even after his weeks of captivity. "Whoa there big fella, it's okay!" Rye says, placing his hand on the center of Gloss's chest. "We got you out of the Capitol, and we're on our way to District 13 right now. Everything's gonna be okay."

Gloss looks between Rye and Gale, his face twisted in pained confusion. Then, before I can even stand up, his right hand juts out and pushes against Gale's chest so hard that he's knocked back against the seats. Then he points his index finger right in Rye's face.

"You!" he shouts, almost like a grunt. "All of this is your fault! You and that girl! You caused all of this!" And then he raises his hands, and locks his fingers around my brother's throat.

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