By the time the sun was rising, we had crossed into the Capitol. Booker and I share a look, and then we look at Vivi.
"Where to?" I ask.
"This way." Vivi says. We followed her to a bar. As we entered, we survey the main floor for a few seconds, from the looks of it the bar had three floors. I noticed that we were starting to draw attention to ourselves. I was wondering if it was me, but I noticed that other people had scars, so it wasn't me.
"We need to move away from the door." Booker says.
"We're starting to draw attention-" I started to say.
"There they are." Vivi says, pointing to a table in the corner. I see two men: one dressed in very flamboyant clothing, and the other one is dressed down to earth. He definitely stands out. I think as we make our way over to their table. The man who is dressed in plain clothes has gold eyeliner that accents his eyes, which is the only concession he makes to fit in with the people of the Capitol.
"Thank you for making it Vivi. We almost gave up hope." The man dressed to the nines said.
"I got delayed. Kai here, got me back on schedule." Vivi said pointing to me. I noticed that man in plain clothes giving me a once over. Something about me that puts him on edge, and then I realize why.
This man must be a stylist, and he worked or he was assisting in this past Hunger Games. I think.
"Thank you Kai." The first man said.
"Welcome." I said.
"Who are you two, and how do we know that we can trust you?" Booker asks.
"Booker!" Vivi whisper hisses.
"If we wanted to kill you we would have sent a squad of peacekeepers to meet you." The second man said. "My name is Cinna, and he is Plutarch Heavensbee. Kai have you ever been to the Capitol?"
"I've never been Capitol. Why do you ask?" I asked.
"You look familiar." Cinna says.
"Who does he look like?" Plutarch asks.
"He almost looks like the dead victor Sasha Pellegrino, but he had amber eyes." Cinna said.
All of a sudden I remember how I know Cinna. He's Tigris friend, and he could help me get the ball rolling. I sit and wait for the group to finish having their conversation. "We have been planning an operation of this size for some time." Plutarch said bringing me back to the present.
"Why now?" Booker said.
"We needed a victor to back the plan, but most of them don't usually curried favor with the districts. Except Sasha. He had what all the other didn't. Now that he's dead we need to wait for another victory from the outer districts to rise up." Plutarch says.
"Why did it have to be from the outer districts, why not from either district five through ten?" I ask.
"True we could use a victor from any of those districts, but who would you follow? Someone who is favored to win, or someone who is from a district that hasn't had a win in forty-one years?" Plutarch asked.
Cinna is weary of me, but I don't want to reveal my true nature. Then it hit me. What in the world am I doing in the Capitol after I escaped it a few months ago! I thought.
"Let's take this somewhere more private." Cinna suggested.
We get up from the table, and exit the door. After I exit the bar I look up at the sign over the door. Silver Falcon were the words written on the sign. Little did I know years later I would meet Cinna here for my future plans, and then years later I would run into Haymitch. I jog to catch up to the group, and then fall into step behind Plutarch.
"Kai, I've recently received intel that you started up a special unit within the rebel ranks. May I ask what the purpose of the unit is?" Plutarch asked.
"I think that answer is self-explanatory." I say.
"I might be able to assist." Plutarch said.
"How?" Booker asked.
I almost forgot he was hear. "I have some friends within the chain of command that could be of use." Plutarch said.
"That could be dangerous for them. If they get caught it will be their head." Vivi said.
"That won't be a problem. They won't be leaving a paper trail." Plutarch said.
"Paper trail?" I ask.
"He means that if the Capitol gets suspicious they will have to find other means of finding the leak." Cinna said.
"Send it, but the information might be vetted before we act on it." I say.
"My information is solid." Plutarch said.
"We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't check it out first. Commander Coin is working against us at the moment." Booker said.
"Huh." Both Cinna and Plutarch said.
"Let's put it this way. Commander Coin wants to rule District 13, but in order to do it she has to clean house first." I say.
"How many dead?" Plutarch asks.
"Dozens. Vivi was almost killed last night." I said.
"In here." Plutarch says, and then ushers us into a house twenty blocks from the bar. Before entering I saw the Training Center that I was in only months ago. "So what do we do? We have a lot of intel we could pass along, but if Coin is working against us."
"Give me an address, and I'll pass it along to my superior. That way we can bypass the chain of command." I say.
"Kai, you're playing with fire." Booker says.
"I was just elected to fill positon in the chain of command last night, I'm way past that stage." I say. "We going to leave Vivi here with you." I say to Plutarch. "For her safety."
"Okay. Stay here for a few days. I'll dig up some information for you to take back to District 13." Plutarch says.
The first thing I did was head to the bathroom to shave my head and my face, and then take a shower. A few days later Plutarch had the information that he promised. At nightfall on the third day after arriving in the Capitol, Booker and I were making our way out of the city, back to the same spot where we stepped off the hovercraft three days earlier. We waited ten minutes for the hovercraft to appear. We boarded the hovercraft, and then we headed back east. A few hours later we're entering the hanger back in District 13, and as we step off the hovercraft Commander Coin is waiting for the two of us. I look at Venku and he shakes his head. I signal to Booker to play it cool, and let me do the talking.
"How was your trip to the Capitol?" Coin asked.
"Uneventful, and insightful." I say.
"How is Plutarch doing?" Coin asked.
"He's fine. Kind of upset that Sasha is dead." I say, talking about myself nonchalantly.
"Well sooner, or later, another victor will rise. We just have to wait for that day. Good day to the both of you." Coin said, and then left.
Venku, Booker and I make our way to an elevator. We don't speak again until we are off the elevator in b2.
"What did you learn?" Venku asked.
"We learned that I was supposed to be the face of the rebellion." I said.
"What? You?" Booker asked.
I pull my contacts out and look Booker in the face. "Plutarch and Cinna were looking for you, and you said nothing." Booker said.
"It's not that simple Booker." Cross said joining the conversation.
"How is it not that simple?" Booker asked.
"I'm one man. I need more time. The Capitol's defenses need to be weakened, we need to rally the districts to our cause. If I would have openly embraced the rebellion, it would have been crushed and I would have been killed on national television. As Kai, I can do all that, plus I can mold the perfect person to do what I can't." I say.
"Do you have a plan?" Venku asked.
"I have a couple of people in mind, but I won't be able to do it from here. I need to head back to District 12 to do that." I said.
"It goes without saying that we never had this conversation." Venku said to Booker.
"Why?" Booker asked.
"I'm a victor. Whoever controls the victors, controls the future of the Panem." I say. "Look what Coin is doing to the people of District 13, she wouldn't hesitate to kill me if she thinks that I wouldn't back her."
"Plutarch gave us some information to use against the Capitol. Here's an address for the two of you to stay in contact with." Booker said, handing over the flash drive.
"We'll get right on this." Cross said, taking the drive and exiting.
"Get comfortable. We leave as soon as we verify the information." Venku said.
"Aye." Booker said.
"You got." I said.
Booker and I were the only ones left in b2 after Venku left. "You could have done so much." Booker said.
"They were going to turn me into a sex slave, and sell my body to the highest bidder. What was I supposed to do" I asked.
Booker was stunned at first when he heard what they had planned to do with me. "I didn't know. I thought that all the district were treated the same way." He said.
"Don't worry about it, and don't mention my real name to anybody. I don't need any more attention than I already have." I said. I head for the elevator to return my clothes, and contacts. After stepping out of the changing room I see my eyepatch waiting for me. I don't get a chance to relax because as soon as I get back to the main floor I hear Bardan saying that I have a meeting for the commanders, so I make my way to the command center. I sit through the meeting bored out of my mind, and pretty tired. After the meeting was over I went to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and then went to sleep.
I noticed over time that my uniform slowly took on the colors of the outfit that I wore to the Capitol when Booker and I dropped off Vivi: solid white on the front, solid grey on the back. For some strange reason spec. dev. thought it was necessary to attach us hoods to my suit. When I pulled the hood up over my head I noticed something weird. I look closely at the hood and I saw that it came to a point, and further up the hood I could see eyes, the same color as the contacts as the one I wore to the Capitol. I write it off, and keep moving because I have to take a new group of recruits out. Hermes and Booker are part of the group. Tetra, Bardan, and Etain both have their own group to take.
As I'm out with this new group, we were walking through the forest near District 11. Venku vetted a supply train passing through that was going to resupply the peacekeepers in District 11. It was pretty cut and dry: we killed or neutralized any guards that wanted to fight. Those who surrendered we took them back and put them to work in the district. One particular time we are out I was in overwatch while Bardan and two other new recruits, one was Reimi Sauvester and Ashono Camuze, I had to leave my position because their exit had been cut off because there was a contingent of guards blocking their exit. I killed one guard from a distance with an arrow, and it got the rest of the group's attention.
"Bardan, when you three come out, make sure you weapons are drawn because I have to draw a few guards my way." I said over the radio.
"You got it." Bardan said.
How to attract them to me? I think, and then I remember my last moments with Tessa. I let out that cry again, it wasn't human by any means, it was definitely more bird like. I turn my visible again, so I could draw the rest of the guards away. As soon as the group saw me, they were unsure what to think at first. They could tell by my stature that I was a man, but my outfit and then call I gave made me look more bird like. I knock another arrow, and take another guard down. At this point the group decide to return fire. I turn and run deeper into the forest, activing my belt, and then I lie in wait for the rest of the guards. It was a group of ten men, so I return to my roots. Just like in the Hunger Games, running with Tessa. I see the first guard come over the hill and I take him down with an arrow.
Back at the bunker exit, Bardan, Reimi, and Ashono are exiting, but nobody was waiting for them. Bardan spotted a dead guard thirty feet in front of them. "Follow me." The three of them run towards the dead guard, and as they are reaching the top of the hill the see me taking out the final guard from a distance with an arrow. "Did you save any for us?" Reimi asks.
"This is your first run. No need to get bent out of shape. There will be plenty more to kill later." Ashono said. The four of us make our way back to the L.Z., and await pick up.
I spend the next four years in and out of command meeting ands and raids on Capitol supply lines. As I'm making my way in for another nightly session of the chain of command, I enter to a round of applause. I'm not sure what that was about, but I take a bow anyways. "Thank you?"
Nobody speaks. I see Boggs signal to a projector, and then the picture that is being shown on the console is of me that day I revealed myself in full gear. I take a good look at the picture and I almost seem bird like. I look at the hood and I see that it comes to a point like a beak, and on my head are eyes.
"Do I have a name?" I ask.
Someone hands President Coin a piece of paper, from the looks of it I think it was message that was intercepted. "To keep it short, the message states that anybody who knows, or has seen, the Falcon should inform headquarters." she said. I look around at the crowd, and everybody is celebrating my victory. Everybody except Coin, I take in her features and I can see that she is not happy. I watch as she nonchalantly eyes President Odesta, and then takes a seat. I realize that Coin had just set her sights on President Odesta. I rest my hand on my receiver and said. "Our time is running out."
"How so?" Venku asked.
"I just watched Coin eye President Odesta." I said.
"We have no proof, Kai. I know exactly what you are proposing, but we don't have any solid evidence." Cross said.
"That may be true, but that is an even more dangerous game to play." I say.
"Kai." President Odesta said, calling me back to the meeting at hand.
"Yes, Mr. President." I say.
"How are you missions coming along?" he asked.
"Well every time we raid a supply line, we steal all the supplies, and coordinates for bases or the next supply convoy heading to the districts to resupply the peacekeepers. A few have been heavily guard, and have slipped through fingers." I said.
"Well thank you for your hard work, even if you lost a few. The ones that we secured have been given to our troops in the districts." President Odesta said.
"What's the plan?" Cross asked, as President Odesta returned to addressing the rest of the people about current plan of action.
"Keep our heads down, and keep moving. And hope that Coin doesn't back us into a corner." I say.
"Easier said than done." Venku said.
"Not that we have a choice." Cross said.
The meeting went on for a few minutes, and then we were dismissed. My team was still sent out on mission to stop supply lines, but one particular raid was on a weapons facility. As we were snooping through the stocks I found a strange contraption. I was giving it a once over when I saw a button on the side of the piece of equipment. I point the thing away from me, and then pressed the button. A projectile shot, and attached itself into the wall. I let out a yelp of surprise as I was being dragged to the wall.
"Kai are you alright?" Etain ask, as her and other three came to check on me.
"That was fun. I think I'm going to keep this." I say.
I found a pouch on body, and place the new toy in it. When we got back to District 13 Venku called a squad wide meeting, and we amassed in b2. In four years that I have been training this group we have grown from twenty to sixty strong. Halfway through the meeting Cross brought up the latest set of coordinates that we have secured. It was for another supply convoy going back to District 2.
"They're sending more supplies already?" Bardan asked. "We just attacked that line last week."
"What do you think?" Venku asked me, but before I could answer Cross just handed me a piece of paper. I gave it a once over. "Are you serious? Is this real?" I asked Cross.
"Yep. I just got this from a friend of ours in the command center." Cross said.
"What?" Venku asked.
"It reads that if I fail to secure that supply line that I'm to be brought up on charges, and executed." I say.
"How much do you want to bet that the supply line is a trap to kill us?" Bardan asked.
"That's a definite possibility." Venku said.
"What's the play?" Etain asked.
It's time I return home, and finish putting the rest of the plan into action. But first I have to make a stop in the Capitol first. I need to get Cinna on my side. I think.
"Kai?" Ashono asks.
"How big is the convoy, and when does it leave?" I ask.
"It leaves in two days, and it's got three vehicles." Cross said.
"Thirty men, plus any backup from hovercrafts." I say. "Team dismissed. Bardan, Etain stay behind."
The team got up and left, even though there was some grumbling. After the fifty-eight members of our unit had left, I laid out the plan. "You're part in this Venku is the most dangerous. Make a copy of these orders, and then you are going to turn the people against Commander Coin. You aren't going to over throw her, but you're going to put people loyal to us in the chain of command." I say.
"Why? Wouldn't be easier to over throw her, and be done with it?" Cross asked.
"No need to over throw her, she has her uses. Cross, Bardan, and Etain you three are going to take a contingent of troops and get that outpost up and running again." I say.
"That one we took down on our first trip out? I see why you told Coin that it wasn't feasible to repurpose." Bardan said. "How many are you taking to the ambush?"
"Fifteen, while you three are taking an extra five. Plus one of the scientist that we brought back" I say.
"Kai." Hermes said over the radio.
"Go ahead, Hermes." I said.
"You need to come to the hospital, and take a look at this." Hermes said.
"I don't like the sound of that." Bardan said.
The five of us get on the elevator, and ride it back up to the main floor. In the back of my mind I know why we are going to the hospital. When we enter the hospital I see Hermes waving us into a room in the back. Upon entering the room I realized my worse fear: President Odesta's dead body was lying on the table.