Chapter 25

Orders

Katniss

The plane lands on the flight deck, and we wait for it to stop. It's not exactly the triumphant return we thought it would be. But at least I'm waiting for the train that's going to bring me my sister. And Clint. And, supposedly, there will be a plane bringing back Spruce soon.

Tony and I wait for the medics to take Thresh and Stephen off to the infirmary, then we climb down. Hill's waiting for us – she does not look happy at all. "Fury wants to see you," Hill says as soon as our boots touch the flight deck. That does not sound good. She looks angry with us, but with Hill it's hard to tell.

We start to head inside and two guards follow us – if they don't even trust us to go to Fury's office by ourselves, we've really screwed up.

Fury's office is a small, sparse circular room. There's a huge oak desk in the middle. We stand in front of it, heads bowed low. He sits behind the desk, glaring at us, for a long while before he speaks.

"Am I to understand, Private Everdeen," he says slowly. "That you disregarded a direct order?"

"I was just concerned about …"
"No excuses. You had your orders. Howard Stark was right – Drusa knows nothing. Even now, I am not overly concerned about her defection to the Capitol."

"I gave away our position. I'm sorry for that."
"That was stupid," he agrees harshly.

"I … I got Shale killed," I say, and I almost choke on the words. I wait for Fury to agree or disagree – he doesn't, and that's worse than anything he could say out loud.

"And you – Private Stark. You also disobeyed orders …"
"I was trying to get to Shale …"

"After she was dead. Do you think she would be happy with you, knowing that you got two of your comrades wounded trying to retrieve her body against direct orders?"

"The Capitol's going to do something awful to …"
"An unfortunate truth. She won't however feel any of it and the question remains. Would she have wanted you to make her sacrifice mean nothing by getting yourself and your comrades killed?"

"I didn't …"
"It's a miracle you didn't." Tony's hands are in fists and he looks furious, but he doesn't answer.

"I've got her father waiting down the hall – I'm now put in the position of informing him we lost his precious daughter and yank away the hope he had for less than a day. This is not a situation I'm happy with." He's out of his chair by now, and I feel the guilt of it pressing down on my chest. I'd give almost anything to have that moment back and keep my mouth shut.

"What's our punishment, sir?" I ask slowly, not sure I want to know the answer.

"I don't know Private – I haven't had time to think about it," he says. I never would have thought a statement of uncertainty could sound so cutting. "Your mother and Mr. Hawthorne's family are waiting for you – go and see them and wait on the hovercrafts while I think it over." I leave with my head bowed.

Tony follows shortly after. "I'm telling Shale's father what happened," he says bitterly. There's a huge lump in my throat but I don't dare say anything. Her dad's going to hate me – he's going to be right to hate me.

We find a group of people in the a little waiting area. Some guards lead an elderly woman I can only guess is Thresh's grandmother and his sister, aunt and uncle, and cousins – Rue's parents and siblings – to see him in the infirmary. Another guard takes a boy about Stephen's age – he's going to be surprised to see how much his friend has grown. There's a ton of other people – waiting on the victors, I assume.

The first person I know that I see isn't anyone from my family or Gale's – it's Peeta's dad. "Katniss! They won't tell me what's going on, where's Peeta?"

"Peeta should be on his way here now, Mr. Mellark," I tell him quickly, respectfully. I'm actually sort of glad to talk to him first. "They made a successful escape earlier tonight, and they're taking the train to District 12 and then hovercrafts are going to pick them up from the woods." He breathes a sigh of relief.

"What about you? Are you okay?" he asks, and the look of concern on his face is surprising.

"Yeah I'm …" I hesitate. "We had a mission. We failed. We lost Shale … the girl from District 5 in our Games … It was my fault …"
"Oh Katniss …" he says and hugs me tight. It's awkward at first but in the end I'm glad for it. I see Peeta's brothers over his shoulder.

"Where's your wife?" He almost laughs.

"She was going to sound the alarm – the people who came and got us tied her in the basement. Keith should come across her first thing in the morning – that's the boy who brings us the grain from the train." I think of all the times I've seen Peeta or his brothers with a black eye and how henpecked the baker seems, and I am very sympathetic to his amusement at her situation. He's probably glad to be away from her.

A little figure hits me at full speed and wraps her arms around my hips. "Hi Posey," I say with a smile and pat her head. The rest of Gale's siblings follow quickly and wrap around me, hugging me tight. Then it's Hazelle herself. "Where's Gale?" I ask, worried.

"They didn't tell you? He's one of the District 12 workers on a trade train," she says, and she sounds worried.

"That's probably a very good thing – the victors are on their way here now by train. He was probably part of the mission." Somehow, it makes me feel better to know that Gale is there with Prim and Clint.

"Katniss," I suddenly hear Howard's voice in my ear and realize I'm still wearing my earpiece. "The victors are on the hovercrafts and ETA is ninety minutes. I thought you'd like to know that we picked up Spruce and he's in stable condition – the plane will be there with him in just under three hours." More good news – the night is looking up.

"Thanks Mr. Stark," I say, acknowledging the trouble he went through to cheer me up with that.

I need it, considering at that moment I look up and see a redheaded man I can only assume is Shale's father collapse into Tony's arms.

I tell all the little Hawthornes I love them and then find my mother. She's sitting on a chair and staring off in the distance like she does, probably not really believing other of her daughters are safe. "Mom," I say gently. "Prim's safe, they'll be here in forty minutes," I say quickly, knowing what else she needs to hear. She smiles for the first time in … I honestly can't remember the last time I saw her smile this genuinely. She holds me tight for a long while, crying what I assume are tears of joy on my shoulder. It's been so long since we've been safe and sound – maybe we've never been before.

Unfortunately, that illusion is very quickly shattered. "Katniss, Tony – get to the flight deck now," Howard's voice orders over my earpiece.

"What's wrong?"
"There's hovercrafts with heavy artillery and bombing capability heading to District 12 and the Capitol's cut the power – I doubt very seriously they're on their way to deliver packets of sugar."

"What are we going to do?"
"You? You and Mr. Hawthorne and whoever else knows the woods are going to work with Lieutenant Coulson to evacuate as many people as possible. Tony's joining the fleet we're sending out to hold them off as long as possible." My heart races.

"Who are you talking to?" Mom asks, worried.

"I have to go, Mom … there's something at home to take care of," I say calmly, trying not to worry her or anyone around me.