When Camille came to, she smelled perfume mixed with the ungodly stench of body odor.
Pushing up from a plush bed of what she recognized as animal skin coats, Camille bent her neck to get rid of the crook, looking over to where she saw Pollux, Cressida, and Gale asleep on one side of the room. She turned her head and saw Katniss and Peeta blinking at her from near the staircase, a little wide eyed.
She stretched her arms above her head, then remembered in mid-stretch what had happened.
Turning, she threw up all over the floor.
Arms were around her, impossibly fast, as she wailed, waking the three other rebels. She was surprised when she realized that Peeta was the one holding her tightly to his chest, shushing her and apologizing over and over again.
It took her several minutes, and a near scolding from Cressida, Katniss, and their hostess, Tigress, for her to calm down. She still felt as if her heart was going to burst through her chest, only to shatter to pieces on the floor in front of her, a mockery of what it once was. But then she realized that her pain was misplaced, misused. Instead of letting it hinder her, she should let it feed her.
With Finnick's face still forefront in her mind, flanked by the faces of Jackson, Leeg 2, Homes, and Castor, Camille turned to Katniss and Gale. "So. What is the plan? Where are we, even?"
Cressida was the one to answer, her voice having taken on a new authoritative tone since before the tunnel attack. "We're almost to the heart of the Capitol. Tigress is a woman scorned by Snow, so she was more than willing to help us and hide us. We need to regroup, rest up, and then we will diverge down on the Capitol."
"And do what, exactly?" Camille said, swallowing hard. "Half of our team is gone. Our original plan isn't going to work."
"That's where I come in," Tigress announced from her perch at the top of the staircase leading to the main level of the house. She stepped toward the door, all of the rebels' eyes below her watching her warily as she said, "We have a mutual friend."
She opened the door, revealing a man's silhouette that almost filled the whole height of the doorway. He was dressed in black fatigues, the same outfit that Camille had last seen him in, and he looked almost sheepish as he stepped through the doorway and into the low lighting of the room.
Camille froze for a second, not believing her eyes.
Then, she unraveled her whip with a snap of her wrist, wrapping it around his body just as fast and bringing him to the floor.
Tigress hissed and leapt away from the man as Katniss strung her bow and Gale lifted his gun. Out of the corner of her eye, Camille saw Peeta tightening his fists – the only weapon he had.
"Woah, woah!" Cressida exclaimed, jumping between the four rebels and the party at the top of the stairs. "What's going on?"
"He is no friend of mine," Camille said, maintaining her distance but also keeping the grip on her wire strong. "He was one of my Capitol guards, one of my torturers. The fact that Tigress thinks he is a friend of mine is concerning, especially now that he knows where we are."
Cressida whirled toward her supposed friend. "Cressida, what the hell?"
"Just hear him out," Tigress implored, gesturing to Gerard as all eyes around the room swiveled toward him as well.
"When I was pulled in to act as a guard for a criminal offender, I never thought it would be a young girl that I had watched fight for her life not once, but now twice, in the arena. I've never believed in the show that is the Hunger Games, and I do call it a show because it is just a barely veiled outright threat to all of Panem that Snow would do this to all of us before allowing us to question him," Gerard said, shaking his head. "When I saw what they were doing to you and your compatriots, I had had enough. I was the insider who gave them the information they needed to get you all out."
Gale laughed, stepping forward to stand immediately behind Camille. "That is a lie. I would've heard about it."
Raising an eyebrow, Gerard bothered to look amused. "Do not overestimate your worth, Soldier. I worked for Plutarch, not Coin. I am the one who fed him the schematics and locations of your friends."
"That is all well, if it is to be believed," Camille said, taking another small step forward while Gale's face reddened at the dig, "but very easy to do and remain anonymous. What you are doing now, by coming here and suggesting me to sneak into the palace, is far more… bold. How am I to believe it is not a ploy?"
"Because my family was killed for allowing you to escape, even though I was not even on guard that night," Gerard said in a surprisingly flat tone of voice, his eyes speaking the levels of emotion for him as they sparked with anger. "I do not have anything to lose, but only things to gain when you all take down the Snow and, thus, the Capitol."
Tigress decided now to speak up, telling Gerard, "Tell them the plan."
"Tigress called upon me when she saw how decimated your group had become, knowing your original plan would no longer work. Our plan was to include two of you, but that was more because knew one would not leave without the other," Gerard revealed, making Camille squeeze her eyes shut.
It was Gale who commented flatly, "You wanted her and Finnick to go with you."
Gerard looked distinctly uncomfortable as he nodded his head once, a demure sign of respect. "Yes. I'm sorry for your loss. But the plan still works with only you."
"Why her?" Peeta asked, his voice strangely protective. "Why not Katniss, or Cressida, or me?"
"Because we need a techie," Gerard said. He hesitated a second, giving Tigress a side eye as she nodded, encouraging him to continue speaking. "We need Camille to go in and take down the Capitol's communications."
"What?" she asked in surprise, blinking at him. "That would've been helpful a while ago, but now, I don't really see the point in it. All the districts have turned against them. They're withdrawing into the mansion. What reinforcements or plans are they going to call upon?"
"If we cut off communications to the outside, they won't welcome any more refugees in," Gerard said, making this sound as if this was a positive thing.
Eyebrows furrowed, Camille stepped closer to her former guard, her curiosity getting the better of her. "How is that going to help anybody? If they are outside, they are not protected, especially in the case of a rebel attack. I wish I could say I know our forces would not hurt them, but there are some soldiers that have been wronged so many times that they will not see the difference between Snow and a random Capitolite."
Gerard shook his head. "It would be worse if they were inside. If we are able to keep all of the citizens out of the mansion, there will be no need for a strategic intervention or infiltration. Thirteen and the rebellion can just blow the mansion right to its foundation."
Silence crept throughout the room as all of the rebels considered this, understanding what the mass migration of Capitolite citizens to Snow's residence really meant, and how the move would inevitably be countered.
Before anybody else could speak up, Camille took a step toward Gerard. "I'll do it."
"Hold on," Peeta's voice called out, pulling Camille by the arm and turning her around. Gale and Katniss finished out their group as Peeta lowered his voice, saying, "Cam, you can't do this, you can't go with him. We don't know if this is some weird ploy to reel us in or capture you or…"
"Peeta," Camille said gently, resting her hand over his arm and effectively silencing him, "I have to go if it means I can change anything to our favor. We just suffered a huge loss. And before you all think that this is me, trying to go on a suicide mission following Finnick, you're wrong. I am going for Finnick. But because he risked his life to protect me, to protect us, and to fight for our nation. And to not take this risk, this chance, that might be able to move us forward, would be an insult to his life."
Although all three of the Twelvers who had been facing her had looked ready to pin her down themselves if it came to it not moments ago, they all looked resigned, albeit still a little unwilling and uncomfortable.
Sighing, Katniss shook her head. "I know we won't be able to stop you, and I know how you would feel if we tried. I don't want to make you feel that way. But Camille, you better fight like hell in the Capitol, and leave Snow for me."
Giving her a crooked smile and a loose salute, Camille responded, "Will do, Everdeen."
Surprising her, Katniss brought her in for a hug, before Camille was received by Cressida, Gale, Castor, and Peeta as well before she turned to Gerard, still regarding him cautiously as he led her out of Tigress' home, reminding her to raise the hood on her elaborately designed jacket before they even exited out of the front door.
Camille followed Gerard through dark alleyways, almost instinctively hiding in the shadows as she navigated the back areas of the Capitol. They walked in complete silence for tactical reasons, Camille knew, but she wasn't so sure they would actually have anything in common to talk about even if they had the opportunity to.
Just as Camille was starting to get on edge due to the utter silence she had never before associated with the Capitol, they turned a corner and spotted a Capitol tank awaiting them. Camille slowed her steps, feeling her wire tensing around her arm, before Gerard commented over his shoulder, "There's nobody else in there, I promise."
Steeling herself and reminding herself why she had come this far, Camille followed Gerard to the tank, climbing in behind him to the giant metal death contraption. She felt more trapped than she ever had once the top closed, confining her to the small space with a man who had once watched her torture with no emotion on his face whatsoever.
She was relieved when the tank came to its final stop and the top came unscrewed again. She practically leapt out, followed closely by Gerard, who grabbed her by the arm and hissed, "Your hood."
Sighing, Camille raised the hood on the Capitolite jacket that Tigress had given her as a means of disguise. She landed lightly on her feet outside the tank, taking in her environment. She recognized the hangar in which she had arrived in several times before, both for her Games and for her Capitol appointments. The thought made her shudder, especially considering the emptiness of the garage. Their tanks was one of three present, and all of the aircraft and hovercrafts normally housed were gone except one. Camille imagined it was to be used for Snow as a last minute measure.
Gerard kept his head bowed toward her as he spoke quietly, quickly. "When we go inside, you are to keep your head down. If anyone questions us, we will tell them that you are a Capitolite who spotted the rebels dodging into a building closer to downtown for shelter, and that I am taking you to my superior to verify your story. Keep your head down, your mouth shut, and I'll lead you to the Communications room."
Nodding once to show she understood, Camille followed Gerard like a good little soldier. They ran into seven different Peacekeepers and two Capitol officials who asked about Camille, but Gerard managed to send them all away before they dared to peek under her hood to see who was really his companion.
When they arrived at the Communications room, the hallway leading up to it was empty. Standing at the door, Gerard commented stiffly, "You know what to do, right?"
"It's not my first time decimating an entire Communications system," Camille said, her hand on the doorknob. She felt Gerard's eyes on her, expectant, as she turned toward him, her voice softening as she said, "Thank you."
His eyes went wide, before he maintained his composure and nodded once. "I'm glad I could help. Now go destroy the Capitol."
Camille entered the room with a smile on her face, which only grew as she took in all of the technology around her. She saw several cameras she knew probably had films from propaganda, as well as printed scripts and various computers running codes she knew were fighting against Thirteen's hacking.
With a single press of a button, she shut those walls down.
Turning to the main computer, she waited for the program she needed to boot up, passing the time by looking up the ID of the creator of the computer. Each District 3 member who made computers had a secret ID code patched in to the main coding of the computer, the same way a painted would autograph their piece of art.
By deciphering the code, Camille found that the computer she was working on belonged to none other than her Einon.
She gently brushed her fingers against the computer screen and the keyboard, thinking of Einon's deft fingers doing the same when he had finished his project. The idea of any part of him still being in the Capitol boiled her blood, so she worked with a fast pace to put in the code that would wipe out all of the Capitol's communications with the outside world, watching as the code slid into the system.
While she was at it, she sent a message to Beetee, as well as the rest of Panem.
The Mockingjay lives.
She watched her message for a few seconds before the screen, as well as all those around her, went black. Grabbing her hood and lifting it back over her head, Camille turned and exited the Communications door, expecting to see Gerard and fifty Peacekeepers pointing their guns at her.
Instead, she found nobody, and that was somehow worse.
Cursing under her breath, Camille unwrapped her wire just a bit so her handle rested comfortably in her palm. She made her steps quick but her gait wide, holding a prestigious air about her so if anyone saw her, they thought she was simply a misplaced Capitolite.
She was too busy thinking about the schematics of the mansion and how she would get out that she had already turned the corner into the hallway full of Peacekeepers. Looking out from underneath her eyelashes, she counted seven in total lining either side of the hallway, down to the end.
Continuing to walk with purpose, Camille had already passed three of them when one of them bothered to ask, "You! Why are you in this hallway?"
Camille always wanted to laugh in the guy's face as the adrenaline hit her system. She had slept for too long after the encounter with the Mutts in the tunnel, and had been pushing away her energy to cope with her heartache.
But that was over now.
Making sure her hood was safely secured underneath her chin, Camille swung out and took down the two guards closest to her. The bullets started firing almost immediately, but Camille dodged behind statues and the other Peacekeepers, using them as cover without a second thought.
She moved lithely, smoothly, throughout the hallway, taking down one Peacekeeper after the other, especially as they ran closer to her and she could fight more of them at once, rather than having to be on the defense with one and the offense with another.
A knife sliced through the edge of her hood, cutting the string that was holding it tight to her face in her last attempt to hide her identity. The Peacekeeper who had dared to get his blade close enough to her face balked, before she used her cord to disarm him and stab him with his own knife.
"Brazen!" the last Peacekeeper yelled in surprise, his face quickly changing into an expression of disgust and hate as he brought his arm up to swing at her. She quickly dodged it dropping her cord to the ground as she did so, leaving him to almost fall over her shoulder, grunting before he commented, "You traitorous little bi-"
A third voice cut him off, commanding, "Cam, down!"
She did what the random voice asked her to do, responding almost innately to the shortening of her name and the desperation behind the command. As she knelt, she heard the sound of a metallic sheathing that brought her stomach contents to a boil, her heart racing against her chest as she tried to focus on the ground to steady it. A body intercepted her view as the Peacekeeper collapsed in front of her, a trail of red blood spilling down the front of his otherwise pristine uniform.
Camille looked up at her savior, wide-eyed as his hood was blown back, revealing golden waves and sea foam green eyes narrowing in the distance that turned to look down at her, losing all their tension.
A tired smile crossed over his features as Finnick commented, "So, I'm guessing 'sorry' probably won't cut it this time, huh?"