Chapter 36: Conspiracy Theories

Disclaimer: I don't own THG.

Cato:

Squad 451 had been away for a total of four days. Not enough time for there to have been any significant change in the war but, already there was a change in numbers. They were down one soldier, a result of a mislabeled pod. The squad had called for a replacement and Coin had taken it upon herself to find one.

"Late, Soldier Hadley." Marley didn't even have to look to see it was Cato who had arrived to the shooting range. A meeting had gone on for about half an hour, ten minutes of that time had cut into class.

He ignored Marley, grabbing a weapon and taking a place next to where Clove was shooting. She had made some improvements with guns, but it was clear to anyone that they would never be her preferred weapon. Cato watched as she focused on her target, a dummy, and took several shots. Most of them hit it, though few were anything vital. Clove reset the weapon and made to shoot again.

"Ugh!" She yelled. "Always jamming! This is so stupid!"

For some reason, Clove decided that the best thing to do was to keep trying to shoot the malfunctioning weapon. Not wanting to see her or anyone else get hurt, Cato made it his job to take it out of her hands.

"Not a group effort, Hadley!" Marley nagged. "Back to your station!"

He ignored the scolding, and focused on getting the rifle back to working condition. It was a quick fix, something he had learned early on. As a matter of fact, Clove should have learned it, too.

"Why didn't you just fix it?" He asked her.

"Good question." She said with fake cheeriness. "I have another good one, why am I here?"

He groaned internally. Always that same question. He was staring to wonder why he ever told her about Squad 451 in the first place. Clove had been livid when he told her, Cato had been rather saitsifed with the news. It meant their direct involvement was no longer required. Though he was fully aware of Clove's desire to be part of Snow's doom, Cato preferred being able to guarantee their survival.

"Like why do you exist?" He responded. "I don't know, that's a question for someone a bit more philosophically inclined."

Clove was absolutely not pleased with his reply. "Keep that rifle, I might shoot you with it."

"You'd miss." He said. "Which is probably the answer to your question."

Squad 451 was mostly composed of accomplished shooters and led by Boggs, Coin's most trusted man. There were a few exceptions, but it did appear to be a promising team.

Which makes Coin's decision even weirder. Adding him to the squad makes it weaker.

"Rifles have nothing to do with this." Clove said surely. "Coin sent Everdeen on that mission. What's a bow compared to a gun? I could have carried around my knives."

"Thirteen doesn't have throwing knives."

"Oh, but they have fancy bows?" She sighed angrily. "Whatever, it's probably not your fault anyway."

She didn't give him time to ask for more on that, Clove was quick to ask another question.

"You were late to class, what was the meeting about?"

"We watched some promos." He lied.

"Were they any good?" She pressed.

Cato shrugged. "Not really. Just some shooting and stuff."

"Kentwell! You are disrupting my class! Get back to work!" Marley yelled.

"Ignore her." Clove advised. "Tell me what that meeting was actually about, or I'll go up there and ask."

With a sigh, he told her.

"She's not serious." Clove's reaction was identical to that of the soldiers at the meeting; unadulterated disbelief. "He's going to lose it! Does she want him to kill Everdeen? That's what's going to happen, he'll kill everyone and then, kill her!"

Coin had chosen to send Peeta Mellark along with Squad 451, as a way to make promos more exciting. After the show at dinner, no one would think to have the boy fight. Cato had never thought highly of Coin, he knew she had other reasons for choosing Peeta. It wouldn't be the first time the president of Thirteen was unconcerned with the well being of her Mockingjay. This was just the first plan to be so poorly disguised.

"That's what she wants." Cato whispered. "And I think it's what she's wanted for a while."

Clove frowned. "If Everdeen dies, Coin will lose her rebellion."

He shook his head. "At this stage? Her death wouldn't really make a difference. The districts are on our side, it's only Snow and his Capitol left."

"Soldier Kentwell, pack up and go!" Marley had had enough of Clove, apparently.

Unlike so many times before, Clove didn't have a snarky reply for Marley. She was in her own world, piecing together her information. In less than a minute, she had vanished from the room. Perhaps, Cato had made a mistake in telling her about that meeting.

Clove:

It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, and already she was sick of thinking. After leaving Marley's class, Clove went straight to the hospital, where she knew Aurelius would be. She thought perhaps he had told someone about the pills she refused to take. No one had mentioned anything about it to her, but there was always a chance that being left off the squad was a form of punishment.

So Clove spoke to Aurelius, only to learn that he had was unaware of her lying.

"And when did you decide to stop with the medication?" He had asked.

She had replied with 'it's irrelevant' and then, had gone on to make the hastiest retreats in the history of ever. Hopefully, Aurelius would have forget all about her unintentional admission.

Having settled the matter with the doctor, Clove decided to try and obtain an audience with President Coin. She had not been allowed inside Command, on the grounds that she wasn't authorized to enter the room. Three broken fingers later, not hers, Clove had been escorted to her compartment by two very large soldiers.

"At least it wasn't the nose this time, right?" Enobaria never reprimanded the violent behavior, but she did make a point to say she wasn't actively encouraging it either. "What do you want to see Coin for? She's just a grumpy old hag."

Clove shrugged indifferently. "I want to ask about the war in the districts. We have no idea what it's like out there."

Enobaria studied her bored expression. "Well, good to know this isn't about you being left off the Capitol squad."

Clove couldn't ignore the accusation. "It wasn't about that. It's been days since they left, I wouldn't be making a big deal out of it now. Besides, they'll have everything under control."

The older woman wasn't buying the lies, but Clove knew she wouldn't pick a fight over it. After all, Enobaria was certain there was nothing to do about that issue anyway.

Still, Clove had lot on her mind. There was something odd about Squad 451. Why would Coin choose to have a seventeen year old girl out on the front lines? Clove wasn't sure if that was the right way to describe the Capitol, it was crumbling under the weight of its failures. Coin could have led the group herself, Beetee could have planned some sort of attack. Capitol citizens weren't fighters and the military in Two remained on the rebel side. And yet, there was a small team making the trip through the Capitol. On foot and with no back up.

Plus, Coin puts Peeta on the team! He wants Everdeen dead as much as Snow does!

"Hey." Enobaria was snapping her fingers in front of Clove's face. "Whatever it is that's got you all worked up, I suggest you drop it. This whole situation is perfect. We're all here, in the safest place possible. Max and I are here. You even got to keep Cato here. Do you get it? You're done, be happy with that."

For a second, Clove considered voicing all her thoughts to her. But she knew Enobaria would only focus on denying every bit of information.

"I'm perfectly happy." Clove gave her a smile. "I guess I'm not used to sitting around. It's kind of strange."

She would have wanted to use the word freedom somewhere in there, but she didn't think freedom was supposed to come along with uneasiness. She wasn't free yet, and that was a concern.

Enobaria laughed. "You want something to do? Max is out of class by now and we both know he'll have plenty for us to do."

Sure enough, Max was waiting for them to walk him back to their compartment. He looked like he was going to burst out of excitement.

"What is it, Max?" Clove asked him as they walked.

"We learned about plays today! There used to be a lot of them, written by some man called...well, I forget, but they were cool!"

"Plays?" Enobaria seemed unimpressed. "When did school become a waste of time?"

"Don't start." Clove told her. "You learned about plays and what else?"

Max held up his notebook. "I wrote a play! I made a character for all of us, Clove. There's one for you and Enobaria. And Cato, he has a part, too. But we'll need someone to play the cat."

"Charming." Enobaria said sourly. Clove shot her a look and what about to comment before a woman dressed in uniform stopped them.

"Soldier Kentwell?" Clove gave the woman her attention, nodding to confirm her identity.

"President Coin would like a word in Command."

No Clove or Cato on Katniss's squad, guys. Enobaria is the only one who thinks it could all be over soon. She may have her doubts, since she was the one who realized that Coin was using Katniss, but she doesn't care who dies as long as she has her people. Really, Enobaria is dying to go home and have everyone play house, because she's so tired of thinking it could all end up terribly.

Cato told Clove about Coin's plot, so she doubts the strategy. They're onto her, just like Boggs and Katniss are at this point. Next chapter, we find out what Coin wants with Clove. Reviews are welcome (I would love to get to 70). Thanks for reading! :)