Hello to all who are reading my story. I hope you liked this one. I like to give a big hug to my beta reader for helping to edit this story, it means a great deal to me that you helped so much with this story and my other. Now on to disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters.
A new edition to my story flow will be that I will be updating weekly as an episodic update. This story will updated every Saturday.
Also I greatly appreciate all comments and reviews, especially ones with ideas in them, which I'm happy to listen to and take into account since I help me move the story along fast... well most of the time :"3 Enjoy Chapter One.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was my cousin, Gale, standing over my bed, his gray eyes staring into mine.
He was a little too close for comfort. Not that the proximity worried me. Why would I need to be cautious of my own cousin? In fact, he should be worried about his safety right now. Unless he had a good reason for waking me up before daylight. If he didn't, my knife was tucked under my pillow for such occasions.
I whipped out said knife and brought it inches away from his slightly scared face. "You better have a good reason for waking me up or you're going to find yourself with a new scar on that handsome face of yours."
He smirked as he pushed the knife away with his finger. It didn't so much as scratch him; I made a mental note to sharpen it. Just in case. "Snow's private hovercraft was spotted landing near the outskirts of District Ten."
My mouth copied his still present smirk. Now that was what I wanted to hear when someone interrupted my beauty sleep. "Well then, we should go and greet him. Have the Firebird ready in a half an hour."
My instructions were non-negotiable and he knew that. He nodded, leaving the room so I could have privacy to get dressed.
I calmly pulled off my flannel, forest green pajamas, quickly replacing them for my Rebel Leader uniform. Some of my comrades thought it was funny to nickname said uniform after my codename, Mockingjay. After two years, the name "the mockingjay suit" stuck.
I adorned the clothes and sighed. The feel of the black leather on my skin was so familiar that it felt strange not to wear it. The entire uniform was perfectly tailored to my body, it didn't feel the least bit heavy not even with the layer of body armor - with extra padding over my heart - and concealed weapons in the belt, boots, and sleeves. I ran my fingers over the small weaves of titanium fibers which made the entire suit bullet-proof and flame resistant.
Once my uniform was completely on, weapons and all, and my long, dark brown hair was pulled back into a neat french braid, I pinned on my communicator. It was a golden pin in the shape of a mockingjay that was connected to a ring only by its wingtips, an arrow held in its beak.
I ran my fingers over the golden wings and sighed; this pin had once been my father's. It had been fished out of the rubble from a firebombing that destroyed my home district and had killed the lives of a third of its citizens. My Father, Ryan Everdeen, my Uncle, Owen Hawthorne, and two of our best units had perished alongside each other.
We finally have him, I thought with a smile as my fingers brushed the tips of the golden bird's outspread wings. Father, I will avenge your death and the deaths of our comrades. I took a deep breath and began to make my way to the hanger.
The walk to the hanger wasn't a long one, but it usually took me more than forty-five minutes. The only reason was because of the many people who came to chat with me or give me morning reports. It was a normal morning for me. After all the duties of the leader of the Panem Rebels come first. The main duty was to guide my comrades and their family out of the clutches of Lord Coriolanus - who was nicknamed Snow because of the snow white hair he was born with - and his family's ruthless reign.
I made my way through the underground base, greeting all who saw or stopped me. As always I thought about the path that led us here. Snow's father, Lord Gaius, was killed by my great-grandfather in order to try and bring back the democracy Panem once had. Unfortunately, Snow was old enough at the time to take his father's place and ruse of peace, he had lured the leader at time to come to the Capital with his most trusted commanders, my great-grandfather among them, and toasted to the peace the meeting would bring with poison in the cups. The tyrant was thirteen at the time, and he's been a pain in the Panem Rebels backside since.
But he isn't our only problem. About thirty-one years ago, Snow decided to marry a young girl of half Capitol, half District 13 descent, Lady Alma of Panem. Everyone in Panem believed that she would save the country, but they had all been fooled. She is even more dangerous than her tyrant of a husband. Not only does she love money, fame, and high social status, but she is also the reason for many of the deaths that have caused Panem so much grief, which includes the bombing of my home District and her own. She was nicknamed Coin for her love of draining every cent out of the Panem people.
Our highest priority was to place Snow and Coin under arrest for the crimes and sins they have committed. I stopped in my tracks for a moment, smirking at the thought of the one thing that might give hope. Their only living relative; their son. I shook my head and kept walking. We had no information on him. Not his name, appearance, or even his current whereabouts. Our Capitol spies are never able to get close enough into Snow's private mansion to supply us with enough details on Panem's only heir. The only information they could give us was that he is seventeen years old, born just a few months before me. His mother was too cautious and won't let him out of their mansion unless he was with his escort, another person we had no information about. The only way he can leave the Capitol is with one or both of his parents or his escort and he never attends parties or any ceremonies. One odd thing that a spy was able to learn was that he also enjoys painting - they discovered this when they had overheard Coin disapproving of his artistic habits to one of her friends.
He may be difficult to find but once we capture him, the time to arrest his parents wouldn't be far behind. Unless they weren't the kind of parents who actually cared for their only child's safety. If that was the case, then arresting them would be harder than we ever planned.
I stopped in front of the hanger doors, I couldn't think of such things. We will arrest them no matter how long it takes. I placed my hand on the scanner locker, a precaution when entering the hanger. Dangerous equipment and weapons were stored on the sides and we couldn;t have the children that lived on the base getting in and hurting themselves. The red light above my head turned green, opening the doors and I was greeted by the familiar hum of the Firebird's engines. I stepped through the threshold to the sound of Gale yelling at someone to perform another systems check before I arrived.
"I think that would be wise," I said loudly, stepping towards my cousin. He saluted and began reporting on how preparations to leave were moving quickly. I sadly drowned him out walking towards the Firebird. She was my hovercraft, built for the leader of the Rebels almost forty years ago. She was a large, fire red hovercraft with her name written on the side in black paint in a font that matched her name. She was equipped with a loading cargo bay, a small armory, a boom bay, about 15 living quarters, a meeting and dining room, and a fully functioning kitchen, and two floors of holding cells for criminals, prisoners and hostages.
She was able to cloak herself and stay quiet as she flew through the skies of Panem. She had been designed by our head scientist, Beetee when he was only 15, for both combat and comfort. She was my favorite hovercraft out of the ten we had in our hanger.
My comrades all saluted to me as I walked past and patted the Firebird affectionately. "We'll get him today, girl," I whispered to the machine, receiving a hum of recognition, just like the one I would receive from my bow. It was an addition Beetee had added.
I smiled and turned to my left hand man; Cinna Ignatius. "Cinna, are there any reports from District Ten about Snow or Coin's appearance?"
Cinna turned his green eyes to mine and shook his head. I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "I haven't received a single report from our unit in District Ten."
My face grimaced at the news. I hated receiving bad news, especially when it came from one of my most trusted commanders. I clenched my hand into a fist, trying to relieve the tension inside me by squeezing my hand tighter. I looked at Gale. "We still continue on as planned. You, Cinna and the rest of the Special Combat Division will come with me. We want as little amount of comrades as possible."
Gale nodded, reaching into one of his jacket pockets. I had only just realized now that Gale had changed into his commander uniform and even tried to fix his short, dark brown hair. His uniform was befitting for his title, Head Commander of the Main Division, first people in during a fight. He had a dark grey camo jacket, which also functioned as a vest, and cargo pants, which had removable pant legs so they could be worn as shorts. Both were made with a canvas-like material with lots of pockets and zippers. They were useful when you needed to carry a lot. Underneath he was wearing a black long sleeved shirt and his black combat boots were shined to perfection. From another's point of view, the uniform probably made Gale handsome. But I was immune due to the fact we were related and had no interest in those feelings. But I wasn't blind. I'd seen the way some of the girls looked at Gale. It made me want to vomit. If they knew the real him, they wouldn't want anything to do with him. He was just a typical disgusting guy with a slightly good personality. At least in my opinion.
He pulled out his bronze communicator that was shaped in the small form of a howling wolf's head. He clicked the wolf and spoke a few words before he placed it back in his pocket. Unlike me, he never pinned it to his jacket. I never did understand why.
I glanced at Cinna to see that he was also dressed in his uniform which matched his very short black hair. He called his uniform his 'stealthy clothes'. It was a dark olive green, almost black, bodysuit with a weapons belt in the same colour. His uniform was made to fit his title; Head Commander of the Panem Rebel Spies. It made no sound. Even his dark grey combat boots were silent. Cinna was like a shadow in the night. He couldn't be seen or heard until he was right next to you.
His communicator was in the shape of a silver fox and pinned just to the left of his heart. He had been nicknamed the Sly Fox, and sometimes we called him the Fashion Fox, since he was also the man who designed all the uniforms worn by the different professions and divisions of the Panem Rebels.
"You should get on Katniss, the sooner we leave the better," Cinna told me just as the comrades accompanying us came into the hanger.
I nodded, before standing below the entrance. A beam of red light circled around me to hold me in place as I was lifted into the loading bay. After about five minutes when myself and my comrades were safely abroad, the Firebird lifted into the sky of Panem under full cloak.
We arrived at District Ten well before the sun had set, but unfortunately we still had to find a safe, uninhabited place to dock. It was another block in the road to arresting Snow and Coin. I had decided that I'd retire to my quarters, maybe get some rest. I instructed anyone with information to report to Gale or Cinna. It was around 02:00, when the knock came to my door. I had been asleep for sometime and awoke with a groan. Both the annoyance and tiredness I felt reflected in my voice, "Who is it?"
"Head Commander Hawthorne," Gale's voice and words were formal. I could tell he was with someone from the Panem Rebels who wasn't from the main base. I went immediately on alert. I had no idea who it was on the other side of that door.
I cleared my voice. "Come in." The door slowly opened to allow Gale to enter with a tall, messy brown haired man with grey eyes wearing a black combat jacket with a deep mauve t-shirt underneath and brown leather arm bands. He had black cargo pants with a weapons belt and brown leather boots. His colours were that of the District Ten Combat Division.
The man saluted to me and then introduced himself in a very deep confident voice. "Leader Everdeen, I'm Sub-Commander Jenkins. I'm in charge of the District Ten's Combat Division."
"At ease, comrade," I said, though I could tell Jenkins was not at ease at all. He acted like he was a confident man but his eyes showed he was almost intimidated by me, despite my small stature, the fact that I was probably two years younger than him, and I was still wearing my blue-grey pajamas. I gave a sigh and composed myself. "Why did you wake me?" I was in no mood to coddle him. I was going to get straight to the point.
Jenkins cleared his voice and pulled at his collar. "We have found a suitable place for you to land your craft. It's near the site in which Snow's hovercraft was seen by our Spy Division."
"Right then, Head Commander Hawthorne take Sub-Commander Jenkins to Maize so he can give her directions. I want the Firebird at the landing site in twenty minutes." I didn't give them any time to talk before sending them out of my room.
Why do I always have to have my sleep interrupted by someone? The thought came to my mind as I pulled back on my mockingjay suit and went over to where I kept my bow.
I whispered 'hello' to the sleek black weapon, causing it to hum in recognition. I swung it over my left shoulder and its matching quiver over my right. My bow and its arrows could be activated by the sound of my voice, much like the Firebird. It fired regular, explosive, and incendiary arrows, all having a different shaft colour; they could all be accurately shot over 100 yards.
I exited my quarters and went to the meeting room where all my fellow comrades had gathered. My seat was at the far side of the north wall, the head of the table. To the right of my seat was where Gale sat. He was totally alert, his eyes could be seen darting in every direction. To the left was where Cinna sat. Unlike Gale, Cinna wasn't looking around the room. Instead, he was sketching designs and reading spy reports. Though he looked unalert, I knew that if I threw one of my daggers in his direction, he'd either dodge it or catch it in-between his fingers without even looking up from his work. I opened the door wider and walked into the room with my eyes looking at each comrade for no more than ten seconds. As I walked passed, each comrade stood and saluted me.
"At ease, comrades." My voice was calm but still held firm authority. I sat down in my seat, shuffled through my papers, and then inclined my head to the group, telling them to be seated. "Alright then let's get to work. Jenkins," I said, once every individual and been seated and rested their eyes on me. The newest comrade at the table perked his head up. "Report your findings to us."
The Sub-Commander nodded and looked around the table. I hadn't met a single Commander or Sub Commander who didn't look calm and collected, like someone who knew they deserved their rank. This man seemed like he was intimidated by each and every person in the room despite the fact that most of them were a rank or two below his but he never showed his voice only in his eyes.
"Yes Ma'am." Jenkins cleared his voice and began his report. "At 05:30 yesterday morning Snow's private hovercraft was seen nearby this area. It landed for a long enough period to unload two people and their luggage. We believe that neither Snow nor Coin disembarked from the craft." A series of grumbles and agitated murmurs rang from the comrades around the table, but the sound stopped when Jenkins continued his report, "However, we have confirmed that the people who dismounted the craft were the Prince and his escort."
This news sent a different sound through the room. It was a sound of excitement and the need to start searching for these people. Inside I too was feeling the same excitement as my comrades, but I'd never allow any of them to see it on my face; Cinna and Gale were the same.
"Excellent, Jenkins. Second best news I've heard all day. I want us to make a base on the ground, we'll keep the Firebird under cloak and we won't use her unless we are in dire need. Sub-Commander Gunthorn," I turned to look at the tall, dark skinned man, "Please make sure your people get this done quickly." He nodded before I rose from my chair and started for the loading bay. Gale was right behind me.
"Catnip, I know what you're thinking."
I sighed at the nickname; apparently he was still that seven year old kid who couldn't say Katniss right. "And what am I thinking, Scarface?"
He grimaced at my nickname for him. You call me Catnip, and I'll call you Scarface, I thought with a little smirk. I knew he hated that nickname considering it reminded him of his unfortunate marks.
"You're thinking that this is it. That you'll finally arrest Snow and Coin, and change Panem for good, like your father and great grandfather couldn't," A smirk crossed his face as he added," Also, you're thinking that you calling me Scarface is a good way to get back at me for calling you Catnip."
Damn. He knows me all too well. I matched his smirk and shook my head in humorous frustration. "You guessed right, as always. I just want what's best for Panem and her people, Gale. And if that means kidnapping the son of her current leaders, then that's what I plan to do." The doors to the loading bay opened and I stepped onto the loading platform.
Just as the red beam surrounded me, Gale leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Just don't lose yourself during the process. I don't think the Panem Rebels would be able to survive the loss of their leader again." Gale moved away, just as I was slowly lowered onto the ground below.
"We've cleared this area ma'am," Senior Comrade Leferee reported with a salute, she had been placed in charge of the comrade who had been selected to search the District with me. I looked around at the small area of houses we were searching through. A grimace came onto my face.
"Keep searching, we need to find him." My voice was laced with annoyance. Leferee nodded, probably noticing the change of tone.
I rubbed my temples, trying to relieve the stress that overcame me. This was not going the way I hoped. I had thought that the Prince would have been staying in one of the houses designed for visitors from the Capitol, but unfortunately Snow and Coin had planned for him not to stay in one of those homes. They were smart, I'd give them that much. So now, for more than seven hours, we had been searching through every house in the area for a teenage boy and an older woman who looked like they were from the Capitol.
I came to the next house but it looked empty, as if no one had lived here in years, I was about to move on to the next house when I saw the curtain move through the corner of my eye. There was someone in this house that was watching me. I tapped my mockingjay pin, "I think I found him. I'll need backup at the third house in the fourth area."
"Understood." Leferee's voice answered but I didn't wait for her and the rest of her group to reach the house. Instead I grabbed one of my knives and kicked down the door.
A woman in her thirties ran down the stairs, wrapping a bathrobe around herself, "Excuse me what do you think you're doing. This is breaking and entering. If you don't leave my house immediately I will call for the Peacekeepers and have you arrested."
I looked at the woman curiously, it was interesting that a woman from District Ten would call for the Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers were unliked in Panem, a resident would sooner call a Rebel for aid than a Peacekeeper. It was also odd she didn't know a Rebel when she saw one. It might have been that it was too dark enough to make out my Rebel Leader uniform but it wasn't too dark enough to notice that I was from the Panem Rebels.
"Leave my house this instance." When she spoke again, I noticed something in her voice; a Capitol accent.
At that moment Leferee and three others came into the house. I could see the woman's lips purse. Her voice raised a little more. "I don't believe this. Leave my house now."
I rolled my eyes and looked at Leferee. "Take the woman into custody; I'll search for the boy."
The woman stared at me wide eyed. "Who are you people?" None of us answered. Leferee and the other comrades hauled the woman out of the door.
When they were out of sight I cautiously made my way through the house. It felt too silent. I could tell there was someone still here and I had a pretty good guess who that person was. Anticipation and adrenaline competed against each other in my body. I couldn't believe this was happening. After all this time, we could have the prince in our grasp. Finally!
Creak. I whipped my head up to see a figure at the top of the stairs. Got you. I thought in my mind before I circled around and ran up the stairs. The figure also began to run. I could hear his heavy breathing above my own despite how far away he was from me. I leaped up the stairs three at a time and watched the figure run into a room. I was quick though, stopping him before he could close the door. He slow backed away, his breathing getting heavier. When he tired he bullet passed I tackled him to the ground, landing on top of him, pinning him to the floor.
"Don't move a muscle, Prince." His body tensed up and his eyes opened to look at me. Bluer than the clearest sky. As my eyes began to adjust more to the dark light I saw more of what the boy looked like. Short, blonde hair that waved in front of his eyes. A strong but gentle shaped face with an expression of shock and terror.
"How do you know who I am?" His voice was soft but held a masculine feel to it.
I tried not to react to the sound of his voice, but there was something about it. I was never what you called, a hopeless romantic but at that moment that title felt like it fit me perfectly. Keep it together Katniss, this boy is the son of the people who killed your family and many of your comrades.
I got off him and looked at him with my Leader gaze, "I, Leader Katniss Everdeen, leader of the Panem Rebels put you under arrest for the crimes of your parents, Lord Coriolanus and Lady Alma of Panem." he stared at me, before I continued, "As my prisoner I order you to tell me your name and that of the woman who was in this house with you."
He got up, not trying to run away or to even attempt an escape. I looked up into his eyes. Great, he's taller than me. I held back the sigh and listened as he answered my order.
"The woman who was with me was my escort Effie Trinket; she is a trusted friend of my mother's." The boy's eyes pierced into mine without the terror they once showed. "And I am Peeta Mellark, Prince of Panem," Peeta paused, walking up to me. "Though I do not want to have this title."
Wait, what?