Thank you for waiting for such a long time...for being patient with me. Thank you to Norbertsmom for betaing and for all of her gentle and prodding, she's my bestie.

I do not own the hunger games.

Gale was brought to Prim so that she could attend to him. Katniss and Madge made it to Command. Madge is assuming her role as a leader and Katniss is about to learn her position is more critical than ever...

Those gathered at the apothecary were shocked by what happened to Gale. Others were taken by how Katniss had stopped the Citizen. Lavender dried her hands. Gale's injury required a steadier hand and Primrose was a better surgeon than she was. Lavender had seen Prim's ability to operate in delicate situations; her instincts and sutures were the best Lavender had ever seen.

She sighed. She hadn't expected to see their first casualty so early. Seeing Gale in such a state revealed the necessity of having the medics closer to the battlefield.

To have the least number of deaths or injuries, it was necessary for her to have the team split into three. Though currently, she had to calm Hazelle down. The woman was a rock; she never mourned the death of her husband. Yet, seeing her firstborn at death's door, having his blood on her hands, was affecting her. Tears ran down Hazelle's face.

"My son," Hazelle whispered. She looked up at Lavender. "Please tell me that he's going to live."

"Prim is doing everything she can for him. If anyone can save him, it's her."

"Are you sure?"

"Hazelle, you've got to trust me. Prim is going to take care of Gale."

"Lavender," Hazelle closed her eyes.

"I have faith in my youngest. You've seen what she's capable of - seen how steady her hands are."

"Yes," Hazelle whispered.

"Go, wash your hands," Lavender said. "I will divide the group. If there will be casualties it is important for us to be at the front lines."

Hazelle nodded.

Lavender looked around at the stricken faces. Not many people were used to seeing blood and it was important that she rally the team. She glanced at Eugene's troubled face. Squaring her shoulders, she closed her eyes and envisioned her beloved husband's face.

"This is just the beginning. We're going to see a lot worse. But we owe it to those who are gearing up for the great battle. We owe it to them to try to heal them or bring them comfort in their last moments of life."

As she spoke, Lavender saw their grey faces lift and fill with hope and determination. "There will be casualties on both sides. We knew that signing up for this chance at freedom would cause our world to turn upside down, but it will change because we choose to fight back, and not because of the actions of Snow and the Capitol.

"I have a child who volunteered because she believes in a free Panem. And if something happens to her, I will grieve dearly. Though I will not give up. We cannot become too weary to tend to the stricken. We need to pull from deep down and put aside our fears to help the wounded. Who is ready to go with me?" Lavender looked at their faces and one by one they raised their hands in a three-fingered salute.

"Okay, we will split into three groups." Lavender looked at the battlefield drawing. "One group at the bunker, one at the guardhouse, the other will stay here just in case we have casualties that come this way."

"I will lead the team that goes to the guardhouse," Hazelle said. "My son's sacrifice will not be in vain, we will have our freedom."

Lavender nodded and quickly began dividing the group into three teams. She only hoped her daughter was well. Her only consolation was Katniss was deadly with her bow and arrow.

Outside the wind blew. The cold air slowly spread throughout Panem. Katniss loathed the cold and couldn't believe no one knew when this cold would end. She was sure if she didn't have her helmet on her breath would have come out in puffs as she moved.

"Katniss let us know when you're in position," Haymitch's voice crackled in her helmet.

"Roger," Katniss said.

The helmet processed information like the temperature. It showed that there was a slight northerly wind and that the temperature dropped half a degree. They had a small window to do this, where all the districts could simultaneously rebel when the weather would not hinder them. It was imperative everything went to plan and within the timetable. If they waited too long the districts to the north wouldn't be able to mount an attack. The biggest worry was the dam. If the hydroelectric dam wasn't taken down the rebels wouldn't be able to fly into the Capitol from district three or six and reinforce the rebels in the Capitol. District Three and Six had a huge rebellion contingent. Over the years these two districts had silently found ways to disengage the authority without much bloodshed. They were lying in wait for the appointed hour to have a silent coup d'état.

There was no job too small. However, in District Twelve, one of the most important jobs was that of the sharpshooter. With Gale out of the picture, it meant Katniss had to be twice as vigilant.

Katniss slowly made her way to her designated spot. She and Gale were supposed to hunker down on the snowbanks that surrounded the buildings. Madge wanted her to be by the guardhouse and the main building where they kept the transports. Gale was supposed to be on the other side watching over the bunkers. She couldn't be spotted by the light of the guardhouse. The night was still. Nothing stirred. All the Peacekeepers, save for a handful were bedded down for the night. The men and women Darius managed to glean from the Peacekeepers were waiting for the attack to begin.

The wind shifted, bringing in colder air indicating that the storm was quickly approaching. She climbed one of the snow hills located next to the vehicle depot. She mourned for the loss of Gale. It became very apparent anyone could die, including Peeta.

Katniss put down one of the blankets that would protect her from the cold, then she covered herself. It would disguise her location. Looking up at the night sky she could see the storm clouds in the distance. From this point forward her eyes would be glued to the guardhouse that faced the new bunker. From her vantage point, she had a direct line of sight to the newer bunker on the right. To her left was the old bunker, and toward the back, the food storage and special weapons depot.

Thread positioned almost all of his men in the newer bunker. Unbeknownst to Thread, the majority of Peacekeepers who volunteered to be in the oldest bunker were on the side of the rebellion. Those peacekeepers put a black band around their arms so that they could easily be identified.

"Okay ladies, it's time to dance," Haymitch's gruff voice came over the communicator in her helmet.

"Awe Haymitch, my dance card is full," Darius joked.

Katniss could hear a chorus of masculine chuckles followed. She hunkered down, her order was to provide cover to the team if fighting broke out. There were three teams that were in imminent danger, the team taking out the HVAC system and the team tasked with taking the guardhouse.

Her worry deepened as she thought of what happened to Gale. Fear made her hands shake. Peeta and his team were most likely trying to infiltrate the guardhouse as she sat at her post. She closed her eyes, willing Peeta to be well. It comforted her to know Peeta was good with hand-to-hand combat because of his wrestling background. Katniss knew firsthand Peeta was faster and stronger than Rye. She had witnessed Peeta's abilities when he and Rye were on the wrestling team.

There was so much at stake.

The entire nation could be free, and Peeta was right, sacrifices had to be made. She was selfish though; because she didn't want to have anyone else taken away. Katniss's mind wandered to Rye's team who were tasked with taking down the HVAC. She knew those teams should be moving into place. The wind picked up and the temperature began to drop. Pulling the blanket closer, she grimaced. The only people who didn't mind this infernal cold were Peeta and Rye.

Her eyes were trained on the guardhouse. The bunker with the HVAC building was in the distance. The HVAC building was built independent from the barracks but when the bad weather began the Peacekeepers were ordered to build a connection to the new barrack.

Turning on her night vision Katniss could see the team's movement in the dark. She could see two Peacekeepers enter the barrack. Katniss relaxed.

"Katniss, what's your ETA?" Madge asked.

"I'm in position," Katniss responded.

"Good."

"Any news of Gale?"

In the control room, Madge looked at Haymitch.

Haymitch shook his head letting her know it was her decision. "Nothing. But I will make sure to let you know what I hear."

"Roger."

Haymitch put his hand over his mouthpiece, "Good."

He looked down at the monitors that were tracking the movements of the teams. "Listen up everyone. When the electricity goes down, we're going to have a lag time before our generators kick in, which means we will be in total darkness."

"We need to make sure we get that generator up as soon as possible," Madge added. It was necessary to take out the HVAC system to freeze out the Peacekeepers and trap them in the building. While Rye's team was taking down the HVAC another was in charge of blocking the entrance of the building so the Peacekeepers couldn't get out.

They wouldn't have aerial visuals until they took over the guardhouse; they could only see what was being transmitted from the helmets of the team leaders. Near the HVAC system, the two teams merged, each taking their place.

Rye and his team two were ready to take out the HVAC; team three was with them. Rye was worried because his brother was part of team one, the team that was taking down the guardhouse.

"Right, listen up," Madge's voice came over the communicator. "The task force in District Five is heading toward the hydroelectric dam and the rebels in District Three and Six have already taken over their districts."

Hearing two districts were already free gave them hope. Rye felt the promise of freedom was near.

"Remember," Madge continued, "the lights will flicker once the hydraulic dam goes down, and the entire country will lose electricity. The generators powered by gasoline, coal, and wood will kick in, that's our signal to move in-"

"Rye, make sure that HVAC goes down," Haymitch added.

"Copy," Rye replied. "Hey, Katniss, you ready to pick off some white birds?"

"Rye, what are you talking about?" Katniss's voice sounded cranky.

"Peeta was right, you don't like the cold; you're a cranky pants." Rye couldn't help himself; he needed to offset the nerves he was feeling with a moment of levity.

"Leave her alone, Rye," Peeta said over the radio.

"Rye, you do realize we're supposed to have radio silence," Katniss said.

"Are you telling me to shut up," Rye grinned. It was a lot of fun poking Katniss. She was so serious.

"Yes."

Rye barked laughter.

"Enough," Haymitch bellowed. "Rye get your head in the game. Everdeen, I know it's tempting, but don't shoot the kid. You're engaged to his brother."

"You know Katniss, no one will ever know," Peeta said. "And bonus, we won't have to put up with him hogging the bathroom. Or snoring."

"I don't snore," Rye said, forgetting everyone was listening. All of his team members began snickering and chuckling.

"You do too," Katniss gave a rapid-fire honest reply. "I don't know what is worse: your stinky socks or your snores." Her comment had all of the rebellion laughing.

"You know, I get no respect," Rye said but he couldn't hide the mirth in his tone of voice. "Just make sure you aim at the Peacekeepers and not me."

"I'll think about it," Katniss said.

"Guys," Haymitch grumbled.

"Right, rebellion time," Rye said.

"Teenagers," Haymitch muttered.

Katniss sat up, her eyes glued on the movements below. Hearing Peeta's voice through the radio caused her heart to beat faster. Her worry that she wouldn't be able to save him made her recall those nightmares of him being in the games, of having to make a choice between saving him or saving her sister. She thought that with the Games being canceled she didn't have to worry.

Little did she know what the future held. Here she was away from him and not being able to do anything but defend the team that he was in. Katniss's hands shook from the memory of having taken down the Citizen. She closed her eyes, blocking out the image of the arrow piercing the Citizen's chest, and the blood spilled on the ground that belonged to Gale.

There were already losses and the fight hadn't really begun yet in District Twelve. Yet as much as she wanted freedom, Katniss asked herself what was the good of having freedom if she didn't have her loved ones with her. Her mother said love was too good a thing to not take a chance on. In a way her mother was correct. It was good to take a chance on love. Love didn't make her weak, it made her strong. As she thought this she gripped her bow.

Her heartbeat increased and her eyes searched for Peeta's team. She vowed she would protect him with her life. Katniss trained her eyes on the guardhouse.

The temperature was holding steady and the time for the war to begin was upon them. Each rebel across Panem was going up against a regime fueled by greed, apathy, and blood lust.

In the headquarters, Haymitch watched Madge. "Whenever you're ready, give the command."

Taking a deep breath, Madge nodded. "Let's do this."

"Okay folks, look alive and give the districts the order to commence," Haymitch said. He looked at the monitor. He could see Purina look back at her small team. "Purina let's get this show on the road."

"Copy that," Purina said.

The lights flickered and team one began their job of taking out the guards on duty.

Purina was behind a light pole. Her team was waiting for the signal to disburse. A guard was walking by. She gave a signal and one of the guys wrestled the man to the ground. They all came out of hiding following him, as they hid the body out of sight.

Another guard appeared and Purina took the butt of her rifle and hit the guard in the helmet, cracking it and sending the guard to the ground. The guard made a move to get up and go after her. Purnia jumped on top of the Peacekeeper and wrestled with them. Other Peacekeepers appeared and from her peripheral vision, she could see several members of the unit in a skirmish without using their guns. An arrow flew by and took out a Peacekeeper that was coming up behind her.

"Thanks, Katniss," Purina said looking up in the direction where Katniss was hidden. She watched as another arrow landed in the back of another Peacekeeper that was attacking Peeta. She recognized Peeta by the leather strip Katniss tied around his arm. She was glad he was alive and well.

Seeing the opportunity, the guard beneath her flipped Purnia off of him. He lunged at her as she stood and she sidestepped him. As he lunged past her, she took out a cord, wrapped it around the man's neck, and pulled, contorting her body, causing him to land on his back once again. Within minutes he stopped moving. Looking up, she saw her team was still standing; they were disposing of the bodies. It wouldn't be long before someone noticed the missing guards.

"Are you okay?" Peeta asked coming up to her.

"Yea," Purina nodded. She addressed the rest of the team, "We've got to knock out the guardhouse, it's the only way they can communicate with the Capitol," she said.

Her team ran toward the guardhouse. Purnia punched in the code and they went inside. It began to snow outside and the storm was announcing its arrival. Time was going to run out on them as the weather would decline quickly. Purina hoped Rye was able to take down the HVAC system.

The wind blew harder. It sounded like a high-pitched whistle. The once starlit sky was clouding over. The gauge on Rye's arm indicated the temperature outside dropped by half-a-degree. He and his team silently made their way into the compound. They were approaching the barracks. Rye spotted two guards slouched in the corner. Purina's team was doing their job. Rye headed in the opposite direction traveling along the side of the old barrack to go around to the back. It was quicker and he hoped Purina's group would either cause a distraction or take out the guards for him. The snow started to accumulate.

As he and his team approached the barracks, Rye reported in, "Command, Team Two approaching the target."

"Copy." Haymitch's voice sounded staticky. Rye put his fist up, a signal to have his team wait. This was a coordinated attack and he couldn't move forward but members of his team were sitting targets as they waited.

In command, Haymitch listened to the communication. "What is that noise?"

"It's the weather emergency alarm, that's letting us know we have less than an hour," Madge said.

Haymitch was worried the communication was getting worse. He ordered, "Get Beetee on the horn."

"Sir," one of the young kids manning a radio to another district came to him. "We're having trouble communicating with Eleven."

"What about district five?" Haymitch asked.

"They still haven't been able to take down the hydroelectric dam," Madge said as she hovered over the Tech who was trying to communicate with that district.

"Sir, I have Beetee," someone shouted.

"Beetee," Haymitch growled. He wanted to know what the heck was going on.

"Haymitch," Beetee's normally calm voice sounded agitated. "The weather is causing havoc with the communications systems. Many are freezing over, or the signal is being blocked by the storm."

"What can we do…" just then the alarm in the command sounded. Haymitch pounded his hand on the console and yelled.

"Haymitch now is not the time to lose your cool," Madge admonished. "We can use morse code if we need to communicate with the teams.

Haymitch nodded. "Why isn't Team Two moving?"

"I don't know if they can hear me," Madge said.

Near the bunker, Rye and his team hunkered down. "Command, do you copy," he said.

"R…," followed by static. Rye was frustrated. He stood up and moved. "Command, do you copy?"

"Rye, District Five, still hasn't been able to take out the hydroelectric dam. They've encountered heavy resistance...sustaining heavy casualties. All of the Districts are...lling…the reb….. are...f..." Madge's message was filled with static, and breaking up.

"Command, please repeat."

There was silence, only the rustling wind could be heard. Rye looked down at his indicator, the temperature dropped once more. The snow began to fall quicker and thicker.

His team had heard Madge's communication. He looked at them. "Guys?"

"I say we go ahead," Cressida said. She looked behind her at the crew and the rest of Team Two.

"I'd like to put a bullet in Threads head, he killed my brother. That's enough motivation for me," said a man named Timothy.

Rye understood what Timothy was saying. One way or another they had all suffered at the hands of the Capitol and Thread.

"Right, let's take down the HVAC." Gripping his weapon Rye moved forward and the team followed.

The snowfall increased. They trudged toward the HVAC. His team immediately broke into the shed-like building. The team piled inside. Cressida's team began recording them. The room was warm and he was grateful to be out of the cold. There was a door that connected the shed with the interior of the bunker. He was unnerved by the thought of the many Peacekeepers who were resting on the opposite side of the door.

Rye watched the guys begin to do their thing. They were the miners who knew about engineering. They understood mechanics and the complicated computer program the Capitol used.

The door menaced him. Rye focused on the other door that led outside to the cold. He gripped his weapon tighter. "Guys' block the door."

Two moved forward and put a door brace on the bottom of the door to jam it so that the Peacekeepers wouldn't be able to rush at them from the inside.

"Rye," Haymitch's voice came in through his helmet.

"Haymitch," Rye responded.

"Our communication went out because of the weather." Haymitch's voice sounded far away and staticky. "Beetee's working on the commun…"

The line went dead again.

"Guys, I'm going to go outside to see if I get a better reception." Rye stepped outside. The temperature dropped again, and the snow was falling sideways. Rye stood outside. "Haymitch can you hear me?"

There was no response.

Rye moved a little further away from his position. "Command?"

There was still no reply.

Rye moved a little further away. "Madge, can you come in?"

"Rye…" He could hear Madge's voice faintly.

"STOP WHO GOES THERE!" The voice boomed.

Rye turned around to see a Peacekeeper pointing a weapon at him. "Crap," Rye said as he held his hands up.

"PUT YOUR WEAPON DOWN!" The peacekeeper yelled at Rye.

Another guard showed up and Rye knew the battle had begun because it wouldn't be long before more Peacekeepers showed. He had a decision to make, fight or run.

Rye wasn't going to get captured. He grabbed his weapon and shot the Peacekeeper that faced him, before aiming at the ones that surrounded team three. At the sounds of the weapons team, three came running out of the HVAC shed.

"Timothy," Rye said. "What's going on inside?"

"Rye, they're trying to break down the divider," Timothy replied. He could hear his team grunt as they tried to hold back the door. He could also hear Cressida and her team yelling to hurry up and take the HVAC down.

Rye swore under his breath as suddenly he had the enemy trying to get in from behind and the enemy facing him. He watched one of his team members go down.

"I NEED HELP!" Rye yelled into his helmet.

"RYE!" Madge yelled, "Someone help Rye!"

Katniss heard Madge scream Rye's name. She heard the rapid-fire popping sound of a weapon going off in the still of the night.

"Command I'm on my way," Katniss said, picking herself up she stood and made her way in the dark toward a better position to see the HVAC. Getting back down inside of the blanket she looked and saw Thread running out of the Bunker with several other Peacekeepers.

He was pointing at his men no doubt yelling orders at them. He walked toward a small shed that according to intel held weapons and a vehicle.

Katniss nocked one of her explosive arrows and fired it toward him, it hit a small shed. The force of the explosion caused Thread to be blown back to the frozen ground. Katniss stood up and moved positions, she needed to get to Rye.

"Rye I'm heading toward you!" Katniss said.

"I need some of your voodoo arrow magic Katniss," Rye grunted.

"Where are you?"

"Outside of the bunker, dammit my weapon is jammed!"

Katniss swiftly moved around until she saw the small group of men exchanging fire. Settling down she began to pick off the Peacekeepers. She saw one of them charge toward one of the rebels and knock him to the ground. She fired another arrow.

"Katniss was that you?" Rye said.

"Who do you think?" She rolled her eyes before taking out another Peacekeeper.

"We need help. We blocked off the doors on the inside but they're trying to break it down," Rye said.

"Rye," Katniss took in the situation. It was necessary to shut down the HVAC system and she was the only one who had the ability to take it out. "Have they rigged it up?"

"Why?"

"I'm going to blow up the HVAC system with one of my explosive arrows."

"Hell!" Rye muttered.

"Rye, we can't keep them out for much longer," Timothy's voice came in through the helmet.

Rye could hear the struggle Timothy was having. He looked back to the building the HVAC was kept in. He was going to have to get team three and two inside of the bunker and fight their way out. "Give me some time, Katniss," Rye said.

"You've got five minutes Rye then I'm blowing it up!"

Rye ran inside of the HVAC building. He knew Katniss well enough that when she said she was going to do something she did it. He needed to get the team moving into a safe space before Katniss blew up the building, and them with it.