Disclaimer: Avengers, Hunger Games, and all other elements belong to their relevant owners; I merely borrow them to write this story

Feedback: Always a pleasure to receive.

AN: A jump forward a few days and back to Katniss' POV for this chapter, as she reflects on the Avengers' newest members and their plans for tackling the current situation; hope you like the results

Falling Hope, Rising Threat

Sitting in my room after my latest briefing with Steve, as prepared for the team's upcoming departure as I would ever be, I had to wonder if I was really ready to face our first major solo operation without the original Avengers. Dealing with the occasional group of surviving pro-Snow Peacekeepers or assorted Capitol fanatics who couldn't let go of the past was one thing, but from what we'd learned so far, we were about to face fanatics armed with nuclear weapons who were determined to get to the surface even if it cost the lives of innocent people…

Maybe the original Avengers had expressed their faith in me before they left, but that didn't mean I was certain that I was worthy of it yet. After Snow's death, we'd only been dealing with renegades who preferred to hold on to what Snow had tried to build because they'd lose too much if we succeeded, and none of them had been a match for Finnick, Johanna and I, never mind Peeta and Thor.

Still, even if we'd only been training them for a few days so far, I had to admit that our new members seemed promising. After Clarke and Anya had explained some of the key points about the conflict between 'the Grounders' and 'the Hundred'- neither name might be entirely accurate, but it was easier than thinking of something else- Steve had ordered the rest of the team to spend the rest of the day training while he and I worked out what to do next. As much as I'd been flattered at the evidence that he trusted my judgement enough to contribute to a discussion like that, I was also uncomfortable at the thought of taking that degree of control of a situation like this, but we still had time for Steve to give me any further 'crash courses' until I felt comfortable taking point on my own.

While Clarke had been eager for us to go into action as quickly as possible, she'd accepted our argument that she should wait for a little while to get more accustomed to working with us as a team, particularly after Anya had agreed that the 'mountain men'- as she called the residents of Mount Weather- were unlikely to turn on the rest of the teenagers being kept in the mountain immediately when they'd been fairly reasonable so far. From what I'd heard of the mountain's president, he struck me so far as being a more reasonable, kinder version of Snow, at least in terms of appearance. His own people might take precedent over anything else, and what he'd been doing to the Grounders sounded barbaric no matter how 'primitive' they were, but if he was going to resort to threats to get what he wanted he would have probably locked Clarke and her people up as soon as he found them rather than give them free reign.

As it was, even if we weren't going to attack Mount Weather immediately, that still left us with the challenge of working out how to incorporate Clarke and Anya into the team as quickly and efficiently as possible. Even if we were still waiting to hear back from Thor, the rest of us could still give our new members a crash course before we had to go into action, which had prompted a series of quick training sessions over the last couple of days.

The first step had been to spend some time assessing Clarke and Anya's current combat skills- while also working to keep Anya calm until we had a clearer plan for training her in her 'She-Hulk' state- and in general we were all satisfied with their current combat abilities. Anya's fighting style was comparatively rougher than the more developed methods my team had been trained in for the Games, but considering that we'd been trained to provide a good spectacle while in the Arenas where Anya's training just focused on staying alive, the contrast made sense, and I certainly wasn't going to criticise something if it worked. Clarke hadn't exactly demonstrated any real skill when we were fighting, with her 'strategy' consisting solely of charging at her opponents and punching and/or kicking them as quickly as possible, but her obvious determination made up for that. Finnick had already volunteered to give her a few quick lessons as the closest person we had to an 'unarmed combat expert', as Peeta and I still relied on our equipment and Johanna's new arm gave her an unfair advantage, but all of us were aware that we needed her to have all her equipment before we could start any lessons in earnest.

In terms of their new costumes, Beetee was working on adjusting the Falcon harness for Clarke's smaller size, as well as a few other details he claimed to have been inspired to incorporate into the original design, and had also revealed that he was putting together a virtual reality program that would allow Clarke to get used to the harness before she had to actually fly with it in the real world. As anxious as she was to help her people, Clarke acknowledged that she needed to learn how to use her new equipment before she could be of any use, but she was clearly eager for the chance to give it a try in any form. As for Anya, while most of our clothing matters were dealt with by our former prep teams, since we all insisted on having the final say in any changes that might be made to our costumes, we were doing what we could to find something that would work with Anya's powers and history. Something that could cope with her changing sizes during her transformation was an obvious issue, but beyond that, the prep teams were having trouble finding something that she would feel comfortable in that would also 'fit' with the rest of the team.

As far as fitting in went, Anya was proving to be a tricky one. Considering our role in her transformation into a new Hulk, she seemed to be willing to accept our superior understanding of her new state, but I got the impression that she resented the sudden transition for a former leader to a subordinate in a new group despite that. I was taking care to watch my attempts to give Anya orders while remembering that she wasn't already an 'admirer' of me as the Mockingjay, but it was hard to remember that I had to prove myself to the two new members on more than a provisional basis as well as deal with the new crisis.

Still, even if integrating the new members to the team was proving a challenge, they were at least working well with each other. Despite what we'd heard of the conflict that had arisen between the Hundred and the Grounders, I got the impression that Clarke was grateful that Anya had accepted Steve's invitation to join the Avengers. Maybe it was just because she was glad not to be the only new face in the team, or maybe she hadn't given up hope that peace between her and the Grounders was possible, but either way, when we weren't training, Clarke always went over to talk to Anya, and the older woman appeared to be grateful for Clarke's company despite whatever had happened between them in the past.

On a broader note, Steve had made contact with the new Panem government to fill them in on the situation; after the Ark had crash-landed, he'd been able to negotiate for them to wait until we had time to check it out ourselves, but he needed to give them an update soon before anyone else tried to step in. Paylor had naturally been shocked to learn about the existence of the Ark, along with the new potential threat we faced from Mount Weather, but she had agreed that it was best to let us handle this situation given that Panem was still focusing on its own reconstruction efforts right now. If Mount Weather had nuclear weapons, Panem was in no shape to draw attention to itself, but one of the main advantages of our current team was that we could act as a relatively discreet 'strike force' against the mountain without making our origins obvious.

On a more personal note, I was also trying to work out how I should feel about the fact that, even after all this time, Steve was still keeping a few secrets from me. The revelation that he'd kept additional equipment from us for all this time had been a shock, after I'd spent so long certain that he was never going to conceal anything from me for his own agenda like Snow or Coin had…

However, in hindsight, I could see why he'd made that decision, and it wasn't for the same reasons as the last two Presidents had done so. For him, the Avengers had been the best hope for the world, and based on what he'd told us about the original Falcon, these other people had just been 'additional allies' when he'd known them. Even if he'd considered their equipment worth keeping, he probably didn't want to start handing out their gear until he was sure that he could give it to people who would use it properly.

The new team might be making progress, but I knew that Steve still had some doubts about Johanna in particular, even if he had acknowledged that she deserved to stay on the team after losing her arm to the Maestro. He'd never explicitly said it, but I always felt that he mainly tolerated Finnick and Johanna being on the team because they were making their own way rather than using someone else's identities, even if he respected Peeta's use of the armour ever since Tony 'chose' the former baker as his successor. If we ever needed additional members and he could find the right person to wear them, I believed that Steve would share the rest of the equipment with us then; for the moment, what we had was enough, and he hadn't yet met anyone he felt was 'worthy' of what else he kept in storage.

Getting my thoughts back to the matter of the Ark, I had to admit that things in that regard weren't going too badly, all things considered. Clarke had checked on the rest of the survivors from Callie's section of the Ark, but she'd been satisfied that we'd done the best we could for them, and decided to leave them in our care until they had more fully recovered and could be safely moved somewhere else.

As our plan currently stood, we were going to have one last meeting to go over the finer details tomorrow, and then, depending on whether we needed to do anything else, we were off to the Ark to see about making a more definite plan about how to get the rest of Clarke's people out of Mount Weather.

God, I hoped this would work…

When I arrived in the briefing room the next morning, the only thing that went completely as expected was that Steve was the only person there before me. I had just sat down beside him to talk about our next move when the door opened and Peeta, Johanna, Finnick, Clarke and Anya all walked in, Johanna and Finnick dressed in their combat gear- the suit wasn't comfortable enough for Peeta to walk around in it full-time- while Clarke and Anya were wearing clean leather outfits that reminded me of what I'd worn in my first Games.

"I take it those aren't what you plan to wear in the field?" Steve asked, looking pointedly at the two women.

"What's wrong with it?" Clarke asked, looking down at herself curiously.

"Lack of distinction, for one thing," Steve clarified. "I appreciate that you're used to blending in to your surroundings, but as Avengers one of our primary advantages is that we create a distinct impression on our opponents; you're not going to do that if you just look like everyone else."

"You ask me to change what I am-?" Anya began.

"We're asking you to adapt to the new rules of what you've become," I said, looking reassuringly at the Grounder leader. "This isn't what you're used to, but none of us were used to this when Steve gave us the role; all we're asking you to do is adapt your clothing when you're working with us to reflect your new position, not change who you are when you're not fighting with us."

Anya stared at us for a few moments, before she sighed and glanced over at Clarke.

"I have been required to make many changes since your people came to us," she said grimly. "So long as I am not expected to completely ignore what I have done in the past… I will accept it."

"No worries," Finnick smiled. "Believe me, being Mockingjay hasn't stopped Katniss going out hunting on occasion; this gig doesn't change anything you don't want it to change."

"You hunt?" Anya asked, looking at me curiously.

"It was my main source of income before I became an Avenger," I explained briefly, before I turned back to Steve. "So, what's our next move?"

"We need to plan what step we want to take next before we go into action," Steve explained.

"Obviously, our first priority is to contact the largest Ark fragment and confirm that anyone there is still alive-"

"Why?" Anya interjected.

"Because from what I've heard about your people, it will be easier to approach them once we have an established presence in that part of the country rather than just showing up, and if Clarke and Callie are examples the Ark already knows about the Avengers," Steve explained, allowing Anya to acknowledge his decision before he continued. "Once Katniss has explained our reasons for being there to whoever's in charge at the Ark and we can verify our status, we'll move on to talk to the Grounders and plan-"

"Me?" I interjected, looking at Steve in shock. "Aren't you-?"

"You're not going to get anywhere if I'm always standing behind you," Steve explained, smiling warmly at me. "You're capable, Katniss, but you need to have faith in yourself, and that's not going to happen if I'm always there to hold your hand when things go wrong."

"Exactly!" Prim said, just as she walked into the room, wearing what I could only assume was her new Black Widow 'outfit' and carrying a large bag over her shoulder. She'd previously just been wearing a simple black one-piece suit, but I'd heard rumours that she was working with the prep team to create a more elaborate look, and this was clearly the result; while still predominately black, her costume now included silver shoulder-pads with red edges, red edges on her black boots, and a black eye-mask with red lenses. "You can do the job, Katniss; look at everything you've done so far!"

"Who-?" Clarke and Anya said, looking at Prim in surprise.

"Call me Black Widow," Prim interjected, smiling at the two new women with her usual warm manner. "I'm the Avengers' stealth expert and field medic; I tend not to get involved in the fights as such at the moment, so I was helping keep an eye on the patients while you were all training."

"You're the medic?" Clarke said, looking at my sister incredulously. "You're-"

"She's been training since she was very young; she knows what she's doing," I interjected, looking firmly at Clarke before I turned back to look at Steve. "Seriously, are you sure I should be the one handling this? This isn't like our usual talks; none of these people will have any reason to respect me-"

"You're the Mockingjay," Steve said firmly. "Make them respect you."

There was nothing else I could say to that except to nod in acknowledgement of my mentor's argument.

I'd had the advantage of an existing reputation so far, but if I wanted to prove myself as a leader, I had to make an impression on people who didn't know about that reputation, rather than just using it all the time.

"Oh, Anya, Clarke?" Prim said, smiling at them as she slung the bag she'd been carrying onto the table. "I thought you might want these."

"What?" Anya asked, looking curiously at the bag as Prim opened it to pull out what looked like a one-piece purple swimsuit. "What is this?"

"Your uniform," Prim smiled politely at her as she tossed the outfit to Anya, followed by a pair of dark purple boots and sleeveless gloves. "Some of the team salvaged some material from President Snow's clothes after his death; he had this weird fabric that could slightly change its shape as he did, so I helped the prep team modify it to fit you better-"

"And leave me this exposed?" Anya asked sceptically, as she held the suit in front of her.

"Well… it's not like you're going to need much clothing- from what I've seen of the other Hulks in archived footage, they're pretty much bulletproof- and it covers everything essential; leaving your arms and legs exposed like that just made it easier to focus on making sure it fits your main body," Prim explained, her expression briefly becoming awkward before she turned to look at Clarke with a new smile. "Beetee and the team are still making sure the harness is in working condition after all these years, but I have been able to put together the rest of your suit."

"And… this is mine?" Clarke asked, looking sceptically at another uniform as she removed it from the bag, revealing black gloves and a sleeveless black top with gold edges, as well as a black helmet that covered the top of her head while leaving her hair exposed at the back. "Black and gold?"

"What; the wings are going to be gold, and it's Katniss's colours-" Prim began.

"And it looks good for her, but I'm not Mockingjay," Clarke said, looking firmly at Prim before she turned to look awkwardly at Steve. "Actually, I… well, last night, I had a bit of time to think about all this, and I… well, I had a couple of ideas myself…"

"You did?" Steve asked, looking curiously at Clarke. "What were you thinking?"

"Well, making the wings gold works, but for the main costume… could it be blue?" Clarke asked, actually looking embarrassed as she made the request.

"Blue?" Johanna asked, looking at Clarke with a slight smile as she indicated Steve. "As in, blue in the same shade as this guy's old costume?"

"And… maybe a few stars somewhere?" Clarke continued, before she looked over at Steve. "I mean, I get that you can't exactly be 'Captain America' any more, and I'm not saying I should call myself that either- Falcon sounds great as a code-name, trust me- but I just… well…"

"You want to make it clear that you're not trying to be me either," I said, looking at the other woman with a new sense of respect. "I can understand that."

"I get that too," Peeta said, smiling slightly at Clarke. "I may wear Iron Man's armour, but

I've been giving it some paint work to distinguish my armour from what Tony Stark used back in the old days; I don't want people to think I'm trying to be the new him."

"You'd need to be a lot more impulsive and a hell of a bigger flirt to be that guy," Johanna noted, chuckling at him as she indicated her arm. "Hey, he may have given me this, but the guy was a bit of a creep."

"He was also an Avenger," Steve interjected, glaring over at Johanna. "We were flawed, but we are heroes; just because we stumble sometimes doesn't mean we don't deserve a chance."

"Getting back to the original topic, if colour's your main concern, don't worry about it; I'm sure that my team can amend that easily enough," I smiled at Clarke, glad to see her willingness to take a more active role in the team. "It's not like working with some of the make-up jobs we've had to perform during the Games; we've spent months making sure they create something tasteful rather than just something that makes a vivid impression."

"So… it won't take long?" Clarke asked anxiously.

"So long as you keep working on Beetee's training program, I see no reason why we shouldn't be ready to leave for the Ark tomorrow," Finnick smiled. "Trust me, I've spent enough time with those teams to know what they can do; give them something to work with and you'll be amazed what they can do."

"In the meantime," Steve said, looking between our two new members with a smile, "see if you can get in one last evening of practise before we move out; if we're going to make an impression on the Ark, I want to make the best possible impact that we can."

It was a weak excuse to delay our trip to the Ark, but now that I knew I was taking point for this encounter, I wanted to be sure I knew what I was going to say…

AN 2: Coming up next, the Avengers will travel to the Ark, and we see how things unfolded for the Grounders and the Ark without Clarke's presence (She'll only have been absent for the equivalent of the next couple of episodes after her and Anya's escape, but even the little things can have consequences)…