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: As it comes up in this chapter, I should clarify that I will be keeping all revelations about ALIE and the Nightbloods intact in this continuity; the exact circumstances that led to the destruction of Polaris and ALIE's role in the nuclear apocalypse will be 'tweaked' slightly to accommodate the Avengers' history, but it probably won't be covered in depth, and those changes won't affect how things are in the present
Falling Hope, Rising Threat
As the four Avengers returned to the main compound, Clarke wasn't sure if she should be pleased or shocked at what had just happened.
On the one hand, they'd managed to get the hoped-for treaty with the Grounders, and she had faith that the Avengers would be there to help them mount any kind of attack, but on the other hand, the terms that the Grounders had asked for…
No matter how Finn had lied to her about his relationship with Raven- even if it had just been a lie of omission when he'd had every right to assume he'd never see her again- he didn't deserve to die because he'd freaked out and made one horrific decision.
There had to be something she could do about that, she just needed time to think…
Looking ahead as she approached the Avengers' facility- she'd been mostly following Iron Man, but Clarke was pleased to note that she was starting to recognise a couple of landmarks from this height- Clarke was surprised to see a large black hovercraft on the ground alongside the Avengers' own ship, but soon decided that it wasn't worth worrying about. From what she'd heard about the Avengers' past missions, Bloodaxe and the Mariner could probably handle anything that might have tried to attack them from a ship that size, and the compound seemed to be peaceful enough anyway.
Of course, in what Clarke remembered of novels set before the Ark, when a large black vehicle showed up to talk with any kind of law enforcement, it was probably going to be bad news even if it wasn't an immediate fight.
Hoping that she was just being paranoid, Clarke put on an extra burst of speed to send her and Mockingjay to the ground just ahead of Iron Man and Anya. Almost as soon as they'd touched down, the Avengers' leader was walking towards a particular part of the facility, leaving Clarke to take a brief glance back and confirm that the other two were still coming towards them before she hurried after her leader.
As Mockingjay entered the building, Clarke was surprised to find that the door led immediately into a fair-sized office, with a desk at one end and various pictures on the surrounding walls displaying pictures of the original Avengers. Steve Rogers was sitting behind the desk, a slight tension in his shoulders as he looked at the white-haired woman in some kind of business suit and a young man with dark hair in some kind of armour sitting opposite him.
"Senator Coin?" Mockingjay said, looking at the woman in surprise.
"Hello, Sold- I'm sorry, Mockingjay," the woman said, smiling slightly at the Avengers' leader before she looked at Clarke, her eyes widening briefly in surprise. "And who is this?"
"You can call her the Falcon," Mockingjay said; Clarke was suddenly grateful that she hadn't taken her helmet off yet. "She's the newest member of the team."
"Excuse me?" the young man said, looking incredulously at Clarke, the older woman stifling her own shocked reaction to the point that Clarke only noticed it because she was looking for it. "She's on the team?"
"I'm on the team," Clarke confirmed, returning the man's incredulous stare with a fixed gaze; she might be unsure about the honour she'd been given by being invited to join the Avengers, but as long as she was here she was going to stand up for herself.
"OK, I'm sorry, but I have to ask; what the Hell, Catnip?" the young man said indignantly, looking at Clarke in shock. "I've been asking to join for- two?"
Glancing around, Clarke noticed that Peeta and Anya had entered the door of the hut, which was becoming slightly crowded even if there was still space for a couple more people, with the Avengers symbol on the shoulder of Anya's jacket clearly displaying her affiliation with the team.
"Gale," Katniss said, looking at the other man with a grim sense of resignation about her, "we've been over this; you just aren't Avengers-level at anything."
"So you're picking some strangers over me-?" Gale began, taking a step towards the Avengers' leader before a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"Do not make me angry," Anya said, her expression cold as she looked at the two new arrivals. "You would not like me when I am angry."
"Trust me, you wouldn't," Peeta put in, smiling around the room with his helmet under his head even as Gale and Coin took an anxious step back. "I've seen her in action, and Anya is very good; she's better than most of the Tributes we've seen, and don't get me started on how she compares to some of the soldiers."
"I see," Coin said, looking quizzically at Anya. "And how did you come by these skills?"
"I survived," Anya replied firmly.
"Anya was the leader of one of the tribes I told the government about in my report," Steve put in, smiling slightly as Coin turned to look at him in shock. "Long story short, I felt that we needed a voice from those tribes to represent their views in the future of the Avengers considering the scope of their territory, and since her tribe was… lost… before we met her, it was decided that Anya would make a good candidate for membership."
"Some primitive-?" Gale began, only to cut himself short when Peeta turned one arm slightly to reveal a glowing repulsor in his palm.
"Like she said," the baker-turned-Avenger said with a brief shrug as he turned his palm back towards himself, "you don't want to make her angry."
"You don't have the authority to do this, Soldier Rogers," Coin said, looking at the old man with a grim smile of her own despite the brief exchange between her guard and the Avengers. "The original agreement stated that you would follow my orders-"
"That 'agreement' only applied when we were operating on a war footing and you were the only person with the suitable authority to help me protect the relics," Steve countered. "What I do now, I do as the coordinator of the Avengers for the sake of Earth; I'm not District Thirteen's military consultant, and I don't owe you any specific allegiance now that you're not President. I'm grateful for what you and your predecessors did for me, but right now I have to prioritise what works best for the people."
"And getting us involved in another conflict will do that?" Coin asked. "We're still working on rebuilding to any serious degree after everything Snow did before your team stopped him; we don't have the time or resources to deal with another war-"
"You're not fighting a war; we are," Katniss corrected, indicating the other Avengers. "We're an elite strike force trying to keep the peace, and keeping that peace means that we're going to help the Ark and the Coalition deal with the threat posed by Mount Weather-"
"You've just told us that there are at least three new civilisations out there, and the first thing you're planning to do is go to war with one of them," Coin said, glaring back at Mockingjay, even if there was an edge to her tone that made it clear she didn't entirely believe her own words. "If you expect us to support this, you need to accept our own authority-"
"You don't have any authority," Peeta countered. "Or are you forgetting what Steve just told you?"
"If you'll remember, I made it clear before the elections that the Avengers cannot become political figures," Steve continued. "The moment we allow officials to tell us what to do, we create the risk that others will try to counter us by creating their own superhumans, and the circumstances that gave the team their abilities could easily result in horrific mutations at best. We have to remain independent, which means that we're at liberty to get involved in dealing with any threat to innocent life on a large scale."
"And that independence means that you don't dictate our membership, Senator Coin," Katniss put in, looking firmly at the older woman. "The Avengers aren't something you can buy or bribe your way onto; if you don't have the skills to be offered a place on the team, you'd be endangering yourself and everyone relying on you in a fight, and the team would just be weaker rather than anything else."
"You weren't that much better than me-!" Gale cut in.
"It's not just a question of skill, it's a question of attitude," Katniss said, looking at Gale with a solemn expression that Clarke couldn't identify. "Gale, I've told you before; you're just… I know that you have your reasons for feeling that way, but you're just too angry for me to trust you on the team."
"Damnit, catnip, I was there for you before all this 'Avengers' crap-!" Gale began, taking a step forward before Anya was suddenly standing between the young man and her new leader, a firm glare in her eyes that was only reinforced by the slight green tint they'd suddenly developed.
"I believe that Mockingjay informed you that she does not wish for you to join the team," Anya said firmly. "If you do not have what it takes, that is your problem."
"And if you bring us to Mount Weather's attention, what happens then?" Coin asked. "We can't fight another war-"
"We aren't asking you to fight our war," Clarke interjected, looking firmly at the older woman; she might have only learned the essential details of this society's history, but she'd gathered enough to feel uncomfortable at the idea of this woman having any authority over the Avengers. "We're asking you to let us fight our war."
"'We'?" Gale said, walking over to glare at Clarke. "You get a fancy suit and you think you deserve to be an Avenger-?"
"I don't if I deserve this, Gale; what I know is that the first Avenger and the leader of the Avengers decided that Anya and I would be good additions to the team, so we're here," Clarke said, hoping that the moment of weakness she'd shown wouldn't turn out to be a mistake later.
"And before you suggest anything," Katniss cut in, "we were already committed to helping Clarke and Anya's people before they were invited to join us; the fact that they're good additions to the team just makes it easier."
"You can't just go around diving into every little problem; you're needed here-!"
"We're the Avengers, Senator Coin," Peeta added with a slight smile. "In case you forgot, our job description states that we're Earth's mightiest heroes; we're not just here to save Panem."
"And we're not needed here right now," Katniss corrected the older woman. "We're going to remain on call if something comes up, but as it stands, Snow's largest loyalist groups have been defeated or contained, and anyone left in Panem that might be a threat just doesn't have the resources to do anything to us right now. Mount Weather is a former military stronghold with nuclear weapons whose residents apparently think they have the right to take Earth's surface regardless of who suffers in the process; if we don't stop them now, we've heard enough to be sure that they'll take more decisive action when they're ready to get out."
"And if you're just making another threat aware that we're here?" Coin countered.
"Then we'll stop that too," Katniss said resolutely. "I have faith in Clarke and Anya, Senator; with their help, we can stop things before they go too far."
Clarke didn't need to know this woman to know that Senator Coin wasn't happy about that declaration, but her frustrated glare was tempered by the glances she kept shooting in Steve's direction; even if she didn't like the man Clarke still couldn't quite believe had been the world's first Avenger, this woman evidently knew that arguing with him would be a waste of time.
"Very well," she said at last, nodding in resignation. "I will… inform the council of your current situation."
"What?" Gale said, looking sharply at Coin before he registered the pointed glare he was receiving from Anya and decided to stay quiet, simply following Coin out of the room.
"Well… that was awkward," Clarke said, smiling in a weak attempt to lighten the mood. "Who were they?"
"Senator Coin used to be President Coin; she was in charge of District Thirteen, and basically the political leader of the revolution that ended when we killed President Snow," Peeta explained. "She ran for President of the new unified Panem once the war was over, but she didn't win; she's still got some influence, mainly because she was able to get a role acting as our liaison to the government, but she's always subtly implied that she thinks we were the reason she lost, because the Avengers wouldn't endorse her candidacy."
"Endorse her candidacy?" Anya repeated.
"We didn't say that we thought she'd make a good leader."
"And that made a difference?"
"We wanted to make sure that the entire nation chose who they thought would be the best candidates for the job," Katniss shrugged, looking curiously at Anya. "Don't you elect your leaders?"
"Leaders for the twelve clans are chosen based on their skill as warriors and hunters, and the Commander is chosen only from the Nightbloods," Anya explained.
"Nightbloods?" Katniss asked, before she shook her head and held up a hand to stop Anya's reply. "Unless it's going to make a difference to this alliance right now, it's not important; we've got enough to worry about right now."
"On the topic of the alliance," Steve smiled at the four of them, "how are things with the Coalition?"
"They are intrigued at your offer," Anya said, speaking for the small group before anyone else could say a word. "I have vouched for your ability to cure the Reapers, and the Commander is willing to work with the Avengers and your own forces to coordinate an assault on the Mountain… with certain conditions."
"Ah," Steve said, standing up from behind the desk with a sigh. "In that case, we should probably get the rest of the team together; considering the scale of what we're trying to do, I think I can safely assume that we all need to hear this."
Sitting around the briefing room, Clarke tried not to feel too intimidated at the gathering; even if she was an official Avenger, it still felt unnerving to be sitting at the head of a table with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, when she'd only been an amateur medic and technically juvenile delinquent struggling for survival after escaping Mount Weather a few days ago.
OK, so this wasn't the entire Avengers team- she still hadn't been introduced to Thor, and Prim/Black Widow was apparently busy with some tests she was carrying out on Lincoln- but the fact that Callie was there seemed to make up for that; considering that Clarke had spent years looking up to Callie, the idea that she was now the one in authority just felt… weird.
"Let me get this straight; they'll agree to the alliance if we hand over this 'Finn' guy?" Finnick asked.
"Blood must have blood," Anya said grimly.
"Nice philosophy," Finnick mused. "And what happens if they ask for more-?"
"They will not," Anya said. "All they wish is to avenge the eighteen people he killed."
"OK, let's tackle this issue step by step," Johanna put in, looking curiously at Callie. "Firstly, have you heard of this 'Finn' guy?"
"I read a few reports about his original arrest, but that's about it," Callie confirmed. "There was some suspicion about his arrest, actually- he claimed responsibility for an unlicensed spacewalk when he'd never shown any interest in doing something like that himself- but there was no real reason to look into what had happened at the time, so we didn't."
"Raven…" Clarke smiled in understanding.
"Raven?" Anya asked.
"She was… basically, she was our tech expert for a while," Clarke explained. "She worked on maintaining the Ark's technology when we were in space, and then she helped us develop some equipment here on Earth, such as… well, she helped us make new bullets before our confrontation on the bridge when we met, as well as get in touch with the Ark in the first place."
"And what does she have to do with this?" Johanna asked.
"She and Finn were dating up on the Ark. Raven just turned eighteen a short while ago, and she only started working around the time that Finn was arrested, based on what I've heard about their pasts; if she went on a spacewalk before she was officially authorised, he could have taken the credit for it to save her life."
"Because… he wouldn't have been eighteen, so he wouldn't have been floated immediately?" Katniss asked.
"Exactly; he could have even been released if he had made a good argument at an appeal trial," Clarke nodded, before she turned to Katniss and Steve. "Anyway, that's not important right now; what matters is what can we do to save him?"
"Couldn't we make them back down?" Finnick asked. "I mean, we're the freakin' Avengers-"
"We can't exactly tell them that we're not going to help them stop Mount Weather if they kill Finn," Katniss said. "The Avengers are heroes; we can't make our help conditional."
"That's the real problem with this whole situation," Steve sighed. "As I told Senator Coin, the Avengers can't be politically motivated, but unfortunately, that means that we can't get involved in legal proceedings."
"Excuse me?" Johanna asked, looking sharply at him.
"I'm not saying we can't act as witnesses or be subject to legal proceedings, I just meant that we can't interfere in them."
"I get it," Finnick nodded grimly. "If we start stepping in and demanding certain verdicts if we don't approve of the most likely outcome, how long until we become like Snow?"
"We wouldn't-!" Peeta began.
"No, he's right," Clarke said, shaking her head grimly as she looked at the former baker. "We all like to think that we won't go that far, but speaking as the person who's tried to form a new society from an old one when the dropship came down, it's all too easy to start repeating the old mistakes once you get started."
"And that means we just accept their request to basically torture this guy to death?" Peeta asked. "I'm not defending what he did, but he was under a lot of stress, and from what you've told us he'd never have done something like that normally-"
"So the fact that he went nuts for a bit is a reason to let him off for murder?" Johanna asked.
"I'm saying we should take it into account rather than condemn him for something he'd never have done-"
"And what's the other option?" Johanna asked. "Hand over some other schmuck to die in his place? I get that I chose to call myself Bloodaxe, but I'm not here to kill people just because I like it!"
"Which is why we need this alliance," Katniss said. "We might have Thor and Anya, but we can't just smash the mountain open without killing even the people in there who might want to help us; if we're going to bring it down, we need a plan that goes beyond just overwhelming force."
"Which means finding a way to get as many people attacking it as possible," Clarke sighed grimly; she understood why the rest of 'Panem' couldn't get involved in this problem, but that didn't stop it being frustrating.
"And that's not our only problem," Prim put in, as she walked grimly into the room.
"We have more?" Finnick asked, giving the youngest Avenger an awkward grin. "What now?"
"I just finished my first wave of tests on Lincoln's blood sample," the young girl explained. "I don't know how it got in there, but I found gamma radiation in his system."
"So?" Clarke asked. "We knew from Anya that there was some gamma radiation out there-"
"Not in levels like this," Prim corrected. "I already ran a DNA test and managed to confirm that he doesn't have the gene sequence Captain Rogers tentatively identified as the key to allowing Anya and Bruce to transform into Hulks. There's too much gamma radiation in there for it to be regular exposure, there's too little for it to actually trigger a transformation, but there's no way he could have been exposed to something that could do this to him and still be alive; the only way there could be this much gamma radiation in Lincoln's blood without him actually transforming is if he was injected with it."
"Injected?" Clarke repeated. "Why would someone do that?"
"Some kind of drug?" Finnick asked. "From what you've told us about the state he was in, those Reaper guys sound fairly tough; if gamma radiation always makes people tough and angry, maybe these mountain guys use it in some kind of controlled dosage to make them tough enough to be a problem without making them so strong that they could turn against their masters."
"But how could they have access to gamma-irradiated blood?" Peeta asked. "You said that Bruce was the only person-"
"Because I really hoped that the other guy was dead," Steve said, groaning in frustration as he leaned over to rest his head against the table.
"There was another Hulk?" Finnick asked, looking sharply at Steve.
"Not exactly," Steve said, sitting up with a grim expression.
"How 'not exactly'?" Johanna asked.
"Believe me, if you thought Snow was bad, this guy's worse," Steve said grimly. "I'm not denying that he did terrible things, but at least Bruce went through horrors of his own before he resorted to inflicting them on others; Emil Blonsky had no reason to snap and he ended up tearing through a New York district when he first got his powers just because he could…"
"Emil Blonsky?" Clarke asked. "That was his name?"
"Is his name," Prim said, swallowing slightly as she looked around the table. "Based on the amount in Lincoln's system, it was too potent to be taken from even a well-preserved corpse, and we know from Snow that gamma mutations can include an extended lifespan."
"I am… long-lived?" Anya asked.
"Possibly; we… still need to work out the extent of your transformation," Katniss put in, before turning back to Steve. "So what makes this… Blonsky different from the Hulk?"
"Blonsky was a trained soldier and combat veteran who was selected by General Ross to be part of the team assigned to hunt Bruce down a few years before he joined the Avengers," Steve explained solemnly. "As part of that, once Ross witnessed Blonsky's skill and learned of his preference for fieldwork, he arranged for Blonsky to be injected with a prototype version of the serum that was used to create me, which accelerated his speed and his ability to heal, but had some kind of warped effect on his mind. When Ross's team managed to capture Bruce, Blonsky forced a scientist Bruce had been working with while trying to cure himself to inject him with a sample of Bruce's blood, which combined with the proto-serum to turn Blonsky into… well, after he was defeated by Bruce's first semi-controlled use of the Hulk, everyone referred to him as 'the Abomination'."
"Not pretty, huh?" Johanna asked.
"Bits of his own skeleton were sticking out of his skin, including his spine."
"…Yeah, that's gross," the one-armed ex-lumberjack acknowledged.
"And you think he's in Mount Weather?" Clarke asked.
"We lost track of where he was being imprisoned after SHIELD fell, so it's not impossible to assume that he was in Mount Weather when the nuclear missiles were launched," Steve explained, his tone grim as he looked around at the rest of the team. "If Mount Weather have access to Emil Blonsky and are using him to create the Reavers…"
"It's safe to say that this just became an even more Avengers-level problem," Katniss finished for him.
Looking around the table, Clarke felt the new weight of the burden facing them.
They weren't just up against a desperate race of people trying to survive on Earth's surface; if the Mountain had access to something that had once fought the Hulk, no matter what state he was in now, this upcoming fight was almost certainly going to become very complicated…