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: It'll be a while before we get back to Katniss's narrative, but the next few chapters just work better if everyone's narrating them; hope you like what Knight and I have come up with anyway.
Falling Hope, Rising Threat
Crouching among the trees so close to the mountain, Clarke Griffin hoped that she had prepared herself properly for what they were about to try. As much as she had faith in what she'd seen of Mockingjay's tactical expertise, considering that the woman had been trained by Captain America himself, there was never going to be any circumstances where planning to get captured by the enemy was a strategy she was going to be totally comfortable with.
She appreciated that Katniss and Thor were taking part in this plan as well, but she still felt uncomfortable handing herself over to the residents of Mount Weather after she'd spent so long trying to get away from them. She had spent so long these last few days training to use the Falcon's harness that she had almost instinctively protested against the idea of going into battle without it, even if it hadn't taken long for her to agree with Katniss's argument that they needed to try and catch the 'Mountain Men' off-guard. Clarke and the others could carry more conventional weapons, but showing up with a high-powered jet-pack, an indestructible round shield and a hammer nobody else could lift would give away too much.
With weapons eliminated as an option from the beginning, there had been some argument about who was going to take part on this mission. Clarke had acknowledged that she and Anya were the obvious choices to get recaptured, as the Mountain Men would be looking for them in particular, and it had made sense for Katniss and Thor to volunteer to come along as well, as both were skilled fighters even without Thor's superior strength to take into account. She had even understood why Peeta/Iron Man, Prim/Black Widow and Johanna/Bloodaxe weren't coming along; Prim was better suited for a stealth infiltration than this relatively public approach, Peeta had admitted that he wasn't very good at physical combat without the armour, and while Johanna had training she wasn't sure how much of an asset she'd be without her artificial arm.
A part of her wished that Octavia could have come along, but considering the scope of everything the Ark's only living sibling had been through recently, Clarke couldn't blame Octavia for needing to check something in Asgard rather than take part in this attack. Her new team needed to keep some powerhouses in reserve if this planned infiltration went wrong, and Octavia was definitely a grey area considering that she was strong but didn't have much experience with her powers.
And I'm part of a team that has to think about us packing too much power…
A faint sound from further along prompted Clarke to look up, but smiled slightly as she saw Thor walking along the forest, looking around himself in an exaggerated manner. Clarke turned around to try and spot her other allies- Anya and Katniss might be more experienced in the woods, but they were deliberately trying to be careless now- but the moment came to an end when she heard the low sound of a gun being fired. As she felt a prick in the back of her neck, Clarke allowed herself a brief smile as she fell to the ground, glancing over to see Thor hit the ground in a more exaggerated manner a short distance away.
The Asgardian king was obviously exaggerating the effect that the drug was having on him, but there was definitely something amusing about the idea of that particular Avenger pretending to get captured by these guys…
After Bellamy was thrown into a new room by the guards, he barely had time to scramble to his feet before the door was closed behind him. Taking the time to look at his new surroundings, he saw he was in a completely white room, devoid of furniture but surprising full of a mix of people. A good number of the people he could tell were Grounders by their clothing, but the others were too well-dressed to be Grounders, while at the same time they were clearly too old to be part of the Hundred, and he had to believe he'd have been aware if more people from the Ark had been captured.
"Hey," an old man said, wearing older blue overall and glasses as he looked at Bellamy. "You OK?"
"I'm… fine," Bellamy said, taking a moment to process the man's face; the beating he'd just taken during his capture had addled his memory, but he was fairly sure that this guy had been one of the contacts that Maya girl had introduced him to. "Wh… what's going on?"
"Cage Wallace has staged a coup."
"And remind me… who's Cage Wallace to President Wallace?"
"His son," the older man said bitterly.
"Not a great guy, I take it?" Bellamy asked, feeling increasingly apprehensive as he took in the grim attitude of the more well-dressed people in the room; he still wasn't sure what was about to happen here, but this didn't look good.
"Everyone here who didn't come from outside are Wallace's political enemies," the man explained.
"And in this context, that means that they… what?"
"We're condemned because we didn't approve of his plans for the 'savages' and wanted to find a more peaceful resolution," the man explained solemnly, his gaze softening as he glanced at the door. "I didn't do much for the movement myself- that was my wife more than anything- but when my daughter got involved in her name…"
"You took it so she wouldn't?" Bellamy finished, feeling himself relax as he looked at this man in new understanding.
His mother might have been the one to take the punishment when Octavia was discovered, but he liked to think he would have done the same thing if he'd had the chance…
"Knowing Cage, he's probably doing it this way just to make sure Maya realises she shouldn't do anything else against him," the man said bitterly. "I don't think it'll make any difference, really- she's as stubborn as her mother ever was and a better person by far- but…"
He shrugged helplessly, but Bellamy understood the point that the man was trying to make; as he'd learned since he arrived on the ground, there was no way to know how you'd react in certain situations. Clarke had done her best to be the hero looking for peace, and he…
He didn't know what he'd become any more, but in a world where the Avengers had returned to protect humanity, he knew that he'd fallen short.
"How can the rest of your people be alright with this?" Bellamy asked.
"Generations of fear, of being confined to the lower levels of the mountain," the other man replied grimly. "They're ready to do anything just about anything to be free, because they see no other options, so they'll follow someone who can promise them freedom, even if it's offered by a monster like Cage. This execution they have planned for us… if anything, it'll just make them even more certain that his way is the only way."
Looking back at the door and beyond the glass panel, Bellamy saw Tsing staring at them in a way that was definitely far from normal. He got that he was bad at reading people, but if they were going to be killed, why would she do it here in this sterile room, rather than somewhere bigger that could be used as some kind of sick shooting gallery?
He didn't know what was going on here, but he was becoming increasingly certain that this was going to be a serious problem…
How long is he going to keep me waiting? Tsing thought, annoyed at being kept waiting this long; she had been here for almost thirty minutes past the scheduled time, with no sign of the president…
"Sorry for the delay," the aforethought President's voice came in the room, the young man carrying himself with his usual self-assured manner. "I just needed to find the right suit."
Lorelei stared at Cage with a dead pan expression. "You must be joking."
"Well it did take me a while to find the right suit to wear for such an occasion," Cage offered as one of his men brought in the radio. "But I wanted to have the equipment ready. After the confirmed failure of the missile strikes, I want to have something that everyone will be talking about. Something that will make it clear to everyone outside this mountain; we will not be denied our birthright."
"Even our own people?" Tsing gestured to the people inside the room. "As a scientist I appreciate the variety of subjects, but executing twenty five people seems a bit much."
Cage looked back to her with an expression that said he was not to be overturned. "This skirmish has lasted for far too long already. There was a small but growing group within our people, believing we could make peace with the savages. They need to be reminded that I can bring them salvation and our enemies need to fear us." He eyed the container to the left. "That's it isn't it? The weapon my father eventually told you to discontinue experimentation with."
"It is."
"Tell me it will kill them horribly," Cage said, looking over at the subjects.
"Oh believe me Mr. President, with this weapon you will get exactly what you have asked for," Lorelai vowed.
"Look," Peeta said, looking in exasperation at the two Ark leaders as the Avengers stood in the large tent that had been set up for the Commander's use, "we're not going to get anywhere if we keep talking about this; we only have a few hours before the attack has to start, so let's just cut the crap!"
"Yeah, you want to listen to this guy," Finnick smiled, indicating Peeta with his trident. "I get that it's probably a matter of record that Stark had issues, but when this Iron Man starts swearing, you know it's a problem."
"You can't expect us to commit our full resources to something like this on the word of a few self-proclaimed heroes who're-" Abby began.
"Who're what?" Johanna cut the older woman off. "Not perfect? No offence, lady, but nobody here is perfect; we're doing the best we can with the tools at hand."
"But couldn't we just-?"
"If you are about to say suggestion negotiation, do you not believe I have made such an effort already?" Lexa cut Marcus off with a firm glare. "I have attempted to reach out in the past ever since I formed the original Alliance among the Twelve Clans, and have merely been turned away and treated like a child who does not understand why the elders must hunt the more dangerous beasts."
"Well…" Marcus began uncertainly, only for the radio to suddenly come to life.
"Attention invaders, this is President Cage Wallace," the cultured and arrogant tone of the speaker put everyone on edge. "To whoever is monitoring this channel, I ask you fetch the Leaders of the Ark and the Coalition. I have a statement to deliver."
"I… we're here," Abby said, looking anxiously around the room for a moment (Peeta chose to assume she was at least checking that none of the Avengers disapproved of her responding to this call).
"I would ask how your people are," Wallace said, Johanna choosing silence to test this man's reaction, "but seeing as you somehow prevented our missile strike, I imagine they're alright."
"You mean the strike where you would have killed scores of human beings without provocation?" Abby retorted angrily, glaring at the radio. "Everything that has happened here has been a result of your own people's actions."
"You know, it didn't have to come to this for your people from the Ark," Cage continued, never missing a step, as though Abby's condemnation was irrelevant in favour of what he had to say to them. "We tried to make you understand our plight, but you chose to side with the savages. You chose to send a spy to sabotage our plans of restoring the United States of America. But he didn't just cause problems to our systems; he corrupted some of our own people to commit treason. So now you all must pay the price for treason against this great nation."
"He wants to 'bring back America'?" Johanna looked over at Finnick, even as she kept her voice low. "I thought we had the symbol of that nation telling us not to bother?"
"And you think they care about that?" Peeta said grimly.
"What's going on?" another voice said. Everyone inside the tent turned to see Octavia at the entrance, looking solemn yet intimidating in her new Asgardian attire.
"What happened with Asgard?" Johanna asked, trying to distract her attention.
"Already taken care of," Octavia replied quickly. "I'll show you all later but again what is going on here? Something is seriously up."
"Ah, O.," Raven looked awkwardly at the other woman, mind already racing to consider how to hide the reality from this woman. "Maybe you should just go-"
"I'm here," Octavia glared at the mechanic. "And if you don't want me here, that makes it clear I have to be."
"Right before the Nuclear Wars came down to their climax," Cage's voice said over the radio once again, "our military experimented on various new weapons. We had the obvious ones, such as biological weapons, but one of them was created by something as simple as smashing an artificially created crystal."
The next sound they heard was sound of something shattering, followed by the sounds of screams. But Octavia only cared about one in particular.
Even over a radio, she could easily recognise her brother's voice.
"BELLAMY!" the young woman screamed out, falling to her knees in anguish. Raven moved in right beside her, trying to comfort her.
"It takes less than sixty seconds for those exposed to the gas released by the shattered crystal to turn human beings into nothing more than..." Cage waited a moment, the screams of the victims dying out, before the president could be heard chuckling slightly. "Well, nothing more than giant stone statues of themselves."
"You sick bastard," Marcus spat.
Johanna might be angry at the man for what she'd heard from Callie about the cullings he'd supported on the Ark, but she could at least appreciate that Marcus Kane had always believed he was doing the right thing to save what he thought was all that remained of the human race. When Cage killed these people, he didn't have any real excuse for his actions beyond that he just wanted to prolong the suffering of others.
"I am not sick," Cage said, his tone demonstrating a sense of pride that put the three Avengers present uncomfortably in mind of their meetings with Snow before they'd learned the secret of the Maestro. "I have merely demonstrated what will happen to the enemies of our people. If you attempt to attack I will release this biological weapon on your people and it will kill every human it comes into contact with. Right now, I wish to speak to the Commander. We have executed five of your people as retaliation for this alliance you have made against us but I assure you we still have dozens more of your people under our tender care." He paused a moment. "But I am a fair president and we no longer have need of them. Agree to withdraw your forces from attacking our home, and I will release them. I give you my word and as I have demonstrated, I am a man of my word. Failure to do will result in their deaths, in the same horrible manner as that pathetic spy that incurred my wrath."
"I… OK, are we seriously going to believe this guy?" Johanna looked at the rest of the tent.
"Doubtful," Finnick affirmed. "This guy's made it clear he barely sees the Coalition as anything but savages; he could probably tell himself that he's not lying because he isn't lying to 'people'."
"Amen to that," Raven said firmly, before she turned to see Lexa looking contemplatively at the radio. "Oh hell no… tell me you're not-"
"Enough," Lexa held up a hand grimly. "I will consider everything."
With those grim words, Lexa reached out to take hold of the radio, and was just about to hit 'Send' when someone firmly grasped her hand. For a moment, Lexa was about to respond in anger, but that reaction faltered when she looked into the eyes of the person holding her hand in a firm grip, and could see the multitude of emotions playing in them: pain, sorrow, rage and conviction.
"Giv em tou ai," Octavia spoke in Lexa's native language. Out of respect, but also out of curiosity, Lexa handed the radio over to the young woman.
Octavia held the radio for a long moment, collecting herself as the others looked anxiously at her, none of them quite willing to take action to stop a clearly determined woman take the first steps on a path that she could never go back on…
They just executed twenty five people for nothing. They murdered my brother for nothing.
That thought made it that much clearer for her, as she pressed the send button and made her choice. "You just sealed your fate," she said bluntly. "Yours and that of your people."
"Who the hell is this?" Cage demanded, sounding irritated. "I want to speak to the Commander, not some nobody."
"'Some nobody'?" Octavia countered mockingly. "For a 'President', you're really showing a lack of common sense. When my father came to this world to conquer it centuries ago, he said you were all dull, pathetic creatures; with you, I definitely find no fault in his words."
Octavia ignored the stares now being directed at her by every person from the Ark in the area, simply waiting for Cage to pick his metaphorical jaw off the floor and respond. "Who is this?"
"I am Octavia of Asgard, daughter of Loki, the Prince that nearly conquered this world when it was still pristinely unspoiled, before incompetent mortals like you ruined it with your wars and petty squabbles," she responded, channelling the high and mighty tone of her supposed betters in the Ark when she has been a prisoner as well, as drawing upon the myth that had been built upon on her father in the minds of humanity. "You executed twenty five people to make a statement. You murdered your own people, as well as a few of your coalition hostages, but that doesn't matter to me. The spy from the Ark on the other hand, he was the only human being I ever cared about. He was the only thing that kept me from tearing your precious mountain apart and ending the lot of you for your crimes… and I feel that I should confirm that your bio weapon will have no effect on me."
"Even if I… were to believe your… claim," Cage said (Octavia had to give him credit; even if he probably assumed she was lying or crazy, he seemed to be fairly composed after that threat), "you are one person. We're safe and protected within our mountain. How do you think you'll get in?"
"Oh Cage," Octavia chuckled jovially before making sure her voice took on a malicious tone. "I was so hoping you'd say that." She turned back to Lexa, handing the radio over to her before she turned to study the other people in the tent, smiling at the multitude of looks and stares now directed to her.
"You—you aren't really…" Abby stared to say, only for it to die on her lips as she looked into Octavia's eyes.
"Yes, and before you ask, no, Bellamy isn't- wasn't his son," Octavia corrected herself with bitterness before looking over everyone. "And for the record, I didn't know Loki was my father until four days ago when Thor told me."
"I can back that up," Johanna cut in. "I was there when Thor introduced them to each other, and O. here was not prepared for that particular bit of info."
"And while we're talking about family," Peeta began uncomfortably, "I get that what just happened to Octavia's brother is… terrible, but keep in mind that we're trying to be the better people here-"
"I don't care about being the 'better people' when that ass of a 'president' just murdered my brother and innocent people for nothing!" Octavia cut the former baker off, glaring at the new Iron Man. "I'm going to bring his entire damn world down around him. I'm going to avenge my brother's death. Now get the hell out of my way."
"But…" Peeta began, his attempts at protest dying away as his gaze met Octavia's, leaving him to step uncertainly aside.
Octavia simply nodded at the new Iron Man before she marched out of the tent. Lexa looked over the others in the tent, seeing their reactions to Octavia. Awe, disbelief and fear were among them. It made Lexa very curious about what had changed that could draw such a reaction of the people of Skaikru. With a gesture of her hands to her men that had been with her, she began swiftly moving in the direction Octavia had been moving. She could feel that this conflict was about to take an even more drastic turn and Octavia would be the reason for it.
It was another minute or so before anyone could actually break the silence. "Are we really going to let this just happen?" Marcus finally asked.
"I think you need to remember that we're dealing with the daughter of the guy who brought the Avengers together in the first place; if it took Earth's mightiest heroes to stop her dad, there's not that much we can do when we're all in favour of what she's planning to do," Johanna pointed out with a slight smile. "Add in the fact that we pretty much have to go up against the mountain at this point, the question really becomes why we're drawing this out."
"We should take the recommendation of a woman who calls herself 'Bloodaxe'?" Abby asked.
"You should take the advice of an experienced Avenger who realises that we've got to deal with this mess before things get worse," Johanna countered, before she turned back to the other two Avengers. "OK, so we've got about half the team already in that mountain, the four of us ready to hit the place from the outside, and the Ice Maiden there as an extra bit of 'oomph'; did I miss anything?"
"Steve's ready to take that hammer to the mountain so Thor can go all-out," Finnick observed.
"And Prim… well, obviously Katniss won't want her to fight, but she's available if a stealth approach becomes important," Peeta added.
"And… there's us," Marcus said, swallowing slightly as he looked apprehensively at Abby.
"There is?" Abby said.
"Yes," Marcus said, looking out of the tent after Octavia with a slight smile. "We're going to… I get that it's a risk, but right now, I think staying with the Avengers is the best thing we can do right now."