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

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Falling Hope, Rising Threat

"Cage," I said, shaking my head at him in frustration, "can we just get over this already?"

"And let you destroy us?" Cage countered.

"Firstly, we're only trying to 'destroy' you after you've spent the last few days treating our new allies as little better than cattle, and secondly we aren't even trying to do that; we'd be perfectly willing to let you live if you weren't trying to do it all on your terms."

"So it's your way or the high way?" Cage glared. "Like all savages, you act like you're the only ones who have the right to control a situation-"

"Are you even aware that the fighting above us has stopped?" I cut the other man off, indicating the ceiling above us. "As in, the Abomination has been stopped?"

"It could be your She-Hulk-"

"Not likely," Clarke said, smirking at Cage in satisfaction. "The Abomination is a ruthless psychotic of considerable physical power; if he had beaten Anya, he'd be tearing through this place to take down the rest of us."

"Emil Blonsky is our weapon-"

"You've been using him as basically a battery for God knows how many years; do you honestly think he'd fight for you?" I cut Cage off. "You let him off the leash and you should just be grateful that we stopped him now; you could never have relied on him."

"It would have worked-!"

"You know what your problem is, Cage?" I cut in once again, enjoying seeing this man so off-guard; when I'd never had the chance to give this kind of speech to Snow, it was refreshing to be able to tell another president what I thought of them. "You're too fixated on the idea that it's your way or the high way."

"Like you aren't doing the same?" Cage retorted.

"Hardly," I replied, looking coldly at the self-proclaimed president. "If you'd just asked us for help, the Panem government might have been willing to give it to you, but when you decided that your lives were more 'important' than other people, you made yourself my enemy."

"They're savages-!"

"They're people," I interjected firmly. "Just because they survived without your resources doesn't mean they're primitive; it just proves they're strong."

"For killing each other-?"

"They became a culture of warriors to overcome a devastating event; that doesn't make them primitive," I cut Cage off. "The man I respect more than any other fought a war against the kind of attitude that would reduce other human beings to things because it was easier to justify their atrocities that way; acting like you can lump a whole group of people together as your inferiors is not going to make us think of you as the 'good guys' in this situation."

"And who was that man?" Wallace asked.

"History knows him as Captain America."

I enjoyed the shocked look on Wallace's face when I said those words.

"Ca… Captain America's alive?" the 'President' of Mount Weather said incredulously.

"Had a couple of tricky moments on the way, but he got here in the end," I smiled briefly before assuming a more serious glare. "And he chose me to lead this new team of Avengers because he knew that I would always act to save lives."

"That's just what I'm doing-!"

"You're saving some by killing others; that's not what the Avengers are about, Cage," I cut him off. "The team might have started in America, but that's just chance; they were known as Earth's Mightiest Heroes for a reason, and it's not just because it sounded good. They don't just fight to protect America; they're fighting for humanity, and you're the ones who decided to kill other people for your own benefit."

"We were trying to protect ourselves-!"

"Operating on the philosophy that you know better than everyone else, and you know who adopts that kind of rigid 'I know what's best' attitude?" I countered. "People like HYDRA."

"We are nothing like HYDRA-"

"You kill those who you perceive as inferior; in what way does that not sound like HYDRA?" Thor observed. "I adopted a similar philosophy once upon a time, but what you must realise is that you cannot judge an entire race for the sins that they may have committed in the past. You have succumbed to the idea that you are 'superior' in some way, but that does not excuse your sins."

"We just wanted to live free; the ground is our birthright-!"

"If I learned anything from trying to rebuild Panem, it's that survival on its own isn't enough, but you have to be worthy of survival," I cut him off with a solemn stare. "I'm not saying that we haven't made mistakes, but with a few exceptions most of us only tried to kill each other because we were trapped in a system where it was kill or be killed; you decided to designate an entire group of people as 'inferior' just because it's easier that way."

"We have a right-!"

"Like Mockingjay said, you lost that right when you stopped thinking of an entire group of people as things just because it was easier for you that way," Clarke cut him off, looking at the president in exasperation. "Just count yourself lucky that we're trying to be the better party here; unlike you, we're not going to act as though we have the right to arbitrarily judge all of your people as monsters…"

"What?" Cage looked at Clarke in shock. "But-"

"And that's your problem; you can't acknowledge that there's a middle line between condemning everyone for the crimes of their people and letting some parties off if they didn't have that much of a role in what was going on here," I said. "I already forgave one group of people for the crimes of their leaders because they didn't deserve to be punished for it; you might be an elitist monster who killed people, but that doesn't mean your people deserve to die."

"Then… then we can help you-?" Cage began.

"You are not wanted," I cut him off resolutely. "And besides, if you think we're going to keep any thing from this mountain intact, you're even more deluded than I thought you were; maybe you've got a few interesting relics lying around, but Cap's told me enough about what happened with HYDRA to confirm that we're not going to keep any of your scientists around."

Privately, I knew that I would be willing to excuse some of the mountain's scientists of their crimes so long as they didn't actively want to continue working on their 'experiments' with the grounders, but it wouldn't do any harm to make him think I was that ruthless.

"And on the topic of what we want," I said, reaching up to activate my radio (God bless Beetee's skills at miniaturisation; it would have been a real pain if we hadn't been able to hide these things), "Commander, this is Mockingjay; how are things going outside?"

"We have the mountain surrounded and all entrances covered," Lexa replied at the other end (for a woman who'd never used a radio before now, she was adjusting to it rather well). "I have taken up position at the main entrance with the Mariner-"

"COMMANDER!" Cage suddenly yelled at the radio. "This is President Cage Wallace of Mount Weather; I have a proposition for you!"

"Do you really think-?" I began.

"I will hear what he has to say," Lexa interjected, in a tone that reminded me of Steve when he refused to listen to any argument I might try to make. "Speak, President Wallace."

"Your new… allies… have done a good job at taking us by surprise, but do you seriously think that you can destroy this mountain without taking considerable losses?" Cage said. I was uncertain what kind of point he might be about to make, but I decided it was best to at least give Lexa a chance to handle this herself if we were going to work together later. "I have a simple alternative; let us keep the prisoners we have from the Ark, and in return, your people can go free."

"I see," Lexa said, her tone contemplative as the four of us waited in silence, before she spoke up once again. "I have considered your offer, and my answer is no."

"NO?" Cage yelled incredulously, looking at the radio as though it had personally offended him. "But- but I promise we will leave your people-"

"Only so long as you tolerate the perceived primitives waiting outside your gates until the day comes when you strike us down to impose your own view on the world," Lexa cut him off. "The Avengers defy many things I believed about the way things work, but my former teacher chooses to fight alongside them as she has become something new; if she will trust them with her strength, I will trust in the strength of the Avengers over the strength of the Maunon."

"You- you're making a mistake-!"

"I do what is right for peace," Lexa said coolly. "I choose to believe in the peace that the Avengers will bring as they prove themselves to be heroes, over the peace you promise that only lasts as long as it is convenient to you."

"And that's that option taken off the board," Clarke grinned at Cage as Lexa ended the call. "Seriously, you already wasted your biggest gun and lost to one of the newest Avengers; do you seriously think you've got anything to offer anybody in this situation beyond just surrendering and asking for an easy death?"

"We saved so much from the culture that came before-"

"Which we can collect after this place is empty," I cut him off. "Believe me, we recognise that the mountain itself has things to offer, but the work that was done here was an abomination that has to end- which reminds me…"

I raised a hand to my ear to activate my radio. "Iron Man? How's things at your end?"

"Coming along," Peeta replied, as I turned up the volume on the radio to let the others hear the news. "Raven enjoyed the flight to the tunnels, and she's confirmed we'll have the fog machine down in a few moments; Beetee still can't crack the code from outside, but these people didn't really prepare for the possibility that someone would attack them from inside."

"The fog- you can't!" Cage yelled. "We need that-!"

"You condone the existence of a machine that produces acidic fog and wonder why we consider you the villains?" Thor cut the president off with a cool glare. "You condemn yourself with every moment; do you truly believe we shall ever allow you to remain here?"

"NO!" Cage yelled, pulling a small box out of his pocket and pressing a button. I had no idea why they hadn't come out earlier, but as soon as Cage pressed that button, various doors on either side of the corridor opened up (and I heard a few more opening further along), revealing a large number of Mount Weather guards. Clarke, Thor and I shifted into defensive postures as the guards gathered around us, glaring at us in outrage with their weapons aimed directly at the three 'intruding' Avengers.

"I tried to be reasonable about this, but you had to keep pushing it, didn't you?" the self-proclaimed president said, looking at me with a fanaticism that put me uncomfortably in mind of Cato during his final stand; there were only a dozen or so guards as far as I could tell, but even with Thor's power to take into account, that would be more enough to do some damage in this confined situation. "You tried to defy everything the Avengers stood for, but you will defend America as they did or be cut down here and now-!"

"You really think we're afraid of bullets?" Clarke cut Cage off, grinning at the older man in a manner that I could only hope Cage didn't realise was a bluff. "We're the Avengers; we didn't get to be heroes because we were afraid of getting shot."

"You are nothing but idealistic fools who ally with arrogant savages; you don't realise that we are what Earth needs to survive-!"

"Hi there," Octavia's voice cut in over my radio, still turned up loud enough that even the surrounding soldiers could hear it. "Sorry to bother you, but Raven called to suggest that Mockingjay should be aware that we've got a few stubborn asses hanging around in here."

"In what way?" I asked, enjoying Cage's fuming glare in response even as he didn't try to stop me talking (whether because he thought he was still in control or he wanted to know who was out there I wasn't going to worry).

"In the sense that a certain doctor decided to set off a plan that would possibly destroy everyone in this mountain because she can't take the fact that she's losing," the ice-wielding Avenger confirmed. "I've got no reason to believe she's lying, so we've got about an hour before some kind of bombs go off that'll release some kind of gas all through the mountain, and when we're still not sure how Bellamy survived that-"

"Bellamy's alive?" Clarke looked sharply at my radio. "I thought-?"

"That's… well, it's tricky to explain," another voice replied, sounding amusingly bemused as he spoke to Clarke; I assumed that it was Bellamy, but I hadn't spent enough time with him to know him for sure. "Even the doctor wasn't sure how I survived it, but she had this whole idea about how she could use me as a template to change human evolution until O showed up…"

"Changing evolution?" I repeated sceptically, ignoring the scowl I received from Cage; if he hadn't started shooting at us yet, I didn't think he was going to start yet. "That doesn't sound like a good call…"

"It had its disadvantages," a new voice said. "Why do you think so many of us had enough?"

"And who is this?" I asked.

"Call me Jefferson," the man replied. "I was with the doctor's guards, but after hearing the full details of what she had planned… well, let's just say I wasn't the only one who didn't like the idea that she'd end up killing most of us on a 'maybe'."

"I don't suppose you have the authority to convince these people that we're willing to end this now?" I cut into the conversation. "I will admit that the Coalition are probably going to want at least some people executed for what you've done to them, but we'll do our best to argue for leniency."

"We… appreciate that, Mockingjay," Jefferson said at last. "I'll-"

"NO!" Cage yelled, pulling out his own radio and flicking it on. "This is President Wallace to all loyal residents of Mount Weather; prepare to-!"

Another guard fired at Cage before he could finish his command, but the shot had been such an impulsive move that the bullet only grazed Cage's arm and struck another soldier just behind him. As the guards turned to look at each other in shock, Clarke and I grabbed two of them by the arms and hurled them into their fellows, leaving Thor to fire a quick blast of lightning from his palms that stunned most of the guards nearest us and forced them all to drop their weapons.

Drawing on every bit of unarmed combat instruction I'd received from Clint, Steve and Finnick since I became an Avenger, I launched a series of rapid kicks and punches that knocked down the nearest standing guards before they could do more than turn to face me, with Clarke making a fair showing of her own combat abilities as she knocked down another couple of guards. As Thor took down the last few guards, Clarke and I grabbed a pair of dropped guns and aimed them at Cage, who was kneeling on the ground and glaring up at us as he clutched at his bleeding arm.

"You really thought those guys were going to stop us?" I grinned at our fallen foe. "We're the Avengers, Cage Wallace; I'm not going to deny that our weapons make it easier for us to hold our own, but if we needed the tools to be heroes we wouldn't have been given the job in the first place."

"You bitch-!" Cage glared up at me with a low shock in his gaze, as though he wasn't sure if he should try and keep arguing or just break down.

"Heard it," I grinned mockingly at him (God, I loved being in control as an Avenger; I didn't even want to think about what would have happened if Coin had gotten her way), before I turned to Clarke and Thor. "Right then, we have allies down below; let's get this guy secured and then go and join them."