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

There were so many times since I had become an Avenger that I was amazed at how my life had changed since I volunteered in Prim's place, and this was certainly the most remarkable such moment I'd ever experienced. Fighting against Snow's remaining resources had been relatively straightforward, but in the last few weeks, I'd encountered a lost civilisation, reunited Thor with the niece he'd never known about, and my small team of Avengers had practically doubled in size.

I was still unsure how to incorporate Anya, Bellamy and Octavia into the new group dynamic we were putting together, and there was the enduring question of what Monty would be capable of when he came out of that cocoon, but on the other hand I rather liked Clarke's new tactical perspective. We'd need time to work out an exact balance for our duties, but so long as the new guys would follow Clarke, I had a feeling that she and I would be able to work well together as leader and second-in-command of the Avengers once we had more time to work things out.

As for the mountain itself, apart from the now-former President Wallace, the only resident still currently on Earth was Maya, the girl we'd met earlier with Monty and his friend Jasper; since there had been a few samples of the 'cure' devised by Doctor Tsing when we found her work, we'd decided to use another one for Maya once she'd confirmed that she wanted to stay with Jasper. We'd even managed to find Lincoln in one of the cages the mountain had used for Reapers, basically trying to detox himself from his brief relapse to the distilled sample of Blonsky's blood he'd received earlier, and Octavia had taken him to the hovercraft where we'd left the still-cocooned Monty.

There was still some debate about what was to be done with the mountain itself, but for the moment, the priority was putting the last leader of the mountain on trial for his actions. As I stood on the small platform that had been set up outside the now-empty mountain, standing alongside a group of Coalition representatives and the other Avengers (Octavia back in the blue and silver outfit she'd been wearing earlier rather than the Grounder clothing she'd borrowed for the 'mission'), I was struck for the first time with the thought that I wasn't sure if I was ready for this kind of responsibility. Being an Avenger was almost simple when all I had to do was take down the last representatives of a corrupt government that most people hated, but now I was basically an ambassador to a newly-rediscovered civilisation, had discovered proof that there was more to the world than the country I'd been fighting to rebuild, and was now taking part in the trial of a man whose crimes essentially amounted to wanting to save his people…

"For almost a century, we have lived in fear under the shadows of the Maunon," Lexa spoke at the front of the small platform (I was once again grateful that Clarke had asked her specifically to use English so that we could understand her as well; I was coming to learn that I didn't really have a good grasp of languages). "We have lived in fear while they burnt us and bled us and called us savages. We have won over them with the aid of the Avengers, a team of exceptional gonkru who care not for clan or rank in favour of courage and compassion. There are only a few survivors from this assault who would truly do us harm, and many have been given a chance to live beyond the mountain-"

A voice called out from the crowd, but Lexa held up a hand to halt that protest and looked firmly in the direction of that speaker.

"We have already slain the leaders and those most responsible for the pain and suffering we have endured over these last few decades," she explained solemnly. "We shall not kill those who have shown true remorse, we shall not kill children and call that honourable, and we shall not kill those who have done nothing to harm us. They may have tolerated their lives and never objected to the actions of their leaders, but who among us can honestly say that they would have had the courage to object to cruel leaders? Sheidheda endured because none dared to stand against him even when all knew that his actions were wrong; to kill the Maunon because they did not dare stand against their leaders would require us to slay ourselves for that same sin. The truly innocent and remorseful have been given a chance to atone, and many of the truly guilty have been judged and slain. The only one left is Dante Wallace, he who led the Maunon for many years and gave the orders that led to so many of us being killed."

On a pre-arranged signal, President Wallace was brought to the front of the platform, guards on either side of him as he stared solemnly ahead. Most of his people were still being treated in Asgard, but when we'd found a few samples of Tsing's cure in one of her secondary labs, it hadn't been hard to decide to use one of them on the president. We may have had more objections to the process, but since these phials had already been prepared, we might as well put them to use no matter what we felt about the man in question. Bellamy had also found a couple of broken empty phials that seemed like they'd once held at least a sample of the cure, but while I recognised the need to be cautious, I agreed with Clarke that we didn't have time to worry about the possibility of a missing survivor who wouldn't have the resources to do anything serious to us.

"In exchange for us sparing the truly innocent from suffering the consequences of the sins of their fellows, Dante Wallace has already borne witness to the loss of the mountain he has called home, and even the death of his son, slain by the death of a thousand cuts for his ever-escalating crimes against our own people," Lexa continued. "Execution has been considered, but it has been rejected; regardless of his prior sins, when faced with our victory, he chose to act to save his people rather than to destroy those he saw as foes, even at the cost of his own son. He does not deserve the death of a thousand cuts, but neither does he deserve to walk free. For the sins of his past, he will be sentenced, but for the atonement of the present, he will be allowed to live."

Again, a voice from the crowd yelled in rage, but again Lexa quieted that yell with a firm stare before she continued.

"He will live in prison," she affirmed, looking around the group to make it clear that there would be no argument. "He will live to see how his people have lived in spite of his actions rather than because of them. He will live to know that he will never experience the freedom that he sought to ensure for the rest of his people. He will remain in our cells for the rest of his life, knowing that his actions led to the death of his son and many of his people, all of which he could have avoided had he sought our aid rather than cause such death on his own accord."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but speaking for the Avengers, we can work with that," Clarke put in, stepping forward to look around the gathered members of the Coalition. There was a brief murmur of agreement from the rest of the crowd, before one voice rose above the others.

"Coward!" that unknown voice yelled out. "They have been enemies of all our kind, yet you choose to show your cowardly weakness and make peace? You are not worthy of Azgeda's respect, and you have never been worthy of being the Commander!"

Even as this man had ranted, I felt something off about it. Reading people still wasn't a strength of mine, but the way he was speaking, at that moment, it felt like there was something else behind his words…

In the corner of my eye I saw glint of something high in the trees. I barely had time to register that it was likely a sniper before I heard the familiar sound of an arrow being drawn and released.

Just as I was forced to acknowledge that there was no way I could react fast enough to counter or intercept that blow, I was surprised when a sudden gust of wind passed right in front of all of us on the platform, causing the arrow to be redirected to the left, now of no harm to anyone. I could see the crowd parting, revealing a female figure in dark clothing, with a black cloth covering most of her face, save for her eyes. She threw her right hand up and wind, actual wind, came from the hand and directed at the spot where I had glimpsed the sniper, followed by the man falling out of the tree and hitting the ground with a sickening thud, head-first.

I saw the man who had only been ranting moments ago, his eyes wide with shock, and I knew he and the assassin were connected. I didn't even need to give the order before Finnick had leapt into the crowd and thrown his trident through the air, striking the man and pinning him to the ground by the leg before he could get away. The surrounding warriors looked between Finnick and the fallen assassin in shock, but Lexa called out a command and she approached the pinned man.

"More abominations!" the man spat. "To defeat the monsters you would side with demons? Even Sheidheda was far better a Commander than you could ever hope to be!"

"Who gave the order?" Lexa countered, glaring bitterly at the traitor. "Who told you to try and kill me?"

The man looked back at Lexa and in the blink of an eye, pulled out a knife from behind his back, only to stab himself in the heart even as I raised my shield and Anya's skin became tinged with green.

"OK... what the hell was that?" Johanna said, oh so bluntly yet speaking for all of us. "Does anyone know this guy? Or the dead assassin on the ground some distance away?"

"Azgeda," Anya put in, looking with contempt at the corpse, green flecks in her eyes even as the rest of her skin returned to normal.

"How can you tell?" Finnick asked as he retrieved his trident.

"Most Azgeda have facial scars of some sort, such as these men," Anya clarified, before looking back to Lexa. "Heda?"

Lexa shook her head. "Neither of these are Numo, the Azgeda representative." Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the crowd. "And there is a distinct lack of Azgeda among our forces at this moment."

"As in… they took care not to be here right now?" Clarke asked with a tentative edge to her voice.

"Possibly," Lexa nodded at my new second.

"Heda," a voice said, drawing our attention off that particular conversation topic as we turned to see Indra, along with a few other familiar faces from the Coalition, bringing the cloaked figure that had stopped the initial assassin towards us. "This one says that she means no harm but refuses to identify herself."

"My actions speak for themselves and to reveal myself in public would mean my death," the woman said, looking to Lexa. "I will explain myself to Heda in private."

"After one guy tried to kill her and someone else tried threatened her?" Johanna cut in. "You really think we're going to leave the Commander alone with anyone?"

"…I will concede to having these… Avengers present," the woman added, looking around at me and the rest of the team.

"Agreed," Lexa nodded at the woman before she turned to look at me. "Is that acceptable to you?"

"It is," I said. As the woman walked into the tent, I glanced around to make sure that the rest of the team had checked their weapons before we followed Lexa after the woman.

"We are alone," Lexa said, looking firmly at the woman. "Now show me your face."

Slowly, the woman removed the cloth covering her face. She was a young woman with long brown hair.

"…Echo, right?" Octavia said in surprise.

"Sha, Azurwicha," the woman nodded at her with an apprehensive expression.

"You met her?" Clarke asked.

"Switched outfits with her earlier," Octavia explained before she looked at Echo with new understanding. "Jefferson mentioned you were the only other survivor… you were exposed to Terrigen crystals, weren't you?"

The now-identified Echo just nodded, a more solemn edge to the gesture.

"So now you can… control wind?" Finnick looked at Echo with a smile. "Hey, how about that? All we need is an earth-shaker and we've got the full elemental set."

"What?" Peeta raised his visor to look curiously at Finnick. "Full set of what?"

"The old idea that everything in the world was made up of the four basic elements of earth, air, fire and water," Finnick explained. "Bellamy over there's obviously fire, ice is basically just another form of water, and now we've got someone who can control air; all we need now is someone who controls earth-"

"I cannot stay."

"You can't?" Peeta turned to look sympathetically at her. "Look, if we… if Finnick was being too presumptuous-"

"You assume too much," Echo cut him off with a glare. "I spent months a captive of the Mountain, knew that my people would consider me dead and it would be up to me to survive." Her glare faded as she looked at the ground, disturbed. "Never did I ever believe that my salvation would come from... unnaturals. Or that I would become one."

"Unnaturals?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

Echo didn't answer me, but instead looked toward Lexa. "Heda, you know that Azgeda has long maintained its isolation out of a sense of pride in their strength, but there is another secret that you do not know."

"Enlighten us," Lexa replied coolly.

"Since the founding of our tribe, the Royal Family has believed that Azgeda to be the strongest of all, that we are superior to all. Deviants are to be purged to 'protect' the future of Azgeda."

"When you say deviants?"

"If a child born to an Azgeda is born deformed in any way, that child would be killed. If the parents actually refused, the entire family would be put to the blade."

"Excuse me?" Bellamy looked sharply at Echo.

"Deformed?" Johanna asked. "Are we talking anything big, or would it even count if we were dealing with something like… I dunno, a couple of missing toes?"

"Anything," Echo said firmly.

"That is… an extreme response," Lexa said grimly. "They take the Old Ways to a place I would not expect."

"The Old Ways?" I asked.

"In the beginning of our society, when simply living day after day was a struggle after Praimfaya, we needed to be at best. There was no place for weakness. We would train our children as soon as possible to be warriors," Anya answered. "If a child is born with a mutation, they are cast out and abandoned. Doing this would erase the stain from their bloodline."

"That is a pathetic justification for leaving a child to die for something like that," Bellamy said, anger showing in his tone.

"You said that these are the Old Ways?" Clarke looked urgently at the Commander. "Meaning you don't approve of them now?"

"I do not," the other woman said resolutely. "Children are a gift, and no parent should be punished for loving their children. A deformity does not preclude the possibility that the child can make a contribution to society. I have personally seen that happen."

"The Commander does not enforce the practice of the Old Ways, such as Shiedheda did when he led our people," Anya added. "But there are those that do follow that path. Some who have children with afflictions chose to leave, siding with their family over their clan. All clans do things in their own way."

"And yet Azgeda it would seem has taken the practice even further. For all the evil he committed, not even Shiedheda went as far as to kill entire families for such a 'sin'," Lexa observed solemnly.

"And if this is about the risk of people having powers and using them against the Ice Queen… that just shows she's not a good leader," Clarke put in.

"Sha," Anya nodded. "If a warrior is loyal to their commander, as I am loyal to Heda and the Mockingjay, then the strength they possess will not compromise that loyalty. Nia only seeks to suppress any potential threat because she knows that she does not have such loyalty through anything more enduring than fear."

"That is… certainly likely," Echo nodded, even as the hesitation in her eyes made it clear that it was hard for her to acknowledge this perspective on her queen. "Queen Nia is a fervent believer in this. Before my capture by the Manoun, I served as a member of her Royal Guard. I have seen her show her hatred for the unnatural. She would think of me now as an abomination, just they did."

"They?" Bellamy looked at her uncertainly. "Who's 'they'?"

"After I was freed and able to go outside the Mountain, I found a few of my fellow Azgeda, who were leaving. Numo had given the order to all Azgeda to return home. He would not support the Collation when it sided with 'abominations'." Echo looked over to Octavia. "They also displayed their hatred for you in particular, Azurwicha; your very name sounds to as an insult to Azgeda, since you are not one of us. You and your 'demon dog from hell'- their words, not mine."

I could actually feel the tent grow a bit colder. From what we had all seen so far, the Grounders had been very vocally supportive of Octavia, but if enough of the Azgeda felt that way about our newest Avenger…

"It was then they started talking about two Azgeda that would remain behind, one to serve as the distraction while another would end your life with an arrow Heda," Echo continued. "Even I thought that was a step too far. Numo had control of our people here, but to make a choice like that, potentially bringing us to war without the Queen's direct order, was tantamount to stupidity, especially given what I have seen of the Avengers. I tried to tell my fellow Azgeda my thoughts, but they simply laughed. They thought me weak for being captured as I was, and attributed my concerns about the Avengers to simple cowardice. I was furious at having my courage questioned, more so than I thought I could be, and then..."

"That's when your powers manifested." Bellamy finished for her. Seeing her look his way, he held out his hands to display the small globes of fire. Echo's eyes widened in surprise- evidently she hadn't fully registered what Finnick had mentioned about Bellamy's powers earlier- but she seemed to calm when she saw the new sense of sympathy in Bellamy's gaze.

"... I meant to hit him with my fist on the side of the head," Echo said, her tone cool and even, as though Bellamy's demonstration had never happened. "Instead a gust of wind sent him into a tree. At that moment, all of the men who I had considered my people, no longer viewed me as one of their own. They no longer viewed me as human, but just some… thing that had to be slaughtered."

I fully appreciated that feelings weren't something I would ever be an expert in, but it was clear even to me that Echo was now fighting to keep her emotions in check.

"Where are they now?" Peeta asked.

"Dead," Anya spoke up. "You couldn't leave them alive out of fear they would get back to Nia and tell her what they saw."

Echo did not deny the claim. "After taking care of... that, I knew what I had to do. I have no future with my clan, and would have even less if they succeeded in killing the Commander." She turned to Lexa. "I offer my life to you Heda, to return to Azgeda to learn what I can about Queen Nia's intentions while my 'condition' is still secret. I cannot stay as a spy among them, they are still my clan, but you need to know how Azgeda plans to react to the changes that have happened here."

"…Agreed," Lexa nodded at Echo in approval after staring at her in contemplation for a few moments. "Be careful, but be assured that you will be welcomed back to us when you are ready to return. When you do, we will discuss your future."

"Sha, Heda," Echo nodded thankfully at her, looking prepared to leave then but stopped and turned to look at Clarke and I. "This... is all very new to me. I… do not wish to commit to anything so soon, but if…?"

"You can at least train with us even if you don't want to join us," I nodded at her with a reassuring smile. "Believe me, we all know what's it like to be made to take part in something we don't actually want to do; we'd never force you into a position like that."

"What she said," Johanna nodded at me in agreement. "Getting powers and joining the team are totally optional; it's only if you start killing people at random we'll have a problem with you doing something else with your life."

Despite a brief look of confusion at Johanna as though she wasn't sure how seriously to take that comment, Echo nodded at us in silent thanks before she adjusted her face covering and walked out of the tent.

"Right," Clarke said, as she turned back to Lexa. "We'll head back to our main compound, but if you need our help in future… well, take this."

"What is this?" Lexa asked as she studied the plastic box Clarke had handed her.

"A radio," Johanna grinned. "Just press the big button in the middle and you can call the compound; if there's anything your own forces can't handle, we'll be there to help out as soon as we can."

"I shall remember that," Lexa nodded as she put the radio into a pocket inside her coat. "It has been… good… to meet you all, Avengers."

"Same to you… Heda," I said with a tentative nod. So far I hadn't seen anything to make me not trust Lexa as an authority figure, but after Snow and Coin set such poor examples, I was still grateful that Steve had enough political weight to ensure that nobody back in Panem had the right to order my team to do anything. Lexa seemed willing to accept the implication that we would remain an independent force rather than answering directly to her, and I wasn't going to give her any reason to press the issue if I could help it (I had a feeling that Anya would choose Lexa if it came down to me and Lexa giving her conflicting orders, but that would probably be more because of her history with Lexa rather than her respecting Lexa's position more, which was something I could more easily accept).

Briefly distracted by thoughts of my complicated relationship with authority figures, I automatically followed the rest of the team towards the hovercraft, and suddenly found myself wondering why there was no sign of Steve anywhere. I appreciated that he'd assured us he'd only step in if Thor needed Mjolnir, but the fact that he was nowhere to be seen at this gathering at all-

He trusts me.

It was a surprising thought, but it nevertheless stuck with me. People had believed in me when I'd competed in the Games because they had this vision of me and what I was capable of, and I'd certainly been 'trusted' with various missions since I became the new leader of the Avengers, but this was the first truly big event we'd had to deal with since Snow's death. I'd had to make decisions that would affect the fate of the innocent lives in Mount Weather, finding a solution that would satisfy all parties that we could morally live with… and Steve Rogers had trusted me to do that.

It was such a pleasant thought that I only realised we had reached the hovercraft when I literally walked into Peeta's armour as he came to a halt near the back of the group. I was about to apologise when he turned around and indicated that I should go forward, along with Octavia and Bellamy. As we reached the door itself, I saw that Lincoln seemed to be resting more peacefully on the chairs he'd been left on earlier, but Jasper was just staring anxiously at the statue-esque cocoon that still held Monty, while Maya sat alongside him and rubbed his shoulders in an attempt to sooth his concern for his friend.

"Really hoping that he's going to wake up this," Jasper sighed, even as he gave Maya a brief grateful smile.

"He's going to be fine Jasper, he's..." Bellamy stopped as a cracking sound could be heard, a quick glance at the cocoon enough to confirm that cracks were beginning to form up and down it. Some of us braced for an explosion of sorts, Anya turning green again as I raised my shield. However, what happened would be considered anti climatic as the pieces of rock just began to break apart, falling like dust to the ground leaving a gasping Monty to fall to his knees. Jasper was able to move forward just in time to keep him from falling face first to the floor of the hovercraft.

"Holy... I'm still alive?" Monty muttered, looking at his hands in awe.

"Yeah. You are," Jasper said, smiling yet also concerned. "So now that you had your big hero moment, could try to keep out of certain death situations?"

"When are we not in a fight for our lives?" Monty said bemused as Bellamy came forward offering a hand helping him. "That was…"

"Painful. Yeah, in the beginning at least," Bellamy answered, having a good idea of what Monty was feeling. "I'll help you through this man."

"We all will," Octavia said, walking over to him, as he blinked several times seeing her outfit.

"I get that the outfit makes the connection, but I'm still trying my brain around you being Loki's daughter and all that means," Monty mused, as a quick glance was enough to confirm that he didn't look any different physically from the way he had been before he went into that cocoon. "And… was I just in some kind of rock cocoon thing?"

"If it helps, I was in the same position a few hours ago," Bellamy added.

"Right… was the ground this crazy before we got down here, or did we bring something?"

"You drew our attention to this neck of the woods, but I can assure you that we all knew there was some freaky shit going down around here, M," Johanna grinned at Monty as she held up her mechanical arm. "I mean, I did lose my original arm because our ex-President stepped on it before Mockingjay fired an arrow down his throat."

"After Thor tore his jaw off," I felt the need to clarify.

"…Right," Monty nodded uncertainly as he looked over at Clarke. "This… these are really the Avengers?"

"All of them," Clarke smiled reassuringly at him. "But hey, at least you know you're in a world that has heroes."

"Yeah, that's…" Monty began with a tentative smile before he shook his head and looked at me. "Sorry if this sounds selfish, but any chance you could explain what just happened to me?"