Hello to all my readers out there. I am back with a new chapter.
I have recently decided to give this story more attention, given how little progress I have made since I started it.
This chapter will be longer than previous ones. It will feature the rebirth of not one, but two Avengers, and a major event in the normal storyline. Which Avengers get reborn should be obvious thanks to the title. I know the title is very bad, but I couldn't think of anything better.
Enough chit-chat. Let's get started.
Chapter 10- The Bird and the Insect
I give a sigh. They should be here by now.
It's been a few days since the trip to Avengers Tower. Ever since then, me, Gale, and Finnick have taken a break from training. At the same time, Robert and Vision have been busy. They've spent most of their time in Robert's lab, preparing the Falcon pack and the Ant Man suit.
Now, they're apparently finished. I'm now sitting in a compartment with Gale and Robert. Finnick is doing some extra training with Vision. The three of us in the compartment are waiting for Cressida, Pollux, and Castor, to discuss the latter two becoming Avengers.
"Where are they? They should've been here 20 minutes ago," I say impatiently. "Patience is a virtue," Robert says, "Don't worry. They'll be here soon."
Robert seems to have a knack for incredible honesty. Only seconds after he says that, Cressida, Castor, and Pollux walk into the room.
"There you are!" I say, extremely impatiently. "Sorry we're late. We had to speak with Plutarch for a little bit," says Cressida. "That's okay. Please have a seat," says Robert.
They all take a seat. Then, Robert begins to tell them the story of the Avengers, just as he did with Gale, Haymitch, and Finnick. I cut in a few times to add in a detail or two, but leave most of the story telling to Robert.
Once he's done, Robert pauses for a second, then continues to speak. "Now, I guess you're asking yourselves, 'Why is he telling us this?' The reason: because you've caught my attention. We are rebuilding the Avengers, and we want you on the team."
They all look shocked. "What?" asks Cressida. "We want you to take up the mantle of some of the old Avengers. Cressida, we wish you to become the new Spider Man. Pollux, we wish you to become the new Falcon. And Castor, we want you to become the new Ant-Man."
The three of them look even more shocked. Robert uses their silence to continue speaking. "Cressida, we are not quite ready for you to become Spider-Woman yet. I need more time to prepare the treatment to give Spider-Man's powers. But, Pollux and Castor, the Falcon pack and the Ant-Man suit are ready for you. If you are willing to accept this responsibility, we can begin training you as the newest members of the Avengers."
Castor and pollux just sit there. Then, they look at each other. They seem to have a brief silent conversation. After a few moments, Pollux seems to get a gleam in his eyes, and nods. Castor nods too, then turns to Robert. 'Very well. For a cause such as this, we're willing to do whatever is needed. Helping to free Panem and keep the world safe is worth it. We may not be fighters, but we'll do it."
Robert grins. "Oh, trust me. We'll turn you into fighters soon enough. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take you to get outfitted for your new jobs." Pollux and Castor stand and follow Robert out of the room, leaving me in the room with Gale and Cressida, who is just sitting there in amazement.
Finally, Cressida speaks. "When I left the Capitol, I did it to help the rebellion. I never thought my path would lead me to where I am. Becoming a superhero." "Don't worry," says Gale, "I didn't either. And now I'm Iron Man. You'll get used to it quick. And I know you and the other two will fit right into the team."
Cressida smiles. Then, I say, "Why don't we go get some lunch?" Cressida and Gale both smile, and we head down to the mess hall.
About an hour later, as we're still eating, and talking with my mother and Prim, my earpiece that allows Robert to communicate with me buzzes, and I hear Robert's voice in my ear. "Katniss, I think they're ready. Bring Gale and come to the facility."
I immediately tell Gale, and we hurry to a special transportation tunnel with a small subway that has just been constructed that provides passage to the underground Avengers facility a mile from the border of 13.
As we arrive, we find Robert waiting for us. Finnick is here too. He smiles at us, then says, "Well, Mockingjay, Iron Man, are you ready to meet your new teammates?" We both nod, and Robert, with an even greater smile, says, "Then, I am proud to introduce to you the Falcon and the Ant-Man!"
The door behind Robert opens, and Castor and Pollux walk out. I am impressed. Pollux is now wearing the Falcon pack I saw hanging from the ceiling in Robert's lab that night. He's dressed in a black, tight-fitting body suit, similar to the one I saw Falcon wearing in his photo in Robert's lab. His eyes are partially hidden behind the dark red goggles he's wearing.
Next to Pollux is Castor, who's wearing the Ant-Man suit. It looks upgraded from the suit I saw in Robert's lab. I can just make out Castor's eyes from behind the dark red glass eye covers on his helmet. I'm surprised at how it fits him perfectly.
Me and Gale and Finnick just stand there, looking them over. Then Gale says, "Well, they definitely look the part." Finnick smiles. "And I'm sure that we'll whip 'em into shape soon enough," he says.
I stay silent. I can tell they have a long ways to go before they're ready for combat given they've never actually fought anything. But, at the same time, just looking at them, I can tell they're meant for this.
I step forward and say, "Well, welcome to the team you two."
(1 week later)
I lift the spoonfull of mashed potatoes to mouth and eat it. I savor the taste. Today's potatoes are exceptionally good.
It's been a week since Castor and Pollux were given the Ant-Man and Falcon suits. Men, Gale, and Finnick have been training them. They've taken to it surprisingly well. They've come really far in their training. They took to it right away, and now, Castor, in his shrunken form, can take out both me and Finnick. Pollux hasn't come quite as far as Castor, but he's really learned to how to use the Falcon pack, and already, he's getting to the point where he can almost outmanuever Gale in his armor.
As I move to get another mouthful of mashed potatoes, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and see Boggs standing behind me. "Katniss. You're wanted in Command."
I stand up, quickly grip Prim's chin, then follow Boggs out of the mess hall. He quickly leads me to Command.
As we walk in, I hear Peeta's voice. I race forward to look at the screen. I put a hand to my mouth. He looks far worse than before. "What have they done to you?" I say to myself.
Suddenly, with static, a clip of the propo we shot in 12, with audio of me singing "The Hanging Tree", comes onto the screen. "He's done it," says Coin. "Beetee's in," says Plutarch.
Suddenly Peeta comes back on. However, he's looking off to the side. "Katniss?" he asks. "He sees it. He sees our propo," says Coin.
Then, Peeta turns to face the screen. "Katniss are you there?" he asks. He take a few steps forward, eyes locked on him.
He doesn't speak again. Then, Caesar says from offscreen, "Peeta. Go on. You were telling us about these savage attacks."
"Yeah," Peeta says softly. He lowers his head for a moment, then raises it again before continuing, "The attack on the dam, was a callous and inhuman act of destruction." Suddenly, another part of the propo from 12 comes on for a few moments. When it stops, Peeta leans forward and says in a shaky voice, "Think about it."
I lower my hand a little, but feel tears coming to my eyes. He continues speaking. "How will this end? No one can survive this. Nobody is safe. Not in the Capitol. Not in any of the districts." Then he pauses, before saying, "They're coming, Katniss. They're gonna kill everyone. And in District 13, you'll be dead by morning." He only gets this far, because unseen people wrestle him out of the image before it gets replaced by the Capitol seal.
I can hardly process what just happened, but I hear Haymitch say, "He's warning us. That was a warning." "Yes it was," says Boggs.
I turn to Haymitch and say, "We have to get him out before they kill him." He reaches out a comforting arm to me. Meanwhile, from her position at a control panel, Coin asks another of her men, "Anyone on Doppler." "Nothing on radar ma'am," says the man. Coin turns to the rest of us and says, "He was in the mansion. He could've overheard something." "Possibly," says Robert, who's also in Command.
Coin steps away from the monitor, looks around at everyone in command, then says, "It's time for an air raid drill." She presses a button, which sounds the air raid alarms.
I quickly leave Command and head for the mess hall, thinking Prim might still be there. When I reach the mess hall, I run in, yelling Prim's name. But the place is deserted, and nobody answers my call.
I leave the mess hall, and begin descending the stairs to level 40, where the voice coming over the PA is directing us to. I hope that Prim's already started heading down.
As I near level 40, there's the sound of a loud explosion, and the whole place seems to shake. Everyone pauses to digest it. Then, a second explosion hits, and everyone starts to scream and shout and rush down the stairs. I start to run too, but I get knocked over. I hunch down on the stairs, covering my neck with my hands to protect it. I just sit there, holding my neck, wishing this was all a bad dream.
Suddenly, strong hands grab me and pull me up. I turn my head to see Vision looking at me. "Come, Katniss. We must hurry," he says. He pulls me along, leading me down the stairs, floating just above them.
We reach the bottom and race past the still open blast doors. I hurry to find my mother, Vision right beside me.
After a minute, I see her. "Mom!" I call out. Vision turns and floats away, probably to try and find one of the other members of the team.
I race up to my mom, but then I notice something.
"Where's Prim?" I ask my mom. "I thought she went back to find you," my mother says, a little bit of worry showing in her voice. "No. I didn't see anyone on the stairs," I say, then stop myself. A horrible possibility has come to me, and I know it has to be true.
"She went back for the cat," I say as I hurry back towards the blast doors. I'm only halfway there when Vision goes flying past me and disappears out of the blast doors. Although I know he's going back to find Prim, I still rush out of the doors. The guards manning the doors call for me to wait, but I still rush out the doors.
The voice comes over the PA again, saying we have 30 seconds until the blast doors close. I feel a little bit desperate. If Prim doesn't get down in time, she'll be locked out for who knows how long.
I yell out, "Prim! Prim!" There's no answer. I rush up a few stairs, then yell again, "Prim!"
"Katniss!" I hear Prim's voice in response, and I sigh with relief. Then, I hear Vision's voice call out, "We're coming!" I run back down towards the blast doors a bit. Suddenly, Vision reaches the bottom of the stairs. He's full out flying, with Prim held in one arm, and Gale in the other.
I feel confused for a second. What was Gale doing up there? Then, I realize he was up there trying to find Prim.
I turn and run for the doors, Vision right behind me. We get through the doors with 9 seconds left on the countdown to closing.
As Vision lands himself and lets go of Prim and Gale I rush up to Prim and grab her by the shoulders. I raise my voice a little as I say, "You went back for the cat?! What were you thinking?!" "I couldn't leave him again," she responds a little tearily, "I couldn't live with myself."
I shake my head a little, but I hug her. I then lead her to where my mom is waiting for us.
Gale goes off to find his family. I sit down on our bunk bed with my mom and Prim, with Vision floating in the air beside our bed. Explosions occur every few seconds, and send a shockwave through me every time.
After a particularly strong explosion, I lean forward a little to look at the ceiling. I see a small crack in the concrete. Another explosion causes it to expand a tiny bit.
I lean back and say, "Prim. Talk about something. Anything." There's a moment's silence, then Prim says, "They promoted me at the hospital. I forgot to tell you. They're training me to be a doctor." "They'd be stupid not to," I tell her, before another explosion sends a jolt through me.
I look up at Vision, and I can see the gem in his forehead glowing brightly, like a lantern. As I look at Vision, I think to myself, Don't worry, Peeta. You won't be in the Capitol for much longer.
And I think I will stop there.
Sorry if this chapter wasn't the best. And sorry it took so long. I have been either out of town, extraordinarily busy, or without access to a computer for weeks. I was just able to get a library card at my local library, and thereby access to their computers. Hopefully I will be able to do a few updates on some of my stories before I get back access to my computer at home.
By the way, for those of you who are wondering, Castor's Ant-Man suit looks more like Scott Lang's suit from Captain America: Civil War than from the Ant-Man movie. Also, Pollux's Falcon pack is gonna be based off Sam's upgraded Falcon pack from Civil War.
I can think of nothing else to say right now, except to ask you to review. Bye.
Raptor2216 out.