Ricochet

Chapter 13: Go with it now, deal with it later

Author: Carla, aka cali-chan
Rating: Most likely PG-13. Nothing worse than what's in the books.
Genre: Adventure/suspense/drama/romance... again, pretty much what's in the books.
Pairings: Peeta/Katniss, Rory/Prim... and probably others. You'll see soon.
Canon/timeline: Same-context AU- this fic still happens in the same world as THG, but the actual events in the books never happened. I'm adding about five years to the characters from the age they were at the beginning of The Hunger Games. Katniss is 21.
Disclaimer: Yeah, just let me go get my transfer laser and switch bodies with Suzanne Collins.

Note: I've never really tried this before (and I'm sure it will eventually come back and bite me in the behind), but each chapter will be from the PoV of a different character. You should be able to tell whose PoV it is fairly easily, though.

Note 2: Spot the Cranberries lyrics! xD

Summary: "Primrose Everdeen." This can't be happening, Katniss thought. She desperately pushed through the crowd. I volunteer!, she wanted to scream. I volunteer as tribute! But she couldn't, because she wasn't eligible for the reaping anymore. There was nothing she could do.

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The room was thankfully left empty during the dinner rush, so Katniss took a moment to sit down and think about things. Everything had been happening so quickly, she felt like she was pushed from one side to the other before she even had a chance to react.

She sat on the edge of one of the beds, the one that had been assigned to her, and opened up a pocket on her backpack, pulling out the mockingjay pin. She didn't know where Prim had gotten it from, she'd never seen it before the day of the Reaping, but somehow in the midst of everything she'd been through in the past two days, in her mind the pin had become a symbol of her promise to Prim, that one promise she made the last time she saw her sister, that she'd get her out of this, out of the Games.

That promise weighed in her mind now more than ever. It was eating at her that Prim was somewhere in the building, but she couldn't get to her.

She could barely string together the sequence of events that led her and Peeta to the tributes' Training Center. It all felt so surreal. When Gale had first presented this plan and they had agreed, they were all aware their chances of actually making it to the Capitol were slim. Yet here they were now.

She had gotten a good few hours of sleep, despite everything. After the early morning scare and her lack of rest for the past 48 hours, she'd crashed quickly. When she woke up to the sound of someone shuffling around in the room, it was almost ten in the morning, which was usually unthinkable for her. Waking up at ten to her meant a whole morning wasted. Their Capitol roommate seemed to think it was just the right time to start their day, however, and he greeted her with a smile when he noticed her eyes were open.

The man reminded her it was time for breakfast as he busied himself rearranging clothes in his luggage. It took her a moment to sleepily situate herself- she was in a train, heading to the Capitol; they had been discovered by a camera crew and made to spend the night in one of the passenger compartments. And Peeta was sleeping behind her.

Right behind her, actually; he must've moved during the night, or maybe she had, because his front was now directly pressing against her back. She could feel his even breath on the back of her neck- he was still asleep- and one of his arms was loosely resting around her torso, almost like he was cradling her to him. It immediately made her feel strange; she'd never slept in the same bed with anyone but Prim, so she didn't know what to think of it, but she couldn't push away abruptly because the Capitol man was standing right in front of them and that would be suspicious.

Taking advantage of the fact that they were expected for breakfast, she carefully removed Peeta's arm from around her and got off the bed. The movement woke Peeta up, and he received a similar greeting from the other man as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. As he replied distractedly she saw him look at her, apparently realizing their position from just a minute ago, but she quickly made her way to the restroom before he could say anything.

Despite the awkward start to the morning, she'd managed to get some rest during those few hours of sleep. Her doubts, fears and anxiety about Prim hadn't clawed at her in her dreams like they had the night before. She figured it was probably because she'd slept on a comfortable bed, for once.

The Capitol man, whom she'd come to know was called Messalla, led them to the dining compartment. The two large men who had restrained them before were already there, much more amenable than the previous night. One of them, Castor, explained their options for breakfast while his brother, Pollux, helped Peeta reheat the food. Pollux was an Avox, Castor explained to them: the Capitol deemed him a traitor or a criminal, and he was sentenced to getting his tongue cut off. But that didn't seem to hinder him from clearly guiding Peeta through the process of using a microwave oven.

For her, breakfast was a quiet affair. Messalla spoke a lot, and Peeta and Castor had a conversation going, but she remained silent for most of it. She couldn't forget that these people had "plans" for them, and she didn't understand why they were being so friendly, after they threatened to turn them in the previous night. Also, she was worried she might say the wrong thing and blow their cover; not speaking at all was the best way to avoid that.

Peeta seemed to have no problem with it, though. He held her hand all through breakfast- he had to: Messalla wouldn't take his eyes off them for a second- without showing any sign of being uncomfortable at all. He spent most of the meal chattering about the biscuits they were having; as a baker, he was naturally distrustful of this microwave thing and the convenience of reheated food but apparently he found the pastries to have adequate texture despite that. Katniss just ate. Freshly baked or not, she'd never had this much good food at a time and though it made her feel slightly guilty, who knew when her next meal was going to be. She had no appetite but she needed to keep her strength if she wanted to save Prim.

The green-haired woman, Cressida, walked into the dining car when they were already finished with breakfast. It must have been around noon. She wasn't carrying the bow with her, which immediately made Katniss distrustful. She told them she would hold onto it a little longer, because they wouldn't need it where they were headed. When Peeta asked what this place was, she told them as soon as they reached the Capitol, they'd be taken to the tributes' Training Center.

This had shocked them both. They had figured when they got to the Capitol they would have to somehow find their way to and into the Training Center; they were unfamiliar with the place so it wasn't a stage they could really plan for. Yet here these people were, about to take them exactly where they wanted to go. "Why?" Peeta voiced for both of them.

"There's someone you need to meet with," she responded as she spread cheese on one half of what Peeta had explained was a sesame seed bagel.

Finally Katniss couldn't contain her suspicion. "Why would we?" she asked, wary of everybody around her. Peeta's hold on her hand tightened, like he was warning her to be careful. "We don't even know what you want from us. What's stopping us from taking off on our own as soon as we get to the Capitol?"

She piled something that looked like fish eggs on the other half of the pastry. "Well, that would be rude. We've gotten you this far, don't you think it's only fair you do something for us?"

The emphasis on the last word was not lost on Katniss. Clearly she didn't mean just the rest of the camera crew. These people worked for the Capitol. Moreover, they worked for the Games. Who was this "us"? And what did they want with her? From her interest the night before she guessed it had something to do with archery, but she doubted anyone from the Capitol would be interested in squirrel meat.

The woman seemed to notice her doubts. "Don't over think it. You know it's your best bet," she said, leaving Katniss with the distinct impression that she knew more about her and Peeta than she let on. She took a bite of her bagel and pushed her chair back, getting up. "I've got work to do. Messalla, don't forget to bring me those contracts."

The mention of work seemed to confuse Peeta, and he wondered aloud why the crew had been recalled to the Capitol when surely they still had to get footage of District Twelve for the Games. Background pieces for the tributes, reaction shots and interviews from upcoming events like the opening ceremonies and score announcements, maybe even the interviews with the families if the tributes from Twelve made it to the last eight. Usually several camera crews swarmed all around the district during the Games. So why was this one going back to the Capitol?

Cressida, who had been making her way to the door, scoffed. "Please, I don't do puff pieces," she asserted with an almost arrogant shake of her head. "We only film stuff that matters." And with those parting words, she walked out the door and to her own compartment.

Katniss knew what mattered to her. She wondered what mattered to these people.

As they went back to their passenger car, Peeta asked her what she thought of these recent developments. Truth be told, it hadn't even occurred to her to ask him what he thought their next step should be. Back at home, she made most of the decisions on her own, and even when it came to hunting, Gale and her were usually in the same page; most of the time all it took was one look and they knew what the other was thinking. The same was not true with Peeta, and after he commented that he was beginning to like their fellow passengers, she had her doubts about them being on the same page anytime soon.

Still, he agreed with her idea that they should stick with this for the moment. These people were taking them just where they wanted to go, and a break like that didn't happen twice. They couldn't just let that chance pass them by. They weren't going to do whatever it was these guys wanted them to do, not while their main focus was getting to Prim, but there was no plan B. Go with it now, deal with it later: she rather thought that had become the norm for this entire endeavor.

They arrived at the Capitol around dinnertime, and a car picked them up to take them to the Training Center immediately. Once there, they were practically shoved through a back door and led to the office of a woman Katniss gathered was some sort of Chief of Staff.

From that point on, they were to pose as Avoxes so they could not speak to anyone for the duration of their stay in the building. The only place that was safe for them to talk was the servants' quarters, which were the only rooms in the building that weren't bugged for surveillance, for obvious reasons.

They were given their uniforms, a set of key-cards for the elevators, which allowed them access only to the specific areas of the building they would be working at, and then they were sent their separate ways. The entire thing happened so fast, Katniss could barely process all the information. What was happening didn't really hit her until after Peeta was taken to the kitchens, and she was led to her assigned room in the Avox quarters. She would be serving one of the districts, but since dinner was already underway, she wouldn't start until the next morning.

She looked around the room. It was long and narrow, barely accommodating a dozen beds, half of them lined up against one wall, half of them against the opposite. The walls were grey. The mattresses were battered and overused. It was dark; there was a wide window above the beds on one of the walls, but it was only about eight inches high and covered with a semi-translucent screen, so it didn't allow that much light in. The fluorescent lamp on the ceiling didn't help with the dimness, and it flickered from time to time, like it was about to give out soon.

It certainly was a far cry from the image of the Capitol she'd had in her mind. She'd never really thought about how servants would live in the big city, but now she knew it wasn't much better than she did in her small house at the Seam. In fact, this place reminded her of the Community Home back at Twelve. Her mother had taken her there once, to help her treat some of the kids for the chicken pox (normally Prim would go with her, but she'd never had the chicken pox before, while Katniss had, as a child). The rooms there looked almost exactly like the one she was standing in.

Her back was to the door as she inspected the place, until she heard someone come in. She turned around and came face to face with a young woman, probably around her age. She had dark red hair, striking features, and porcelain skin. She was also wearing a similar uniform to the one Katniss had been given. She recognized the woman as the Avox who had first led her to this room about half an hour previous, but now that she could actually take a good look at her, she thought she seemed familiar, like they'd met somewhere else.

"I know you, don't I?" she asked, not worried about keeping up the façade; the girl had been privy to their entire conversation with the Chief of Staff, so she already knew Katniss wasn't really an Avox. The redhead's eyes widened- maybe she was surprised at being recognized, or maybe she was just scared by her bluntness- and that's when Katniss finally pinpointed the memory.

Hunting in the woods with Gale. All the birds going quiet. The girl and the boy, running through the forest desperately. The hovercraft appearing out of nowhere. The boy being speared right through. The girl's chilling scream. And then, nothing. They were just gone.

They had escaped, she concluded now. Probably from the Capitol, judging from their appearance, but they had escaped their home nonetheless. And they were punished for it. The boy died that day, she was sure of it. And the girl had her tongue cut out. Was that what the Capitol would do to her and Peeta if they got caught? Suddenly everything felt so much more real.

She knew the other woman recognized her; she could see it from her expression. Her and Gale, they could've been this girl's salvation that day. That's not something you forget. But before she could say anything, Peeta walked through the door, followed by none other than Haymitch Abernathy.

Peeta seemed to notice something was troubling her, because he walked up to her the minute he saw her. "Are you alright?" he asked her, sounding worried.

"Fine," she muttered, dismissively. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Avox girl leave the room, but she wasn't even thinking about that anymore as she focused her attention on the older man. "What is he doing here?" she asked Peeta. Wasn't this man supposed to be on one of the upper floors, coaching her sister? Shouldn't he be coming up with strategies? Keeping Prim alive? Wasn't that what mentors were supposed to do?

"Apparently he's the guy Cressida wanted us to meet with," Peeta replied. Where she sounded accusatory, he appeared utterly confused. Not that she could blame him, really. None of this made sense. How could Haymitch Abernathy, District Twelve's only surviving Victor and most notorious drunkard, be involved with a Capitol camera crew? To what purpose? And did it have anything to do with Prim?

"Well, it's nice to meet you too, sweetheart," he said to Katniss, derision evident in his tone. She scowled at him, ticked off by the nickname. He wasn't even bothered. "I should be the one who's disappointed. I was told I was getting a pair of fighters." He looked both of them up and down. "You don't look very tough."

"Fighters?" asked Peeta, grasping onto every possible hint.

"I want to see Prim," she declared, not even trying to understand what the man meant. She wanted to understand what this was all about, but right now it was secondary; if she could get to Prim, and get her out of here, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Abernathy's eyebrows rose, like he was surprised by her words. "That's right. You're blondie's sister, aren'tcha?" he stated, more than asked. Apparently he'd only just recognized her. Then he paused, like something else had occurred to him. "Hunter girl," he murmured. Katniss didn't know how he knew she hunted; she'd certainly never sold him any game, and though she had a reputation in the district, he didn't seem like the type to be socializing with merchants. Perhaps Prim had told him.

Before she could confirm that she was indeed Prim's sister, the man crossed his arms and shook his head. "'Fraid that's not possible," he said, which she gathered was a reply to her firm request that he take her to see her sister.

"Why not?" She narrowed her eyes at him, on edge at the refusal.

He shrugged. "For one, she's not here," he explained simply. "She's still at the Remake Center. But even when she comes here, I can't let you see her," he added. At her aggravated glare, he expanded. "She can't afford any distractions right now. She can't know her sister is putting herself in danger just to come see her. It's the last thing she needs right before the Games begin."

"She can't go into the arena!" she snapped at him, finally losing her patience. The fear and anxiety that had gripped her heart since the day of the Reaping was taking a hold of her, no matter how hard she tried to keep a level head. "They'll kill her-"

"So you did come all the way here with the idea that you could rescue her," he said with something of a smirk, like he'd hit some kind of jackpot. It only incensed Katniss even more. "Listen," he continued in such a condescending tone that she had to wonder if he was doing this on purpose to rile her up, "here's how this works: Let me handle the task of keeping her alive. That's my job now."

"She's my sister-"

"And that's worth jack around here," he interrupted her again, raising his voice. "All that means to the Capitol is that they have someone they can use to hurt her. Seeing you get yourself killed on some foolish impulse to try and save her on your own won't do her any good." He had grown serious. He still looked disheveled and his breath stank of liquor, but he was dead serious. "Don't be stupid, girlie. I agree, she's too soft for the arena, but you can't just grab her, walk out the door of the Training Center and hope to stay hidden for the rest of your lives."

"They'll find you," he affirmed, a grave nod emphasizing his words. "And if they can't find you, they'll take it out on that boyfriend of hers. Or his family. Or his family," he said, tilting his head in the direction of Peeta, who had remained quiet and still for the last few minutes. "Believe me, I would know." His gray Seam eyes almost burned as he fixed them on her. "Is that what you want?"

She kept silent, internalizing this. Everything she knew about the Capitol told her it was true. No, that's not what she wanted. Nobody else could get hurt. She swallowed hard. "There's got to be a way."

"The Capitol doesn't lose," came the reply. He was leaning back against the wall, looking at her expectantly, like he was awaiting her reaction. Peeta was also staring at her intently, but as Abernathy started speaking again, he turned his attention back to the older man. "The only way you can be sure they won't go after you is if they already have their hands full. Hit them when they're low."

"Hit them?" Peeta intervened for the first time in what felt like forever. "You mean like... rebellion?" he let out the last word in a shocked whisper, like just the mere mention of it could make an entire troop of Peacekeepers suddenly burst through the door and shoot them all dead. Abernathy remained silent, but that was all the confirmation they needed.

A rebellion. Somewhere within the Capitol, a group of dissidents were planning an organized strike against the government. And Haymitch Abernathy was part of it. Cressida and her camera crew, too. And probably more than a few Avoxes. Who else? How big was this? A lot of things made sense now. From the beginning she'd thought this was a Capitol group taking advantage of the fact that they'd been found out and blackmailing her and Peeta to get something from them. But she'd been wrong. So wrong.

Her head hurt. This wasn't what she'd come here for. Sure, she hated the Capitol as much as anyone in the districts did. They'd taken her father from her, by forcing him to work in the mines. They'd taken her mother too, because she couldn't live without her father. They'd caused her and her loved ones to go through pain, and need, and hunger. And now they had taken Prim, too. She more than agreed with anyone who wanted to take the government down, but that didn't mean she wanted to suddenly find herself right in the middle of it.

All she wanted was to take Prim away from all this, and keep her safe. But now because of the rebellion, there was no certainty that she'd even get the chance. And she couldn't forget these people wanted to use her for something; she still didn't know what that was. What am I going to do?

Almost as if he saw the topic of being "used" pop into her head and wanted to dive right into it, Abernathy started speaking again. "So, she's a hunter." He turned to Peeta. "What can you do?"

Peeta, who seemed to still be processing all this information in his head, responded predictably: "I can bake."

The older man snorted in a decidedly unamused fashion. "Great. You wanna stop the Games and you bring a baker with you. Brilliant."

Katniss did not appreciate the sarcasm. Ignoring the fact that Gale had voiced pretty much the same concerns in pretty much the same tone before they left Twelve, or that she'd had her own doubts about Peeta's usefulness for this plan just the previous night, she frowned at Abernathy darkly. "He's strong," she pointed out. "I've seen him lift hundred-pound bags of flour at the market. And he wrestled," she added, vaguely remembering hearing his name during school events. "He and his brothers used to get the top spots in competitions when we were in school. That's something."

Then it was Peeta who turned to look at her with a strange expression: half surprised, half like she'd just said something ridiculous. "That was years ago," he started, shaking his head dismissively. "And it's not like wrestling is going to help against the Capitol and their tanks, and their bombs, and their guns," he finished, almost like he was mad- whether it was at her or at himself, she didn't know.

"You killed a Peacekeeper last night," she reminded him. If he had forgotten, he was a fool. She'd killed three men and the thought still made her feel nauseous. For some reason she'd always thought killing with a bow and arrow, at a distance, made it easier, like with the game she shot in the forest. Not having to see their faces. But now she knew that wasn't true.

"I didn't mean to," he shot back, and he sounded so conflicted, she knew that man's death did weigh in his mind. "He was going to pull me off the train. I was just trying to get him to let go of me. It doesn't mean I have any sort of skill."

His self-deprecation only made her steel her resolve. She didn't know why she felt suddenly so defensive over Peeta. It might have been because she was just beginning to realize how much he was reallyputting at risk by coming here to help her save Prim; it made her feel guilty. But whatever the reason, she wasn't going to let anyone sell him short- not even himself. "You were just telling me yesterday not to underrate myself. So take your own advice!"

"That's different," he shook his head even harder.

"Why is it different?" she challenged.

He didn't even try to respond. He just rolled his eyes and turned to Abernathy with barely held back exasperation. "She just can't see it." He made a gesture with his hands, like implying she was missing some completely obvious fact that everybody else knew about.

"See what?" she snapped at him. It ticked her off because it was true, she didn't understand what she couldn't see, and it wasn't the first time he had said something like this to her either. If he would just say what he meant it would make her feel like less of an idiot.

He didn't. He just stared at her and just as she was about to push him for an answer again, Abernathy intervened, and they both turned toward him. "Are you done?" he asked in a flat, deadpan tone that somehow still managed to strike her as irritating. "As much fun as it is to watch you two debate about how awesome the other is," he began, the inflection of his voice making it clear that he found their argument everything but fun, "the boy is right."

She was about to voice a protest again, but he didn't let her. "Wrestling, heavy lifting, that's all great," he assured her, sounding appeasing, "but none of that is gonna help us kill Seneca Crane."

To say they were surprised to hear this was an understatement. Peeta gasped, jaw dropping, while she promptly forgot everything she'd been arguing about a minute previous and just stared at the man. She didn't know what shocked her more: to hear that they were planning the Head Gamemaker, or the fact that Abernathy had blurted it out so easily, almost like an afterthought.

She understood why Crane would be an ideal target. The Gamemakers, in their position as masterminds behind the Hunger Games, were the executioners of the Capitol's ultimate punishment on the districts. These men had been killing children for the sake of entertainment for the last 79 years. Crane could determine Prim's life or death with the push of a button. Katniss certainly would not feel bad if he were to die, she thought he deserved it, but that didn't mean she had ever wanted to help plan his murder. Except now she was.

"That's what you want to do?" Peeta asked when he finally found his voice again. "Kill the Head Gamemaker right when the Games are about to start? When all the attention will be on him?" When he put it that way, it did sound incredibly difficult. "The guy has been in charge for seven years. Who knows how many opportunities you could've had before this. And the rebels couldn't come up with a better plan?"

"We had many," Abernathy stated, his eyebrows raised like he found it very interesting that Peeta was criticizing the insurgence's strategies. "But this is what we're left with now: a long-distance kill, and no time to train anyone." His gray eyes moved to her again. "Fortunately an Olympic-range archer just fell right in our hands. We're going forward with it."

He pushed himself off the wall, and Peeta was gaping at her openly, but she was rooted to her spot. This is what they wanted her to do: kill a man. Kill the man that held her sister's life in his hands. She didn't want to do it. But how could she say no? Abernathy, somehow, knew she couldn't. "If you do this, we can get your sister out," he reinforced the thought.

And with that, he walked to the exit. "Don't try to see her. Stick to your assigned tasks, both of you. We'll contact you when we need to." He opened the door; it creaked. And when he walked out, it slammed behind him, startling both of them out of their thoughts.

Peeta was looking at her with a concerned expression. She wished he wouldn't. It only reminded her how shaky her hold on this entire situation really was.

What am I going to do?

If this was really her best bet to save her sister, then there wasn't much of a choice at all.

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Author's notes!-

Sorry this one took me a little longer than usual, guys. Chapter 19 was a tough one for me to write. For the events happening in it, mainly, though the PoV certainly didn't help. (I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count).

But anyway, that's enough vague spoilers for now. How did you all like this chapter? First off, a virtual cookie to Greenie Pie, who was the only one to spot the Breakfast Club reference ("I heard a ruckus"), and to Aimless Wonder, who was the only one to guess, right off the bat, that last chapter's familiar faces were Cressida and her crew. I just love Cressida, she's so HBIC. ;) Plus, writing Haymitch is always fun.

I hope you liked this, and I also hope that you're finally starting to see where this is going. Or at least have an inkling. ^^;;; As always, please review! Your comments and speculation are always welcome. =)