Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and plot.
Chapter Eight: The Undercover Agent
"So, Phoenix, Allie and I were wondering... Why aren't you all horrified by the fact that Snow's about to be executed? I mean, you worked for him, right?" Cat asks, casually, admiring a painting as they walk along the corridor.
"Oh, that. Well, I was all for sticking by him," Phoenix says. "He paid me, kept my family in the money, you know. Why should I have rebelled?"
"Then what changed that?" Allie asks. "Not many of his loyalists just randomly switched their allegiance to him. They took time and persuasion, since they had the same things you did."
Phoenix smiles to himself. "Well, if you must know, I was doing errands for him, meeting his clients and so on-" The girls share a glance, not sure what clients he means, listening as he continues, "When I met two fairly young women. These girls were rebels and I was about to tell Snow I'd found two of them."
"What stopped you?" asks a very curious Cat, who has a sneaking suspicion, which she believes Allie's feeling too, that she knows what's coming.
"They did, of course. You wouldn't think it of two girls like them. Both evidently from here, of course. One of them had a hoodie on, I couldn't see her hair. The other had bright blue hair, which was the fashion at the time. Now, these girls were surprisingly strong. They overpowered and dragged me into an abandoned building. They convinced me into it, told me that they needed me. When they showed me what the Capitol forces, on his orders, had done, I couldn't stay away. I do like a bit of action. After their conversion, I never saw them again. But I am some good with technology. I traced District Thirteen and got in contact with our own Mr Heavensbee. I told him about the girls and that I wanted in. He had me become his own spy. So, now you know why my loyalties changed. I am proud of the work we've all done here," Phoenix tells them. "Of course, I know why you girls had no loyalty to him. You're smart enough to defy him."
"So are you," Allie tells him. "You never got the girls' names?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I'd like to thank them, though. I hope nothing happened to them in the bombings."
Cat stays quiet. All Phoenix has said matches up with her theory. "Cat? Cat, you're zoning again," Allie tells her, poking her in the side.
Cat jumps and shoulder-butts a wall. "God, Allie! Not the sides! Wow..."
"Ooh," Allie mutters, exasperated but amused.
"Something wrong, Cat?" Phoenix asks.
"Nothing, thanks. I'm just thinking," Cat smiles, the flicker of confusion in her eyes.
Phoenix spots this and asks "Out of curiosity, just what are you thinking?"
Allie looks interestedly at Cat and tilts her head, blinking at her. "Cat?"
Cat sighs, then says "Cut the tour, we're going back. Nobody gets to hear this besides you two."
"What are you talking about?" Allie asks.
"You'll see," Cat tells her, her tone grim and mysterious.
"What was that all about?" Phoenix asks as he and Allie flop onto the beanbags they've had brought in. "And aren't you sitting down?"
Allie whispers "She's best left standing when she's like this. Let her get on with it."
Cat starts pacing. "Your story matches up with some of the stuff I remember, pre-flat-bombings. Allie and I caught a worker of Snow's and converted him to the rebel cause and at the time... At the time, it was me with blue hair, Allie in the hoodie. Your story matched up with that and! And you never gave us your name, just as we never gave you ours. You became a rebel when we'd pulled you back into the abandoned ruin of a home," she says, looking very concerned. "Sorry about that, by the way, we did wonder if we'd accidentally hurt you, which was definitely not our intention. Allie here thought it best that I change my hair, too. And you changed yours. Last we saw of you, you'd dyed it orange with a yellow streak, like flames."
Phoenix gives a hint of a smirk at that. "Yeah, Capitol trend from Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark's Games. The fire thing," he tells her, a tone of amusement underlying it. "So how come you didn't say anything? You've got a good memory and both of you seem to have remembered it. You could have said something."
Cat sighs and flops down on a third beanbag. "We didn't want to seem rude. We needed the facts before we could say anything. We didn't want to offend you, because let's be real, you seem cool. But there's no point in lying to you. We're the rebels who convinced you to join in, so... Hi," she finishes, raising her hand in a small wave.
"Well... Thanks, you two. At least I know nothing killed you in the bombings. So... Do you guys have family left?" he asks, looking between them.
"Well, we haven't had much internet connection, so we haven't been able to trace them yet and we've been homeless for quite a bit, so we don't have any way of contacting them," Cat sighs.
"In other words, we don't have a clue," Allie concludes.
Cat gestures to her with a nod. "Wow... Sorry, guys. Want to ask Plutarch?" Phoenix asks.
"Nah, he's got enough to be dealing with, he's got all sorts of planning and such like. Doesn't help that little Primrose got in the bombings... Katniss doesn't seem right," Allie says sadly.
"No, she doesn't. She even kicked Gale out," Phoenix tells them, trying to smother a smirk.
Allie grins and says "Well, yeah... I guess it's because he was in on making the bombs and dropping them."
Phoenix nods, a little sadly. Cat looks down and lets out a little sound of slight sadness and a little bit of exhilaration. "Shame about her... She was a good kid."
They sit in silence for a minute, then there's a small knock on the door and a very familiar, very unwanted voice calls in "Phoenix? Allie? Cat?"
The trio look at each other, exasperated and worried. What does this outsider want with them now?