ME: Time for two characters who we've met before to reappear.

*National Maximum Security Prison, Capitol territory*

Suzanne Boggs laid down on the bunk in her cell.

After being transported via APC, she and Charles had been flown via hovercraft to what she was sure was the same prison the Victors had been held in. Her uncle Georgy, the Defense Minister, had told her of how Snow kept any enemies he had but couldn't kill away from the Districts for security. Now she would live or die in this building.

Instead of her battle-worn gray uniform, Suzanne now wore an orange jumpsuit she was sure had an RFID tag. Her cell was spartan, but it was luxurious by the standards of the majority of District Thirteen. In addition to her bed (which was made almost entirely out of poured concrete; evidently the continentals were just as paranoid when it came to security), there was a sink/toilet unit and a shower that ran on a timer to prevent flooding. Non-communal restrooms were a luxury reserved for the elite of Thirteen.

The daughter of the head of District Thirteen's external defense, a man named Colonel Stanislav Boggs, found herself wishing they would simply put a bullet in her head and be done with it. Because she couldn't sleep without having nightmares about how they would inevitably do it. Would she have the mercy of a crude brain surgery or sword (which apparently was how Peacekeepers decapitated condemned, instead of the guillotines of Thirteen)? Or would they hang her and she'd have to pray her neck broke and she wasn't strangled? There were two methods of execution she genuinely feared, for Suzanne knew both would not be painless. The first was being mauled to death by Mutts, as Cato of District Two was during the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games. The second was a flamethrower-if there was a redeeming feature of the National Government seated in the Capitol, it was that they only sentenced child rapists and murderers (or would-be ones) to death by fire.

Suddenly someone was knocking on her door, undoubtedly to announce her execution. "Miss Boggs?"

Wait, what?

"Yes, what is it?" The speaker had a Capitol accent, but it sounded more natural than the stereotypical one employed in government propaganda videos.

"May I please enter your room?"

Suzanne was surprised to find him not invading her privacy, but she didn't press her luck. "Yes, sir, you may enter."

The door opened and a man who looked to be in his fifties walked in. Flanking him were two Presidential Protectors.

Shit. She recognized him now, remembering her briefings. The man, who was dressed in a modified Peacekeeper Dress Whites Uniform with platinum buttons in place of gold ones, was Antonius Snow; nephew of President Coriolanus Snow and the Minister of Homeland Security.

The Presidential Protectors, while she couldn't recognize them because of their dark visors, were nothing to laugh at either. They were the best of the best, the elite of the Praetorian Guard. Typically charged with protecting the President and his/her facilities as well as those he/she designated, they had the National Eagle on their vests like the rest of the Guard but unlike regular Praetorians (who otherwise wore unmodified, standard-issue white uniforms) wore red uniforms. Both Protectors trained their eyes on Suzanne, their rifles ready to aim and fire at a moment's notice should she threaten their charge.

Antonius set down the clothes and shoebox he had been carrying on the bed before shaking her hand. "Minister of Homeland Security Antonius Snow, Lieutenant Suzanne Boggs. Are you okay?"

"I guess, sir," she replied, nervous only because of the two Protectors.

"Knock on your door when you've showered and changed," he said before leaving.

She now realized the clothes he had left were the components of a Peacekeeper Dress Whites Uniform. She opened the shoebox (on top of which was a white peaked cap/barracks cover); inside were a pair of white dress shoes, a pair of white socks, a white undershirt with a built-in bra (in contrast to the unisex clothing of Thirteen, which did not take gender differences into account), a belt with a gold buckle and white boxers.

She quickly showered, appreciating the hot water even though she had a limited supply. After drying off with a towel, Suzanne Boggs dressed and knocked on the door.

A Protector opened it; outside, she joined even more of the red-clad guards, the HSM and Charles, who was dressed similarly to her.

"Alright," the Minister said simply, "let's go."

As they walked to an elevator, Suzanne noticed that the guards all had SSS armbands. None of these Peacekeepers, however, attempted to stop them.

When they finally got to the hovercraft, it was already preparing for takeoff.

Suzanne glanced at Antonius-was she mentally referring to Ministers by their given names now? "Sir, where are we going?"

"The Presidential Mansion."

*Command Room, District Thirteen*

"Comrade Defense Minister Boggs, how goes the Campaign for District Two?" President Coin asked.

"Improving, but not by much, Comrade President," Boggs replied via videocomm. "The Peacekeeper and Loyalist Militia troops are putting up fierce resistance even though we now have a numerical advantage with all the other Districts. We are making progress, but it's costing us a lot of good soldiers."

"Keep pressing," was her reply. "Coin out."

She then addressed the Victor of the Second Quarter Quell. "Abernathy, are you sober enough to suggest anything?"

He grunted. "Tell the Twofers the truth," said Haymitch Abernathy. "Point out that at least one of their kids has died in the Games every year like everyone else. Point out that even though Snow cuts them a bigger slice of the pie, it's only to keep them in line. Point out that their beloved Boys and Girls in White are getting killed while Capitolites get plastic surgery."

Plutarch Heavensbee, former Head Gamemaker, nodded and even smiled. "We've been working on that, Haymitch." He turned on the television screen in the room. "Currently we're broadcasting propos to persuade-."

Suddenly there was static and the gold National Eagle on a red background. "We interrupt your regularly scheduled rebel communist propaganda to bring you the truth."

"Snow!" Coin hissed.

It cut to Snow, guarded in his office by an entourage of Presidential Protectors. With him and his security were a young man and a young woman in Peacekeeper Dress Whites.

"Citizens of our great Nation, the very culmination of human achievement, I bring you two defectors from the treacherous District Thirteen; Captain Charles Coin and Lieutenant Suzanne Boggs!"

If Coin had been clutching a glass of water, it would have shattered.

ME: A/N: The Presidential Protectors name and status (the latter to a lesser extent) is somewhat based off the Imperial Sovereign Protectors from Star Wars. The tank top/undershirt Suzanne wears is based off a real-product from Skymall. Suzanne's father is named off Cold War-era Soviet Colonel Petrov who more or less averted nuclear war, while canon Boggs is named after Soviet WWII General Zhukov. As you may imagine, the Dress Whites of a Peacekeeper resemble a US Navy Officer's Full Dress Whites. Suzanne's...accommodations are based off those at ADX Florence, only somewhat more austere with the lack of a desk, stool, television, radio and any windows.