It was a horrific loss to be sure, yet one lost battle was hardly the end of the war. Capitol propagandists thought otherwise, seizing on the one serious setback to the rebels to date. "The tide has turned against the traitors!" Snow insisted. It was all too easy to remember his words. The clip played over and over.
I felt the need for a response broadcast. "They destroy whole districts! Such people cannot be reasoned with! We're far past the point of continuing to accept our chains, or even having that option. The only path is to help scour that evil from our country once and for all."
There wasn't much left in District Eight. It was a brutal tactic, to retreat after carrying away or destroying anything the enemy could make use of. It seemed the Capitol was partially withdrawing from some districts to fortify District Two and its own city for the battles we all knew were coming. Rebel intelligence indicated similar drawdowns in One, Three, Five, Six and Seven.
However, the infantry presence hadn't been minimal enough for Alexander Weaver. He helped hold off the Peacekeeper remnant as we evacuated. His body fell back towards us as it went lifeless, shielding us in death as well as life. Brutus happened to be near him at the time, and let his rifle hang loose from the strap so he was able to sling the body over his back. Even the hundreds of pounds of corpse and gear seemed like nothing to him. Rebel commander Lisa Paylor joined us in the frenzied dash to the trains.
Brutus and Lisa would be the two leading pallbearers. We'd make a show out of the funeral, oh yes we would. When Lotus was interred, we shocked the Capitol with the images of losing one of their heroes. Cecelia was more than willing to echo that procedure to hopefully forestall further carnage; the determination shone through her tears. Alexander was no victor, but still fairly well-known to the residents of Panem. Gloss stood towards the back of the coffin, for once standing next to someone besides Cashmere, in this case my fellow Seam man and Alexander's immediate comrade Jack Barton. Cato and I carried the middle; I brushed aside the edge of a District Eight flag to grasp my handle.
Madge and Anna had recently been issued their aircrew uniforms and stood somberly in them at the edge of the field. They served as navigators on separate hovercraft. The four of us were hardly the only couples to have both members in uniform, but Katniss and I were the only one to be deployed together.
Lustre wasn't that much older than the deceased's firstborn, and the two sat together during the ritual. Bridget used her fiddle to bring forth an appropriately somber tune. Alexander would be one of the few buried instead of cremated; Coin led the way upwards to the little cemetery on the District Thirteen surface. Lotus would hopefully be exhumed to rest next to District Four's other fallen tributes, but it seems there wouldn't be much of a District Eight to return Alexander's body to.
We still had to worry about the mentors in Capitol custody. The Capitol kept broadcasting mock executions, and we wondered when they would actually pull the triggers. Generals Vander and Travers expressed willingness to do that personally. I did not want to know what Snow thought of behind the screens, and we couldn't tell what exactly was causing their haggard look.
"Districts Eleven and Ten became infested with treason despite us holding their beloved," Snow harangued. "I'll make it clear. If Nine rises against us, Harvest dies." He did not mention not having Winnow in custody, and we didn't know where Ms. McCormick was hiding either. Winnow and her fellow fugitive Stephanie had not been in on the rebellion, so they hadn't run to rebel plants in the Capitol. "The others shall also face punishment for the crimes of their districts." The District Thirteen policy was to not bow to hostage-taking barbarians, brutally realistic I thought. The freedom of thousands should come ahead of the lives of one or two, and we hoped the hostages thought the same if the Capitol hadn't beat it out of them yet.
Heavensbee had a plan for extracting them. Coin, rationalizing that the idea was to rescue victors and not harm them, ordered us to not participate in the mission. As such, we weren't privy to most of the details. I gathered that rebel plants would blow their cover and disable prison security systems. Boggs would have the tactical command in the field, and picked several more native District Thirteen soldiers to go with him, including one Mars Tredecim. Rock and Raspberry were fresh out of training, but we wanted District Eleven locals to get Seeder's attention. Dalton Oakley would finally deploy, for the sake of his district's victors. District Twelve would hardly be unrepresented in mine and Katniss' absence. Jack Barton was one of the commandos; Margaret Undersee and Anna Flowers were both part of the flight crew delivering the group to the Capitol and bringing them back. I offered a blessing as some of the team left for the hangar. "I wish I could be there with you. Go get 'em".
Katniss left the crowd more quickly than Cato or I did. "She seems frigid for a Girl on Fire," Cato joked. At least he had wisely kept his big mouth shut until it was just us guys.
"Most anyone probably seems that way compared to Sir Fucks-A-Lot here. Eh, we're all happy."
The mission was only a partial success, and it sounded harrowing to accomplish even that much. They had grabbed Woof first – his cell had been reasonably accessible, and Cecelia didn't need to see her old mentor dead so soon after her husband. It seems he hadn't been in good shape even before the Capitol tortured him, although that may simply have been old age. He barely remembered the woman he had guided back home and whose marriage certificate he had signed fourteen years ago. Rock, Raspberry and Dalton all went right for their districtmates as planned, helping reassure the prisoners that it was a genuine rescue and not another Capitol trick. They also got Pike from Four, and he went right to congratulate Finnick and Annie, kissing their rings. Johanna, tough woman she was, wasn't so emotional about being reunited with Pine, but was relieved to see the familiar face safe and sound all the same. However, the rebels were chased out before they could rescue Harvest along with Justin and Megan of Six. For the next Capitol propaganda broadcast, those three were publicly executed for the treason of aiding the escape attempt.
Johanna was still somewhat incapacitated by the injury she had received in the liberation of my district, so she was unable to attend to the liberation of her own. As such, the powers that be found no need to deploy the rest of Victor Squad either. Thanks to the disaster in Eight, we weren't able to surround Nine, but rebels based in Ten and Eleven were eventually able to push into Nine without our personal help. Four surrendered soon after, likely because the rebels in Ten could focus even more on Four without having to worry about the Nine border. Six, Five and Three also did not need a visit from us. One was inbetween Thirteen and Two, but since it was right next to the Capitol and not too much of a threat, we didn't focus on it.
"Victor Squad, your next mission is to District Two. After the Capitol lost this base, they built a new fortress in the mountains there. That must fall before we can strike at the Capitol itself. For this, Lyme is a particularly fitting commanding officer, and we're especially glad to have Brutus and Cato on board." Myself, Katniss, and Finnick made six. Glimmer's allies Emerald, Cashmere and Gloss made 9. Wiress, Hook, and Regina brought us to 12. With Johanna's injury, we were still under-strength.
A force of loyalist victors led the Capitol's defenses. It was the Capitol's attempt to counterbalance the propaganda value of our squad; since we hadn't seen much action in the western districts, we hadn't encountered them until now. "Pearl, you're about to pay a great price," Finnick muttered as he aimed.
Cato spoke much louder as he set his sights on Livia, a woman with a typical District Two look. "Hello. My name is Cato Adams. You killed my father. Prepare to die". She'd killed her district partner Julius Adams to become the fifty-fifth victor. "Oh, it was the Capitol's idea, but you swung the sword. I cast mine aside."
After a moment with no repentance to be had, they fell as Brutus killed his former friend Enobaria. Shielded by cover, we took only minor wounds from the return fire as they retreated back into the Western Fortress.
We had District Two's fortress surrounded. It seemed like there was no way for them to break out, but also no way for us to break in. We got to thinking on our side of the problem when called away.
Chrome was ready to deliver District One to us. He was Gloss and Cashmere's father, yet another victor, and he led the District One rebels. Victor Squad's presence was important not only for the family reunion, but also for the diplomacy of clearing out the rest of District One's Victors Village. Chrome's father Facet was himself a victor; Gloss and Cashmere had made it clear that family tradition drew them to the arena, but I hadn't been aware of how far it went. Their younger brother Shine had even been prepared to volunteer next year. The two of them were safe. The old man Platinum and old ladies Opal and Diamond had been compliant in Chrome's custody, but had been killed in a Capitol raid that Chrome and his family had barely avoided themselves.
Chrome said that Sapphire was supportive. Her bra was very supportive, I thought to myself before I corrected. Cut it out, Hawthorne, your wife is right there! She won in 71, after I met Katniss but before I fell in love with her, and Sapphire's beauty had been my main exception to not caring about the Games. The blue fabric stretched tightly over her ample frame won her whatever sponsors her swordcraft hadn't. Appropriately, I heard the sound of steel leaving scabbard as we knocked on her door. "Imma take some of you down with me!" she called back.
"That won't be necessary, Sapph," Cashmere answered cheerfully.
"Ah, you're rebels," Ms. Silversmith said, opening the door. "Now let's march to the mayor's office and secure that secession."
"Nice blade," Cato said.
"Ah, I see. With the wife you got, you're one of the few men who has no need to stare at me. I always wanted my fellow District One ladies to win, but especially her, she's something special." Glimmer would love to hear that; the victors of her youth had been a huge influence on her.
Her sword was about four feet long, a big sword, but not compared to its bearer at well over six feet. I rarely saw men as tall as I am, let alone women. It was definitely a woman's blade, though. The hilt was painted a blazing pink, shaped like the symbol of the legendary female Venus, a glyph that had become representative of women generally. The weapon was named Amazon, after a legendary tribe of woman warriors – not even fighting on equal footing with the men as in our world, but fighting by themselves. I think Cato's was similar, except not with countervailing masculine adornment, being a plain arena piece.
Ruby and Star, both middle-aged women, were back in District Two with the 'True Victor Squad'. We flew back into the eye of the storm.