A/N: Sorry for the long wait again guys, I've just got so much to work on! :-)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
(This is in third person POV)
Chapter Seventeen
The reaction to Katniss' rant on t.v was almost instantious. Over twenty four hours after it was broadcast on the televisions of all the Districts in Panem, women started coming out of the cracks everywhere, women who were in love, in a secret relationship, or who just wanted the hardship to end, and started fighting. Of course, the slaves took a lot more convincing. To them, Katniss was just some crazy woman who had started screaming about equal rights in front of a Justice Building. Especially since she was a female, they thought that maybe it was a trap. A trap of the Capitol.
But Madge had prepared for this. She had sent out various agents before she took over the Justice Building. Male agents who had previously been slaves that had been abandoned and forced to live in the streets. She'd found a gap in the District fence several weeks back and used that fault to sneak the agents out. They spread out across Panem, ready for the news that the rebellion had been incited and if the slaves were apprehensive for whatever reason, they would work to convince them that it was real. That the rebellion was real. That they had to fight.
The Capitol was in a panic. There had been no agent that had been able to make it that far, the borders of the city being closed off to those who were not official citizens. Even though this had been true, there were still various people inside the Slave Training compound who'd remembered the blond man who'd spoke of rebellion, who'd spoke of rights. And they tried to fight back as well. For the slaves in the compound, it wasn't as easy. Law Abider's numbers were doubled and defense lines were put up on every single floor of the building. The slaves were apprehended and kept at bay, but the people in the Districts were not as easy to calm down.
Harper sat back in her plush chair on the train to the Capitol, watching her collegue as she completely lost it. The blonde wasn't much for paitence and hers had ran thin as soon as Katniss' rant was showcased everywhere.
"You better tell us what they're planning!" Jackson roared, pointing threateningly at their captive. Peeta didn't answer. He had been giving them the silent treatment ever since they took him. Ever since he'd whispered those words into Jackson's ear that convinced them to take him instead of Katniss. "You better answer or so help me you're going to regret it when we get back to the Capitol!"
It was if the woman's words meant nothing. Peeta barely flinched at the threat, staring back at her with defiant eyes. "Take it down a notch Jackson, we're not in the Capitol just yet," Harper warned, taking out her PDA and searching the news on the rebellious Districts. "25% of women are now rebelling in all Districts with all slaves."
"Oh goddamn it!" Jackson exclaimed. Her professionalism was long gone as she was completely frustrated with how Peeta could hold so strong. His will power was agitating, enough to have Jackson tearing at her hair. "Just . . . tell us before I do something I regret!"
"Jackson," Harper warned.
"What?!" Jackson shouted.
"Tone. It. Down."
Jackson clenched her jaw and breathed out of her nose. "Okay. I'm cool, I'm calm." She looked around the train compartment. "Where's the vial?"
"Bottom drawer," Harper said flippantly, her gaze once more focused on the PDA. Jackson was spitting angry and yanked open the bottom drawer of the giant chest that was propped up against the wall. She grabbed a black box out from it and pulled out a small injection vial full of blue liquid.
When she turned around, Peeta tensed, his eyes falling on the vial instantly.
"Oh so you recognize this, huh?" Jackson said. "At least you remember some things. Maybe you need a recap just to help jog your memory, huh? A couple doses of tracker jacker venom to get those cogs turning."
Harper peered over the PDA skeptically. "Not too much Jackson. We don't have enough man power to restrain him if it goes too far," she said. "One shot, that's it, alright?" Jackson's demeanour crumbled but she smiled fakely at the woman. "Plus, I don't think it's going to work."
"Good thing I didn't ask for your opinion then, isn't it?" answered Jackson acidly. Her gaze had been locked on Peeta the entire time whereas his eyes had followed the tracker jacker venom that was as sapphire as his iris'. "Do, pray tell, why you sacrificed your own freedom to help that . . . girl," Jackson spat the last word with distaste. "I understand they wanted you for the rebellion, not Miss Everdeen. So why come with us when you could have aided the cause much more than Katniss?"
Peeta still didn't look at her as he chuckled. "I wasn't about to let you take her Jackson. I know what you do with tratior girls. You did make me train with them, didn't you?" His voice was bored, if not slightly amused. He knew that when he acted like he knew more than they did then it would rile them up further. It was better having them riled up than having them relaxed. When Jackson's mood is mallable, she turns tranquil and handsy, like high on a drug of some sort.
"Yes, we did," Harper put in before Jackson could. "Traitor girls are used to help slaves learn how to fuck, simple as that. Yes, that would have been young Everdeen's fate and I can't say it wouldn't have been fun to steal her innocence but, no, instead you take her place. What I for one can't figure out is why? Why save some bratt you just met recently and return to the hell that you'd finally escaped from just for the sake of one girl?"
"Oh Harp, I think he's in love," Jackson cooed. She reached out and pinched his cheek. "Our little boy is all grown up." Peeta slapped her hand away with a scowl.
"Love in a world like this only goes so far," Harper said measuredly. "It doesn't reach the point of sacrifice or descision to do what is right. Even you should know this Mr. Mellark. A slave falling into unrequited love with a woman of higer status to you? How ridiculous."
Peeta clenched his jaw. "Katniss is different."
Jackson barked out a laugh and fell into the seat beside him. She slung an arm around his shoulders, the injector of tracker jacker venom pressed dangerously against his collarbone. Peeta fought back the urge to flinch but couldn't hold back the shudder of disgust he felt every time the woman touched him. "You don't believe that surely. With the right teachings I'm sure young Miss Everdeen would have turned into one of our best citizens. Maybe instead of defending you that day in the living room she'd have put the duct tape on that pretty little mouth of yours herself."
"Katniss wouldn't do that."
The sharp point of the needle pressed into his skin. Peeta stiffened. "Are you sure about that?" Jackson asked tauntingly.
"Yes," he replied.
Jackson laughed and stuck the needle into his neck, pushing down on the plunger to send the tracker jacker venom into his viens. Peeta winced, his fists clenching and unclenching by his sides. "Of course Katniss is like everyone else, don't you remember? She duct taped you when you were mouthy and hit you when you misbehaved."
"No, she didn't," Peeta said through gritted teeth, fighting the pain that the tracker jacker venom caused. It made his mind turn fuzzy when he tried to think of Katniss, trying to decipher what was real or what wasn't. Was Jackson's words true or was his own initial instinct the right thing to believe in? Always instinct. But last time he'd followed his instinct, he'd nearly killed an innocent slave . . . never instinct. But could he really trust Jackson of all people to find out the truth from?
"We're all on the right side here Peeta," Harper's voice rang out in his mind as he squeezed his eyes shut, plunging himself into darkness. He tried to bring up an image of Katniss in his mind, but instead of seeing the woman he was almost sure was really her, he saw a distorted version of her. She was dressed like Effie, in a bright pink skirt that hugged her legs and hips and reached below her knees and a jacket with puffed sleeves. Her hair was in it's loose plait, the braid stirring in the darkness behind her like some unknown wind was blowing through it.
Her face was contorted in anger: perfect eyebrows furrowed, smokey grey eyes narrowed and blood red lips curled up in disgust.
"Look at you, you're patheic," she hissed. "Why would I waste my time with some lowly slave like you?"
"She hates you Peeta," Jackson said softly. Peeta pushed himself away from her and held his head in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief.
"It's not real," he hissed. "It's the venom."
"You're just some slave," Katniss' voice rang out in his head. "We are on completely different levels of status honey, you're only good for when someone needs something done."
His head was starting to feel full and he clutched at his hair desperately, trying to hang onto something real, something he was sure was real and not just some illusion that was being hung before him by the venom. Jackson was beside him again, taking his head and softly putting it into her lap. He barely noticed, his eyes glued shut, trying to fight the war that was going on inside his mind, trying to assure himself that there was still the chance that she loved him like he knew he loved her.
"Love?" Mutt Katniss scoffed. She flicked her hair back and looked down on him like he was a cockroach in her path. "Why in the world would I love you? You're a slave! How ridiculous! You do know I was only humouring you right? Why you thought it was real I'll never know!"
"No," Peeta murmered. His head was now pounding, aching from the strain of fighting. Jackson was enjoying watching his inner termoil, playing with his hair and brushing it from his face.
"Yes," she whispered. "She doesn't love you."
"I don't believe you!"
Harper bit her lip. "Be careful Jackson."
"It's alright," Jackson said. "I've got it under control. A couple more doses and we'll have just what we need to stop all this nonsense." Peeta had started to shudder, his face screwed up in pain, the occasional agonized groan escaping him. Jackson smiled as if watching a toddler taking it's first steps.
Harper examined the girl through her red hair that had fallen over her tired face in exhaustion. "And what is that, pray tell?" she asked. She was irritated that Jackson had already came up with a plan and hadn't tried to tell her about it. Jackson's ideas were normally very solid though and there was nothing she could but ask what the plan was.
Jackson smiled. A wide, malicious grin that made her bright scarlet lips stretch unnaturally across her face.
"Why, we'll have a warrior."
A/N: Uh-oh. That can't be good.
Please R&R! :)