Author's Note: Back to one of my favourite districts with some of my favourite characters. Hopefully, you can get a sense of how the victors connect and intertwine with the workings of the district and its rebellion.

….

Leadership

Four would be ready. Mags was sure of it. Decades of work would finally come together, and their people would turn the screws when the moment was right.

She would be ready too. She had listened to Song's protestations and watched as she trained with a reluctant Chloe, trying to prove how she would be best suited to the arena. But District Four needed Song at home. She was a leader on the ground. Mags may continue to work the centre of operations, but Song and Rowan would take charge of the fighting.

It had been decided that Chloe and Coral would accompany Mags and Finnick to the Capitol. Noah was still deciding but Mags knew he was keen to accompany Finnick, having long viewed him as a younger brother.

But the arena beckoned Mags and she was at peace with her decision. She would be where she was needed. They all looked to her, and she needed to be an example for her peers. She would not leave Finnick, not now, when he was under so much pressure. Nor would she leave Seeder or Johanna, left with no option but to enter another arena. Haymitch would know he had her support from the inside. She would do whatever it took. Mags had enjoyed over eighty years of life. Her survival was no obstacle to that of those young victors.

Her work was done in Four too. She could not have done any more. The Centre continued, despite all the Capitol had thrown at it, and it had fulfilled its purpose. A production line for rebellion, under the guise of training career tributes, creating what would now be thousands of Four's people loyal to the district, its traditions and survival. They were proud, independent and resourceful people who could put up a fight. Song and her fellow instructors would be ready to lead battalions of people in their break for freedom. Their recent Centre graduates would be at the heart of their units, providing their youthful energy to drive them forwards.

Noah had already been leading their oldest tribute candidates into skirmishes. They had no need for career tribute training any longer. News of 'borderland bandits' had reached the Capitol airwaves much to the victors' amusement and several fugitives had been smuggled into District Four from the Capitol along with much-needed supplies from the hijacking of trains.

Rowan, with his warship prepared, was ready to lead a naval fleet made up of the district's fishing vessels and the tourist boats he had made as part of his victor's talent. The skills taught at the Centre under Shai's vocational programmes had ensured that repair and maintenance did not need the Capitol's input and that Four could have a degree of self-reliance. It also meant they had some room to develop of their own accord, so their boats were ready for fighting.

Everything they had done for years had been done with a purpose. The meticulous planning orchestrated by Mags, Shai and their associates was coming to fruition, and they were confident in their district's ultimate success.

Money was trickling in from their sources in the Capitol, marshalled by Finnick. He had carried on the years of networking started by Mags, Chloe and Coral and his popularity let him move through various social circles without anyone passing a second thought. Through his efforts, many people in the Capitol, some knowingly, but others not, were funding Four's rebellion.

Their tourist industry, designed to take money off the Capitol's people had also done its job. Years of saving and wise investments on the part of the victors had meant plenty of cash to spare and to fund their efforts. Reports of poor weather had dampened this coming tourist season but plenty of people had still enjoyed winter sunshine. Away from the usual habits of home, their Capitol guests had proven a talkative bunch and important information had been garnered without their patrons realising.

So much of their success to date had been due to the networking of Chloe and Coral. They had amassed contacts across the district and beyond. But their most notable but quiet success had been their gradual but complete infiltration of the peacekeepers over decades of careful, arduous work.

Those native to Four had been easy to convince but it took more work on many of the others. But once peacekeepers had spent a considerable amount of time in Four it became easier. Four was an easy place to like and the peacekeepers could be lazy with their rotations giving their officers time to become part of the district's fabric.

Desertions were slowly but noticeably increasing, and many families were secretly accommodating peacekeepers turned honorary members of District Four. Many more would throw off the uniform and turn away from the force when the rebellion started.

The arena would fall and take District Four with it. The victors remaining at home would know the cue. They had now been informed of the plan, at least the information District Three had obtained, with only Annie not knowing the full details as a precautionary security measure. The forcefield would blow and hopefully allow in their allies from Thirteen who would take as many of the remaining victors with them as they could. They did not know when it would happen during the Games, but it would soon be time.

Mags and Beetee had been exchanging covert messages. Pluto's contact in Thirteen had said they would be ready, but he would not divulge exactly when that would be. They would enter the arena, that much was certain, and they would have a job to do.

The Twelves must be kept alive, the girl as a matter of priority. But nobody was planning on sacrificing the boy. She would be difficult to control without his good sense. In her conversations with Beetee, Mags relayed their belief in an arena with water so it was clear that Finnick would have to find Haymitch's victors from the gong. Mags would accompany them.

She was not sure how much help she would provide Finnick. None in the physical stakes she was sure, but the likely reluctance of the other victors to target her may well buy them some more time which they would dearly need. Her knowledge of Plutarch, of decades of Hunger Games through six decades of mentoring may serve them well. She knew Gamemaker tactics. She had worked around the Games longer than some of them had been alive.

Beetee was also going to have to be prioritised. He has assured Mags that he knew what to do and would understand the signal when it reached them. He was perhaps their second highest priority. As the other set of fighters, shepherding Beetee and Wiress would fall to Johanna and either Blight or Linden. They would fight hard as a unit and do what they needed to do.

They needed Beetee alive but neither he nor Wiress were natural fighters. Beetee would likely need to make the run for the Cornucopia too, despite his best instincts. They would need backup. Mags did not see Johanna avoiding the first fight so she would need to be told of the importance of whatever it is that Beetee would need.

Mags was worried about Johanna, concerned that the Quell might cause her to make a misstep that Blight could not save her from. But Finnick had made contact. The young woman was angry but coping. She had told Finnick that she would do what was needed of her. They would be ready in Seven.

Mags was determined not to let Johanna's youth and bravery go to waste. She had shared her thoughts with Finnick and he was not going to let go of his friend easily. He hoped that they would find each other in the arena quickly, they needed to in any event if they stood a chance of being picked up by Thirteen. They would all need to be close by.

But making the plan work was another concern of Mags'. Lyme had managed to pass on the message to confirm that Brutus and Enobaria would be Two's volunteers. Neither would target her eagerly, but the Twelves and Johanna had targets on their backs. Breaking the traditional alliance would probably put a target on Finnick too and they would need to be kept apart for as long as possible. They had to hope that Lyme would be able to provide firm instructions before the Games began and that Brutus' knowledge of the structure of the Games would ensure that they held off on what could become a much-anticipated confrontation.

It was all an unfortunate mess. District partner loyalty often led to some reluctance and the tributes from the outer districts certainly never targeted their partner unless they absolutely had to, even in an ordinary year. But this time, they all knew each other, many were firm friends and Mags considered them family. Along with Finnick, she had decided that Plutarch would be arranging for an especially deadly arena to do much of the work for them to avoid the impression of victors reluctant to target one another. Avoiding its traps would be another difficult task. They would need to be at their best at a time when they would be under stress, when their revolt turned on their success.

This time they had likely career tributes in Gloss and Cashmere who would never kill each other unless it came to some mutually agreed pact. But Mags would leave that as Gem's problem unless she had to become involved. Brutus and Enobaria would come to some understanding, but she could not think of one other district pairing who would be willing to harm each other. Each victor would enter the arena with only a limited view of who they would be able to target and with some, herself included, willing to sacrifice themselves to save another, weaknesses could be exposed and exploited.

Their bonds crossed district boundaries, which, Mags believed, is partially why the victors could be so powerful. They showed that the divides between the districts, exacerbated by the framing of the Hunger Games could be set aside and that they could work together. Nobody in the alliance would turn on the pair from Twelve unless the plan had entirely failed, and they felt there was no other option. Finnick and Johanna would not turn on each other either. She could not imagine many of the victors threatening Finnick whilst she remained alongside him. She would give up her life for him time and time again and she was not sure if anyone would want to be the person who killed her and then had to face Finnick.

She would continue to discuss strategy with Finnick. He was going to have to continue playing the games. He would need to get his hands dirty in the arena, as much as it pained Mags to acknowledge. But her boy was going to be a contender and he needed to maintain his image.

It was a game within the Games, only this time, every other tribute was playing along too. Almost every victor knew the politics and scheming of the Capitol, the Hunger Games and the role of victor itself. But Mags would put Four first, put the rebellion first and engage in the games she would need to play.

It would be worth it when it was all over, even though she would not be there to see it. There was little point in hoping for her survival. There were so many other lives to prioritise but in asking so much of her fellow victors, she would do all she could and lead from the front as she had promised her family in Four.

The start of the rebellion was approaching, but it had been decades in the making. It had to work, and it would work, Mags was confident of it. Decades of work and she had never been officially found out. People were suspicious but she had always covered her tracks well and whenever she was concerned, Beetee was able to assist. She had put everything she could into making this work and now it was time.

Four was all in. They carried the support of the overwhelming majority of the district and there would not be much of a fight from the peacekeepers already deployed in Four. It could be over quickly, hopefully within days of the arena falling. From that point, they could assist the other districts and rebuild their own home from a position of strength.

The timing had aligned. Four's readiness combined with the emergence of Haymitch's girl meant there was no better opportunity. Mags would need to ensure that her victors ignited the final flames.