This story is almost done! 5 more chapters, counting this one, so should be done at the end of next week or beginning of the one after. I was really hoping I'd have something else ready to post by the time I finished DS…but we're not even close.

And my thing is, I don't post multi-chaps unless they are COMPLETELY FINISHED because I am such a quitter but I can't stand unfinished fics. It is a battle against myself and I lose no matter what.

Whatever I write next, none of you will want to read it. Guaranteed. Let's be real it's either going to be Phantom Stallion or Boys Over Flowers and I don't think there's much overlap between those and the Hunger Games fandom other than me.

Katniss

"I want to kill Snow," I announce to the group.

Storm laughs- a harsh kind of laughter, not because she thinks I'm funny. "Yeah, you and everyone else in the districts. What are we actually going to do?"

"No, I'm serious!" I insist. "If Snow dies, the war ends, right?"

"Yes?" Jewel tries, as if it might be a trick question.

"So why not do that?"

"Katniss, I think you might be oversimplifying the situation," Peeta tells me.

"It is simple," I counter. "It's everyone else who's making it complicated."

"What exactly are you suggesting?" asks Storm, eyebrows raised. She sounds mad, but she looks pleased, as if she strongly suspects she's going to get a good laugh out of this.

I shrug off her disbelief. Now that I've been forced to spend so much time with Storm, she's lost the ability to actually hurt my feelings. "I'm suggesting we take the fight to Snow. Yes, I know it sounds crazy; you don't need to say it. But that's why it'll work! They'll never expect it!"

She still doesn't look like she believes me. None of them do, actually. "Oh, come on!" I huff. "They've already had their air force destroyed by a magically-reincarnating Mockingjay! A gang of teenagers breaking into the presidential mansion is the least of their worries…or so they think."

And…crickets. Jewel is visibly dubious. Peeta actually looks embarrassed for me which honestly hurts more. Storm shrugs, though. "Well, anything is better than just sitting here. You'd better have a plan underneath all that crazy rambling, though."

Honestly, I don't, but I can produce more crazy rambling. "Let's get back to the ship," I declare. "Air attack is our best bet."

Jewel looks positively green at the idea of flying again, but she doesn't complain. None of them do. For whatever reason, they're all willing to follow me blindly, and I just have to pray I'm not leading them to their deaths.

We're a lot faster when it's just the four of us, slipping through alleys and darting across streets. It's a good thing, too- there are more Peacekeepers out and about than ever, and while they all seem pretty busy, I'd rather avoid confrontation until we get to the place where it matters. Staying under the radar right now is better for all of us.

The thing on my wrist is continuously crackling with noise, too. I don't know why Turquoise thought it would help us. The audio is so rough I can only pick out a few of the words. Maybe she just wanted it off her own wrist.

We make it back to our ship unscathed. Fortunately, it seems the ship is unscathed as well, although there is garbage scattered around the previously-clean alley now. Someone's definitely been through here.

Storm snatches the keys from my pocket. "I'll take that, thanks!"

"Hey!" I protest, instantly remembering her insane jaunt with the car we stole. "Who says you're driving?"

She shoots me a winning smile, laced with charm I didn't know she was capable of producing. "I thought we talked about this already. I have the most experience."

"Jewel wasn't here when we talked about that. Maybe she has more experience," Peeta suggests with an air of hope.

Jewel shakes her head and backs away. "Oh, no. I can barely stand riding in these things, much less piloting one."

She might soon find being a passenger on Air Storm is worse than anything she could ever encounter as a pilot, but that's something every person has to discover for themselves.

Storm, of course, takes the driver's seat and starts pressing buttons haphazardly. I take the co-pilot's chair, partially because I'm the one with the made-up plan and partially because it's the only other option with a safety strap. Probably more the latter, if I'm being honest. Judging by how rough her should-be-simple takeoff is, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

"I'm sure he's holed up in his mansion," I declare. It's the only thing that makes sense. "I just, uh. Don't really know where that is."

"I'll get you a nice aerial view," Storm offers.

Her tone is so friendly; it's hard to be mad when she yanks our ship directly upward, although I'm suddenly really grateful for that safety strap. Poor Peeta is stuck clinging to the back of my seat like a baby raccoon.

It's unpleasant to get there, but the aerial view does help. Finally, I have a decent idea of the city's layout, not to mention the state of the raging battle. The manor is indeed the center of it all, but the Peacekeepers are struggling to hold a few empty blocks around it.

"Those barricades look pretty sturdy," Jewel observes. "There's no way we're getting through that."

"Air strike?" Storm suggest hopefully. She doesn't wait for an answer. "I'll see how close I can get us."

She makes a hard left and a nosedive. We all lurch to the side; I latch onto my armrest to stay stationary. Peeta tumbles into Jewel entirely un-gracefully. "Storm!" I yell. "What's the one driving instruction you got?! Wide! Turns!"

"We don't have time for wide turns!" she retorts, trying and failing to sound innocent. "Look, someone's already spotted us!"

Thanks to the aggressive nosedive, we are low enough to the ground to see what's happening. There is definitely some pointing and shouting going on. Not good.

"Shit," Jewel murmurs. "They're going to shoot."

Storm, being Storm, laughs it off. "Oh, please! What are some little artillery guns going to do to our ship?"

Her confidence is touching, but it does nothing for us on impact. That packs a bit more punch than little artillery guns. The whole ship rocks to the right and I find myself clutching the armrest yet again. At least it didn't breach the hull, but that's not very much comfort to me now. Panic flashes in Storm's eyes as she struggles to right the craft. She doesn't have time; the second blast hits, and we swerve the other way. This time there's fire. Not inside the cab at least, but out on the wing, and I know there's no coming back from that.

"LAND!" I order Storm, the only thing I can think of in this moment.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW!" she screeches back, frantically slamming buttons on the dash.

"You're going to have to figure it out really fast!"

Storm keeps smacking buttons and things keep happening, but never anything that helps. This is certainly not how I expected or wanted my life to end, but we're careening towards the ground awfully fast with little reason to be optimistic. Jewel hasn't given up yet, though. She jabs a finger at one of the buttons. "It says "engage landing gear" right there!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Storm huffs. She hits the button and a grinding noise indicates that our landing gear is engaging. Not that it makes much difference- we hit the ground way too fast and at an angle, sending sparks flying as we skid down the asphalt. Good thing this street is deserted.

"Everyone okay?" I ask when we grind to a halt.

"You know what, I've been better," Peeta mutters sarcastically as he picks himself up. If he's well enough to be sarcastic, he's probably fine.

"Well, it's about to get worse," Jewel says grimly. "All those guys who were shooting us? They know exactly where we hit the ground. And I don't think they're very happy with us right now."

Storm perks up the way she always does when fight or battle comes into play. She yanks her safety belt off and springs into action. "Alright, then. Jewel- you and me, let's hold them off."

Before Jewel can agree or disagree, I squawk. "Hold them off? The whole Peacekeeping force?! With one gun?"

Storm just shrugs. She's being very matter-of-fact about this thing that is actually a huge deal. "Not with one gun. With all those bombs Turquoise left in here."

She points to the back of the ship, where all those spheres are still rolling around. Now that I think about it, we are very lucky none of those went off in our crash landing. Still, I shake my head. "That's a terrible idea!"

"So is you taking out President Snow," Storm counters with a wolfish grin. "I'll see you on the other side."

I open my mouth to protest, but she just turns around. Her and Jewel are getting down to business already; they seem to be a natural team. Peeta and I lock eyes. I guess this is really happening now.

I can see the mansion from the street. It's not exactly hidden away. I look back at Storm one more time and she notices, even though she's busy priming bombs for launch. There's that grin again. "Good luck out there, deadweight! Now go!"

Oddly enough, that makes me feel better than anything else possibly could.

And now it's time to run.

Another short chapter, but can you tell I was having fun? I'm glad I'm not expected to post til Monday because the next one was one of the most difficult to write overall. Seriously. So many drafts of this One Particular Scene and I will probably pick through it a couple more times over the weekend.

Some of you will be really happy, though :)

Read and review please! My view counts have not worked since September so I have no clue if anyone's reading unless they say something.

Review Ideas: "hi" "this story is ok" "I like the part where _" "this story sucks ass"