REMUS ECHOËN (22)

DISTRICT FOURTEEN STRATEGIST

Rebellion was inevitable.

Remus knew that full well. Scanning through the new documents that Willuna had sent him, he couldn't help but allow a flicker of a smile to flash across his face,

This was absolutely perfect.

District Four were enraged, infuriated, undergoing a turbulent storm of fiery rebelliousness right underneath the Capitol's noses. Ever since the Capitol had increased taxes and production quotas, in exchange for the continued funding of their Career Academies, it had sparked a wild rage amongst the fishermen and sailors of the great blue District, who were already struggling financially due to a slew of cyclones that had battered the District in recent years. Even before that, Four had been far from the richest District, with the wealth gap between them and the third richest District, Five, being a rather astonishing one. These people couldn't possibly afford the new laws enforced upon them by the Capitol, nor could they stand the thought of their tributes being sent into the Hunger Games any longer.

Because Remus had exposed one of the Capitol's darkest secrets.

He chuckled a little at the thought of the little broadcast he had sent across the television networks of District Four, one that he knew without a shadow of a doubt would have sent President Snow literally hopping with rage.

You see, a while back, Dusk and Dawn, those two lovely twins with an exceptional knack of fishing out clandestine information, had shown him a nice little audio recording that Platrium Cardiau, one of the highest-ranking Gamemakers in the Capitol who also held a good degree of official status amongst the Capitolite leaders up top, had sent to them. One listen of their contents was enough to send Remus rushing towards Oakette's office for permission to send that thing blaring across District Four.

It had worked like a charm.

The audio recording had detailed a conversation on the District Four Reapings in the aftermath of the Fifty-Second Hunger Games, in which President Snow had issued an order to rig the Reaping of one of the tributes, and to force the other to volunteer for the Games, a tactic that he had employed in both the Fifty-First and Fifty-Second Games, and one he was planning on making good use of for the remainder of the decade.

Until Remus had leaked it, that was.

The District's outrage had been over the charts, to say the least, with numerous rebels marching up to the Peacekeeper and naval barracks, shouting and protesting for change. In Remus's opinion, he had been far from confident about the success rate of those protests, but then the daughter of a prominent official had been kidnapped in the Capitol by a few hardcore fans of Four's tributes who had gotten wind of the news in their beloved District, thanks to yet another intriguing broadcast Remus had managed to push through to a section of that demonic city.

And just like that, the rigging of the Reapings had come to a temporary end, but the Capitol were fuming about the incident, to say the least.

But District Four had been too, and the mysterious murder of one of their brightest young athletes by the name of Gwynt O'Connor, supposedly due to arsenic poisoning, it had merely stoked the flames of revolution in a District already seething with rage.

Remus clutched the document, sealed within a tight blue envelope, a type of envelope that was distinctive of Fourteen, one people commonly used to ship over to other residents via passenger pigeon mutts or an automated letter chute. This envelope though had a golden seal of an aspen tree surrounded by two mountain peaks, one of District Fourteen's main emblems. Having this seal on an envelope indicated that no one outside of Oakette's inner circle was allowed to view its contents. His footsteps thudded against the smooth, regularly polished floors of the underground levels of District Fourteen, located deep beneath the ice and snow of the ground floor where the residents spent the majority of their time in the cabins, only retreating to the basements below for work and official purposes. The walls were a cosy shade of brown, made of local lumber, and adorned with photographs and paintings of jubilant moments and warm, glowing torches in order to lighten up the mood in these dark, cold corridors, their flickering flames dancing about and crackling ever so softly, a soothing, gentle sound that never ceased to calm Remus's heart.

The corridor began to slope slightly downwards, as the ceiling became higher, and to his left Remus spotted a thick, wooden door that was slightly ajar. A smattering of voices echoed from within, their soft, muddled voices barely intelligible from the corridor. He could hear the faint, slightly wispy voice of Ice Mason, the adopted son of Oakette who had wandered into her while she was out in the aspen forests nearby, having been the sole survivor of a bear attack that killed off the rest of his group of District Seven escapees. Remus didn't know the full story behind what had happened next, but whatever the case, she had shown him all the care in the world, and was setting him up to be her successor in the future.

Not if Remus had anything to do with that.

Because following the inevitable yet tragic eventual end of Oakette's tenure in office, it would be Remus Echoën, not Ice Mason, who would lead this District to victory against the Capitol.

He would take charge of his nation, and Ice would not get within a whisker's length of that coveted presidential seat.

Remus peered in, and saw Ice chatting with two brown-haired girls, possibly sisters, clad in ragged, torn bits of clothing, their hair resembling that of birds' nests, a weary, fatigued look drooped in both their eyes. The older girl, standing a full head taller than the other, had her lips pressed together as she stared on at the fireplace of the room, her eyes shimmering with delight as she witnessed the slow burning of embers. She wore a simple bracelet around her wrist, one made of numerous strings of cloth tightly woven together to form a mismatched flurry of colours. The younger girl, bearing a long scar on her left arm, constantly nudged her older sister, trying to bring her attention back to an impatient Ice, whose tone was getting more and more annoyed with every blank look the girls shot towards him. These two appeared to be new arrivals, and Ice addressed them as Cecelia and Tia. Neither seemed to be talkative, being quite reserved in their responses to Ice's questionnaire, a standard protocol for incoming rebel runaways.

Ice was being too strict, too harsh on those poor, probably traumatised girls, Remus thought to himself, a raged glint flickering in his eye as he shuffled on, his hands jammed in his pockets as he tried to shift the thought of his biggest longtime rival out of his head.

They were in this rebellion together, they were allies, not enemies, Remus often had to remind himself.

And yet the faint line between the two seemed to be blurred in this situation.

He eventually reached the war chambers, arguably the most pivotal room in all of District Fourteen, where a single choice could alter the course of history as they knew it forever.

Remus punched in the passcode to enter, and he pushed the heavy steel doors open, coming face to face with two robust guards he knew all too well from school. Fiona and Reuel, the two muscular siblings who had arrived here as orphaned kids from District Eleven. A smile slowly crept up Fiona's face when she saw Remus, a smile he quickly returned. "Hey Fi."

"Well if it isn't Mister Curious Pants again," Fiona clucked her tongue, raising an amused eyebrow as she mentioned that god-awful nickname she used to call him when they were younger. "Come to snoop in on another secret meeting, eh?"

Remus could feel his face turn a bright shade of red. Huffing, he rolled his eyes, giving her an irritated glare. "Oh come on, that was ten years ago, get over it."

Fiona smirked. "Nah, I'd rather not. Now hold up your hand, I need to check your fingerprint, dummy." She didn't wait for Remus to heed her instruction. With a quick flick of her wrist, she grasped Remus's right palm and pulled it towards her. Remus yelped in alarm, trying to wrench his hand away from her vice-like grip, but she was far too strong. Of course she was, since when had he ever been a match for her? He sighed, allowing Reuel to march over, a shiny metal contraption in hand. The contraption emitted a blue laser beam, and on the back of it was a tiny bulb, one Remus knew would either shine green or red. Reuel pressed it against Remus's index finger, and the bulb turned green, confirming his identity.

Reuel grinned. "It's the real Remus, alright, not an intruder."

Remus sighed. "Yes, thank you, now then Fi, mind releasing me?"

A sly look blazed across Fiona's eyes, and Remus could feel a churn of discomfort in his stomach. That look never meant anything good, that was certain. "Sure," she drawled, giving a nonchalant shrug. Then, she thrust her wrist and released Remus, hurling him against the wall. Remus let out a cry of protest, trying to regain balance but he couldn't stop himself from crashing straight into the wall with a loud thud! A mild throb ebbed in Remus's lower back as he staggered to his feet, shooting those chortling siblings a dagger of a look.

"You bitches," he snarled, brushing some dust off his shirt.

Fiona put a hand on her hip, a lopsided smile swerving up her face. "Shaboom. You asked for it, Mister Curious Pants. Now, Oakette's been waiting for ages, don't wanna keep her waiting now, do you?" She pulled a casing on the wall open and pressed a large grey knob, triggering a soft beeping sound, followed by a loud groan of a noise as the steel door ahead of them slowly creaked wide open, revealing a tertiary check-in room, one significantly smaller than the guard room. "Good luck out there, Rem!"

Remus sighed, jamming a hand into his pocket as he trudged ahead, but he gave Fiona and Reuel a final wave of goodbye before the metal door cranked back to a close, roughly slamming with a loud crash! Remus stared ahead, gazing at the final two check-ins that he had to undergo before entering the war chambers. The measures might seem overly strict to a newcomer, but given the importance of this place, and the secrets and hidden plans that lurked like devilish ghosts within, no one had objected to their implementation. He punched in a codeword and let the machine scan his retina, as part of the identification process, before finally, at long last, the last door to the war chambers sprang right open, revealing the secret room few had entered.

Remus had been here a couple of times before and he could vividly remember the first time he had done so. Expecting a large, imposing steel chamber with a stoic vibe to it, he had been stunned to see a warm, cosy room with timber-lined walls, a crackling fireplace, old paintings of celebratory festivals and stockings hung up around the room. It looked more like a typical District Fourteen living room than an actual military base.

The sheer shock had never quite ebbed out of Remus's heart.

He could never quite get over how oddly peaceful it seemed, a blatant irony to its very purpose.

But the woman standing in the middle of the room, leaning over an oak table with wood-carved coffee mugs placed alongside thick folders of documents, she had thought that this would be a great bit of design, which, truth to be told, it was. Oakette Mason's face was twitching as her bright blue eyes that oozed with brilliant rays of energy scanned the document in front of her, the one Dawn had printed out at Remus's request. Her legs were trembling ever so slightly, and for a minute she looked so overwhelmed with a stunned sort of joy that Remus feared she might fall over. He moved towards her, careful not to surprise her. After all, she didn't seem to acknowledge his presence, maybe she had blanked out? Whatever the case, giving the President of your District a scare probably was not the best idea. Driven by curiosity, he peered closer at the set of folders adjacent to the one containing his dossier, examining the tiny, rather untidy handwriting that betrayed the identity of its creator. Even he could instantly recognise it to be that of Mags Flanagan, one of the disgruntled bunch of Victors from District Four, a lady who had actively partaken in efforts to wane the Capitol's influence in Four. He could barely make out her words, but it seemed to be a data sheet of sorts, as shown by the numerous digits and numbers scrawled across the page. He took a step closer and that was when Oakette suddenly jerked her head up, her eyes large, filled with an eerie hollowness. Remus let out an uncontrollable howl as he backed off, terrified by her little prank. "Gosh, Oakette, don't do that, you're gonna give me a heart attack someday," he complained, giving her a dirty scowl as she hollered with glee. When Remus had first met Oakette, he had been terrified out of his mind, fearing the wrath of the District's main authority figure if he stepped even a toe out of line. But after being tormented by a constant barrage of jokes, witty humour and puns, that lingering fear towards her had quickly dissipated into a growing admiration. Not towards her pranks and occasional teasing, but towards her relentless pursuit of trying to make this community as closely-knitted as she possibly could, uniting people from all walks of life into a large, singular family to fight back against the Capitol.

And the time she had taken him and Fiona trekking to a beautiful, shimmering glacial lake in the heart of the Alaskan tundra had only strengthened their bond.

"I gotcha real good there, didn't I?" she teased. "Just like how we've got the Capitol real good in District Four, huh?"

The edges of Remus's lips poked into his cheeks, pushing forth a smile as the thought of the inevitable outcome of the storm brewing in Four seeped like a current into his mind. "Oh yes, have you contacted Marina yet?"

Oakette shook her head. "Nope, but I will soon. It was a real clever plan, wasn't it? Capturing the Capitol's very own dolphin mutts, taming them, using them as listening devices and battering rams against the Capitol, I mean. You were spot on with that one."

Remus gushed with pride at the thought of his strategy that he had recommended exactly a year ago. "Why thank you, Oakette. I'm just glad the rebels managed to use them to figure out how to dismantle the Peacekeepers' connection to the Capitol and the other Districts. Once that power is unleashed, well, the forces in Four will be nothing more than sitting ducks," he noted, chuckling as he thought of the impending end to Four's suffering at the hands of the Capitol.

The influence of the Capitol would soon fall at the hands of Remus Echoën.

Oakette grinned. "And your idea of using tiny rat mutts and underground pipelines to eradicate the Peacekeepers' hidden weapons stash? Incredible, I say. Four should give you an honorary title or something once they gain their freedom."

Remus waved the praise away. "Nah, I don't think that's necessary. I'm just glad I could help coordinate that first secret raid of the ammunition shelters."

"A mission you carried out beautifully well, darling," Oakette exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You, my dear boy, will go down in history."

Remus bowed his head slightly, his head taking a quick spin as the praise bombarded his brain, filling him with that feeling of validation that he had so desired as a young boy marked down as a potential laughingstock to the District.

Well who's laughing now, huh? Remus thought, licking his lips at the thought of those kids at the school cabin, the ones Fiona and Reuel had to help him fend off on a daily basis, and how it filled him with a sort of satisfaction knowing that they had achieved but a small fraction of his humongous success.

Turns out Remus Echoën wasn't so pathetic, eh?

Oakette had wandered over to the telephone sitting atop an old desk, the black, dusted body of the old ringer staring forlornly ahead, as if wishing for a fresh new start elsewhere. She dialled in a number, one Remus knew to be that of Marina Bluebell, the first ever Victor and the woman who spearheaded this rebellion. Without her, Districts Thirteen and Fourteen would be significantly weaker than they were today, and the idea of a separatist movement in Four could have never come to life. She was as important to their cause as Oakette or Atom Huang - Thirteen's president who had pledged a small sum of aid to help Four - were. Remus watched on, edging a tad closer out of a childish curiosity that had pushed him to listen in on secret discussions in the past, allowing him to gain an unprecedented amount of knowledge that he could tap on to improve his already sparkling image. He could hear a faint sputter, quickly followed by the familiar voice of Marina, who was presumably getting ready to board the train to the Capitol following Four's latest Reaping, the recaps of which Remus would be able to view later on once the Capitol broadcasters had edited any sort of rebellious gesture that might have arisen from the occasion. Of course, Marina wasn't in the Justice Building at the moment, at least not technically. Just as she had done so in prior years, she was probably in that special room hidden behind a secret cupboard that a past mayor had constructed, away from the prying eyes of the Peacekeepers and the rolling security cameras.

Because if she wasn't there, they were likely screwed.

"Hello?" Marina's voice cracked and fizzled, but her words were still barely intelligible.

"Hey there, Marina, it's your old pal Oakette," Oakette chattered, trying to contain an outburst of excited giggling. Remus stood there, a little awkwardly as the pair chatted on for a while, having known each other since the dawn of the Hunger Games. His gaze shifted to the other documents on Oakette's desk, deciding against listening in to the animated conversations between the two old friends. Most were on District Four, with the seafaring District being the focal point in Fourteen's ongoing scheme to take down Panem. A handful were on Districts One and Ten, where support for the rebel cause was going strong too for reasons of their own. The Ones were sick and tired of being treated like slaves to the Montgomeries and noble families, and yet the noble children's foolish love of volunteering had practically saved their lives, so the hatred would take a bit longer to brew in there. As for Ten, the bombing and militia had already begun in certain areas, but these were small and had been quickly quelled by domineering forces of Peacekeepers, who had swarmed the major cities just prior to the ongoing Reaping, enforcing stricter laws that had limited the rebels' capacity of sparking action to the furthest reaches of the District, where the Capitol's influence was weaker, however these areas were at the mercy of local lords and leaders, many of whom were unwilling to cooperate. Remus himself had tried to lead the negotiations, but he was quickly shut down by that Abi girl, who, after a bit of research, Remus found out to be a major psychopath. Not exactly the best choice of an ally in all honesty. There were also some photographs on the desk, photos of the bribery and corruption that ravaged the political structure of Panem, photos of the mass murder of District babies for experimentation purposes, photos of the savage life of a Victor, all of which had the power to turn the nation into chaos and disarray if they were used at the right timing.

And Remus had given the instructions on how to capture these moments himself.

A flush of pride swallowed him up, as he thought of all the things he had accomplished, all the acts and deeds that would most certainly prove his worth.

He was going down in the annals of history for sure.

Just then, his ears pricked up a certain verbal cue.

Rebellion.

He turned sharply on his heels, his attention instantly swivelling back to the phone conversation, where Oakette's voice had taken on a slightly more sinister tone.

"We have a lot to discuss, my dear friend, regarding our little rebellion," she sneered, giving Remus a wink as she listened to Marina's response, which Remus couldn't quite catch. A shame, really, he wanted to hear about her thoughts on their grand plan, especially considering the role she would play in it.

"But before we get to that, we would like you to become the new President of the Republic of California."

Remus could hardly keep in a little snicker.

California.

A name enriched with grandeur, an ancient name as timeless as the setting sun, a name that would soon flood the headlines of the Capitol and all of Panem.

A/N: What did you think of Remus? What did you think will happen to District Four? Let me know your thoughts in the reviews, I really do appreciate every single one of them aha. Sorry for the long wait for a chapter, the remaining submitters haven't sent in their tributes yet for completely valid reasons (please don't bug them to hurry up or anything, I have allowed them to take as much time as they need, their reasons for delaying the submissions are 100% cool with me). Also it's exam season so I can't exactly find much time to write aha, and that is kinda my excuse for the quality of this chapter too, I just haven't exactly felt like writing much lately for personal reasons, but yeah, glad I finally got my sh*t together to finish this one. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, especially Matt, Remus, chcolate and Tia who have consistently reviewed and Joseph with his slew of reviews during Sprntathon, you guys are the best. Also, I am once again advertising my dear twin Marie464's story Mission Zero, I know it would mean a lot to her if ya'll subbed so please do if you can lmao. And that's a wrap for today, hope ya'll enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Cheers:)