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Twice Chosen

"You turned them down?" Rue looked at me in surprise as the six of us stood with Alpha in front of Zordon.

"I made it clear to them that I wasn't going to agree to anything without getting some guarantees that they weren't going to continue with attacks that at least risk killing innocent people," I corrected her. "I get that we need allies if we're going to get rid of President Snow, but I'm not going to work with people who act like that kind of collateral damage is acceptable."

"A wise decision, Katniss," Zordon said. "As you observe, you require allies if you are going to topple the Capitol without setting yourselves up to replace it, but you must ensure that those allies will not simply repeat the errors of the current administration."

"Yeah," Thresh nodded. "Don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want us turning into another Capitol after all this."

"Another?" Rue looked at him curiously.

"Maybe some people decide when everything's over that they'd like to see some of the Capitol's kids in the arena instead of the District's?"

"What?" Peeta looked incredulously at Thresh. "You seriously-?"

"I wouldn't do it, but I can think of a few people I know who would," Thresh quickly clarified. "They'd probably say it would just be a one-off to make a point to the Capitol, but who's to say that's not how some people thought the Hunger Games would be at first?"

"The point is that we're not going to let that kind of thing happen," Liv said, stepping between Thresh and Peeta as they stared at each other with increasingly twisted expressions on their faces. "Whoever ends up in power when this is all over, one of our first conditions is that we won't allow the Games to continue."

"…Yeah," Glimmer nodded, her tone tentative even as she looked around the room. When she realised that the rest of us were looking at her, the former resident of District One folded her arms defensively. "Hey, I grew up being told it was an honour to fight for my district; forgive me if twelve years of lessons don't just go away overnight!"

"That's fair," I nodded at her, not wanting to get drawn into another inter-team argument before I turned back to Zordon and Alpha. "OK, so getting back to the call I got from Thirteen… how worried should we be that they were able to access the radio in my zord?"

"For what it's worth, you don't need to be concerned that they'll be able to intercept our own messages," Alpha said. "Transmitting to the zords is one thing as they have to be a bit open to let you talk with other people on this planet, but the ship's operating system is so alien that they'd never be able to break into its broadcasting system unless they were actually here and had a direct physical access port."

"That makes sense," Liv nodded.

"OK, we're keeping Thirteen out of the overall loop; does that mean we're not working with them at all?" Thresh asked.

"We pursue our own plans, but… keep the option for us to talk with Thirteen in the future," I said at last. "We can't take on the Capitol by ourselves, but like Peeta said, we don't want to just end up with someone else taking over for the Capitol once it's all been dealt with."

I was glad to see the rest of the team nod in agreement at my words. I might still be finding my way as a leader, but seeing them agree with my decision helped me feel as though I was making the right calls, and not just floundering around making plans to hit things.

"Right," I clapped my hands together, trying to sound like a professional organiser as I looked around the room. "Since we were interrupted when we were going to send that broadcast like we planned, would anyone be interested in trying that again?"

"So long as we also use it to announce our intent to kick some ass straight afterwards," Glimmer put in as she slammed her fist into the palm of her other hand. "Thirteen got everyone worked up, so now it's time to strike while everyone's already reeling."

"Uh… just so I'm clear, are we working with Thirteen, or not?" Rue raised a cautious hand.

"We're doing our thing and they're doing their thing; so long as we don't get confused and try for the same target at the same time, I think this'll work," Glimmer shrugged at our 'mascot' before turning back to me. "Shall we morph up and get back to the message?"

Standing back in the cavern in front of the zords, I smiled at the thought of our new second chance at striking a more subtle blow against the Capitol. I still wasn't sure if I would be comfortable speaking like this if people knew I was the Red Ranger, but I could certainly see myself trying to 'sponsor' my other identity. As before, Alpha was set up to act as the camera while we stood in front of the zords, the large animals moving under remote control to reinforce the idea that we were separate people. I was fairly sure that all of us were going to stick to the original 'script' we'd used for the first broadcast, but we had a few more details to address now as well.

"We are the lost tributes of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games," I began again (the statement felt overly dramatic, but it still worked), "and we are here to confirm that we are not dead."

"But the Games are still over," Glimmer cut in, leaning over to give the camera a cool stare. "Because we refuse to fight each other again."

"We were saved by the Power Rangers because they had to speak with someone to learn about the world we lived in, and once we were questioned by outsiders… well, it wasn't hard for us to realise that this way of life doesn't work," Peeta spoke up.

"The Rangers came to protect us from things like the golden monster that attacked District Eleven, but they're not going to leave us to live in fear of the Capitol any more," Liv put in.

"And the goal here isn't just to blow up what they don't like," Thresh put in. "Thirteen started this, but the Rangers aren't going to let that kind of thing go on any more."

"The Capitol don't have the right to continue their Games and act like they're allowed to keep blaming us for what our ancestors did," Peeta continued. "We've been forced to see each other as enemies for decades, but that has to stop now if we're going to move onward and actually heal as a society."

"I realise that we're just kids, but should we have to keep paying for a rebellion that happened before most of us were even born?" Rue said.

"Speaking from personal experience, they never cared about my family when my father died in a mining accident," I put in. "If the Capitol were the good leaders they claim to be, shouldn't they do more to help us than give out food in exchange for earning more places in a death contest?"

"And before anyone starts trying to claim that this is just the loser Districts complaining about the way they've been treated, I'll remind you all that I'm from One," Glimmer cut in with a bitter glare. "I was told that it was meant to be an honour to represent my District, but after all that training, what did I do with it? I killed a bunch of kids who didn't want to be there and weren't even seriously trying to kill me in turn; they just wanted to stay alive, that doesn't mean they wanted me dead!"

"The Capitol have spent the last few decades encouraging the Games to make us think of the other Districts as our enemies, but the Capitol is the only real enemy we have," Liv said, her tone just as firm as when we tried to make our previous recording. "The Rangers and Thirteen are going to help us all change things, but that doesn't mean we can't do things ourselves."

"So watch out, Snow," I said, raising my bow and moving a hand to my back as though I was preparing to draw an arrow. "You've kept us in chains for decades… and now it's time for us to strike back."

With that, Alpha cut the transmission and gave us a thumbs-up, his head tilted in a manner that I had come to recognise as his equivalent of a smile.

"Right," I said, turning to look at the others, "is everyone satisfied with our choice of targets?"

"You sure you can do this?" Glimmer looked at me. "I mean, we had reasons for not sending me and Blue to our Districts-"

"I have to know they're safe," I said, hoping I wasn't coming across as a hypocrite. "Besides, we've already been to other Districts as the Rangers, so now we have a reason to know what Peacekeeper headquarters looks like in each."

"Is it really going to be that simple?" Alpha asked. "You attack the main Peacekeeper facility in each District and that's it?"

"Obviously it's going to be trickier when we're dealing with the more loyal Districts, but Twelve doesn't have much going for it and it's pretty much an open secret that Four just goes along with everything because it's easier that way," Glimmer said. "If we can take down the Peacekeepers quickly enough, Finnick and a few other Victors should be able to help us get a good bit of influence with the rest of the District."

"Is that why you want to go to Four?" Rue asked.

"Well, I'm not going to lie and say I'm not looking forward to seeing the beach," Glimmer gave a teasing grin. "Hey, it's one of the things pretty much every Victor agrees is a great sight; as the one who's wanted to see it the longest, I think I'm pretty much entitled to at least one peek."

"Right…" I nodded, before I turned to address the others. "OK, so Liv and I go to Twelve, and the rest of you go to Four; hit the Peacekeeper base hard and fast right now, and there shouldn't be many people in there."

"Take away their power without hurting anyone; sounds like a good plan," Thresh nodded at me.

"I'll transmit the broadcast once you've left the cavern," Alpha nodded at us.

"Right," Glimmer nodded. "Get the right people worried about what we're going to do next and they won't be ready for us to make our next move."

"And what will you do after that?" Alpha asked.

"Check with Thirteen and see what feels right," I said with a firm nod. "We'll have established a presence and shown we have the power to back up our position; we can take it from there."