An Extra Tribute

-new couple in town-

We stand in a line behind Coin as she preaches to the entirety of 13. I stand on Katniss' right, as this has become my new position, with Finnick on my other side. I exchange looks with him as the lights dim and our new propo begins playing on large, hanging screens.

It starts completely black before a small spark in the center begins burning. The black screen burns away into the Mockingjay symbol that matches the pin on my chest and Claudius Templesmith's voice echoes through the hall. "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, burns on." Katniss appears on screen in front of the destroyed hospital. In the background, Gale and I hold the little girl as people run, screaming behind us.

"I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors." On the last sentence, Katniss' voice appears over a clip of the wreckage and the bombs dropping. It shows the roof caving in and all the sobs and yells of terror are heard underneath her words.

"I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do." The scene flips to Katniss again as she turns, pointing to the wrecked Capitol hovercraft dripping in flames and ash. "This is what they do! And we must fight back!" In quick clips, they show us shooting down the hovercrafts, me throwing the jars and shooting, Gale taking down the two he shot, Paylor and her soldier's as well, but it mainly stays with Katniss. The final scene in the montage is Katniss and I standing in the burning debris, with me in my usual stance, back and to the right of her with the camera centralized on her. It blurs the background, including me, as words fly across the screen. Join the Mockingjay. Then, the screen burns away and Katniss disappears, being replaced with the Mockingjay symbol. But, it's changed. Its wings are open and its back is flushed against the outer circle. Join the fight. It finishes with Rue's whistle. I see Katniss flinch at the four notes.

The room erupts in cheering as Katniss looks at me. I shake my head and Coin pulls her up, speaking with her quietly. I'm left with Gale and Finnick at my sides and we all share a look of discomfort and annoyance. 13 starts chanting. "Hoo rah! Hoo rah! Hoo rah!" A few moments later, Katniss rejoins us, taking on our appearance as well. Finnick leans into the group, aiming his words at Katniss.

"What? Don't like hearing a war chant at a funeral?" He asks.

I sit in Control next to Gale with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Did it play all over Panem? Did they see it in the Capitol?" Katniss asks.

"Not in the Capitol, " Heavensbee replies. "We couldn't override their system, although Beetee's working on it. But in all the districts. We even got it on in Two, which may be more valuable than the Capitol at this point in the game."

"Is Claudius Templesmith with us?" She asks. I laugh.

"Just his voice," I assume.

"But that's ours for the taking. We didn't even have to do any special editing. He said that actual line in your first Games," adds Heavensbee.

"I do have to question the wide margin of risk that you were willing to operate within. I know the raid was unforeseen. However, given the circumstances, I think we should discuss the decision to send Katniss into actual combat," Coin says. Oh my gosh, they don't know that we completely disregarded orders, with Katniss ripping her earpiece out and booking it from Boggs. She thinks that Boggs sent her in.

"It was a tough call, " Heavensbee admits, though he's lying straight to her face. "But the general consensus was that we weren't going to get anything worth using if we locked her in a bunker somewhere every time a gun went off."