Lethal Charm - THG [1]

29

President Snow was a cruel man. Everybody knew that, even his most loyal supporters. But few had whitenesses up close the atrocities and suffering he inflicted on others.

Despite their successful mission to rescue the captive victors from the Capitol, Snow had still managed to sink in his claws and torment the rebels; particularly their mockingjay.

When Katniss went to see Peeta, she was not greeted by the warm, bakers boy she'd known before. Rather she was attacked and almost strangled to death by a shell of a boy she once knew.

Peeta had been tortured by Snow and drugged with tracker jacket venom and convinced to believe that Katniss was a capitol mutt and she couldn't be trusted.

He wasn't himself anymore, he couldn't tell what was real and what was fake. Snow had broken him down to nothing. Knox couldn't think of a person who deserved such a fate; certainly not Peeta.

Though, Peeta was in the worst condition of them all, Annie and Johanna were both extremely weak and broken themselves.

Annie, fragile even before captivity, hadn't left Finnick's side in the days since her rescue and Knox knew he was more than happy to never let her go again.

Johanna was angrier than before, if that was even possible, but she was frail and weak. Her hair, as it turns out, had been shaved to make it easier to torture her with electricity. She had been repeatedly doused in water and shocked over and over.

When she found out, Knox felt sick to her stomach that she'd been moping about district 13 while Johanna had to endure the unimaginable. She was so angry she could have marched up the the Capitol that second and killed Snow where he stood.

But that wasn't possible. In reality, any fantasies about murdering Snow for all of Panem to see was just that, a fantasy.

They had a cause to protect, they had duties to fulfil here in 13. So the fantasies of presidential assassination had been stalled until further notice.

Katniss was more determined than ever now, which lead to where they were now on a jet about to land in district 2.

"Welcome to district 2. I'm corporal homes," a man in a military uniform greeted as they stepped off of the jet outside of the justice building, "follow me please,"

As they followed him towards the broken down building an explosion sounded in the distance, "don't worry," said Homes amusedly as they flinched at the noise, "it's just how the loyalists say 'good morning'"

They were lead inside the building to a large hall where they were gathered around a table that a hologram sat upon in font of Lyme, the district 2 leader. A screen was set up in front of the table streaming a call with President Coin who had remained in 13.

"President Coin we are indebted to you for the reinforcements and the Mockingjay." said Lyme, "but I'm not sure that anyone outside of 2 knows what we've been up against." She pressed something on the hologram in front of her, zooming in on something, "this is the nut. The capitols headquarters for all offensive operations." She explained the structure she'd zoomed in on, "it's manned by both military and civilian personnel from district 2. As you can see the fortress lies so far beneath the bedrock it's untouchable. Yesterday we attempted to take the northeastern gate. The enemy countered from higher up and we were forced to pull back. We took heavy losses,"

"Could we create a decoy?" The commander from district 5 suggested, "send troops towards one gate, launch a staggered attack on another,"

"Who's troops do you propose as a decoy commander?" Commander Paylor questioned pointedly.

"We have the Mockingjay," said President Coin, "don't underestimate her. We could use her to erode support. She may be able to sway some of the loyalists."

"You've been underground a long time madam Coin," said Lyme, "this isn't like the rest of Panem. Support for the capitol runs deep here."

"Then there is no sacrifice too great," Coin continued to insist, "we need to control the arsenal inside that fortress. Even with every district in this alliance we are outgunned."

"I wont commit my people to a ground assault just to pillage weapons," Paylor refused.

Coin stared pointedly at commander Paylor, "Commander Paylor, your people have suffered more than just about anyone else at the hands of the Capitol."

"Which is why I won't condone a mass suicide." Paylor argued, standing her ground.

Knox could tell that Coin was losing patience, desperate to get her way she continued, "If we don't take district 2, we won't get into the Capitol."

"Would it be enough to disable the fortress?" Gale asked, breaking up the heated debate with a new suggestion, "instead of taking it?"

"What do you have in mind?" Lyme asked.

"You think of it like a wolf den," Gale began, "you're not going to fight your way in so you've got two choices. You trap the wolves inside or you flush em out. If we can't attack straight on, could we use a hover craft to strike around it? We'll use the mountains. We'll hit weak spots in the peaks."

"We could design the bomb targets in sequence using seismic data," Beetee explained.

"Trigger avalanches." Lyme followed.

"Block all exits, cut off their supplies. You make it impossible for them to launch their hovercraft."

"Bury them alive?"

"We'd forfeit any chance to control the weapons."

"Yes but we'd face a weakened Capitol," said Beetee.

"There's civilians in there," Boggs pointed out, "they should be given a chance to surrender. Could use the supply tunnel for the evacuees."

"It's a luxury we weren't given when they firebombed 12." said Gale bitterly.

"That kind of thinking leads to irrational decisions, Gale," said Knox pointedly, "careful. Your making it personal when it shouldn't be."

"There's gotta be a better way," said Katniss.

"I suggest we try the avalanche," said Coin, "but leave the train tunnel alone. Civilians can escape into the square, where our armies will be waiting for their surrender."

"We should have every available emergency medic standing by." said Paylor.

"And if they won't surrender?" Lyme questioned.

"Then we will need a compelling voice to persuade them,"