Catching Fire: You and Me

Chapter 24:

"ho-ly shit." Peeta says when he sees the full view of the city.

"yeah, well plenty of time for that later. we have to get underground of the CIA in case any bombs come down." i say casually and drag him along toward the headquarters.

"CIA?" he asks.

"central intelligence agency. its like the peacekeepers association, but they kill less people."

"oh." he says.

"Madame, monsieur. nous avons besoin de descendre maintenant. les troupes de Panem sont sur leur chemin, et qui sait combien ils sont lourdement armés!" Capt. Moreau shouts coming from the secret entrance behind the palace.

"je sais! nous arrivons, juste ne pas crier après lui, il ne vous comprends pas." i say trying to stifle my ugly laugh.

"are you talking about me?" Peeta asks.

"not at all." i say smiling."well come on! we have to go!"

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***

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"Katniss!" some yells and i growl. "where's the elevator?" 

"over there, Haymitch, now stop calling me that."

"whatever." my drunken mentor says running down the hall.

"Catilliana. Nous avons besoin de commande, les dirigeants discutent des tactiques et ils ont besoin de votre dernier mot." Alyssandra calls, straightening her stack of papers as she rushes off.

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***

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"Alright what do you want?" i say walking into the command room like i was told too. 

"Très bien. les métiers sont en provenance de l'ouest." Epinine says.

"maybe some english? some people here are illiterate."i scoff. 

"uh."she starts off with her think flowy french accent. "i said the crafts are coming in from the west. if we put up the force field, they'll be stopped before they can ever get into the city. i dont know if they'll try and invade from the outside but the dome only stretches over the witdth of Paris and the two sorrounding cities." she explains.

"you can do that?" Avala Coin asks.

"yeah. one thing you lack in Panem, is the amount of willing and inspired labor of the citizens. here, people want to establish better technology to improve the country's well-being. all you had was district 3, and they were miserable in the factories."i say.

"oui. here, new discoveries are rewarded with cash grants and praise." Ambrielle says.

"in Panem, you get an upgrade. and by upgrade i mean you work 4 more hours a day and get pressured into finding new ideas." Beetee says. 

"alright, i need to get all of this straight." i admit. "i know all of you." i gesture to the French representitives, "but i dont know which of you understand what languages." i point at the Panem side, "i know Coin, Haymitch and Plutarch, but none of you do French." i take a deep breath. "does anyone not follow me?" a few look confused. "this is not going to be easy." i say.

"maybe, you should go work on organizng the rebels." Fontine suggests. "i mean any  of the differences here we can settle ourselves, no offense."

"plenty taken." i snip. "who else here has lived a substantial amount of time in both regions? certainly not you,  chienne."