Princess of Panem

2.3

"Madam President if I may?" Haymitch asked. Cordelia was still trying to not laugh. Johanna was snickering next to her. "Name a time when Katniss truly moved your hearts, not when you were jealous of her dress or nails, or when Peeta made you like her, when you liked her." Effie the Capitol woman Cordelia recently met shot her hand up. "When she volunteered for Prim." Katniss sent the woman a small smile. "Hope that wasn't important." Haymitch whispered swiping the board and writing volunteer for sister. "What else." Again Effie's hand shot up. "When she sang that song for little Rue." Haymitch smirked.

"Aw, who didn't get choked up on that." He again wrote on the board. "I like you better Effie without all the makeup." Effie smirked. "And I like you sober." Cordelia chuckled. "You got something Kane?" Haymitch did not appreciate being laughed at. "When she demanded the rescue of captives?" It came out as more of a question. Haymitch rolled his eyes but wrote it down. "What's common between all of these?" Finnick stopped playing with a pen. "She did it all on her own, no one told her what to do." Haymitch pointed the pen a Finnick. "Bingo, she did it on her own. Katniss can't be coached into it, believe me, I tried." Katniss glared at her mentor.

"So you're saying we put her into the field?" Plutarch asked. Haymitch nodded. "And wipe that makeup off her, you made her look thirty she's still a kid." Katniss sent Boggs a smile. "I can't send an untrained civilian into a war zone, we're not the Capitol." Coin said shutting down the idea. "With all due respect, I wouldn't call Katniss an untrained civilian, and you could never guarantee her safety so don't try that excuse. I could argue that almost every Victor here is better than an untrained civilian. I was in the Games, you know the ones where they kill 23 children for entertainment, the same ones you let go on for 75 years because you were too weak to support the rebellion. No one who went in there came out untrained." Coin glared at her.

"And if she dies?" Coin asked smirking thinking she had trapped them. "Get it on camera." Katniss answered leaning back in her chair. Haymitch shrugged. "We could send her to eight, they were bombed, there's a hospital should be completely safe." Beetee announced after typing on a tablet a bit. Plutarch turned to Coin. "Fine, you're all dismissed." Just as they were leaving Beetee called out. "I have something for you guys." He led them to a different floor, weapons all over the place.

"What's this?" Finnick questioned looking at a sketched out prototype. "Bomb." Gale answered. "We managed to find out the Peacekeepers guarding are being fed using the parachutes from the Games, so if we could make replicas but bombs, it'd be a lot easier to save the captives." Cordelia had always hated bombs, they almost always ended up with innocents dying. But the plan was to save her family and it seemed foolproof, it had to work. "It's risky." Finnick noted.

"If we figure out the right time we could do it." Gale muttered hopeful. Cordelia had a feeling Melody was worried about it and Gale wanted her happy. "Well the bombs are fascinating this is what I called you for." Beetee pointed to five weapons lying on a table. There was a bow and some arrows, a trident, knives, an axe, and a crossbow. Beetee explained the different arrows to Katniss while Gale played around with the crossbow. "Thanks Beetee." Johanna whispered swinging the axe around. Finnick picked up the trident smirking at how perfect it felt.

"The knives are specially designed for you, I'm aware you don't have a real signature weapon but I thought you'd like these." She smiled putting the belt on. It felt so natural pulling a knife out and the knife itself was perfect. "They're poisoned the ones with green handles, the ones with black handles are normal." That would be important to remember. "Red?" Beetee smiled. "Hot, they burn the wound making it almost impossible to remove." Katniss stared at them with fear. "Good thing you're not colorblind." Finnick joked.

"Are you joining?" Gale asked referring to the trip to 8. "No, Plutarch needs me for wedding thing, to be honest I'd rather do with you." Gale laughed putting the crossbow down. "How's Finnick." The man was twirling his trident around trying to outdo Johanna's spinning. "He's doing better, he and Atlas were close. He's Leila's godfather so I think it's hard on him knowing Atlas is there." Gale nodded. "Mel worries about Jonah, says she wishes she'd demanded he go with her instead of waiting for everyone else to go." Cordelia nodded. Mel and Jonah had always been closer.