once upon a time • finnick odair

xxi. are we alive and well?

"This is Finnick Odair—winner of the 65th Hunger Games. And I'm coming to you from District 13, alive and well," Finnick's voice started to echo throughout all of District 13, his face reflected across all the screens, and his green eyes boring into the camera. "We've survived an assault from the Capitol. But I'm not here to give you recent news."

"Why is Finnick doing a propo?" Katniss whispered as she came into the command center with Haymitch, who had chased after her as soon as she ran off at the news of Gale's participation in the rescue mission.

"It's a lot more than that," said Haymitch.

"Beetee's commandeered the system," Coin said, as if that was an explanation.

Haymitch looked at Beetee, silently asking him for an explanation, and Beetee obeyed. 

"Now that they're down to generator power there's a more limited range of frequencies available to them. And I'm filling them all up with Finnick," Beetee explained.

"Not many will see it, but whoever does will think it's another propo," Plutarch added.

Beetee seemed to be excited to be explaining what this meant as his face lit up. "What they don't know is this broadcast is jamming their entire system with noise. Early defense warning, internal communications, everything. As long as the broadcast goes through, our team should be able to get in and out undetected."

"The truth," Finnick's voice rang throughout the command center. "Not the myths about a life of luxury. Not the lie about glory for your homeland. You can survive the arena. The moment you leave, you're a slave."

Katniss looked up at the screen at the front, at Finnick's tired look, then back at the camera in the rescue team's hovercraft.

"President Snow used to sell me," Finnick said, his voice strained. "Or my body, at least. I wasn't ... the only one. If a Victor is considered desirable, the President gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them. If you refuse, he kills someone you love."

Devon.

The one name ringing through Finnick's voice, unspoken, echoed throughout Katniss' ears.

His whole family was killed, Finnick had said softly. Official reason was a gas leak, but ... it wasn't possible.

"Mockingjay One, you are 20 seconds from perimeter defense," one of the members of the command center said.

"Ten seconds," the leader of the rescue team counted down, and Katniss could swear that the whole room fell silent, only the voice of Finnick and the leader's voice echoing throughout the room. "Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One."

"No response from perimeter defense," a woman declared. "We're inside Capitol airspace." 

Beetee cheered silently from his chair while Coin fisted her hand in triumph.

"To make themselves feel better, my patrons would make presents of money or jewelry," Finnick continued. "But I found a much more valuable form of payment. Secrets. See, I know all the depravity, the deceit, and the cruelty of the Capitol's pampered elite. But the biggest secrets are about our good President, Coriolanus Snow."

Katniss took a step toward the screen, and whether it was toward Finnick or the rescue team, who was scanning the area and about to break and enter, she didn't know. She doubted she'd ever know.

"Such a young man when he rose to power. Such a clever one to keep it. How, you may ask, did he do it?" Finnick stopped for a second before upturning his lips in a scorning smile. "One word. Poison.