Defenders: The Fighters of 13. Pt 1

Chapter 6

AN: It's been over five years since the hiatus began for this series, which my co-author and I are deeply apologizing for. Life has been crazy and has made writing our last priority. If any of the readers from before actually read this after this long, you guys are amazing and we couldn't ask for better people to read our works. It has been nearly 10 years since we first began writing Defenders in 2012. For those that have kept with us on this journey, we thank you. This project is nearly finished, and we have big plans for this series ending. We just hope there are those still wishing to read it after so many years. So thank you again, and ENJOY the chapter that is 5 years in the making. xoxo Meg and Em.

Chapter 6

Collin's POV

Me and the new team are sitting in a circle, their leader isn't here yet to give us instruction so they're interrogating me while I try to eat a bag of chips. The typical questions of; are you really from district 2? Why did you switch teams? And the ever exciting; did you really put the bone in Meg Cassaubone?

Thankfully the leader of the team, a woman lieutenant I only know by the name of August, shows up before I could answer the last one. She's very tall, with a pointed face and sharp features. Her dark hair, pulled back into a tight bun, though it was hard to tell how old she was, she looked to be in her thirties but the slight graying of her hair could suggest older.

"Okay team, face me and listen up." We do as we're told, "Now, first to the obvious and less important news, we have a new member, Collin Venwan. Yes, he is new, but he will follow orders and work with us as a unit, am I correct, soldier?"

"Yes, ma'am." I say. She nods and continues.

"More importantly, there has been a change in our mission. We will no longer be scouting the perimeter." She pulls out a holographic map of the territory occupied by the Capitol, and the half that we have taken back. Them shown in red, us in blue. The border between the two is obvious, however there is one small road in our territory, marked in purple.

"This purple line is where we are going," she presses a button and the image changes to a security camera "This is footage from last night. Capitol soldiers came down this street, killed the soldiers who were on guard, and shot out the security cameras we had set up."

The footage begins to play, two of our own patrol the street in view of the camera. Everything seems normal when suddenly the two are shot down by unseen gunmen. For the next few minutes it's a shootout between our soldiers and the invading Capitol soldiers. It's unclear how many are killed, as both sides are just out of shot of the camera. But it's clear who the winners are as the Capitol soldiers continue down the street. Then the camera is shot out and the footage is over.

One guy, I think his name is Parson, speaks up "Why the sudden change? Aren't there squads closer to the area that could check it out?"

"There are, and they'll be backing us up for the most part, but many of them were already on patrol, while we need to investigate this part, we can't leave other places weak and unguarded." We nod a bit in agreement, "However, while the drones came back with no signs of Capitol soldiers still in the area, we cannot guarantee this, so be on alert at all times. We also suspect they have traps set up as well, so watch where you step."

We all nod and grab our things, as we prepare to head out to the invaded street. Though 13 has occupied most of District 5, we go on foot, not wanting to risk taking a hovercraft so close to the border. I walk beside a rookie named Ezekiel Woods. I read the files of everyone in this squad last night; Ezekiel enlisted recently from District 7, 18 years old and talented in short range combat. Not much else in his file other than his father was killed shortly after Katniss's rebellion.