Kindling the Spark

Revenge

25: Revenge

Snow POV

I raise a glass of water to my lips. Normally, to celebrate the end of the Games, it would be wine. But the end of these Games wasn't a clear-cut victory for the Capitol like I had intended with Seneca. I taste blood in my mouth and grimace. Another reminder of a plot which succeeded but not quite. I swallow it down and touch my lips. A sacrifice that was worth the reward.

We have Katniss Everdeen. The mockingjay of the rebellion, she'll be a valuable tool in our hands. I know that their other symbol, Gale, is willing to die for her if need be. Perhaps I could make a deal with him. They try to call of the revolution in exchange for a long and happy life together.

But no. That won't happen, I know. It's gone too far for that. It had gone too far for that as soon as Seneca let them leave the Games. I offered that to Gale and Katniss and they made an attempt. Not a good attempt admittedly, but if it had been a small thing it would have been enough. No. The rebellion has spread further than Everdeen and Hawthorne now. All across Panem the peacekeepers have been overstretched preventing riots.

I replay the footage of what happened. The lightning strikes and at the same time, Beetee fires his arrow with the wire attached to the tree. The arrow hits the force field and it explodes. The screen goes white for a few seconds. A simple enough plan. Beetee is a genius, but it doesn't take a genius to realise the havoc that such amounts of electricity could wreak with the technology.

And there lies the problem. Even though we captured the mockingjay, they still managed to interrupt the Games and show that they are a force to be reckoned with. And although most people, Capitolites or District, don't know that District Thirteen exists, I can't expect that that will last much longer.

They'll be using Gale to make propaganda videos and distributing them around the Districts, they'll be attacking. They will undoubtably make their existence pretty noticeable. The District people will flock to Thirteen in hopes of joining the rebellion and Thirteen will accept every one of them.

The time for diplomacy has ended. At this point, the only thing that will keep the people in line is fear. A show of power is needed. The rebellion takes the Games, we take.. What? How much of a show of power does it have to be to keep the people in line? I think back to the first rebellion.

It ended quickly after District Thirteen went underground. That could have been because of the lack of nuclear weapons, but we didn't use ours either at any point due to the after effects. But they saw us destroy an entire District. That's the sort of power that I need to show them that we have right now.

"Call my advisors," I order my assistant. She nods her head and exits the room. I like this one. She doesn't talk, she's competent and she does exactly as I tell her. Perhaps it's because she knows what will happen to her loved ones if she tells my secrets to people whose ears they should not reach.

They come quickly. They've probably been waiting for that call ever since the force field exploded and most of the tributes were captured. That District Seven female, Johanna Mason, was the only one who got out. It's enough to show that we don't have full control though. Their machinery brought down one of the best Capitol military hovercrafts.

"I'm sure that you all know what this meeting is about." I turn the screen around to them and replay the footage again. "Katniss Everdeen and the rebellion. We have talked about this before. I don't want repeats of the old ideas. I need your help to plan a show of power to reestablish our control."

"What sort of show of power are you looking for Sir?" asks Remus.

"The sort which you can help with. What do we have in the way of explosives?"