Chapter Text
Silence rings out after I finish and the air feels static with something I am unable to name.
No one has time to truly react before red lights flash, gasps are heard, and a loud siren rings.
I stand immediately and Paylor’s face pales before she runs back down the tunnel the way we came.
I don’t think and neither does any of the rest of the crew.
We follow.
Our boots kick up dust as we race down the corridor, anyone of able body, and of age, following us without hesitation.
The part that takes the longest is getting up the ladder.
Gale pushes me behind him before I can start ascending. Telling me he will go first after Boggs and make sure it’s clear for us, even though Boggs just said the same thing.
Peeta cuts off my rebuttal before it starts with an arm around my center and Gale doesn’t wait long enough for me to argue anyway. None of us have time for that.
The light is bright when I finally have my turn to come up after Boggs, Gale, Finnick, Holmes, and Castor.
Peeta follows right behind me with Johanna right behind him and the rest of the camera crew; not including Mitchell who is at the very end, bringing up the rear.
I expect hovercrafts and bombs and chaos when I reach the surface.
It sure is chaos but not at all what I was expecting.
A hundred white boots and helmets gleam the bright sunlight back towards us and people are fighting back.
The peacekeepers out number us by double at least.
The rebels are throwing glass bottles with fire lit rags into the large groups. Shots ring from the rooftops across the square. People are hiding in the shadows, just waiting for their chance at pouncing.
Peacekeepers on the ground walk with batons and electrified cattle prods like we saw in District 10.
I can’t see any guns though and I can’t stop my brain from focusing on the chaos long enough to think of why that is.
“They aren’t looking to kill… not yet." Finnick whispers the answer as we hide in the half ruined building, trying to come up with a plan while we wait for the rest of our squad to come up from the underground.
I know what he’s not saying.
They’re here to capture.
They're here to capture me.
Boggs leans in towards the group as Mitchell’s head finally comes up from below, “the hovercraft is ready but we have to get back to where we came in, it’s the closest spot large enough.”
That’s at least six blocks away with peacekeepers in every direction.
We are going to have to fight our way through.
Finnick squeezes my shoulder with one hand and grips his trident tighter in the other.
Peeta has his sword in his own hand and his eyes never stop moving as he tracks peacekeeper movement through the mayhem, trying to find a pattern.
Johanna's jaw is clenched so hard that I’m scared for her teeth and Gale just moves his weight to the balls of his feet, ready to run as soon as he’s told to.
“On my count,” Boggs says as he sees us all ready ourselves. “Three. Two. Go.”
We burst from the rubble and three peacekeepers fall in succession from bullets and an arrow as they were in the direction we were running.
Cheers ring out from the gathered rebels who see us and the fighting kicks up another notch.
After about a block and a half, a peacekeeper approaches me from the right, his prod already lit with electricity as it crackles.
I hear calls of “it’s the mockingjay!” I can’t focus on them though because the burley peacekeeper in front of me wastes no time trying to stick me with the prod.
I duck under it and kick the back of his knee in, making him face plant to the ground. I don't waste time or arrows on completely incapacitating him. This is a speed mission to get to the hovercraft.
I hear someone yell out in pain as they get stuck with volts of electricity so I run towards the sound and a woman falls to the ground, a peacekeeper standing over her and continuing to poke at her even as she is flailing in pain and has already dropped her stolen gun, completely disarmed and vulnerable.
He gets a bullet to the neck before I can let go of my bowstring and Cressida is yelling at me to keep going before she disappears around a corner.
Peeta falls in on my left and Johanna on my right as we run up another block before five peacekeepers try to block our way.
Finnick skids to a stop directly behind us and we don’t waste any time.
An axe meets a baton and a trident clashes against another. Peeta uses his considerable strength to pull a third towards him with their baton as he pushes his sword into their gut and I use my bow to block a baton before using an arrow to slice a fourth one’s throat.
The fifth peacekeeper has disappeared and we don’t have time to even think about where they could have gone before we are running off again.
I watch three peacekeepers fall to Holmes, Boggs, and Mitchell as we join them another block up and we are just about to turn around the last corner when I feel myself get pulled back by my braid.
I am thrown against a brick wall so harshly that I get the wind knocked out of my lungs, stopping the cry for help that was just a second from escaping.
The peacekeeper tries to hit me with his baton in the head but I duck just in time and he gets a punch to his ribs for his attempt. He snarls at me angrily, reminding me more of a mutt than a man but then another peacekeeper comes to a stop right behind him and I know I am screwed when the new peacekeeper takes his prod and electrifies it.
I am preparing for the volts to race through my body when he turns to his fellow peacekeeper in white and stuns him in the neck.
I blink at the scene in front of me, absolutely shocked before I realize that I recognize his voice.
“Go! Katniss. Go!” He calls, trying to push me forward.
A voice I remember from the Hob, young and flirty as he playfully messed with me and Gale over a bowl of Greasy Sae’s mystery meat soup.
Darius has just rescued me from capture.
I don’t waste the opportunity and I almost run straight into Peeta who had, of course, noticed I was missing and returned back for me.
“Run!” I yell, grabbing his hand as everyone else waves for us to hurry from the hovercraft across the square.
We sprint faster than we ever have, not looking back as heavy footsteps crunch the gravel not far behind us in chase and as soon as we step into the hovercraft, without waiting for the ramp to close, we are up and moving. Peeta and I grab the closest thing to us to make sure we aren’t sucked out as the ramp finally starts to close, way too slowly for my liking.
Gale grabs me and Finnick grabs Peeta and they bodily jerk us towards them as the ramp closes enough for the danger of being sucked out to pass.
“Dammit Katniss!" Gale wraps his arms around me, his breathing heavy and panic filled. “You barely made it!”
“Darius.” Is all I can choke out as I struggle to catch my breath.
Gale startles and drops his arms which allows me to finally collapse on the ground, my chest rising rapidly as panic, adrenaline, and exertion finally catch up to me. Peeta is the same beside me.
“Get buckled!” Our pilot yells, breaking all of us out of our stupor, though Gale does send me a questioning look which means my Darius comment will not be overlooked once things calm down.
Everyone scrambles into the closest seat as our pilot flicks switches and presses buttons and suddenly comms can be heard through the entire plane.
“Base? We have a tail!” Our pilot shouts, and immediately the craft drops and my stomach rises to my throat.
I meet Peeta’s eyes from our seat across from each other and don’t look away.
“Copy.” Base answers, “cloaking functional?”
“Affirmative.” Our pilot answers. “Deploying.”
Nothing changes for us for a moment, “cloaking is functional but somehow they still know where we are.” Our pilot sounds panicked which cannot be good and suddenly we drop again. “They can’t see us, they didn’t drop in pursuit,” our pilot completely contradicts himself not a second later. “They’re still following though.”
“They’re trying to see where we land in 13.” Boggs tells the pilot. “Reroute directions.”
The pilot doesn't wait and we all get flung slightly as he turns us around as fast as possible.
“Copy. Headed West. Where am I flying, Sir?” Our pilot asks Boggs.
Boggs glances back at all of us, the entire hovercraft dead silent as we wait for his answer.
I see the moment his eyes scan Finnick and Peeta grasps Finnick forearm to support him as Finnick raises an eyebrow at the intrusive stare.
“Four.” Boggs decides. “We are heading to Four.”