Fanfic: A Divided Nation Ch 2, Hunger Games

Author's Notes: All right! This is the prologue/first chapter to this HG fanfic story. Hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT, in any way, shape, or form own the "Hunger Games" series. Suzanne Collins is the rightful author of the series.

Warning: Profanity, fighting/violence, discrimination, stalking, a mention of sex, and other mature stuff I might've forgotten about.

Prologue/Chapter 1: Their Lives

Copper Rock City

81 ADD (After Dark Days)

Saturday

1:30 PM

It's another scorcher of a hot day in the city as many of the laborers from former Career districts go on their short lunch breaks, glad for the brief respite.

Some simply eat at the workplaces, having brought their homemade lunches. Others stop by the many Career owned restaurants or food stands to pick up a quick bite to eat. A few would even set their alarm clocks they brought with them and take a quick thirty minute nap underneath any shady areas they can find.

Life is, so far, pretty normal for these Career laborers, who came to this city with their families (or in most cases, what remained of their families) or came alone, seeking any jobs they could get in this rapidly growing, expanding city. No matter how little the pay or how hard the work is. Hoping that maybe, they could finally rebuild their lives after the Second Rebellion six years ago.

Two of those Career laborers about ready to take their 30 minute breaks are Moby Saint-Saens and Coral Newton. Two 17-year-old glaziers from District 14 (formerly the western half of District 4) who had just installed a new glass window for Mrs. Joffrey's tailor shop.

"Thank you again you two for this," Mrs. Joffrey said, getting out her purse. "Here, let me give you two a tip."

Moby shook his head and took a few steps back.

"Oh no! Please, Mrs. Joffrey!" Moby exclaimed, trying not to let her hand him a five dollar bill. "You didn't have to."

"Oh, you wonderful kids deserve it!" Mrs. Joffrey said as Coral happily accepted the five dollar tip. "Especially for helping me in this sweltering heat."

"Thank you, Mrs. Joffrey." Coral said, putting the money in her pocket. Moby reluctantly does so too.

"Now run along you two, don't let this old lady keep you from your breaks." Mrs. Joffrey said, making the two chuckle.

After the two glaziers packed up their things and waved their goodbyes, Coral nudged Moby as they walked away.

"Wanna go to Sprinkle Island?" Coral asked, referring to the ice cream shop of that name.

"Hmm, nah. Let's go to get ice cream at the Mr. Slattery's place."

"You sure? Because Mr. Slattery's doesn't have any high chairs you could sit on!"

Coral bents over as she begins laughing as Moby rolls his eyes. At 5'7, Moby's pretty much short for a 17-year-old and is used to people making fun of him for it, especially Coral. He doesn't mind her jokes though, since they've been good friends even before the Second Rebellion started.

Crash!

At the sound of glass breaking, both of them turn around and quickly run to where the commotion is coming from.

Sixteen-year-old Donnie Pace of District 3, also known as Fizz to his pals, loves Saturdays. Sure, Sundays are also a no trade school day, but he loves Saturdays more. Especially because Saturday is a day where tomorrow isn't a Monday. He especially hates this coming Monday because it's the first day back to the electrician trade school after Summer Break.

"I fucking hate Mondays!" Donnie yelled, trying to balance on the edge of the sidewalk. "Can't our great democratic government just make Monday a no school day!?"

"Then you'll hate Tuesdays too, dumbass," his identical twin brother Reuben aka Wiz said as he turned a page from another book about electricity he's reading about.

Despite the insult, both brothers chuckle as Donnie takes another sip from his soda. Heck, even Donnie himself is very aware how much of a total dumbass he is compared to Reuben. Afterall, Reuben's the reason why Donnie is still alive and breathing. He owed his brother his life for keeping him alive long enough to see a free, democratic Panem during the Rebellion.

"If only mom, dad, and our grandparents could be here today," Donnie thought bitterly, taking a big gulp of his soda, emptying the bottle in the process.

It was then that Reuben noticed that Donnie's gone unusually quiet. He immediately knew why when he saw his brother's lips trembling and gripping the empty soda bottle tightly. Reuben then stops reading to pat Donnie's back.

"They would've loved to be here."

"I know…"

As they walk down the sidewalk, Reuben looks around the area and scowls when he realizes where the hell they're at.

"The Southwest Career Neighborhood," Reuben angrily thought as Donnie also realized where they were at. Donnie nudges Reuben and points to a nearby shop with big, capitalized letters.

RUBY JOFFREY'S TAILOR SHOP

ALL CUSTOMERS WELCOME

The Pace brothers glance at each other and smirk. An idea forming in their heads.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, bro?" Donnie asked.

Now, Reuben is usually the logical, level headed one of the twins. Someone who doesn't usually like to cause trouble. However, they're in a Career neighborhood and the name, Ruby Joffrey, definitely screams that the business Donnie pointed out is owned by some bitch from 1.

But considering that the Peacekeepers were the ones that killed their parents and grandparents six years ago. Let's just say that Reuben can get a little angry whenever he meets a Career, sees a Career owned business, or sees or hears anything Career related.

Without hesitation, Reuben snatches the empty soda bottle from Donnie's hand and throws it at the window.

Crash!

Some of the window instantly broke upon contact with the thrown bottle as the Pace brothers quickly pick up leftover rocks, pieces of wood, and other pieces of debris to throw at the rest of poor Mrs. Joffrey's windows.

"Get out of Copper Rock City, you filthy Career!"

"Yeah! Go back to District 1 where your incest-loving, child-killing, loyalist ass belong! You damn Freak Shows!"

"Hey!"

The brothers turn toward the voice to see Coral and Moby rushing toward them. Before the brothers leave, Donnie throws one last rock at Mrs. Joffrey's business for good measure.

"Don't think this is over! We'll be back!"

The brothers laugh as they flee from the two enraged Careers. The Careers stop to observe the damage the brothers caused as Mrs. Joffrey slowly peeks outside, tears in her eyes. Coral sets her glazier supplies down and proceeds to try to chase after them as Moby tries to stop her.

"Let go!"

"What the hell are you doing, Coral!?"

"Getting some fucking payback on those Outlier Rebel punks! We've just installed that new window for fuck's sake!"

Moby looks on as Coral chases after the Pace brothers.

"Shit!" Moby yells as he sets his glazier supplies down to run after Coral, making sure she won't do anything she'll regret.

Sixteen-year-old Onyx Blumenthal of District 2 has a lot on his mind as he eats his ham and cheese sandwich for lunch while sitting on the sidewalk outside for his break. Now, Onyx has always had a lot on his mind, given that he's the only family that his little 10-year-old sister, Uzi, has left at this point in their lives.

However, he feels like he's taking on a lot more pressure than any teenage high school dropout with no other family working at a dead-end vending machine job for his little sister should ever face.

First of all, he just learned today from the landlord (a slightly overweight man in his 50s from District 10 named Mr. Jones with a scowl always plastered on his face who smells like cigars) that the rent would be raised by another ten dollars. So, the rent is now one-hundred and fifty dollars a week.

He honestly isn't sure if his calculations are correct or not, since math sometimes confuses him. Math has always been Eloquence's thing. But one thing he does know for sure is that his landlord is an absolute greedy bastard. That much is obvious.

Plus, Onyx personally thinks that Mr. Jones is raising the rent just so the Career families living in the tenement could move away, which has already happened to a few of his neighbors that he knew.

"Come on, haven't the Outliers taken enough from us Careers already!"

As Onyx begins trying to calm down, he can't help but wish that the government would create laws that would put huge restrictions on landlords. However, that's just wishful thinking at this point. Panem now has a president and a slim majority in Parliament that's dominated by the Panemian Nationalist Party, which hates people from the former loyalist, Career districts to put it mildly.

"If I'd known that the PNP were going to win those elections two years ago, I would've voted to try to keep Paylor and voted for any party. Anybody but them!"

However, all Onyx can do now is think about the future. Speaking of the PNP, the second thing that irks him is that many PNP supporting Outlier families are petitioning to kick out all the Career students out of Uzi's school.

"Xenophobic bastards…"

The third thing is that his co-worker that usually helps him, a friendly woman from District 7, has left to work at another job. So, her replacement is a rather openly anti-Career xenophobic guy from District 8, who thinks he can bark orders at Onyx instead of helping him. But that's only a small thing compared to the other three things he's thinking about.

The fourth thing that's making Onyx worried the most is that there's been an increase in xenophobic anti-Career gangs roaming the Career neighborhoods, harassing and tormenting Careers with no remorse.

"I really owe my friends, especially Stellar, big time for always keeping my sister safe whenever they take her to and from school and lend me a bit of money when things get tight."

The only silver lining to living in this city is that the friends he had made back in the reintegration camp six years ago are living in the same tenement building as him. Friends that would always have his back and keep Uzi safe. Onyx wouldn't call his group of friends a "gang" like the Rebels gang, more of a self-defense group. A group where everyone can give a little bit more of their leftover money to members that are struggling financially. To members like him.

"If it wasn't for the Cadets, Child Services would probably take her away from me," Onyx thought. "But… is it the right thing for Uzi though? To have her stay with me? Am I literally letting something as useless as pride get in the way of what's-."

Onyx quickly shakes all thoughts and doubts from his head. Just what the hell was he thinking!? Of course, he can take care of her! He's her fucking older brother. Sure, things are tough, but so long as the Cadets are together, everything will be fine!

Before he could take a bite of his sandwich, someone from behind grabbed it. Not in the mood, Onyx stood up and turned around.

"Hey! That's m-!" Onyx yelled before stopping mid-sentence, recognizing the strong-looking Eleven guy and the skinny Seam boy in front of him.

Charlie "Ash" Schmidt of 12 and Mikey "Harvest" Anderson of 11, aged 17 and 18 respectively, were just hanging out in the area, enjoying their Saturday no work day when they heard Charlie's stomach growling. He blushed in embarrassment while Mikey laughed at him.

"I thought the restaurant you work at gives you free food!" Mikey joked. However, he stopped laughing when he saw Charlie frowning at him.

"Really? Did you really just laugh at a starving Twelve boy?" Charlie asked, causing Mikey to feel guilty, remembering Twelve's history with hunger. "Especially a Twelve who's one of the only hundreds of Twelves left in Panem."

"Hey man, I'm sorry. That was… inappropriate of me."

However, Charlie couldn't hold his laughter anymore and bent over, grinning and chuckling. Mikey elbows him in the shoulder.

"That's not funny, Charlie! I genuinely thought I'd hurt your damn feelings!"

"Well, you thought wrong, Mikey boy! You should've seen the look on your face! I've got you good!" Charlie laughs as he slowly begins to stop. "But seriously though, there are some Twelves out there that hate it if someone even mentions a lack of food in their fridge. So, don't ever make hunger jokes to them unless they have a dark humor bone like me."

"Duly noted," Mikey said, shaking his head.

As the two friends round a corner trying to find a place to eat, they've stumbled upon Onyx eating his sandwich, too deep in thought to notice them. They both glance at each other and grin. Both boys slowly approach him until Charlie grabs his sandwich away from him.

"Hey! That's m-!"

Onyx pauses mid-sentence as Charlie and Mikey stare at him like he's a meal. Charlie takes a whiff of Onyx's sandwich in a taunting way.

"Mmm, mmm, mmmm! This is a nice sandwich you've got there, Cadet," Charlie said, waving the sandwich in front of Onyx's face mockingly. "I think I'll try it."

Onyx tries to snatch his sandwich back, only for Mikey to push him to the ground.

"Let him eat your sandwich, Freak Show!" Mikey yelled, grinning from ear to ear. It's clear to Onyx that both boys are enjoying this immensely.

It was where Onyx almost lost it. However, wanting to prove that he's the "bigger man" here. Onyx calmed down and pointed to Charlie.

"You know something, you two," Onyx said, stunning the two Outliers by his ferocity. "Why don't you guys look at yourself in a mirror? Both of you are exactly acting like Capitoli-."

Onyx was about to finish when Charlie punched him in the face, knocking him down. He had tears in his eyes now as Mikey simply scowled at Onyx. Charlie just looked at the ground, trying to fight back tears and crushing the sandwich in his hand. It wasn't until he dropped the sandwich to the ground that Onyx and Mikey looked at him.

"How dare you…" Charlie said, finally looking up for Onyx to see his puffy red eyes brimming with tears. "How dare you call us Cappies!"

If there was one thing Outliers, especially xenophobic Outliers can't stand, is that you don't call them Capitolites.

Charlie lunges at Onyx, but he easily dodges and sweeps at the Seam boy's legs, making him trip. Mikey tries to punch Onyx, but the Two boy leg kicks him in the chest, pushing him into a wall, making his nose bleed.

Onyx decides to run away to get backup as the Seam and Eleven boys chase after him.

"What do we want?!"

"Return our property to us!"

"What do we want?!"

"Return our property to us!"

"I said, what do we want?!"

"Return our property to us!"

Protesters, mostly people from District 1, surround a pawn shop suspected of selling items looted from District 1 during the Sacking, chanting and holding signs. Among them is 16-year-old Primadonna "Donna" Visconti. Usually on weekends, she would normally work full-time as a tile setter with her parents. Yesterday however, they heard from a fellow One living in their tenement building that there was going to be a protest today demanding that the Outlier owned pawn shop return looted property during the Sacking.

Her parents refused to take part, seeing the protests as a waste of time when the family could be earning money. Donna was more passionate about this cause however because like many Ones, her family were also one of countless District 1 families who lost everything during the Sacking.

She still remembered it like it was yesterday. One moment, a once 10-year-old Donna and her parents were sleeping peacefully in their comfortable beds. The next moment, sounds of gunfire, bombs, and screams grew louder as the rebels finally broke through the loyalists defenses, invading District 1.

Things became blurry for her as rebel soldiers stormed into the Viscontis' home and pawn shop business. Big, scary rebels with guns and looted Career Academy weapons threatening to kill her parents if they don't give them the combinations to their two safes. Rebels literally tearing the floorboards and walls off with crowbars, thinking the family had hidden wealth somewhere within the walls and floors. Donna even remembered that a rebel child soldier, a girl maybe around 14-years-old, approached and aimed her gun at her, wanting Donna's favorite stuffed toy.

She reluctantly gave it up and received a spit to the face as a thank you.

Sometimes Donna wondered what happened to that child soldier and the stuffed toy she stole. Was the girl killed in action? Is she still alive? Is she proud of stealing the toy, or does she feel guilty? Did she throw Donna's toy away after becoming bored by it? Is she a mother now and has kids of her own where she gave the toy to them?

Whatever happened to the girl, Donna doesn't have the time or care to want to know. Sure, she once cared about her favorite toy, but as she grew older she realized it was just that, a simple, worthless, easily replaceable toy. No, what Donna now cares about most are the jewels, antiques, and other valuables that were looted from her family's pawn shop. As well as the valuable fur coats that were looted from her uncle and aunt's clothing store.

Coats that rebels shot and killed her uncle for when he foolishly tried to stop them with an antique sword that was also looted. A few days after that, her aunt committed suicide, thinking that her life is now over.

She stands in the front of the protesters, trying to look over the shoulders of a wall of Outlier police officers armed with wooden clubs, stun guns, and even fucking attack dogs to intimidate the crowd. She stands on her toes as she looks at the display of the pawn shop and, for the briefest moments, thought she'd seen an item that belonged to her family.

She quickly takes out her family's old pawn shop catalog book from her old tattered book bag and skims through the pages until she sees what she thought she saw on that damn display. A silver necklace with a peridot gem pendant that's shaped like a leaf.

She tried to stand on her toes again, but for some reason, or most likely no reason at all, a police officer shoved her to the ground. Of course, seeing the cop shoving Donna only made the crowd angrier as some protesters began throwing stones at the pawn shop windows.

Things only escalated when the pawn shop owner barged out of his shop, loading his pistol. His wife chased after him, begging him to calm down. When she saw the gun, Donna knew that it was her cue to leave, fast. She looked back at the owner as she tried to make her way out of the crowd.

"You think you animals can come here to my shop and terrorize my wife and kids, huh!?" The owner screamed at the top of his lungs in his thick District 6 accent, the look of fear in his eyes visible as he shakily aimed his gun at the crowd. "My older brother was sentenced to be whipped to death by you sick loyalist Peacekeeper fucks! He had to steal medicine for our mum!"

Donna looks away, biting her lip a little because she does kind of understand where the man is coming from. Sure, she believes that every Outlier should deserve reparations for crimes committed against them. However, they shouldn't achieve that by stealing and looting from shops owned by people that weren't even there when the injustices took place!

"Sir! Please stay inside!" One cop yelled, trying to hold back the further incensed crowd, but one young man somehow managed to get past the wall of cops. Panicked, the owner shot him in the leg as the protests soon turned chaotic and violent.

The protesters and police officers soon begin fighting each other as the owner and his wife raced back into their shop. The police are getting the upper hand as many protesters are being arrested, beaten, tased, and mauled by the dogs. The protesters then decided to call it quits as they scatter in different directions, hoping to escape the cops.

Donna thankfully had a head start by the time violence broke out. As she runs for her life, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt as police begin deploying tear gas, officers on horseback are catching up to Donna and the other protesters.

Under the cover of the tear gas, Donna eventually made it inside a small diner called Northby's. She ran to sit at a table and hid her face with a menu, hoping that none of the officers saw her enter. Minutes pass as she catches her breath, thinking she's safe, until she feels a tap on her shoulder.

"I mean, I do like the sound of the cheesesteak sandwiches but…" says 18-year-old Danny "Thermal" Jordan from Five, rubbing his chin. "I guess we need more time to order."

"We'll have water though," says 19-year-old Ryan Hewitt from Nine.

"Two waters coming right up! Call me over when you decide."

As Sam the waiter leaves, Danny and his old pal, Ryan looks through the menu, unsure what to choose. Danny looks around the diner and warmly smiles.

"Who would've that before we met 6 years ago," Danny begins to say. "We used to eat plants and bugs when our squads ran out of food. Now though? Now, we have-.

"Lots of food. I get it," Ryan says, finishing Danny's sentence, laughing. "Hey, remember that one green looking worm you've said you've eaten."

This gets both of them chuckling.

"Shit man, I was puking for a week. Didn't you say you've almost drunk your own urine?"

"Hey, thirst does weird things to your mind. You Fives are lucky it was raining most of the time during the rebellion."

As if on cue, Sam arrives with two glasses of water.

"Here you guys go."

"Yeah, I think I'll like the spaghetti and meatballs," Ryan said pointing to the menu that does say that.

"I'll have the fried chicken," Danny said while closing his menu.

"On it.

When Sam leaves, Danny stares at Ryan, eyebrow raised.

"Really, dude? Of all the food you can order here, you chose spaghetti and meatballs."

"Yeah."

"Don't get me wrong, Mr. Northby makes some great food. But when we tried his spaghetti and meatballs a few months back, it tasted like shit."

"Well, maybe he improved on the recipe."

"Your funeral," Dannys jokes as he raises his cup. "Anyways, to our comrades."

Ryan also raises his glass. It's a tradition Danny and Ryan made, where they would always toast to the fallen rebels and friends they've made who've died in the First and Second Rebellion as well as during Capitol rule.

"To our comrades."

"Freedom today. Freedom tomorrow. Freedom forever," both of them simultaneously say the modified Panemian saying used by rebel veterans during the Second Rebellion to finish off the toast.

Danny, Ryan, and everyone in the diner suddenly hear screams outside and look out the window to see what's going on. They see Donna rushing into the diner, not noticing Danny's and Ryan's presence. They however, did notice her and recognized her as one of the Cadets.

It's been a couple minutes as Donna is sitting at the table, head hidden by a menu. Danny and Ryan glare at her as minutes go by. Sam the waiter eventually notices Donna and walks toward her. Ryan grabs Sam's arm.

"That girl over there isn't an Outlier. She's one of those damn Career psychos. Get Mr. Northby there, now"

"Are you sure?"

"We're positive."

Sam nods as he quickly gets the owner, Mr. Northby, and whispers what Ryan told him to his boss. After hearing this, Mr. Northby just stands for a little bit, breathing heavily. He grabs a baseball bat from underneath the counter as he and Sam approach Donna, causing the other customers to look in that direction. Mr. Northby taps her on the shoulder, getting her attention.

"Say something," Mr. Northby demands. "I wanna hear your accent."

Donna slowly looks at the baseball bat in his hand and gulps. It's a known fact that District One accents sound almost similar to Capitolite accents. She tries to stand up and gesture to her mouth that she can't speak, an obvious lie to Ryan and Danny.

"Can't speak?" Mr. Northby asks, which Donna slowly nods. He holds out his hand. "I want to see your ID. Now!"

Donna sighs and takes out her red-colored ID, the red signifying that she's Career. Donna knows where this is heading as Mr. Northby looks at her ID, she finally notices Ryan and Danny smirking at her. She scowls when she sees them as the manager tosses her ID to her.

"Lousy Career! We don't serve your kind here!"

Every customer within ear shot who heard Donna's accent boo and jeer at her as Sam grabs her by the arm to take her outside.

Danny and Ryan smirk. In their minds, any Career, loyalist punk who has pointed their weapons at the rebels don't deserve to reap the benefits and freedoms that the new democratic Panemian government offers.

Out of spite and contempt for them, Donna managed to make Sam lose his grip on her and rush to spit on Ryan's face. Ryan is momentarily distracted as he wipes the spit away in disgust as Donna runs away.

"Get that One bitch!" Danny cried out, as the two friends chased after her.

Fifteen-year-old Frankie "Minnow" Cruz of District 4 came out of the paint store and jogged to the Southwest Career neighborhood, a paint can in each hand and a paintbrush tucked in his belt. As he jogs, he moves from hiding place to hiding place, careful not to let any of those damn Cadets see him.

Granted, Frankie was supposed to use the money his parents gave him to buy school supplies for his first day of high school Monday, but it was an emergency! He became across something on the way to the school supplies store and just had to do something about it! It's his patriotic duty after all!

"Tucker, Jenny, and the gang are going to sing their praises of me when they see and hear what I did today!" Frankie thought as he neared his destination.

Of course, if his parents ever found out what he did today. Something tells him that they're gonna give him a long talk about how he should quote, "Be nice to the Careers because their humans as well.". Be nice, his ass Frankie always thinks. They're the enemy!

He stopped when he walked into the alleyway located in the more isolated, non-inhabited parts of the Southwest Neighborhood. He sets the paint cans on the ground, opening them up. He takes the brush out of his belt and taps it on his chin, thinking on what kind of design he wants to do to ruin the mural he's looking at.

The mural depicts four people, two boys and two girls, all of them teenagers. They lie on a green meadow, smiles on their faces as blood pours from their injuries. The boy and girl on the left wore overgrown citadel green outfits while the boy and girl on the right wore red oxide outfits. Frankie briefly reads the words below.

THEY DESERVED TO BE REMEMBERED TOO

MARVEL ATKINS

AGED 17

(57 ADD - 74 ADD)

GLIMMER FAIRCHILD

AGED 17

(57 ADD - 74 ADD)

CATO LANG

AGED 18

(56 ADD - 74 ADD)

CLOVE CHAMBERS

AGED 15

(59 ADD - 74 ADD)

Frankie glares at the mural and spits of the ground. No Career deserves a memorial. He grins when he gets an idea. He dips his brush in the red and black paint cans and begins vandalizing it. A bit of red paint here. A little bit of black paint there. A splash of red there. Within a few minutes, Frankie has turned this once simple mural that memorializes the four careers into an explosive masterpiece of pent up xenophobic rage.

All the Careers peacefully closed eyes were replaced by red and black X's. Painted red tongues stick out from their closed smiling mouths.

On Marvel's side, Frankie painted a black noose around Marvel's neck as he painted the words in red paint, "Little Girl Killer", on his chest.

For Glimmer, he painted red and black pimples to symbolize the Tracker Jacker injuries she suffered. He painted the words, "Not So Pretty Now", in black paint.

For Cato, Frankie painted out Cato's hands, feets, head, and private parts and painted them on the green meadow, severed from Cato's body. He wrote, "What Psychotic Brutes Deserved" in black paint.

For Clove, Frankie simply painted that she's set on fire with the red paint as he used the black paint to paint on Clove's body, symbolizing her getting burnt to death. He painted the words, "Death To All Careers" in red.

Frankie, having some bits of paint on his clothes at this point, wonders what else he could add. He then gets the idea of splashing the remaining red paint onto the green meadow, symbolizing blood. At least, he was about to splash red paint on the green meadow before a hand grips his shoulder.

Seventeen-year-old Honoria Garrison from District 2 is all alone in one of the less inhabited parts of the Southwest Neighborhood, trash lying around the area she's at. It's a good thing her break started, because she doesn't know if she could take more of that new foreman of her's.

So far, Honoria's day has been her and her fellow Career laborers being insulted and verbally abused by a new Outlier foreman (Of course it's an Outlier!) from District 5. Thirty minutes more of that foreman giving them insults, and Honoria would've clobbered him, not caring in the world if she goes to jail. It's not like she has nothing to lose anymore, considering she's the only Garrison left in her family (No thanks to the Outliers!). Heck, maybe it was best that she was never released from that reintegration camp.

Though given what happened to Pius. She doesn't want to take that chance.

During her breaks, Honoria would always come here to release all that anger and stress. Picking up a piece of wood, she smashes it on the ground repeatedly while screaming her mind off until it snaps in half. Wanting to do some more damage, she picks up some glass bottles and throws them as far as she can, taking pleasure in the smash noise it omits when it hits the ground.

Of course, destroying things is always her release from life. It's no wonder that Honoria chose to work as part of a demolition crew. She would've enjoyed her job if it wasn't for the foreman, insulting all Career laborers like her for fun.

Honestly, the fact that she was even released from the reintegration camp is an incredibly lucky and amazing thing. Considering she still truly hates the Outliers. Even Honoria herself thought she would spend most of her life in the reintegration camps.

"Must've been because I truly hated the Cappies during my release interview," Honoria thought, which it was absolutely true that she also hated the Cappies. She spent five years in that camp learning about the Capitol's crimes while authorities try un-brainwashing her. To say that she was angry that the Capitolite government tricked her all these years for most of her childhood is a bit of an understatement. She was pissed.

As Honoria continues to think angry thoughts about the Cappies and Outliers. She finally realized that there's nothing left to destroy besides kicking the dirt and punching the air. She decided then and there to search a nearby alleyway for anything to destroy.

"I hope I find an old TV," Honoria thought as she entered the alleyway. "God, those things are fun to break."

Though what Honoria found wasn't a TV, but rather something even better. In the alleyway was little Frankie, vandalizing one of Barracuda's murals memorializing the Career tributes who died in the Mockingjay's first Games. Frankie was younger, shorter, and far weaker then most of the Rebels gang members.

"Easy prey," Honoria thought as she stalked toward the little Outlier fish from 4, her grin growing wider as she got closer. Her former Career senses kicking in and taking over her.

Frankie was about to splash the red paint onto the green meadow part of the mural when Honoria grabbed his shoulders, sending a chill up his spine. He slowly looks back to see a grinning, 5'10 Honoria looking down at his thin 5'5 frame.

"Well, lookie here," Honoria taunts as Frankie slowly backs up to the wall behind him as she slowly approaches. "I've caught myself a little fishy out of water."

Oh, Honoria loves it when she catches the smaller, younger members of the xenophobic Rebels gang alone and without backup. Just seeing Frankie's frightened, sniveling face reminds her of how feared the Careers used to be. Now look at the Careers today! Now they're the ones frightened and sniveling to their Outlier bosses, foremen, and managers. If Honoria was the one in charge of the Cadets, she would've taken the fight to the Outlier kids. Show them how even though the Games have been banned, they should still fear people like her.

But nooo, Toni Dominguez, the Cadets current leader and founder says to only fight back in self-defense. To only drive the Rebels and other anti-Career gangs out of the Southwest Neighborhood. To never target any non-xenophobic Outliers. Well, luckily for her and unfortunately for Frankie, Toni isn't here to stop her corner and beat the living shit out of him.

But as Honoria continues taunting and approaching Frankie, he's coming up with ways to get out of this mess. Yes, he may be smaller, younger, and far less threatening than most of the other Rebels gang. However, he makes up for that with his clever, cunning, sly, and tricky nature. Something that this arrogant Career girl in front of him seems to have forgotten about. Boy, does she sure talk too much, which gives him time to think.

Frankie doesn't even give Honoria the chance to say her next taunt as he suddenly throws the red paint can onto her, getting paint all over her face. As she tries to wipe the paint away, he pushes her to the ground, which she just so happens to land on the open black paint can, covering the back side of her jeans with wet paint.

"Score one for the Outliers!" Frankie cheers, waving his arms triumphantly as he runs away.

"You Outlier prick!" Honoria yells back, having gotten up and is chasing after him.

Eighteen-year-old Angel O'Shaughnessy from District 14 has to be the hottest babe 19-year-old Tucker "Magno" Gates has ever seen in his nineteen years of existence. He doesn't usually like girls with curly dark hair and green eyes. However, he instantly became a fan of that combination ever since the moment Angel moved to this city.

Yeah, Tucker definitely knows that she's married and happily in love with one of those all-Career Cadet members. Not to mention there are a lot of other hot Outlier and Career babes in this city. But that's a little boring in Tucker's opinion. The biggest thrills for him are always "persuading" girls in other relationships to fall for him.

Right now, Tucker is pretending to look at some apples at a mixed Career and Outlier market. He sometimes glances at Angel's direction, who's picking out some tomatoes at a stand, making sure she's visible.

The moment Angel bought the tomatoes and walked away. Tucker follows her, making sure to keep his distance and blend in with the crowd. He stops and pretends to look at some squash when she stops by to buy a couple of walnuts as well. He takes the moment to glance at her and smirks.

"Should I come up behind to surprise her, or should I block her way?" Tucker thought as he tried to decide which approach he'll do today. "Oh, choices, choices."

However, while he was thinking, he looked up to realize that Angel isn't there anymore. He lost track of her. He walks around the market, trying to find her. It wasn't until he saw her walking to a narrow street that he ran after her. He exits the market and hides behind a building wall, peeking into the narrow street to see Angel walking into an alleyway.

He runs down the narrow street after her, and again hides behind another building wall. He tries to peek from his hiding place again into the alley way. He didn't stand a chance when a fist connected with his nose, breaking it and making it bleed.

Tucker stumbles to the ground, holding his bleeding, broken nose, as Angel marches toward him. He could only guess that he must've slipped somehow and she noticed his presence. She glares down at the filth on the ground, reaching into her pockets to take out a butterfly knife.

"This is the last time I'm warning you," Angel said, unlatching and swinging the knife open. "Leave. Me. Alone!"

Tucker simply looks at the knife and then at Angel and laughs, getting up and dusting himself off. He whistles at Angel.

"Damn girl! Now, this is why I somewhat prefer Careers ladies then Outliers. You Career girls are hot and skilled. The total package!"

"Aren't you supposed to be anti-Career?"

Tucker just shrugs at that. Oh sure, he may be a member of the Rebels gang, but he ain't no xenophobe. The only reason why he joined is because the gang provides him some protection from the cops. Not like the Outlier cops here are interested in honoring the two arrest warrants for almost killing two Career men back in Districts 1 and 14 during his drifter phase. It was very easy to convince the blindly anti-Career Rebels gang that he's an anti-Career guy who's actually the victim here, especially that naive little pipsqueak Frankie.

"You could say I love all the Outlier, Career, and Capitolite girls equally."

Angel says nothing as the two circle each other. Angel points the knife to his chest while Tucker spits on the ground, raising his hands.

"Come on Career girl. Let's see what you're made of!"

Despite some ring rust from not practicing her skills since she was 12, Angel is still somewhat fast and aggressive as she tries to stab and slash Tucker. She only manages to get in small, ineffective cuts to his arms and body as he nearly dodges her attack's. She aims her knife and tries to stab him in the stomach, but he blocks it, disarms her by slamming his elbow to her knife arm, and uppercut her in the face. She lands on the ground as Tucker observes the knife in his hand.

Angel didn't expect him to throw the knife back to her.

"Come on!" Tucker yells, slamming his fist to his chest. "I'm right here! What!? You lost your fighting edge or something!? Pathetic!"

Like Tucker predicts, the prideful Angel grabs her knife and tries to stab him again as anger clouds her judgment.

"If she was in the Games, she would've been the first Career to die," Tucker thinks.

"Tucker! Help me!"

Tucker and Angel look behind them to see Frankie being chased by Honoria, Eeler, and some guy he doesn't know.

"Great," Tucker thought as he scowled. "Little pipsqueak just had to bring the Cadets right here."

Tucker then grabs Angel's shirt collar and throws her to the Cadets chasing after Frankie.

"Thanks buddy! You're a lifesaver!" Frankie screams with joy.

"Yeah, yeah! Keep moving!" Tucker yells at Frankie as he gestures to him to keep running.

Eighteen-year-old Eeler O'Shaughnessy of District 14 patiently waits in the passenger seat of the van as his co-worker and fellow Fourteener, Ray, eats his lunch. Eeler barely touches his food as he looks out the window, clearly worried. His wife is supposed to meet with him today for their breaks as usual. It's not like her to be late. He shouldn't be worried as she's always been skilled with that butterfly knife of hers, but still.

"I swear if that Five pervert is causing trouble for her again," Eeler thinks as he gets out of his van.

"Hey man, where are you going?" Ray asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"I'm going to look around for Angel," Eeler answers as he gets a monkey wrench out from his plumber's toolbox. Ray puts away his food and gets out of the van as well.

"Hang on man. I'm coming too," Ray says while swallowing the last of his food. "If she's in trouble, I want to get a few punches in on that pervert you've always talked about."

Eeler nods in thanks as they both walk the streets of their neighborhood, looking for Angel.

When Eeler and Angel first came to this city, they didn't know what to expect besides knowing that there are jobs available for them.

Both of them got married almost a year back in District 14 at the former Justice Building, since his family as well as her family were too poor to afford a fancy wedding.

Well, both of their families were rich and could've afford a splendid wedding, until the Second Rebellion happened. After being released from the reintegration camp, he and his family try to maintain their family-friendly rafting business. But in a time when everyone is trying to rebuild Panem, people don't really have the time or money for a fun day of rafting. So, he left with his wife to Copper Rock City for better career opportunities.

Eeler became a plumber, something he was trained to do during his four year stay at the reintegration camp. Angel however, was one of the very few Careers who has gotten a job that doesn't involve being outside under the hot Sun. She became a librarian's assistant for Southwest Copper Rock Middle School, a poorly-funded, mostly Career school.

However, what they didn't expect was that some pervert from the Rebels gang became interested in Angel. Eeler shudders, remembering so many times where he caught Tucker stalking and trying to make unwanted sexual advances to her. He and sometimes his buddies in the Cadet group always chase him away.

As Eeler and Ray round a corner, Frankie bumps into them and falls to the ground. He looks up and becomes fearful at the sight of Eeler. Eeler looks down at the kid. Despite knowing that Frankie is a part of the Rebels gang, Eeler and most of the other Cadet members often leave him alone just because they know he isn't a threat like some of the older, bigger members. Besides, Eeler pities him for trying so hard to join a gang that have definitely been bad influences on him. Plus, even though District 4 split apart between east and west, Eeler still feels as if Fours shouldn't hurt Fours, no matter the "history" they have with each other.

"Grab him! Don't let him get away!"

Frankie gets up and continues to flee as Honoria almost grabs his shirt. Eeler sighs and chases after her while Ray follows. Of all the Cadet members, Honoria and Coral have always been problem members within the group. They're more wanting to get even and less about self-defense.

"He's just a kid Honoria! Just leave him alone!"

"A xenophobic kid who did this to me!" she shouted, gesturing to the paint that's covering her. Eeler and Ray can't help but laugh.

"You probably deserved that!"

As Eeler and Ray chase after Honoria and Frankie through the narrow streets, they round a corner to see Tucker and Angel fighting.

"Tucker! Help me!"

Tucker grabs his wife's shirt collar and throws her into him and the others as Frankie stops to take the moment to show his middle finger at them.

"Thanks buddy! You're a lifesaver!"

"Yeah, yeah! Keep moving!"

As they both flee, Eeler notices the bruises on his wife's face as she wipes some blood off her nose. His anger grows at Tucker as he turns toward the direction he went. How dare he hit his wife!

"I'm going to kill him!" Eeler bellowed, gripping his monkey wrench in his hand. Angel grabs his arm.

"Just let him run away!" Angel yelled. "I've taken worse punches back at the Academy!"

Eeler ignores his wife as he quickly gets on his feet and runs after Tucker with Honoria alongside him.

Angel and Ray both get up as Eeler and Honoria round a corner, chasing after the 2 Outliers.

To normal people, the bare-looking brick wall that 17-year-old Wilbur "Hatcher" Parker of District 7 is looking at is just like any other wall. To Wilbur though, this is the perfect place to tape his latest creations so people could look at them and laugh. He makes sure no one is around and then gets to work.

He sets down his stack of papers and puts a rock on top of it so the wind wouldn't blow the papers away. His papers show several derogatory anti-Career and Capitolite cartoons, which humorously (or un-humorously depending on whether you hate Careers and Capitolites or not) depicts the stereotypes. The cartoons depict the Capitolites, Ones, Twos, and Fourteeners as lazy, vain, wealthy, highly sexualized, dumb, barbaric, violent, arrogant, selfish, traitors, and even psychotic and mentally deranged.

Obviously, anyone smart enough would see that Wilbur is more than just a bit biased. That he's just fanning the flames of fear, distrust, and hatred. But to him, he's just doing his patriotic duty as a citizen of a free, democratic Panem. That he's just trying to warn everyone to be more wary towards Careers and Cappies.

Afterall, Wilbur and his older surviving cousins often read The Panemian Nation, one of the most trusted and read news sources on the Internet.

After the Second Rebellion, the new democratic government under President Paylor made it their mission to make sure that every citizen of Panem got free, available access to computers and the Internet. One of the districts that Paylor's presidency focused on was District 7, one of the most technology and Internet deprived places in Panem. Within a year, most people from District 7 now had a computer, most of the district now had Internet access, and people were taught how to use it.

Wilbur and his cousins were in awe. They had never seen a computer in their lives nor had they heard about this cool thing called the Internet. They soon became addicted to their first computer. So much so, that they ended up saving up to buy another computer since they often fight over who gets to use the sole computer they had.

At first, their time on the computers they had were innocent enough. They all simply play video games and sometimes check to see what the weather is going to be like. However, Paylor and her government hadn't expected there were unexpected, unintended consequences of providing computers and the Internet to almost every Outlier in Panem.

It was during that time that websites began to pop up on the Internet, claiming to be accurate and true news sources. These websites however, preached anti-Career and anti-Capitolite xenophobia in their news articles. The fake news sites also began publishing conspiracy theories about how the Capitolites and Careers were secretly plotting to overthrow the democratic government and take away all the hard fought rights and freedoms the Outliers had gained.

Some of the thankfully rational and logical Outliers just rolled their eyes in disbelief at those fake news articles. Other Outliers simply found the ridiculousness of these articles funny and hilarious. However, the articles began to make either naive or paranoid and fearful Outliers become angry, bigoted, and extremist xenophobes.

Wilbur and his cousins were, unfortunately, some of those naive and paranoid Outliers who have fallen under the spell of fake news.

Soon, whenever they would get the chance. They would always check fake news sites like The Panemian Nation to read about more conspiracy theories about the Careers and Capitolites. To read all the "evidence" proving that the Careers and Capitolites are working together to overthrow the government. They would even log into online group chats, discussing these theories with other believers of fake news.

There were even times when they would believe in even the most outlandish, strange, and obviously fake news.

A month ago, Wilbur read an article that there's a cult of vampire worshippers from District 1 that would kidnap Outlier children and sacrifice their blood to their vampire Gods and Goddesses. Wilbur and his cousins believed every word of it. Even Wilbur's Rebels gang friends know that some of the articles he's reading are so obviously fake. Even the most anti-Career and Capitolite extremist member of the Rebels, Nova, knows that it's all fake.

However, the more fake news articles Wilbur and his cousins consume, the more difficult it is for them to distinguish truth and fiction. Fake news became their rabbit hole as it became even harder for them to extricate themselves from those sites and group chats.

That was how Wilbur became convinced that the only way for the Careers and Capitolites to be subdued is to suppress them whenever they even think about complaining about the government. It was how he joined Jenny's Rebels gang and how he's even taking the time to hang stereotypical and derogatory cartoons of Careers and Cappies today.

It was when he was almost done with hanging up his derogatory cartoons that he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, thank you!" Stellar Hudson from District 1 shouted as he smiled and took a bow to the clapping Career crowd in front of him. "Please, come here again to witness my next performance tomorrow!"

As he picked up his smartphone, which stopped playing his music seconds ago, a few people approached him to give him a bit of money. He waved, shaked hands, and thanked them as many people left to get back to living their life.

A teenage girl and her friend passed by Stellar as he counted his money.

"Not bad," said the girl with the District 3 accent. "For a Career."

Stellar stopped counting and turned to the girls, who were laughing as they quickened their walking pace. He just simply shook his head, paying them no attention, as he put his money into his wallet. This isn't the first time an Outlier passing by made an insult to him as he performed his dance moves to the crowd, nor will it ever be the last.

Ever since he went to his first circus when he was five, he has always been drawn to the spotlight. He loved how the crowd cheered, clapped, and smiled with joy as their eyes were drawn onto the public performances the entertainers did. He especially loved how all the attention can be focused on performers and their talents. Considering that he was the third youngest of four children who often competed for their parents' attention, it was only natural that he wanted to be the one under the spotlight.

A year later, he was six when he witnessed his first Hunger Games. From that moment on, he knew that he wanted to be a tribute in the Games. To have all eyes on him as he performed and fought his way to becoming a Victor. A celebrity. A star. To be seen as an idol and inspiration as people yelled his name and fans clamor to get his autograph.

Nowadays though, a now 17-year-old Stellar cringes whenever he thinks about his old childhood dream. He still couldn't believe that he wanted to kill other kids just so, for what? Something as insignificant as fame. To be fair, he was just a little kid who didn't know any better when the glory and popularity of the Games cast a spell on him.

Still, it doesn't change the fact that it took 11-year-old Stellar, who recently lost all his family to a rebel artillery shell, four years in Fort Ross, one of the toughest and recognizable reintegration camps in Panem, to finally see that the Games and Capitol rule were all wrong.

It also doesn't change the fact that at his core, Stellar still wants that spotlight. So, naturally he wants to be seen as a famous dancer to many. You know, through practice and getting seen dancing in public, he might have a shot at becoming one.

"I'm so glad that the Games are banned," Stellar thought as he walked around the neighborhood for something to eat. "Especially considering what happened to the handsome and beautiful Victors."

"Stellar!"

Stellar turned around to see fellow 17-year-old District 1 boy Profit Winslow from Stellar's self-defense group come running toward him.

The moment he saw Profit's candy store mascot costume, his dark memories of his time in Fort Ross evaporated into humorous thoughts at the silly sight. He tried so hard not to laugh, but he couldn;t help it.

"Oh Jesus, Profit! You literally came at the right time!"

Profit stopped running toward him and rolled his eyes, scowling from the embarrassment.

"Ugh, of all the damn jobs I could've accepted," Profit thought, sweating profusely from the heat and holding his gingerbread dog face mask under his arm. "Why did I choose to be a candy store mascot! I swear this has to be the most dishonorable job! Ever! Of all time! Besides being a janitor, no! Even worse than a janitor!"

Stellar couldn't help but nod. It's only right that Profit feels embarrassed by his mascot outfit. He isn't used to working thanks to his spoiled upbringing before the Second Rebellion. Even when his family had secretly hidden enough of their wealth before the Sacking of One, his mom and aunt still forced him to get a job for fear that the wealth they've hidden won't be enough.

"Okay, okay," Stellar said as he tried to stop laughing. "What were you going to say?"

"Oh, I saw one of the Rebels in an alleyway. You know, the crazy conspiracy theorist boy who often draws derogatory cartoons of us Careers and the Cappies from District 7! We should kick his ass just for coming to our turf!"

Before Stellar could say anything, Profit ran away to confront the Rebel boy, much to his dismay as he followed his maybe, sort-of pal.

Knowing Profit's reputation back at One's Academy before they were sent to Fort Ross Reintegration Camp. He has always been someone who thought he knew what he's doing. The type of Career trainee who thought he was the strongest Career ever. Profit was also one who liked to be bribed and blackmailed his way to the top, even if most of his attempts were unsuccessful. Someone who likes to provoke fights just like what he's doing now.

Stellar supposes that the candy store mascot job is a sort of hilarious karma to Profit's years of being a spoiled, annoying little brat. Not that it seemed to change him anyways.

As Stellar follows Profit, the latter suddenly stops and points out where Wilbur is to him.

They then marched to him as Profit grabbed Wilbur's shoulder, causing him to turn around.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you fucking Outlier!" Profit yelled as he pokes Wilbur in the chest.

However, Wilbur couldn't help but laugh at the spoiled One boy's outfit and doubled over, laughing.

"Holy shit, man!" Wilbur shouted, pointing to Profit's outfit. "What the hell kind of Freak Show outfit is that!"

However, Profit was in no mood to answer. Stellar senses that things are about to go south real fast, but was too late as Profit grabbed Wilbur's collar and punched him to the ground.

"Yeah!" Profit proclaimed, basking in his own strength. "You ain't laughing now, aren't you! You little punk!"

This of course, angered Wilbur, who threw a handful of dirt at Profit's face, making him cover his face, but allowing Wilbur to tackle him to the ground. They scuffled until Stellar tried to break it up, not wanting Profit to get hurt over something he started.

"You Outlier son of a bitch!" Profit yelled as he tried to punch Wilbur. "If the Games were still a thing, I would've butchered you alive with a machete!"

"Screw you, vampire worshippers!" Wilbur screamed, causing Stellar to briefly look confused by his strange allegation.

Wilbur then takes this moment to punch the groins of both One boys and run away, flipping the middle finger. Despite the pain, Profit chased after him while clutching his privates, too proud to admit defeat. Especially to an Outlier.

Stellar took several deep breaths while kneeling on the ground before he slowly got up as he tried to sprint after them, not wanting Profit to do something even stupider.

He soon lost track of where Wilbur and Profit went as he decided to get help from the Cadets' leader and her second-in-command.

Right after he takes a few minutes to sit down and fight back the pain, of course.

Sixteen-year-old Barracuda Gonzalez of District 14, or Barra as she's known rushes through the busy streets, careful not to bump into people or drop the letters she's holding as she makes her way to Mr. Picard's house.

She could've taken her break like most Career laborers after she finally finished painting the walls of a few new apartment rooms. She likes helping her fellow Career folks whenever she can though, especially the elderly. Besides, it's not like this delivery will take long. Plus, she still has some time to buy a quick meal afterwards.

Helping elderly Career folk with delivering or picking up their mail and packages from and to the post office is worth every bit of her time in her opinion. She doesn't need their money, the perfect reward for her is just seeing them not having to risk going to the post office on their own, especially when there are xenophobic gangs that like to target them in the city.

"Those xenophobic cowards!" Barra thought as she huffed at the thought of them. "They don't even have the guts to face someone their own age, especially me!"

Now, Barra can admit that she can get a little too overconfident and cocky for her own good. Sometimes to the point of being a teeny tiny bit arrogant. Though in her mind, she has a right to be. Considering that she's the fastest runner and swimmer in the Cadets group. It's also a well-known fact that she likes to toy with the xenophobic gangs, dodging out of the way of their attacks as she taunts and insults them while jabbing and leg sweeping them.

She finally arrived at her destination as Mr. Picard is waiting outside his tenement building for her with his 13-year-old grandson pushing the wheelchair. They see her as she slows down to catch her breath.

"Woah there!" Mr. Picard shouted as he chuckled at Barra, checking his pocket watch. "That's probably a new record! Ten seconds less than last time!"

"Damn right it is!" Barra said as she handed him his mail, pumping her fists in the air as she stretched. "Everything for one of my favorite customers!"

"Ha! That's still nothing though!" Mr. Picard laughed as he checked his mail. "When I was your age, I had the record for fastest runner for five years straight back in District One's Academy! Maybe when you beat my time, I might consider you my equal!"

"Still a bit arrogant as ever, are you Mr. Picard?"

"Damn right I am!"

Barra and Mr. Picard laughs as his grandson just smirks and shakes his head. They fist pump as Barra makes her way to her favorite hot dog stand.

As someone who likes to jog in her spare time, she has managed to remember every corner of this city. Recognizing which places serve Careers or not. Remembering where she's at based on her surroundings. Best of all, which places have the cheapest, best tasting food, and The Marcos' Hot Dog Stand has to have one of the best hot dogs in the city. Considering the price they sell their hot dogs, it's a bargain for someone like Barra trying to save some money for her rent.

Thankfully, she also knows which shortcuts to take as she can't wait to taste their famous hot dogs again.

As she goes through an alleyway, she slows down and looks to her right.

"Damn it!" she thought as she took in the sight. "Again?"

To her right is the mural she secretly painted two nights ago with the help of her girlfriend, Augusta, depicting and memorializing the Careers of the Mockingjay's first games. Every bit of it has been vandalized and every Career shown on that mural is now depicted having gruesome deaths.

She looks around the area, hoping for any indications on who vandalized they're mural. All she can see are two paint cans, one red and one black, and a paintbrush lying on the ground. She also sees footprints leading out of the alley. One set of footprints is slightly smaller than the bigger set with paint covering the footprints.

All Barra can do is sigh and continue on her way. It's good that there are no more curfews and night patrols in this free Panem anymore. She and Augusta can just paint over the vandalized mural and paint a new one for the Careers who died in the 74th.

Memorials for the Career tributes is a hot button topic right now in the country. They're not illegal, yet. But she has a feeling that if any Outlier cop does catch them in the act, they'll be sent back to Fort Ross Reintegration Camp. Believing they might still have pro-Capitol, loyalist sympathies.

Barra doesn't intend on going back there, given the bad reputation of those camps to the Career and Capitolite populations. However, she also can't stand the fact that Career tributes can't have their own memorials. They are just as victims as the Outlier tributes.

Although it doesn't excuse the behavior of some of the evil Career tributes, every single Career tribute and trainee were brainwashed. They deserved to be remembered for who they could've been rather than what they had done. Plus, it's a bit hypocritical when the new government also made memorials for evil Outlier tributes, but will not build any for Career tributes.

As Barra thinked about the issue and started to run to her destination, she felt something trip her.

Sometimes, 16-year-old Uma "Sirene" Takahashi from District 4 envies how lucky her fellow Four, 18-year-old Simon "Sharkos" Kowalski has been.

Four years ago, two years after the Second Rebellion. He discovered that his younger brother, Noah, and his older cousin, Patrick, were all in an orphanage here in Copper Rock City, then a small town. Simon thought that they were dead as he watched pro-Capitol loyalist militias from the former western part of Four lock his family inside and burn the house alive, killing everyone. Apparently, they thought the same had happened to Simon when they watched the house burn from afar.

Now though, Simon and the rest of his family are just glad to be reunited after two years of thinking that they're the only one in their family left.

Something that Uma wished happened to her. Then her last name would still be Ying.

Well, Uma's last name was Ying until western loyalist militias executed her rebel parents by firing squad as she hid from them.

It also happened to 17-year-old Delilah's parents as well as 18-year-old Jezebel's too. The two girls are now Uma's older sisters through the Takahashis' adopting them right after the Second Rebellion.

Uma and her sisters would forever be grateful that her dads' adopted them when they could've adopted kids who were babies or toddlers. Not a lot of couples would adopt kids who were 10, 11, and 12 respectively. They wouldn't imagine how their life has been now if it weren't for them.

"Hey, Uma," Simon said, nudging her. "Is that the car you've been talking about?"

Uma snapped out of it and looked to where Simon was pointing. The car is exactly the one she remembered as she glares at it and nods.

"Oh yeah, that's the one alright."

At that, Uma pulls out Jezebel's pocket knife (something Uma "borrowed" from her older sis) as Simon takes out his tire iron and grabs a brick from the ground. They also tie masks around the lower half of their face. They approach the car, looking around to see if the coast is clear. Even though this part of the Southwest Neighborhood is known to be the slum area and has less people living here.

Without hesitation, Simon gleefully throws the brick into the front car windshield, causing the glass to shatter and setting the alarm off. Uma then slashes the tires of the car as Simon hits the hood of the car with his tire iron. He also slams it into the windows, breaking them. Uma climbs on top of the car and jumps on it up and down, causing bents on it.

"Hey!"

The two look up to see an old woman with an eyepatch looking down at them through her apartment window. She speaks with the Fourteener, or the Western Four accent as some people call it, that both kids really hate.

"What the fuck are two doing!?" The woman yells.

"Exactly what we're doing, you dumb blind fuck!" Uma screams at the woman as she and Simon laughs. "Maybe if you wouldn't have kicked out our fellow Fours at the library. We wouldn't have messed up your car!"

"They were making a ruckus!" The woman roared. "That's literally my job!"

"Outlier power, bitch!" Simon yelled back as he and Uma fled the scene of the crime. They laugh as the woman continues to scream profanities in the air.

It wasn't until they got far away from the area that the two took off their masks, high-fiving each other for another job well done.

"That was fun as all hell!" Simon shouted as he and Uma quieted down.

"Did you look at her face?" Uma asked. "I swear when she was angry, the wrinkles in her skin became even wrinkler.

"The old Westerner prune had it coming! How dare she kick out those Four kids! This ain't Capitol rule no more!"

"Exactly!"

As the two rounded the corner, Uma stopped, looked at the direction ahead of her, and grabbed Simon, making them hide behind the wall.

"Speaking of Westerners," Uma said to him. "Look who's ahead of us."

Simon peeked and saw Barracuda looking at her vandalized mural. A grin appears on both teens' faces.

"You take the left, I'll stay here," Simon said.

Uma nodded and headed to the other wall to hide behind. They peeked from their spots until Barra started to run out of the alley. With each step the Westerner took, the closer she got. Simon gets ready to stick his foot out.

When Barra is finally near them, he sticks his foot out, causing her to trip and fall to the ground.

"Get her!" Simon yelled.

Before Barra could even look around, Uma threw herself on top of the Fourteener girl. She struggles as Uma and Simon hold her down. Once they know she's held down, the two teens take out their respective weapons.

"Well, well, well," Uma slowly said, waving her pocket knife near Barra's face as she looked up with a pissed off expression. "If it isn't the barracuda bitch from the Cadets gang. What brings you here?"

"Just taking a short cut," Barra replied. "It's you guys that are far from home."

"This is the slums, Career," Simon said, slowly swinging his tire pipe in the air. "Your little Freak Show friends ain't going to save you this time."

"What are you guys gonna do, kill me?"

Uma pretends gasps in shock as she puts a hand on her chest.

"Kill you? Oh, no. If we did, then life wouldn't be more fun now, wouldn't it?"

Uma puts her blade inside Barracuda's right nostril.

"We're just going to… change your appearance a little."

With that, Uma uses her knife to slash her right nostril, causing her nose to look slightly unattached. Barra winces in pain, causing the Rebels members to smile at the sight. Still, Barra spits in the left eye of Uma, causing the injured Cadet to grin.

"You Fourteener bitch!" Uma screeches as she punches Barracuda across the face. "Now you've just made things a whole lot painful for you!"

"Bring it, Easterner!"

As Uma decides which part of Barra's face to slash next, the three teens hear running noises quickly coming toward them.

"Guys! Get that One bitch!" Danny yells, trying his best to catch his breath.

"Hey Fours!" Donna yells, successfully getting the Fours' attention.

Before Simon can react, Donna does a flying kick which hits the Four boy in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Barra takes the opportunity to sweep Uma's legs before she can attack Donna. She kicks the downed Four girl across the face in revenge before she grabs Uma's knife and Simon's tire iron as she runs away with Donna.

"Holy shit, Barra!" Donna screams as she glances at her face. "Your nose!"

"Eh, I've had worse!" Barra laughs as they run away from the Outliers behind them. "Thanks anyways! I thought for sure that Siren the Slut's gonna cut it off! What'cha do to make those guys mad?"

"I spit on the Nine Boy's face!"

"So did I for Siren the Slut!"

Since the Career girls got a head start, Barra takes the time to throw the knife and tire iron into a sewage drainage by a sidewalk. Uma and Simon both become enraged at the sight.

"That was my sister's knife!" Uma screamed. Oh, she's dead meat if Jezebel ever finds out.

"Come and get us, bitches!" Barra laughs as she and Donna hold up their favorite finger in the air.

Danny begins to tire and slow down as Uma, Simon, and Ryan chase after them.

"Shit… I'm just… I'm just going to… get help…" Danny says as he leans on a wall to catch his breath.

Sixteen-year-old Lucas "Jersey" Yeung of District 8 is at his usual spot, keeping an eye out for any potential customers or threats to his business, like law enforcement or others like him.

He spots a few kids playing with each other. He waves and gestures to them to come over to where he is.

"Sup, kids," Lucas says to the three little kids. "Say something real quick."

"Hi there!"

"Good morning!"

"Something!"

Lucas looks each one of them in the eye, listening to their accents. He shakes his head. They aren't the type of kids he's targeting. They don't have any of the Career accents he's looking for.

"Sorry for bothering you guys," Lucas said. "You can go now."

The kids go on their way as Lucas goes back to leaning against the light pole. After a few minutes of waiting, he spots a girl on her bike, one that looks to be 12-years-old. He waves at her and gestures for her to come over to him.

"Say something real quick," Lucas asks her.

The girl raises her eyebrow. To Lucas, this transaction may be a little bit difficult since he has a feeling that the girl may be a bit smarter than most.

"My parents say not to talk to strangers."

"Bingo!" Lucas thought. Now that's one of the Career accents he's looking for. It's a District One accent also, which makes it even better. "If she's a One, she must be loaded with cash."

Lucas takes out a bag of ecstasy pills and holds it up near the girl's face.

"You see this?" Lucas asks the girl, who's looking closely at the bag. "What do you see in the bag?"

"Candy?"

"Exactly," Lucas smirks, taking out one ecstasy pill from the bag. "Here, let me give you one for free."

Lucas puts the ecstasy pill in the girl's open palm as she looks at it, unsure. She tries to smell it, but she doesn't smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Because I feel like doing nice things today."

In truth, Lucas is giving the girl the free ecstasy pill because he wants her to get addicted first. It may sound like a terrible business idea to most drug dealers. To Lucas though, it really pays off to get these Career kids a free sample so they can get addicted first and then they'll beg him for more drugs as he demands cash from them. Everytime he does give a free sample, it almost always works.

Lucas tries to do his best genuine smile as he looks at the girl. She examines it real quick before trying to taste it. Lucas stops her though.

"Hold on," Lucas says as he puts the bag away and holds up his hand. "Try it when you get home."

"Why?"

"Because there may be a chance… that you may act funny after trying it. Don't want to embarrass yourself in public, am I right?"

The girl looks up at him with suspicion as he tries again to do a genuine smile. It comes out as more of a weird, awkward sort of smile as she forces Lucas to take the pill back.

"I'm good."

"But-."

"Bye!"

The girl quickly rides off on her bike before Lucas can even try to convince her.

"Oh well," Lucas thinks as he puts the ecstasy pill back in the bag. "Worth a shot anyways."

He decides that it's time to move spots since he has a feeling the girl might tell her parents and law enforcement. Jogging down the street, he manages to find a small alley he sometimes deals drugs at.

"H-h-hey! Lucas! How's it going my man!?"

Lucas turns to the voice near him to find 14-year-old Valeria standing beside him. She smiles awkwardly as she shakily takes out her small purse. Lucas knows what kind of drug she wants and immediately takes out a vial of morphine from his jacket. He got her hooked on this stuff two years ago. So far, she's a really good source of income, especially since she's one of those Career orphans who lost her family during the Second Rebellion. Since he thinks the orphanage proprietor for her either doesn't know or just doesn't care what happens to some dirty, little Career orphan.

"That'll be twenty bucks as usual," Lucas said to her.

Valeria slowly looks up at him and frowns.

"You mean, fifteen bucks?"

"No, it has always been twenty bucks."

"No, I'm pretty sure you said fifteen bucks!" Valeria shouted, stomping her foot on the ground repeatedly. "Stop gaslighting me and give me my morphine! I have the fucking money!"

"If I said twenty bucks, it's twenty bucks! Take it or leave it!"

"No! It isn't fair! I have fifteen bucks! I want my morphine!" Valeria yelled out as she got the bright idea of trying to grab Lucas' jacket. "Give me my morphine! I want my-!"

Valeria doesn't even get the chance to finish what she's saying as Lucas slaps her across the face, causing her to fall on the ground. She tears up and rolls into a ball on the ground as Lucas spits on her.

"I-i-it's not fair!" Valeria cries out. "I-it's not…"

Lucas takes this moment to take Valeria's wallet out to get what little cash she has in it. He counted around seventeen dollars before tossing her wallet as well as an even smaller bottle of morphine to her.

"You're welcome!" Lucas yells at her. "You're lucky I'm the type of dealer that still wants little punks like you hooked on the needle!"

"Fuck you!" Valeria yells back.

"Whatever. Have twenty dollars on ya next time."

As Lucas begins to jog away, not wanting Valeria to attract attention she continues to cry.

"Mom… Dad…" Valeria says to herself. "Bis sis…"

Lucas pauses as Valeria cries on the ground. This is exactly why he wants to sell drugs to these Career kids. Not simply because of the money, but because he takes pleasure in the fact that they're the ones suffering now. That he can ruin their happy, perfect little Career childhoods by making them addicted in the first place. He enjoys every second of it! It's his catharsis to how he suffered! When his freaking parents were high off their minds! Every! Single! Day!

Still, Lucas slowly glances back at Valeria. She's still on the ground as pity wells up inside of him…

Lucas shakes his head at the very thought of feeling sorry for Freak Shows like her as he continues walking away. That was when Lucas accidentally bumped into someone's chest.

"Hey! Watch i-!" Lucas pauses mid-sentence, staring up at the hulking mass of District 2 might in front of him.

Eighteen-year-old Julius Martin of District 2 wonders just how much more he can take before he inevitably snaps.

Most Career laborers his age are either taking their breaks or doing something else to pass the time. In Julius' case, he likes to walk around his neighborhood to think about the world Careers like him are living in. With each passing day though, he feels as if it's getting harder to find a reason to smile.

Sure, he has a group of friends he can count on. He lives with his older brother, Cassius. Even his mother is still alive. Granted, she's still in Fort Ross, but she's alive and that's all that matters.

Still, he doesn't find anything in his neighborhood that suggests the future is bright for any of the Careers in the city. There are Outlier owned businesses that chase away any Career trying to enter. Xenophobic anti-Career gangs like the Rebels harassing and tormenting Careers and their stores. The goddamn Panemian Nationalist Party won the presidential, parliamentarian, and even local elections and are trying to push their political anti-Career and Capitolite agenda.

That's not even beginning to describe what the situation is like for many Careers. Many of them are stuck working in dead end construction-related labor jobs that pay little. Career laborers don't risk trying to unionize for fear of being fired. Many of the Career youth that haven't dropped out of school go to underfunded schools only for them. The good schools that do accept Career students are getting petitions and threats that want those schools to be only for damn fucking Outliers.

Julius rubs his temple, unable to count how many problems the Careers are facing. He sighs as he puts his hands on his face.

"Overthrowing the Capitol was a mistake…" Julius thought, but controlled himself from thinking any more negative thoughts from surfacing. "No, don't think like that. Overthrowing the Capitol is a good thing. We can now vote, go anywhere we want, and there are no damn Hunger Games no more. Like Toni said, things will get better. It just takes time."

Though his pessimistic side thinks that the benefits of overthrowing the Capitol only benefits the Outliers. That he can't help but wonder when things will get better for Panem's Career citizens. In another year? Five years? Ten? Seventy-four years like how long the Capitol regime lasted?

But Julius… needs to hope that things will get better. He knows that there are good Outliers in Panem like former President Paylor working with the Career and Capitolites Rights Movement to try to make things in this country better.

Still, the xenophobic Outliers. The ones that fear, distrust, and hate people like him outnumber those good Outliers two to one.

As Julius wanders to the less inhabited slum areas of the Southwest Neighborhood, his eyes land on a middle-aged homeless man with tattered clothes on the sidewalk, covering himself with a dirty blanket. A sign near him reads:

I USED TO OWN A SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANT IN DISTRICT ONE

IT WAS LOOTED AND BURNED TO THE GROUND DURING THE SACKING

I NEVER ASKED TO BE HOMELESS

MONEY… FOOD… WORK… ANYTHING WILL HELP

Julius can't help himself as he walks to the homeless man, taking out his wallet.

"What are you thinking!? Are you stupid! The rent's high enough as it is! Think about yourself!" Julius' negative, selfish thoughts run through his head. He shakes them away. "No! This… this is the right thing to do. I'm better than this."

Julius takes out five dollars to give to the homeless man. As he looked up at Julius and looked at the money in his hand, Julius thought he saw… disbelief in the man's eyes.

Julius can only guess that this handout the homeless man is receiving must've been like… what? His first in a couple of days?

"Thank you," said the homeless man in his soft spoken District 1 accent.

Julius just stands there, rubbing his side for a couple seconds as the man puts the money in his pocket. Julius clears his throat, getting the man's attention.

Julius is about to speak, but remembers that he can't. He always forgets that he can no longer speak. He doesn't think the man knows any sign language anyways. So, he takes out his pen and notepad to write down what he wants to say.

Why are you here? Julius has written so far. Very few people come to this area. You'll have more luck with handouts if you go to the neighborhood center.

Once Julius is done writing, he rips the piece of paper to give to the man. The man quickly reads over it and looks at the ground with fearful eyes, making sure his blanket is covering him despite the hot day today. It's the only item the man has left that Julius can see.

"The anti-Career gangs…" The homeless man said. "They always harass me… mug me… chase me away. The cops always just stand there and watch."

The man takes a deep breath, not wanting to relive his experiences. Julius meanwhile, just clenches his fists in his pocket.

"Isn't one of the goals the Outliers wanted to achieve is to end homelessness!?" Julius thought as he seethed.

He flips to another empty notepad page to write.

If you want, I can guard you while you beg. I have time.

He gives the paper to the homeless man. He looks up at Julius, who smiles and flexes his muscles. The man simply holds up his hand and shakes his head, causing Julius to frown.

"I wouldn't want a nice young man like you getting into a heap of trouble for someone like me," The man answered. "The damn Outlier cops are arresting too many young Careers these days."

Julius groans as he's reminded of another problem the Careers are facing. The police officers in this city, all of whom are Outliers, arresting and brutalizing Career youths for any small, petty reason they see fit and sending them to either back to the reintegration camps or jail.

"Because it's always the "violent", "savage", "barbaric", and "evil" Career that the Outliers are always afraid of," Julius thought sarcastically.

With nothing else to do, Julius nods at the homeless man goodbye, causing the man to nod back.

Julius continues his walk around his neighborhood until he hears crying from around the corner. He stops as he listens in.

"Of course it's not fair to you Freak Shows!" A familiar voice yells. "Do you really expect that once the Second Rebellion is over, we Outliers will treat you Careers with respect and compassion once we take over the government!? Keep dreaming! Because you and your kind deserve every bit, every second of what's in store for you guys!"

"No we do not," Julius thinks as he latches onto every single word that person says. "And no, I didn't expect the Outliers and Careers to immediately get along after the Second Rebellion. But even if most Outliers don't like us, I thought that despite all the bad history, the Outliers would at least have the basic decency to treat us how they want to be treated!"

Julius looks down when someone bumps into his chest.

"Hey! Watch i-!" Lucas pauses mid-sentence, staring at Julius. He gulps and slowly backs away. "Fuck me…"

Julius looks behind Lucas to see Valeria crying on the ground. He can see needle marks on her arms as he glares back at the little scum in front of him.

This is another problem Careers are facing. Outlier drug gangs and dealers peddling to Career kids. Back then, the Career districts had very tough restrictions on drugs. Now though, the drug gangs and dealers view the re-opening of the district borders as an opportunity to peddle their addictive drugs to Career kids, specifically Careers who are orphans that need something to forget what terrible shit they've seen or did during the Second Rebellion.

This punk in front of Julius… he's part of that problem. A part of a problem Julius intends to fix.

Lucas takes the chance to run away as Julius instinctively chases after him, anger fueling him with every step.

Julius knows that beating up Lucas and making him swear he'll never go to his neighborhood to sell drugs is a waste of time, considering that Julius and a few of his friends have caught Lucas breaking his vow multiple times.

But it'd be damn satisfying to him once he gets rid of a small cause to his peoples' problem.

"For the last damn time, Avery! We are not hiring him!"

"Come on, Tatum! We need to at least give him a chance!"

"For the thousandth time! No! I am not letting some One kid who've, most likely, has been training for most of his life to kill Outlier kids in the Games anywhere near our child!"

"Oh, here we go again with the us versus them mentality again! Pius downstairs seems like a lovely boy! Plus, I don't believe that most Careers were so evil enough as to kill babies anyways!"

"Oh really?! I bet you one hundred bucks that if an 18-year-old Career tribute and a day-old Outlier baby are the last ones left in the Games! That Career will have no regrets killing that baby! All in the name of their precious honor and glory!"

Fifteen-year-old Pius Emeralton IV of District 1 listens on as the argument between husband and wife comes to a close. He stands near the front door downstairs as the husband goes on and on about how bloodthirsty monsters Pius and his kind, thinking Pius himself can't hear him. He sighs to himself, knowing that he won't be hired to take care of the couples' infant son.

After hearing a huff of annoyance from the woman and a slam of the door, Pius looks up to see Avery walking down the stairs, defeated. Pius knows the answer right away. Still, he appreciated that she tried to defend him. Not many Outlier parents are willing to trust their kids with a Career babysitter.

"I'm sorry, Pius," Avery said to him, eyes not looking at him. More out of guilt than the xenophobic hatred Pius is used to. "I tried to talk sense to that fool, but… he's always the stubborn type."

"It's okay," Pius said, trying to smile. "I have some other interviews with other parents. I'm sure I'll have luck with them."

Avery nods solemnly as she holds the door for Pius to leave.

"She's even kind enough to hold the door for Careers like me," Pius thought as he exited her home.

Pius continues to make his way to another home a few blocks from here for another scheduled interview, hoping the parents would be more tolerant. He makes sure to cross out Avery's job offer on his notepad. This is the 11th refusal of his services so far today.

He looks around the suburban neighborhood as he walks. Most of the homes in this side of the city are only one-story homes, but after looking inside several of them in previous jobs. In Pius' mind, they're a lot comfier than the apartment room he and Stellar live in.

The Southeast Neighborhood in this city is known to be a place where some of the more middle-class Outliers with cushy white-collar jobs live. A place where for the first time, they won't know what it's like to worry about hunger, homelessness, and other things Outliers had to worry about years ago during Capitol rule. A place where people and their families can go swimming at the rec center pool, tend to their rose gardens, invite each other to barbecues, and where Outlier kids can play out in the open without fear.

A place where the homes were built with cheap, non-labor Career laborers, working day in, day out with their blood, sweat, and tears. Along with a dream and a hope that maybe, just maybe. Things will change and they will own a house here someday.

A place where many Outliers that support the PNP are increasingly moving to.

A place where the Outliers here will never sell a home to people like Pius, even if a Career is the richest person in the entire nation.

Pius reached his destination as he stood in front of the O'Leary's front door, nervous. For a second, Pius almost wanted to lie about himself. To write down on his notepad that he's a boy from District 7 named Spruce who changed his name to Bruce who was born a mute. Just so they won't hear his distinct One accent. Pius decided against this though.

The last time he tried that, he was babysitting the Foster's children for the longest time until the parents caught Pius saying something in his One accent.

They forced him to leave their home as they threatened to call the cops on him.

"I am never going back to Fort Ross," Pius thought bitterly as he remembered what happened with the Fosters. "Never again! Not after what happened to me! No, it's best if I am honest to the O'Leary's."

Pius breathed to calm his nerves as he forced himself to ring their doorbell. Soon, he heard footsteps from inside coming to the door. Mr. O'Leary opened the door as he smiled at Pius, unaware of his district of birth.

"Hi there! How may I help you?" Mr. O'Leary said with a cheerful expression.

"Hello there. My name is Pius Emeralton IV, but you can call me Pius," Pius said, hoping that Mr. O'Leary isn't one of those anti-Career extremists. "I saw on the website for Calling All Babysitters that your family needs one."

Pius watched as Mr. O'Leary almost, almost frowned the moment he heard Pius' One accent. However, he tries to stay cheerful and smile. Though Pius can tell he hates him. The smile is too big and looks forced. Pius even saw Mr. O'Leary's left eye almost twitched.

"Oh, well," Mr. O'Leary began. "I appreciate the interest, but we already hired a babysitter for tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. I guess-."

"Have a good day!" Mr. "O'Leary said as he quickly slammed the door closed.

Pius can even hear the lock being put on from outside.

Pius crosses out the O'Leary's house as that makes it the 12th time today. He walks away to his next destination, hands in his pockets and head held high.

So many of his friends kept saying to Pius that trying to babysit in the Southeast neighborhood is a waste of time. Kept asking him why Pius should even risk showing his face in that neighborhood. Why would he take all the verbal abuse from the parents and their teenage children?

Yes, Pius knows that most of the time, the parents here won't hire him. He knows that the few times he's hired by less extreme, but still xenophobic parents that he hears them say verbal abuse behind his back. Or in some cases, to his face. Even Pius knows that there are some Career and non-xenpohobic Outlier parents that'' hire him elsewhere in the city.

To Pius though, he sees it as his moral duty that he must try to teach the children in the Southeast neighborhood basic values. Maybe it's because the moral duty part has been instilled in his head from the time he trained for a short time at One's Academy. Maybe it is stupid of him to even try.

Pius won't give up on these Outlier kids, not when there's a chance to teach them about tolerance and acceptance. No, he won't let them become like their parents who are so full of xenophobic hatred and who preach old grudges to them.

Pius can't help but clench his fist.

Afterall, the xenophobic Outliers in this neighborhood have no freaking clue what Pius has been through when he was a kid.

Seventeen-year-old Rosa Quincy from District 11 can't help but resent these white-collar Middle-Classers, as she likes to call them, of the Southeast Neighborhood.

Every time she passes one of them on her bike in this neighborhood, Rosa swears that they're secretly giving her the side-eye. It's not as if they think Rosa is one of those ungodly beasts called Careers. No, Rosa sometimes says hi to these Middle-Classers whenever she's in a good mood. So, they should tell from her accent that she's an Outlier. That she's one of them.

Only, she's technically not one of them.

As she rides her bike, she slows down and stops riding her bike to look at her clothing. Today she's wearing her favorite sleeveless denim jacket, a gift from Jenny herself on her sixteenth birthday. She also wears a slightly dirty and discolored t-shirt and ripped jeans that show her bare knees.

She also looks and takes a moment to feel her knuckles, bruised right cheek, and cut lip. Healing injuries she sustained three days ago while fighting one of those Cadet members whose name is actually Primadonna of all things.

"District One names sometimes, I swear," Rosa thought.

As Rosa's about to ride again, she can't help but stare at one particularly fancy house.

"I swear, it's because they're richer than us," Rosa thought resentfully as she stared the particularly nice house. "Figures. My uncle always said, "Even the Rebellion's success can't erase the social classes." Only in our dreams can we afford a house in the suburbs."

"Umm, hi there," Someone said as it made Rosa snap out of her thoughts.

Rosa looks around to see an old woman sitting on her chair on the front porch across the street from where she is.

"Can I ask what you're doing there?" The old woman said, slowly taking off her sunglasses.

"Oh, just passing through to meet with my friends," Rosa replied. It was true, she's supposed to meet up with Nova, Monica, and Beth today. About how Nova tracked down where a homeless Career veteran from the loyalist side is making camp on the outskirts of the city.

"Okay, just asking," The old woman said as she went back to relaxing on her chair. Rosa can't help but notice that the woman still has her eyes on her, even in this distance.

Rosa quickly rides off to meet with her friends, not wanting to stick around for much longer.

"Stupid biased classist Middle-Classer bitch," Rosa mumbled in her thoughts as she rode her bike. "What did she think I was doing?! Was she really thinking I'm some sort of thug just because of my clothes?! Did she think that I was going to rob that house?! Like, come on! Most of these houses here have alarms, cameras, and all that fancy security stuff!"

As Rosa rides her bike through the neighborhood, another thought comes up in her mind.

"No," Rosa thought. "Perhaps she thinks I'm a thug because she's racist! Maybe that's why!"

To be fair, besides Careers and Cappies. Rosa has a justifiable reason to hate classists and racists.

For classists, there has always been class tensions between the poor folk like Rosa's family and the few wealthy families during the Capitol control of District 11. Rosa still remembered how this one girl in her class, Lily Beauregard, often insulted Rosa and her classmates just because she's richer than everyone as Lily's parents harshly ordered the poor farm hands around. It's only natural that Rosa and her classmates grew to hate the rich.

For racists, well, everyone in Panem who aren't racist or have some sort of unconscious bias hates racists.

There's also the fact that Rosa remembered this one Peacekeeper during the Second Rebellion who was an absolute racist to her and her little brother, Myron, and… well, he also did something to her when she was a little girl.

Rosa shakes her head, not wanting to remember that particular day. Right now, she just wants to focus on leaving this damn neighborhood.

That's exactly what she's thinking when she suddenly sees Pius walking down the street up ahead. She scowls when she recognizes him from that damn Cadets group she's in.

She then smiles as she gets the bright idea to try to ride her bike directly at Pius. She almost did when he noticed her after him and jumped away.

The moment Pius looked up, he sighed and glared at the smirking Rosa.

"Oops!" Rosa said as she pretended to sound shocked while mockingly put a hand to her mouth. "I'm really sorry about that! I didn't look where I was going!"

"Bullshit!" Pius yelled. "You knew exactly what you're doing Rebel!"

"And what are you doing here?" Rosa asked, tilting her head to feign curiosity. "This is an Outlier neighborhood!"

"I should ask the same to you," Pius whispered to himself as he continued walking away, ignoring her.

"What did you just say, little man?!"

"I said I should ask the same to you, Poor Clothes!"

Pius immediately closed his mouth. He wished he hadn't said that as Rosa is gripping her bicycle handlebar till her knuckles go white. He can even tell that her teeth are clenched despite Rosa closing her mouth.

Without warning, Rosa gets off her bike and tries to tackle Pius. Thanks to his Career training instincts, he ducked as the two kids circle each other.

Pius ultimately decided that fighting her alone in a neighborhood that's known to hate Careers is both pointless and stupid as he turns and runs to friendlier territory. Rosa quickly gets back on her bike and pedals after the small One kid, trying to run him over.

Afterall, this little Career punk has no freaking idea what Rosa's been through when she was a kid.

"Please! I promise I won't ever show my face in this city ever again! I swear!"

Eighteen-year-old Nova "Hex" Ingram of District 13 just scoffs and stomps on the homeless Career woman from Two in the stomach again, not wanting to hear anymore of her bullshit again.

"Hold her tightly girls!" Nova orders her fellow Rebels, 17-year-old Monica "Zappette" Juarez of Three and 16-year-old Beth "Chucky" Davis of Six, as they force the woman to kneel on the ground. Nova takes out a small box out of her jacket pocket as the woman looks at it warily. Even Beth is looking at the small box in Nova's hand with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"What's in the box, Nova?" Beth can't help but ask. She doesn't get an answer as Nova glares down at the woman.

Nova inspects the woman's clothes with disdain. Although the woman's clothes are somewhat tattered and dusty, she can spot the old ceremonial uniform of a Peacekeeper from a mile away. Her family back in 13 taught her how to spot one when she was young, afterall.

This woman was part of the Peacekeepers alright, a group that had once oppressed this nation for the longest time in the Captiol's name. Now though, Nova savors this moment. For it's the former Peacekeeper kneeling that's the one begging for mercy.

"Let's see what's in your pockets, Freak Show," Nova says as she looks inside the woman's jacket and spots something shiny. She takes it out and shows it to Monica and Beth. Monica scowls as Beth looks at the item in Nova's hand with a neutral expression.

"Lookie here girls," Nova muses, chuckling as she observes the medal in her hand. "Now this right here is a very rare Peacekeeper medal. It's called the Medal of Ultimate Sacrifice. It's only awarded to Peacekeepers from Two who chose to flee to the Capitol to take part in the last stand during the Second Rebellion. Peacekeepers who fought till the bitter end or surrendered after the Battle for the Capitol."

The woman could only stare at the ground, clearly too guilty and ashamed to even look up. Nova waves the medal near the woman's face.

"Guess how much this medal is worth now, girls?" Nova asks Monica and Beth.

"Umm, a lot?" Beth says, unsure. Monica lightly smacks her above the head for her dumb guess. Afterall, Monica for the longest time has had a secret crush on the girlfriend of the Rebels leader, Jenny. It's only natural for her to always understand what Nova means from the get-go. As well as to always carry out what Nova demands.

Nova proceeds to slowly throw the medal away in a nearby garbage can.

"Nothing. It's worth nothing," Nova taunts as she smirks. "Nor is this piece of Career trash here."

The woman slowly makes a defiant face to Nova and shakes her head.

"I'm no longer believe in that loyalist bull," The woman says. "The only reason why I have that damn medal is because I wanted to sell-."

Nova doesn't let the woman continue, slapping her across the face and grabbing her hair.

"That's a lie and you goddamn know it, loyalist!" Nova shouts near the woman's face. "Who knows what secret plot you Careers are up to these days!"

"Yeah, maybe if you confess what you're hiding, then we might let you go!" Monica yells, playing along. Though Beth just stays silent, knowing that her two friends have no intention of letting the woman go unpunished.

"Whatever conspiracy theories you foolish girls believe in, I'm no longer a loyalist!" The woman shouted. "These are the only clothes I have!"

This time, Nova punched the woman for even raising her voice at them. The woman takes the punch like the tough soldier she used to be.

"Do your fucking worse," The woman mutters as she spits out blood. "I've felt so much worse during the Second Rebellion than what you girls are doing."

As Nova and Monica sadistically grin at each other, they don't notice that Beth is biting her lip, trying not to look at and feeling sorry for what the woman is going through.

It's even harder for Beth to ignore all the scars on the woman's face, most certainly from her time as a Peacekeeper. Does Beth dislike that the woman here fought for the wrong side, certainly. However, Beth has always felt sympathy towards people who fought in the Second Rebellion, no matter which side they were on.

Afterall, her family all fought in the rebellion in some way. Her father was a messenger for the rebels, risking his life by running around the frontlines to get messages and orders across. Her mother helped load artillery shells into what few makeshift artillery the rebels in Six had. Her grandmother nursed wounded rebels and civilians in a secret bunker all while trying to make sure young Beth didn't get herself killed. Her uncles, aunts, and what few cousins that were still alive then also fought in the rebellion for the rebels, though they didn't make it.

She also knows firsthand the toll the rebellion had on people who actually fought. Her dad lost a leg and an eye for his service. Not to mention on most nights, her dad, mom, and even her grandmother would sometimes wake up screaming from the nightmares they had, courtesy of what they had seen during the fighting.

Needless to say, the trauma Beth's family endured had turned them into pacifists who just want the country to move on. Never wanting to talk about their service ever again.

So on the one hand, Beth knows that she should be nicer to this woman, who most likely suffered the same nightmares as her family and who definitely was injured during the rebellion like her dad.

But… doing so would be a betrayal of trust between her and her friends within the Rebels gang. They, especially Nova, demand loyalty from her. Why should they be nice to loyalist veterans? This woman fought for a Capitolite regime that was responsible for some of her cousins' deaths by starvation before the Second Rebellion. They were the ones responsible for the deaths of all her aunts, uncles, and remaining cousins. They were the ones that made her dad, mom, and grandmother mourn their deaths on each anniversary for each Davis family member lost.

Hell, for all Beth knew, this woman might be responsible for maybe some of their deaths.

"Hey! Earth to Chucky!" Monica yells at Beth, snapping her fingers in front of her face. Beth snaps out of it and looks at her friends. "Come on, let's do this!"

Nova and Monica stare at Beth, smiling and silently urging her to do whatever awful thing they want to do to the woman. Beth feels the pressure from her friends get to her and the metaphorical angel and devil argue with each other on her shoulders. It's justified if they punished this woman, but what would her family think? They don't even know what she does with her friends all day, thinking that the only Davis child just hangs out with her friends.

Despite the strong urge to do a whole lot worse to this woman, the angel and devil on Beth's shoulders came to an agreement and convinced her to make the balanced, neutral choice.

"Yeah guys," Beth began, cringing to herself. "Let's just beat her up quickly and go."

"Beat her up?" Nova scoffs. "Oh no, honey. I have a better idea."

Nova takes the moment to finally open the small box in her hand and let Beth, Monica, and the woman finally see what's inside.

Beth could've sworn she almost threw up.

Monica grinned and nodded.

The woman went pale with fear.

Inside Nova's small box is full of thumb tacks.

"You see this Career, I'm going to shove these down your throat," Nova said as Beth flinches, causing Nova to frown at her. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?!" Beth yells at Nova. "That's going too far, guys! Come on, let's just-!"

"Let's just do what?" Nova asks. "Beat the woman up a little and let her go. Come on, Chucky! Be real! There are no witnesses here. It's about time we show these loyalists some Outlier justice. True Outlier justice. No trials, no courtrooms. Just justice!"

"What about the cops?!" Beth yells back.

"Please, Nova's family is friends with the police chief here. I'm sure he won't mind one homeless loyalist vet dying," Monica started. "Plus, if the cops somehow know it was us, we can just claim that this loyalist veteran was acting crazy and we had no choice. We'll just claim self-defense. What Outlier believes in the word of a Career anyways?"

"Perhaps…" Nova says slowly. "Maybe you're just chicken. Too scared to have the guts to do what is right!"

"Chucky ain't chicken! She can kick those Career Cadet asses any time," Monica says as she joins in on the taunting. "Maybe she's just probably one of those Outliers. You know, an apologist for the Cappies and Careers."

"I'm not an apologist!" Beth yells back, angry and fists clenching at the accusation.

"Then you do it!" Nova barks at Beth, shoving the box of thumbtacks into Beth's hand. "Prove that you're one of us!"

As Nova and Monica yell at Beth to do the unthinkable, Beth could only mute them in her mind as her hand shakes. Without thinking, she shakily opens the box and gulps, looking at the woman. She's giving Beth a hard, unforgiving glare.

Beth holds back tears and a panicked look as her mind "switches to autodrive", as some people back in Six like to call what she's experiencing now. The woman still glares at Beth, bracing herself for the worse. The woman struggles as Nova and Monica keep her mouth open.

Beth keeps looking back between the woman and her friends. For a moment, Beth almost did the unthinkable. The opened box was lifted above the woman's mouth.

"Leave her alone!"

That is, until she and her friends are interrupted when they're being pelted by rocks.

Beth was just glad for the interruption, even as a rock landed on her forehead, causing a lot of pain for her.

"No. Freaking. Way!" 18-year-old Eloquence Stuart from One exclaims as she looks at what her fellow One, 18-year-old Adoration Lee is holding up in the air. "Is… that?"

"Yep," Adoration says as she and her friend are walking with their little siblings. "This right here is an actual Amaryllis Azora brand lipstick."

Eloquence could only open her mouth wide, stunned.

"I know, right?!" Adoration's little 10-year-old sister, Celeste, yelled joyously as she walked with the older girls, holding a bag with a little bit of food and water inside. "I haven't seen an Azora brand in ages!"

"Where on Earth did you get it?!" Eloquence can't help but ask.

Adoration then proceeded to explain to Eloquence how she managed to get it as she recounts what happened last night.

She was coming back home from work as a roofer when she saw a crowd gathering by a bonfire. Adoration could only guess what that could mean as she curiously got closer to it. Sure enough, when she got close enough, she guessed correctly that it was one of those make-up burning.

Ever since the Panemian Nationalist Party, or PNP as it was called, won the elections 2 years ago. They've passed several laws that made life harder for many Capitolites and Careers. One of those laws were the Anti-Vanity Decrees, a series of laws that made making, distributing, and selling make-up and any other "useless" items like glitter and sparkles illegal.

Incited by pro-PNP public speakers by a need to prevent what they see as "vain, decadent, and un-Panemian activities", many Outlier mobs took to the streets. They stormed businesses and factories, all of them owned by Capitolites or by people of One descent, that made and sold make-up. After that, they would publicly burn any make-up they have looted.

Of course, the decrees and the mobs forced many Capitolites and Ones to close down their make-up related businesses. Many lost their jobs and sank further into poverty. Adoration knows that feeling all too well, having worked at the make-up department of a pharmacy for a short time once she and her family were released from Fort Ross Reintegration Camp. Well, before an Outlier mob snatched her career as a cosmetologist away.

However, as she watched the bonfire amongst the crowd, she looked down and saw the Azora brand lipstick. It was still in good condition with the case still on it and it was hidden by the ash and soot of the flames. Adoration then left the crowd, not daring to say anything to let them know of her accent, and waited in an alley for hours until the last of the mob left. It was then that she quickly snatched the lipstick and ran back home.

When she got back, her mother scolded her since she hadn't arrived home for hours. Her mom thought that something bad must've happened to her. When Adoration explained why she was out late, her mother furiously scolded her for staying out for something as useless as make-up and demanded that she won't steal make-up again. Mrs. Lee then changed the curfew for Adoration to come back home earlier than before as punishment.

Though Adoration understands that her mom has every right to be afraid for her safety. Her mother couldn't bear losing another child again. Not after what happened to Adoration's two other younger siblings during the rebellion.

But no matter how much she loves her mother, Adoration couldn't help herself when she steals make-up.

To many Outliers, including many Careers from Districts 2 and 14. They see make-up as something unnecessary and pricey that just makes people look beautiful. To many Capitolites and Ones however, make-up is so much more than that. It is a part of their heritage. A part of their culture and identity. A way to artistically express themselves. Because no matter how useless make-up is seen by others, it is a part of who Capitolites and Ones are as peoples.

At the thought of just how important make-up is in District One society, Adoration began to reminisce on all the good memories she had before the Second Rebellion.

She remembered how when Celeste had her first birthday, her parents threw a glitter party, a traditional practice in One where the glitter symbolizes wishing the baby an amazing life.

She remembered how when her older cousin, Faustine, turned 13-years-old. Faustine's mom gave her her first makeover to symbolize Faustine's starting to come of age into adulthood.

(Faustine would be 21-years-old today, having celebrated her eighteenth birthday 3 years ago to complete her transition into adulthood, had she not been forcefully conscripted and killed in action at age 15 during the rebellion).

She remembered how when her adventurous great-grandmother Victoria turned 90, Victoria and her old friends had a makeover party to mark the special occasion. A humorous reminder to Adoration that even the elders from District One had teenage souls.

(The senior citizens' home where Victoria and her friends lived was bombed by rebel planes from District Six. What remained of the Lee family knew that Victoria didn't make it when they heard the news).

Make-up was also just a fun pastime for many Ones. Adoration even remembered how her two younger siblings, Blessing and Prince, would messily put make-up on her dad's face when they were kids. They would always joke how ugly dad is after they're done.

(The last time Adoration saw her father, they said one final goodbye before he left to join one of the many pro-Capitol militias in One. Blessing and Prince died ages 10 and 7 while their teachers tried to get them to the air raid shelter. After they died, Adoration's mother took her out of school and homeschooled her for the rest of the rebellion).

So, make-up wasn't just something fun or a part of One's traditions to Adoration. They are simply reminders of happier times. It reminded her how whole her family used to be.

"Big sis!" Celeste exclaims, snapping Adoration back to the present. "Can we buy this orange juice for the homeless woman!"

"I think we've bought enough edibles for her to enjoy," Adoration tried to explain. However, Celeste looks up at her, a saddened expression.

"Please! It's only two and a half dollars!" Celeste explains.

Now, Adoration should've stood her ground and declined. Given the Lee family's current financial situation. However, every time she looks down at Celeste, she could feel her heart twinge with guilt.

"Damn it! I shouldn't, but… Celeste is such a ray of sunshine…" Adoration thought, giving her nod of approval to her little sis. Celeste lets out a "Yay!" in response and buys the orange juice.

The Lee family back in One, have always been known for their generosity. However, in recent days. Their mother has been thinking that maybe they should be less generous to the homeless, until things get financially better for them, much to Celeste's horror. This delivery of food and drinks to a homeless loyalist veteran could be one of their last.

After Celeste bought the bottle of orange juice, the trio then make their way to the outskirts of the city to drop the food and drinks off to the homeless woman.

It was there that they saw trouble ahead.

"Get down!" Eloquence whispered as they hid behind some garbage.

Eloquence and Adoration peeked up to see three teenage girls, all of whom they recognize from the Rebels gang, surrounding the homeless woman. Two of them are holding the woman down as they urge the younger one to do something to the woman. Whatever that is the two are urging the other to do, Eloquence and Adoration doesn't like the thing the younger girl is holding.

"Leave her alone!" Celeste yelled from behind them, beginning to throw rocks at the Rebel girls.

Instinctively, the older girls joined in as the trio threw rocks at the three girls ahead. The woman took this chance to hurriedly grab her small backpack and run away.

"Get your sister out of here!" Eloquence yelled to Adoration, who hesitated. "Celeste shouldn't get involved in this mess! Take her back home and then meet up with me!"

Adoration nodded and grabbed her sister by the arm as they hurried down the hill back to the city. Eloquence keeps throwing rocks at the Rebel girls.

"Come on you weak bitches!" Eloquence shouted at them. "Pick on someone who can fight back! Cause I'm ready for you guys!"

"Get her!" The oldest Rebel girl, whom Eloquence recognizes as Nova Ingram, the Rebels leader's girlfriend, screeched as the three Rebel girls chased after Eloquence.

As Eloquence rushes down the hill, occasionally throwing more rocks at the Rebel girls to continually get their attention, she makes her way to a fence leading to a landfill. She almost climbed over it when Nova closed the distance between them and grabbed Eloquence's leg, trying to get the One girl to fall down.

"You're dead Career! Dead!" Nova screams at Eloquence as Monica and Beth catch up. "When school starts in two days, I'll fucking have the principal expel you for this!"

"Not how expulsions work, honey!" Eloquence can't help but chuckle as she retorts, kicking Nova in the face with her free leg and getting over the fence quickly. "As a prefect, I'm shocked that a fellow prefect like you would forget the school rules already! Later genius!"

Eloquence did an L sign with her fingers directly at the three Rebel girls, further infuriating Nova. The Rebel girls continued the chase as they climbed over the chain-linked fence.

Despite being chased by three bloodthirsty xenophobic Outliers, Eloquence can't help but smirk. For most of her life, especially the last six years of her life after the rebellion. She has always enjoyed trying to overcome obstacles blocking her way and being challenged.

Trust her, being chased by members of the Cadets' sworn enemy isn't the worst thing Eloquence has ever faced in her life. In that, this is just another insignificant moment in her life that has happened over and over. She has more pressing matters that worry her then this.

Right now, she needs to focus on finding a way out of this landfill and get these losers off her back.

Her smirk grows bigger at a thought.

"I wonder if there's a barrel of oil somewhere?"

On the off chance she encounters one, Eloquence grabs a sharpened piece of metal from a nearby pile as the chase continues.

After what seems like minutes of being chased in this landfill, Eloquence spots a barrel ahead.

"I really hope that's full."

She picks up the pace, wanting to get as much distance between herself and the three Rebel girls after her. She stops next to the barrel and takes the moment to pierce it. She then throws the barrel down on the ground as oil comes leaking out of it.

"Hope this will works."

As oil leaks from the barrel to the ground, Nova sees what Eloquence is planning early and quickly jumps over the slippery oil. Monica and Beth aren't so lucky as they struggle and keep slipping from the slippery oil.

Nova only focuses on Eloquence as the One girl laughs at the sight, climbing over a fence out of the landfill.

"Come on, Jenny," 18-year-old Helen "Robin" McKee from 10 said to the leader of the Rebels herself, 18-year-old Jenny "Maple" Mays from 7. "It can't be that bad."

Jenny continues to lean on the lamp post, smoking a cigarette in her hand. She quickly inhales and puffs smoke out of her mouth, looking away from her second-in-command. Jenny sighs.

"Look," Jenny started. "Just… please keep what I'm about to say to yourself. This is between you and me. No one else."

"I hear you, ol' pal," Helen responded, inhaling and puffing out her own cigarette. "Now, no more stalling and spit it out already.

Jenny becomes silent. She's been thinking about this for a while now, but like every good leader. She needs a second opinion. It used to be that Jenny would also confide in her oldest and closest friend and blood sibling, Sasha. But… she's no longer interested in being a member of the gang now. So, Jenny guesses that Helen's trusted enough to confide in.

"I think I might break up with Nova," Jenny said quickly.

Awkward silence ensues before Jenny looks at Helen's shocked face.

"Holy shit, girl!" Helen curses in her District 10 cowgirl accent.

"Shhh!" Jenny shushes her, looking around worriedly. Just in case Nova just so happens to be nearby. "Keep it down!"

"Sorry," Helen apologizes, lowering her voice. "But why? I thought you two were meant for each other."

"I thought so too," Jenny agrees, she inhales and puffs out more smoke.

"Can I ask why?" Helen asks, before widening her eyes again. "Was she cheating on you?"

"No!" Jenny exclaims. "Jesus! No, it's… it's not like that!"

"Then…," Helen slowly says, trying to understand why.

Jenny pauses and thinks for a moment, trying to find the words that make sense in her mind.

"It's just… I don't know," Jenny started, finishing her current cigarette and lighting her third one today. "I guess I… I was expecting more from her."

"More?" Helen asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah, more," Jenny answers, uncertain.

Helen closes her eyes and thinks about what Jenny said. She scratches her head as she thinks, clearly confused. Jenny takes the hint and sighs again.

"I know," Jenny says. "That's… still not a very good reason why."

"So," Helen begins. "You're telling me that despite you and Nova having a shared hatred for the Cappies and Careers. That despite you guys dating for like, what? Four years? Since you both were 14-years-old. That despite you guys recently on occasion started making love in your basement apartment. You want to break up with her?"

"Yep," was all Jenny had to say as another awkward silence ensued.

"Okay, just…," Helen says, rubbing her temple. "Just try to explain to me, as simply as possible, why you want to break up with her."

Jenny could only shrug, inhaling her cigarette for a while. She holds the smoke in her mouth until she feels she needs to blow the smoke out.

"I think…" Jenny begins to say. "I think Nova… only loved me for what I am."

"Which is?" Helen asks.

"That she only loves me because I'm a veteran. That I was a 12-year-old rebel child soldier shooting and killing Peacekeepers during the Second Rebellion," Jenny quickly says.

"But that's good right?" Helen says. "She and her family think you're a hero! They worship you!"

Jenny just nods, knowing that there's more that she's keeping from Helen.

Like for example, Jenny doesn't know how she feels when Nova and her family brags about how Nova is dating Jenny, a rebel veteran of the rebellion. About how Nova and her family ask Jenny occasionally for a favor by having her speak at pro-PNP rallies and about the dangers of Cappies and Careers. About how even Nova's family would ask Jenny to have her and her Rebels gang harass some random Career or Cappie trying to set up a business in the city.

Jenny doesn't know how to word all of that. But a few words suddenly pop up in her mind.

Used.

Exploited.

Taken advantage of.

Jenny shakes all that nonsense out of her head.

"No, no not taken advantage of!" Jenny thinks to herself. "If they were taking advantage of me, then Nova and her family wouldn't go out of there to make me feel comfortable and welcomed! To make me feel special! To make me feel like I still have a goddamn purpose on this Earth, even after the Second Rebellion!"

Then a pause in Jenny's mind.

"They made me feel… like I still have a family."

If there was one thing Jenny would always feel indebted to Nova and her family. It's that they made her remember what it was like when she had a family. That they made her feel like she can have a family again

Oh, Jenny wished her family were still with her. Her mom, dad, and little sister, Fernie. Here to experience a free Panem. A better Panem than what they used to live in.

All 3 were executed by Peacekeepers, Careers, long before the Second Rebellion.

Of course, no matter how many Careers she killed, she wouldn't bring them back.

"Look, boss," says Helen, breaking the silence. "Romantic advice has never been my thing. But… you have found someone great in Nova. Someone you can spend your entire life with. Don't throw that away just because of some unexplained hunch of yours. Or because you think you deserve more. I mean, look at me. I still haven't found someone I can call my life partner yet. To be honest, I may never find one. But you've found one. Don't throw it away."

Jenny thinks through what her friend said and nods. She grins as she lightly punches Helen in the arm, with Helen doing the same to Jenny.

"Yeah, I was just being silly," Jenny finally said. "Don't know what the hell I was thinking."

"Eh, these things happen to the best of us," Helen replies.

"Robin! Boss!"

The two friends look to their left to see Danny slowly coming towards them, sweating and breathing heavily.

"Thermal?" Helen says. "Wow, you look like shit. Not going to lie."

"Guys!" Danny yells, still tired from all the running he's done. "Those damn Cadets have picked a fight with us again! Some of us are chasing after some of them! Some of them are chasing some of us! It's chaos in the Southwest Neighborhood, man!"

Jenny immediately puts out her cigarette upon hearing those Career Cadets again. She scowls as she begins walking toward the direction Danny came from. Both Helen and Danny follow her.

Their walking slowly becomes jogging and then running as Jenny's two followers try to pick up the pace.

"Let's go kick some Career ass guys!" Jenny yells back, giving her biggest grin yet, as the two behind her shout in excitement.

Sure, Jenny has never been good at explaining how she feels. But if there's one thing that she's incredibly good at, it's beating the living shit out of those Careers and Cappies.

Afterall, this is her current purpose in her mind.

Suppress any form of Career or Cappie defiance in the name of her beloved nation.

"Do you guys think they would react if I threw a peanut at both of them?"

"Dude, seriously? Don't. You could make them mad."

"They haven't moved since the break started. I'm just curious to see how they would react."

"Dude, they're meditating. I'm pretty sure they'll be pissed off if you bother them."

"Still…"

"Do you even know who those guys are?"

"Pfft, only Outliers do not know who these two guys are."

"Then it'll probably be wise of you to not annoy them! Stupid…"

As a group of Career friends argue amongst themselves nearby, the 19-year-old leader of the Cadets group, Antonia Dominguez of District 2, or Toni for short, quietly meditates. Next to her is her fellow Two and her second-in-command, 19-year-old Mortar Egoyan. Both of them don't pay the group nearby any attention as they continue their meditation under the shade of a nearby tree for their break.

They also don't pay attention to the noises of Copper Rock City that are heard. People walking by. Some indistinct chatter here and there. Vehicles being driven. Pigeons cooing. Even the occasional street musician playing their violin is heard.

Despite the noise, Toni takes a deep, satisfying breath as she continues to meditate. Mortar meditates while quietly saying a Christian prayer in the ancient Armenian language he's still trying to master.

It was at that moment that Toni felt a peanut hit the back of her head.

"See! She doesn't seem to mind."

"Dude! Stop it!"

"Please, what's the worst she can do?"

That was when the guy tried to throw another peanut at the back of Toni's head.

This time, she instinctively catches it.

Toni sighs, causing the group of friends to freeze in fear. She gets up and approaches the group. She raises the peanut in front of them.

"May I ask who threw this?" Toni simply asks.

There isn't a hint of anger, hostility, or even annoyance in Toni's voice. Regardless, the group of friends all feel intimidated by her. Some in the group are intimidated simply because she's bigger than them. Even the few friends who are bigger than Toni herself gulp at the sight of her muscular, athletic build more impressive than theirs.

The thing they feel intimidated by her the most is that they've personally seen Toni fight with the Cadets when they fight against the Rebels.

Instinctively, all of them point to the one who threw the peanut in the first place. The peanut thrower gulped as he almost wet his pants, but still had enough bravery in him to control it.

Toni slowly grabs the thrower's hand as he flinches in fear.

She simply gave the peanut back to him.

"Please don't waste your food," Toni says. "Many Career families here are struggling to put food on the table as it is."

The peanut thrower and his friends simply nod and hurriedly run away as Toni goes back to her spot to continue her meditation. As soon as she does so, Mortar can't help but smirk.

"If you were the old you," Mortar comments. "They would've been dead meat."

Toni can't help but chuckle as the two reminisce on the person Toni used to be.

When Toni first met Mortar six years ago, she was the very definition of a classic Two girl. An openly proud and patriotic loyalist who was angry that the Capitol lost and who was trying to be defiant to the Fort Ross Reintegration Camp authorities. On numerous occasions, Toni called Mortar, "A traitor who betrayed the benevolent and awe-inspiring Capitol", to be exact, when they were interned together due to Mortar going along with the un-brainwashing process.

Whenever Toni preached pro-Capitol sayings, her fellow internees would stay away from her, not wanting to be associated with one of the many pro-Capitol outcasts in the camp. Obviously, Toni soon became depressed and lonely despite being imprisoned with her surviving family. That was when Mortar, sensing that Toni may have finally calmed down, began to comfort her.

Mortar soon learned that Toni was just so full of anger, sadness, and hatred due to her parents dying. Needless to say, Toni greatly appreciated the comfort Mortar, a boy she had once belittled and cussed out many times before, had shown to her. She didn't care he was ready to give his loyalties to the Capitol, she was just desperate for some companionship.

That was the start of a long friendship between the two as they both tried to help each other adjust to a Panem being a democracy. Mortar took to the de-brainwashing process easier since before, he didn't really like the Career training for the Games. Also, at that point in his life, he just wanted to move on and live life to the fullest.

Toni took longer to accept the new reality though. Sometimes, she would almost break free from the brainwashing she was taught. Other times, she would go back to her old loyalist ways. It was a back-and-forth cycle where even Mortar admitted that sometimes he wanted to give up on her. It was then that Mortar decided that Toni needed to befriend more kids like him, who were ready to give up their pro-Capitol loyalties, if she were to have a chance to break free from the brainwashing.

For the most part, it worked as Mortar introduced Toni to specific kids he viewed aren't pro-Capitol. The friends Toni made just so happened to be the future members of the Cadets group she'll form in the future as they all try to help her with Mortar's instructions.

Mortar and Toni's friends made sure that Toni would never hang around with any pro-Capitol internees as they slowly poke holes in her pro-Capitol beliefs. It was crucial for them to remember not to criticize and attack Toni herself as a person, but only her beliefs.

For five long years, she became someone who wasn't defined by her pro-Capitol. Someone who wanted to live as she wanted to live and not to be controlled by others. It was a good thing Toni changed, since more and more of her friends were released to go live in assigned homes in nearby Copper Rock City.

It was Mortar who, before he was released from Fort Ross, had written the address of the tenement building where he and his dad will be living in Copper Rock to Toni. Just in case her family were released in the future who want to live near familiar faces.

After Mortar was released, he was worried that Toni would be reintroduced to the beliefs of the pro-Capitol internees again, starting her cycle all over again. Thankfully, Toni's uncle, Cadmus, made sure his niece and nephew would never go near any of those bad influences. Cadmus didn't want them to end up like their aunt, his wife, who was a lost cause to some.

A year later, Toni, her little brother, Rocky, and their Uncle Cadmus were released from Fort Ross. They immediately went to Copper Rock where they reunited with Toni's friends and their families.

In Toni's mind, she would've still been interned in Fort Ross had it not been for Mortar.

She may be the leader of the Cadets, but she will always be grateful for the friendship and concern Mortar had shown her.

"Toni! Mortar!"

At the familiar voice, Toni and Mortar look up from their meditation to see Stellar running toward them, his hand clutching his… private parts, clearly in pain.

Toni and Mortar looked at each other and sighed at the sight.

"Let me guess," Mortar said. "One of those Rebel gang members hit you in the groin?"

"Yeah!" Stellar answered, trying to hold back the pain. "And it was all Profit's fault, by the way!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Toni sarcastically said to herself as she and Mortar got up. "Where is he?"

"That's the thing!" Stellar exclaims. "At first it was Profit chasing Seven! Then I saw the Eleven girl bicycling after Pius! Julius chasing the Eight boy! It's going to be a brawl all over again!"

It was at this moment that the Pace Brothers appeared around a corner, both of whom are currently being chased by Coral and Moby. They stopped and ran in another direction, avoiding Toni, Mortar, and Stellar.

"Get back here you little shits!" Coral screamed, trying and almost grabbing Donnie's shirt.

"Damn it Coral!" Moby yells at her. "Just stop!"

The three watch the chase as Toni sighs in frustration, knowing she has to get involved now.

"Let's move out!" Toni yells out as she runs after Coral and Moby with Mortar and Stellar behind her.

All around the Southwest Neighborhood, chases are ongoing as some Cadets are chasing after Rebels and vice versa. People move out of their way, as so many Cadets and Rebels run around the area, trying to catch and deliver a beating to the chase.

Among those who witness these chases are police officers Sgt. Axel Norris of 6 and Gavin Renault of 8. Gavin shakes his head in disappointment and Axel could only stare at the chases outside their police car.

"Should we call for backup?" Gavin asks his superior officer.

"Nah, they're just chasing each other," answers the sergeant. "Let them tire themselves out when they beat the crap out of each other, then we'll swoop in."

"Yes sir," Gavin replies.

In truth, Gavin wants to get backup before any one of these kids could get hurt or worse. But Gavin had seen that glint in Axel's eyes before. Something Gavin has seen before.

He knows that opportunistic look on Axel's face anywhere.

Pius runs out of the alleyway, completely exhausted. He looks around to make sure that none of the Rebels are after him. So far, the coast is clear. He begins to lean on a brick wall by the train tracks, wiping the sweat off his face.

He freezes when he hears a whistling noise from behind him. He turns around and looks up, horrified. Standing on top of the brick wall is Mikey, his huge shadow covering most of Pius. Smirking at Pius.

Pius then makes a break for it back through the alleyway he came. However, running down the same alleyway towards him is Monica.

He leaves the alleyway and almost pumps into Lucas. Mikey jumps down and Monica catches up as the 3 Rebels members are glare down at Pius.

He runs for it to the trainyard. However, he tripped from the train tracks, giving the 3 Rebels members the chance to catch up to the poor One boy and proceed to beat him up.

Stellar runs out of the alleyway and sees Pius getting beat by the Rebels members.

"Leave him alone!" Stellar yells out furiously. He barrels toward Mikey and tackles him to the ground where Mikey and Monica try to get Stellar off of him as Lucas and Pius fight.

Eventually, more and more Cadets and Rebels flood into the area after they either hear and/or see the brewing fight as they charge to the train track area, trying to help their friends from the other.

Dust kicks up in the air as more people launch themselves to the brawl ahead. Making it somewhat difficult for some to see.

Coral spots Reuben, unaware of her presence through the dust, and takes advantage. She ambushes him, wanting to get payback for the windows he and his brother broke. Speaking of Reuben's brother, Donnie sees Coral getting the upper hand and charges at her to help his brother. They fight her as she tries to fight both brothers off her.

Moby manages to see the Pace brothers ganging up on his old friend and tries to help. However, Wilbur has other plans as he tackles the Fourteener boy to the ground, making the two wrestle on the ground, both trying to get the upper hand.

Onyx manages to get Lucas off of Pius as the two begin their fight. The fight is even as Onyx still remembers and puts his hand-to-hand combat training to good use. However, Lucas is more cunning as he throws some dirt into Onyx's eyes, causing the Two boy to have to go on the defensive as Lucas tries to hit him in the privates for an extra advantage.

As Pius manages to get up, he sees Frankie throwing rocks, bricks, bottles, and other debris on the sidelines at his Cadet friends to try to weaken them. Pius rushes toward Frankie, grabbing the latter's shirt and body slamming him to the ground. Frankie grabs and bites Pius in the hand in response.

Adoration watches Pius thankfully attacking Frankie, since she had been hit in the back of the head by a bottle thrown by Frankie. The moment she turns around as she recovers from the blow, The Rebels leader, Jenny, socks her across the face, making Adoration fall to the ground. Adoration does her best to defend herself on the ground as Jenny shows no mercy to her, trying to punch, kick, and stomp on the One girl to unconsciousness.

Mortar, being the Cadets second-in-command, is obviously a prime target as he tries to battle Ryan and Beth on his own. Mortar tries to ignore Beth for later, who had jumped on his back and began to bite his shoulder, neck, you name it, as he tries to deal with the bigger threat of the equally strong Ryan first.

Donna tries to help Mortar by grabbing the back of Ryan's t-shirt. However, she is tackled to the ground by Rosa. Rosa remembers the little fight she and Donna had three days ago, and she wants payback. The two begin to fight as they punch, kick, and even try to choke the other out.

Danny is on top of Julius, trying to use his weight to tire and overwhelm the muscular Two guy. Miraculously, despite almost losing his breath a couple times. Julius manages to wrestle his way out as he tries to get on top of Danny and try to deliver a well-deserved beating.

Nova uses all of her might to try to bash Eloquence's head in on one of the train tracks. Eloquence almost came close to dying several times until she elbows Nova's left side, causing her to get off of her. Eloquence then gets Nova into a chokehold trying to tire out the extremist from 13.

Mikey and Monica are still trying to get Stellar off of him as Stellar punches, elbows, knees, kicks, and stomps Mikey as much as possible as Monica gets him in a chokehold of her own. Stellar isn't slowing down. Consumed by rage that these parts tried to ambush Pius. His poor friend, his blood brother, has already been through enough.

Honoria judo throws Simon to the ground, but it doesn't appear he's given up. In fact, the throw further motivated him to fight back harder. Simon tries to punch Honoria's neck, but she knees him in the privates. Still, Simon fights on as he uppercuts her in the stomach.

Meanwhile, Tucker is having the time of his life as he taunts and toys with Eeler, who's trying to hurt. No, kill the Five guy with his monkey wrench. Tucker grabs Eeler's wrist as he tries to punch the plumber, but Eeler grabs Tucker's wrist also. Tucker's head then got close enough to Eeler's ear.

"Your wife has an amazing ass," Tucker whispers.

This, of course, sends Eeler into more of a frenzy as he tries to kill Tucker once and for all as Tucker just laughs as he quickly dodges out of the wrench's way.

Toni stays patient and on the defensive as Helen unleashes a relentless assault on the Cadets leader, trying to be unpredictable and land hits on Toni's face and body. She's only a little successful, while Toni is having much more success wearing the Rebels second-in-command down by counter-punching her and kicking her legs repeatedly.

Profit curses to himself as Charlie is on top of him, landing punch after punch on his face. In a normal fight with that Twelve rat, it's Charlie who would've been on the defensive. However, Profit is still in his silly candy store mascot costume, so he can't fight as well as he usually does. Still, his pride urges him to keep fighting, landing some good punches to Charlie's head.

Barra and Uma engage in a fast-paced fist fight with each other, neither one backing down as both their high levels of stamina and dislike for each other keep both of them going. They both simultaneously clinch to one another as they both use their knees to try to hurt the other badly.

By then, a small crowd of people gather around the Rebels and Cadets fighting each other as the police car of Sgt. Norris and Officer Renault arrive on the scene. Norris lazily gets out, a rifle in hand, as Renault runs toward the brawl, gripping his police club, as he tries to separate Honoria and Simon.

Having seen enough, Norris loads 3 bullets into his rifle and aims it up at the sky.

Bam!

At the sound of gunfire, everyone immediately stops fighting to turn to Sgt. Norris putting his rifle away and marching toward them.

"Alright kids!" Norris shouts in a commanding voice. "You know the drill! That's enough!"

Many of the Rebels and Cadets glare at each other as the Rebels go to the right while the Cadets go to the left. Some of the Rebels and Cadets intentionally shove and push back each other as they do so.

The only ones that aren't moving are Ryan, Adoration, and Honoria. The three of whom are lying on the ground facedown, hands covering their ears. Danny goes to get Ryan as Eloquence and Coral get their friends.

Afterall, their severe PTSD from the Second Rebellion still casts a long shadow over the three.

"Hey Ryan, snap out of it!" Danny says. "It's just Sgt. Norris' rifle."

Ryan slowly gets up and walks away to the Rebels side with Danny by him.

For just the briefest of moments when he heard the gunfire, he thought he was a child again, ducking from enemy fire.

"Sorry," Ryan says, as he rubs his forehead.

"You have nothing to apologize for, ol' pal," Danny assures him.

Meanwhile, Eloquence and Coral tap on Adoration's and Honoria's backs, causing them to snap out of it and get back with the other Cadets.

Both Adoration and Honoria say nothing as they try to push the memories of witnessing their loved ones dying away.

"Really you guys?" Sgt. Norris says. "Again?"

Many of the Rebels and Cadets then start to argue and blame each other for the brawl.

"They've broken our windows!"

"The Two girl chased me down! I was just getting rid of some graffiti!"

"Seven hit us in the balls!"

"You two were harassing me!"

"They were harassing a homeless woman!"

"You guys were throwing rocks at us!"

"That pervert assaulted my wife!"

"She had a knife, what was I supposed to do?"

"Shut up!" Sgt. Norris shouts, causing everyone to quiet down. "Okay, I'll start with Jenny and her friends. Just what in the world happened?"

Honoria huffs, causing Sgt. Norris marches to her, who's inches from her face.

"Got something to say to me, Garrison!?" Sgt. Norris shouts at her.

"Don't fucking pretend you don't know!" Honoria yells back. "You Outlier cops always listen to the Rebels first!"

For yelling back, Honoria receives a punch to the gut by Norris, causing most of the Rebels to chuckle at the sight. Coral and Profit, rightfully furious, lost their cool and tried to retaliate. However, many of the Cadets hold them back as Toni nods at Norris' pistol, his hand on the gun's handle, ready to defend himself. Norris then walks back to the Rebels.

"Anyways," Sgt. Norris says. "You guys mind telling me and Renault what the hell happened?"

Most of the Rebels are quiet until Jenny approaches Norris.

"Yeah, I'll tell ya what happened," Jenny begins to say. "Many of my friends were just minding their own goddamn business until the Freak Shows-. Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, the Careers came out of nowhere and tried to ambush them.

Most of the Cadets screamed that it's bullshit, but the quiet ones like Toni just glared at Jenny.

"Yeah!" Nova exclaims. "Four over there even tried to kill one of our own with a weapon!"

Every Cadet looks at Eeler, who until now, just realized that he's holding his monkey wrench. Sgt. Norris approaches him.

"I-it's not what you think!" Eeler protests, pointing at Tucker. "He was stalking and beating my wife up!"

At the accusation, the Rebels scoff and say it's bullshit. Tucker meanwhile, just stays quiet as he smirks in his mind. This is exactly the part where the Rebels, unaware that one of their own is a disgusting sexist pig, defends Tucker.

"Your wife probably attacked Tucker first with her knife!" Frankie says. "He was unarmed!"

"That's a goddamn lie and you guys know it!" Stellar exclaims.

"Why don't you Freak Shows read some fact-based articles like from The Panemian Nation for once and open your goddamn eyes!" Wilbur yells back.

Angered by the accusations, Donna closes the distance and spits on Wilbur's face, causing the two groups to almost come to blows again.

"Get the hell back! All of you!" Officer Renault yells as he and Sgt. Axel gets between the groups as he points at Donna. "Don't make me fine you again for your actions, Visconti!"

"Bite me," Donna mutters, too upset to even care.

Renault just glared at her as Sgt. Norris looks at Eeler's monkey wrench. Barra clears her throat to speak.

"They had weapons too!" Barra shouts, to Uma and Simon. "Me and Donna have seen it! They had a knife and tire iron!"

Uma and Simon naturally tense up as Norris looks back at Barra and Donna.

"Really?" Norris questions her. "Tell me, do they have those weapons you speak of?"

Barra is about to speak again until she pauses. She curses in her mind as she remembered she purposely dropped them in a sewer drainage. Just to taunt Uma and Simon even more. She gulps and looks at the ground, feeling stupid that she didn't save the evidence.

Barra's silence speaks for itself as Norris scowls and looks back at Eeler. Norris holds out his hand. Eeler silently hands over the monkey wrench to Norris. Norris examines the wrench in hand, as he begins thinking. Desperate, Onyx approaches Norris.

"You can talk to Eeler's wife!" Onyx pleaded. "There also has to be other witnesses around that area!"

"Yeah," Helen says. "Like when we trust the word of a woman who was training to kill Outlier kids in the Arena."

"But!" Onyx tries to plead more, but Eeler stops him and shakes his head at him.

Every Cadet knows what's going to happen next as Norris pockets the wrench.

"We'll take it from here, Jenny," Norris says, waving her and the Rebels off. "You and your friends can go now."

Jenny and many of the Rebels smirk as they all walk away from the area without even a word of criticism. The Cadets all glare at them as Norris gets their attention.

"You guys know what comes next," Norris says. "Come on. Don't try anything stupid."

Without another word, the Cadets follow Norris and Renault back to their police car. There, each Cadet member receives a pat down from Norris himself as Renault takes their picture and has them fingerprinted on his tablet for the records.

"Well, well, well," Norris says as he finishes his pat down of Adoration. "I haven't seen lipstick in a long time. Too bad it's against the law to have make-up."

Adoration sighs as she mentally criticizes herself for not giving the lipstick to Celeste before she left to go help out her friends.

"So, how much is this worth?" Norris asks Adoration. "I know there's a black market for these, and I know you're sometimes involved in that market. Don't lie."

"It's rare to see an Amaryllis Azora brand nowadays," Adoration explains. "It's probably… around a hundred bucks."

Norris nods, satisfied with the selling price as he pockets the lipstick and moves onto Profit. As he pats down Profit, he feels a bulge on the boy's right leg. Profit audibly groans as Norris stops the pat down.

"Take off the suit," Norris orders.

"Do you know how hard it is to put it back on?" Profit complains.

"Just do it," Norris demands.

Profit mutters profanities as he removes his mascot outfit. It was after Profit took his mascot outfit off that Norris saw the pocket knife taped on his right thigh.

"Seriously, Winslow?" Norris can't help but ask as he takes the pocket knife away. "A concealed weapon?"

"I didn't break the law!" Profit yells back. "The government only wants to take away guns from us Careers! They didn't say anything about knives!"

"You have a permit then?"

"It's in my left pants pocket."

Norris checks Profit's left pocket, looks into his wallet, and looks through the permit. Norris gives those back to Profit as the latter snatches them back. He motions Profit away, signaling that he's done.

After Norris pats down the last Cadet member, the Cadets all stand around waiting as Norris and Renault look through the photos and fingerprints they took on their tablet.

"You Outlier cops," Coral pipes up. "Have a nasty habit of stopping and arresting us Career youth. You do know that, right?"

Norris only chuckles in response.

"Cut us some slack, Newton," Norris says to Coral. "We ain't xenophobes like our colleagues. We don't mind Careers and we know the Rebels are trouble. Think about it from our perspective. If me and Renault here arrest any of the Rebels instead of you guys, you know what'll happen. The parents of some of those Rebels will launch complaints against us and The Chief will have us fired. Sorry, but we intend to keep our jobs for a long time."

The Cadets just glare at Norris, silent. All of them know that he and Renault are just out for themselves. There are even rumors that Norris was once in a drug gang back in Six. Though, there was a deal between many of the drug gangs in Six and the rebels of the Second Rebellion where in exchange for guns, the rebels would give pardons to these gang members if the rebels won.

"Alright," Sgt. Norris says. "As usual, we'll let you guys off with a warning and another simple misdemeanor to your criminal records instead of the usual felony. With a fine, of course. That's two-hundred and fifty dollars, by the way."

All the Cadets knew already that by what Norris means by "fine", is that he means bribe money to avoid jail time. Despite how many xenophobic cops are in the CRPD, there's just as many corrupt cops willing to look the other way for a small fee.

The Cadets take out their wallets, counting how much they have. They always have some spare cash on them, just in case something like this happens to any of them. Eventually, the Cadets manage to agree on how much each Cadet member should help out with the fine money. Toni hands the money to Norris as he counts it.

"One-hundred and twenty-five for you," Norris says as he hands Renault's share to his partner. "And one-hundred twenty-five for me."

With that out of the way, Norris and Renault enter their patrol car. Norris tips his cap to the Cadets, mockingly.

"Have a good rest of your day," Norris says, all smiles.

Norris finally gets in and drives off and rounds a corner, leaving the Cadets in the dust. Overcome with anger, Honoria picks up a nearby rock and throws it in the direction where the two officers went.

"Those fucking Outlying sons of-!" Honoria yells out, but pauses mid-yell.

It happens to the Cadets. Every. Single. Time. Whenever the Rebels cause trouble for them, their people, and their home. It's always them that pay the price.

After what seems like a long time of most of the Cadets feeling defeated, Toni checks her watch and gets everyone's attention.

"It's a little past our breaks," Toni says. "We should get back."

Most of the Cadets nod and sigh in agreement. However, Honoria, Profit, and Coral just glares back at Toni, baffled by how their friend and leader can act so normal, like nothing's happened.

"Why even bother!?" Honoria yells at Toni. "Our pays shit, we Careers don't have a union of our own, our bosses treat us like crap, the Rebels and other xenophobic gangs are harassing Careers every day, the cops are stopping and locking up any Career youth for the smallest of reasons, and the PNP are running Panem as they see fit!"

Honoria takes several deep breaths as Profit and Coral share her sentiment. Toni looks at the ground, sighing.

"It could be worse," Toni replies.

"It could be worse!?" Profit cries out. "How the fuck could it possibly get any worse then right now! Tell me, Toni! What has changed in the last six years since we've overthrew the Capitol!?"

Toni is silent as Profit begins to answer before she can speak.

"Nothing!" Profit begins. "Ever since we overthrew the Capitol, the Career population has experienced nothing but marginalization, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and exclusion from Panemian life! Nothing's changed for the better! Oh, unless you're an Outlier! Change is only exclusively meant for them!"

"Change doesn't happen with a snap of your fingers!" Toni explains. "True lasting change takes a long time to achieve! We just need to hold out longer for those changes to be fulfilled."

"For how long, Toni!?" Coral questions. "Because the Career population is shrinking! Either our fellow Careers are fleeing the country or… or they've been killed! Not to mention the Outliers are moving into our home districts every day! At this point, us Ones, Twos, and Fourteeners will be minorities in our home districts!"

Toni remains silent as Honoria, Profit, and Coral continue to criticize the new Panem the Careers are living in today while most of the other Cadets try to calm them down. Eventually, Honoria just snapped and walked away from the group. Prompting Eloquence to march after her.

"Where are you going!?" Eloquence asks.

"I'm going to join one of them!" Honoria shouts back. "The Shadow Runners or the Obsidian League! I don't care which one! I can't stand this anymore!"

The Cadets widen her eyes, they know what Honoria is talking about when she says one of them. Eloquence runs after and blocks her friend's path.

"No, don't you dare!" Eloquence yells. "I won't let you get killed fighting for either of them!"

"Make me bitch," Honoria mutters back as she tries to walk past her.

Eloquence grabs Honoria's arm, which she forces Eloquence to let go. Honoria shoves Eloquence out of the way, but she shoves back. It was at this point that the tension between the two friends reached a boiling point as the two battled and grappled with each other. The other Cadets were screaming for them to stop when Eloquence sweeps Honoria's legs and raises a fist aimed at Honoria's face, letting out a scream full of rage.

Honoria braces for Eloquence's fist to hit her. Moments pass, the fist hasn't hit her. Honoria slowly looks up to see Eloquence stopping herself from punching Honoria as Toni holds her arm back. The fist is inches away from Honoria's face as Eloquence slowly looks at her fist.

"That's enough you two," Toni demands.

Eloquence unclenches it as silence ensues.

"I don't want to lose another friend," is all Eloquence could say.

Honoria closes her eyes as a tear slide across the side of her face. She remembers how all the Cadets had lost their childhood friends during the Second Rebellion, with the exception of Coral and her childhood friend, Moby. Honoria remembered just how relieved when she made friends with Eloquence, Toni, and all the other Cadets back in Fort Ross.

The Cadets are the closest thing to a family to Honoria ever since… her family…

Honoria snaps out of it when she sees Eloquence standing up and offering a hand to her. Honoria accepted being helped up. She can see that her friend is guilty for almost hitting her. Immediately, she also feels guilty for calling Eloquence a bitch of all things. Honoria nods at Eloquence as the latter nods back, unspoken apologies between the two.

Toni then heads down the street to go back to work followed by Honoria, Eloquence, and all the other Cadets. They all wordlessly walk, not talking for a while. This isn't the first time Eloquence and Honoria clashed nor is it the last. Despite their differences, all the Cadets are glad that the two care about each other so much, despite Eloquence and Honoria never publicly showing it.

As they continue walking, they all hear Toni humming a tone, one they all recognize. Now, the Outliers have songs of defiance like The Hanging Tree. But to the Careers, they have songs like We All March On, a popular protest song created by members of the Career and Capitolite Rights Movement right after Mt. Cortez "Riots" as Toni starts singing.

There once were wounded soldiers,

They were bleeding on the ground from their wounds,

One by one, the Cadets slowly join Toni in singing the song, all of them with their heads held high despite their earlier loss.

Despite their wounds they got on their knees,

Despite their pain they got on their feet,

Despite knowing that they lost,

They all marched on with pride!

As the Cadets are singing, they pass by several Career residents of the city. They all sing along as they go about their business.

Over the mountains, over the rivers,

Through the grassy plains, and through the depths of Hell,

No rain or fog, not even the heat or cold,

Could ever deter us into retreat!

As they continue singing, they pass by two men smoking their cigarettes. Rebel veterans of the Second Rebellion who have emblems of old Rebel regiments sewn on their sleeves. They glare at the Cadets as one spits on the ground and the other makes a gun gesture, aiming at them.

Come on, come all,

Start blowing the bugles, start beating the drums,

Raise the flags high, and raise your clenched fists,

Raise your voice, and let out a defiant roar!

After these lyrics, some Cadets raise their clenched fists high in the air. Others let out the biggest roar of defiance they ever did to the sky.

For we are all Careers,

We still march on with pride,

For we are all Careers,

For this is the fight for our lives!

The Cadets repeat the last lyrics aloud, and for the briefest moments, they all felt like they've still won a moral victory.

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