thecapitol | Thicker Than Blood Start

Thicker Than Blood Start

For Tributes with keen eyes, they'll notice that Peacekeeper presence seems increased and yet infinitely more ineffective in the last few weeks. Peacekeepers seem harried, as do the Stylists, and most of the Escorts titter and plot without alerting the Tributes as to what, exactly, is so exciting. They simply say that this weekend they'll know.

And so it happens that on the weekend in question, the Tributes are woken by their Escorts early and brought to a restaurant for a hearty breakfast. The restaurant is nothing spectacular, although they seem to be trying to make an impression on the television cameras that float around. The sleepy, cranky meal goes by and then the Tributes are led back to their Suites for a mandatory meeting.

Sitting on couches and the floor, in chairs and on windowsills, standing off to the side - people from the Tributes' homes are waiting to greet them in each District Suite. Some are confused, some accepting, some frightened and some elated to see their beloved. Either way, it should be an eventful reunion.

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The statement draws his lips tight into a thin line as he's forced to once again accept that he did in fact die. It's enough to force him to stop right there in the middle of the sidewalk and hugs her close.

"I know, I'm sorry." He mumbled kneeling down to hold her in apologetic embrace. "I didn't mean to sour your victory by leaving before the battle was over. But I promise I was with you every step of the way."

"You were never alone then, and you're not alone now babydoll."

"It was my fault." She said it with finality, and though she's not crying (she only was just when it actually happened) there's still pain in her voice of the action that had haunted her still. "We didn't know Kick Ass well enough. Fuck, he was so stupid, introducing us to some fucktard in a suit before he even got any decent Intel on him! Reckless as shit, that fucker!"

She was angry, but only a little at Kick Ass. Not enough to forget what had happened next. After all, she was most pissed at herself.

"He made it up to us. He went with me for the last fight. I fucked up his guys, but in the end D'Amico was too much for me. He also took me down. Then Kick Ass came in and blew the motherfucker away with a bazooka. It was GLORIOUS."

He let her speak her piece, not interrupting though the urge to do so was overwhelming.

His stomach felt heavy as she explained everything he wouldn't live to see. It all sounded better then he imagined, so much more dramatic.

"He would have never even gotten the chance without you getting as far as you did. As far as I'm concerned you're the hero and Kick Ass wishes he could be your side kick."

His fingers curled in the back of her shirt as he held her tight.

"You're not to blame for what happened. I'm your Father, I should have been more careful. But we were so close to our goal I got impatient. And at the time we thought we were helping him even if we didn't know him that well."

Which was more or less a superheroes duty.

"Oh well, duh dad. Even I know Kick Ass isn't as good as me. But he saved my ass, so he has promise. in time, he can be a pretty damn good superhero. But you and I both know he lacks the stones to do the kinda shit that we do."

That was just a fact.

"But I wanted you to know that it shouldn't have happened anyway. We both got too fucking out of sorts. We acted like amateurs and the enemy got the better of us. That's not going to happen again, not where I'm involved. Now that you're here, I should probably show you what the Arena is like though."

Damon couldn't help but smirk. Here he was almost getting a lecture from his daughter and ward about where they'd gone wrong with their last mission. It was funny really.

"Alright, let's get me up to speed then." He nodded letting her continue to lead him through the Capitol without much of a care where they were headed. "If there's one thing we've proven it's that we learn from our mistakes."

In about an hours time, Mindy had told her dad all there was to know (as much as she knew, anyway) about the games, the various dangers they faced and what had happened to her in the first and second Arena she played. She talked at length of the people she met because of it too, particularly Guy, Ellie, Harley and Sandy, although she talked of Azula with obviously gritted teeth. All in all, good times, insane as they were.

"Gotten stronger too. There's a training facility we have access to, and I started going there almost every day after I lost the last fight. Pretty much have a washboard stomach now."

"So I noticed." As much as it was probably uncouth for a father to pay that much attention to his daughter's form, he had trained himself to take in every detail. And in the last hour or so as they'd walked and talked he'd been watching for signs of weakness, any signs of her holding back or trying to hide things from him.

She was healthier then ever and he had to wonder if even his training could have brought her as far as the live combat of the arena and the state of the art training facilities. "I guess I'll have to put in some extra effort so I can catch up to you baby girl."

Mindy had to admit that she was glowing with pride there. Her mind had always played out scenarios since that famous night of what her dad would think of how she looked now, how much stronger she was getting. There was, of course, the matter of how she won the Arena, and what he though about that.

"I know its not heroic, to turn on friends, or to slit an innocent person's throat. But after how I lost in the last Arena, I had to win this one and prove how ruthless I was. It's just sort of shitty living with it after."

"You did what you had to do." He turned to face her stopping their stroll and put a hand on both her shoulders, kneeling down to her level.

"You've made alot of tough calls. And there's never any way of knowing if you made the right choice until it's all over. Sometimes even then. But the most important thing was that you live on to fight against injustice and evil. You did exactly that which says to me that you made the right choices, even when they were painful or hard."

He would have no one tell her otherwise.

This was exactly what she needed to hear. The only reason she had truly doubted what he might think was because he wasn't here, and being away from any support made her doubt herself. That was the problem with this place: there were too many variables that were thrown at her at random, you could find a way to drive yourself crazy.

"Thanks. They weren't easy decisions when I had to think about them later. People assume they know what your motivations are after that, what you're all about." She chuckled. "They haven't even seen me at my worse dad, you know? I was just going for kills, not maiming. You know how I get, when I'm in my element."

He nodded solemnly.

"You are a force of nature. Brutal and efficient. Skilled years beyond your age."

He was confident that no matter how hard life became she would rise to the challenge.

"We all make little sacrifices in war. But every battle won puts us closer to victory. And if I understand what you've told me, we're fighting a war against unimaginable odds. But that never stopped us before."

His voice was low and cautious, but he was sure they'd still hear him.

All that mattered was beating them at their own game and lasting long enough to make sure Mindy came out on top.

She hugged him again. Honestly, this had been something she missed: a guiding point, someone she could gather her thoughts with, to make her feel like she was going at least not so crazy. Her dad being here made everything perfect, which obviously made her wonder why the Capitol had seen fit to do it in the first place.

"Winning the Arena was always only the foot in the door," she told him quietly. "That's what people don't get, which is fine by me. The less they know, the better. Problem is, our way of doing things is nowhere near enough. A crime boss is one things: a government that can bring back the dead is something different. Their methods aren't too different though."

Here she gestured to some pinker parts of her skin.

He tensed up at the thought of what they'd put her through. The familiar gnawing at the back of his neck. A darkness in his guts. He wanted to kill someone for hurting his little girl.

"No matter how much power they've put together in the end all criminals are the same at their core. And how is that?" He smirked finding comfort in their old routine of him pop quizzing her on the lessons he'd taught her.

Mindy did her best to look neutral, because what she'd say next she had to without betraying her thoughts. "Criminals think small. They get blinded by their power. They think they're invincible. We have an advantage that we have some of the most ragtag people here, and we can probably get something organized. But this enemy isn't anything like what we faced. They have tech, new ways to torture people, even supporters who are like us. There are some fucks that like to watch others suffer. So before I can start thinking about taking people down, I have to know what I'm dealing with."

"Very good." He reassured her with another smile. "I also would have accepted "A cowardly and superstitious lot." Because you had to give credit to the classics.

"So, how are you going to go about learning what you need to know?" He continued letting her draw the conclusions since she had more information then he did.

Mindy laughed. "I was trying not to be obvious, dad." Because how much more obvious could you get than Batman?

"Talking to people. I did that the first Arena, still in the process. There are a lot of people around here. Gotta distinguish the techies and the fighters and all of that shit."

"Given the situation, I figured it couldn't hurt to enjoy a classic." He rebutted clearly more amused with himself then she was.

"But not just the tributes in the arena." He clarified. "As good as it is to learn from their experiences it sounds to me like given your new position you'll have alot more time to learn from the locals."

Heh. She forgot how her dad could be corny. It was actually kind of endearing now.

"Of course I will. I have half the people in love with my methods now. All it'll take will be leaning on some people, gathering some more intel. To do that, I have to play the field. Takes time."

"Time I should be able to buy you by keeping the attention on me."

Damon didn't enjoy the idea of fighting to the death for someone else's entertainment, but he'd die a thousand times more for Mindy. It wasn't even a question that he would go into the arena strong to show her Daddy was every bit the man she thought he was.

He had to be that man, he'd already done all he could to protect her when he wasn't around.

She didn't say anything to that: she didn't have to. One thing they both understood was that while he could work out tactics and was the Veteran, she was the mover, the one that shook the system because no one saw it coming. With him here they were back to old times, only more dangerous, more severe.

He was, in effect, a weakness for her, and she knew it. Maybe that was why they brought him. If she moved out of line, jst make him suffer. It was sick, horrible. Also predictable.

It would help if Mindy thought that way, but it was her dad. He would never be anything but good, in her eyes.

"There's breaks in-between the Arenas. What will you do with your time?"

"Well." He looked up thoughtfully at the city skyline and stroked his mustache as he often did when he was thinking hard.

"As I see it, nothing much is going to change about my day to day. Back home all we ever did was train and plan and I would do my comics. Seems to me this place is completely equipped for those things." He looked back to her. "And so long as I play the game there's no reason for them to lash out at us."

The unspoken message here being that if he appeared to go along with it, it would take the heat off Mindy so she could continue her intelligence gathering.

"I'm not looking forward to the fancy parties though. I hated those things when I was a cop and I'm sure I won't like them anymore now." Suits had always felt so confining to him, and having spent only an hour or two walking around the city with Mindy the heroic former detective had come to one conclusion.

Capitol Fashion was dumb as shit.

"That could work. Then again, it might be a good idea if you get to talk and train with some of the adults here too. There are some pretty bad ass ones to say the least. If you think you're rusty, trust me, you can get some kick ass training here. It might not hurt to get involved with some of their circles too."

Message was definitely received though. He was going to play the game, just like her.

"The parties aren't too often, so I wouldn't worry. You usually only have one when someone wins the Arena. Although if one of my friends wins and you aren't dressed up, we're gonna have a problem."

She was grinning, of course.

He nodded at her suggestion. He had already planned on learning all he could from the other tributes. There was an entire multiverse of fighting skills he could learn from these people! Who would pass up that opportunity? Still he wasn't about to tell her he'd already thought of that. She'd earned the ego stroking today.

And after dying on her once he felt compelled to make it up to her.

"Now, what kind of dad would I be if I showed up looking lazy and cheap to my daughters friends party? I'm not stuffy but I'll have you know I look pretty sharp in a suit."

Not as great as he thought he looked in armor and a helmet but that was personal preference.

"Aw dad," Mindy said, "if only it were that simple. See, you don't get to dress how YOU want when a victor is crowned. No, they dress you in theme to the victor. When I won? Everyone was dressed as superheroes, and I had my Hit Girl costume on. Before that one of the French guys won and I was in, like, old ass French ball gown. You wouldn't have recognized me."

Thank god he wasn't her for that.

His face fell at the idea he was going to be dressed up like he was a child.

"I can see where living here might drive people to kill." He joked weakly. Still he could survive looking like a prissy sissy. If anyone tried to start something with him...

...well he'd never had a problem putting people in their place before. He'd just have to be cautious about how he did it.

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Thicker Than Blood Start

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