After the District 8 hospital is destroyed, Boggs pulls Katniss away from the blast site and rushes her back to the runway. Katniss, injured and concussed, is flown to District 13 in a cargo hovercraft while Boggs gives emergency treatment. She wakes in the hospital with her mother attending her, learns doctors are worried about further brain injury, and is taken by wheelchair to a Command meeting. On the way, Katniss fears that disobeying orders during the attack may have endangered the deal protecting the captured victors, including Peeta.

At Command, Katniss finds Cressida, Messalla, and the two cameramen warmly supportive. She finally learns the cameramen are brothers named Castor and Pollux, and that Pollux is an Avox, which explains his hatred of the Capitol. When the meeting begins, Coin announces that the rebels have already assembled and broadcast the footage from District 8 as the opening strike of their propaganda campaign. The finished propo turns Katniss's spontaneous rage after the hospital bombing into a powerful call for rebellion, ending with her threat to Snow: "If we burn, you burn with us."

The room celebrates the propo's success, and Katniss realizes it has already aired repeatedly across the districts, though not yet in the Capitol. Coin then questions the danger of sending Katniss into active combat, but Plutarch frames the choice as necessary to get authentic material, and Katniss agrees. Katniss understands that no one has told Coin that she and Gale directly ignored orders, which protects them from punishment. The group then plans future propaganda pieces, including more footage from District 8, a broader Mockingjay montage called "Fire is catching," and Fulvia's idea for a tribute series, "We Remember," that will honor dead tributes like Rue and Mags to stir each district emotionally.

Back at the hospital, Katniss and Gale briefly reflect that the cover-up likely served everyone's interests. Later, Haymitch confronts Katniss alone and forces her to promise to keep her communication earpiece in place during future missions. He threatens escalating control if she disobeys again, including a locking head device or even a surgically implanted transmitter, and then leaves after admitting he ate her lunch. Left alone, Katniss is haunted by memories of the bombing, the hospital deaths, and the violence she has both witnessed and caused.

At dinner, Finnick watches the new District 8 propo with Katniss. It is painful for Katniss because she knows the hospital patients she visited were killed shortly afterward. Before they turn the television off, a Capitol broadcast begins featuring Peeta with Caesar Flickerman. Katniss is shocked by Peeta's rapid physical deterioration and realizes his earlier interview may have been recorded days before, meaning the Capitol has had longer to torture him. During the interview, Peeta warns Katniss that the rebels are using her as a weapon and urges her to question whether she trusts the people around her. Because Katniss knows his warning touches a truth she cannot honestly deny, Finnick quickly tells her they must pretend they never saw the segment. When Plutarch and Fulvia arrive, Katniss and Finnick successfully hide that they watched Peeta's message.