A/N: Thanks for the reviews! And I will get to University Games for the person who asked. My brain just wants to begin wrapping up this series first :) Plus as I graduated, I guess I kinda want a break from thinking about school :)
"Estelle! Noah! Come down! Your father –" Wiress called up the stairs trailing off as a door opened.
"Dad's done with breakfast?" Noah asked poking his head out of the hallway bathroom.
"Yes." Wiress replied. "Where is –"
"I'm here, Mom!" Twelve year old Estelle Tesla called opening the door to her room. She was dressed in the white blouse, blue sweater and black skirt that made up the Engineering Academy uniform. NOAH TERRIMAX, DON'T YOU DARE!" Estelle yelped as her ten year old brother hoisted a leg onto the banister to slide down to the first floor.
"Aw man!" Noah groaned as his older sister glared at him. Beetee smiled as his two children ran into the dining room. Wiress smiled watching her daughter's excitement for her first year at the Academy. Beaming at Estelle with pride, she kissed her and Noah before setting plates of fruit in front of them. She smiled at Beetee who served them waffles. The Teslas ate quickly so they could see their children off to school.
"Now, Noah, you have your gear project ready to go?" Beetee asked as everyone scraped the last of their waffles off their plates. Noah nodded and pointed to a piece of plywood next to his backpack by the front door. "And your composition homework?"
"Yeah." Noah muttered.
"Let him see –" Wiress insisted giving Beetee a look.
"I remembered to tell him to work on his non-engineering homework, dear." Beetee assured his wife as Noah hurried to his backpack and pulled out his notebook. "Good work, son." Noah smiled as his father skimmed his essay.
"And you're going to Factory Four today." Beetee said smiling at Estelle.
"We're seeing how tablets are made!" Estelle explained excitedly. "Mom, will they use dad's new microchip?"
"Maybe. Estelle," Wiress began giving her daugher a serious look. Estelle nodded and restrained herself from rolling her eyes at yet another reminder.
"I know mom. Listen to the teachers, the forman, wear the safety gear…" Estelle began.
"Yes." Wiress replied satisfied that her lecture had sunk in. "Come here, sweet girl!" She wrapped her daughter in a hug and kissed her. "Noah, smart boy –" Noah hugged his mother and smiled as he received a kiss on the forehead. Beetee hugged his children and waved them off to school as they ran down the path from Victor's Village.
"Bee, I have to check on Factory Six at one –" Wiress began looking at the dishes piled in the kitchen sink.
"Yes, hon. I'll be a good house-husband today." Beetee chuckled before Wiress swatted him on the bottom with an engineering journal from the coffee table. "Come here, you." He held his wife and kissed her. Looking at the pictures on the living room, he smiled thinking about his family. "Our children have your brains alright."
"And your sweet love." Wiress whispered.
Thinking about the morning, Wiress smiled as she looked over at Factory Four out the manager's window of Factory Six. "And I'm sure your daughter will be a great inventor such as yourself, Mrs. Tesla." The production manager of Factory Six smiled.
"Thank you –" Wiress began before an explosion shook the building.
"MRS. TESLA, GET DOWN!" The manager screamed the glass above the overhead light shattered from the shockwave.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" A horrified scream made his blood run cold as Wiress stared horrified at another factory enveloped by a large fireball. The flames were slowly obscuring the lettering reading: Factory Four.
The people on the street were a blur as Wiress ran toward the inferno where she knew her daugher was inside with the other Academy students. "ESTELLE! MY ESTELLE!" The workers parted to let the frantic inventor through. Tears stung the cuts on her face as Wiress ran closer to the searing flames. "ESTELLE! ESTELLE!"
"Mom! MAMA!" A small figure collided with Wiress before her knees gave out and she fell to the sidwealk with her arms wrapped around her sobbing daughter. "Mama – we heard the sirens – we all had to run. We were the only ones that made it out."
"WIRESSS! WIRESS! LET ME THROUGH! MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER ARE OVER THERE!" Dazed workers let Beetee through the crowd growing on the street as he ran to his family. "Oh my wires, Wiress, baby are you ok? Estelle, sweetie?" He scooped his daugher into his arms and held her. "No boo-boo's?"
"No, daddy." Estelle whispered. She looked worriedly at her mother who was curled up on the sidewalk sobbing. "Mom's still scared."
"I know, my star." Beetee whispered. "C'mon, honey." He said gently as he helped his wife to her feet before making their way to Noah's school. "We have to check on Noah."
"DADDY! DADDY! MAMA! STELLE! STELLE!" A small figure burst out the main doors of the elementary school as the Teslas turned onto the sidwalk leading to the doors.
"Everyone's ok, son." Beetee said holding his sobbing son. "Ssssh, everyone's ok." He smiled at the principal.
"I'm not going anwyere, squirt." Estelle said hugging her little brother.
"We litterally had to sit on him until you came, Mr. Tesla." She said sympathetically. "You have my permission to take him home for the day."
The Teslas were silent as they sat on the couch huddled next to each other. They sobbed knowing 300 other families weren't so lucky to have all their members safely at home. "Mom," Estelle was the first to speak up. "Dad, the conveyor belt was going really fast. The teacher said something about that."
"What did the foreman say?" Beetee asked.
"He said they had to."
"But they can't make it go faster if it's not safe." Noah argued. "We learned about factory safety last week." Beginning in fifth grade, all District Three students began learning about the manufacturing process.
"I'll be looking into it." Beetee said suddenly, his eyes narrowing.
"Beetee –" Wiress began noticing Estelle and Noah eying their father fearfully.
"NO, WIRESS!" Beetee yelled standing up and slamming his fist on the arm of the couch. "SOMEONE'S NEGLIGENCE ALMOST KILLED OUR DAUGHTER!" Wiress, Estelle, and Noah were speechless as he stomped out of the living room. The resounding slam of a door indicated he had gone down to the basement workroom.
"Bed, children." Wiress whispered. "Come." Taking their hands in hers, she led them up the stairs. Undoing braids and washing faces in the bathroom calmed Wiress and kept nightmares of losing them at bay. As long as she could wrap them in hugs and hear their voices, she knew they were ok.