"Attention tributes, there has been a rule change!" Wiress and Beetee gripped each other's hands at Claudius Templesmith's announcement. "If two tributes from the same district are the only ones remaining in the arena, they will both be declared victors." Brutus and Enobria cheered along with Cato and Clove who were camping near the cornucopia. The scene cut quickly from the cheering Careers to Katniss standing stunned in a clump of trees. Scanning the area, she called out for Peeta.
"Well, this is it." Haymitch muttered as he twisted a cap off a bottle of beer.
"How will you let her know she's close -" Wiress began looking at the map of the arena on Haymitch's tablet.
"She'll figure it out." he muttered around a large gulp. "You said she reminds you of your girl?" Blinking back tears, Wiress nodded. "Well, she's intuitive. Like you. Well, intuitive about some things."
"Not about boys?" Beetee chuckled before Haymitch snorted.
"Nah. Definitely not about boys. Including breadboy here."
"Estelle had a crush on a boy in intro to computer science -" Wiress began. "She talked about him constantly until -" Trailing off, she sniffled.
"Until Noah teased her about it at dinner and told her that he knew this boy's younger sister." Beetee chuckled. He sighed. "Here she comes."
"Peeta!" Katniss gasped finding her district partner perfectly camouflaged near the riverbed.
"Gotta clean him up, sweetheart." Haymitch chuckled watching Katniss struggle to move Peeta to the water.
"That leg is really hurting him." Beetee pointed out worriedly.
"Yes, that would be awkward dear -" Wiress began watching Katniss strip Peeta out of his pants to properly wash his leg.
"That's it, sweetheart." Haymitch chuckled as Katniss kissed Peeta. Tapping his tablet, Haymitch sent her a pot of soup. "Thanks, Teslas. Looks like they'll use some of your funds." Beetee nodded.
"Haymitch, you have an email -" Unlocking Peeta's tablet, Wiress began scrolling through the sponsor messages. "Do you usually send replies as plain text or formatted -"
"Huh?" Haymitch grunted as he uncorked a bottle of wine.
"Your email -" Wiress began looking at the twenty new messages awaiting replies. A second later, at least thirty more emails appeared in Haymitch's inbox.
"If they're offering money, the answer's yes." Haymitch muttered as he drank the dark red liquid. Wiress drafted quick replies to the emails after creating Haymitch's email signature. "Damn, woman, what did you do? Hack into the Panem Federal Reserve Bank?" He yelped seeing Katniss and Peeta's sponsorship money multiply exponentially.
"No, she's just approving the sponsor requests you're getting by email." Beetee said looking over his wife's shoulder. "Hon, open that one and then open command prompt, please." After setting the tablet to developer mode so she and her husband could view the code behind the programs and email, Wiress handed the tablet to Beetee. "Ok. That's what I thought. Approve that, and let's take a breather, ok?"
"Hey, what if I need help from you nerds?" Haymitch yelped.
"Your tablet should be working fine. I set up a command to auto-answer emails asking for sponsor requests -" Wiress explained before trailing off watching Katniss and Peeta on the main screen.
"The computer knows all that?" Haymitch asked gaping at his fellow victors.
"Yes, depending on the subject and body of each email message, we can set up a particular rule causing it to auto-reply with a message Wiress drafted -" Beetee began before Wiress tapped him on the arm. "Just page us in the District Three suite if you do need anything. You're free to think about strategy now." Nodding his thanks to the nerds, Haymitch sighed and looked at his tributes in the cave.
"Come on, sweetheart, breadboy. You have the smartest people in Panem on your side. Please - please make it."
"It's working." Beetee said as he, Plutarch, and Seneca dug into their foot long sandwiches cut from a large deli sandwich platter meant for catering a small party. Wiress nibbled on her crackers and sensible sized bowl of soup. "They're getting sponsors like you wouldn't believe."
"Do the other mentors suspect anything?" Plutarch asked. Beetee shrugged.
"Not that I'm aware. They know we're helping Haymitch but that's because Katniss reminds us of our Estelle and because Peeta helped Noah with his trap -" He gulped before continuing. "Haymitch's kids helped ours."
"They don't know about -" Wiress began before looking at the two gamemakers.
"About the rebellion." Beetee began before Plutarch shrugged. "Well, it is a rebellion. You two rooting for the poorest district in Panem - what else do you call it?"
"I guess - that's true." Plutarch conceded.
"We are rebelling." Seneca confirmed. "We're just hastening what is happening in District Three and will soon spread across the country."
"Snow is just letting District Three go?" Plutarch asked shocked.
"Not exactly." Seneca began slowly before switching on a TV screen in the dining room.
"Oh -" Wiress gasped before bursting into tears.
"No - Oh no -" Beetee whispered holding his wife as they stared at the ruins of the Engineering Academy. "Those kids would have been watching the Games there -"
"Yes. They were." Seneca said heavily. "The citizens are less overt about things now." He paused. "I'm holding the cameras on Twelve to give the Capitol a reason to love those two. So they will eventually be victorious."
"Wouldn't that be too obvious?" Plutarch asked.
"No. Because we'll have challenges they still have to battle." Seneca replied. After chatting for a while more, the gamemakers left the district suite.
"We have to win." Wiress whispered as she watched footage of the parade, freezing the image on the TV to Noah and Estelle dressed in their metal and gear suits waving enthusiastically to the crowd. "We have to win."
"Yes." Beetee said as he wrapped his arm around Wiress. "We have to win the revolution. Or else we will be the first ones Snow kills - making - making our children's death in vain."