"Teslas, get back inside!" Gale yelled after Coin fell to the ground. Pulling out his automatic rifle, he began firing at Peacekeepers. "I got the Mockingjay! Coin's orders!"
"Buddy, use this!" Beetee called pulling a folded bow from his bag on the back of his wheelchair. "Tranquilizer!"
"BEETEE - !" Wiress yelled exasperatedly before pushing Beetee into the Presidential Mansion. Cressida and Castor hurried in after the Victors and headed for the press room.
"Well, might as well upload the videos to the servers to begin video editing." Beetee sighed longing for something logical to work on to protect his mind from the chaos. Wiress opened her new laptop and quickly composed several emails. They jumped as the phone rang. "Press Headquarters, Victor Tesla speaking." Beetee answered.
"Beetee?" Gale sounded breathless as he answered.
"Put him on speaker –"Wiress directed.
"Working on it, hon, ok, Gale, you're on speaker. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah. Our Peacekeepers have Kat at the training center. I knocked her out good. The Capitol ones – the ones on Snow and/or Coin's side are just glad she's locked up. Plutarch wants to have a trial for her. Declare her insane or something."
"Anything we can do –"Wiress began coming toward the phone.
"I dunno, Mrs. Tesla." Gale said honestly. "I'll keep ya posted. I guess – just distract people with the videos you just got." He paused. "Paylor's calling for a Department of Defense meeting – I guess in the War Room. You're down the hall?"
"We sure are." Cressida replied. "Holler if you need us."
The next few weeks were a flurry of activity around the Presidential Mansion. Plutarch, Paylor, and several other rebel leaders served on a leading committee to run the country on a day to day basis as well as plan the future government. The Teslas stayed busy repairing the electric grid and the fiber optics that helped run the internet within the Capitol. Wiress adapted a scanner to scan fragile documents such as an ancient Constitution of Panem that was found in the basement of the Presidential Mansion.
Meanwhile, a trial began for Katniss Everdeen. To the Teslas' surprise, they were called to testify on her behalf. Wiress fussed over Beetee for an hour before they made their way to the Panem Supreme Court building.
"Dear, hand me the plastic cane." Beetee said as he stood up from his wheelchair.
"We can scan you over here, Victor Tesla." A Peacekeeper said.
"Nah, I just fixed your security scans, might as well – oh –"He paused as the light went off.
"BEETEE TESLA!" Wiress gasped before sighing. She marched over to her husband and pulled his keys, metal mechanical pencil, pocket calculator, and USB stick out of his pockets. "Honestly –"
"Oops." Beetee muttered before Wiress brought his chair back around. Ignoring his wife's scolding, he adjusted himself and read over his notes.
"The Defense Counsel calls Beetee Tesla to the stand." The defense lawyer, Malia Zardlinger, said as her voice echoed through the chambers of the Panem Supreme Court. Beetee wheeled himself up the ramp and adjusted the microphone. "Mr. Tesla, how long have you known Katniss Everdeen?"
"Well, I heard about her through the 74th Hunger Games, in fact, she used the bow and arrow crafted for the best precision –" He paused hearing Wiress clear her throat loudly from the first bench behind the Defense Counsel's table. Plutarch and Haymitch snorted down laughter as they sat next to her. "I've known her for about two years now, ma'am."
"How would you describe her mental state during that time?" Ms. Zardlinger asked.
"Well, obviously she was scarred from her two Games and once she knew she was supposed to be The Mockingjay, she worked at that role in hopes her family and friends would truly be free."
"So she was not The Mockingjay out of her own free will?"
"I'd say, she knew Coin and other rebel leaders pressured her into that role. Whether she would've been in that position voluntarily, I can't really say. She feared if she didn't cooperate, her family would suffer the consequences."
"How was her connection to reality?"
"She was very aware that the political manipulation of both the Capitol and District Thirteen kept things in check. She knew that Panem wouldn't be free with Coin in power. So, she was very much in check with reality." The chamber of the Supreme Court was completely silent. The young defense attorney looked around and adjusted her purple glasses.
"Your honor, the Defense wishes to call both Victors Tesla to the witness stand." Ms. Zardlinger announced to the Chief Justice.
"Request granted, counselor." The Chief Justice's voice boomed around the chambers. Wiress stood and joined her husband behind the witness stand.
"Your honor, I have called these two witnesses to testify together because they bring a unique perspective regarding the defendant's state of mind. Victors Tesla, how did the Games affect The Mockingjay's state of mind as a romantic partner to Peeta Mellark, a hostage of the Snow Administration, and as a sibling of a young girl who stood a high chance of being confined to a Hunger Games arena to participate in forced combat sanctioned by the former Administration?"
The Teslas glanced at each other before beginning.
"She – as Peeta's partner – was quite concerned about his safety – the Capitol can be cruel beyond separating a couple –" Wiress began biting her lip. "Katniss – Ms. Everdeen – also cared for Prim like a daughter – a child –" She took a deep breath. "No parent wishes to watch her child die at the hands of a cruel government, no parent wishes to watch her child's death broadcast to the nation –"
"When the person you love is in the clutches of the Capitol, you will do anything to gain their freedom. When your mind has been torn into pieces after surviving the arena twice, your only thought is of freedom for the ones you love." Beetee paused. "We believe our Mockingjay, our seventeen year old rebellion leader, lived in fear that Peeta, Prim, and all the people she cared about would meet their end at the hands of a cruel regime whose leaders thirsted only for power."
"She wanted freedom for all. She wanted peace for all – and her children – her sister, still a child – she wanted them to live long lives. She wanted them to live in true freedom." Wiress finished. "It wasn't guaranteed with President Coin –"
"Just as it wasn't guaranteed with the previous 75 years of Panem's government." Beetee finished. "We believe she risked it all for the cause by removing the final tyrant from power." The room fell silent for a full minute. Malia Zardlinger consulted her notes, and when she looked up from her parchment legal pad, tears were streaming down her eyes. All nine Justices at the bench wiped their eyes with their robes as sniffles echoed throughout the Supreme Court chambers.
"That is all the testimony from the Victors, Your Honor."
"Well, dang." Haymitch said at a coffee shop across the street from the transit hub of the Capitol. Already mechanical cranes were moving metal beams to form a building. A banner on a fence proclaimed: Future Site of Panem Central Station: Transit and Shipping hub of our New Country.
"It's been a whirlwind, hasn't it?" Beetee asked checking the wireless signal on his laptop. "President Paylor just got elected and our Katniss was pardoned." Haymitch nodded and took a swig from his coffee cup. Wiress had left a nice tip for the baristas so they overlooked Haymitch bringing his own Baileys Cream to add to his large mocha.
"Not guilty by reason of insanity and now –" Wiress smiled.
"Now she's headed home." Haymitch replied.
"Yes – oh – I just found a dead spot –" Beetee excused himself and wheeled over to the counter. Soon he and several baristas were chatting as he fixed the wireless router.
"My husband and his tinkering with electronics –" Wiress began before gazing at the buildings under construction. She hummed as she jotted some ideas in her notebook and began a 3D rendering of an elevator on her tablet. "What will you do?"
"Take Katniss back home. Prim's out of the hospital and working with her mom at that hospital in District Four – dang, I need their address again!" He yelped as Beetee returned to the table.
"I can email it to you as soon as you get internet in your house."
"Nah, I don't need nothin' cept the telephone." Haymitch muttered. Beetee shrugged. "Just gimme their number. Can't you look it up on the –" He gestured to Beetee's laptop.
"I can give you the number to the main hospital switchboard. Just ask for Primrose by name." Beetee smiled. "Guess she's on her way to becoming a doctor after all."
"Peeta's going to District Nine for a bit –" Wiress began. "To – unwind, I guess." She paused. "They have a culinary school – baking."
"Yeah, well, Katniss will probably want to bum around her place. Kid deserves it, but I'll get her off her butt if I decide she's getting too lazy. What about you nerds?" Haymitch asked.
"Inventing." Beetee and Wiress said smiling. "Inventing to rebuild a free Panem."