The Electric War

Chapter 2 - Dusk Til' Dawn

Things were never the same. She knew it right from that first day. Working with Tesla brought something new every day, and one simply had to be prepared for it, whatever it was. Strangely enough, Franziska had picked up the skill with such mastery, that she could easily handle whatever each new day brought. Even today's new problem.

They were working in a cramped little office, tinkering away at a transformer the two had devised.

"Now, how many times did you run your test?" Franziska asked, peering over his shoulder as he worked.

"Three hundred and thirteen times a exactly." Tesla answered proudly. She frowned.

"I don't like that number," she told him, shaking her head. "It should be three hundred and fourteen." It was the same old argument every time.

"Don't start this again." he pleaded with frustration.

"What?" she inquired, not seeing anything wrong with her request. "I think it should be even."

"Three hundred and fourteen is not divisible by three." he argued, as though both arguments weren't pointless and time consuming.

"But it is even." Franziska insisted, raising her brows.

"Come now, really..." Nikola rolled his eyes.

"It's all in your head anyways," she told him, attempting to reason with her companion. "Just run it again."

"No." he answered firmly.

"Please."

"Just pull the switch Franziska!"

"Fine," she rolled her eyes as she placed a hand on the switch. "But when something goes wrong because you didn't run enough tests, don't blame me-" Not even a second after she flipped the switch the lightbulb over head popped, showering them in shards and darkness.

Several other pops could be heard from outside the cramped office, and soon enough several angry grumbles and footsteps.

"Didn't I tell you?" Franziska whispered to her partner, brushing the glass out of his hair. He sighed before answering.

"You told me." he admitted, picking the shards out of her braid. Loud hard knocks rapped against the door as several disgruntled employees shouted in muddled unison their grievances against them.

"Hey! Von Schneider! Tesla!" one voice barked, fighting to be heard over the others. "The boss wants to see you, says it's urgent!" Tesla gestured toward the door.

"Ladies first."

"Very funny." The pair of them ventured through the small crowd at the door, going largely unnoticed as the group moved inside the room to find them. After a while they came to Edison's office, so, after a deep breath, they went inside.

The office was immaculate, bookshelves lined the walls and a large desk stood in front of a larger window. Infront of that window, and behind the desk, was a leather armchair, in which sat the wizard himself.

"What? Again?" he exclaimed into a telephone. "Third time this week!" He shook his head, massaging his forehead as though doing so would ease his stress, though it usually didn't.

"What am I going to do with those two?" Suddenly he realised that "those two" had just crept into his office, so he promptly hung up and pretended he had been looking at the papers on his desk.

"Ah, Tesla, Schneider, come in." They gingerly approached the desk, nervous glances being exchanged between the two of them.

"I've a got a job for you." Edison announced, not looking up from his desk.