A/N: Okay, my first story in several years! First off, I'd like to say that this story is based off a challenge suggested by KHfreak21, and second, I'd like to say that it's great to be writing a story again. So, please read on, and review when finished for feedback. And please, no flaming.
Danny never really thought that things would turn out like this. Everything that led up to this point in his life. He turned the valve in his hand, the piece of the tank that changed his life for the worse. He should have hated the thing, but for some reason, he just couldn't find the courage to finally rid himself of it. It was like just holding it would make him relive the experience that his family and friends went through seven years ago. In fact, for some reason, it actually would start to heat up in his hand on occasion, as though he was experiencing the blast first hand. He finally decided to place the valve back into his bag, zipping it up. A sound came from the door.
"Danny, you ready?" A female voice called. Danny looked up to see his friend, her hair still wet from a quick shower, but fully dressed in a black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, a purple Dumpty Humpty shirt exposing her stomach, a black leather jacket, and a pair of knee-high black combat boots.
"Yeah, in a minute Sam." He said to her. He turned to place a few other objects into his bag. One was a picture of his family, one of the few where all four of them were somewhat normal looking. He felt Sam place a hand on his shoulder as she looked over it at the picture.
"It's hard to believe how long ago it was when we were all semi-normal." She commented, a sad tone to her voice. Danny nodded.
"It still feels like it was yesterday." He said. He placed the picture in a pocket in his bag.
"Well, it could have been worse." Danny stated. "I could have lost everyone." Sam smiled.
"Yeah…I still can't really understand how it all happened." Sam said to him. Danny lifted up his bag, pulling it around his shoulder. Sam also grabbed a bag of her own.
"Well, I guess it's off to the next town." He said. His body flashed briefly, before a ring appeared that traveled to opposite ends of his body. Now, instead of his jeans, white shirt and jacket, he was wearing a black jumpsuit, one that had white boots and belt, with a white collar and white sleeves that went down to a pair of black gloves. His hair and goatee had turned from their black shade to a glowing white, and his once blue eyes changed to that of a glowing green. He held out his hand to Sam. She took it, and suddenly, a purple ring appeared around her waist, and traveled to opposite ends of her body. Now, she was wearing a pair of black pants that hugged her legs, with a pair of purple, knee high boots with a three inch heel to them. Her shirt and jacket had become a purple long-sleeve covered by a black corset, and on each arm was a black glove that stretched to her elbows. Her eyes, though still purple, were now glowing with energy, and her black hair had turned purple with a black hair tie keeping the back-length hair in a ponytail.
"Let's go." Sam said. They both went to the window, and turned intangible, walking right through it before flying off into the night sky.
"So, let me get this straight." Myka said as she and Pete were categorizing the still incoming Warehouse 2 merchandise. "If you were stranded on an island, the three things you would keep with you would be your comic books, a football, and Timothy Leary's Reading Glasses?"
"Hey, I'm just a guy who likes the simple stuff in life." Pete said. "Besides, any time away from danger and missions would be a vacation." Myka just snorted in disbelief.
"Oh, okay, so what would you bring then, Ms. Bookworm?" Pete asked, pretending to be offended.
"Well, I would most likely bring a boat, a spare gas tank, and a fridge to get off the island." Pete raised a finger to mock her choices, but then realized that they were smart ideas.
"…Okay, you got me." Pete said. Myka smiled in triumph and went back to working on categorization. Pete was currently on a set of Canopic Jars, but as he did so, he couldn't help but spare a glance at Myka, who was at the moment trying to carefully tag the Rod of Asclepius without activating the snake coiled around it.
"What?" Myka asked, when she caught him staring. Pete quickly shook his head and looked away, whistling like nothing was wrong. Myka gave a small giggle and returned to the rod.
"So, um…Mykes." Pete said. "What's new in the world with you?"
"Nothing." Myka said, feeling an awkward tension start to grow in the room. Pete nodded. He reached out to grab another tag for the last Canopic jar, when he accidentally sliced his finger on a jagged piece of metal from the shelves.
"Ah!" He shouted in pain, sucking on his finger to lessen the blood.
"What's wrong?" Myka asked.
"I sliced my finger on the shelf." Pete answered, taking his finger out of his mouth and drying it on his shirt. He lifted it to see.
"Oh geez, it's still running." He said as blood still pooled around the wound. Suddenly, the Rod of Asclepius Started moving!
"Mykes!" Pete shouted, pointing to the rod. Myka yelped and jumped back a bit as the snake on the rod lashed out. It missed, but then struck out again, this time clamping onto Myka's hand.
"Myka!" Pete said, rushing over and grabbing hold of the snake, trying to remove it from Myka's hand.
"Pete, I feel weird." Myka said. A glowing energy began to enter the snake from her hand. After a second however, it stopped, and the snake removed itself. Thinking it was over, Pete sighed and let go of the snake, only for the snake to then bite him!
"Ow!" Pete shouted. Another wave of energy began to form, but this time going from the snake to Pete.
"Pete!" Myka shouted, now trying to get the snake off Pete's arm. Pete suddenly felt something, almost like euphoria. He began to see a memory, of when he and Myka were trying to escape the pyramid on Daedalus' Wings, only it was through Myka's eyes. He felt a strong emotion coming from Myka, as if she was…
"Wow…" Pete mumbled, not even noticing the snake had let go. Myka watched as the rod collapsed onto the ground.
"Pete?" She asked. "You okay?" Pete just looked at his hand, ad saw that both the bite mark and his cut were gone.
"Well, at least we now know what this does." He said, pointing to the rod. Myka let out a nervous laugh, and hugged him.
"Am I interrupting something?" A voice called out. Both Myka and Pete quickly broke apart to see Artie standing in the entry way to the cataloging room.
"Um…no." Pete said quickly. Artie looked at Pete and Myka with a small smirk.
"You both need to come with me." Artie said. "You have another mission." With that Artie left the room. Pete and Myka looked at each other before going through the sterilizing chamber to the outside of the room. Disposing of their gloves, they started making their way to the office.
"So what's the mission Artie?" Pete asked as they walked in.
"You two are going to Elizabeth." Artie stated.
"Alright, who's Elizabeth?" Pete asked. Artie gave him an are-you-serious look.
"Elizabeth, Colorado." He said. "There was a complaint about missing hotel guests there." He stated.
"So?" Myka asked. "There's bound to be a few people who skimp out on paying a bill."
"Except," Artie stated, "the cameras at each exit had no recording of them ever even leaving. There's sufficient proof that they were there, but it is as if they vanished into thin air. And this same occurrence has been happening at several hotels and motels all over the country, with the same two people being involved." He handed each of them a folder.
"Those are the images caught of the two people who checked in. There's nothing else on them at the moment, so you two are going to have to go on appearance only. If you manage to find them, track them and see if there is an artifact involved." He turned back to his computer.
"I'll be giving you updates on their identities as soon as I have them." With that, Myka and Pete waved to Artie and left through the umbilical.
Leena walked through the hallway, carefully dusting the different objects and pictures along it. With the warm weather returning to South Dakota, she was in the process of spring cleaning. As she was about to finish dusting the painting of a lake, the doorbell rang. She placed the duster down and quickly walked to the front door, where two shadows were seen behind the curtain over the glass. She opened the door. Standing there were two people, a man and woman.
"Hello, is this place for rent?" The woman asked. "We were hoping to stay the week if possible." Leena was about to state that it was a private bed and breakfast for "Local IRS employees" when she noticed something peculiar. She seemed to be getting a faded aura around the two people, as if they were slowly dying. She finally made up her mind that they should be around in case they were linked to an artifact.
"Yes, please come in!" Leena welcomed, motioning for them to come inside.
"Thank you." The man said.
"It's no problem. My name is Leena, and I own the bed and breakfast here. If I could just have your names for my roster, I'll be happy to lend you two a room here." She said.
"Okay." Said the man. "My name is Danny, and this is Sam."