Never alone
What if Claudia had been left behind in 'Breakdown'? What if she had gotten to the gears earlier?
Why do they always have to leave me behind? Claudia thought grudgingly. Don't they know that I can hel them and they need me? Why can't Pete ever let me have any fun? "Myka wanted to take me, but Pete was all no!" She was muttering now. She crossed her arms and leaned against the side of the shelves. It just wasn't fair! She could help them! Why didn't they understand that? Was it so hard? Just because she was younger than them didn't mean that she was useless. Heck, she acted older than Pete a lot of times. They had already left though, so it wouldn't make any difference now. Claudia looked up at the growing cloud in the warehouse. It was letting off the electric energy in all directions and she realized something. Even though Pete was trying to protect her, they had left her out in the open of the crazy warehouse.
Claudia was sent scurrying down the next row as the energy shot down her aisle. It zapped directly where she had been standing with more energy than normal. It would have fried her! She had to get to the gooery! She ran back and checked the computer to see other ways to the gooery. Apparently the indoor storm had destroyed all the paths except for going all the way around the perimeter of the warehouse. "Think Claudia! Think! There's gotta be something around here!" She started looking around her for an artifact that would help her. She knew that there wasn't a teleporter, but maybe there was something that could make her go super fast. Most of the objects were useless at this point, but then she found some shoes with wings. Were these Hermes' shoes? The label only said that she shouldn't run and jump. "Let's hope they're my size," she muttered as she tugged them on. They were big on her, but she was able to tie them tightly and she didn't think that they would fall off. Another shock of blue energy shot down the aisle and Claudia grab her own shoes and rush out of the way again. After only a couple strides though, she found herself at the end of the row. She laughed evilly. "Sweet!"
In only moments, Claudia was sprinting through the warehouse, avoiding the dodge balls that were bouncing around. She was forced to change directions twice when she saw that some of the artifacts had gotten loose, but within minutes she had raced all the way around the warehouse and had arrived at the gooery. She pulled off the shoes, and was instantly drained of a lot of her energy. She put her hands on her knees and took several deep breaths to calm herself. Maybe those shoes did have side effects. It felt like she had just run the entire distance without the shoes. She had a side ache too that was really uncomfortable. Hold it together, Claudia. You can rest after you save the day.She pulled on her old shoes and rested for a moment. Then after a minute or two, Claudia stood up straight again and surveyed the damage.
The gears were covered in silly string. The string was worked into the interior part of the gears and it was stopping their turning motion. The screen on the right said that it was in the danger zone and Claudia knew that she only had a few minutes left. She pulled on her neutralizing gloves as she continued to try to slow her breathing. She grabbed a handful of the string and started untangling it from the gears. She pulled it back and when it came loose she dropped it in a pile on the floor before going back for more. After awhile though, it started getting really slippery and she couldn't get a good grip anymore. The string hadn't done anything weird since she had gotten there, so Claudia pulled her gloves off and grabbed some.
She started pulling it back again, but then it started moving. She let out a surprised scream as it crawled up her arms and stuck. She tried to shake it off, but it only got stickier.
"Craptastic," she muttered. She looked around for anything that would help her. Nothing was within reach. Then the gears jerked into motion and started pulling Claudia towards them. She tried to get traction, but her shoes just slid across the cement. So she did the only thing she could. She screamed for help.
"Pete! Myka! Help!" No one answered. No one was coming to save her. Just like always. She pushed back the terror and tried to think clearly. She would get out of this. The gears were reeling her in though, and Claudia knew that they could kill her if she got pulled inside of them and she got her beautiful head stuck in them just right. "Not good! Not good!" she screamed. She was within seven feet now.
Mrs. Fredric's voice echoed through the warehouse, "Four minutes until critical mass. Evacuate immediately." Are you kidding? I only have a minute left! Claudia thought desperately.
"Pete! Myka!" she called again. "Guys?" She was still alone. A tear slipped down her cheek. She had hoped that she wouldn't die alone, but of course it would end this way. There wasn't anything more poetic than losing everyone in her life one by one and then dying alone. She was yanked out of her depressing thoughts as she slipped closer. Who was she kidding? She wasn't going down without a fight! She stepped on the backs of her shoes and shook them off. Then she stuck her right foot in each of them and flipped them into the gears in an attempt to stop them. They landed right on a glob of silly string and jammed the gears for a moment.
"Three minutes until critical mass."
"Shut up!" she yelled back. She glanced around and saw her tool belt, which was sitting on the table out of reach. Not helpful. Maybe she could get the gears to cut the string for her. She moved as far to the right as she could, getting the strings situated just within the gears. She was almost ready when the gears groaned and started moving again. Her shoes were pulled into the interior of the system and Claudia was pulled closer. She was only three feet away now. She could peer in and see her shoes being ground into pieces. She screamed for help again, and this time was rewarded with an answer.
"Claudia?" It was Myka! Relief flooded through her body. Claudia almost started crying right then and there.
"Myka! Help! I'm stuck," she called. Myka appeared on the stairs and paused for a moment to take everything in. "Myka, hurry!" Claudia screamed frantically. Pete appeared behind Myka. "Pete!" Finally Pete and Myka snapped into action. They rushed down the stairs and across the room. "Don't touch the string! You'll get caught!" Pete froze inches from the string. Myka wrapped her arms around Claudia's waist and started pulling. It didn't help much though, because Claudia kept sliding forward, her socks getting no traction.
"Pete," Myka ordered, "Find something sharp to cut the silly string!" The gears jerked again and Claudia was pulled within inches of the gears.
"Two minutes until critical mass."
"Is she still talking at us?" Pete asked as he appeared next to them with a huge scythe. Myka looked at it apprehensively. Claudia yelped again as she was yanked onto the gears. "Claudia!" Pete yelled.
"Hurry up!" she screamed. "I don't want to be ground into Claudia bits!" Pete dropped the scythe and wrapped one arm around her and used his other arm to brace himself against the gears to pull her back. She moaned as she was stretched out beyond what she thought she could handle, but with his help, they were able to pull Claudia back far enough so her feet scraped the floor before being lifted back up again.
"Myka, cut her loose! I've got her," Pete ordered. Myka let go after a moment and grabbed the scythe. Pete wrapped both arms around Claudia and pulled hard, giving Myka a bigger space to cut. Myka brought the blade close to the silly string, then lifted it up and brought it down hard. Purple artifact sparks shot everywhere, but the blade severed the strings' hold on Claudia.
Pete stumbled back with Claudia and they both tumbled to the ground. The silly string let go of her hands and she quickly started yanking it off as fast as she could. The neutralizing machine roared back to life and continued to grind up her shoes. Mrs. Fredric's voice echoed through the warehouse that the neutralizing system was back online. Claudia threw the string as far from her as she could while Myka walked over and crouched next to them.
"Thanks guys," Claudia said. "I was getting worried there for a minute." She put on a smile to hide how shaky she was. "What was that knife thing?" she asked Pete after a moment to avoid the attention.
"Oh," he laughed. "I think it was the grim reaper's scythe. I found it over there." He indicated a door with a broken lock on it. On the door was a label that read: Very dangerous! Do not touch!
"Pete," Myka started saying, trying to figure out if she should be angry or just laugh. "Why did you go in there? Didn't you read the sign?"
"Yeah, of course I read the sign. It was the closest thing I could find, and this is artifact silly string. I didn't know what would cut it. I couldn't be wrong either." He looked at Claudia. "I didn't have time to be wrong." No one spoke for a moment. Then Pete said, "Well, I think we'd better get back and clean up Artie's office before he gets back. I don't want to be grounded." He smiled wryly. He got up and then turned to Claudia who was still sitting on the floor. He held out a hand to her and she took it slowly. He helped her up, but when Pete and Myka started walking, Claudia didn't move. Pete looked back to see her staring at the gears again. "Claudia?" he asked gently. Myka turned too.
The gears had just deposited one of her shoes on the ground. Without knowing it was originally a shoe though, no one would have known. Only the front of the shoe had remained intact and even that was filthy and torn. It had finally hit her that she could have ended up just like her shoe. She started crying as Pete approached. He wrapped her in a big hug and held her close while she finally broke down. Myka rubbed her back gently. Claudia wrapped her arms around Pete and held on tightly.
After several minutes, Claudia was able to get her tears under control and she let go of Pete. She wouldn't look at either of them until Pete slipped his hand under her chin and gently pulled her head up. She pulled away quickly and started walking back to Artie's office. She wouldn't speak to either of them but let them walk on either side of her. She kept her arms crossed and her head down, as if she was trying to literally disappear from the world right then and there.
When they got back to Artie's office, Pete and Myka started cleaning up while Claudia sat down on the couch. She curled up in the corner and put her head down on one of the arms. Pete gave her a blanket, but otherwise they left her alone. She would talk when she wanted to, and they both knew that she was still traumatized from her near death experience. Eventually, there was nothing else to hinder the inevitable conversation. Pete pulled up a chair and Myka sat at the other end of the couch.
"Are you okay, Claudia?" Pete began. Claudia looked up at him and nodded silently. Seeing that Pete wasn't going to get anywhere with this train of thought, Myka tried next.
"What's up, Claudia?" she asked. "You've had near death experiences before. Like when you were trying to save Joshua. You haven't said a word since we saved the warehouse. Why is this time different from our other…adventures?" She hesitated at the last word, trying to figure out if it was the right one. At first, Claudia didn't respond, and Myka wondered if they were going to get anything out of her. Then the girl started explaining.
"The reason that this time is different is because I was alone," Claudia stated. Pete gave her a confused look, but didn't interrupt her. "Before you guys got there, I thought I was going to die alone." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I've been on my own all my life, and I didn't really know the difference. But then I met you guys." She smiled slightly, but then the smile disappeared as more tears made their way down her cheeks. "I found out what a family was like. But then I was alone again. And I called out for you guys, but you didn't come." Now Myka was crying too, and Pete had lost the glimmer in his eyes. "I was so scared." She took in a ragged breath. "It was like when I lost Joshua all over again. I was alone and scared and I couldn't do anything about it." She opened her mouth to speak some more, but nothing came out and she broke down into tears.
Myka moved forward and gave her a hug, rocking her slightly. Claudia wrapped her arms around Myka's neck while Pete rubbed her back soothingly.
"You know we will never leave you, right Claudia?" Pete asked softly. She let go of Myka to look at him properly.
"You can't promise that," she said flatly. "You're a warehouse agent. Both of you. Any day, something could happen and you could—" she couldn't finish. They both understood what she meant though. It was a dangerous job, and they both knew it.
"Claudia," Pete said after a moment. "Look at me." She tilted her head up just enough to look at him through tear filled eyes. "I will do whatever I can to stick around, okay? If you haven't noticed already, we're pretty hard to get rid of." He smiled and was rewarded with the slightest smile in return. "Plus, we've got you and Artie to take care of us. I'm not leaving any time soon." She nodded slowly, but he could tell his words had taken root. She sat on the couch for a little bit longer, then looked up and smiled at them both.
"Thanks guys," she said quietly. "You mean the world to me, you know that, right?"
"Of course, Claud," Myka said, giving her another hug before Claudia got up and gave Pete a hug too.
"I'm going to go wash up some before Artie gets back. With any luck, we'll be able to not get grounded for this fiasco." She smiled at them gratefully again and left for the bathroom.
Once she was sure Claudia was out of earshot, Myka turned to Pete and said, "She really did think that we weren't coming, didn't she?" He nodded grimly.
"I guess we'll just have to spend the next few months convincing her that we will always be there for her," Pete replied. Then he smiled mysteriously. "Even if that means breaking into her room at night to surprise her with ice cream." Myka laughed. "What," Pete asked, pretending to be offended. "Ice cream tastes even better at midnight."
"And you know this from experience?"
"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Don't you?" Myka only laughed again. They continued arguing until Pete left to get coffee. Her thoughts then turned to Claudia. It was going to be hard convincing the teenager of their love for her, but they would show her somehow. Sure, they were a dysfunctional family, but they were a family nonetheless. And they were all Claudia had left. Myka knew that neither she nor Pete would ever abandon Claudia, and she looked forward to proving that to her adoptive little sister.
Awww! So sweet! Any thoughts?