A/N: This story while not great is very dear to me. I by no means have worked out all the kinks, but it's been sitting on my computer inactive for far too long. Those of you who know me know that Alice is a big thing for me and a mashup of Alice and Warehouse wasn't something I could really pass over. I used the soundtrack to the Disney Alice movie (some of the songs anyways). You should check out the corresponding song to each one to really get the full effect.
Song: Plain White T's - Welcome to Mystery
Inventory was a chore that no Warehouse agent particularly liked, except maybe Myka. There was something calming about the methodical pattern of it all. Searching for things that were already found, making sure they were put back where they belonged, and checking them off on her list.
In the midst of all that, she used the time to learn as much as she could about the mysteries the metal box held in its chambers. There were so many stories behind each row of shelving: historical details, crazy cover-ups, and just a general education of any subject you could possibly imagine. "Endless wonders," she murmured, repeating the well-turned phrase of their enigmatic leader.
"What was that, darling?" Helena asked, peering over her own clipboard to stare curiously at her partner. She broke into a grin at the look of amazement on Myka's face. The younger woman was truly a treat to work with. Never had she enjoyed someone's company quiet as much.
Myka hadn't realized she had been speaking aloud and looked down blushing. "I was just talking to myself," she said, a bit embarrassed. Their friendship, while comfortable, had never quite settled in Myka's mind. It still caught her off guard sometimes that not only did she get to work with this amazing woman, but also that HG wanted to spend time with her.
"Anything you care to share?" Helena asked, obviously amused. Myka's mind had that effect on her. The woman could be as quick witted and sharp tongued, as she needed to be. She was intelligent, but not naïve. There was a strength in her that so few women knew what to do with. Yet, moments like this, she held the innocence of a child yet tainted from the surrounding world.
Myka smiled at HG and quickly moved down the aisle a little, studying her own clipboard. "I was just thinking how lucky we are that we get to experience all this," she said, gesturing the expanse space of the warehouse.
"Indeed," HG said, pursing her lips with a smirk. She was the lucky one and it didn't have a thing to do with the warehouse. "Myka?" she called the other woman's attention nervously.
Myka walked up to her, not recognizing the tone in her friend's voice. "Yeah?" She did, however, recognize the nervous fingers at HG's neck absently twirling her locket.
"Thank you. There is no one I would rather spend my time with. You have truly grounded me and I don't know what I would do without your friendship. This is the first time in a very long time that I've been able to look forward and leave the past where it is."
"HG," Myka said, letting the latter part of the woman's name hang on her tongue. She was about to reassure HG she would never have to find out when they heard Claudia calling from a few aisles over.
"Hey guys?" the young redhead called, voice reverberating along the shelves. It wasn't a panicky yell, but something had definitely perplexed the youngest member of the Warehouse.
"Go ahead darling, I'll be right there," HG said, seeing the worry in her partner's eyes. Claudia had a knack for getting into trouble and she understood that Myka viewed her as close as a sister. In a way, they were all like that.
Myka, Claudia, and Pete had welcomed HG into their fold with a closeness she had never known. Never, in her hundred and fifty years of living had she been able to let go and be herself. With them, she had that and appreciated it greatly.
She took a brief moment to lock herself into the present and followed Myka's trail. Sometimes it was easy to become trapped in her own mind, especially when she was with Myka. The younger woman let her wander, but never too far. It was moments like those that she had to take a brief moment to steady herself against the outside world.
Turning the corner, she saw Claudia, Myka and Pete surrounding something on the ground all staring at it curiously. She walked over to stand between Claudia and Myka, resting a hand on Claudia's back affectionately. "What is it?" she asked, looking down at the bronze porthole at their feet.
"Uh, how 'bout a bad ass steampunky portal to someplace totally boss… or something crazy dangerous, or seriously deadly, you know it might not be such a cool thing after all," Claudia said, both excited and nervous by the mysterious offering.
HG smiled absently at the younger woman. "Steampunk?" she questioned, not familiar with the term.
"HG," Claudia whined, frustrated that the other woman could be part of something so epic and yet be totally clueless, "You're only like half the inspirational force. We so need to educate you."
Myka smiled at the banter, but knelt down to get a closer look. Running her hand along the outer ring of the metal, her fingers brushed against a piece of cardstock. "There's something here," she said, tugging at the corner of the paper in an attempt to loosen it. The tag seemed to be stuck inside the lid.
"Here," Claudia said, handing her a pair of tweezers out of the tool belt at her waist. Pete looked at her curiously then tried to peek into her pockets before she smacked his hand away. "Stay out buddy, or my Wocket might bite you." Pete gave the pouch an odd look, but backed off just to be safe.
Myka used the tweezers and pulled the paper loose with no more trouble. "For the one who circumvents time," she said, reading the tag as she stood. All eyes turned to HG and a nervous quiet passed over the group.
"Well I certainly don't know what it's doing there," HG said, defensively. She ran a nervous hand through her hair, a feeling of foreboding ricocheting throughout the room as subtle as dynamite.
"Okay," Pete said, trying to diffuse the tension. "Let's not lose our heads, does anyone remember seeing it here before?" They all glanced to the floor, studying it as if it wasn't already etched in their minds. A mysterious bronze porthole showing up out of nowhere was not something one easily forgot.
"Well, I've never seen it before," Myka said, knowing it was she they were all waiting for. If anyone would remember, it would be her.
Claudia crossed her arms nervously, "I haven't read about anything porthole-ish either in any of the research I've done for Artie."
"Do we know if it's even an artifact? Maybe it's part of the warehouse itself," Pete offered up, hoping this was not some twisted joke of the Warehouse's more perverse side.
"Well, it's not in the manual," HG said, receiving a rather unpleasant look from Pete. "Don't scowl at me, read the damned thing if you want them to leave you alone about it." She couldn't hide the smirk at his crestfallen features.
"Listen, when I was at Warehouse 12 there was an entire aisle that liked to move about on its own. It's not completely unheard of for things to move about on their own. Needless to say, it made inventory a rather tiring chore."
"Like it's not already," Pete said, glad they don't have any such incidents. "I wonder if it opens," Pete asked. Pulling a pair of purple gloves from his pocket, he slipped them on with a loud pop and reached for the latch.
To be on the safe side Claudia jogged to the nearest neutralizing station and rolled the cart back to the porthole. Worst case scenario she could dump the contents of the jumbo-sized container onto the porthole.
"Here let me help," HG said, seeing Pete struggle with opening it. The hinges were a bit stuck though it shined as though it were brand new. As both agents tugged at the contraption, it finally flung open with a loud suction noise.
There was an odd whooshing noise at first, as though air was being sucked inside, but that stopped soon enough. Afterwards there was nothing. "Well that was ominous," Claudia said, unsure how she should feel about the oddity.
"Pete, you getting anything?" Myka asked, calling on his vibes to guide them once more. She had learned to trust them and right now, he might be the only one keeping them from disaster. You just didn't take things inside the warehouse at face value.
Pete knelt down next to it and looked inside. "I don't know, Mykes. It feels like, it feels like there's something waiting for us. HG stand over there next to Myka. Claudia hold this open for me." As he commanded them, he lay down on the ground on his belly.
Seeing what he was going to try to do, HG spoke up, "Pete I really don't' think this is the best of plans. Maybe we should consult with Artie, or the records, or-" she trails off, realizing that consulting Artie might be an even worse plan then exploring it on their own.
"At least let me go, there's no point in you getting hurt because of me." Her eyes drop guiltily, knowing that she was once more responsible for them putting their lives in danger.
Pete shook his head and grabbed her hand. "If you go in first we could be walking straight into something bad. It wanted you, maybe I can figure out what it is before you go all self-sacrificing okay?" He squeezed her hand and didn't wait for a response, though he did take note of the small nod she allowed him by way of consent.
Sharing a worried look with Myka who's already holding on to one ankle, she grabs the other and together the gently allow Pete the slack he will need to pull himself forward and lower his upper body into the opening.
Pete looked beneath him and saw a garden beneath him. It seemed harmless enough at first, though he couldn't seem to place why it felt familiar. He spotted a little girl curled up on the grass. She appeared to be about eight or so. Like the garden, she seemed familiar as well.
Sensing his presence the girl looked up and started to scream for help. Pete tried to reassure her that he didn't mean her any harm, but he quickly realized that she wasn't afraid of him she was begging. She was asking him for help.
"Hang on I'm going to get help," he called down to her. "I'll only be a minute." He tried to scurry back out of the hole, but it felt like he couldn't move fast enough. No matter how dangerous or gory your job is, kids were something that no one got used to; the idea of a child in trouble and being unable to move fast enough is devastating.
The scream of the little girl rang out above the portal, reaching the ears of the waiting women. Neither Claudia nor Myka realized just how serious things were until they heard HG gasp.
"Oh god, Christina," she whispered. Her voice harsh with desperation, a tone Myka had only heard one other time. HG tried to get to the portal, but Myka and Claudia were quicker.
They grabbed ahold of her and refused to let her rush into some fool-hearty plan rushed by emotions. The older agent struggled against them, tears welling in her eyes. "You have to let me go to her," she pleaded, a panic taking over her normally cool disposition.
Pete could tell they had let go of his feet, making it easier for him to move back out of the portal. When he surfaced, he was met with the chaos from above. Pain was clearly etched on HG's face and he realized where he had seen the little girl before. The terror in her eyes was the same terror the little girl had shown, looking up at him helplessly.
"We don't even know if it's really her," Claudia said, trying to reason with the older woman. She knew HG was beyond reason at this point, she had heard her daughter. Still, she had to try. They needed HG if they were going to figure this out.
Pete cut Claudia off, saying, "It's her. We're going to get her back HG." His determination was set and there would be very little that could stand in his way now. You didn't mess with people's kids and the warehouse needed to stop messing with HG. She had been through more than enough in his mind.
He might not have always approved of their time-traveling survivor, but the last few months had softened him. He could see how much she meant to Myka and he could see the value she held to all of them. She had been the missing piece.
"We're not giving up. We just need to be smart about this. If it is her, HG, you need to calm down." Claudia knew what it was like to lose someone before his or her time. They all did, really, but Claudia and HG were the only ones that had experienced holding onto that and trying to change it.
Myka stood up, letting the truth of it all wash over her. Claudia was better equipped to handle rationalizing with HG over this. Myka would never pretend to understand what her friends had gone through. She just wished she could do more to help.
Myka stepped towards Pete, needing to find something to ground her. "She heard Christina," she said, trying to explain it to herself as much as him. She heeded him to tell her what he saw.
Pete nodded, already having put the pieces together. "It seems real Myka," he said, rubbing a hand over his face. He needed to believe for HG's sake that they could rescue her. "She was in a garden and it didn't seem particularly scary, but she was terrified. God Mykes, it seemed so real."
"Doesn't it always?" she asked, her tone bitter and defensive. She was scared that they might all turn to her next. They would ask her what they should do. This was one time she didn't have the answers. She didn't want to be in charge.
Myka knew she was too close to HG to be able to think rational about any of this. She would do too much for HG, too much for any of them and she knew that was dangerous in combination with artifacts. "What do we do?" she asked, silently praying Pete would have an idea. She needed him to be strong for both of them and like always, he delivered.
"We save her," Pete said, his protective nature giving his tone an unexpected fierceness. Myka straightened slightly and wiped at her eyes. He was right. They needed to come together now more than ever.
HG and Claudia rose to their feet to join them. The inventor seemed calmer, but she had always been good at eluding. It was only Myka that noticed the glint of something primal in her eyes. Knowing what her partner was about to do, she closed her eyes in anticipation and waited for the reaction of the others when HG will jump down the portal towards her past.
"I'm sorry, I have to try," she said, before plummeting beneath. Claudia gasped as the older woman wriggled out of her grasp and reached for her as she fell. Not able to grab hold, she kneels there for a moment, absorbing what had just happened.
Pete knew HG's temperament and though he was surprised, he understood why she did it. He just wished she had waited for the rest of them. There was no way he would allow her to do this alone. "Here goes nothing," he said, then followed the inventor into the darkness.
Myka couldn't hide the smile of appreciation and felt hope for the first time. She looked to Claudia and nodded, knowing what the younger woman would ask.
"I guess that means it's our turn," Claudia said, grabbing Myka's hand and making the leap of faith. They had to have faith at this point; it might very well be the only thing working in their favor. Knowing the Warehouse though, it's doubtful they would even have that.