My first try at horrow, just for Halloween. I'll see how much I can get out for the holiday.
Happy Halloween everyone! :)
Claudia had a rough week.
First there was her lap top that just stopped working. She had to do a complete system restore on it which isn't that bad, except that she lost a research paper for school that was nearly completed and do next Friday. Then her car started making noises and abandoned her halfway to the Warehouse and she still got yelled at for being late, even though it wasn't her fault. Even Leena was pressuring her about getting out and dating, never mind that Artie was breathing down her neck about inventory.
Then there was the artifact that Pete and Myka just brought back from a particularly disturbing assignment at the San Diego Zoo. Even though the artifact was nowhere near the animals, Myka moaned as soon as she received the case file. She was still moaning about monkeys when they returned with statue of an intricate, but unimpressive looking water buffalo.
The problem arose when the unimpressive water buffalo came alive and ran away from Leena before she could neutralize it permanently for storage. A bit of panic from all in the office had Pete and Myka falling over each other and Artie screaming for someone to grab it. Claudia snagged a pair of gloves, but in the end, Artie was the only one who got a hand on it, diving headfirst for the galloping figurine and snagging a hind leg just before it reached the door leading to the Warehouse.
"Got cha!" Artie said, stretched out on his stomach, one arm before him shaking as the buffalo kicked to get free. "Oh no you don't!" Artie held on tenaciously.
As the others picked themselves up, the buffalo turned to look at Artie and snorted. Artie's eyes went wide when he looked the ticked off artifact in the eye. He could only eek out a stuttering "Ahhh…" when the buffalo spun and lowered his bone hard head to butt Artie between the eyes.
"Doh!" he cried bringing both his hands to forehead, he rolled to his back grimacing. The buffalo bellowed and ran out the door. "Gah!" Artie huffed out as Claudia stumbled and stepped on his stomach in her scramble after the buffalo.
"Trailer!" Claudia ran out the door and down the stairs followed by Artie's dog.
The animated brass buffalo stumbled at the bottom of the steps allowing Claudia and Trailer to catch up. The girl swooped down with her one hand and caught the buffalo by the tail but the animated animal twisted and kicked and broke free. Trailer barked his and encouragement but Claudia growled in frustration when the buffalo broke away. The orange dog leapt past Claudia. His four feet matched the buffalo's and he quickly caught up to the artifact. Trailer growled in excitement and grabbed the artifact behind the head and thrashed, knocking it off it's feet.
"Good boy!" Claudia was right behind the dog and got her gloved hands on the bull. She picked up the animated statue and held it up, letting it wave its hooves in the air. The twisting almost made her drop the buffalo, so she held it against her chest, using her gloved hands to try to hold onto the buffalo until Pete and Myka could get there.
Claudia tried to limit the bulls' horns by grabbing the buffalo's nose, but it tossed it's head, making it's curved horns gore into Claudia's clavicle. The girl yelled out and dropped the statue which landed with a clang on the cement floor. The bull scrambled to get it's hooves under it again, in its scramble, it caught Claudia's leg with its horn, tearing her jeans.
Trailer barked and jumped on top of the bull. The dog used his weight to hold the water buffalo down and he chewed a horn. Pete and Myka's feet pounded the floor as they ran up to the pair. Just then the buffalo shook it's head, catching the dog below the eye, making Trailer yelp.
Claudia leapt forward, ignoring the blood leaking down her sleeve. She hit her knees, grabbing the bull's horns as she slid past it and hit the shelving hard. She held on fast, determined to beat the bull artifact.
"Trailer!" She heard Artie's voice shout out, accented with panic, meaning that he was on the way.
What am I, chopped liver?
Suddenly the bull reverted back to its statue state. Claudia had to stop her momentum and blinked at the sudden stillness. Then she blinked again. "Why am I covered in goo?" She asked whoever was closest.
"Because-" Artie sat up off of the floor and wiped off neutralizer that was dripping into his eyes. "The spirit of Ndengei was trying to disembowel you."
Claudia spit a bit of neutralizer out dripping over her face from her soaked hair. "N-den-who?"
In response, Artie held up a gold snake figurine in his fist. He was, like her completely soaked in purple neutralizer. "The Fiji god of earthquakes. Represented as a snake." Claudia glanced up and saw the shower spigot over them. She figured that Pete or Myka must have activated it and them as a way to get the bull statue to stop moving.
Artie made his way to his feet and helped Claudia up as he talked. "You activated Ndengei when you carelessly went careening through the Warehouse!"
"I wasn't careening-" she held up. "I was doing my job!"
"Of activating every artifact in the Warehouse?" Artie yelled over his shoulder as he fitted the smaller snake in his hand back with the gold chest plate of a larger snake.
Claudia shook a bit of neutralizer off of her hand. "Not my fault you know! And what is with you calling for Trailer?"
"Oh! Well, the connection and all-" Artie rubbed just below his eye, the exact same place that the bull caught the dog.
"Hold up, you can feel when he gets hurt?"
Artie cringed, "Not really. More like I can feel his distress. I told you, he owns me, the psychic bond…" He flinged purple goo into the air when he pointed to his temple as he walked by her. "C'mon, and don't forget the bull!"
"Yeah, yeah." Claudia's sneakers slipped a little bit when she lifted the heavy brass water buffalo statue.