Title: Hide & Seek
Disclaimer: Warehouse 13 and its characters belong to SyFy. This is a transformative, not-for-profit work of fiction.
"All right!" Pete exclaimed, grin spreading across his face. "This will be the best game of Hide & Seek in the history of ever!" He high-fived Claudia, who tipped an imaginary hat as it had been her idea. The duo looked pleadingly at Myka and Leena.
"Guys, I'm not sure this is what Artie had in mind when he said we should learn the Warehouse better," Myka reminded them. Leena crossed her arms and nodded as Pete clasped his hands together.
"Pleeeease, Myka? I promise not to use Ophelia in a joke for a week if you play." He pleaded as Claudia swore to Leena she'd try her best not to update the kitchen gadgetry for a month. The two pranksters looked at each other as the women smiled.
"Not it!" Claudia yelled in tandem with Pete, Myka's shout following seconds after. The three looked at Leena, who smiled.
"Go. I'll count to one hundred fifty. Take a Farnsworth in case the Warehouse decides to act up, though. The four aisles surrounding the Dark Vault are off limits, as are the two aisles to either side of the Quarantine Area." She made a shooing gesture with her hands and the three scrambled out of the room. Leena laughed, taking a seat at the computer. They had 150 counts before she turned the cameras on.
Pete and Claudia pounded down the stairs to the Warehouse floor, the man halting at the foot to pick a direction. The tech genius had no such qualms and punched his arm in passing before darting off into an aisle. Myka ran across the landing outside Artie's office and her eyes widened as they caught sight of something that may prove useful.
Claudia ran down Aisle E3, took a left-right at the end and ran down the length of the next aisle. A high-pitched giggling made her stop. The redhead looked around at the shelves, a ring catching her eye. She steps closer to read the information. Owned by someone named Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (and she's not pronouncing that mouthful), if you put it on and twist it around three times, the ring will take you where you need to be. Claudia's tempted and reaching out for it because surely it can take her to the perfect hiding place in the Warehouse, when the giggling reaches her ears again.
"Who's there?" She called out suspiciously. "Leena, you never struck me as the type to giggle." Claudia spun around, eyes scanning the shelves, past a glass slipper and an artist's easel, to stop on a framed photo. The girl stepped closer warily, jumping back when Mickey Mouse giggles at her. It didn't look like he moved or was going to attack her, other than maybe giving away her location through infernal giggling – a shout from above lifted Claudia's eyes to the ceiling.
Myka rode down the zip-line, waving cheerily at the younger. "30 seconds, Claudia! You'd better hide!" The agent yelled helpfully, zooming past and further into the Warehouse. The redhead nods, Chucks hitting the pavement in quick steps to leave the section of Fairytales and enter Aisle C15 in hopes of finding something that will help her hide.
Pete ran down one of the G aisles, groaning in hindsight as Myka zipped past him. Why hadn't he thought of that? He quickly looked down the aisle for any artifact large enough to hide behind and didn't see anything. The ex-Marine moved onto the next aisle, no luck there. Repeat for the following three aisles and then his eyes alighted on a large wardrobe as his watch beeped. Leena was active now, the counting over. He jogged over to the wardrobe, tugging on the tarnished handle. The hinges creaked as the varnished wood opened and Pete winced at the noise. He hurriedly climbed in, pushing aside thick fur coats to create a space for his body. The man tugged the door shut, trying to leave a crack so he could maybe see if Leena was headed down this aisle but it clicked shut to his chagrin. Pete tried to push it open, bracing his back against the solid wood of the wardrobe but to no avail.
"Oops?" He offered to the fur coat he was leaning against. It seemed he'd be there for a while.
Myka rushed through the Warehouse, spying Claudia's telltale red hair as she whizzed past. She grinned as the computer genius ran further into the Warehouse, clearly searching for a hiding place. Myka had no such trouble – she knew exactly where she was headed. A first edition of The Secret of the Old Clock with her name on it, along with her favorite squishy chair in the Warehouse Library. What better place to hide than the obvious? She slowed to a stop next to a ladder, unbuckling the zip-line harness once her feet were firmly planted on the step. Myka pushed the harness back the way she'd come and it shot backwards to it's original place. Zip line wasn't her favorite way of travel but it was much faster and safer than those winged sandals Claudia favored when Artie had her doing inventory. At least the zip line had a straight trajectory!
Myka climbed down the ladder into a large room, feet silent on the plush rugs. She inhaled the smell of old books and leather happily, scanning the titles for her choice.
Pete shivered as the temperature suddenly dropped in the wardrobe. He hoped it wasn't a sign of trouble outside in the Warehouse, because he was stuck with fur coats and – something wet landed on his nose. The man lifted a finger, wiping it off as more started to fall from above him. He used the light of his watch to look, surprised by the sudden appearance of snow.
"Hey, it's snowing!" His muffled voice called out to the empty aisle. Pete shivered, wrapping up in a fur coat since it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. It would be his luck that he'd forgotten to charge his Farnsworth before embarking on this game.
Leena smiled as she heard the zip-line's harness slam back into place against the brick wall. It was easy to figure out who had used it and where she'd gone. That left Pete and Claudia unaccounted for on the Warehouse floor, the former who had likely gone with his gut and the latter who had a better grasp of the Warehouse than the two Secret Service agents. The woman flipped through the Warehouse map, scrolling through a list of artifacts recently activated for a clue to their hiding places.
Her eyes narrowed at the listing for a particular item and Leena reached for the Farnsworth next to the computer. She buzzed Myka, who pouted at her in black and white.
"You're supposed to actually find me in person, Leena!" The woman mock-complained, sticking out her tongue.
"Myka, you're in the Library. Curled up in your favorite armchair, wishing for a cup of tea." The woman grinned ruefully. "But there are more important things now. Pete or Claudia have become trapped in an artifact and we need to find them. You call Pete and make your way to Aisle L2. Look for the wardrobe, but don't open it." She cut the connection, calling Claudia's Farnsworth.
The younger woman answered quickly. "Yo Leena! Is this how Warehouse agents play Hide & Seek nowadays?" The grin on her face fell at the look on Leena's face. "What's wrong? Did something happen? I haven't seen any flashes of light and I'm pretty high up. Are Pete & Myka okay?" Claudia peered around her and Leena got a glimpse of crates and shelves. So that left Pete in the wardrobe.
"They'll be fine, Claudia. Just climb down carefully and make your way to Aisle L2. Wait for Myka and me in front of the wardrobe." Claudia nodded, saluting the B&B owner before closing her Farnsworth. Leena stood from the chair, making her way across the landing and down the stairs at rapid speed.
Claudia and Myka were standing in front of the paneled wardrobe, pounding on the door and yelling for Pete. Leena approached them, pulling purple gloves from her pocket and handing them to the other two women. They snapped them on as Claudia bent down to look at the artifact's information screen.
"Pete would climb into a wardrobe without reading the danger side of things, wouldn't he?" The girl almost yelled at the wooden door. "It's not supposed to open from the inside, and there's snow inside? Are you kidding me?"
Pete pounded on the door. "Hey guys, if you're there, my Farnsworth is dead. And it's snowing! A bit of rescue would be nice!"
"That would be why I couldn't reach him." Myka groaned as she and Leena reached out to grab the handle of the door. Claudia counted to three and the duo pulled hard.
The door swung open slowly and Pete gazed at them, blinking in the sudden light. "Hi guys," he stated, shaking in a too small fur coat as snow fell from above his head. "Artie doesn't need to know about this, right?"
The three women shook their heads, Myka extending a hand to pull Pete from the depths of the wardrobe. Claudia smirked, waving the information screen in his face as Leena hung the fur coat back up and shut the door.
"Were you trying to reclaim your childhood, Pete? It seems a bit of a stretch that you'd be Lucy Pevensie," the tech whiz snarked. "Give me your Farnsworth, I'll charge it and return it to you within a hour." She held out a hand and the agent sheepishly placed the communication device in the outstretched hand. Whirling away, Claudia walked off to the end of the aisle as Leena followed.
Myka touched Pete's arm. "You're okay, right?" She looked worriedly up at her partner.
Pete grinned. "I'm fine, Myka. Takes a bit more than a bit of snow and dark to topple Peter the Great!" He swung an imaginary sword as the woman smiled back and hit his arm.
"Good. Don't worry me like that again. Read about the artifact you're playing with next time!" She stalked off, Pete trailing after her to yell reassurances and promises at her back.
"Myka? Come on, just promise you won't tell Artie! Myka!"