Here we go again...
Chapter 1
"We lost Artie. We lost."
Myka could barely hear Pete's words of defeat past her own chaotic thoughts. All she could do was stare at the ruins around her unable to process what she knew to be true. Helena was gone. The warehouse was gone. She could not think about what to do next as her mind had not yet caught up to what had happened.
"Not yet."
Artie's voice however caught her attention. There was a tone of hopefulness far out of proportion for the situation they were in. Turning she took a step toward him. "What? What?"
Pete too had noted Artie's tone and approached the man's other side till all three of them were staring at the pocket watch in Artie's hand.
No words or directions needed Pete and Myka gripped the pocket watch chain with one hand but Artie paused with his hand hovering over the knob. "I don't know if we will survive this..."
"But we could fix it all? There is a chance?" Myka's face had taken on a hard expression and only needed the small nod from Artie to set her on this course consequences be damned. "Then we try." Her eyes tracked to Pete who only nodded his head in agreement. Still willing to die beside her if need be.
Their silent pact made Artie carefully began dialing the hour hand backward. All around them things began rapidly moving in a reverse explosion till the warehouse, and everyone in it were back in one piece. Unable to resist, Myka looked over her shoulder and caught a quick glimpse of HG before their small group reversed their steps and disappeared from the warehouse floor. Artie didn't stop till they were a full 48 hours in the past and all around them were the dim lights of the warehouse and silence.
The moment Artie pressed stop on the watch all three fell to the ground if they had been hit by an invisible force. For a moment Myka could only lay still trying not to throw up, but quickly rolled to her hands and knees and crawled to Pete's side where he too was trying not to be sick. "Just breath Pete. Breath."
After a minute they both looked up to see Artie already on his feet and impatiently indicating they should get moving. Getting to their feet Pete and Myka followed while Artie gave instructions as he led them toward the exit. "Number one rule: we can not interact with ourselves! Got it?" He glared sternly at his companions. At their nod of agreement he opened his mouth to continue but Myka pulled him up short with a hand on his arm.
"Wait! Artie, I thought we couldn't change the past?"
Before he could speak a calm voice interjected. "Right now it isn't the past Agent Bering." The quiet voice of Mrs. Frederick caused all three of them to jump in surprise. "For me, and everyone else here our future is unwritten." The warehouse caretaker emerged from the shadows of a nearby artifact isle. "And you three have already begun to cease to exist."
"What?" Pete did not sound pleased. "I don't want to not exist Mrs. F!"
"Mrs. Fredrick..." Artie sounded a little like Claudia having been caught fiddling with something she wasn't supposed to, but the older woman just held up her hand to stop him.
"I assume the situation was very dire for you to take such actions Agent Nielsen." Mrs. Fredrick eyed the stopwatch in his hand indicating she knew exactly what he had done.
At this both Myka and Pete jumped in explaining in a jumble the disaster they were trying to prevent with a few pointed additions from Artie. When they finished Mrs. Frederick remained as unperturbed as ever as if they had just told her they spilled some milk and not that everything they knew had just been destroyed.
"Follow me." Mrs. Fredrick then led them to the side exit of the warehouse. Once outside they were surprised to see her black town car waiting as if the driver had planned on picking them up there all along.
Once in the car they began making plans knowing they would not be able to use any of the tools or resources they normally had at their disposal. And that time was limited.
"I think we should attempt to disrupt Sykes' plan from all angles. If just one piece falls apart we have him." Artie laid out his plan, "Pete, I want you to go to the Regent bank and swap out a fake Janus Coin so that when Steve arrives they can take it back to Sykes leading us to his whereabouts. As a precaution, Myka I want you to go to Lincoln and take Emily Lake into protective custody."
Pete was nervous about splitting up. "And what will you be doing Artie? Cause I don't think we should separate..."
Myka touched his shoulder. "We are already in this together Pete. But it improves our odds of succeeding and not losing the warehouse and-" She swallowed hard before adding the names to the list of losses, "Helena and Steve.
Pete grimaced and turned to Artie, "And what will you be doing Artie?"
As the car pulled to a stop at the nearby airport he answered, "I'm going to see a man about a cannon."
They piled out of Mrs. Fredrick's car each set on their individual mission with a common purpose. They were going to save their home and their family.
As the three time travelers disappeared behind sliding glass doors Mrs. Fredrick raised a shaky hand to her face. She was not sure the three of them knew how great their sacrifice was going to be, but the moment they had utilized the pocket watch they had sealed their fate. She could only hope their sacrifice would not be in vain.