A/N I've wanted to write a multi-chapter fanfic for a while, and I really loved Season 4 of Sanctuary, especially the dynamic between Nikola Tesla and Henry Foss. This is set after the end of Season 4, and the premise is that Nikola and Henry are spending some time at the UK Sanctuary after the destruction of the New City Sanctuary. I've never been to a Canadian or American city, so my choice of location was influenced both by my (vague) knowledge of London and the desire to include Declan MacRae.
Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I can't take full credit for the (as yet unnamed) creatures in this story, because they were created by my youngest sister and fleshed out during a family brain-storming session one car journey. I'm rubbish at coming up with monsters, so I turned to the most imaginative person I know for help. As Yoda said "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."
All the sci-fi references were prompted by Nikola's Matrix references in Chimera. What can I say? The man has excellent taste in movies.
"Heinrich, pass me those wire-strippers," ordered Nikola's slightly muffled voice from halfway inside the wall. He was buried deep inside the veins and arteries of the UK Sanctuary, tangled up in wires as he tried to solve the latest of many problems that were plaguing the old building.
"Nope!" came the cheerful reply from Henry, who was sitting in a chair next to the hole in the wall and examining a diagram of the Sanctuary's electrical systems on his tablet.
"Heinrich..." There was a note of warning in the vampire's voice. He had been getting increasingly cranky over the past few days, which had meant that Henry got a lot of abuse, but also had given him the opportunity to engage in one of his favourite sports: Tesla-baiting. It was this rather dangerous game that Henry was playing at the moment.
"Nope!" he said again, and he had to suppress a chuckle when he heard muffled mumbling in what he guessed was rather irate Serbian. When Nikola was cranky already, it was surprisingly easy to press his buttons. When the mumbling became deeper and more distorted, he guessed that Nikola had shifted into his vampire form. He shook his head. The dude with six-inch claws was asking for wire-strippers.
A minute or so later, Nikola extracted himself from the wall, although not without some difficulty. Henry heard several muffled thuds and a few angry growls before the vampire's fanged face reappeared. With a flick of his head, Nikola reverted back to his human appearance. His rather dishevelled, grubby, human appearance. Henry grinned broadly and Nikola glared at him.
"Dude, you're a mess."
"Yah, well, unlike some people I could mention, I've actually been getting my hands dirty!"
"Not just your hands," interjected Henry helpfully. Nikola's death glare was priceless. "Now, if you're finished with the righteous indignation and all, I think I've found the source of our problems."
"Oh, really?" Nikola was suddenly interested, his anger forgotten in an instant. Henry pointed to a part of the diagram.
"Yeah, I think it's down here in the basement. Most of the systems in this section are routed through here, and it would explain why so many different things have gone down. It seems something's been snacking on the wires."
"The midnight-snacker strikes again. Did you get a craving for copper this time?" Now it was Henry's turn to roll his eyes at Nikola.
"Very funny, dude." Nikola had caught Henry having a midnight snack the other day and had been making jokes about it ever since. Apparently Henry's insatiable appetite was responsible for Declan's missing letters, the nibbled leaves of Colin's pot plants, the fact that there was no chocolate ice-cream left and the bite marks on the leg of the dining table. Admittedly, Henry was responsible for the ice-cream thing, but the joke was getting just a little bit old by now. "We gonna go check it out?" he asked unnecessarily. The vampire had that look on his face that meant he was ready to sink his fangs into the next part of the problem, and nothing would stop him from solving it. Nikola made a flourishing gesture down the hallway.
"Allons-y, my furry friend." Henry gave him a quizzical look as he passed. Nikola Tesla just referenced Doctor Who. Would wonders never cease?
Having made their way down to the basement which held the offending broken wires, Nikola watched as Henry pointed a camera around the corner. It was dark in the basement, and neither of them particularly wanted to encounter an unidentified cable-eating Abnormal without some sort of warning. Henry pressed a few buttons, toggling the camera into night vision mode. Nikola peered over his shoulder, staring at the screen.
"There, in the corner. Do you see it?" He stabbed his finger at the shape on the screen. Henry slapped his hand away.
"Dude, of course I do. And keep your voice down."
"Oh, right. Sorry." Henry jerked around and looked at Nikola in surprise. He never apologised for anything. The vampire smiled, showing a few too many teeth. It was so very easy to mess with the young HAP. His grin changed into an expression of curiosity as he squinted at the blurry image on the small screen. "What do you think it is? I don't recall seeing anything like it upstairs, so it can't be a resident."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Henry pulled a stunner from his belt.
"What no stun gun for me? Heinrich, I'm hurt."
"Well, I figured with you being all Magneto you could electro-zap things yourself."
"Very funny. You know I can't use my powers like that. I'm not exactly Darth Sidious. Force lightning is a little beyond my capabilities." This provoked another surprised look from Henry.
"Since when did you become Mr Pop-Culture Reference? First Doctor Who and now Star Wars." Nikola gave him that smile again.
"Come now, Heinrich, you can't expect me to give away all my secrets. Besides, don't we have a cable-chewing monster to catch?"
"Oh, right, sorry. I got distracted a bit there. He's still in his corner. It looks like he's still feeding. OK, plan of action: I'll go in with the stunner and zap him. You get the lights before I go and then cover his exit-hole in that wall so he doesn't escape if I miss." Nikola nodded once, focussed on the goal again. Maybe once they caught this thing people would stop treating him like an odd-job house elf. He was tired of crawling around in wall cavities rewiring antiquated electrics.
A quick hand signal from Henry, and Nikola dashed into the darkened basement and flicked his hand in the direction of the light switch. The lights flickered on and Henry lunged around the corner, firing his stunner. He scored one, two, three solid hits on the many legged creature but it seemed unaffected. It zoomed between his legs, making for the exit hole that Nikola was covering. It seemed to notice him standing there and pulled up short, allowing Nikola a good look at it. The creature was translucent white in colour, with blue veins visible under the skin and a vague indication of a metallic exoskeleton. It had a lot of legs and a single green eye approximately where its face might be. He just had time to register that it had a series of three shallow pits on each side of its head before it zoomed off in the direction of the stairs.
"Get him before he escapes!" Henry shouted. Nikola rolled his eyes. What else did the boy think he was doing? He lunged for the creature, rounding the corner in the corridor just as it reached the base of the stairs. With a sudden flash of what might have been brilliance or insanity, he stretched out his hand, grabbing for it with his magnetic powers. To his surprise, the creature turned around and ran straight for him. Instead of being grabbed by the magnetic field he had generated, it seemed to be attracted to it. Fascinating, he thought, just as the creature latched onto his leg and he fell over backwards. He grabbed the creature with both hands, holding its rather large mouthparts away from his face. A few drops of the creature's saliva ended up dripping onto his chest. He watched in horror as it burned straight through his shirt and started working on his skin. His regenerative abilities might have stopped it from causing any lasting damage, but that didn't stop it from really hurting.
"Ow ow ow ow ouch! Get it off me! Get it off!" To Nikola's great relief, Henry chose this exact moment to snag the creature in a large glass specimen transport case. Nikola jumped to his feet as Henry wrestled with the lid of the bow, trying to get the clasp closed before the creature escaped again.
"A little help here would be nice, Magneto!" Resisting the urge to try and wipe the acid off and hurt his hands, Nikola flicked his fingers in the direction of the clasp. The lid locked shut and Henry collapsed back against the wall in relief. Now safely contained, the creature was nevertheless still trying to chew its way out of the container. Nikola picked it up gingerly.
"Let's get our little friend here back to the lab. Then we can fix things down here. Also, I need to change my shirt. I feel like Corporal Hicks from Aliens. At least I didn't get any in my eyes. I know I can heal, but that would not be pleasant." With this last comment, he set off back up the stairs, Henry trotting along behind him, muttering to himself.
"Again with the references... I thought that was my job."