Hello all.

Chapter releases out every Friday (if possible). I'll try to stick to that schedule as much as possible.

This has changed. Let me know if you really want twice weekly updates, and I'll put Tuesdays back on the updates.

A charming colonial building painted in cheerful colors sat back from the road in an unincorporated city and county of South Dakota. At the meal table of Leena's Bed and Breakfast, sat a competent looking brunette woman with competent green eyes. Myka sat taking meticulous notes in a writing book. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated. She crossed out a line she just wrote and tapped the end of her pencil in thought then started writing again.

Myka knew that she had good ideas. She always had. While protecting the president she was awarded accommodations and rapid promotions. However since joining the Warehouse 13 branch of the Secret Service she seemed to be unable to rise to the elite agent status that she usually was able to maintain. It wasn't that she needed to be better than anyone, but she always strived for that status as a way of validation for herself. She tapped her pencil and thought back to a few missions that could have gone smoother. She knew she could be better, make things work better, more smoothly, if she could get a few things changed.

A whirlwind in the form of Myka's boss breezed through the doorway. A portly, graying man in earth colored layers, messy curly hair and too small, round glasses burst in the room loaded up with briefing folders and his messenger bag. He glanced around quickly. "Where's Pete?" he said looking for her partner.

Myka looked up a bit surprised at the chaos of her boss entering. "Uhm. He's here… somewhere." She looked down at her notes. Myka sighed and gathered her courage. "Artie? Can I talk to you about some ideas that I've had?"

Artie threw his armload of stuff on the table and took off his clip on sunglasses. "Hu? Sure." He glanced up at her quickly. "Ideas? About what?" He never stopped his constant motion as he started sorting the files.

Myka tried to not show the nervousness that was starting to gnaw at her. "Oh… about some of the artifacts that we've encountered." Artie's bushy eyebrows went up. Now that she started Myka knew that she had to finish. She took a breath and spurted out, "I think that with a few tweaks we can be better equipped to handle some of the things that we face…. uh- in the field…." She held her breath a little bit for his reaction.

Artie froze, looking at his papers. He automatically barked out his standard Claudia retort without looking up. "There will be no 'tweaking!'" He had just had to pry the spectrometer out of his young tech's curious hands because she was trying to 'tweak' it.

Myka flinched at his harshness and heard him mumble something that sounded like Claudia's name under his breath before rounded on her.

Artie rubbed his brow in frustration at the disregard for all the hard fought things that his agents already had. "Warehouse policies and equipment have been around for a hundred years and you want to change it all!"Changing things meant that they didn't appreciate their equipment and procedures and, by extension, him.

His speech started slow and got faster and louder as he went. "I was 'in the field' for many, many years! Everything that you need you already have!" Myka tried to reply but he cut her off. "That equipment is time tested!" he spat out.

Myka bristled at how he said "in the field" with such contempt. She countered, "But a few things…" Artie harrumphed. She was not used to her ideas being dismissed so quickly. Myka pressed the issue, talking quickly before he could shut her down. "Like a small container of goo instead of the big one. Or… or look! I was thinking of infusing the first aid supplies with neutralizer." She tried to show him her notes.

"What?" he barked at her. "Neutralizer can be dangerous! There's a reason why we don't just drape everything with it!"

Myka responded, "You almost drowned Pete and me in that stuff!"

"That was an emergency!" Artie was practically yelling by then. He was in one of his frazzled states and he knew it. The senior agent took a breath to try to calm down. He pushed his glasses further up on his nose and rubbed his brow with two quick movements that made his eyebrows stand up even more than before. "Besides, one neutralizer shower is practically harmless. Two, you might want to see a doctor."

Myka's face morphed into a concerned stare at her boss. She opened her mouth to restate her point, but Artie cut her off. Lowering his tone, he said, "Stick to what you have. Make it work." Artie bit off the statement, obviously ending the conversation.

Feeling herself dismissed, Myka shut her half opened mouth and then her book in frustration.

The easy flowing purveyor of the Bed and Breakfast walked in with fresh coffee, followed by a red headed teen with a streak of dark violet in her bangs. Leena refilled Myka's cup and frowned. She could read the dark spots in Myka's aura, but Myka seemed to be ok, just highly annoyed, so Leena let it go.

Artie's aura was swirling madly, a product that Leena knew was from him dealing with too much at one time. She brought a mug for Artie and set it down in front of him but set it far enough away so that he wouldn't knock it over. He smiled a split second of thanks. Artie did a double take when he caught Leena calmly looking pointedly at him. He knew that look and what it meant from her. The senior agent dismissed her critique with a small huff and a scowl that only she noticed. Leena moved on with the coffee, but she saw that a few seconds later, Artie took her advice. He gripped the edge of the table, closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. Leena watched his aura slow and become less dizzying. She showed her approval with a sly half smile in his direction.

Leena offered some coffee to Claudia who characteristically rejected it with distaste.

"Oil Sludge? No thanks!" the teen settled in next to Myka placing her bag and Farnsworth on the table.

Pete swooped in the room behind Claudia and reached out to grab her Farnsworth. Claudia noticed just in time and saved her Farnsworth from his grasp. "Ha ha! No go slow mo!" she taunted.

Pete squinted at her and pointed. "You have to sleep sometime!" He grabbed a pastry on the table and fell in a seat.

"Ok ok! Settle down!" Artie shot looks around the table at his varied crew. "We have a case." He threw case folders at Pete and Myka and opened one to share with Claudia. "Martinique." He said.

Pete said "Who?"

Artie shuffled through papers and said without looking up. "A French territory in the Caribbean."

Pete's eyebrows shot up in excitement. He looked at Myka who returned his smile. He mouthed "Oh baby!" She couldn't help but laugh a little at him.

Artie retrieved the paper he was looking for. He held up a large photo of a sandy haired middle aged man. "Craig Daniels. Captain Craig Daniels"

Myka didn't think windblown hair style in the photo portrayed a military background. She said "Captain?"

"Yes." Artie clarified as they flipped through the case file. "He runs a boat down in Martinique. Does tourist season there every year, divers, snorkelers ect. Shows them the sea life. He specializes in wrecks. In his down time, he's a part time treasure hunter. Day before yesterday he jumped off of a bridge." He paused looking down, then continued "The part that got my attention is…"

"Treasure! Right? What did he find? Davie Jones' locker?" he snickered only half hoping he was wrong.

Artie responded automatically. "No no.. we're still looking for that. But Daniels here-" he pointed to the picture on the table for emphasis. " He's a family man. Married for 12 years, 2 kids and a dog. No record, no prior trouble. He's considered a pillar of the community in both Martinique and Palm Beach. There's newspaper articles on him… um page… 5." Myka flipped a page. "Yes there." He sighed and sat down. "For this guy to suddenly jump off a bridge?" Artie humphed in emphasis. "Something is up." He nodded at his agents.

Myka and Pete perused through the files. Claudia flipped some pages just to look like she was doing something useful. Myka noticed travel history for Captain Daniels. He was usually in Florida by this time of year. She said "He lives in Palm Beach? Or Martinique?"

Artie replied "Half and half." He handed them each a round trip plane ticket. "Here's your tickets to Palm Beach, Florida."

"What!" Pete cried.

Artie was confused. He looked at his agents and said, "The artifact isn't in customs. I already checked. Also, the Martinique authorities haven't confiscated anything from the wreck that could be an artifact. Daniel's off season office is in Palm Beach. He returned there four days ago with his crew. Anything that he might have discovered should be there. "

"Aww…" Pete grudgingly looked at his ticket.

"'Aw' what? I never said that you were going to Martinique." He looked at Claudia "Did I say they were going to Martinique?" Claudia shook her head. Artie sighed and rubbed his brow to refocus.

"So- ok pack light. Find out what made this guy jump off a causeway in the middle of the night. The doctor on duty at the hospital said that he's expecting to release this guy tomorrow. Your plane leaves in two hours." He started shoving papers back into his bag when he noticed that Pete and Myka were still considering the files.

"GO!"

Everyone, including Claudia jumped up from the table. Pete and Myka scrambled upstairs.