Your Biggest Mistake

*Claudia's POV*

The smoky haze created a deep smog made it hard to see. It was more the vile sent which made my eyes water then the smoke's physical thickness clouding my view as I stagger across the abandoned garage searching for the very thing that caused my misery.

Pushing my strengths and endurance to the limit, testing my wits and speed... missions like these were an average day's work to agents like me.

Agent, as in government agent. Me and my colleges work for a special division that deal with strange artifacts that grant horrific powers; some holders can't control or understand or realize what's going on at all, and some artifacts work their own terrifying witchcraft. This one had a master, however. One who we've been tracking for some time now, but never had luck catching. It's very unusual for warehouse agents like us to go after a specific person, but no one else in this world has a better understanding- wait... no team is better fit for cases like these then ours. The fact that we're experts on the types of weapons that this guy's using is just an added bonus.

Speaking of my team... where are they? There's no way they would just leave me here on my own. God, I hope nothing's happened to them. I gotta think... we all came in together and split up in different directions. It doesn't help that I can't tell which room I just came out of, or the fact that I'm starting to get a little dizzy.

"God damn fire wood." I mutter as I slowly drop to the floor.

I can't give up now. I'll crawl to the fireplace if I have to. I'm the only one who has any naturalizing goo left; my team is counting on me! But as I feel the limbs in my body go numb, and the black haze overtakes the room completely, turning everything around me pitch-black...

Chapter 1: Capturing the Enemy

"Claudia!" Myka's concerned voice echoes once I snap awake.

Immediately I shoot up from my position and scan my surroundings.

I sigh in relief... I was back in the warehouse.

"Did you-"

Before I'm able to finish my sentence, Myka holds up the bag with a long, log-shaped solid inside and smiles. "You know it."

"What about...?" I concern. It was great we got the artifact, but it doesn't count for much if we didn't catch the guy.

"Pete and Stevie were still on his trail last time I heard from them." Myka fills in.

The doors open, and Lena hurries in. "Not anymore. Artie called, they lost him somewhere in the northern region of Denmark."

Immediately I push myself off the counter and tumble towards the computer. "Maybe he's still in the area! If I could just find any sort of- of credit use or maybe he put in his information for airline tickets! I could track his recent transaction and-"

"Claude! Okay, Claudia? Calm down." Myka sighs. "I'm sure the guys are doing all they can to find him."

I didn't listen. This guy has gotten away with enough, and if we don't catch him now, when we're already so close...

I viciously pound on the computer, opening up tracker programs and running through the most recent reports, scanning over each name, every tiny detail, to find even the smallest trace of Wayne. The numbers and colors flashing by so quickly soon became too much for me, and I start to feel dizzy.

"It's too late." Lena informs quietly, placing her hand on my shoulder as I drop my head into my arms.

There has to be something we can do...

"Steve says they last saw him hop on a tram mid-downtown. They made it to the next station before the tram arrived..."

I perk up, and me and Myka stare at her with hope.

"...but when it reached the destination, he was nowhere to be seen." Lena finishes.

"Well, what? He just disappeared?" Myka questions, and then starts scrolling up and down the computer screen. "What did the passengers have to say?"

"That the person they'd described had never boarded that tram." She answers. "Claudia, you might be awake but you still need to rest."

"No!" I protest, and the two jump. "We're so close! He can't be that far from them, I'm sure if I just monitor the incoming data-"

"Claudia!" Myka snaps.

I pause and look at her. Why wasn't she agreeing with me? Wayne causes more and more trouble by the day, his tactics becoming more deadly each time. We're the only ones who can stop him... doesn't she know we need to do everything in our power to protect the world from this monster?

Her eyelids drift close, and she draws a sigh. "I know... it's hard to accept, but look at it this way. We have the artifact, and that's one less deadly weapon that's no longer in his possession."

"What?" I glare. "Are you suggesting we should just grab the artifact and give up?"

"No, I just-"

"Do you wanna just wait for the world to implode on itself? Is that it?" I screech in rage. How dare she, or anyone treat this so lightly!

"Will you just relax for a second!" Myka commands. "I know how bad this guy is, okay? Trust me! But we're not going to get anything done if everyone's stressing out over it!"

"She's right." Lena comments.

I sat quietly now. Maybe I have been on-edge the past couple days. ...I need sleep.

With that I exit the room, the two watching me mope all the way to the door before I reach the corridor and drag myself to my car. If there's nothing I can do, then the next best thing is to rest for when I am needed.

I run into Pete and Steve on my way out, who were both arguing over something stupid, I'm sure.

"I told you, one of us should have got on board with him!" Steve glares.

"Well who put you in charge? I told you, it makes more sense that-"

"That we go unnoticed by the public to avoid panic- yeah, and how did that plan go?" Steve returns, clearly hearing this before.

I don't think either of them noticed me pass them, and they continued to fight as they enter the warehouse.

I figure if I can get back to the bed-and-breakfast before the others I can get at least a couple minutes of quiet time. Living with these freaks, then having to go work with them all day... we get tired of each other pretty quick. As I pull in, I notice Fredrick's dark vehicle parked in the driveway. I wasn't too worried about it; Fredrick never really bothered anyone about trivial things.

"Good evening, Miss Donovan." Helena greets the moment I walk in.

Greeeeeat. "I thought you weren't supposed to be back for another week." I groan.

"...nice to see you too." She comments aside.

It's nothing against her. She's efficient with her work, and has saved the team more than a couple times from danger. That being said, she's also been the cause of it a few times. I guess I'm just not in the mood to talk right now, and was looking forward to having time to myself.

She follows me all the way into the kitchen, where I begin to make myself a quick meal.

"You seem in a cheery mood today love." She notes sarcastically.

"Yeah. Never better." I shrug.

"Ah, Wayne giving you grief?" She guesses.

I stare at her with a 'mind your own business' look. She ignores me and continues to smile while pouring a cup of tea, which was steaming from the stove-top next to me.

It was awkward standing and waiting for my easy-mac to finish heating. Helena kept making little comments, to which I would respond with one-word answers or a nod. Eventually she'd picked up that I really didn't want to talk right now, and left the room.

"Finally..." I sigh to myself.

"That bad?"

I spin around to the voice behind me, half scared to death. Then I noticed it was, of course, Mrs. Fredrick.

She stood upright and still, looking at me and awaiting a response.

"God..." I breathe, still a little shaky. "Where the hell did you...?" I look around, searching for a secret door or portal or anything she may have came out of.

"I assume agent Latimere and Jinx lost our criminal?" She infers.

"Umm..." I stutter.

She raises her hand, ordering me to stop talking. "No need. I have another assignment for you, in the mean time."

Another assignment?

"Yes." She nods, as if she could read my mind. "While the capture of Wayne is important, it's also important that we keep minor areas under control by not letting artifacts run amuck as they please."

"No offence, but my team needs me." I reason before she goes into any further detail. "I mean, if I'm gone, who else is going to track Wayne's information?"

"The program which you created to do such a thing, if ever the need arise, Donovan." She replies. "You're immediate skills are better use to the many citizens we are unfamiliar with. People in society like Wayne who think its okay to use artifacts for their own personal gain."

Damn me and my amazing computer skills...

"You and agent Wells will be investigating a theatre prop in southern Michigan." Fredrick orders, handing me the file she'd been holding on to. "The details are listed inside. Leave as soon as you're ready."

Aw, man...

"Oh, come now, Claudia. This'll give the two of us a little bonding time, eh?" Helena smirks from the doorway, sipping her tea, also holding a folder.

Sure enough, when I turned around to see the annoying brit, Mrs. Fredrick disappeared. How the heck does she do that?

It doesn't matter, really. Right now I have a mission with H.G. Wells, and I'm not looking forward to it.

The drive to Michigan was pretty far. We stopped when it started getting dark and got a room at a local econo-lodge in Illinois. Maybe I'd finally get some rest...

No such luck.

"So the kid has become an instant success overnight?" Helena confirms for the millionth time.

"UHHHHG!" I moan in agony.

I can tell she wanted to try to get to the root of this issue here and now, but I needed to sleep. We tried talking through some of the possibilities. We did have a couple of points written down, but we won't know if they're of use until we actually get there.

"What? I was just gonna say for a boy from Michigan to attract so much attention regarding live theatre, it seems pretty off that-"

"H.G., please. I know, something, is off. But right now is not the time!" I interrupt.

With one last check of the musty room, I decide I don't care if there's rats crawling through the walls and turn out the lights.

"We have an entire car-trip tomorrow to talk about it. Just... go to bed." I suggest, then roll over and shut my eyes.

I could hear her begin to say something, but a minute later I was out. We'll... we'll talk about it in the morning...