I gasped to see her so different, and so similar. Her counterpart struggled to keep up with her, even in a dress Helena could move fast. "H.G please! It's not decent to be running around, we'll make it soon enough." He whined breathlessly.
Helena's head shifted like she was rolling her eyes, "Woolly dear boy, do catch up, curiosities don't catch themselves." Her voice, sweet, smooth and in this case frustrated carried me out onto the street after them. I waited until they were at a distance before following. They turned a corner, and I had to speed up a bit to be sure to see where they had gone, I do not want to lose her again.
"Hello darling, looking for something?" Helena asked, waiting just around the curve so I ran right into her. She grabbed me and hauled me into another alley, The man called Woolly protesting the propriety of grabbing random women.
"Oh!" I gasped, stunned by her sudden appearance, then I noticed the Tesla in my ribs, "We need to stop meeting at gunpoint" I fought back a laugh, oh how I missed her face.
"Excuse me?" Her eyebrow raised artfully, "I don't remember meeting you before. I do believe I try to remember such experiences." I blushed a little, "Not that way Helena. One of your.. curiosities? Either way it's good to see you again." I grinned.
"Again?" Helena's pause was tangible, I could almost hear the cogs ticking in her exquisite mind. "You used an artifact." Helena was suddenly all business, though she still didn't tuck the gun away.
"I'm an agent at the Warehouse just like you." I sighed, the explanations are going to take forever.
Helena examined me, "You don't look like an agent so much as a strangely dressed woman, who I'm sorry to say smells just a tad too much like garbage."
"Blame that on the damn teapot. I didn't wish to come here." I rolled my eyes.. okay I had sorta asked to come here in a very roundabout way.
"Teapot? Caturanga would love that, now wouldn't he Woolly?"
"Please Helena, we do have somewhere to be." He rubbed his eyes, looking resigned to her indulgence in curiosity.
"Oh come now Woolly, don't you see? This woman is either telling the truth, and from the future, or she's a spy of Mr. Caine's. Either way she is valuable to us." I shivered at the way she said it, somehow, her voice made anything sound like flirtation.
"I am still here you know." I pointed out, "And I can prove I work in the Warehouse."
The eyebrow was raised once more, "Well I would still like to take you somewhere more private before you answer any questions. It's all much easier that way." Helena took me by the arm, and led me down the street.
Woolly once more took up the rear, "Caturanga will not be pleased you let Caine go." He warned.
"Caturanga will be overjoyed I brought home a new friend, perhaps one with the answers we need." They continued to bicker, Helena coming out on top with an even more convincing reason every time Woolly pointed out a flaw.
He seemed very much like me when I'm being stubborn, everything had to be done by the book. It saddened me to think that I wouldn't get to know him when I got back to Warehouse 13.
"So tell me darling" Helena whispered in my ear, bored with Woolly's arguments, she had decided to ignore him in favor of me. "If you are telling the truth, and we have met before at gunpoint, who was holding the gun?"
I couldn't help but chuckle ruefully, "You were, as always. Except the one time I caught you making out with my partner." Pete's reaction to kissing an 'old lady' will always tickle me.
"And what did I have against such a lovely woman?" Her lips brushed my ears with each word, my blushing reaction was enough to mask my feelings about her words.
I knew exactly why she had held a gun to me. She was insane with anger, planning her destruction of the world. She seemed happy to ignore the last bit. "Um.." Was all I could come up with. Thankfully Woolly grabbed Helena's arm, "Are you just going to keep walking? I thought we were going to the Warehouse."
"Ahh, thank you Woolly." She grinned, and led me into a maze that I assumed was this Warehouse's idea of an umbilicus.
It turns out my prediction didn't pan out. There was no spanish inquisition. Of coure if Pete and Claud were here they'd both be blurting, 'NO one expects the spanish inquisition.' I stifled a giggle in the middle of the only question Caturanga asked. "Well if that is the case my dear, how are you going to get back? Something funny?"
I shook my head, "I'm sorry, I let my mind wander."
"Ah yes, I'm sure you have more interesting things to think about than an explanation of the past. Tell me, what is the future like? Have they finally mastered that perfect cup of tea? I'm quite proud of my own but-"
Woolly was spluttering, "What? How could you-? We're-! What are you thinking? You only just met the damn woman, and you just assume that she's telling the truth about being from the future?"
"Language Woolly" H.G. chides from her seat on the bureau, "How could you possibly think she's from our present time?"
She flipped through my wallet with my badge inside, and I rolled my eyes, "You could have asked if you wanted my wallet. There's no reason to pick my pockets Helena."
Helena laughed, her head falling back to show off her smooth throat, "My dear, I really will have to find out how we know each other, because you are precious. I stole it because it's fun." She pulled out my credit cards, "What are these? They seem to be some kind of refined plastic."
"Credit cards.. Um, kinda like currency. It's not worth much here."
"Indeed, I doubt anyone would use it as currency, though the plastic itself might be of interest to some."
I laughed, "I would be more interested in your time machine if it worked."
Her face goes flat, "How do you know about that?"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know it was a secret." I blushed once more, feeling like an idiot, "I know about it because you used it on my partner and I."
"I finished it?"
"Are you still working on that God-forsaken machine? Just let it go Helena." Woolly exclaimed.
Helena was just about to start on him, the anger rising in her cheeks when Caturanga's calm voice stopped them both. "Mr. Woolly, I do believe it has been a long night, you are free to go home. I am sure we will find Mr. Caine again."
It was strange watching them interact, I had never seen Helena with a partner like Woolly, and I found myself watching her again. "Do I have something on me?" she asks, much calmer after the door closed behind Woolly.
"Oh! no." I blushed, "I've just never seen you acting so.." I searched for a word.
"So what? What do I look like to an outsider?" she teases me.
"Silly, I guess. You are just so much more, reserved, calm, everything about the Helena I know is well thought out."
I couldn't help but grin, "It's fun to see you acting so passionate."
"Reserved? What happened to bring that about?" Her devious grin send shoots of excitement through me. It so often came with a plan just as mischievous as the owner of said smile.
"Well the bron-" I stopped, gaping at my own idiocy, had I really almost told this cheerful woman that she was going to spend over a hundred years in the Bronze sector?!
"Is something wrong?" Helena watched me, she knew I had been about to let something bad out.
"Never mind. So um, who's this Mr. Caine? He sounds familiar, he has the artifact you're looking for?"
Caturanga sipped his tea, watching the exchange with interest, "Hall Caine, is a powerful man, who managed to find Count Dracula's cloak pin."
"Count Dracula?" I shook my head, "Artie was right again. So what does the pin do? Are the powers anything like those in the book?" Pete would be so excited to be fighting vampires, he'd be makings us all watch Van Helsing or something to catch up.
"There's a book?" Helena's head is tilted at an angle, watching me.
"What year is it?"
"1891 of course, why?"
"Oh, damn." I blushed, "There will be a book, next year... God, Artie is going to kill me."
"Artie? Who is that?" Caturanga asked me.
"He's my boss.. He has your job."
"..How far into the past did you manage to come Ms. Bering?"
I glanced at Helena, "That's probably not a good idea to tell you." Caturanga watched me closely, and Helena was suspicious, but the man went on with his explanation.
"Very well. The pin gives the wearer the power of a vampire, hypnotism, strength, superb night vision, and a terrible downside. The wearer also craves blood, and murder. Ms. Wells and Mr. Wollcott were attempting to retrieve it when you showed up."
A blush spread across my cheeks, and I doubted that this one would go away, "I'm so sorry I messed this up, can I help in any way?"
"Yes, yes there is. You can attend a party."
A/N: Thanks so much to Quimbycub for the notice about the formatting. I use the copy and paste feature so I had no flipping clue that this was all that messed up. So sorry for the mess. I'll be more careful in the future.
