Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to warehouse 13, except for the feels its characters have induced.

AN:

Chapter Four: What a Curious Thing

Helena looked back to her companion, mind reeling from the static charge that seemed to emanate from their palms touching, but found Myka staring intently at their still grasped hands, eyes puzzled. Helena broke the contact, much as she hated doing so, feeling embarrassed with herself that she had held on for so long.

How was it that this one girl had so much power over her? She wasn't even saying anything and yet she was clouding Helena's thoughts so completely. She had to get a hold on herself, she couldn't allow this, whatever it was, to happen.

HG cleared her throat as her hands found her pockets, "Where were we? Oh yes, Friday's party. I assume you made it home in one piece then? No trouble with the police officers?"

It took Myka a moment to understand the question, too preoccupied with listening to the way words sounded as they fell from Helena's lips. It was confusing for her, she couldn't understand the warm feeling in her chest she felt every time Helena's deep brown eyes met hers, "What? No, no, Steve brought me home."

"Ah, the boyfriend," Helena nodded, biting the inside of her cheek, trying to hide her disappointment, "That's good, I suppose, saved you from finding any more trouble." This is one of the many reasons she couldn't entertain the feelings she felt blooming beneath her breastbone.

"I'm sorry, my what?" Myka shook her head, sure she had misheard the other woman this time, God damn it, why could she only focus on the voice and not the words? This was ridiculous.

"Your boyfriend?" HG tilted her head towards the taller woman, "The tall, dark haired fellow with the boyish grin whom I always see you walking around the campus with."

"Pete?" Myka blanched, pulling back slightly.

"Sure, Pete." Helena allowed, trying to hide her grimace at his name.

"Ew no," Myka waved her hands in front of her with a snort, "Pete's not my boyfriend. He's just been my best friend since grade three when I punched Ralph Burnsky in the nose when he stole Pete's lunch box. Since then, he's been the big brother my parents wish I had."

"So, this Steven then, he is your significant other." HG seemed to remember seeing the blond, serious looking boy walking to and from classes with Pete and Myka. She should have been embarrassed for 'noticing' Myka around school so much, she supposed.

Myka chuckled as she tapped the top of her shoe on the floor, "I don't think I'm Steve's type."

HG's eyebrow quirked as the hint of a smile began playing on her lips, "Beautiful, intelligent women are not his type?" she hazarded a guess.

Myka felt her blush return at the implied compliment, especially coming from someone who was as gorgeous as Helena, "I'm pretty sure it's safe to say women in general are not his type."

"Ah," Helena nodded, finally understanding what she had meant, but it made no sense to her none the less, "And how did you find yourself living with two boys, neither of which with whom you have a prior commitment?" She asked, finding her hope rising for some reason.

There was something about this Myka Bering that had captured her interest and wouldn't let go. She was beautiful, but obviously unaware of it. She smiled, but there was a shadow of insecurity and sadness reflected in her eyes that Helena felt she was all too familiar with. And the books she had witnessed her reading were not books people generally tended to pick up these days, Oscar Wilde, Merry Shelly, Victor Hugo… she apparently had an era she was fond of.

Myka shrugged, "It was easier to live off campus in an apartment with friends. I knew I could trust Pete, and well, we sort of adopted Steve along the way." She chuckled, "But no, I have no 'prior commitment' to either of them." She didn't know why she felt compelled to point that out now, to put an emphasis on it in such a clear and obvious way.

"Well that's their loss then." HG smiled, her eyes twinkling and making it nearly impossible for the other woman to think clearly.

Myka opened her mouth, unaware of how to respond, but she saved by the lights flickering once more. "You think they'd be able to keep the lights on in this place for how much I'm paying to go here." She was finally able to laugh softly as she ran a hand through her untamed curls.

"Actually," Helena sighed, "That may be my roommates doing. I've left her alone far too long with the computer, who knows what sort of trouble she has found herself. She tends to get bored rather easily."

"The redhead who was sitting next to you?" Myka ventured, "She looks like she belongs in high school still." She pointed out.

"She's nineteen, but she graduated early. Some sort of genius," Helena rolled her eyes, "And now I've been stuck with her as a roommate for the last year and a half. Did you know, she completely tore apart our room's wiring, just to see if she could put it back together in half the time it took her?"

Helena's words sounded harsh, but the grin on her face told Myka she was actually fond of the girl, and was probably even involved in the dismantling of her dorm's electrical wiring.

When the lights dimmed briefly once more, they looked to one another before silently agreeing to go see if it was in fact her friend growing bored, or perhaps rewiring something to power that heavily modified laptop of hers.

When they reached Helena's study table, they found Claudia cursing darkly at her computer screen before hitting the side of it sharply, "Come on, I will not lose eight hours of work, what is wrong with you? You're fully charged, please tell me you're not sick…" she wined the last part, desperately hitting control-s over and over. She sighed and sat back before noticing her audience.

The techie could have sworn that HG was just sitting beside her, but now she found the Brit staring down at her with a questioning gaze at the opposite end of the table, a curly haired brunette she didn't recognize beside her with an identical look. Claudia guessed they didn't realize they also took up the same stance, hip cocked, arms crossed. It would have been comical, if it were not so confusing.

"What?" She demanded, feeling self-conscious under their duel looks of scrutiny.

"Claudia, are you playing with the lights again?" HG asked as if she were speaking to a child, pointing up at the flickering bulbs above them.

"No," she shook her head before hitting the side of her computer screen again, "It's not me." Myka heard the unspoken this time at the end of her statement, "Whatever it is, it's screwing with my computer." She added angrily.

"Myka?" Pete's shouted whisper carried over easily to them and Myka turned her head in response.

Claudia's head shot up and she looked to her friend with wide eyes, 'That's Myka?' she mouthed as she pointed her finger at the about faced woman.

HG nodded slightly, but made a slicing motion across her neck, trying to tell her not to say anything. Helena had told Claudia why she looked so worried the day before. HG had only explained that she saved a girl from being victimized. But the tone of her voice and the look in her eye had told Claudia so much more.

In the near two years that they had known one another, they never spoke much about their pasts, each wanting to leave old transgressions and dark days exactly where they were. But that didn't stop Claudia from asking her roommate for advice on getting guys, to which Helena responded, "Many of my ex's were men." Claudia had laughed at the time, but figured hey, to each her own.

Myka was the first girl she had actually seen HG get all flustered over, the first person actually. She teased boys, used them as a distraction, but never bothered to actually remember their names. She'd mention the girl she semi-crushed on from afar from time to time, then after Friday, HG must've talked about her for an hour straight. Nothing about obvious affection, but Claudia could definitely see the difference.

"Over here, Pete." She called softly, shooting a worried glance around as if waiting for someone to shush them. Claudia wanted to point out that they were the only ones in the library that she could see, but held her tongue.

Pete and Steve poked there head around a corner, relief crossing each of their features before they crossed the rest of the distance separating them from Myka.

"Making new friends?" Pete smiled at HG as Steve quietly sat at the table. Myka noted that he was being quieter than usual and made a note to ask him about it when they got back home.

"Yes, Pete, this is Helena and her roommate, Claudia," she waved to each woman in turn, though her eyes lingered a bit longer on HG, "Helena, Claudia, these are my roommates Pete Lattimer and Steve Jinks."

"Nice to meet you. Hey, you guys are girls right?" Pete asked as soon as he sat down, making himself comfortable despite any situation as per usual. Myka rolled her eyes at her best friend, but Helena was the only one to notice the gesture.

"Last I checked yeah," Claudia snorted at him as her fingers danced over her keyboard once more.

"Great," Pete clapped his hands together before leaning forward on the table, "So I have a follow up question, how long after a date do you think a guy should wait before calling you?" He asked, his face and tone dead serious.

"Did you spend the night together?" HG asked without missing a beat as she returned to her seat, and Myka smiled.

"Yeah?" Pete looked up at her, a lost look in his eyes.

"Well, was it a one night stand or…?" she waved her hand vaguely.

"How would you know if it was a one night stand?" Steve interrupted whatever Pete was about to say, "Like is there a way to tell if it's gonna lead to something more?"

"How come you guys never ask me these questions?" Myka grumbled as she plopped down between Helena and Pete.

"Do you have an answer for either of us?" Pete turned to his best friend, who gave an unintelligible grumble and half shrug that caused the woman watching her to fight a smile, "That's what I thought."

Helena opened her mouth to talk some sense in Myka's two clueless friends, hoping to gain favor with her by playing nice with them, but another power surge cut her off. Steve felt the hair on his arms rise as they all shot each other questioning looks, as if each expected the others to have an explanation.

"Claudia, can you figure out what's causing the random shifts in the electricity?" Helena asked her young roommate suddenly.

"Normally, yeah, but whatever it is seems to be putting my laptop on the fritz." The redhead groaned and Steve leaned over to see what she was trying so desperately to do on the computer.

Then the power died. Sparks flew above them, then darkness. Claudia's computer, their cellphones, everything was unresponsive.

"I've got a really bad vibe about this." Pete said as the group of students allowed their eyes to adjust to the darkness, light from the late afternoon sun helping, but they had east facing windows, so not much.

In the sudden deafening silence, there could be heard low cursing from deeper with in the library, accompanied by flashes of light. The two guys at the table were on edge as they had a silent argument over the heads of the girls.

"I'm gonna go check this out." Pete insisted, rising from his chair suddenly.

"Pete, no," Myka stood, but Pete was already moving away, she turned back to her other roommate, "Stay here, somebody's gotta watch his back."

The situation reminded Myla of old times on the school yard. Pete would go off to do some daredevil nonsense and Myka would trail after him to be sure there was something left to bring home to his mother. She hoped that Pete would grow up one day and she would have to stop worrying about him all the time.

Claudia and Helena shot each other twin looks of disbelief before the younger of the two turned to Steve, "Does this feel like the beginning of a b-rated slasher flick to anyone else?"

"I hardly know what that means." HG rolled her eyes as she stood.

"It means that maybe we shouldn't spit up," Steve explained, "and I have to agree with her."

"Music to my ears." Claudia jumped up as the three of them went after the first two.

They were trying to stay as silent as possible, but Claudia and Steve began to bicker over scary movies and stubbed toes quietly, setting HG's teeth on edge. She turned quickly, placing a hand over each of their mouths, glaring at each of them before reclaiming her hands, placing a single finger over her lips.

Claudia and Steve shared a look of mutual "what the hell is her problem?" before quickly moving to catch up with her.

Helena placed a hand on Myka's shoulder from where she and Pete stopped advancing at the end of the History Texts aisle. She jumped at the unexpected contact, but held back the yelp of surprise that nearly escaped her throat as she glanced back and realized who it was. Helena's face was closer than she expected, and it wasn't helping to calm her racing heart so she quickly turned back around. The breath on her neck was distracting, but she bit back on her innate urge to pull away, waiting for Pete to look around the corner first.

What he saw was a crazed looking student pacing the floor, a mess of medical texts strewn about him. His quiet mumbling interrupted every so often with a heated shout. Something about failing and being unacceptable.

"I think we got a fifty one fifty," he whispered over his shoulder to Myka.

"What's that mean?" he heard an unexpected voice respond.

He turned and found that everyone had followed him, "Dude, what the hell?" he asked.

"What's fifty one fifty?" Claudia repeated herself.

"It means they've got a screw lose." Steve pointed to his head.

"Does he have a weapon?" Helena cut off whatever the redhead's reply was.

"Something in his hands in throwing out electricity." Pete whispered as he turned back to look at the student who was so far gone, he didn't notice his hushed audience.

"Like a taser?" Myka tried, "Or a cattle prod?"

Pete shrugged, "I can't tell, all I see is the flashes." He squinted against another round of the bluish whitish lights.

"We've got to stop him before he hurts someone." Myka leaned forward, but not knowing how to help.

"Um, excuse me, do you know how to take down an armed assailant?" Pete asked, looking at her as if she was crazy. "Was that something they taught in girl scouts?"

"Well you were a football player!" she quietly asserted, "Go tackle him or something."

"The guys I tackled never tried to electrocute me Mykes, what do you want me to do?" Pete's voice rose, this time too much. The crazed student noticed them.

"HEY!" he barked, startling Claudia who fell forward, causing a domino effect until the five of them were sprawled on the floor.

The man stalked over to them, flashes in his hand picking up tempo, what appeared to be small bolts of lightning escaped from between his fingers, "What are you doing here?" he shouted, "Can't you see I'm busy!? Do you want me to fail!?"

His pale blonde hair stuck up at all ends, his watery blue eyes were blood shot and had deep purple circles around them. Something told Myka that he had lost more than a few nights sleep.

"What no!" Pete tried as the group struggled to their feet, "We were just-,"

"Spying on me?" the man narrowed his eyes, "Get over here, all of you! NOW!" he rose his voice once more when they weren't moving fast enough.

He pushed each of them to their knees in his small cleared out corner of the library and resumed his pacing and ranting in front of them, "Trying to take it for yourselves? Well," he chuckled darkly, "You can't have it! It's mine! I found it! I need it! You. Can't. Have. It."

They could see in his eyes that he was far too gone to be reasoned with, but Myka didn't see any other options. They were alone with a mad man who could snap at any time. And they still couldn't see what he had that was shooting off bits of electricity now.

"Look, we weren't trying to take anything from you, we just heard shouting and we were worried someone needed help." She kept her voice low and even, as if she were talking to a wild animal and not a boy no older than she was.

But he reacted like an animal, he lunged forward at the sound of her voice, shouting more about how she wasn't going to get it. In his mind, he worked far too hard to get where he was to have some girl steal away his prized possession now.

He never got a chance to shut her up though. Before Pete could move in front of his best friend, before Steve could jump up and grab the guy, before Claudia could squeal in vicarious fear for the woman she had just met, Helena had knocked him unconscious. The heel of her hand stuck his stomach, her fist cracked two of his left ribs, and she brought her elbow down on the back of his head, and he collapsed. Alive, but not moving.

Everyone stared, baffled at the quick turn of events, Helena stood breathing heavily over Myka's would be attacker. If she was honest, she had surprised herself even. It had been so long since she had to use her Kempo training, and she hadn't even thought about it. Just reacted to the threat on Myka.

"Jesus Christ," Pete breathed out finally, breaking the tension and releasing them all from their statue states of shock.

"I thought you were joking about the whole self-defense training!" Claudia laughed now, panic giving away to giddiness as the threat passed.

"Are you a spy or something?" Steve asked, "A government agent or-or military?"

The only two not speaking were Myka and HG, they were staring at one another, Myka stuck playing the loop in her mind, her eidetic memory capturing every moment. But she couldn't figure out how the other woman had reacted so fast when Myka barely had the presence of mind to realize she should have just kept her mouth shut.

But HG had already formed the plan in the recesses of her mind. She could see what she had to do to stop the man before them, could easily tap into the strength, that balance of anger and level headedness she always needed. All she needed was the trigger, and him shifting his rage filled gaze on Myka was that trigger.

"Yes, well," HG clapped her hands together to hide her nerves, "Right, so he's unconscious then, should be for a little while at least. Now what?"

They rose, standing around the guy, staring at his limp hands as a simple, old fashioned Key fell from his grasp.