A/N: Thank you to I Wear the Crown for your lovely review.
Artie reacted first. "Tell us." He said firmly, then seemed to brace himself.
Magnus took a deep breath. "When Adam originally held me inside the time dilation field, he mentioned at several points that there was going to be a chance for 'wrongs to be redressed'. I did not know what he meant until Will and I found evidence in the office Myka was being held.—one of Adam's minions got sloppy and left a flash drive behind."
She paused and Nikolai jumped in. "Inside were partial schematics for some sort of time destabilizer, that took the research Worth had done on spacial manipulation and applied it to the fourth dimension—time."
Griffin whistled, "You don't think they are going to build it are they? I mean the amount of power alone—"
"I believe it has already been completed. After seeing what they stole from Helena's section here in the Warehouse my suspicions were confirmed." Magnus looked distressed as she continued, "I believe they have built and are going to use a time machine."
Claudia blinked. "But HG already built one. And it works—kinda anyway."
Myka said slowly, "Helena's time machine only worked in a mind-to-mind transfer and was extremely limited." She looked at Helen, "This one is physical isn't it? They are literally planning on going back in time. She's going to try to save her daughter."
Helen nodded. "Adam as well. John's motivations we can only speculate about." Behind her, Tesla almost rolled his eyes.
"Helena and Adam can run theoretical models until we all finally die, but the real question is how are they going to power the damn thing?" Tesla looked annoyed.
"Well, I can only imagine it has to do with what ever it was they took from the Warehouse 2 section," Myka said thoughtfully.
"And when they took it, they smashed up the section so we couldn't know what it was," Pete added.
"We have to stop them," Claudia said firmly. "If they go all Back to the Future it could destroy the world."
Magnus spoke up. "I already have Henry looking for where they could be. Even with an artifact that could power the machine, they will generate an energy spike. Henry will hopefully be able to trace it."
And with that prophetical declaration, her phone rang. "Pardon me," she said, answering it.
Artie turned and to Myka and Pete and said, "We're going with them."
"Of course we are, it's a Warehouse case," Pete said.
"Yes but they," he gestured at Claudia and Steve who were muttering to each other behind him, "are not. "
"Oh Claud's gonna love that," Pete snorted.
"It's for her own good," Myka said, her eyes hard. "I don't want anyone else I love getting hurt."
"Myka-" Pete started but Magnus's voice cut him off.
"Got it," she announced. "And we need to leave right now."
In the end, Claudia and Steve had been ordered to stay at the Warehouse, despite much whining and complaining from the young computer genius. Will remained behind as well, after Magnus had a brief, stern word with him. Myka, Pete and Artie joined Magnus and her companions on her plane, cruising steadily southwest.
"Why the Hoover Dam?" Pete asked, puzzled.
"Power drain." Myka and Tesla answered at the same time. Myka explained further, "The Hoover Dam powers most of the Southwest. The only way to leech all of that power at once would be to build right underneath it."
"But how are they getting away with it?" Pete was still curious. "Aren't there like regulations and things?"
Griffin and Tesla cracked identical grins. "My dear fellow," Griffin said, "Much has changed I am sure since my brief 'oliday, but one thing always sticks: money."
Tesla added, "If you bribe enough people, you can get away with anything."
"Explains why they all stole so much," Artie grumbled. "Just can't do anything quietly, can you people?"
Magnus's voice crackled over the intercom system. "We'll be touching down in Boulder City in twenty minutes."
Myka turned away from the conversation going on in the cabin and felt sick to her stomach. Helena was trying to save her daughter, but at what cost? If she succeeded she would destroy the timeline, changing the world forever. She could write Myka, or any of them, out of existence on accident or even on a whim. How could she do this? Myka supposed the there was some truth to the quote about the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well here was Helena, trying to end the world again. And here was Myka, trying to stop her.
Myka would have laughed at the irony but she was afraid that she would start to cry.
After hastily renting two cars at the airport, Helen drove like a maniac towards the Dam. They drove, and were mercifully not pulled over. She supposed that anyone of the Secret Service agents she was traveling with would simply flash their badge to get them out of trouble, but Helen did not have time to stop.
They pulled into the parking lot located just off the entrance to the visitor's center. The Hoover Dam looked much as it had when she'd been a guest at Eleanor Roosevelt's request in 1935, when the Dam had been officially put into service. The sun shone down on the Dam's white concrete surface, blinding any one who stared at it for too long.
They walked into the visitor's center, Helen striding at the front, with the rest of the Agents and her people following in her wake. The area was deserted. Helen frowned; this was usually a bustling tourist attraction. Leaving her group standing next to one of the huge windows, she walked over to a desk, where a lone security officer sat, sleeping in his chair.
"I beg your pardon," she said, firmly.
The man sat up with a jolt. "Hey lady, what's the big idea?" He sneered.
Helen just did not have time. "We need access underneath the Dam. Now."
"Now see here," he blustered, "the Dam is closed to tours today."
Myka walked up next to her and flipped out her badge, right in front of his face. "We are not a tour. " she said dryly.
The man's eyes widened to comical proportions. "Yes, yes ma'am," he stuttered.
"Why is there no one here?' Helen asked firmly.
"Weird earthquakes, the whole area's destabilized," the man babbled.
Myka and Helen exchanged significant looks. "Find us an engineer who can get us down there." Helen ordered.
The man got up and scuttled off.
Nikolai wandered over to join them. "You know, it's really hot when you order people around," he commented to Helen.
"Give it a rest, Nikolai." Helen looked annoyed.
The security officer scuttled back over, a man in a grey jump suit and hardhat in tow.
"Here you are," the officer said, sweating slightly.
"Hey, I'm Jake." The man was muscled and tanned, with short black hair. "Right this way folks."
They entered through a door, walked down a hallway and got into a large elevator that was clearly typically used for freight. The light above them flickered, on and off in a quick tempo.
"I've got a bad feeling 'bout this." Nigel muttered to Pete, who kept checking his gun.
"See, I don't have any sort of vibe at all," Pete confessed softly. "Must mean we're close, if Magnus is right, right?"
Nigel nodded. The elevator dinged and the doors opened on a hallway that was lined with pipes, all of which were gurgling. Their guide led them onward, never stopping to ask where it was they wanted to go. In hindsight, Helen supposed, that should have been their first clue.
The ambush happened as the hallway widened into a large, concrete room. John suddenly blinked into being right in front of them, wielding two swords and an evil expression on his face. He teleported again, grabbing Helen and holding a sword across her throat. "Drop your weapons," He said gently.
Myka, Pete and Arthur had all drawn their Teslas and Nikolai had vamped up. Helen was struggling, but there was no way for her to break free without slitting her own throat. They put their guns on the floor and Nikolai stood down, sighing as six or seven goons appeared out of a door to the side.
John let her go, holding out his hand and saying "The gun please." Helen scowled at him and handed over her .9 mm. "The other now."
"What other?"
"Please Helen, I've met you." Her scowl deepened as she went down on one knee and pulled a .22 out of the holster on her ankle.
"Thank you," John said and his grin was frightening. "These gentlemen will show you to your accommodations."
Helen and the others were led away, but as they walked Helen realized something. She had not seen Nigel since they had gotten off the elevator. She smiled slightly to herself. Perhaps all was not lost.
Being trapped in a cell underneath the Hoover Dam while her ex… whatever tried to end the world (again) was not on Myka's list of things to do today. Yet here she had sat for the last hour, locked in a cage of steel and concrete with, of all people, cranky Artie, impatient Pete, unflappable Magnus and an irate vampire.
"Still can't believe we walked into that," Tesla grumbled as he paced. "And they vampire proofed the god damn door." He banged it again, just for emphasis. The first thing he had tried was to rip the door off its hinges, to no success.
"Patience," Magnus cautioned. "Nigel will come get us when he can."
There was a brief lull in Tesla's complaints, then the door was unlocked. "Finally," Tesla muttered, thinking rescue had come at last.
However, on the other side of the door were three or four of the goons. Tesla made a break for one, but the man turned and flipped him on his head with unnatural speed, knocking him unconscious in a move that would have killed a lesser man.
"Abnormals." Helen breathed, crouching over Nikolai and checking his head. Pete and Artie glanced at each other nervously.
"Myka Bering?" One of the goons asked, not even phased by the man bleeding on the floor.
"Yes?" Myka answered, not in the mood to play games.
"Come with us. There's someone who wants to see you."
Myka stood and walked out, glancing over her shoulder nervously at Artie and Pete as the door slammed shut behind her.
A/N: Y'all are going to love the next chapter ;) Reviews are love.