Deciding to help Krys was the easy part. Agreeing on how was the hard part.
"Absolutely not" Myka voice was raised and indignant, "we are not using Helena as bait".
"But Mykes, it's a genius idea" Pete whined.
They had been trying to come up with a plan for the best part of two hours and everyone was getting frustrated. Except Krys who kept her mouth closed and her eyes firmly in the opposite direction of HG and Myka, she still didn't understand why they were helping her but she was certain HG wouldn't hesitate to give her another beating if she so much as looked at one of them in the wrong way. She wanted to explain that she had done what she had to do to help her brother. Okay kissing Myka wasn't exactly a hardship but she'd had to use what was available to her. She had been desperately searching for a way to get to H.G. Wells and when the opportunity presented itself the artefact was the ideal way to lure Myka without causing a scene. She couldn't risk anything that would make anyone suspicious, there could be no risk of police involvement with her brother's life at risk. It had seemed like the perfect plan, at least until she realised just how protective Myka's fellow agents were of her. Of them all though Krys was well aware there was a very fine line between HG helping her or killing her. She had known of Helena's attempt to destroy the world but she hadn't realised upsetting Helena on a personal level was a whole new threat. She was well aware of the warning glances HG kept sending her way, her hand unconsciously going to her bruised cheek. The others didn't even seem to notice her though as they continued to argue about the best rescue plan.
"He's kinda right Myka" Claudia pointed out, "we've discussed a thousand possible ideas but his is the only one that actually seems viable".
"Absolutely not" Myka repeated adamantly.
"Myka, it's alright, if it's the best plan we have then it is the one we had better implement" HG told her calmly.
"But what if something goes wrong, you know I can't lose you again", Myka looked panicked, remembering how it felt when she had watched the regents leading Helena away at Yellowstone.
"You can never lose me, I'm always with you" HG replied, tapping Myka over her heart to make her point.
"Alright enough of the mushy stuff" Pete scrunched his face up. He was still wary of HG but since the start of this whole fiasco he had started to realise that the two women genuinely cared for each other, and if Myka was happy then Pete was happier knowing that. But that didn't mean he wanted to be subjected to all the mushy crap as well. The sexy stuff was another matter entirely though.
"PETE!" clearly he had been distracted by his thoughts and had missed something.
"What?"
"Did you even hear any of the plan?" Myka rolled her eyes.
"Errr…nope" he grinned sheepishly.
"Right troops, let's go over this one more time, this time with Mr doofus listening as well" Claudia took command. "The plan is that we cuff HG and let Krys take her to the arranged meet with the bad guys gang. It's safe to suspect they won't be happy if all of us tag along, even in disguise it smacks of an attack so I'll be the one going along. One won't look suspicious when helping with a hostage and lets face it I'm the only one that could pass for a bad ass and still look non-threatening. You two will cover the exit, luckily they decided 'one way in, one way out' would make it harder for Krys to try and trick them, however I've done some research and it turns out they're pretty smart, there is a secret way out they've kept for themselves. Unfortunately this means Pete and Myka, you guys will have to take an exit each and hope there aren't too many of them. Once we've traded HG for Krys's brother and they think they've won, then we attack. Based on the size of the building there's likely to be anywhere from ten to fifteen guys in there. Pete and Myka will have tesla's which can take out a couple of them at a time but will take time to recharge between shots, HG can unlock the cuffs and go kempo on their asses, unfortunately me and Krys will be unarmed as they are bound to search us when we arrive. We can also assume her brother will be unarmed. That leaves three against a maximum of fifteen. Fifteen with guns. This plan has some flaws guys", Claudia summed up.
"We have a few artefacts stored here" Krys finally spoke up, "I have no idea what half of them do, sometimes people just pay us to retrieve them, no questions asked. Maybe you all would be able to figure out a way of putting them to good use".
"Hmmm that's not a bad idea providing the artefacts you have are useful, I am sure if Myka and I can figure out what they do then Claudia and I may be able to tinker with one or two things to aid in our plan" HG mused.
"What about me?" Pete asked sulkily.
""You stay away and don't touch" Myka told him knowing Pete's penance for touching artefacts and getting them in all kinds of trouble.
"Fine, I'll keep a safe distance, lead the way" Pete couldn't argue.
Krys led them to a room with multiple locks and started the process of opening the door, "We may be criminals but we aren't careless with the artefacts", she explained as she finally pushed the door open.
Claudia's "Whoa" summed it up. They were all surprised by the collection. There must have been at least fifty artefacts in the room.
"Guess we better get started" said Myka leading the way into the room, and so began the search for the artefact that would complete their plan.