Will sighed as he thumbed through the candidates CV's. An ex-Marine from Iowa, a martial arts instructor from Sydney, a vet from Arizona and a doctor from New York. It had taken several weeks to narrow it down to these four. The interviews had been a pain, but it was finally over. He'd made his choices, hopefully they were good ones and would make a workable new team. The thought of orienting and directing a team he had chosen himself made him feel sick with anxiety. Magnus had always had such an eye for talent and was a great judge of character. He would have never guessed that Kate could have been such an effective member of their old team. Now she was gone; she'd been transferred before he had even come home. It was just another disruption; another change he'd never been consulted on. It was insulting. Fucking Tesla.
It was galling how he was getting off Scott free after leaving the Sanctuary understaffed and in a financial hole. What was even worse was how he had gotten away with reshaping Helen into the sort of woman he could easily dominate. It was absolutely diabolical. What kind of man would take advantage of their loved one when she was so vulnerable? The thought of her trapped in the life her husband was constructing around her, walled into the role of the helpmate of a patriarchal marriage, made him feel sick. And now this whole remodeling scheme, no doubt part of Tesla's plan to isolate her, all the better to control her. Yet he found himself helpless to do anything about it.
Magnus had arranged for her funds to be completely within her own control even in the case of her current level of incapacitation. She truly hadn't trusted anyone else to manage them for her. The only concessions she had made was that he could fight to have her declared legally insane or mentally compromised due to truly extreme circumstances such as violent coercion or mind control. All he had to do was manage to bring all the other Sanctuary heads together to form a panel to assess her mental fitness, but that was obviously more than he could justify in this case. The safety of the entire Sanctuary network wasn't at stake, only the freedom and happiness of its founder.
Will pushed the paperwork away from himself, leaned back in his wheelchair and rubbed his tired eyes. After a few breaths he pulled out his phone and flipped through his emails and messages. Nothing new in the last few hours. An unusual but welcome occurrence. He glanced around the office then opened his photos then scrolled through a few pictures until he found a picture of Magnus from about a few years ago. She hadn't known he was taking her picture that Christmas, but her smile was so irresistible, it made her look so-The phone on his desk rang and he quickly closed the photo app. Back to work.
...
Henry's eyes went back and forth between his boss and his boss's boss as they argued over funding.
"Look, we finished the translation program, our system is more secure than the Pentagon, we have a suit that projects a fucking force field that no one has any use for according to you, and you still refuse to give me my damn platinum?!"
"Do you think that some more money materialized during the last six months? We're in the red! Why can't you understand the most basic of financial concepts? Is this how you're spending Magnus' money-"
"Fuck you! How dare you talk to me about me and my wife's personal finances!"
Will scoffed, "Well, someone does! Her money is still Sanctuary money officially. Do you know that? There's no actual separation-"
"Well, there should be! We deserve our privacy, and it's unreasonable for you to be in charge of or even informed of any of our personal finances."
Henry cleared his throat, "Uh, what do you need us to do now? The new team needs-"
Will talked over him, "You know, the way you talk about 'your wife,' it might as well be 'my child,' 'my servant,' or maybe even 'my slave.'"
Tesla laughed scornfully, "Yes, I'm sure that's what you'd like to think, you fucking enlightened feminist you. Whatever. Helen and I are doing just fine and stay out of it."
Henry raised his voice some more, "Um, let's get back to what the new team needs for their first mission. It's in Nepal, right?" Henry was taken aback when both sets of eyes trained on him. "What?" Tesla barked, "They're going to Nepal?" Will said simultaneously, "They'll need a pacifying device for these snow snakes our contact there is dealing with. We will receive a mature female this afternoon that you can work with."
Henry nodded and swiftly got to his feet, "Great, well, let's go and get ready." He waved his hand at an irritated looking Tesla who bemusedly followed him out of the room. Unable to resist a parting shot he threw over his shoulder, "We'll sort out this business with Helen's finances later, junior."
...
"Are you sure you'll be safe going to Nepal? It's awfully snowy there right now..." Helen groused as she carefully lifted the cod out of the pot, then arranged it next to some boiled potatoes. She ladled some of the broth through a strainer into some soup bowls. Nikola sat quietly at the metal and glass kitchen table, waiting for her to serve him. "I've been there before so I'm not concerned. Actually, it'll be kinda nice to get out for a while, breathe the fresh air and such." He nodded his thanks as she poured his allotted one glass of wine. "Can I come too?" Nikola was brought up short. "Uh, well, I don't see why not. It's not a dangerous mission really."
...
"I really don't think it's a good idea. You said the equipment you made should be reliable and easy enough for them to use without you. And besides, it's their first time going out and I want to see how they do on their own." Will shook his head, smiling tightly in seeming regret. "Why do you want to go anyway? There's nothing in it for you...is there?" Tesla grunted, "No, just the chance to go above ground. Nothing in it for me at all." After a measuring look, he said cautiously, "I have been to Nepal before, lived there for some time. I could be of use to the team, just in case, and they'll be safer that way. I think Helen would be safe going too. It's time for her to venture out a little bit. She's healthy enough for it now."
Will hummed thoughtfully, trying to come up with a convincing reason to deny Tesla's request but couldn't think of anything. "Well, at least it will get you out of my hair for a while. But you have to agree to do everything Jim says! He's team leader for this mission." Tesla chuckled ominously and rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes. I'll see what I can do."
Will watched at the older man swanned out of the room. "Asshole."
...
The Nepalese village wasn't much different from what he remembered from the last time he had lived in the country. There were two televisions in this village instead of the obligatory one and slightly more motorbikes than ox carts. Still, he was pleased to see the evidence of his life's work in the wires overhead, even in this remote corner of the globe.
Jim had set up a base in the local inn. It was squat cinderblock building mostly patronized by Chinese businessmen. Nikola wasn't enjoying their stay. The set meals included with their rooms consisted of entirely too much curried goat bones over rice. Helen was having a good time though, so he supposed coming with the team was worth it.
After a day to get settled, Jim had ordered them to all make their way to the Jeeps and travel to the countryside for their briefing. The ride was uneventful for the area. Cows occasionally blocked the road, goats and sheep dotted the sides of the bumpy dirt road. After an hour, the Jeeps stopped at an isolated crossroads and the tall, crew cut ex-Marine made his speech.
"Alright team, those mountains there are where the snow snakes were sighted by our informant. There could be as many as seven adult nine foot long snakes and an unknown number of juveniles. These snakes have a bite that is mildly poisonous but we have generous stores of antivenom. The only possible danger is from the juveniles as they may use more poison, but the snakes are not known to be particularly fast or vicious. Now, let's double check supplies and be ready to move out at 0900."
Nikola took his wife by the arm and placed her in front of himself. "Warm enough for you?" he asked with a grin, fiddling with the fur collar of her jacket. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, looking like two little apples over her happy smile. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He quickly turned so that her lips fell on his, brushing her cheek with his moustache. She giggled lightly and kissed him again and again. "Thank you for getting them to let me come along." Nikola shrugged, "Of course, let's go."
...
The snakes were proving elusive despite their best efforts at tracking them. A full day had passed with little to show for it except a few spoor. They established a camp in the shelter of a small overhang and resolved to continue the next day. Nikola resigned himself to sitting around the campfire with the new team, as Helen was eager to get to know everyone.
"Jim here spent a few years in Afghanistan until he came back home to Iowa. Not much going on there I bet?" Tanya grinned at the dark-haired burly man, shaking her sandy blonde hair in a rather obvious flirtatious move. Nikola smiled through gritted teeth and attempted to change the subject. "What about you? I heard you're Australian, is that right?" The slim Asian woman nodded silently, then after a few awkward minutes finally said, "Sydney. I like animals." That conversation stopper led to Helen laughing nervously and babbling about herself.
"Well, that was the original idea of all this! I'm very happy to be here with you all, seeing you carry on the Sanctuary's work like this. I do hope I'm not an inconvenience-" All three of the team protested rather too much and Nikola sipped on some hot mulled wine hoping no one would ask him anything, but it was not to be. The chatty veterinarian asked, "Are you really the original Nikola Tesla? It must be amazing to see the impact you've had on the world-" Nikola interrupted, "Yes, very much. Now, I think I'd like to be going off to bed. The wind is picking up." He got to his feet then touched his wife's shoulder, "Helen come on, don't get a chill."
Jim cleared his throat and tried to get to know his team better, "Uh, Soon Li, right?" She nodded, "Everyone calls me Sunny though." The ex-marine couldn't think of a less appropriate nickname. Tanya broke in with an excited whisper, "Do you think Tesla treats her that way because they're all Victorian or because of the head injury?" Sunny tsked, "I think it's none of our business." Jim agreed with the taciturn martial artist, apparently to little effect as Tanya continued to speculate over their companions' relationship. "I overheard Dr. Zimmerman talking to Mr. Foss. He was saying something about Tesla being controlling, that he's abusive-"
Jim furrowed his brow in consternation. The last thing he needed was some kind of family drama screwing up his first mission. "Abusive? How?" Tanya latched onto his interest like a dog on a bone. "Said he's been isolating her, remodeled so they have a separate suite. What's he got to hide? Physical marks? He also mentioned how the guy is a real asshole to Mr. Foss, berates him up and down all the time, like the boss from hell. And he's out for Helen's money, the Sanctuary's money."
The man weighed her statements and found them wanting. "I didn't see any fear on her face. If anything she seems very relaxed and happy. Sounds like office politics to me." Tanya shrugged, "Well, there's tons of women that don't know to be afraid. Especially when they've been charmed and they're dependent on the guy. He looks like the type that could keep any woman pretty much under his thumb without much effort..."
...
Nikola woke to the wind whistling and the jar head yelling at everyone to wake up. "A storm's blowing up! We need to move out, get ahead of it!" Helen was nestled into his arm for warmth; he gently shook her awake. "The weather's turned bad. Let me up, I have to go deal with this. Get dressed. Don't forget your gloves, okay?" She groggily complied as he got dressed as fast as possible and went out of the tent.
Nikola took a look around briefly. "Jim! The storm is too fast moving! We should shelter in place instead!" He yelled over the wind, trying to make the man see reason. The ex-marine yelled, "Don't question my decision! This location is untenable! We will head for the caves up the hill!" The other team members were already collapsing their tents and getting their packs. Helen was emerging from the tent looking anxiously from one person to another.
Forced to make a snap decision, Nikola abandoned the argument and went to Helen's side. "Help me with the tent!" he yelled.
...
The greatest danger in whiteout conditions was simply getting turned around and becoming lost. Nikola held tightly onto his wife's hand as he headed uphill toward the caves. The others were barely discernable ahead of them and visibility was worsening. "Wait!" he yelled over the storm, but got no response. He whined anxiously as the snowfall increased and he lost sight of the rest of the party entirely. "Oh God, faster!" he yelled at his wife, pulling her bodily along with him. So long as they were heading uphill he thought they should be fine. The cutting wind lashed their faces, frost gathering on their eyelashes, as they fought their way through the rapidly gathering snow.
After what seemed an eternity he managed to make out the light of a fire within the depths of the cave. Quickly leading Helen into the small space, he held her shivering form before the meager warmth of the fire. "Where's Sunny? Did you see her?" Jim asked him as he tried to rub some warmth into his hands. "What? Last I saw she was ahead of me. Didn't she come in before us?" Jim shook his head and prepared to go back out to look for the slim martial artist. Nikola stopped him, "Wait, do we have a rope? Otherwise you could just get lost too." "No I don't. We we're planning on doing any mountain climbing-"
The scientist sighed exasperated. "If you'd just listened to me we would have been fine. This kind of storm only lasts a few hours. They blow up all the time around here." Jim cursed, "What? You knew that and let us move-" "You disregarded my experience! I'll go find her, if I can." Nikola pulled out a flashlight and shone it into the maelstrom outside. "Hopefully, she'll see this." He was just getting ready to step out into the storm when Helen ran after him and cried, "No, don't leave me!" Jim tsked in disgust, "Just let him go, he'll be fine." Nikola took a moment to give his wife a hug then said, "Don't worry, I'll be right back."
...
Visibility was nil. Nikola shone the light into the storm, hoping Sunny might spot it without him having to venture far. She must have had the sense to go uphill. Maybe she had missed the entrance of the cave and ending up going further on one side or the other. But what side? He wandered over to first one side then the other attempting to guess which path would have made more sense...The one on his right was less steep, maybe that was it?
...
Helen grabbed the parka of the figure entering the cave, only to find it was the slight Asian woman who had somehow found her way. She pushed Sunny toward the other team members huddled near the small fire and yelled into the storm, "Nikola!" The roaring wind drowned out her frantic cry completely. She turned to Jim. "What should we do? He's out there. What if he gets lost too?" The man tried to get her to come over toward the fire. "I'm sure he's fine. He used to live in Nepal-" "What?" Helen had never been told such a thing. She thought he had only ever visited the country. "Yes, that's why he was allowed to come, due to experience-" She shook her head bewildered, "I don't understand. Why wasn't he leading this mission if he's the most experienced here?" Jim scowled and left her, going back to the fire. "Look, Dr. Zimmerman assigned team roles, so you'd have to take that up with him."
...
Helen was going out of her mind, pacing back and forth, straining her eyes, hoping to see the outline of husband's form approach the cave. Every few minutes she called his name, sure that he must be close. It had already been half an hour, more than long enough for hypothermia to take effect. "Nikola!" The others watched her passively, unsure what to do. Jim had already ruled against anyone going out to look for the lost Serb.
Tears ran down her face as she shone her flashlight out into the blinding snow. If only they had brought that damn rope, she could have tied it to herself, gone out looking for him and be assured of finding her way back. The last thing she wanted to do was go out looking for him and get lost herself. She could vividly imagine his anguish if he should come back only to find her gone.
After another twenty minutes of agony, the driving wind and snow began to subside. She called for the others. "The storm is waning! We need to find him now!" Jim looked cautiously out of the cave, shaking his head uncertainly. "It could kick up again any moment now..." Helen screamed in frustration and took off into the snow, eyes glued to the ground looking for footprints. The snow had come down so heavy there was no sign of tracks at all. She turned about, looking at the endless white blanketing the mountainside. Sunlight was beginning to reflect off the snow creating a painful glare. "Nikola! Where are you?"
She ran awkwardly through the deep snow, searching desperately for any sign of her husband. Where would he have gone? Uphill or down? "Helen, there's a tracking device-" She whirled on the team leader. "What?! Then why are we wasting time! Find him!" Jim glanced down at the device and pointed uphill to the right side of the cave entrance. The team struggled through the packing snow, trampling it down as they made their way up the mountain, calling the lost scientist's name every few moments.
After fifteen minutes or so of walking Tanya spotted a dark patch amongst the endless white. "Is that the color of Tesla's parka?" The team rapidly converged on the cloth and Sunny pulled it out of the snow. It was a glove. An ominous mood descended over the group. Helen clenched her fists in her own thick gloves. "We need to find him quickly! Where does the signal lead?" Jim pointed about twenty feet up the mountain. "Somewhere up there." Helen led the way, recklessly pulling herself up the gradually steepening side of the mountain.
As they got closer to the source of the signal it became evident that there was very small cave opening behind a bush blanketed with snow. Helen tried to dart ahead, ready to pull the bush aside when Jim abruptly grabbed her by the arm and held her back. "You know what you might find. Are you sure?" She stopped for a second shocked, then shook him off angrily and clambered over to the bush.
Sunny hung back with Tanya, not wanting to see the possible case of hide-and-die syndrome. "God, what if he-" The veterinarian scoffed angrily interrupting Sunny's worried query. "No point in feeling bad about it now." The martial artist shot the blonde an incredulous look then turned away from the tragic scene.
"Nikola!" Helen's scream was like glass shattering.
...
The team hustled the unconscious man down the mountain. Helen ordering them about with the confidence of a born leader. She had instinctively checked his breathing and airway the moment she saw his cold, blue visage. He was breathing, just barely. She had stabilized his neck in case he'd suffered an injury, then had the team move him to the cave where she had them place him in one of the sleeping bags and take him down the mountain back to the vehicles. There she heated the space slowly and demanded that Tanya prepare an IV of warmed fluids.
Nikola woke to the sound of his wife harshly berating someone. "What do you mean you don't have one! Do you not know how to do the simplest things?!" A woman's voice replied, but he missed what she said when his wife's concerned face appeared in his rather blurry field of vision. "Helen..." he mouthed, unable even to speak. "You're awake! Good, good." She turned to someone. "Get outside, build a fire and heat up this tea. Quickly!" He felt himself drifting off when his wife pressed her warm face against his and said urgently into his ear. "Stay awake. I need you to stay awake and drink some tea for me, okay?" A tiny puff of air hit her ear. "'Kay." She pulled back and gave him a brilliant smile. "You're going to be fine." She soothed, stroking his cheeks. "Any pain?" After a moment of reflection he grunted in the negative then concentrated on keeping his heavy eyelids open.
After what seemed an eternity the tea arrived. Helen carefully tested the temperature, mixed it with a bit of cold water until it was not too hot then carefully brought it to his mouth. He slowly sipped the warm tea, feeling it restoring the warmth to his chilled body. After he finished the mug he refused more. "I think I can warm myself up now..." he croaked then smiled a little at Helen's disgruntled look. "No, trust me. I can." He muttered then began the breathing exercises he had mastered for decades.
...
"This fiasco should have never happened! Nikola was the most experienced member of the team and clearly should have been leading the mission. And not having a competent field medic on the team was just negligent!"
Will frowned in consternation. "It was only expected that Tanya would be needed-" Helen growled, "Expect the unexpected! And your team leader didn't even have basic supplies, ropes, adequate tracking devices, and besides that he made the wrong calls. He misjudged the weather, didn't listen to advice, got us into trouble, then cut his losses and was ready to leave team members to save themselves."
Will shook his head, "Look, I think you're blowing this out of proportion. Jim overreacted to the weather and Tanya wasn't briefed to expect to act as a field medic. That's all-" "No! I already said it. Nikola specifically told Jim to shelter in place. He was on the team due to experience in Nepal and Jim should have listened. And you should have never let the situation arise in the first place! People's lives were put at risk! My family-" Helen choked on a sob and angrily brushed the tears from her eyes.
The Sanctuary head tried to comfort his erstwhile mentor. "No one got hurt. We all know Nikola is tough-" Helen laughed bitterly, "He's mortal and you know it. Why don't you care that he could have died and I'd be all alone?" Will was taken aback. "Even if that happened you wouldn't be alone. You have me, Henry, Big Guy. I...You know I don't like how you've separated yourself from us. Look, I really think you've become a little too dependent-" "Shut up! Is that it then?! You would have been happy if Nikola froze to death. You hate him that much! That's why you made such bad choices!" Helen screamed and advanced on Will's desk in a righteous fury.
"Nikola has never and will never lead a team in this Sanctuary!" Will burst out. "You're being biased and irrational." Helen leaned aggressively over his desk and said with deadly seriousness, "I could just as easily say the same about you, Will. Start treating my husband with the respect he deserves or you won't know what hit you." She stormed out of the office leaving her bewildered protege in the dust.
...