And so it starts to get dark....
~~~~Chapter 3~~~~
Artie stopped abruptly, realizing he was looking down a barrel of a gun. No, not a gun, a Tesla. The man holding it was tall with brown hair and blue eyes and reminded Artie a little bit of Pete.
"Who are you?" The man asked in a forceful tone.
"What? Who- what's going on?" Artie was racking his brain, searching his memory for this man's face, wondering if he worked for MacPherson. "What-"
"Identify yourself! How did you get in here?"
In the confusion, Artie had overlooked the obvious fact that he was not in the B&B anymore. No, he was standing on a familiar concrete floor surrounded by massive shelves full of miscellaneous objects. He was in the warehouse. But how? Had he had an 'old timer' memory lapse and just forgot his trip over to the warehouse? No, of course not, stupid question.
"Hey Warren!" Artie's thoughts were interrupted by another man running up behind the first man, "what's all the fuss abo-" he cut off and pulled his gun, also a Tesla, when he saw Artie.
At this new revelation, Artie now raised his free hand in surrender. "Look, my name is Artie, I work here."
The two men shared a brief glance at the mention of his name and then the one named Warren started toward Artie, grabbing his raised arm, pulling it behind Artie's back. "Alright, 'Artie,' let's go see the boss." He grabbed Artie's bag out of his hands and threw it toward his partner. He then handcuffed Artie's hands together behind his back and pushed him in the direction of the office.
***
"Hey! Ms. D!" yelled Trent, Artie had learned his name on the way to the office, "we got the intruder."
Trent led Artie and Warren into his office. It looked generally the same yet it had definitely been changed from the way he and Claudia had left it the night before. The furniture and computers were pretty much the same, except for more comfortable looking chairs and there was certainly less books and papers strewn about the floor.
When there was no answer, Warren sat Artie down on one of the upgraded chairs and stood over him, still pointing the Tesla his way while Trent looked in the adjacent rooms for their boss.
Artie could hear Trent in the other room, "Ms. D, we got him."
"Good. Did you figure out how he got in yet?" questioned a familiar voice.
"No, not yet." Artie heard footsteps and then Trent walked back toward Artie, followed by another person Artie figured had to be 'Ms. D.'
Artie's eyes widened in surprise, then furrowing his brow, he asked, "Claudia?"
The woman looked just as Claudia did yesterday except older, and with her hair now shoulder length and back to her natural brown. She was just as skinny and pale but she had a sense of authority about her. Her face was hardened, with a few scars reminiscent on her cheeks. Her eyes filled with determination.
She paused at the doorway.
"Claudia? What is going on?" Artie's voice was stronger now, in his usual no nonsense tone.
Claudia reacted so fast, Artie barely had time to register what was happening. In a matter of seconds she had reached over to a nearby desk and opened the top drawer and pulled out a pistol that's barrel was now pushed against Artie's forehead. With a venomous tone, she questioned, "Who the hell are you?"
Artie stared at the anger and confusion in Claudia's eyes, barely noticing Warren and Trent's puzzled looks; neither knowing what was happening or what to do.
When Artie didn't answer, Claudia pushed the barrel harder into Artie's skull, finger threateningly close to the trigger, "I won't ask again."
"Claudia. Claudia. It's me, Artie! Artie Neilson!" Artie pleaded.
"Artie Neilson is dead. How did you get into the warehouse!?"
Artie was at a loss for words, he didn't know what to do since he obviously wasn't dead. But he decided to answer her question as best he could. "I don't know! I went to sleep at Leena's and--"
He cut off when the other two men took a step away from Artie, each drawing their weapons to copy Claudia. Warren whispered to Trent, "Leena's? What the hell?"
Artie soon realized he was missing something and everything he said was just making his situation worse so decided to plead to Claudia once more to lower her gun. "Claudia, please."
She didn't move her gun an inch. "Are you working for MacPherson?"
"What? How could you even," Artie cut off, realizing now wasn't a good time to attack her thought process. She pushed the gun against his head ever so slightly, "No. No, I am not. Claudia," he made sure to look directly in her eyes to emphasize his point, "No."
Artie didn't understand what was going on. Who were these two men? Why had Claudia changed her hair and when and why did she get so hostile all of the sudden? He had never been so determined to find out.
After what felt like minutes to Artie, but was really about ten seconds, Claudia lowered the gun but kept her gaze on the man. "Take him to the blue room," she ordered the others then left into the warehouse.
Trent and Warren hauled Artie out of his seat, and moved him toward another door out of the office.
Trent was the first to speak, "Dude, I haven't seen Ms. D that upset since --"
"Trent!" Warren glared at his partner.
"What? I'm just saying," he turned to Artie, "you must have done something really bad. I hope she lets us stay and watch." He grinned a little too widely for Artie's liking.
"Watch what? What is the blue room?" Artie asked when they stopped in front of a door. He was positive there was no such thing in the warehouse when he left.
Warren answered, "Don't worry, it's just a holding cell." He pushed Artie a little forcibly into the room when the door opened.
"Yea, but sometimes Ms. D likes to have some fun," Trent added right before the door closed and locked automatically.
Artie didn't like Claudia's idea of fun when she was a red head and he was almost one hundred percent sure he wouldn't like her idea of fun as a brunette, especially after that little incident with the gun. Artie absentmindedly wondered if he had a mark on his forehead. He took in his surroundings and immediately understood why it was called the 'blue room.' Everywhere he looked, he saw blue; blue walls, blue ceiling and blue floor. The room was claustrophobically small, almost like an old fashioned interrogation room but without the two way mirror. Although Artie was sure Claudia had some way of monitoring what he was doing, probably using some super high tech resource.
After glancing around the room, he sat down and maneuvered his still cuffed hands under his backside and legs so they were now resting somewhat comfortably on his lap. He noticed a bulge where the cuffs connected to each other and recognized the craftsmanship of Claudia's electric cuffs. He smiled to himself despite the situation. He settled himself against the wall opposite the door, knees up in the air and waited about an hour before it opened again.
Warren walked into the room carrying a tray with a glass of water and two blue pills. "Take these," he said simply setting the tray down a few feet in front of him.
Artie stared at the man when he spoke. "And what if I don't?"
Warren stood up and sighed, "Then you don't leave." He turned and the door closed seconds later.
Artie stared at the pills in front of him. Normally he wouldn't dare touch the mystery pills but seeing as he was in the warehouse and Claudia was there, or someone that looked and sounded like Claudia was there, and he saw no other way out of the current situation, he swallowed the pills in one gulp. Within seconds all of his fears and concerns melted away and he felt completely relaxed. He barely looked up when the door opened once again and Claudia walked in.
She stayed across the room from him, watching him, arms crossed. It was another minute before she talked, "Your name is Artie Neilson?"
"Yes," Artie nodded to reinforce his answer.
Claudia looked like she didn't believe him but moved on to another question, "Do you work for MacPherson or Leena?"
"No," Artie said as clear as he could in his relaxed state.
Claudia stood where she was, eyes narrowed, studying the older man's face, searching for any hint of a lie.
"How did you get into the warehouse?"
"I don't know. I feel asleep in my room at Le— at the B&B last night and then I woke up late this morning and when I left my room I was here." Artie started to feel slightly concerned at how ridiculous that sounded.
Claudia stayed silent, as if considering the same thing. Artie was growing less relaxed by the second and her silence was only making things worse. "Claudia, what is going on?"
"You tell me, professor." Claudia sounded as if she hadn't uttered the last word in years, "last time I checked, Artie Neilson died over twenty years ago."
"What?!" Whatever was in those truth/relaxation pills suddenly stopped working. He was anything but relaxed, "Twenty years?"
The two stared at each other, each trying to decipher if the other was lying.
"What- what year is it?" Artie finally uttered.
"2031."