Douglas Fargo quietly trailed behind a fuming Claudia. He thought about apologizing again, try to explain that all he wanted to do was listen to some music with her, an activity he knew she was fond of. He wanted to share her interests with her, wanted to show her that he was making an effort here. But he had enough experience with women being mad at him that he decided to wait for signs that she was calming down. She was still stomping a little and her shoulders were tight. It caught him off guard when she suddenly stopped walking, and if he hadn't been studying her body language he would have walked right into her. He watched as she took a deep breath and let it out in a huff, some of the tension flowing out of her in the process. She turned around and looked at him, her boots lifting her just enough that she was level with him.
"Look, I'm sorry I blew up back there. It's just been a really.. weird night." Claudia closed her eyes and ran her hands through her auburn hair. When she met his eyes again, he was relieved to see the twinkle was back. "Besides, I shouldn't be surprised that Dougie Fargo messed with something he shouldn't have."
Fargo took a breath, getting ready to object, but even he knew that he couldn't argue his way out of this one. His mouth quirked into his half smile, and he shrugged a little while Claudia laughed. Taking a step towards him, she slid her arms through his and around his back. Before she could lock herself around him in the hug that she had intended, he made a snap decision and brushed his lips against hers as if asking permission. Her breath hitched in surprise, and he closed the gap between them.
Claudia melted into Fargo's embrace, letting him set the pace for once. When he started to pull away, she made a small noise in protest and nipped at his bottom lip. She untangled herself and stared at him for a moment, her cheeks flushed and pupils dilated. Fargo watched her, trying to gauge her reaction, and determine if he needed to apologize yet again. Before either of them could fill the silence with nervous chatter, she reached out and pulled him towards her again. Her fingers tried to grip his short hair, and she could feel his hands hovering over her waist, still hesitating before touching her. She pressed herself against him and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss.
Fargo, emboldened by Claudia's response, wrapped an arm tightly around her waist while his other hand softly trailed across her cheek, along the curve of her collarbone, and skimmed down the seam of her shirt before lying flat against her back. He took a step forward, forcing her to walk backwards with him until she was pressed firmly against the metal shelving of the racks. Claudia clutched at the fabric of his t-shirt, and arched her back when Doug's fingers grazed the slip of exposed skin above the waistband of her skirt.
Before the couple could go any farther, a second streak of green light blazed above them. It was followed by a third and fourth, all heading in different corners of the Warehouse. The blasts of crashing objects drove the breathless pair apart from each other.
Claudia cleared her throat and adjusted her clothing while mumbling to herself, "Right.. aliens. Never a dull moment in this place."
Quickly searching the shelves, she grabbed the antique radio and tucked it under an arm. She held her other hand out to Fargo and smiled, "This is so not over."
As they started towards one of the four crash landings, Claudia heard a jingle of metal and a quiet woof. Looking behind her, she saw Trailer trotting along to catch up with them.
"Hey boy, where have you been?" She ruffled the fur around the dog's ears as he reached her side.
The trio walked in silence for a moment before Fargo had a thought.
"So uh, do we know what we're getting into? I mean, you mentioned Orson Welles, which means that broadcast was 'War of the Worlds.' But.. have you listened to the full broadcast?"
"Weellll, I haven't listened to the whole thing, but I did see the movie.." Claudia shrugged weakly around the radio.
"The one with Tom Cruise?" Fargo made a face when she nodded, "I've seen better.
But, if it's anything like the original," he looked over at her, "we might not want to go near what landed."
"Oh c'mon, where's your sense of adventure?"
As if on cue, multitudes of glowing spheres of red energy began to blaze above their heads, weaving across the warehouse from all directions, without any discernible patterns. The bolts slammed into artifacts, walls, beams, leaving only sizzling, melting, burning wreckage in their wakes.
"Or, we could just neutralize this sucker and hope that makes the big bad aliens go away?" Claudia held up the radio, a hopeful expression on her face that quickly distorted into a wince when a bolt blasted into an electrical box near them. With sparks showering to the ground, they watched as the rest of the electrical boxes became targets. The rows of fluorescent lights began blinking out one by one until the only illuminations were the intermittent bursts of crimson. Trailer let out a frightened whine and nudged Fargo.
"We need to get out of here!" he had to shout over the mayhem of the warehouse. Claudia stood in shock, but seemed to snap out of it when he tugged at her hand. Doug took the radio from Claudia so she could grab the dog's collar, and they all started to run towards the front of the warehouse. Dodging falling artifacts and debris, they made their way through the aisles until they found the Dark Vault. Using the move Myka had shown her, Claudia launched her foot at the keypad. The door clicked open as the keypad satisfyingly crunched beneath her boot. Closing the door behind them, she leaned against the cool metal and looked towards Doug and Trailer.
"Artie can't fire me if I'm already dead, right?"