New Beginnings by Marcia Gaines
A/N: There was an update mishap, and I have updated Chapter 10 to reflect the actual Chapter 10 instead of reprinting Chapter 9 again. My apologies for all the confusion - thank you to those who sent me a note to point out the error! I hope you enjoy the chapter. Please feel free to leave a review/feedback. I would love to hear from you!
Chapter Ten
Helena's eyes smoldered as she looked at Walter Sykes. The black void in his eyes mirrored closely the darkness burning in her own. He held at his mercy the one person she loved most in the world, and all her focus was entirely on getting her to safety. They were all in mortal danger, but Helena's only thoughts were of the woman held in his grip. Myka cried out as he wrenched her backward with him toward the portal. Helena surveyed the scene in front of her knowing precious little time remained. She had to act.
"You don't have to hurt her," she said. "You can step through that portal and there's nothing we can do."
"And that's exactly what I intend to do," he sneered. He pressed the tip of the Tesla further into Myka's temple. "Now you all stay put. The lovely Agent Bering and I will be taking our leave."
"Let her go!" yelled Pete. He struggled with his handcuffs setting off a clang against the metal shelving. Sykes turned to address him, another taunt forming on his lips, when Helena released the hold she had on the object hidden in her sleeve. Too late he noticed the flurry of movement, and then his face contorted in pain.
Helena mimicked his condescendingly saccharine tone. "Did you never learn your manners, Mr. Sykes?" He let out a wail. "You will kindly release the lady, now." Sykes' arm relaxed and Myka pulled away. She was safe. All eyes turned to Helena. Held in her hands, curved into an arc, was Cecil B. DeMille's Riding Crop.
"Hah! Take that!" Pete managed to gloat before remembering he was still tethered. "Hey, uh, Artie?" He jangled his cuffs against the shelving and tilted his head toward them. Artie jumped and fished in his pockets for the key as he quickly moved to release Pete from his shackles. He kept his eyes on Sykes and Myka, fearing for her safety and trying to come up with a plan.
"It doesn't matter," Sykes said and grimaced again as Helena bent the horsewhip further. "You're all going to die."
"Perhaps," she said nonchalantly. She had other plans. Knowing she had been able to save everyone before, she was already calculating whether or not the barrier she created before might be strong enough to hold the blast. It seemed a questionable prospect, but it was the only other option she could think of in the moment. Myka coughed and rubbed her neck. "Are you alright?" She looked at Myka with concern.
"I'm… I'm fine," Myka said rubbing her chaffed throat. She pulled her hand away quickly and looked at her fingers. They were covered in her own blood. Helena clenched her teeth at the sight and bent the rod again. Sykes writhed in agony. Myka watched in horror as he pointed the Tesla at his own head. "Helena?" she turned to face her with her question.
"He will never harm you again," came the flat reply. There was no emotion and her tone was ice cold as she and Sykes stared at one another – his malevolent nature contending with hers. Myka looked between the two and felt a chill travel the length of her spine. In the pressure of the moment she could not tell whom she feared more. "Artie," Helena addressed the frazzled Warehouse manager, "be a dear and fetch Mr. Sykes' wheelchair, would you? I fear he'll be needing it sooner than he imagined." Artie bridled, but caught the nearly imperceptible shake of Myka's head as she silently urged him not to aggravate the moment. He held his tongue and went back for the wheelchair.
"I'll die before sitting in that chair again," Sykes spat defiantly. His eyes burned with ferocity.
"If you'd prefer," came Helena's sickly sweet reply. "Far be it from me to deny you your last wish." She gave the crop a cruel twist and his body contorted wildly as he screamed.
The tension broke with the sound of Pete's Farnsworth. He lifted it from his back pocket and opened the cover. It was Jane. She wanted him to know she made it out of the Sanctum and was well on her way to the home of a nearby Regent. He finished his conversation and immediately dialed Claudia.
"Claud, hey, how are you?" he asked when she answered the call. She let him know Mrs. Frederic, Leena, and she were fine but that Marcus Diamond perished. Walter Sykes grumbled at the news – nothing in his expertly crafted scheme was going as planned. Pete glanced up as he started to wrap up the conversation. They all turned to see Artie finally returning. He pushed the wheelchair in front of him.
"What took you so long?" Helena asked.
He gave her a look of annoyance and sarcastically replied, "Just lazy, I guess." He stopped the wheelchair near Sykes and held up the cushion revealing a deprecating digital timer. "Nine minutes and twenty-three seconds," he said to the group. "We don't have much time."
"Arthur." Mrs. Federic's tinned voice came over the Farnsworth. Artie moved to the view screen. "What do you mean you don't have much time, what's going on?" Artie held up the bomb and began walking her through everything. While he spoke with her Myka took the opportunity to reach for the Tesla in Sykes' hand.
"Myka, what are you doing?" Helena looked incensed.
"I'm disarming him." She said as she wrapped her hands around the Tesla and removed it from his grip.
"Helena," Myka stepped into her field of vision. "Helena, don't do this. Please." She held no love for the man, but she could not bear the image of seeing him tortured. Helena looked at Myka's face. She took in the drying blood and the bruised flesh swelling above her brow. The images of Myka's months of anguish, her crippling sorrow, and of Sykes holding her captive played in her mind. She could never allow the man to bring such misery again.
"You can't be serious," Helena retorted. "You know what this man is planning to do, Myka. He has absolutely no intention of letting a single one of us survive." Myka looked into Helena's eyes searching for some way to connect to the side of her she knew better than anyone else. Helena looked back feeling doubt for the first time. Without Myka's approval she could not know if she was protecting her or merely seeking revenge.
"You might as well kill me," Sykes said to Myka before throwing Helena a look. "She's going to anyway. I'm just one more body to add to her long count." Helena's face flickered, but she made no movement.
"Shut up," Myka said to him. She refused to believe Helena and Sykes shared anything in common. "He can't do anything anymore, Helena," Myka said and placed the Tesla in her holster. She looked at Helena and took a deep breath. It seemed like only yesterday when she stood before a raging H.G. Wells intent on the destruction of not just one person, but of nearly all humanity. Then, as now, Myka became a voice of reason. "We have him. He can disarm the bomb. It's over." She looked into Helena's eyes and saw the resolve begin to falter.
"There's no way to disarm it," he said. "I already told you, it's too late. But if I'm going out, then at least I know I'm taking you all with me. I take a great deal of comfort in the thought." Myka placed her hand directly on the Riding Crop before Helena could react to his words.
"Don't do it, Helena. You're not Sykes. This isn't you." Myka spoke softly and pleaded with her eyes.
"She's just like me. She sets a goal and doesn't let anything get in her way. She plays by nobody's rules but her own." Sykes said with a knowing smile. He saw no difference in their behaviors, not even in his undying belief that the ends always justified the means.
"I said shut up!" Myka whirled on him and looked him in the eye. "Whatever happens here, it will not be because you goaded her." She doubled him over and drove her knee into his stomach. He collapsed to the ground heaving for air. Myka ignored his groans and turned to focus on Helena. "There, he's completely incapacitated. Are you really going to torture him to death when he's never going to be a danger to anyone ever again?" Myka stepped toward her and placed her hand on Helena's face. "You won't do it, I know you. You're better than this. You're better than him." And Helena's fierce expression melted. Gazing into Myka's face she thought of the absolute faith the taller agent held in her, and in the goodness she categorically believed resided in her. Helena turned her eyes to look at Sykes and for the first time saw with Myka eyes – he was just a man pathetically debilitated more by emotion than by the challenges life gave him. She had already battled her own demons and won. She looked back at Myka and knew that even if she was not every bit the person Myka believed her to be, she was no Sykes. She relented. The Riding Crop slackened along with Sykes' body, and Myka took it from her hands. The standoff was finally over.
Sykes rolled to his side and Myka pointed the Tesla at him. "I wouldn't move if I were you," said Helena. "Things could get ugly again." Sykes spat an obscenity which she chose to ignore. She looked over at Artie and saw him holding up his pocket watch as he and Pete huddled over the Farnsworth.
"We have to get to the Ovoid Quarantine. It can offer us some protection from the rest of the Warehouse, but I… I doubt it. Our only option might be to use the Watch."
Mrs. Frederic's voice came through the Farnsworth. "Arthur, The Qurantine area won't stop an artifact nuclear device. I wouldn't recommend using the Watch. You know as well as I do the effects can be unpredictable. Trying to reset time always has its consequences. Take everyone through the portal and leave the bomb behind – we'll regroup and discuss." Artie closed the Farnsworth and looked around him. He was trying to come to grips with the order to abandon the Warehouse.
"The watch," Helena said under her breath. "Myka, that's how Artie reset the Warehouse. That's how we came back in time, that's how we're changing the past, it has to be."
"Don't be ridiculous," said Sykes. "It's not possible to travel back in time. And even if you could it wouldn't matter. You can't change what's already occurred in the past."
"No, you can't. But, you can change what hasn't happened yet." Artie looked at Helena as he spoke. "I think I know what happened. If I used this watch," he looked down at his hand, "then we reset the Warehouse to the point where I originally stopped the clock. Everything you told me took place in that timeline never actually happened. That's how you were able to come back. That's how events are changing."
"Yeah, but why her?" Pete asked. "Why is H.G. the only one with any idea of what happened?"
"That's something I'd like to know," she said and Myka nodded in agreement.
"The only thing I can think," he said, "is that she was the only one of us who wasn't alive when we pulled the Warehouse back. Something about her… ah… condition…"
"It protected her from the effects of the time-warp," finished Myka. She turned around to face Helena staring incredulously as she spoke. Artie nodded. He held up the watch as he walked toward the portal and looked at it carefully.
"I wish I knew more," he said and then he went flying into the wall. Sykes had tried to grab for the watch while Myka was distracted and they crashed into the wall, instead. The bomb Artie carried flew toward the portal and the watch smashed against the stone where it shattered into countless pieces.
Helena watched as the bomb came to rest on the cusp of the portal and the Sanctum. The case sat, barely visible, with only a small corner of its case remaining in the Warehouse. She spied the chess table beyond and Caturanga's words echoed in her mind. Change the rules. She sprang forward. Her movement catalyzed the others and all at once, everyone lept into action. Pete ran toward the wall where he pulled Sykes off of Artie flinging him to the side. Artie started to reach for the bomb case but went for Sykes' legs when he saw him stumbling for balance. Helena grabbed the bomb case and pulled it partially through the portal as she turned to Pete and yelled, "Pull the switch!" Myka aimed her Tesla and fired. It hit Sykes squarely between the shoulders and, with Artie holding onto his legs, he went down with his left hand outstretched just as Pete pulled the power switch down with all his might. The portal closed disintegrating the bomb and Sykes' hand at the same time. As it shut a brilliant discharge flared through the Warehouse and debris from the Sanctum flew through the portal's final closing aperture. It landed with such force it knocked over an entire shelving unit spilling its contents noisily to the ground.
The team looked at one another unsure of what to think or say. From all around them the strange sound of the barrier disengaging echoed through the Warehouse. For now, at least, the danger was over. "Everyone okay?" Artie stood up and addressed the group. He looked around and saw them all coming together. Helena held up the severed piece of the bomb's case and placed it in Artie's hand. Pete walked over to her and gave her a tight hug.
"Thank you," he said quietly. He knew Helena had risked herself more than once not just to save the Warehouse, but all of their lives. She gave a genuine look of shock, but gladly accepted his appreciation.
"Anytime," she said and exchanged a sly grin with Myka when he released her. It was an unexpected niceness and they were both glad Pete finally seemed to think she deserved more than contempt or indifference. Artie opened the Farnsworth to report back to Mrs. Frederic, and Myka walked over to Sykes' prone body. She pulled the bracelet from his other hand, and let it fall to the ground. She did not notice he stirred at the movement.
As she walked to the group she barely heard the end of a sentence from behind her, "… like home." A massive gust of wind blew through the Warehouse and when she turned to look Sykes was gone.
That night, back at Leena's, the group sat together recounting their brush with death and all Helena could relay about the other timeline. Claudia was the only absence – after hearing from Helena that Steve was still alive she pestered Mrs. Frederic for answers and she finally revealed the truth about Cleopatra's Coin. The young agent was on her way to retrieve him. She insisted he not wake up in a cold morgue without a friendly face to greet him.
When the end of the evening came everyone retired to their rooms. Pete, Myka, and H.G. ascended the stairs together as they discussed the whereabouts of Walter Sykes. "Let us hope we have seen the last of that man," said Helena gravely. The thought he might be able to try again was a more sinister possibility than she liked, and it was difficult to accept she had made the right decision in handing over the Riding Crop to Myka. If she had kept it active on him, he would not be at large anymore.
"I wonder what he used to get away," said Myka. "But, I guess that's an investigation for another day." She looked at Helena and smiled. Right now all she wanted was to talk with Helena about the things she learned regarding the alternate experience. She was not entirely sure she was ready to admit to herself why she might have suffered over Helena's death in the other timeline, but she could not deny that her feelings were now sharply in focus.
Pete commented on the escape. "Yeah, I asked Artie about that. He says based on what you thought Sykes said it might actually be that Sykes used the rubies that were in the Wizard of Oz slippers."
"The Wizard of Oz?" Helena said brightly. "The slippers in that story were silver, I thought?" She looked at Myka.
"They were," Myka said. "But in the movie they changed them to be red; technicolor was still pretty new for movies so they wanted to emphasize what they could do." Helena nodded in appreciation. Having caught her eye as they neared her room Myka lifted her eyebrows toward her door to indicate she wanted Helena to follow.
Pete continued, "Yeah, I guess a set of rubies that were used in one of the pairs of slippers in the film once belonged to a woman who died in a massive tornado in Missouri in 1925. His brother-in-law worked on the costumes and he asked to have them included as a sort of memento. So the rubies went in the slippers." The two women furtively stepped inside as Pete continued his train of thought. He scrunched his face as he tried to think. "Rubies in the slippers? Or would it be on the slippers?" He turned to ask Myka what she thought and was met with the door to her room swinging closed. He caught a glimpse of his partner's hands stripping Helena's jacket from her shoulders as the two women leaned into one another. The door shut in his face and he blinked. "Right. Probably on the slippers," he said and he turned to walk downstairs.
Fin
Author's Note: My thanks to all of you for taking the time to read through these chapters, and for all your encouraging and critical comments along the way. Look for a new episodic NB-Canon story, "Accidental Tourist", Chapter 1 already posted.
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