Myka knocked on the apartment door. She never knew what to expect on a mission, but this one looked like it would be pretty easy. Claudia had invented a new device which detected subtle fluctuations in the electromagnetic field. They all hoped it would help them locate rogue artifacts more quickly, and with fewer fatalities.
A rather cute young man wearing a hideous sweater vest answered the door.
"Hi, I'm Agent Myka Bering, and this is my partner, Agent Pete Lattimer," Myka said briskly. "We're with the FBI, and we need to ask you a few questions."
Raj cast a mute, pleading look at his friends. Sheldon looked at them quizzically, head cocked to the side like a bird. Howard turned ashen, and Leonard said quickly, "We didn't do anything."
Pete, a tall man with an athletic build and spiky dark hair, raised an eyebrow as he looked around at the nervous scientists. "Yup, I'm definitely getting a vibe offa those three," he commented, wagging a pointing finger at the men.
Myka rolled her eyes and shouldered past him into the apartment. "Please excuse him; he has no idea what it means to follow standard procedure," she said sardonically.
"Hey, nobody knows what most of those big words of yours mean," Pete joked.
A slender young woman, her punk rocker clothes in sharp contrast to the agents' professional suits, poked her head into the apartment. Her short red hair was streaked with purple.
"Science geeks—I can dig it," she said approvingly as she took in all the nerdy paraphernalia decorating the living room. "But clearly, these guys are in desperate need of some Claudia-style fashion tips," she added sotto voce.
Myka looked exasperated. "Do you mind? I'm trying to conduct an investigation," she hissed under her breath to the younger woman.
Claudia threw up her hands in a gesture of surrender, her face a picture of innocence. Pete quickly put down the figurine of Green Lantern that he'd been playing with as Myka turned her glare on him.
"I say we start Nervous Nellie over there," he said, pointing at the curly-haired one.
"Who, me?" Leonard yelped. "I don't know anything."
"Riiiight..." Pete drawled sarcastically.
"Look, we're not here to get you in trouble; we're here to help. You must have noticed something strange going on, right?" Myka asked. Their four suspects exchanged meaningful glances. The tall one opened his mouth, only to have his foot trodden on sharply by the curly-haired one in the hoodie.
"What do you mean by 'strange'?" Hoodie asked warily.
Myka sized him up quickly and realized she had been going about this the wrong way. Pete was usually the charmer, but over the years, she had learned a thing or two from him.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot," she said with a smile. "Whatever you've done, we're not here to arrest you. We're looking for something... maybe some object that has come into your lives recently that does strange things."
The man in the sweater vest leaned over and whispered through cupped hands into the ear of the skinny guy with the bowl cut.
"Because you can't speak to women, Sheldon looks like a giant praying mantis, and apparently, it's just not my lucky day," Bowl Cut muttered back irritably. It sounded like he was rehashing an old argument. Myka suppressed a smile; she could guess what they were whispering about. Oh, trust me, Hoodie Boy's no prize, she thought sarcastically to herself.
"So we, ah... we just need to ask you a few questions individually," Pete said.
Bowl Cut rubbed his palms down the front of his skin-tight purple pants and attempted a leer at Myka. "Oh yeah, baby, you can grill me all night long."
Behind Myka's back, Claudia rolled her eyes and Pete snickered.
"Fine," Myka said tersely. "Keep your hands to yourself, and no one needs to get hurt." As she said this, she laid a hand on the tesla holstered at her side. The little perv may not have know what a tesla was, but he got the general idea. He gulped and followed Myka meekly as she gestured him out onto the landing.
"Since this is your apartment, why don't the two of you wait in your rooms while I talk to..." Pete trailed off as he indicated Sweater Vest Guy.
"Raj," Hoodie supplied helpfully. "But he has selective mutism. He can't say anything while she's in the room," he said, indicating Claudia with a thrust of his chin.
Claudia got up with a sigh. "I know when I'm not wanted. I'll just take some readings around the apartment," she said, waving the strange device she was holding.
It didn't take long for Raj to spill everything as Pete listened with a sympathetic ear. He was just getting to the part where Sheldon found out about his sabotaged experiment when a loud commotion erupted from the back hallway. Pete was on his feet in an instant, tesla in hand as he ran back to check on Claudia. The strangest sight met his eyes. The tall, skinny scientist was spread-eagled across the open doorway to one of the bedrooms, trying to block Claudia from worming past him.
"People can't be in my room!" he shouted.
Pete reached out and grabbed Claudia's arm. "Hey, Claud, easy. There's a couple of computers in the living room," he said in a low voice. "Why don't you go do your thing there, and I'll work my people skills with this guy."
Claudia sagged in relief and pressed her palms together silently to show her thanks as she darted off. Pete turned to Sheldon, whom he had already started to pity as soon as he heard his name. Howard, Leonard, Sheldon... geez, did their parents want them to get beat up at school, he wondered.
"Sorry about that, Mr. Cooper. My, uh, assistant tends to get carried away," Pete said with a broad grin that invited confidences.
Apparently, Sheldon wasn't taken in by his congeniality. "That's Dr. Cooper," he snapped. "And if you can't control your employees—" He broke off, and a bleak sadness crept into his expression.
"Yeah, I heard something like that just happened to you... except instead of employees, it was your friends," Pete sympathized.
Sheldon winced. "A miscalculation, I assure you, and one that will not be repeated."
"It must've made you pretty mad, right? You wanted to get back at them, didn't you?"
Sheldon sighed and looked dejected. "Unfortunately, those three scientists not only comprise my current list of friends, they are the only friends I've ever had. And I am well aware that even they only tolerate me."
Pete's eyebrows rose, and he felt even sorrier for the guy, regardless of how crazy Raj claimed he was about his research and personal habits. No one deserved the kind of abuse Sheldon had suffered. If those other three disliked Sheldon so much, then why did they hang around? Several explanations occurred to Pete, all of them unpleasant. "So what did you do when you found out your friends had tricked you?"
Sheldon shook his head. "Practical jokes are par for the course, but they humiliated me and destroyed my professional reputation. All I knew was that I had to escape. I couldn't stand to look at any of them another minute."
"Raj said you went outside in subzero weather without proper cold-weather gear. You could have frozen to death," Pete said softly.
"I suppose, at that moment, my outlook on life was rather grim," the physicist confessed. "But as I walked across the ice, I... felt something, calling to me. I'm not a man given to flights of fancy, but it was an irresistible attraction," Sheldon said. "I found a small white spherical object, indistinguishable from the snow and ice around it except for that intangible pull it exerted. When I picked it up, I felt calmer, as if somehow things would be made right." He frowned. "Naturally, I attributed these strange fantasies to stress and exposure. However, I found I was unable to put the orb down or relinquish it without the greatest effort. I did allow the airport security guard to examine it—"
"And nothing happened?" Pete interrupted.
"Not as far as I could tell," Sheldon said. "But when we arrived home, that was when the orb showed itself to be possessed of truly bizarre properties."
Pete leaned forward eagerly. "What did it do?"
"Upon our return to 2311 North Robles, we were greeted in the hallway by our neighbor, Penny. She is what some would call an empathetic person. Noticing my unusual mien, she invaded my personal domain, albeit with the intention of comforting me after learning of my betrayal at the hands of my friends. In doing so, she initiated contact with the orb. There was a brilliant flash of light and a shock wave which knocked me off my bed. I hit my head on the dresser, and I lost consciousness briefly. When I awoke, Penny was... as you have seen."
"Wait, I don't understand. What happened to her?" Pete asked.
Sheldon frowned again. "I thought you knew. Aren't you here to help Penny?"
"Of course; we'll do what we can," Pete replied.
At that moment, Claudia poked her head around the corner. "Just heard from Artie. We're looking for a white stone ball about this big..." She made a circle with both hands. "...called the Eye of Freya."
"That orb is extremely dangerous. You need to give it to us. Now, do you have it?" Pete asked Sheldon.
"What are you going to do with it?" the physicist replied suspiciously.
"We're going to put it away somewhere safe, where it can't harm anyone else," Pete said.
Sheldon appeared to be considering the information. "Clearly, we have different priorities. Your goal is to obtain this orb, while I just want my friend—apparently my best friend—back unharmed. If you can help her, I will surrender the orb to your custody."
Pete glanced over at Claudia, who was still hanging around. "Sure, let's go see how your friend Penny is doing," Pete said soothingly. "If there's anything I can do for her, I will."
Sheldon led Pete out into the living room. Leonard, Howard and Raj were sitting silently on the leather couch, looking dejected as Myka kept a close eye on them. When Leonard saw Sheldon, he jumped up. "What are you doing, Sheldon?" he asked in a tense voice.
"This agent says he can help Penny," Sheldon answered. "He may be our best chance of liberating Penny from the state she is in, so I have decided to enlist his aid."
"What, you just believed him?" Leonard yelped. "I don't get it. You just met him. You're never this trusting with strangers."
"Consider this the result of finding out what happens when I trust my closest friends and then they stab me in the back," Sheldon hissed, pushing past him.
Leonard lurched as if he wanted to follow Sheldon or stop him or maybe even attack him, but he subsided quickly when the punk rocker girl pointed a tiny but scary-looking weapon in his face. "Don't even think about it. Chillax," she drawled. Waving the tesla at the sofa, she added, "Take a load off... and stay put."
Myka crossed the room and whispered to Claudia, "I don't think Pete should be left to deal with the artifact by himself. You think you can handle these guys?"
Claudia scoffed. "In my sleep, with one hand tied behind my back."
"Okay," Myka replied. "Just call me on the Farnsworth if anything comes up."
Myka walked out into the hallway, noting immediately that the door to the apartment directly across the tiny landing was open. She cautiously pushed open the door a few inches and halted in surprise. "Well, there's something you don't see every day," she muttered.
"Don't touch her," Pete warned.
Myka stepped into the room, carefully shutting the door behind her. "Trust me, I had no intention of doing so." She made a circuit around the glowing figure, which was hovering about a foot off the floor.
"Did Artie have anything more to say about this artifact?" she asked.
"I haven't heard from him," Pete responded, shaking his head. "It's a shame, isn't it? Pretty young thing like that," he said, nodding his chin towards Penny.
"Don't talk about her like it's already too late," Sheldon snapped. He had been intently watching the agents, and he wasn't sure he liked what was going on. "You promised you were going to help her."
Myka winced. "Just don't get your hopes up too high," she cautioned. "Usually the first person to be affected by an artifact... well, let's just say their survival rates aren't that good."
Pete turned back to Sheldon. "We really need that orb now if we're going to be able to do anything for her. Whaddaya say, pal?"
Sheldon sighed. "Under normal circumstances, I would maintain possession of the orb so I could run extensive tests on it myself at the Caltech physics labs. Unfortunately, right now I am so much a persona non grata that I am not even certain I still have clearance to enter the building. You should know that the orb went through scans in airport security and appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary rock."
"We use different kinds of tools. What we do is a little bit science and a little bit magic," Pete replied.
Sheldon frowned thoughtfully. He hated Pete's flippant use of the term "magic", but it was clear that he was dealing with some sort of energy or technology that he couldn't begin to comprehend. "Very well. I will defer to your expertise since I have no working knowledge of this situation." He turned and left the apartment. In just a few moments, he was back, holding the white sphere.
Myka's eyes widened to see him so casually holding an artifact. Pete held open a bag that looked like it was made of some sort of silvery plastic. "Just put it on the floor," he instructed, and then swooped the bag over the orb like he was trying to catch some small creature. There were a few sparks, and then Pete carefully wrapped the bag around the orb and secured it with tape.
"No effect on the girl," Myka noted.
Sheldon swung quickly back to look at Penny. His face twitched repeatedly as he contemplated his friend's unchanged state. "If you can't help her, I'll find a way to do it myself," he said in a low voice.
Pete laid a sympathetic hand on Sheldon's shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll figure this out. There's probably another piece to the artifact that we just haven't found yet."
Sheldon had pulled away from Pete's touch almost immediately. "I'm not your buddy. Don't you dare call me that... and I have no desire to sit around aimlessly while you and your incompetent teammates try to cobble together some makeshift solution. Your investigative techniques are flawed, and your methodology is almost non-existent. I won't make the same mistake of relying on others again." He turned and stalked out of the apartment.
Myka frowned and moved to go after him, but Pete stopped her by putting a hand on her arm. Unlike Sheldon, she didn't pull away, but she did look at him in annoyance.
"Hey, give the guy some space. He's been through a lot lately. Out of the handful of friends he had, all but one just double-crossed him, and now his one remaining friend has just been body-snatched by an artifact. We need to focus on neutralizing the orb's effects. I think that's the best way we can help Sheldon."
Myka nodded reluctantly. "I guess we can let those other three guys go. They don't seem to have anything to do with this."
"I don't know," Pete said slowly. "I'm still getting weird vibes off of Hoodie. Something's not quite right there, although maybe it's just his guilt over how he treated his friend."
"All right. We need to regroup and do some more research on this Eye of Freya," Myka said. "I think Claudia brought along some new monitoring equipment she's been dying to try out. We'll let her take a crack at the science end of things while we contact Artie."
The three agents helped Claudia set up her tech devices, and as they were doing so, they couldn't help but hear the raised voices across the hall. Apparently Sheldon had decided to evict Hoodie (aka Leonard), both for his sabotage of Sheldon's experiment and his willingness to sacrifice Penny's well-being in an attempt to cover up said sabotage.