AN – I own nothing and please support the official release.
Two weeks passed since Myka had been declared cancer free, two weeks of silence from Agent Torres as well, at least nothing big enough to cause a ping. In the office Artie had put of several pictures those of Lockhart, Torres as well as related artifacts to them like the Mayan Calendar, the Torres Compass, as well as the map that Torres mentioned to Steve and Myka. Artie explained that combining it with the compass could allow one to locate anything and in this case anyone. The older pictures showing the agents as well as the younger Artie threw everyone else off since in the old and the new Torres looked the same while Artie aged, wherever the calendar kept the agents it prevented them from aging. Sitting in the office Pete tossed a red ball against the wall before catching it wondering if he should be stopping Torres, or helping him. The agent had saved Myka's life using an artifact, he weighed the good and evil that came from it and took matters into his own hands. Squeezing the ball he set it aside and picked up the latest snag, an ancient Chinese weapon that was a stone on a string, basically now-a-days called a yo-yo imbued with the powers of its owner a young woman whose life became the story called Mulan. The yo-yo, when used correctly, could be used to throw shock waves at the enemy. It was crucial in battles against the Hun where Disney turned it into a rocket. For a modern world it didn't hold a real purpose so it would probably find a permanent home here in warehouse. No matter what the choice he would always have his friends, his family's back however what Torres believed in made sense. Artie once told him that if someone in the past found a modern day item they would lock it up, until they could determine if it was okay. They were just locking them up, there was no helping mankind and in a place of endless wonder. His thoughts were cut short as there door opened and his partner strode in.
"There you are," she called out and he turned offering a half smile setting the yo-yo down and resuming tossing the ball against the wall and catching it again.
"Another ping?" he asked as Artie came in and walked over catching the ball as it bounced back towards Pete.
"Easy ping," Myka said.
"Easy good," Pete nodded.
"Only a little easy, you two will be heading out to New York City for an auction for this item," he said punching into the computer as Claudia's device came on and projected the artifact into the air, an apron that slowly rotated. "Master Chef Frances Pierre La Varenne's Apron, gives any chef the sense of perfect taste, however at the cost of the other senses, they say that La Varenne went blind, mute and deaf by the time he passed on."
"That sucks," Pete muttered earning a giggle from Myka, "And now I'm hungry."
"You're also going to be keeping your senses up, that many different old items in one place could mean multiple artifacts in one place. Take the company black card," he said holding it out which Myka snagged before Pete did. "You have three hours." On the way to the airport Pete was distracted and Myka took notice of that.
"What's up?" Myka asked, "You didn't put up a fight when I asked for the keys or the black card?"
"Hungry."
"That's not your hungry face," she said poking his side smiling, she knew him so well.
"I'm just worried about the after effects of the pouch; I think we need to start studying the artifacts. Not just locking them away but seeing if there are any more that can save lives. Better the world."
"Oh Pete," Myka started but Pete shook her head.
"I know killing is wrong but what if the pouch could be used to heal kids who didn't get a chance and at the same time kill men who deserve to die. Isn't even one life precious? We also don't know if it was just a onetime cure, or if the cancer is gone forever or if it could come back." He would have continued but stopped as Myka squeezed his hand. "I'm just scared of losing someone else I care about, worried about losing you."
"I know, but I'm not going anywhere I promise and when we get back I'll ask Artie for all information on the pouch. Claudia will help too I know it and then we will know everything about the pouch even if that means asking the regents since your mom was able to help us get Steve back." Squeezing her hand back he nodded, she did help bring Steve back off of the Metronome. His purchase didn't take that long at all, however being the woman she went off to buy the perfect dress so that left Pete on the plane with time to think. There had to be a way to save everyone, he wished that no one else would die but that was an imaginary world. Coming out of the his thoughts as Myka told the pilot they were good to go before sitting down next to him, another perk of Mrs. F was her private jet, settling in Pete braced himself for the auction they couldn't miss an artifact going out into the world and causing more trouble.
Sitting in the section for bidders Pete flipped through the book seeing what was for sale already getting the paddles for the auction as well. Seeing the apron he flipped a few pages and came upon an item that gave him a vibe but something else caught his eyes and he turned to see Myka walking over to him. She looked stunning. Normally there would be some sort of quip like 'hubba hubba' but she really took his breath away.
"Come on quit staring," she said blushing and sitting down next to him.
"You just really look beautiful," he said handing her the paddle.
"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself," before the banter could continue the auction began. Thank goodness for the black card because the apron went for a lot and once it was sold Myka went to go bag it, they weren't going to have a repeat like Claudia's first bag, and Pete found himself watching Myka go.
"Good to see the pouch worked," said the man next to him and Pete realized that the person he was sitting next to this whole time was Agent Torres. Of course unlike everyone else Pete had only seen the pictures of Jacob Torres but he resembled all the pictures well. Jealously flared up for a moment as Pete asked.
"Are you here for the apron?" Pete asked but Jake just smiled.
"Former Agent means no access to the black card so I'm tracking someone who is buying up a lot of items, one of them is an artifact but that was sold before you two arrived."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Very if he tries to use it but I find most collectors simply like to display things. Seventy-two though, that's an artifact as well." Flipping through the pages Pete discovered it was the page that he had to vibe on earlier. Sitting down Pete felt Myka lean close to look at what he was looking at and Jake continued, "Adolphe Dugleres was a master chef who prepared the Dinner of Three Emperors, upon reading a menu Tsar Alexander II grew angry that an item wasn't there but instantly his anger vanished, imbuing the menu with an anger that caused the largest and most bloodiest rebellions in all of that country. It eventually led to his assassination."
"Torres," Myka said, "What are you doing here?" But Jake just winked as the auction continued and after they won Myka once again went to collect when Pete noticed Jake slipping out. Getting another vibe he followed him outside where he found the former Agent frozen looking at a round, older man with a book under his arm but a staff in his hand as well.
"It's been awhile Agent Torres, somehow you don't look different at all, must be one of those artifacts you hid away how selfish of you just like Arthur."
"Who's Santa Claus?" Pete asked since the man had white hair as well as a white beard and looked like an evil Santa in normal clothes.
"His name is Richard Henri, he's an ex regent who was banished for wanting to use artifacts to rule the world."
"Power is what we had, weakness was hiding it away," Richard snarled. Pete raised the tesla but lowered it due to a bad vibe.
"What do you want?" Jake said but Richard just smiled.
"What I've always wanted Torres, the Remati Shackle," Pete growled at that since his mother had that one, he wasn't going to let anyone hurt his family. "I'm going to amass enough artifacts to take it by force and your compass there will help be quite nicely." Suddenly he was struck by electricity as Myka came around the corner in the darkness. Dropping the book he looked hurt for a second before smiling and lifting his arm so the sleeve slid down revealing a bracelet with something attached to it, a key, Benjamin Franklin's Key. Lifting his hand at Pete he redirected the electricity and sent Pete crashing back. Running to him Myka fell next to him as Richard walked over to them ready to strike them down.
"Wait," Jake called out and Richard stopped, "The compass for their lives," he said having already removed it from around his neck. Richard smiled and held up the staff and a flash of blinding light turned the world white.
The next morning the three of them were sitting outside of one of the many coffee shops trying to get things together. By the time they could see again they realized that Richard was gone as well as all of their artifacts, the auctioned items as well as the compass.
"Don't you need that to find Jennifer?" Myka asked and Jake smiled at her.
"No I got it all down, I was just missing one thing and I needed access to the warehouse for that. I was going to offer the book to Artie as a peace offering before I ask for what I need."
"What is that?" Pete asked but Jake shook his head.
"Later, we need to deal with Richard first, if he wants the compass he's going to locate the shackle."
"My mom has it," Pete said and Jake nodded.
"Where is she?"
"Probably home in North Canton, Ohio."
"We should go there," Myka said.
"No, we need to head back to my place, he'll have a lot artifacts and one them is what he used to get away, Darius I's staff." Jake explained seeing Myka smile which got looks from both men. "What?"
"You remind me of Artie with your knowledge of the artifacts." Pete settled and nodded.
"I loved the warehouse, almost as much as I loved Jennifer, love her. I know how to save her now but if Richard wins then I lose all hope." With that he led them back to the airport and soon they arrived back in South Dakota in fact Pete and Myka were confused to see that they were at the Univille public library the librarian looked up and smiled at Jake.
"Mr. Smith, good to see you again," she said and he nodded back, heading into the stacks he opened up a hidden door and led them into his home.
"Mr. Smith?" Myka asked.
"Yeah, if I can save Jennifer then maybe I can save Agent Smith from the Escher Vaults, if I become a regent that's what I'm going to do. Make sure that we don't lose anymore great agents to artifacts." Leading them pass an unmade bed they noticed a desk with a computer on it that listed pings that they had been after the last two weeks. He knew but at the same time didn't go after them, "I went to every ping and when I saw you had it and were safe I backed off. In my love for the warehouse I love the men and women who put their lives at risk to keep it safe; they were like my real family." Showing them an area with several artifacts each with their own card. "Old habits are hard to break," he said with a grin, "I was fortunate enough to locate this item and procure it before anyone accidentally used it and yes it has a history most fowl but if we are to defeat Richard we might need it." He said motioning to the small device that rested on the table an A shaped device. "Sir Lenard Skeffington's model of the Daughter the other version of the rack instead of pulling the victim apart it crushes them together. Squeeze it and focus and you can do it to Richard, at the same time if held for too long the desire to use it more and move becomes overwhelming, a total dark vault item. Next item I collected probably won't help us; George Stephenson's Geordie lamp grants you night vision." Picking up the next item Myka gasped and opened it up.
"Is this?" She asked while reading excerpts.
"Yeah the original Aesop's Fables written by the man himself, during his time in slavery he wrote this book only containing ten stories instead of the many others he wrote later. The book gives hope and I can't see a downside, at least not yet."
"Hope is good," Pete mused.
"Yes but if we're going to defeat Richard we need more than hope and more importantly we need weapons," Jake said picking up one of the last two items a wooden sword and a medium sized gun that looked toy-like. "When H.G. Wells wrote her story the War of the Worlds and it became a huge success there was a man who wanted some of it so in America he wrote a story of his own staring a good friend of his, 'Edison's Conquest of Mars'. Of course Edison got his approval and HG; well she wasn't that happy with it. Of course being the country she was America and her people loved the idea of America taking arms and kicking ass. In the sense of the words the author, Garrett P Serviss, built this prop but it became imbued with his obsession to be a greater writer then HG. Of course as time tells us only one of them one that battle, Serviss' gun is only used when angry will fire a burst of energy at the target. And this beauty is Princess Kaguya's bamboo sword the very first story of a UFO in history though made of simple bamboo it can cut through anything. Almost anything I guess but that's a different artifact not yet caught." As they listened to him each was drawn to their own weapon Pete the gun and Myka the sword. Myka smiled as she heard him speak of HG.
"HG Wells is a woman you know," Myka said.
"Yeah I said her," Jake said, "Browsing the bronze section I noticed her, had to ask MacPherson if it was true or not. Pete when you use that think of everything that Richard will gain by winning, he might not kill your mom but if her life force is connected to the shackle he will have no choice. If he got it without killing her he'd be killing Mrs. F, he'd take over the warehouse and not let any of you stay. Claudia and Artie would fight to the death against him, as would Myka I believe, myself included. Channel all that hate into the gun but don't let it consume you, the amount of anger that the gun uses could warp inside you and twist your soul. If you know about it first it should be easier, of course I also have this," he went to a filing cabinet and withdrew something tossing it to Pete, it was a Saint Christopher's metal and hoping it he felt odd, happy, at peace. "Dr. Benjamin Rush created the Department of War in the seventeen hundreds, opposite of that was the Department of peace, unfortunately not created for another two hundred years. That is Senator Jennings Randolph's Saint Christopher's medal, bag it until you need it the man I took it from almost starved himself, was extremely content to not doing anything at all."
Pete nodded and slipped the medal into the bag as Myka tried the sword out.
"Negatives?" she asked as Jake came over.
"Nope, the princess was a great person also striving for peace only fighting to defend but now a day's mankind wouldn't use it for that intention." Myka nodded understanding what this would mean.
"When are we going?" Myka asked as Jake tucked something else away.
"Anytime, I don't know where Pete's mom might be, or he might come to the Bed and Breakfast because he had the whole injection bad reaction thing to keep him out of the warehouse, with the shackle he would be instantly cured though, able to move freely with unlimited access to the warehouse, unlimited power." Jake explained as the anger rose in Pete as he heard that the target was his mother. The anger intensified thanks to the gun but he calmed down as Myka came up to him and fumbled to put the Saint Christopher medal into his coat pocket where he felt the cool, calming metal against his skin.
"This gun is potent," he mused simply holding it at his side."
"Very," Jake agreed as they went to the door but Jake stopped. "I have to get one last artifact I'll meet you in the car." Once Myka and Pete were gone Jake went over to a safe and opened it up revealing a vase with a heavy lid that had carvings of an ancient Japanese household, lifting it up he set it on the table and used a rope to make sure the lid would stay in place, it was the Western Jin's Hunping Jar. The Western Jin was an emperor in the Jin Dynasty who was such an evil man that his hunping jar was made special. Normally built to allow safe travel of one's soul to the afterlife but Western Jin's had been made to trap and seal the soul. Holding it under his arm he went out to the car as well.
Having driven all day they discussed where to go first. Myka wanted to go to the Bed and Breakfast first but Jake disagreed after Pete reminded them that his mom had moved closer to be with Pete. Reading the worry on Pete's face Myka also agreed and took the next exit. Pulling up to the front of the Lattimer house they were surprised to see the two guards shoveling food into their mouths, snacks with the wrappers still on it. One had moved on to the grass in the front yard.
"It's the effects of the cook book, he probably used it on them to get in," Jake said and Pete nodded taking lead with the alien gun with Jake and Myka following with their teslas at the reads.
"Mom?" Pete called out when they heard a scream Pete started forward but Jake caught his shoulder. Pete started to shake free but Jake pointed and following his line of sight he was a camera lens sitting on the side table.
"Louis Le Prince was the father of motion pictures who vanished so Edison could take the credit for inventing motion pictures." Before Myka could neutralize it the image of Jane spoke.
"Wait, the lens also allows you to transfer words like a message. I know you'll find me so I'll keep it brief. Richard won't kill me right away; he wasn't the shackle but won't kill me for it unless that's the only way. He's taken me to the White River Badlands her in South Dakota, hurry." The image went back to the scared Jane who screamed and the message repeated.
In the car Myka typed the White River Badlands in her GPS while Pete and Jake tied up the guards to keep them from eating everything in sight. Once they were on the way Myka asked the most obvious question of why there?
"It consists of the largest deposit of Oligocene fossils anywhere in the world." Jake said.
"Oligocene?" Pete asked and Myka was glad for the distraction.
"It's the reason why the Warehouse is here in South Dakota instead of somewhere else in America. Oligocene is a period of time where the most diversity in changes in the world were done the animals buried there have such intense feelings, it's hard to describe. With how connected you are to the Warehouse you'll feel it as soon as we get there. It might be enough to intensify the artifacts he already has."
Two hours ahead of the trio Jane was sitting in a chair in the middle of a dried out riverbed. There wasn't anything holding her down but she still couldn't move and that was because of the lights that Richard had set up to hold her there. Stepping over to a table near her Richard set down a few artifacts and smiled at her.
"It's been a long time Jane and I was surprised to learn that you were the new caretaker. No begging or screaming?" he asked but she didn't speak so he slipped on a wrist band. "I wish I didn't have to do this but if I won't be let in with permission I'll get in by force. I have three artifacts here and if two of them don't work I'll be forced to kill you and take it." With that he grabbed her arm and pulled it out to the side, even though he could move she still couldn't. "I believe that Arthur and Jacob took after me when I was a regent, advanced memory of artifacts, so of course you don't remember these artifacts." Lifting her arm he tried to pull the shackle from her with no success so he walked to the table and picked up a silver mace.
"No you'll break it!" Jane shouted.
"I have waited too long so I guess I should just kill you now, I'm sorry." He stated but was silenced as a blast of energy hit him and threw him across the way.
"No wait," Jane shouted as Myka ran to free her. Once under the light Myka fell to her knees struggling to stand against it. "Under the light our mass is increased or something." She explained as Pete and Jake went over to Richard, "But he's not effected!" she tried to warn but it was too late.
Richard shot his fist out and knocked Jake back who hit hard and dropped the tesla out of reach. Pete dodged as Richard went for the mace and Pete fired again missing Richard but getting between him and the mace. Rolling away Richard pulled out a recorder and spoke into it.
"You're too late, they are all dead." Clicking it he rewound it and held it up. Hearing the voice played over the recorder Pete fell silent for a moment. Richard was hoping for depression and it would have worked if Pete didn't hold that rifle which took that little bit of anger at himself and Richard and expanded in tenfold. Lifting the gun Pete fired and all the rage behind him thinking that Myka, his mom even Jake were dead fired into Richard who went crashing hard into the rocks, so hard that the wall collapsed on him. Rushing over to the recorder Jake pulled out one of the bags that Myka had given him and bagged the recorder which sparked a lot but he didn't care dropping it and rushing to Pete. Reaching into his jacket pocket he took the gun and made Pete squeeze the medal. Once he saw that Pete calmed down enough he went to turn the lights off the women and they all went back over to Pete who was calming down.
"Is it over?" Pete asked and Myka smiled hugging him.
"What was all that?" Myka asked as Pete bagged the medal.
"The recorder comes from a psychiatrist in World War one," Jake started but found himself too tired, "it forces the listener to think what is said into the recorder is real. Richard wanted Pete to go into a depressed coma but thanks to the gun he got angry and killed him."
"He's not dead," warned Jane who pushed away the rubble. Quickly Jake ran back to the car and returned to Richard with the jar as Jane took off the wrist band.
"This has to be done; he can heal and might come back but instead of bronzing this will trap him forever." Unlike the others Jane recognized the jar and nodded allowing Jake to seal Richard's soul inside, once it was gone his body also vanished. While they did that Myka started to bag the other artifacts including the cookbook, on the way back to the car Jane squeezed Jake's shoulder.
"You have my support, I'll speak on your behalf to get you reinstated and then we'll get your partner back, I promise." She said smiling at him and he nodded, he hopped so.
AN – Lots of artifacts:
Mulan's Yo-yo - Creates shockwaves
Frances Pierre La Varenne's Apron - Gives any chef the sense of perfect taste
Adolphe Dugleres's Cookbook - Can cause people to want to keep eating
Benjamin Franklin's Key - Shoots lightning
Darius I's Staff - Creates a blinding light
Sir Leonard Skeffington's Daughter - When squeezed and focused was able to fold victims in half, crushing them.
George Stephenson's Geordie Lamp - Night vision
Original Aespo's Fables - Gives hope
Garrett P Serviss' Raygun - Uses anger to increase power
Princess Kaguya's Bamboo Sword - Cuts through an metal
Jennings Randolph's Saint Christopher's Medal - Grants peace
Louis Le Price's Camera Lens – Projects perfect holographic images
Monte Saldo's Wrist Band – Increases strength for eight minutes.
The Great Gama's Silver Mace – Can break most things
The Western Jin's Hunping Jar – Captures someone's soul