a/n: Here's the artifact introduction. It's rough and hopefully I'll be able to explain throughout this bit of the story line. This 'Hunt' section will be about 3 parts/chapters, then we'll go into their happy, fluffy, smutty lives that we all love so much. The entire story isn't about this artifact, this is just an artifact that is gonna be around for a little bit. I hope you guys don't ostracize me for writing this chapter.

I'd like to thank my lovely, beautiful, wonderful friend Irish Eyes 10. She helped me get over the fear of changing things up and gave me an amazing list of crazy artifact ideas. Love her! :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

The Farnsworth blaring is what caused Myka to fall out of bed. Sarah immediately rolled over, claiming her mother's spot as her own, shoving her face into the pillow.

"Bloody hell!" Helena looked at the time which read 4:23 AM. "Tell Artie that I will kill him."

"Not if I do it first." Myka said sleepily, opening the Farnsworth. "You want Helena to kill you or do you want me to do it?"

"Um… well if I have a choice, I choose you Mykes because that old lady still scares me a little." Myka was surprised to see Pete on the other end, looking over to her two girls in bed and seeing that they were both fast asleep.

"Sorry Pete, I didn't know it was you. Wait, what are you doing up?"

"We have a ping. Get to the B&B as soon as you can."

"Okay, let me get Helena and let Sarah know we'll be over there." Myka started to shake Helena awake until Pete stopped her.

"Actually Mykes? We only need you. H.G. can stay with Sarah on this one." Helena quickly sat up when she heard this, all evidence of sleep wiped off her face.

"That normally means it's a dangerous artifact." Helena's head popped into view on the Farnsworth. "What is it?"

"Um... I'll let Myka fill you in after the briefing. Bye!" Pete hung up before H.G. could reach through the screen and kill him.

"Myka?" Helena looked at her wife, worry filling her dark brown eyes. She always worried when they were dealing with dangerous artifacts, especially if they couldn't go together. "Maybe I can convince Artie to let me go along with you." The fear in the Brit's voice broke Myka's heart.

"Baby we made a deal remember?" Myka cupped her wife's cheek, craddling her face in her hands. "One of us has to be here for Sarah." They both looked over at their little girl who was deep in sleep.

"But..."

"Pete will take care of me okay?" Myka said, taking Helena's hands into her own and giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Go back to sleep baby, I'll get dressed, go to Leena's and come right back." Helena nodded, forcing a smile on her face as Myka leaned in to kiss her. "I'll see you both for breakfast."

...

Myka walked into the B&B, hair thrown up haphazardly into a loose bun, wearing a big t-shirt and sweat pants. She was surprised to see Pete standing there with a giant cup of coffee in his hand. As soon as he handed it to her, Myka guzzled the hot liquid down; a sigh of content escaping her lips as they made their way to the dining room.

"So what's going on?"

"A ping. A big one." Claudia spoke while typing away on her lap top.

"Where?" Myka worried her lip nervously, knowing a big ping always meant big trouble.

"New York." Claudia turned around with a dramatic smile on her face and jazz hands.

Artie handed a file to Myka, who reluctantly opened it up. "Your flight leaves this afternoon. Read up."

Myka quickly scanned through the pages, her mind processing every word, every picture, going back through her memory of the warehouse inventory lists, trying to make a connection... but there wasn't enough information yet. They needed leads.

"13 young women missing?" She looked at Claudia. "Did you find anything else? Is there something similar about these women? and why are we assuming it's an artifact and not just a creep who's kidnapping young women?"

"Let's see. They are all pretty tall, young 20's to early 30's, brown hair, light green or blue eyes, Caucasian." Claudia shrugged her shoulders, this was all in the file. "So far that's it on the women, and we are suspecting Artifact interference because there were a few weird things going on with mirrors. Plus the warehouse pinged it, so we need to assume it's smelling trouble. I also got a lead on where you guys can start."

"Where's that?" Myka asked, skimming back through the file.

"There was a huge auction in New York City a few weeks ago. A collection of Original props used in shows on Broadway. A woman reported that one of her items was stolen last week. That's when all these kidnappings started. We have a handfull of Broadway artifacts here, so that place could have been filled with artifacts. I mean, come on... original props mixed in with a moody actor's repressed feelings and emotions. Hello Artifact creation!"

"Aren't artifacts usually created by something big and great happening?" Pete asked confused.

"Yeah... so what was the biggest, greatest play ever written?" Claudia looked at the walking brain that was their friend Myka.

"It depends on who you ask." She said absent mindedly, still reading through the file, all while pacing back and forth.

"Well, what would you say?" Pete stopped Myka mid step.

"I like Les Miserables, or Phantom of the Opera, mostly because of the novels, but in Phantom, the dancing is amazing. There were also some amazing performances and performers coming out of those shows. Epic." Myka sat at the table next to Claudia.

"Those are both extremely depressing shows... Let me see." All that could be heard for a solid minute was the sound of Claudia's fingers furiously hitting the keys of her lap top. "There!" Everyone jumped, startled by the woman's voice. "The original mask from the Phantom of the Opera!" She typed on her lap top a little more. "Ding ding ding! That very mask was at the auction, bought by the woman who reported it stolen. It's the mask." Claudia finished, polishing off her nails on her pajama top.

"That's not in the warehouse." Myka stated matter of factly.

"Obviousy Myke's... its in New York... we think."

"No Pete! I mean it wasn't in any of the files. There's no way to find out about this artifact."

"How do you know that?" Pete asked, stuffing a muffin into his mouth.

"I ran through the inventory lists in my head and I don't remember seeing a Phantom of the Opera mask on any of them."

Everyone's jaws dropped at the ease with which the woman in front of them said that; as if it was completely normal to memorize hundreds of thousands of random, weird objects.

"What?" She looked at her team, slightly embarrassed, pulling her arms into her body protectively.

"Um... the mask is an artifact, I hacked the regent files and found some artifacts that went missing way before we all arrived here. The mask is one of them." Claudia shrugged, avoiding Artie's glare.

"What does it do?" Myka asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Looks like it causes the person who touches or wears it to feel how the character felt; about themselves, about other people. They'll go mad. They can also use the mask to get what they most desire." Claudia looked at Myka after reading the screen, gazing questioningly. "Is this bad? I mean 13 women are missing but... is this bad?"

"Erik, the main character of the play; the phantom... he was deformed and he wore the mask. He lived under the Opera House and he caused some trouble; you know, sabotaging the rehearsals, and scaring the life out of the actors." Myka stood back up, pacing again.

"What is it Myke's?" Pete asked his troubled partner.

"I'm thinking about the novel. I think the original wearer of this mask, I think he read the novel as a research tool because the artifact it sounds more like Erik from the book rather than the phantom from the play, plus you mentioned the mirrors." She looked over at the techie who nodded.

"So mirrors are important!" Pete said, pretending to be on the same page as his genius friend.

"Well, yeah. When he sees his reflection in the novel, he throws himself at the mirror and starts hitting it, shattering it. He was insane, wild and he..." She stopped mid sentence.

"He what? Earth to Myka..." Pete waved a hand in front of Myka's face.

"He fell in love. He became obsessed with Christine Daae, a dancer. Claudia were those girls all dancers?"

Claudia pulled up a search engine and found out that they were indeed all dancers, in the same company.

"That's the connection." Myka whispered. "We have to find the artifact as soon as possible, before more women go missing." She started walking out.

"Hey where are you going?" Pete shouted after her.

"I'm going home, filling Helena in, and having breakfast in bed with my girls before we have to leave." Myka smiled weakly, feeling a little strange. She felt as though something was going to happen, but wasn't quite sure what it was. 'Pete would have told me if he had a vibe.' Myka thought as she walked back to her house.

When the door shut behind Myka, Pete turned around and looked at Claudia and Artie. "I'm getting a weird vibe."

So that's that. They have an artifact... Took longer because I needed help thinking of something to use which my lovely, beautiful, amazing friend Irish Eyes 10 helped me figure out. Remember, this artifact will be here for a few chapters. If you're not liking anything, let me know. I'm not good with artifact stuff so this is a perfect fandom to write for... please review and let me know what I can fix or add into the next chapter. I'll try to make this go quick so we can get back to the fun bits. Love you all for your support. XO