Hey guys, this one is a bit intense, I think, I wanted the story to really go somewhere, so it goes a bit AU, and if it's a bit sloppy, I apologise, the plot's still a bit all over the place in my head. But I hope you enjoy, and please review. All mistakes are mine, unbeta'd and I want to thank the guest who left the wonderful review, and thanks to anyone else that I've missed when replying to comments, I try to answer them all, they really mean a lot :)
Helena knelt next to Myka's prone figure, the agent lying on her back before the raven haired inventor, her thankfully warm hand clasped in Helena's tightly. Artie was searching through papers, talking to himself. Helena had abandoned any attempt to get him to tell her what he was thinking and instead decided to tend to Myka and Claudia. She had attempted to use the Farnsworth to contact Pete and Steve, but the machine had no signal. She had hurled it across the room with a frustrated yell of "Typical!" Now, she stared down at Myka's peaceful expression, watching for her chest to rise and fall. Her daze was broken a minute or so later as Claudia let out a loud gasp, shooting out of her previous spell of unconsciousness that she had fallen into soon after Helena had set her on the ground. Helena turned at the sound and grabbed Claudia's shoulders.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking deep into Claudia's brown eyes, seeing the pupils correctly adjusting to the light Helena shone onto them. Claudia nudged her hand away as she carefully sat up, Helena's guiding hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine…" she replied, tailing off as she saw the state of the office. "What the frak happened?" she asked, looking back at Helena. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the body behind the Victorian.
"You don't remember-?" started Helena, but was cut off by Claudia's cry of "Myka!" as the young techie scrambled to the older agent's side.
"Is she okay? What's happening? Where's Artie? What the hell is that?" All of this she blurted out at an incredibly fast rate, Helena barely able to keep up as she saw Claudia grasp Myka's hand, shake her shoulders, and, with Claudia's final sentence, point out of the window at the massive sphere of whirling energy.
"I don't know. I don't know. Over there. I don't know," replied Helena, in order, and this answer only reinforced how helpless she felt.
"Artie- OW!" Claudia shouted as she tried to get up, but the Warehouse shook again, throwing her off-balance and sending her crashing to the floor again. Helena had grabbed Myka's shoulders and held the still unconscious agent as the floor shook violently for a few seconds. Artie, on the other hand, had managed to stay on his feet, holding a piece of old paper in a scroll triumphantly above his head.
"Found it!" he yelled, sweeping all the remaining objects from the desk and unfurling the scroll. Claudia and Helena gathered on either side of him, looking down at the ancient looking paper.
"What's this?" asked Helena, looking over the thing.
"This…" started Artie, finger tracing one of the illustrations. "This is the answer."
"Yo, Artemis, care to clue us in?" interjected Claudia, massaging her right elbow.
"This is a plan of the… the…" Artie gestured in the air for the right word. "The brain, so to speak, of the Warehouse. The Warehouse is reacting to some sort of attack. I can only imagine that Mrs Frederick-" The floor shook again and the three gripped the desk, trying to stay upright as a filing cabinet across the room fell to the ground.
"Never mind. Basically, Claudia is being affected as she is the next Caretaker to the Warehouse-"
"What about Mrs F?" asked Claudia urgently.
"She's… I don't know," he replied, placing a hand on Claudia's shoulder as Helena continued scrutinising the scroll. "It could have weakened her to the point where control automatically went to you," he said. "That's why you've been feeling the Warehouse's pain."
"So she's…?" asked Claudia, unable to finish her sentence.
"I can't know for sure. Let's hope not. Either way, Mrs Frederick is too weak to fight for the Warehouse."
"Wait, fight?" interrupted Helena. "Claudia has to fight?"
"Maybe not! Look, will you two just let me finish?" demanded Artie. Both women fell silent. "Okay," sighed Artie, rubbing his brow, staring at the scroll. Depicted on the ancient paper was a wall with strange markings on it, like some form of runes or something. There was old, looping writing in the middle, written around the drawings. "There is somebody trying to take over the Warehouse."
"WHAT?" chorused Claudia and Helena.
"Silence! And it can only be another Caretaker."
"Another-?" asked Claudia, but Helena seemed to be catching on.
"Another person from the bronzer? That's the only way it's possible."
"I'm afraid so."
"How is that possible?" asked Helena. At this, Claudia swore. Helena and Artie turned their attention to her.
"Something you'd like to tell us?" asked Artie.
"Nick! It could only have been Nick! He was in the Warehouse, but I thought it was to steal something, I chased him out."
"Claudia! Check the cameras for the bronze sector!" ordered Artie. Claudia leapt across to the computer and typed as fast as she could, bringing up the camera feed and rewinding through it.
"There!" said Helena, pointing to the screen. Claudia played it and they watched Nick enter the bronze sector, use an artefact to help move one of the bronze victims and reverse the process. Then they spoke in German for a moment, which Artie translated, and finally left. Helena ran a hand through her hair as she cast a glance over her shoulder to see Myka stirring on the ground.
"Myka!" she cried, instantly at her side. Claudia and Artie returned to the scroll as they saw Myka seemed alright, Helena helping her to her feet at Myka's insistence.
"So this is the brain of the Warehouse?" asked Claudia, pointing to a small section that looked like a map in the faded ink.
"Yes. Every Warehouse is constructed from the same template."
"So this… Paracelsus… is in there?"
"I think so. Or he could be anywhere." Artie rubbed his brow for a moment. "Claudia, get as much information about Paracelsus as you can. Now!" Claudia obeyed without question, launching a search. Myka, meanwhile, was on her feet, feeling weary but otherwise okay.
"Myka, what did you say?" asked Helena cautiously. "Before, by the railings?"
"I… I said something?" Myka looked confused, but Helena could see a glimmer of recollection in her eyes.
"Yes, you mouthed something. You were in a strange trance."
"I can't remember," she replied. Sighing, frustrated, Helena gripped the front of Myka's shirt and invaded her personal space, staring right into her eyes.
"Myka, don't lie to me!" snapped Helena loudly, making every head turn towards her.
"Ah, Helena? I think you should let her go…" advised Claudia, having seen this look on Myka's face before, and the situation hadn't ended that well for Pete before. Myka's neck tensed, a typical sign of danger with her, as she used her height to her advantage, stepping within inches of Helena and towering over her, looking down at the Victorian. Although it was Helena who had killed MacPherson, Helena who had nearly ended the world and Helena who had sacrificed herself to save the Warehouse, she was now terrified of Myka. The look in her green eyes was enough to freeze blood, Helena imagined. But Helena didn't back down, instead stared back at her. She noticed the minute circles in Myka's iris. Odd, she thought to herself. Artie and Claudia had frozen in their tasks, watching how this stare-off would end. However, they'd never know, as the Warehouse shook again, throwing Myka and Helena together and forcing them to cling to each other to remain standing. When the quakes finally stopped, Myka helped Helena regain her balance and then stalked off to stand behind Claudia, her gaze switching between the screen and the energy outside. A few bolts of blue lightning cracked against the window. Helena joined Artie as they poured over the scroll, working out the information they needed.
"Artie!" yelled Claudia after a few minutes. Artie looked up from the scroll and hurried over at Myka's gesturing, Helena also joining them, a pencil tucked behind her ear. Myka couldn't suppress a small smile at the adorableness of Helena when she worked, but quickly wiped it off her face as Claudia began talking about what they had found.
"Paracelsus was Caretaker for Warehouse 9 before he was bronzed. It turns out that he was Nick's uncle. He made the Philosopher's Stone and wanted to make himself immortal. He tested his brother Bennett Sutton first, but Paracelsus also kidnapped his wife, Charlotte Dupres and his son and used the stone on all three. Paracelsus then used the stone to sacrifice an entire village full of people to make them immortal. Sutton decided to stop him from killing people."
"Right, so what's he doing here?" asked Helena.
"He wants the Warehouse…" answered Myka, her eyes glassing over for a moment, as if remembering something. "I could feel it, when I looked at the energy… He was talking to me. I could hear him in my mind, he told me that I… he said he wanted the Warehouse." She internally sighed in relief as she managed to cover her mistake. Except that Helena was giving her the look again, the one that told her she knew something was up.
"So he wants the Warehouse… he'll need to take over the brain."
"Which we can now locate," pointed out Helena, bringing over the scroll and pointing to the small section of map.
"Claudia, can you find that?" asked Artie. Claudia nodded and began typing, bringing up a floor-map of the Warehouse.
"So what do we do?" asked Myka.
"We have to stop him, Myka. We need to get Claudia down to take back over. I don't know exactly how, but she can do it. She's the Caretaker now, she needs to take power back from Paracelsus. Helena, Myka, you two will have to accompany her, make sure she's safe." Helena and Myka nodded.
"What about you?" asked Myka to Artie.
"I need to have a talk with Abigail," he said. "I'll see if I can fix the Farnsworths and bring Pete and Steve back."
"Alright, sounds like a plan," said Myka, tossing the Tesla to Helena and replacing it with a pistol. Artie went into a drawer and brought out one of Claudia's mini Teslas, handing it to her. Claudia reached out to take it, but Artie caught her hand in between his.
"Claudia, you don't have to if you don't want to," he said seriously. Claudia looked a little shocked. Artie scrutinised her face. She looked scared. Terrified. But there was the element of steel that made her strong. The same steel that had made her determined not to give up on finding her brother. And in that moment, he knew she wouldn't leave.
"I can't, Artie," she replied, her lip quivering ever so slightly. "I have to stay. I…" She glanced up, looking for the words, taking a deep, steadying breath that came out shakily. "I can feel it."
"If you're sure," said Artie, stepping forwards and wrapping his arms around the techie, who hugged him back. It was a short but sweet moment that was over all too soon as Artie pulled himself away, casting a quick glance to Helena and Myka, who looked ready to take down an army. Helena was armed with two normal Teslas, her grappler, it seemed, had been strapped to her leg the entire time, just in case, and was now slung across her belt. Myka stood with her pistol in its holster on her belt, the Tesla rifle held in her arms. Claudia had her small Tesla and one of her grenades on her hip. Artie shuffled out, leaving the three there.
"Ready?" asked Myka to Claudia, standing next to her. Claudia took a breath and nodded. Myka was used to field work, as was Helena. Claudia knew though, somewhere inside her, that this was what she had to do.
"You bet," smiled Claudia, hoping her nerves didn't show through her voice. Apparently she had failed, as Myka swept her into a tight hug, Claudia feeling tears brimming in her eyes as she pulled away, Helena giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead and a small hug as Claudia pried the door open, immediately buffeted by the wind as she walked along the gangway, shouting at the Warehouse in general, words of encouragement.
"Ready, Myka?" asked Helena.
"As I'll ever be," replied Myka, casting her gaze over the author, but then hurrying out of the door as soon as their eyes met. She couldn't do it. She couldn't lie to Helena and she didn't want her to know about her illness. Helena sighed as she followed after her. Something was wrong. Helena knew she would find out, she just hoped they were all alive at the end of this to actually talk about it. Checking the knife she had slipped into her belt from the office, she knew one couldn't be too careful.