Only OCs in this one, I'm sorry. But a lot Warehouse season 1 references.
Thanks to Aimofdestiny for the beta.
2044
Sarah's eyes snapped open. Automatically, she reached out her hands, as though she tried to fight off somebody who wasn't there. There was no reaction from anyone, so the time traveller decided it was best to try hiding first. She dropped herself out of the chair, away from the side where the locker's door was and where Paul's screens were.
There was still no reaction, so Sarah peeked over the time machine's chair to find the rest of the room empty. Kurt Parker was nowhere in sight. Neither was Julia.
Paul's lifeless body was leaned against the locker's wall. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing rhythmically. Sarah stared at him while ripping off the devices from her head and carefully pulling a needle out of her arm - apparently Julia had tried to give her some fluids. Sarah knew she shouldn't get rid off that but she needed to have her arms free. The time machine beeped quietly in reaction to the loss of contact to Sarah. The writer was alarmed, she quickly reached towards one of the computers connected to it and ripped out some cables.
Now, the machine was completely quiet. The girl sighed in relief.
Then, she crawled over to Paul, looking around nervously. It was too quiet for her taste. God knew were Kurt was now. Probably, he was looking for Adelaide and the gem. Or he just wanted to jump out from somewhere in surprise.
Sarah anxiously eyed the locker's door while she checked her brother's pulse. He had gotten a major shock, the Tesla seemed to have been adjusted on one of the higher settings. But he was alive.
Sarah decided to find Kurt. She had to find him. To fight him. He had threatened her family, her friend. He was still in the Warehouse... This time, there was an intruder in the Warehouse she could fight. The girl took a deep breath to steady herself.
"Fine." She quietly spoke. "I know I've barely been here in the last three years and you're probably mad at me for that. I know there's something between us we don't talk about. But now, I need your help, like you tried to help me with the ravens in the past."
She could feel the Warehouse. Her connection to it. It was concerned, wanted to help.
"Show me." The writer closed her eyes. "Where did he go?"
There was this scent. This strong scent of apples reaching out for her. Sarah had followed this scent so often, being led and guided by this entity. When her parents thought she had gotten lost in the Warehouse.
"Thank you." The girl breathed. And then rose from her crouching position to sneak out of the locker. The aisle was empty, Kurt was nowhere in sight. Right or left? Sarah looked in both directions, sensing the scent of apples becoming stronger on the left sight. She smiled and followed the Warehouse's lead, jogging down the aisle. Quickly, she turned right at a crossroad. At the end of the path she had chosen, Sarah spotted two figures, one slightly taller than the other one. One of them held something to the other's head while they walked.
"Parker!" The writer yelled and watched them spin around. At a hurried pace, she approached Kurt and Julia. The older man still was still threatening the medicine student with a gun, holding a Tesla in his other hand. Sarah surveyed them quickly while getting closer, looking for a way to free Julia from him. Parker was crazy, he was obsessed with Sarah. This could be a chance for her.
"Why are you leaving so early?" Sarah demanded to know and showed him a bright grin while still approaching them. "We aren't finished, are we?"
Kurt chuckled. "You were passed out for a few minutes and that wasn't funny. So I decided to get my artifact so I could show you after you'd woken back up." He replied calmly. Julia next to him sweated profusely, Sarah could watch the drops on her forehead running downwards. The medicine student whimpered when he pressed the gun firmly against her temple.
In front of them, the writer stopped. "Well, Parker, you told me you were so fond of me... and now you don't even want to greet me when we're finally able to meet in person?" Sarah smiled. She could hear the buzz of the Warehouse's static energy above their heads.
"You're cheeky." Parker narrowed his eyes at her. "Cheeky little girl."
"Well, I am here now. Isn't that what you wanted?" She tilted her head. "Here I am. In all my glory. And you decided to walk away? I'm disappointed."
The man still looked the same as back then, he had just aged. Grey hair, still the same glasses, blemished skin.
"You're wonderful." He gave back in a low voice, his eyes slowly wandering up her body. Sarah pursed her lips to suppress her sudden nausea. "But... we aren't ready. Right, my little writer? We need the artifact so everything will be perfect." He sighed. "It'll be so perfect."
Julia whimpered when he again forced her to turn around. The Warehouse was angry, but Sarah shook her head. "Not yet." She whispered.
"Kurt." Sarah rose her voice again. "Do you think I'll let you go? You came to my house. To my house, Kurt. And now you want to leave before knowing my secret?"
Kurt froze. "Secret?" He asked, sounding genuinely interested.
"Well, there is so much you know about me. You did so well. So much research. And now you're missing my secret. There is something about me you don't know." She grinned, because she knew he had taken the bait.
"Cannot be. I know everything about you. Everything. I'm good at knowing things." Parker hissed, sounding angry.
"Well, then it seems you failed, Kurt. I'm disappointed. Because it's really important information." The time traveller took a few steps back in anticipation of what would happen.
Slowly, the man turned around, forcing Julia to follow him. "Tell me, Sarah Bering-Wells." He whispered.
Sarah looked into Julia's eyes and tilted her head slightly to the right. With tears in her eyes, the blonde nodded almost imperceptibly. "Well, now Kurt... now... You won't know." The writer looked up to the ceiling. "Because this is my damn house!" She yelled and then jumped aside.
The lightning thundered down into the aisle with a force that threw Sarah backwards, lifting her off her feet. Sparks emerged through the shelves, artifacts fell out of it with a loud rattling noise. Then it was quiet for a short time.
"Julia! Run!" Sarah shouted and got back on her feet. She saw the medicine student jump up and run away into the next aisle, while Kurt lay on his back and struggled to get up, rising his gun first. He pulled the trigger. The bang of a bullet hitting a shelf right next to her caused the writer's eyes to widen in shock. Sarah backed up carefully, turning away from him and disappeared into the next aisle.
"SARAH BERING-WELLS!" Kurt screamed in anger and frustration. She had made him angry, but the writer didn't care. She had helped Julia to run away from him. This was Sarah's house. This was her house, she was in charge. She could fight him!
The time traveller heard another shot and the wood of the shelf right next to her splintered. Parker was in such a rage that he was using his gun on her now. "You won't get my secret if you kill me, Kurt!" She yelled over her shoulder, turning into another aisle.
"Then stop running, little writer, and I won't have to!" He gave back, with one of those by-now-faliliar high-pitched giggles. Sarah took another bend, flipping over a smaller shelf, dislodging a dodgeball. Quickly, she ran down the aisle and then hid behind an armchair. There, she watched her stalker facing the ball flying at him. He grunted as the ball hit him in the gut, multiplying after contact. Now he stared at two balls and groaned.
"Artifacts!" He exclaimed. "You're trying to fight me with them. Silly tiny things, little writer, and so petty. I will..." He rose his weapon and fired at one of the balls which burst into a big explosion of sparks. Then he did the same with the other one. The intruder of the Warehouse looked up. "So where are you now, Sarah Bering-Wells? You cannot hide forever. I found you once, I will find you again." And there it was again, that damned giggle of his.
The writer looked up at the shelf next to her, finding an old microphone and smiled. She quickly took it and held it in front of her mouth.
"I'm everywhere." She whispered and heard her voice coming from all sides of the Warehouse. "In front of you, behind you, next to you. Catch me if you can."
She stood up and ran away, out of his sight, still talking into the microphone. "There is so much you know about me, right, Kurt?" The time traveller grinned, making her way through the aisles. "But it's not enough. You don't know everything. You can never know everything, Kurt. And it bugs you, it gnaws at you..."
Sarah tackled a shelf and watched the mirror ball from Studio 54 falling out of it. She ran on, taking side steps. As the ball hit the ground, music and flickering lights started filling the entire warehouse. This should confuse him even more.
"Argh!" She heard his voice over the music. "Are you trying to play hide and seek with me, my little writer? I'm very good at seek."
"Well", she spoke into the microphone, "Then you should feel challenged. I come from a family that is very good at hide."
She looked up and recognised the copy of the B&B a short distance away. Maybe she could trap him inside of it.
"Well, you changed the rules by adding artifacts." He yelled, close. He was close to her. But she needed him close to trap him in that house.
"My house, my rules!" Sarah gave back, heading down the aisle.
"Then I will play by your rules." Kurt shouted with another chlildish giggle and suddenly there was a small earth quake that shook Sarah until she fell. The microphone slipped out of the time traveller's hand and rolled underneath the nearest shelf. Sarah cursed loudly. Her jeans were ripped at both knees and she could feel that her skin was bruised. That damn walking stick!
The writer jolted up again, back on her feet and spun around to find him walking right towards her, holding an ancient looking warhammer. "Your rules." He spat at her and struck out. The writer ducked quickly. She took a step towards his side, punching him in the ribcage.
Parker gasped for air, tumbling sideways against a shelf. He seemed to have put his gun in his pocket to be able to handle the warhammer properly. It fell out now and slid across the floor.
Sarah's eyes widened, facing the gun. She took a quick step in its direction: she needed it. She needed to be armed against him.
Suddenly something heavy hit her. It was Kurt, who had tackled her. The time traveler fell down on her hands and knees and felt his foot making forceful contact with her stomach. The air was pushed out of her lungs and she couldn't hold herself up on her arms anymore, breaking down. Weakly, she turned around to face him, trying to prop herself up on her shaking elbows, failing badly.
The stalker just grinned, swinging the hammer in his hands. "You shouldn't run any longer, Sarah Bering-Wells." He proclaimed and the held the warhammer above his head.
A quick strike and Sarah was screaming from the top of her lungs. She felt the bones in her right calf break, twisting, the pain unbearable. He had broken her leg. Sarah fell back weakly, still screaming because she couldn't help herself. She had felt pain in her life. She had seen her mother die again and again. But this was different, this was physical pain: numbing her senses, creeping up her limb, forcing the scream out of her mouth.
"You're grounded!" Kurt proclaimed and grinned. He held the hammer over his head for another strike. Sarah's eyes widened in fear.
But then, somebody hit the man from the side. It was Julia, tackling him. "Let her go, you..." Was everything the writer heard through her own helpless grunts and groans.
Parker tumbled through the aisle, dropping the hammer. He was confused and distracted, but it didn't seem like the medicine student had thought this through. Quickly, Kurt shook the short woman off, going for her arm. He pulled her close, shielding himself with her, his arm wrapped around her neck.
"You do always forget I have the knife." He hissed into her ear and then reached for his pocket.
Through her pain, through the blinding tears running down her cheeks, Sarah stared at him threatening her best friend with a knife. She had to help her! Quickly, the writer propped herself up. She looked over her shoulder, finding the gun still lying a few metres behind her. She had to reach it.
"There won't be another strike of lightning, Sarah Bering-Wells." Kurt purred. "I'm prepared. I'm prepared for it. Another lightning strike and I will cut her throat. You can't jump away from the lightning. I've grounded you. I've figured everything out."
The time traveler shifted her own body a little bit backwards, in the direction of the gun. She nodded and decided talking to him to keep him busy, trying to ignore the agony in her leg, and failing. "Yes, Kurt. You've figured everything out. You found the Warehouse, you've found me. You're a smartass."
"I am smart." Parker grinned. "Everything. I know everything about you, Sarah Bering-Wells."
"But Kurt." Sarah replied, staring at him while her hand groped for the gun. "There's still my secret. The thing you don't know because you cannot know. There is something you cannot know about me. Because you never witnessed it. In all those years you've been searching for me. Not even back in 2014."
"What?" Kurt shook his head slightly, the blade of his knife inching closer to Julia's throat. The medicine student whimpered quietly.
"It's something you cannot know because I've never done it in your presence. Because I refused to do it, Kurt. Because I hate it." Sarah's fingertips made contact with the gun. She shifted a little further. "But it's an important fact about me." Her fingers curled around the gun's grip.
And by finding the object she was reaching for, Sarah was reminded of the day that had never happened. The day she had pointed a gun at her own mother.
"What is it? Speak to me, little writer. Or your friend will die." Kurt hissed.
Sarah looked at his face. Her friend's head was covering its lower left. Sarah looked at them, judging the amount of space. She could see that grin on his face vanish as she quickly lifted the gun. "I'm not only really fast, Kurt..." She yelled angrily, pointing the gun at him.
"I'm also extremely good at aiming."
And then she pulled the trigger. The bullet emerged from the gun with a loud bang which hurt Sarah's ears. It hit him in the face, right between his eyebrows. A small yelp escaped Julia's throat. The stalker's grip loosened around her as his body fell to the ground. The medicine student jumped away from him, breathing heavily.
Sarah's head fell back and she dropped the gun. The pain in her leg flooded her mind. Nausea hit her and she felt dizzy. She was exhausted.
"Julia, are you alright?" The writer mumbled weakly. She heard the blonde approach her. "Sarah!" Julia whispered while hastily kneeling down next to her. "Your leg!"
The writer looked at her friend, directly into the other woman's blue eyes. "You will have to wake Paul" She panted. "Slap him until he wakes up. Or something. Or look for a Farnsworth to call Adelaide. I will not... I can't...get up... I... maybe..."
The medicine student nodded. She carefully caressed the time traveller's forehead, brushing the other woman's sweat-dampened curls out of her face. "Close your eyes, Sarah." She murmured fondly. "I know it hurts like hell. Close your eyes and think about something nice. I'm taking care of you. I got you. And faster than you know, you're in the hospital and everything is fine."
Sarah's eyes slid closed of their own volition. She was so tired. The pain flooded her mind, the dizziness increased... and then everything went black.