Last two chapters guys! This is the fastest I've ever written and finished a story. I'm giving myself a gold star. I know it's full of holes and didn't quite achieve the levels of emotion that I was going for in some places but I'm proud of it anyway.
Thank you as always to folks who take the time to review; it always gives me a boost!
Bit of angst but plenty of fluffiness to wrap it all up. Hope you all enjoy the 'ending' ;-)
Chapter Fifteen
With some collaborative ingenuity between HG and Claudia, the time-machine was equipped with enough buttons and knobs to allow the agents to open a physical portal between their reality and the one where Myka was still trapped.
It took a few more hours and several attempts before they managed a stable opening, but the moment they had, Pete was lined up at the entrance, ready to be their envoy.
HG had wanted to be the one to search for their missing agent, automatically volunteering before she'd given it any thought, stating that she was the obvious choice because she knew the terrain, but needing to stay for both Christina and to keep the machine working had eventually convinced her otherwise.
The people who, one by one, appeared in their midst during the remainder of the night, were disorientated at first, but like Helena had when she first arrived in Limbo, soon began to regain their awareness. There was a decided increase in the speed of the victims' recoveries the more of them that were rescued, until finally, Pete returned with a tired but smiling Myka hanging onto his arm.
While Mrs. Fredrick and her body guard escorted the majority of the survivors out of the secret government facility, to God only knew where, HG closed down her newly improved machine and slipped away unnoticed, leaving Myka to be embraced enthusiastically by her very relieved surrogate family.
She wasn't sure what this feeling was, but she didn't like it. She had only had the barest of moments to catch those expressive green eyes in a glance of relief and happiness before Myka was whisked off into another hug, leaving Helena feeling terribly hollow. She had felt awkward, not knowing whether to join the fray or hold back, which had her immediately wondering if she belonged there at all.
Upstairs, she discovered her daughter asleep on a make-shift bed that Leena had thoughtfully knocked together and with the barest of words, managed to persuade the empathic young woman to give her and Christina a ride back to the B&B. Leena knew immediately that something was wrong but wisely decided to allow the tired inventor to deal with her doubts in her own time.
Myka felt her thoughts return to her with the force of a freight train the moment she was back in the Warehouse, but had no time to try and organise them as she found herself pulled into one hug after another. A brief flash of dark haunted eyes across the room jolted her memories of the last few days, but before she had a chance to act upon the moment, she was being crushed by another pair of arms. The next second she had to look around, Helena was gone.
It took a while for them, under Artie's watchful gaze, to dismantle and box up the time-machine. The task would have been draining enough after the two-week-long artefact snag they'd all endured, but the ever grumpy director insisted on making them suffer through his continued complaints about HG.
"... should be DOWN HERE," he shouted towards the stairs, "Helping to dismantle this monstrosity once and for all."
"Artie, we recruited HG to help get Mykes back," Pete's tired but still patient tone carried over the top of the crate they were packing. "She's done that. Are you really gonna give her a hard time because she rushed off to get back to her kid? Which is awesome by the way," he shot a grin at Myka, who surprised herself by flushing with pride.
"Yeah Artie," Claudia joined in from behind the lid she was holding up. "Leave HG alone already. She rocked ass on this case."
Artie let his end of the machine clang to the floor and regarded the agents incredulously. "Have you all lost your minds? May I remind you that she 'helped' once before and that none of you were any the wiser that she was planning to KILL US ALL!"
Steve raised his hand slowly. "I wasn't around then," he reminded them.
The old man grunted and began fighting with the machine again. "We should have recruited you earlier, then I'd have had you on my side against this lot."
Myka wanted to say something, anything to defend Helena against her boss' ranting, but she knew he had a point and a right to still feel betrayed and suspicious if he wanted to. 'That isn't who she is now though,' her inner voice reminded her firmly. She was too tired to fight, which she knew their heated discussion would become if she let her emotions get the better of her, so she continued to toil silently until the area was clear and they were all making their way back up to the office.
Her anticipation grew with each step, expectant at the thought of seeing the two Victorians again. Especially eager to see Christina in the flesh and reassure herself that the child she'd grown to care for in such a short amount of time was healthy and whole.
Upon opening the door to the office though, she was greeted with silence. Her gaze searched the now empty room, her insecurities reigniting at the thought that Helena had disappeared, playing on her trusting nature again. Artie's renewed explosion of accusations did nothing to help her spiralling thoughts.
"I knew it! Why else would she have left that infernal contraption in our hands?" He paced the floor, glaring it seemed at any place HG had sat while she had been there. "The first chance she had to run and she took it. I hope you're all taking notes."
Agent Bering wrapped her arms around herself unconsciously, wishing that she could find some comfort in the action and damn the flood of tears that threatened to break through her carefully constructed facade. The tumultuous thoughts that crashed around her mind were loud enough to drown out the others in the room until her gaze fell on a make-shift bed and a discarded book. Immediately, she began to find pieces to the puzzle that she hadn't known were there.
"Where's Leena?" She heard herself ask. All chatter around the room ceased and she gazed more confidently at each one of them. "She was here, wasn't she? Where is she now?" She watched as the director's pallor darkened and knew before he opened his mouth that he was jumping to the worst conclusions.
"If she thinks we won't pursue her just because she's dragging a child around with her...!" Artie was half way across the room, reaching for his bag and tesla when the slamming of a hand on his desk halted his progress and he turned to face his newly rescued agent's murderous stare.
At the dismissive mention of Christina, Myka had seen red and finally let the protective monster that rested against her chest loose. She ignored Pete's attempt to talk her down, pushing roughly passed him as she invaded her mentor's personal space, using her height advantage to back him into a corner.
"Now you listen to me, Artie," she growled, her voice a dangerous whisper. "Helena has endured your hatred for long enough. From now on I'm telling you to keep your spiteful remarks to yourself." She watched him begin to splutter his indignant response but didn't let him get into his stride. "I don't expect you to change overnight, but I for one am fed up of hearing it. I have more reason than any of you to feel betrayed and angry, but I know that she's not just some evil mastermind. She is capable of so much more than you give her credit for, both the good and the bad," she admitted reluctantly. "I'm not some simpering, trusting fool who needs to be scolded by you every other minute. She is brilliant but she needs our help," she turned to face the other agents in the room. "All of our help. Whether that's to show her patience and understanding, or just to keep your opinions to yourself," her voice hardened again as she turned back to a stern looking Artie. "Helena just got Christina back. She's going to be confused and terrified of losing her again and yes, she probably has already made plans for how she would escape if she felt threatened. With the way you've been treating her, it's not really surprising that she's on the offensive, is it?"
"I think you've made your point, Myka," Artie pushed easily passed her, relief evident on his face.
"My point is this," Myka continued louder, not giving up. "You treat her like a criminal and she'll always appear like one to you. She probably asked Leena to take her back to the B&B so she could put Christina to bed." She stalked across the room and picked up the puzzle book, waving it in the stubborn man's direction. "She's Helena's number one priority now... and mine too," she declared boldly, not realising until now how true those words would taste in her mouth, and not questioning why. She finally moved towards the exit, passed the target of her tirade. "Remember that the next time you think about threatening either of them," she finished, shoving the crumpled pages of children's brain teasers into his limp arms and striding with graceful power through the door.
The tension in the room dissipated gradually after Myka left but minutes ticked by before anyone spoke, the agents waiting on ceremony as Artie finally wandered over to his chair and sank into it.
"You think he's ok?" Steve whispered to Claudia, thinking that she would be able to judge their boss' mood best.
"Yeah, sure," she squeaked, sounding completely unconvincing even to her own ears. "Well, maybe not good or even fine, but he will be... in time," she added hopefully. "That was way harsh-o on Myka's part though. I've never seen her so Xenaesque before."
"Does that make HG, Gabrielle?" Jinxy asked doubtfully.
Pete happily followed the Seg-way, "Nah, they're both Xena today."
"And we all have a little Garbielle in us somewhere?" Steve asked, amused. "Myka is so more Gabrielle. HG has that dark past and all."
"You do have a point Jinxy," Claudia conceded. "Gabby had her kick ass moments between the Buddhist stuff. Perhaps you can help Myka to reconnect with her inner enlightenment."
"Stop that," Artie's voice came from across the office. "Do you think I can't hear your banal comments from over here!?"
"Artemis, you're alive!" Claudia approached the back of his chair and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Medusa didn't turn you into stone!"
"Get off of me!" He groused, flailing his arms again and drawing a smile from the young redhead. "I don't need three hens clucking about my well-being."
Pete placed a hand on his chest in mock offence and gasped. "Well," he began in a forced southern-belle voice. "If my concerns are misplaced, I'll take my leave." He threw his head back and pretended to push a lock of hair from his face. "Good day to you gentlemen, ma'am."
Claudia leant on Steve for support as she began to cry with laughter, while agent Jinks smiled wryly and shook his head at the other man's antics. Even Artie cracked a smile and called agent Lattimer back before he could disappear.
"Ok, ok," he began reluctantly. "I may have been... overly vocal with my opinions of late. I just... I didn't want to give her an opportunity to hurt Myka again. You'd think she might appreciate that," he grumbled under his breath.
"Hey, last time, HG had just woken from a hundred year conscious coma and had taken a long drive into Crazy Town. Even if she and Myka were visiting the sandman together, that's a lot of crazy to get over in a short time." Claudia explained in her own unique way. "Myka gets that. That's why she'd able to forgive past mistakes and try to move on."
"And hey, hey, hey; have you seen how cute that kid is? No wonder Mykes is all 'smitten'," he tried out a rough estimation of posh Britishness that would have made the Victorian agent cringe. "She's like a miniature HG."
Agent Jinks took pity on the confused director. "Artie, what I think these two are trying to say is that, Myka is in love with HG Wells and, troubled as she is, HG feels that same way about Myka." He looked to his colleagues for confirmation and continued when they both nodded. "I've spent a fair bit of time with HG this week and there was no more deception from her than any of us. We think they should have a chance to be happy."
"And who's going to pick up the slack when the great genius decides she'd had enough and leaves Myka in another pit of despair?" Artie insisted, still not completely mollified.
"We all will, Artie," Pete declared.
"It's what families do," Claudia followed up, wrapping her arms around the stocky man-child.
Artie threw his hands in the air and huffed out a breath of acquiescence. "Fine, fine. I will try. TRY... To be civil to that woman."