The Team Behind the Woman
Andy Nelson could feel the tension as soon as he stepped into the South Dakota location. He had no way of knowing that it was due to the fact that the Warehouse inhabited three locations – a necessary, but dangerous situation. Ordinarily, the transfer from the old to the new location was taxing enough. It had never done the process in three separate places. While fending off the reengagement by the Australia team, it was moving things from South Dakota to New York, trying not to be detected.
"What the heck?" Andy asked as he looked around to see what the loud creaking noise was. "A little help here….," he shouted into the air. He tried to reach Damien to see if in fact, he had found the former agent.
Damien was a little busy at the moment.
As soon as Helena and Myka entered the aisle, Damien and Demetri were waiting.
"Are you the individuals responsible for detaining Miss Sullivan?" Helena asked as she slowly moved towards them.
"Yes, I am Agent Blake," Damien said. "We were following orders."
"I'll put that as your epitaph," Helena said, her voice calm and deep.
Demetri stared at the tall, slender woman and immediately decided he could snap her like a twig if he had to. That foolish, foolish man.
"Agent Wells, I presume?" Damien said. He stood erect and wondered if his side kick could, in fact, protect him. All those years with a desk job did not keep Damien as fit as he wished he was.
"That is no longer my moniker," Helena informed him and they all heard the low moaning sound – as the structure winced.
"What the hell was that?" Demetri asked his boss as the sound surrounded them.
"We were given instructions on how to get you here," Damien offered again because the closer Helena got, the easier it was to see that she was very determined. He had hoped to avoid a confrontation, but now that he was instructed to invite one, he wasn't about to waste Demetri's talent. "Don't let her get too close," he whispered to his young ward. "The girl is unharmed," he reminded Helena.
"That is why you're still breathing," Helena said and as hard as Myka tried not to get turned on by this, Helena's badassery excited her.
"You can …handle them?" Myka whispered from behind and Helena turned and smiled devilishly.
"If you have any weapons, I suggest you put them down right now. I do not want them near my wife," Helena instructed as she pushed the sleeves of her leather jacket up just a little.
Feeling confident that they had accomplished their mission, Demetri boasted that what they had were their 'smarts'.
"Pity," Helena replied, smiling. This was almost too easy. She knew any second the younger agent with the shorter fuse would attempt to charge her.
"Helena, he's kind of big," Myka whispered just before the agent jumped out in front of Helena and announced his various degrees in several martial art forms.
"You know what they say about how the big ones fall," Helena commented.
"I must warn you, Agent…," Demetri said….. right before dropping to the floor. He never even saw Helena's left fist as it struck his carotid artery in his neck. Gravity took over and he made a very loud noise as he landed.
"See? It's true," Helena smirked to Myka.
Damien had heard of such maneuvers, but had never actually seen anyone capable of using them. Until today. Now, there was nothing between him and the leather-jacketed force.
"Be careful, darling," Helena said sweetly as she helped her wife step over the unconscious brute.
"I was given a set of instructions to get you to come here, Agent…Ms. Wells," Damien said, reminding Helena that he was following orders. "It hasn't been so long ago that you would have done the same."
"You touched my family," was all Helena said before striking the man so quickly he had no time to react. He fell to the ground. "That headache should remind him never to do that again."
Myka was just pleased that they had been dispensed with so quickly and that they could leave.
"Well done, Helena," came the voice that surrounded them and made Myka grab onto Helena's arm. Unlike the whispers before, this time Myka could hear it.
"What the hell is that? Who is that?" Myka questioned - her grip on Helena's arm tighter now.
"I suspect that is the reason we are here," Helena said softly and pulled Myka closer.
"I am in need of your services, Helena," the voice said and Myka looked around to see the body that should be accompanying that voice.
"I am no longer in service to the Warehouse," Helena said, unsure of whom she was speaking to. In all her years in the Warehouse, she never once heard it speak. Or had she? "How do I know this isn't part of a devious plan?" the cautious agent in her questioned.
"Do you remember this, Helena? " the unrecognizable voice asked and the next thing they heard was at least four distinct voices speaking in succession. It was four different news streams – relaying the sinking of Titanic, the end of WWII, the assassination of JFK, and the landing on the moon. Each update had a different voice.
Myka didn't quite get what it was, but suddenly, she saw the expression on Helena's face. It was a mixture of surprise and confusion. "But I thought…," Helena said as she shook her head, trying to understand.
"Helena, what is it?" Myka said, and pulled Helena to face her. "What?"
"When I was…," and the word was still hard for her to say.
"Yes?" Myka asked, worried now that something was bringing this all back to Helena.
"The agents…sometimes would…be in that section. Some of them…read the papers to me," Helena remembered. "It is how I emerged aware of what was going on in the world."
"They were not allowed in the Bronze Section," the voice above them spoke.
"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Myka yelled. She pulled Helena behind her as she stood to face whoever this was. Something was toying with Helena ….and something was going to pay.
"It was I, Helena," the voice said. "I was the one who spoke to you all those years."
Helena cast her eyes down trying to remember how many she thought there were through the years who talked to her. She had never seen them, but always remembered how their visits brought her comfort. All this time it had been the very place she was in that was looking out for her.
"You better freaking show your face right now! Right now, you hear me!" Myka yelled her warning.
"Tell her, Helena," the voice said. "Time is of the essence."
"We are talking…to the Warehouse," Helena shared with Myka.
"Like with the person in charge of the Warehouse?" Myka asked as she tried to get her head around what Helena was saying.
"No," Helena clarified. "The…. Warehouse." Her voice was laced with the amazement she felt at such an occurrence.
Myka uttered a soft 'oh' and nodded her head as if what Helena was proposing made perfect sense – except it didn't. "How do you know this?"
"I'm not sure, but I do," Helena said, struggling to explain what the feeling was that resonated within her.
"I am in trouble," the voice said and explained that the people on the receiving end of the Australian portal were getting ready to sell the artifacts.
"She's not going anywhere," Myka yelled worried Helena would have a sense of duty or obligation to help.
"They have over ridden my neural network in South Dakota. Any minute now, they will trace this connection to here and drain my resources," the entity explained. "You must do something, Helena."
Myka heard the pleading in the tone and knew Helena's chivalry would cause her to rise to the occasion. "It…needs…our help?" she asked to make certain everyone knew this would be team effort.
"Solving puzzles?" Helena asked and in that question she was asking for Myka's blessing.
"And saving the day," Myka said cautiously, still not certain who she was helping.
"Can you give us the coordinates?" Helena asked as she took Myka's hand and they returned to the others.
"Everyone okay?" Pete asked, making sure.
"Yes, but we need to save the Warehouse," Helena said, her plan already forming in her mind.
The group just looked at each other, not quite sure what that meant. The first one to answer was – surprisingly – Jane. "Sure," Jane said with a new found respect for Helena. "Just let me get outta these shoes."
"How is it in trouble?" Eileen asked - her fingers entwined still with Claudia's. She hadn't let go of her since the rescue.
"There's a portal and we need to close it," Helena said and then realized this could take some explaining.
"Adwin is being held captive," came the whisper in Helena's ear. "And we must act quickly."
"What is this facility?" Jane asked, aware now that Helena's seemed to know how to handle herself well in this situation.
Helena smiled for a second. "It is a place of endless wonder, but it is under threat right now."
"What do you need us to do, boss?" Pete asked and everyone gathered into a circle as Helena explained what was going on.
Within minutes, Claudia was syncing her computer with the mainframe of the Warehouse and downloading the coordinates it sent Helena. Pete got on the phone to Andy Nelson and explained that he was with Helena Wells in New York and told him what was going on. It took a few minutes of Andy ranting before Pete could get a word in and when he did – he said Eldunari. Only someone with inside information would know that room. Jane reached out through Interpol and told them about the smuggling ring in Australia.
Eileen monitored the electrical readings to make sure the Australian team wasn't trying to seize control of the power network. But she kept looking at Claudia – the woman who had saved her and who now was about to do her part in saving the Warehouse. "How did I get so lucky?" she wondered out loud.
"She is also fortunate," came a voice out of nowhere and Eileen swung around on her heels to see who was there – but it was no one.
The tricky part of this whole operation was going to be appearing as if the portal from South Dakota was operational while in fact, it was the New York location doing all the work. Opening the new portal meant that whomever was on the other side, could gain access and control of it. Claudia devised a program that would give her dual access and established a loop – so that it would appear the Warehouse was depositing items when in fact, it was withdrawing them.
The trifecta locations were putting a strain on the Warehouse and all energy had to be concentrated on retrieval. On its own, it would not be able to know what was being retrieved.
"Show Myka what was sent," Helena typed into the computer and what appeared was an endless stream of pictures – that Myka watched carefully…once. When the item appeared back through the portal, Myka would know how much was left.
As the hours passed by, Pete suggested he text Steve to let them know where everyone was.
"Tell Mr. Jinx we are at a meeting," Helena suggested, but Pete reminded her that they were talking about the human lie detector.
"Tell him we're at a remote location in New York, watching crates mystically appear though an energy opening between here and Australia. That should work," Jane said, having promised her fiancé she would save all her questions until later.
By the time the sun was coming out, the Wells Corp team had accomplished what they set out to do. The portal to Australia had gone undetected and Myka was certain – based on her eidetic memory check list – that all the items were safely transported back to New York. The local Australian authorities had arrested the men as they were negotiating the deal with their interested party. Jane's boss would never quite understand how a New York City detective managed to break up a smuggling ring half way around the world.
The energy resources ebbed and flowed and were nearly on empty when the Warehouse attempted one last maneuver before it shut down to recharge.
"Come to the office, " the message said on Helena's phone and she went there with Myka.
"I am indebted to all of you," the feminine voice said.
"Bering and Wells…," Helena started to say, but her wife wasn't going to be so polite.
"You listen to me," Myka said and wasn't sure where to focus her eyes. "I know how you people work. You always come to her when you need something. And you think she's still yours, but she's not. Do you hear me? She is mine! My wife, my One, my whole world! And I am not going to let her run up here every time you get yourself into trouble or a traitor gets behind your walls. Set up a better screening process, would you?" a very tired Myka shouted.
Helena stood there, silent, biting her lip at how fierce Myka was when she was in protective mode.
"Helena belongs to….," the Warehouse was about to say, but never got the chance because Myka erroneously thought it was going to suggest that HG Wells belonged to the world.
"….ME! You got that? She belongs to me!" Myka yelled, pushing her hand through tussled curls and pacing now. "And I warned you before – well, I warned those people – not to come to her directly. You come through me, you got that?" Myka said, uncertain how an entity would actually get in touch.
"Perhaps a phone," the voice suggested.
"What? Like the Bat-phone?" Myka asked incredulously.
"What is that, darling?" Helena asked, unfamiliar with the pop culture iconic device.
"It's …never mind. We need to discuss this – just the two of us," Myka said to her wife.
With that, Helena and Myka went to return to the group, but before Myka could catch up, the door closed behind Helena and separated them momentarily.
"You are wrong, Myka," the voice said to her in a calm tone.
Myka was in protective overdrive. She was dealing with the group she thought she detested because of what they did to Helena. She held no fondness for them – even if they were in dire need of Helena's help. "Oh, really? You want to tell me how?" Myka said, getting more comfortable with speaking to the air.
Suddenly, Myka's own voice and image appeared in a hologram form. It was from her last visit to the Warehouse.
"I don't understand what you do and I don't know what this place is, although if Helena was a part of it, then I know it is a good place. But there is nothing within those walls of yours as wonderful, as precious as the woman who is HG Wells. And because you did not recognize her worth, I do not want any of you ever to contact her again. If you need Helena, you come to me."
Myka remembered saying those words, but she didn't realize how angry they were.
"I always knew how precious Helena was," the Warehouse said truthfully. "It is why I protected her all those years."
Now Myka was a mix of emotions. She had a hard time trusting that Helena would come to no harm in a place that had taken her and held her. Still, it seemed Helena didn't share these feelings of mistrust. She rushed in here and helped – just as she was asked.
"Well then, thank you...," Myka said, haltingly, "…for taking care of her…all those years. "
"I was waiting... for you," the Warehouse conceded.
A/N many thanks for your encouraging words.
The replay of Myka's own words appears in "The Heir Apparent" Chapter 13.