Early November 2012: Leena's B&B/The Warehouse

[damncompass]

It was a long night, but an amazing one. In an effort to spend more time with Helena, instead of just talking about it, Joshua took her out to a new restaurant in Featherhead, and then to a movie, and by the time they got home, it was late.

Flopping into bed, Joshua heard the usual chaos of about eleven PM at the B&B. Guess it's just a normal night.

Comments

[claudiometer]

It's several more buzzes than usual before Claudia answers.
"wha?"

[damncompass]

"Hey, sleepyface, can you pull yourself back to the world for a moment, I need to know what's up."

[claudiometer]

"'m in the world. not my fault we got here at fuck o'clock."

[damncompass]

"Where is here? And who's we?"

[claudiometer]

Claudia sighs. "Salt Lake. Dr. Vanessa called Artie with a ping and he was going to try to skulk off by himself until I pointed out hospitals mean blood. It's just us right now - we got the bare bones of the ping last night and he called Hugo, but that was too late to get much else done. Too early. Thing."

[damncompass]

"It's just you and Artie? What about everyone else? Where are they?" His face is concerned, and he's becoming slightly more animated.

[claudiometer]

"...They didn't come back from the Warehouse? Maybe something in-building came up. Artie did say something about someone needing to teach Steve to aim a Tesla."

[damncompass]

"Teaching Steve to aim a Tesla shouldn't be an overnight experience. I mean, he's not me after all." Joshua sighs. "Wait. Why'd Artie call Hugo? Don't you have enough computer XP?"

[claudiometer]

"Dammit, Jim, I'm a hacker, not a programmer. Someone's giving people a computer virus - yes, I'm being careful - and we're gonna need somebody to program an antivirus."
Claudia rolls her eyes. "Twenty bucks says Hugo lets himself get infected with the damn thing before we crack the case, though."

[damncompass]

"Yeah, I'm not taking that bet. Guess I'm going to the Warehouse. You know I have to say it. Be careful, little sister. Love you."

[claudiometer]

"Wasn't expecting you to take it. Love you too."

[damncompass]

"Go back to sleep, sleepybutt. Make sure you get enough coffee when you get up." He hangs up and calls out for Helena.

"Hey, Helena? I think we need to go. Claud says it's just her and Artie on the ping."

[timelessinventor]

Helena frowns. "Oh, dear. I wonder what faff entangled everyone else."

[damncompass]

"I know. I'm kinda worried." He grabs his bag and a sweatshirt. "Let's get going. We can grab doughnuts on the way. We might also bring some as a peace offering."

[timelessinventor]

"Or we could turn the tables on Pete and eat all but two. For Myka and Steve, of course."

A stop at Dunkin' later, they enter the Warehouse; as soon as Helena sees the computers, which are showing at least five Artifact disturbances in the stacks, she frowns. "Oh, bollocks. What on earth did they get up to last night?"

[damncompass]

"Fuck." Joshua looks at the computer, and hears some noise from upstairs. "I... think I need to go upstairs and see what's going on. Can you run a biometric on where everyone is?" He's halfway up the stairs as he says it.

[timelessinventor]

"Steve's still on the Warehouse floor somewhere, and... oh, dear. I think you're about to find a very interesting sight, darling."

[damncompass]

Joshua doesn't hear the second sentence as he's already upstairs. "Uh, guys? What the fuck is actually going on?"

Somewhere, a tiny static ball snickers across the Warehouse. She's been amused for hours.