Mid-September 2012: The Warehouse

[damncompass]

If there was ever a time for the phrase 'perfect storm', this was it. There was a storm around the Ancient Archives, something was going on in the Ovoid, and to top it off, his 'hey, there's something going on in Denver' ping pinged.

Artie packed Pete and Steve off to Denver, somewhat to Joshua's relief (because if anyone could remind Myka of the Warehouse, it would be Pete), and sent Claud to the Ovoid to help Leena. That left him to deal with the Ancient Archives along with Artie.

The walk down was quiet, if a bit steamy and punctuated by lightning. Once they got in, among the chaos was a statue of Zeus spewing lightning around the room.

"Oh, is that all?"

"All? Joshua, do you know what you're saying?"

"It's just a statue of...."

"Get me some goo."

Begrudgingly, he ran out to the nearest station and got a bucket of goo. Coming back in, he handed it to Artie who threw it on the statue. It smoldered a bit and disappeared.

"Shit. We need to go back and..."

"Artie, if you want to research, that's fine, but shouldn't we at least see what's up in the Ovoid?"

Begrudgingly, Artie nodded and stomped out of the Archives.

Eventually, they turn a corner, and go into the Ovoid. Claudia was backing up a machine with a crate on the front.

Artie blustered. "Who told you that you could drive that thing?"

"I did, Artie." Joshua sighed. Maybe he didn't, but that's not the point. "What's going on, Claudia?"

Comments

[claudiometer]

"Whatever's going haywire is in one of those crates," Claudia says.
Sure enough, the crate she's just cleared the way to - roughly the same size as one that could hold Zeus, if either of the guys would happen to notice - is giving off an eerie purplish light.

[damncompass]

"I wonder if it's another statue. Claud, can you hand me a crowbar?" Joshua goes over to the crate and pulls a pair of gloves out of his back pocket. "We need to open this lovely present from the ancients and figure out why it's pissing off Zeus."

[claudiometer]

"Yes. Yes, we do." She passes him a crowbar.

(Somewhere in among the lightning is a static ball.)

[damncompass]

Joshua, just like one of his favourite quasi-fictional physicists, attacks the crate with the crowbar.

In the background, Artie grumbles a bit at Claudia. "What has been going on?"

[claudiometer]

"Light and heat, according to Leena. What was up in the Ancient Archives?"

"Something's got Zeus completely freaked out," Artie says, and Claudia frowns. She frowns more when Joshua gets the crate open; the statue inside is looking distinctly goddess-y.

[damncompass]

"Oh, fuck." Joshua leans down and looks at the tag on the statue. "Hera. No wonder Zeus is all butthurt." A lightning bolt strikes beside where he's standing and he jumps. "Ok, maybe not butthurt."

[claudiometer]

Close enough, Claudia thinks, but she doesn't tempt fate by saying so out loud. "So I'm guessing we should see if goo works?"

[damncompass]

"It didn't work on Zeus, so it probably won't...."

Artie cut Joshua off. "Well, how do you know it won't work here? We should try it."

[claudiometer]

"Exactly." Claudia ducks out of the ovoid long enough to bring in a goo hose.

...But the goo just burns right off. "Okay, that backfired beautifully. Now what?"

Artie's already heading for the door. "I need to do some research, figure out where these things came from."

[damncompass]

"Wait, Artie, does it matter where they came from? Zeus is pissed that his wife's here, and Hera's just plain pissed at him because he's a manwhore and can't keep it in his pants... er, toga... whatever. Anyway, what's to research? Can't we just... separate them?"

[claudiometer]

Artie sighs. "Oh, so now you're under-valuing the history of these things on top of everything else?"

If he spoke Donovan, he might have reconsidered saying that. Claudia's not very impressed with this argument.

[damncompass]

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Artie!"

If either of the men were paying attention, they would notice that the Warehousestorm is getting slightly worse.

"I absolutely do not undervalue the history of anything! I'm just saying that we're in a fucking crisis here and the exact provenance of the Artifacts is somewhat irrelevant!"

[claudiometer]

"Irrelevant? How can it be--"

"Oh my GOD," Claudia snaps. "Will you two put your dicks away and start working together before I have to knock your heads in? You've been at each other's throats for no goddamn reason since June and I have had it up to here with being stuck in the middle of it. Artie, if Joshua wanted you gone you would be by now, but he's got a point. We know enough to know we should get one of these damn statues out of the building before, I don't know, the Warehouse catches fire? Joshua, Artie knows shit. Let him find a place to put one of these. Probably Zeus since he's easier to explain than a random statue of Hera. Both of you, fucking stop it."

[damncompass]

Joshua is taken aback, and he cuts off the response he was about to give.

"I'm sorry, Claud. I wasn't trying to devalue what Artie was saying..."

"Like hell you weren't..."

"Artie, listen. Ever since I got here, you have let me finish perhaps five sentences tops. I'm sorry for whatever it is about my existence that bothers you, but I'm here now, and I'm not leaving. I know full well that you're important and valuable, Artie. I want this to work as much as you do. I'm just trying to make it actually work, and work more smoothly than it has been."

[claudiometer]

"Artie, you can research where the statues are from to your heart's content when we're not in the middle of a crisis. But as fast as this is getting out of control, we need to move one of them now. And we tried to tell you once already that we're not just taking each other's side because we're family. I think you've both been dumbasses lately."

"She does have a point," Leena chimes in. "How about we go find Zeus a new home?"

[damncompass]

"I never meant you couldn't research them, Artie. Just... not now. And for the record, Claudia's right. She loves telling me I'm full of shit when I am. She's done it for years."

He smiles at Leena, a bit of relief on his face. "Yes, that is an excellent idea, Leena. Thank you. Artie, where could we put Zeus where he's not bothering us, but not bothering anyone else either?"

[claudiometer]

It's probably because Leena finally weighed in on the argument, but Claudia's not complaining; Artie sighs the way he does when he's at least decided to let an argument drop. "The conservatory in the park should work. Let's get on this. Claudia, can you rig an alarm system for it?"

"You got it."

(She doesn't notice, but there's a distinct smell of apples in the air.)

[damncompass]

"Artie, while Claud's working, why don't we go pack up the cranky-ass king of the gods?" He slings the crowbar into his belt for now and goes back to the Ancient Archives, Artie trailing behind him.