Title: Missing
Author: luna_dove
Pairing: Artie/Claudia
Rating: T (for mild swearing and some violence)
Spoilers: Spoilers up to and including "Duped."
Summery: Claudia isn't too happy that Artie's been kidnapped again - and this time it isn't by her.
Disclaimer: I don't own Warehouse 13. Never had, probably never will.
Notes: Sooo, I told drakeguard that I would update a chapter last week - long story short, I didn't and so I decied to post two chapters this week.
Chapter 9: Fire
"Why would she run away?" Myka asked, grabbing the Tesla from the kitchen table. She and Pete were dressed and ready to go look for Claudia - she couldn't have gotten far.
"MacPherson told her the alternatives that Mrs. Frederic gave Artie after she realized that Claudia had learned too much about the warehouse while looking for Joshua: they could either kill her, or keep her here to make sure she didn't give away the warehouse's secrets."
"What?" Myka asked in disbelief, momentairly looking up from her search for the car keys."Those were the only options?"
"And since Artie obvously wouldn't kill her..." Pete said, letting the sentence trail off into thin air.
"And she thinks that we were all in on this, and that we didn't even want her here." Leena finished misrably.
"But-" Myka could barely get a word out, she was so stunned. "Doesn't she realize that -"
"MacPherson's a lying sack of crap that knows how much pain she's getting out of this." Pete finished furiously.
"And Artie - she can't believe that Artie hates her! She might annoy him but - Artie loves working with Claudia and, and did you see how mad he was when MacPherson kidnapped her -"
"But Claudia didn't see that." Leena said softly. "She was with MacPherson, getting told those lies about how Artie and everyone hates her. Claudia hasn't had a home like this since a very young age when she was with Joshua, and now she thinks it's all a lie." Leena finished.
"Artie." Myka had just realized someting. "Arite doesn't know she's gone yet, does he?"
Myka, Pete and Leena looked at each other for a long time before Pete said, "I vote we 'Rock, Papers, Scissors' for who wants to tell Artie that Claudia's gone."
*
Claudia had never run so fast before; she bolted down the road, her lungs gasping for air. Up ahead, just a few more steps away, she saw a closed gas station. Shelter. She ran to it, past a car that the owners must have left there, trusting the town's low crime rate. Behind her, a bolt of light shot off from a Tesla and hit the car, sending it up into flames.
"You little - " MacPherson's voice was drowned out by the car exploding once the flames hit the gas tank. Claudia fell down from the force of the explosion, but made herself get up and keep running. Chunks of burning metal from the exploding car fell from the sky, once landing less than five feet from her. She shrieked and dived away from it, hitting the cool, harsh road. Rocks embedded themselves into her face, arms and legs, sending small drops of blood dripping down her body; her skin began to blister from the heat of the flames that were getting very close to her now...
Suddenly, a hand reached down on her shoulder and she looked up into Artie's eyes.
"Artie!" She screamed, partly in relief, partly in the terror of what was going to happen to him if he tried to fight MacPherson. Her call was echoed by two different people - Myka, who was rushing forward with Pete, and MacPherson, who was marching towards them with his Tesla.
MacPherson fired off a bolt from his Tesla, which was extinguished by Myka, who fired from her Tesla, also. Myka and Pete ran forward and caught up with Claudia and Artie. Artie grabbed Claudia by the arm and threw her to Pete and Myka.
"Get Claudia out of here!" He said, grabbing the Tesla from Myka's hands. "I'll deal with MacPherson.
"NO!" Claudia screamed, trying to fight Pete's grip. But Pete's grasp on her was loosened when another bolt from MacPherson's Tesla missed Artie by inches and hit a gas pump instead, sending it into flames. The force the flames knocked both Pete and Claudia back, allowing Claudia to wiggle out of Pete's grip. She ran forward to meet Artie, who was walking towards MacPherson.
"Artie, stop it!" She screamed, grabbing his arm, but he shook her off. She looked behind her - Pete had hit the ground with his head and was knocked out from the flames, leaving Myka to try and move his body away from the rapidly growing inferno.
"Hello Arthur." MacPherson said, grinning. He looked deranged.
"Leave us alone James." Artie said, his voice a whisper, but holding more threat in it than Claudia had ever used MacPherson use.
"You know I can't do that, Arthur. I'm already well acquainted with your apprentice. Lovely girl." He said, making Artie shoot off a bolt from the Tesla. MacPherson dodged it easily and fired again, this time he purposely hit a gas pipe close to Myka and Pete, so they were almost engulfed in the flames.
Claudia's mind was racing. Either MacPherson was going to kill Artie with the Tesla, or he was going to burn Myka and Pete to death. She had to get his attention away from them. She left Artie's side and ran out to the road where MacPherson was, just feet away from him.
"Hey!" She screamed. Both Artie and MacPherson's heads turned in surprise. "You want me? Come get me!" And with that, she bolted a second time, trying not to feel like she was running away from the fight. Seconds later though, she knew her idea had worked. Tesla bolts were flying everywhere, barely hitting her, and she could hear MacPherson huffing as he ran after her.
She didn't know what she was going to do when MacPherson caught up with her. All she could think of was the sentence she had thought only an hour ago: she'd rather die than hel-
But before she could finish her thought, or take another gasping breath, or even blink, a Tesla bolt hit her body, square in the middle of her back. She flew up into the air, her body going limp as the bolt's glow showed her rise and then fall roughly back down onto the street.