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Agents Pete Lattimer and Myka Bering were both a little shaken by the betrayal of H.G. Wells, someone they'd begun to view as another member of their little family. Even though Pete's vibes had given him warnings, he'd chosen to trust his partner's judgement, a decision both were regretting now. H.G. had taken off with something from Warehouse 2 and now it was a race to find her and figure out where she was, what she'd taken, and what she intended to use it for. Eventually they figured out that the object in question was the Minoan Trident, which was also the reason she'd murdered MacPhearson, as he'd been about to tell them her plans. Now it became a race to find the crazy woman, before she could carry out whatever it was she had planned. Surprisingly, it almost seemed she wanted to be found when she called Pete herself, opening up the door for Claudia to trace where she was. She tried to get him to run to his girlfriend by talking about a gift she'd sent, but Myka was able to talk him out of it, reminding him that H.G. was a known liar and had already tricked them before. Pete was still worried about Kelly so Claudia offered to run into town to check on her while he and Myka went after H.G. who they had traced to Yellowstone. Pete was reluctant to leave but Myka reminded him that it could be nothing and that they needed to focus on what they knew and not what they weren't sure of. Pete finally relents and thanks Claudia for her offer, departing with Myka and a device from Artie that should help them find the spot they will find H.G. at.
After being on the road for about an hour, Myka notices that Pete is uncharacteristically quiet. She knows he's worried about Kelly and tries to offer him some comfort. "Don't worry Pete, we'll find H.G. and stop her, and Claudia said she's going to check on Kelly for you. Everything will be alright." she tells him, yet he still doesn't speak a word. Myka stares at him for a moment before pulling over to the side of the road and stopping the car. "Pete? Are you okay?" she asks, concerned about her partner. Pete sighs, continuing to stare out the window, obviously deep in thought and a troubled look on his face. "Lattimer!" Myka snaps, trying to get his attention. Pete finally glances at her. "Its gonna be okay." She tells him again. Pete sighs once more, shaking his head.
"I don't know Mykes. Something feels...wrong. I got a vibe." Pete says. "Maybe I shouldn't have come. I should've stayed behind and checked on Kelly myself."
"Pete, it's gonna be okay. If anything had happened Claudia would've called us by now. I'm sure Kelly is fine." Myka tells him. "H.G. lies, remember? She was probably making that up just to get you out of the way. She wants us to be distracted."
"I know that. I just...." Pete sighs, shaking his head again. "Never mind. You're probably right." he relents, tapping the dashboard and pointing forwards. "Let's get going. We got a hundred-year-old crazy lady to stop, and I wanna be home in time for dinner."
Myka can tell that Pete is not nearly as confident as he's trying to sound, but she drives on anyways, knowing they don't have time to talk through this. We gotta focus on the task at hand. Right now, all that matters is stopping H.G. from doing whatever it is she plans on doing. she thinks as she drives on.
It takes another hour to reach the spot they're trying to get to, and thirty minutes of walking using the device Artie gave them. They're relieved as they look around to see that Helena hasn't beat them to it, but still on their toes as she could show up at any minute. "Well, looks like we beat her here. Score one for team good guys!" Pete cheered, back to his usual cocky self. Shortly after arriving at the spot they'd parked, they received a call from Claudia saying that they'd found the 'surprise' H.G. had sent to Kelly, which turned out to be Lizzy Borden's compact. She told Pete that it was good he hadn't come, because it makes you kill the things you love. HIs vibes had seemed to fade after that and he was riding the high of realizing Kelly was in love with him.
"Keep your guard up Pete. She could show up at any time." Myka reminds him.
"Don't worry about it Mykes. You know I've got my vibes a-" Pete starts, but freezes as he suddenly feels that vibe from before come back full force.
"She's quite right you know, you really should be more aware of your surroundings." a voice says from behind them.
Myka and Pete both jump, standing at the ready as H.G. Wells laughs at the looks on their faces. Myka is quick to pull out her tesla while Pete simply puts up his fists, having lost his tesla to H.G. back when they were in Warehouse 2. H.G. laughs again at this, knowing full well that Myka didn't have the guts to shoot and Pete was useless against her without a weapon, having proven she could easily overpower him before. "Helena, listen, whatever this is, we can talk about it. We can figure it out. You don't have to..." Myka starts, but glares as H.G. begins to laugh once more. "What could you possibly gain from this? Money, power? What?" she demands, angry now.
"This isn't about that!" H.G. spits, tightening her grip on the artifact. "There's nothing that I want."
"Well there must be something, you obviously know what you're holding." Myka challenges, thinking she's lying.
"Yes, I do, and I fully intend to use it, right here, right now." H.G. hisses back, twirling the trident into a ready position.
"Wait, wait, wait....you mean all this time, you planned on murdering millions of innocent people?" Pete asks, shocked. "I thought MacPhearson was bad, but god damn, this lady takes the freakin cake and eats it too." he spits, nothing but hatred filling his eyes.
"Innocent?" H.G. laughs, shaking her head at him. "Look around you agent Lattimer, this world is full of nothing but monsters!"
"What, so because your daughter was killed, because you're angry -" Myka starts but H.G. cuts her off.
"Don't you dare bring up Christina! This may have begun with her murder, but it's not about that!" H.G. says, her voice almost sounding desperate. "You know, I foolishly believed that if I could find a way to travel through time that things would have actually gotten better. That some sort of Utopia would have emerged. But here we are, hundreds of years later, and things have actually gotten worse!" she shouts, the trident pulsing with the power of her anger. "The divide between rich and poor, hunger and famine, the hatred and wars...men have even devised new ways to kill each other that even a writer wouldn't conceive of in my day!" She was clearly on a war path. Myka tried again to reach out to her good side.
"But there are millions of us fighting against that every day!" Myka reminds her.
"It's not enough! This planet needs a rest from what you've done to it!" H.G. shouts out. "It needs a chance to repair itself."
"You seriously intend to start a new ice age?" Myka asks, shocked.
"Of course she does. She's freaking cuckoo bananas Mykes!" Pete says, and H.G. laughs.
"I may be, but that means I'm the only one with the guts to do what must be done." H.G. says. "This planet can only be saved by ridding it of the parasites who are currently eating it alive!" she shouts, raising the trident.
"Don't do it!" Myka shouts while Pete screams "Myka take the shot!"
In her hesitation, H.G. is able to plunge the trident into the ground, throwing Myka off balance and causing her to drop her tesla. It takes several moments for the earth to return to normal, the rumbling stopping though it's clear the trident has had an effect as a geyser starts shooting up around them. As the shaking finally stops, H.G. pulls the trident out again, ready to plunge it in once more. Pete recovers faster than Myka does from the quake and pulls out his only weapon, a gun, which he'd hoped he wouldn't have to use. "Drop it! Right now!" he shouts, not wanting to hurt her. H.G. laughs at him, shaking her head.
"Oh please, agent Lattimer. We both know you don't have the gall to shoot me." she says, raising the trident once more.
"You really wanna test me and find out?" Pete shouts at her, his grip on his gun tightening.
"You'd have pulled that gun out as soon as I showed up if you planned on using it, Agent Lattimer." H.G. tells him. Pete knows it's true, but if it came between saving the world, and killing H.G. he'd do what had to be done.
"This is your last chance. Don't make me do this." Pete tries again, but H.G. is too far gone.
"You can't stop me!" H.G. shouts. "I'm doing this for Christina, and I'm doing this for every child out there who is made to suffer because of this world!" she cries.
"DON'T!" Pete shouts, firing a shot as H.G. lets out a cry and begins to plunge the trident into the ground.
The world is silent for a moment, except for the echo of the shot fired from Pete's gun. Everything seems to have stopped, even the birds in the trees have gone quiet. H.G. is standing there, staring at him, gasping as she inspects her chest where the bullet should have gone through. Myka is staring at her, trying to figure out how Pete could've possibly missed the shot when she knows how accurate he is when the stakes are high. Suddenly, Pete coughs, blood spurting out of his mouth as he feels a burning pain fill his chest. He drops the gun, his legs giving out on him as a bullet wound forms on his chest, right in the spot where he'd aimed at H.G. only moments before.
"Pete!" Myka cries, rushing over to his side as he falls to the ground. She catches him just as he falls, gasping at the wound she sees on his chest as she lays him down gently. She puts pressure on the wound, turning to look at H.G. with an accusatory stare. "What's happening to him? What did you do!?" she demands as she desperately tries to stop the bleeding. H.G. stands there, frozen. She hadn't expected him to actually take the shot.
"I....the Corsican Vest...it...it inflicts whatever harm the wearer experiences back on their attacker." H.G. whispers. Myka's eyes go wide in fear as she realizes that Pete hadn't missed his shot at all.
"No...oh my God. Tell me there's a way to fix this!" Myka cries, the panic evident in her voice as H.G. just continues to sit there and stare.
Pete groans, pulling Myka's attention back to him. "Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. I've got you." she whispers to him, fighting back the panic as memories of Sam's death flash through her mind.
"I...just had to be...a good shot." Pete chokes out, coughing once more before groaning.
"Yeah, you are a good shot. Now hush, alright? I'm gonna get you some help, okay? We're gonna get you outta here and everything will be fine." Myka tells him.
"Do...do me a favor?" Pete asks, and Myka stares at him.
"Sure Pete. What is it?" she asks.
"Make...make sure....my replacement...isn't funnier than me." Pete jokes, coughing once more.
"I can't make that promise because you're not getting replaced, you got me?" Myka growls, giving him the look that she always did when he wasn't taking a situation seriously. "There's only one guy who's gonna be my partner and that's you. So quit talking like that."
"Mykes...w-we both know....ahh..." Pete groans in pain, taking in a rasping breath.
"Pete, dont." Myka begs, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Just-just hang on. You're fine. You're not dying. You're gonna live to annoy me another day, cause this? This is nothing." she tells him, trying to convince not only him but herself as well.
"V-vibe...says...different...Mykes." Pete gasps out.
"Well tell your vibes they're wrong!" Myka snaps, her eyes filled with determination again. "You're not leaving me. Not today. Not ever, you hear me?" she says firmly. Pete gives her a shakey smile and coughs again, his eyes shutting briefly before Myka presses down harder on his chest, causing him to grunt in pain and open them once more. "No no no, don't you start that. Pete, keep your eyes open. Eyes on me Lattimer." she demands, her body starting to shake with the effort she was using to press down on him. Even with the pressure she was using, blood continued to spill from the wound, forming a puddle on the ground beneath agent Lattimer and herself, meanwhile Pete's lips were stained red with blood he'd coughed up. "After all the things we've gone up against, all the crazy stuff we've seen, you're really gonna let something stupid like a bullet take you out?" she said, now trying to bargain her way out of this. "Come on Lattimer, I thought you said you were way cooler than that."
Pete can hear the desperation in her voice, and he tries again to comfort her. "M-myka....it-it's okay. It's......gonna be....okay." he whispers, gently bringing up a shaking hand to touch her cheek. "I....I'm s-sorry...Mykes." he gasps, wiping a tear away with his thumb. "I...never....wanted to...make you...look like this....again." he tells her.
"What do you mean?" Myka asks, confused.
"S-sam. Whenever you talked about him....you always....looked like this." Pete tells her, gasping in a breath before continuing. "And when...when I had that thing...on my back. I remember..." he breaks off, coughing again, more blood spilling out of his mouth.
"Pete..." Myka whispers, more tears falling despite her resolve not to cry. She knows she's clinging to a false hope, and it's tearing her apart. Pete Lattimer is going to die, and all she can do is sit here and watch.
"Mykes...this...this isn't...on you." Pete whispers. "You...you're my...best friend." he gasps out.
"You're my best friend too Pete." Myka sobs, unable to stop the tears now. "You're my partner. Pete, you can't quit on me. You have to stop talking like this. It isn't like you." she's begging again, but she doesn't care. She'll do anything to keep him awake at this point.
"I...I always...believed in you Myka." Pete struggles out, his breathing growing more strained. "D-don't....don't ever...f-forget that...." he whispers. His body, which had previously been trembling, has grown still. He can feel himself fading. He opens his mouth once more, one word falling from his lips in a voice so quiet even Myka had to strain to hear him. "Mykes." he breathes. His eyes drop shut as he breathes out one last time, his hand growing limp and slowly sliding down off Myka's cheek.
"Pete? Pete, no. Don't do this. Don't leave me." Myka begs, pressing down again, but there's no response. "Pete please! PETE!" she sobs, grabbing the hand that had fallen and giving it a tight squeeze. Already she can feel the warmth fading from it. She lets out an anguished cry, her scream echoing in the empty valley they're in. The loss of her partner seemed to take out any warmth the world could have possibly provided as her body begins to tremble, a chill settling over her despite the sun shining down. H.G. is horrified by what's just happened, and she rips off the vest, her mind foolishly hoping too late that somehow she can reverse its effects by removing it. Nothing changes. Myka is still sobbing, whispering Pete's name over and over again, begging for him to come back. H.G. steps forward with tears in her eyes as she remembers her own anguish from when her daughter was killed, having let out a scream so similar to the one she'd just heard Myka release.
"Myka...Myka I'm so sorry." H.G. whispers, regret filling her. "I...I didn't....I don't know what I was thinking. I never should have done this." Myka is still, her cries suddenly having stopped the moment H.G. began speaking. She sniffles once before standing up, silently walking over to H.G. and holding her hand out for the artifact. H.G. hands her the trident, a true remorse and genuine sadness written all over her face. "Myka...I...I'm so terribly sorry. Truly. I know that won't bring back agent Lattimer but....but I promise you, I'm done. I'll stop running." she tells her. Myka remains silent, staring at the trident and thoughtfully turning it over in her hands. The trident is pulsing once more, and H.G. stares at Myka, confused. "Myka?" she questions.
"You know...this artifact does some awful stuff to the earth." Myka whispers, still staring thoughtfully at the trident which continues to pulse with power.
"A-agent Bering?" H.G. says, slightly concerned.
"I wonder what would happen...if you used it on a person." Myka says, her eyes flicking up towards H.G. Wells. H.G. is shocked, gasping as she sees the cold look in Myka's eyes when their eyes meet, a chill racing up her spine as she's suddenly filled with fear. "Let's find out, shall we?" Myka hisses, suddenly stabbing H.G with the trident. H.G. lets out a gasp as her body begins to tremble, vibrating like the earth did when she'd plunged the trident into the ground.
"W-what have you done?" she gasps out, a cry of pain shortly being heard before her body breaks apart, crumbling before Myka's eyes.
"Hmm, so that's what happens." Myka says with complete unfeeling, as though this had been nothing more than a simple science experiment. She picks up the trident which had fallen to the ground when H.G's body crumbled, ignoring the Farnsworth that was ringing annoyingly. Slowly she walks back over to where Pete is lying in a pool of blood, gently reaching down to caress his face. It feels as cold and unfeeling to her as the world she now found herself trapped in. "Don't worry Pete. I'll find a way to bring you back. I promise." she whispers. I'll do whatever it takes. No matter who or what gets in my way. she thinks as she walks away, her plan to revive Pete already starting to form in her mind. The warehouse had tried to take Pete away, but she wasn't going to let it win. She'd use the warehouse to bring him back, or burn it down for what it's done.