Critique me plz!
Warehouse 13 chapter 1: nothing to fear.
"Claude, Claudia! For heaven's sake get up! We got a ping!" rang the irritatingly familiar voice in my ears. It was Artie. And what was that he said? We had another ping? Great. Just fan-freaking-tastic. I moaned and pulled the covers over my head. "In a minute, I'm tired..." I sighed. I looked at the clock. "And you realize its 1:30 in the morning, right?" I grumbled. I had been up all night either studying for collage or video chatting with Joshua. "I don't care, Now get up! You and Steve have a mission in Paris!" he snapped. I turned my head to face him. "...Paris?" I yawned. "What are we looking for now?" I sat up in my bed and stretched out my arms. Artie walked over to the door. "I will tell you both once you get ready and come down!" he shouted over his shoulder. I sighed and got out of bed. Screw getting dressed. I was going to stay in my white t-shirt and gray sweatpants for as long as I could. I dragged myself downstairs and sat at the table with Artie. We waited and waited and waited, Steve wouldn't come down. "Claudia, wake your friend up." Artie mumbled. I rolled my eyes and got up. Steve was my partner. When we first met, I thought he was hitting on me. This led to him telling me he was gay. Not to sound all homophobic, but I was a little disappointed. Why? Because deep down, I guess I like him a little. He's nice, funny, and at least he gave me someone to talk to while Pete and Myka were away constantly. Lena was always busy, and I always saw Artie as more of a father. Not that I'm not complaining, seeing that both of my parents were dead. It has been hard, no doubt, but I always had my brother. Well, at least until he went missing for twelve years. Once I found him, he went to work in Switzerland and I didn't get to see him a lot after that. Once I got up to Steve's room, I opened the door and saw him singing 'another one bites the dust'. Loudly. He stumbled to his feet and turned off the radio. They looked at me red-faced. "Do you mind!" he hissed, obviously pissed off. "Nope!" I smirked, skipping around his room. "Claudia..." he muttered. I jumped on his bed and took his phone from the chair. "... Who's 'zombiehunter3062'?" I laughed. "Claudia, give it back!" Steve snarled, swatting at my hand. I laughed hysterically and jumped off of his bed. I turned and ran down the stairs, laughing as he followed me. "Claudia, I'm serious!" he snapped. "Oh are you?" I smirked back.
"Claude, hand it over!"
"Make me!"
"Just wait 'till I get my hands on you!"
"I'm waiting!"
"CLAUDIA!"
He lunged at me, sending us both tumbling down the stairs. We fought each other for awhile before he finally ripped his phone from my grasp. "God, what are you, eight!" he sighed. "God, what are you eighty?" I replied with a mocking tone. He looked like he was about to say something when a shrill screech rang though the room. Steve and I covered our ears and fell to the floor. It was like listening to a bomb go off. We looked up and saw Artie holding a glass. "Do you remember the goblet of Severan?" he asked. Steve and I both nodded. "Good. Now sit down, before I have to use it again!" he threatened. We sat down, trying to ignore the ringing in our ears as Artie explained our mission. "Claude, Steve, you guys are going to the history convention in Paris. Rumor has it that one of the exhibits is Elizabeth Bathory's pendant. Elizabeth Bathory, also known as 'the bloody countess' was a serial killer during 1590 through 1610. She was accused of torturing and killing 714 girls in Slovakia." he explained as he passed us our case folders. Inside them were our plane tickets, convention brochures and some extra money. "Her pendant enables the wearer to strike fear into the hearts of their victims until they are literally begging for death. Your mission is to break into the exhibit before it opens and snag It." he muttered. "So Claudia, don't forget to bring your tool belt because this mission is going to require breaking though tons of security. You'll also have to hack into the server so that you can open the vault." he told me. I nodded as a sly grin spread across my face.
"Sounds like fun!"

Steve woke me up early the next day. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30. I took a shower and got dressed. Then, since I had some time left, I curled my hair and put a white hairpiece in. Then I grabbed my tool belt, my tesla, my mini tesla, and some tesla grenades... What? Warehouse agents dig teslas! It's not my fault! I met Steve outside by his Prius. "You ready? You look cold..." he whispered. I shrugged. "I'll be fine- CAN I DRIVE THE PRIUS PLEASE!." I begged him. Steve put a protective hand on the hood of the car. "Yeah, when pigs can fly!" he muttered. I thought for a moment. "Okay! Be right back with Walt Disney's paint brush-" I smirked. "Just get in the damn car, please!" Steve hissed. "Okay, okay! Geez and I thought Artie was sensitive!" I shrugged. I got in his car and we drove off to the airport. "So, Elizabeth Bathory's pendent? Sounds dangerous..." Steve sighed, breaking the eerie silence that filled the air around us. I shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat. "Well, Elizabeth Bather was a dangerous woman... I could only imagine how dangerous her pendant is. You know artifact- wise. Do you think it's worthy of the dark vault?" I asked out of curiosity. Steve sighed and shook his head. "I guess it depends how many people die..." he muttered as we pulled into the airport parking lot. We got out and pulled our luggage into the tall, clean building. As we were waiting for our flight, I heard my Farnsworth buzz. I opened it up and Artie's face came up on the tiny circular screen. "Hey!" Steve said, leaning over to make himself visible. "'sup Artie? We aren't in Paris yet our flight was delayed-" I began. "Claudia! Jinx! You guys I need to to- forget- y- da-" Artie was breaking up with us. That wasn't a good sign. "Artie? ARTIE! I can't hear you!" I shouted at the Farnsworth. But Artie was gone. At that moment, we heard shouting from the other side of security. We looked up and saw two masked figures dart through the metal detectors. And I swear I felt my heart stop when the alarms went off. As soon as I could process all of this, they fired gunshots at the ceiling. Everyone screamed and ducked for cover, including me and jinx. I felt myself shaking as their feet walked toward us. Then, before I knew it, they had dragged us out from under a table. One grabbed Steve and pointed the gun at his head. The other one cornered me and pointed his gun at me as well. I whimpered as I felt blood trickling from my ankle where he pulled me into the open. "Go back to the warehouse! That pendent is ours!" he spat. I stared up at him, sticking my hands up defensively. "I- err, o-ok look, t- there's no need f- for this-" I stammered, silently wondering how they knew about the pendant. And us, for that matter. "SHUT UP!" he shouted, earning a scared flinch from me. "try and retrieve that pendent, and you and your partner will suffer the consequences!" he snapped. I suddenly felt bravery overtake me. "I'd rather die!" I hissed. He scoffed. "well that can be arranged..." he snickered. He was advancing toward me when a single gunshot rang out. The man holding Steve back fell to the ground with a thud. Realizing his time was short, my guy cocked his gun and pointed it at my head. I looked for a way to escape, but even Artie couldn't figure this one out. "This is it..." I thought sadly. I closed my eyes so that I wouldn't see it coming. I waited for the bullet that would end my life, but it never came. I heard static crackle through the air and the man in front of me gasping and crying in pain. I snapped my eyes open and saw Steve standing over him, his tesla in his hand. Steve looked at me. "Claudia..." he sighed in relief. I got up and hugged him as hard as I could. "Th- thank you..." I cried softly. Steve hugged me back just as hard, seeing that I wasn't hurt. "I'm just glad you're ok. You scared me..." he sighed. I knew this seemed scary to him. A few years ago his sister was killed by a stray bullet. He had told me that we were a lot alike. We were both 20, both geeks, and we both felt the need to save Steve's butt every now and then. I knew losing me would be like losing his sister all over again. Now I was glad he wasn't looking at my face. I had started blushing. Dammit.
We looked at the man beside us. "Steve... What the hell is going on?" I asked quietly. Steve shook his head, staring at his body. "I- I don't know, Claudia..." he admitted at last. I sighed, my heart finally beginning to settle down in my chest. "Someone must really want that pendant..." I sighed.

We arrived in Paris at about 11:30 that night. The entire trip was scarier than I imagined. But Steve talked to me about it and I relaxed a bit. The two of us ended up watching mission impossible 2 for most of the trip. When we checked into our hotel, I couldn't help but notice the woman behind the desk looked at us as if we were a couple. I rolled my eyes and followed Steve to the room we would be sharing. As soon as we walked in, I sighed in relief. "Oh thank god... I call the bed by the window!" I announced, dropping my luggage by the door and running over to my 'reserved' bed. Steve just rolled his eyes and set his bag down on his bed. I flopped down face-first on to the bed. "I thought I'd never see you again, my love!" I shouted, my words muffled by the pillows. Steve laughed and sat by me. "Don't get too comfortable. Remember we still need to break into the Paris university lecture hall tonight." he mentioned. I lifted my head to look at him. "Whoa, hold on there, Jinks. Who said we were going tonight?" I scoffed. He looked at me with a confused look on his face. "Well why wouldn't we? After all-" he started. "Don't you understand? They DOUBLE the security at night. Our best bet is to go tomorrow morning before it starts." I suggested, sitting up next to him. Steve thought about my idea for a minute. "... Sounds like a plan." he grinned. I jumped up and ran for my suitcase. Only to be tripped by the bandage wrapped loosely around my ankle. Steve ran over to me "are you ok?" he asked, helping me up. "Yeah I'm fine." I sighed "I'm gonna figure out the code first so it won't take as long to open the vault." I explained. I pulled out my laptop and turned it on. I felt my face grow warm as he scooted closer to me. But I kept my eyes locked on the screen. "That's it? It's just encrypted? Please!" I giggled. I just typed in a code and I was into the server. "Nice!" Steve grinned. "Why, thank you, Jinksy!" I answered with a goofball voice. I looked through the server and found the code. "Great! Now we just need to use this to open the safe and we have it!" I chirped. I closed my laptop and set it in my suitcase. "Now we can get some rest..." I yawned. Jinxy and I crawled into our beds and fell fast asleep. The next morning I woke up early. I looked at the clock. 4:30. We had until 11:25, but better safe than sorry. "JINXY!" I shouted, tackling him. Steve gasped and tried to roll over and knock me over. To say this backfired would be an understatement, because he ended up rolling himself off of the bed, taking me with him. "mornin' Jinxy!" I chirped innocently. "Arrg! Dammit Claudia!" Steve groaned, trying to get me off of him. "aww don't be such a buzz kill! C'mon, let's get some coffee!" I grinned, getting up and offering him my hand. He accepted my offer and we got ready. This time my hairpiece was black, and my hair was only partially curly. I was wearing a leather vest with a white long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans with the knees torn out. Then I grabbed my jacket and my scarf and we headed out. There was a coffee place across the street from the hotel, so we just walked. "so how are we going to break in?" Steve asked, taking a sip of his espresso. "shhhh! Quiet! Did you already forget about what happened at the airport?" I whispered. Steve crossed his arms. "I was about to ask you the same thing. After it happened, you just pretended like it was nothing and we both know that's not true!" he explained. I looked at my feet. "... Steve, you know just as well as I do that I can't cope well with fear..." I muttered. "when that guy had his gun pointed at my head, I literally thought 'this is it, I'm gonna die..." I sighed. Suddenly I thought of something. "Steve, he didn't hurt you, did he?" I asked. He sighed and took another sip of his coffee. "well there's a bruise the size of a tennis ball on my arm but other than that..." he muttered. I hung my head low. Why did I let him get hurt? I got up from my chair. "I'm gonna use the restroom." I told him before pointing an accusing finger at him. "touch my coffee and die." I snapped. Steve laughed and nodded his head. But right before I left, he grabbed my arm. "you're lying." he whispered. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of some guys watch. 10:30? We barely had an hour until the convention started! I grabbed Jinxy and dragged him to our rental car. God, I missed Steve's Pries! We drove back to the hotel and were getting ready when my Farnsworth started ringing. It was leena and Myka. "Claudia! Oh my god, are you ok? Where is Steve?" Myka gasped. It took me about five minutes to get the two of them to calm down. Then another ten when Artie and Pete walked in. "guys, we're fine! Steve's just getting ready! He just has a bruise on his arm and I have a cut on my ankle, nothing serious!" I reassured them. They all sighed in relief. "thank god. Claudia, if the two of you need to come home-" Artie began. I held my hand up to stop him. "nope, not gonna happen. Steve and I are already getting ready to break into the lecture hall." I told him. At that moment Steve walked into the room. "see? Steve's fine he just-" my voice trailed off as I realized he didn't have a shirt. I turned around and bit my lip. "Dammit, jinx! Would it kill you to put a shirt on?" I muttered. Pete, of course, found this amusing. "geeeeeze buddy! Who are you trying to win over in Paris?" he laughed. Steve's face lit up. "well actually this cute guy at the coffee shop..." Steve began. "okay, ladies. You can gossip later, but we both have cases to do!" Myka said quickly. Everyone fell silent for a moment before Artie cut in. "...Claudia I swear to god be careful or-" he growled. "okay, okay! Geez, don't get your eyebrows in a bunch! We'll be fine!" I reassured. him. Artie flashed me an irritated glare at the eyebrow comment. Then he stared at me. "I'm serious Claude, be safe." he told me. I smiled and nodded.
"I will, I promise..."

PART 2 (Steve's p.o.v.)

I snuck around the back of the large building. I looked up at the nearest window, which was 20 feet above us. "great. now what, senior agent?" I whispered bitterly. I didn't get a reply. I looked behind me for a certain red- haired girl. "Claudia?" I said quietly. I saw her kneeled over a pile of rubble. "... What are you doing?" I asked softly as she started messing with all of the trash in front of her. "I'm making a solution." she answered. "make it quick! We don't have long until the convention opens up." I warned. She gave me a quick nod and in a few minutes, she managed to whip up what looked like a grappling hook. "I still don't understand how you do that!" I said in awe. Claudia smirked and shot it up and grinned as wide as the Cheshire cat when it caught on the ledge of the window. "sweeeeet! Okay, this will only hold one of us at a time so I'll go up first" she whispered. She jumped and climbed up the rope to the window. For a hacker, she was in pretty good shape! I wondered where she got the time to exercise when she was so busy hacking into random websites. Then again, she did seem to be taking inventory a lot lately, and that can take a few pounds off of anybody. Once she reached the window she signaled for me to come up. Once I got to the window she pulled the grappling hook up and put it in her tool belt. "alrighty, we're in business!" she chirped. I followed her to the safe and watched her input the code. Next was a room of objects dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. "wow! Look at all of this!" I gasped. Claudia stared in awe at a statue of Black Beard. "whoa, did you know that Black Beard used to put candles in his beard to light up his ship during battle. It was also used as a scare tactic..." Claudia informed me. "ew!" I laughed. "Haha, see what you can learn when you bring the foolish red- haired girl with you?" Claudia chuckled. I rolled my eyes and kept searching until I found what we were here for. "There it is!" I exclaimed. I ran up to the exhibit and swiftly stole it. Then I covered my eyes as I put it in the neutralizer bag. "Okay! We can go home now! Claudia do you have the replica?" I asked without taking my eyes off of the exhibit. The room was dead silent. The sound of my breathing was the only sign of life in the building. "... Claudia?" I called again, looking around the room for her. But the place was a freaking ghost town. "Claudia!" I shouted, starting to really freak out. "Claudia! Where the hell are y-" I turned the corner and saw a man in all black standing there, holding a gun to Claudia's head. He had his hand over Claudia's mouth, with tears streaming down the 20 year old girl's face. "come any closer and she's dead!" he shouted. I froze. This was like losing Olivia all over again. My sister was dead now, but I promised myself the day that I met Claudia that I would protect her like she was my sister. And that's exactly what I plan to do. My tesla was pointed at him in a matter of seconds. The man laughed. "Your very naive, young man!" he grinned. Claudia whimpered and struggled like she was trying to tell me something.

"Did you really think I'd come alone?"

The last thing I remember, I was face down on the floor. The only thing that filled my ears was Claudia's screams.

"Claudia!" I gasped as I came to. Claudia's lying on the floor. There's a gash across her forehead and her ankle is bleeding again. I scrambled over to her and shook her shoulder gently. "Claude, are you okay?" I asked softly. Claudia slowly opened her eyes and nodded. "yeah, I'm fine. "she whispered, getting up on her knees. I pulled her into a hug, ignoring the blood soaking my shirt.

Then I got the eerie feeling that we weren't alone.

"I wouldn't move." Said the hooded figure. I was so focused on the small revolver in the figures hand that I didn't notice another person, an old man with sleek, black hair walk up next to them. "Well done, kid. You've got them cornered!" he laughed. The figure in the hood stayed dead silent, as if one small movement could mean the end for us all. The black haired guy stopped laughing and glared at us. "this is what happens to unruly children that try to get in the way of our master plan! KILL THEM!" he shouted. No gunfire rang out. We all looked toward the hooded figure. Whoever it was must've been shaken up by this. literally. We saw the hand holding the gun trembling like a leaf. "… what are you waiting for? End them!" He screeched, not expecting the gunman to whirl around and hit him square in the jaw with the gun. He growled and wiped the blood from his lip. "of course…" he began. Suddenly, he had the hooded figure pinned by their throat against the wall. "never send a woman to do a man's job. How could I be so stupid?" he shouted, jamming the hooded figure into the wall once more. If the hood hadn't fallen back the second time then I would've been confused by his statement. The gunman turned out to be a young girl, around the same age as Claudia. She had shoulder length dark brown hair and indigo colored eyes. She struggled to push his hand away from her throat. "you were always useless to me! I should've killed you when I had the chance!" he hissed. He took the gun from her and pointed it at her chest. The girl glared at him, then closed her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming. Claudia tried to jump up and stop them, but I grabbed her and pulled her back. As much as I wanted to save the girl, he had the gun, and he could choose whether he wanted us to die or not. The man grinned sadistically and pulled the trigger, only to hear the quiet click of an empty gun. Now it was the girls turn to smile. "wha…" the man said quietly as the girls grin turned into a laugh. "heh, sorry…" she said finally. She held up a handful of bullets. "…but I'm not in the mood for killing anyone tonight. However, in your case I think I can make an exception." She sneered. Then in a matter of seconds, she had two gunners down and a third one coughing up blood. She kneeled down by him as he held his stomach. "poor thing… I didn't mean for you to suffer. I'm sorry…" she muttered before firing a shot into his head. She stood up and wiped the blood from her cheek. She looked around for her real target. "where are you?" she shouted. She placed her hand on her backup weapon and looked around the room. He was nowhere to be found. She turned to us. "you guys ok?" she asked, walking over to us. I nodded. "she's hurt, though." I said, gesturing toward Claudia. Claudia kept her eyes glued on the girl, like she knew her. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head. "oh my god… Remy?" she gasped. The girl flinched with surprise. "…how did…?" she began asking, uttering a confused expression on her face. We all looked at Claudia for the answer. "don't you remember me? We shared a room for a while at the institution." Claudia explained. We all fell silent at this statement. The blue –eyed girl looked shocked. "Claudia Donovan?" she asked. As soon as Claudia nodded, she whipped her gun out and pointed it at us. "whoa! What's the matter?" I shouted, putting my hands up. "y- you've come to take me back, haven't you? How could you? Don't you remember the things they did to us? And now you're dragging me head first into it again!" she shouted. "why the hell would I do that? You're my friend!" Claudia snapped. Remy just scoffed and shook her head. "my friend? Please! You don't know the first thing about me!" she growled. I felt Claudia tense up with rage.

"oh really? Stop me if I'm wrong! Your full name is Ramona Collins, your parents died when you were 13, your foster family treated you like a punching bag until they threw you In a mental institution. They claimed you had anger management problems and that you needed to be watched all the time! You were accused of attacking the doctors when it was in self defense. One night you had enough so you escaped and ran away to god knows where! And you used to have long black hair but before you left you dyed it brown and cut it so nobody would recognize you!" Claudia said all in one breath.

Remy lowered the gun. "I'm impressed. It's just-" she never finished her sentence. Because at that moment, we all heard screaming coming from the convention downstairs. We rushed down to the source and saw everyone running around like dogs in a thunderstorm. On the stage, was the black haired guy from before holding none other than Elizabeth Bathory's pendant. A bright red light reflected off the surface of the pendant. "Steve! According to the symptoms of the previous victims, everyone in here has about 12 minutes until they go suicidal!" Claudia shouted over the fearful screams of the visitors. "I think I can get a clear shot from here! You guys get up there and grab the pendant!" Remy shouted. We nodded and darted up to the stage. He saw that we were coming and pointed the pendant at us. Before he could do anything, however, a shot rang out and he fell to the ground with a thud. Claudia grabbed the pendant and threw it at me. I caught it and immediately dropped it in the neutralizer bag. Then, in a brilliant flash of light followed by what looked like an explosion of color, everything was back to normal…

Artie stared at Remy for a long time. You know, the way he stares at trailer whenever he expects him to do something. "she's very talented for her age. I've never seen a 20 year old with that much firearms experience." Adwin Kosan explained. "and her aura is trusting. Artie, you always say the more the merrier, why not hire her?" Leena added. Everyone was staring at Artie, waiting for his decision. "please, Mr. Neilson, I have nowhere else to go…" Remy told him. Artie shook his head. "Maybe you should have considered that before you became an assassin! Am I right?" he snapped. Remy sighed and looked at her shoes, shoving her hands deep into her pockets. "… I'll admit, I'm not proud of what I've done…" Remy muttered regretfully. "I've made mistakes in the past. But I know that if there was anything at all I could do to fix them, I would do it in a heartbeat!" Remy looked up at Artie. "please Mr. Nielson, you gotta have faith…" she pleaded. It was silent for a moment. "… she's not lying, Artie…" I added. Remy looked hopefully at Artie. As did everyone. Artie finally sighed. "…wait on the balcony, I'll show you around." He muttered. Remy grinned from ear to ear. Claudia squealed and tackle-hugged her. Pete gave her a pat on the back, Myka shook her hand, and I gave her a hug. "well, if that's everything, then I'll be going." Adwin Kosan shrugged, walking to the door. We all waved before turning our attention back to Remy. "you're going to love it here!" Myka chirped. Remy smiled. "I already do!" she said. We all explained what working at the warehouse was like. At the same time. All four of us. But I couldn't stop thinking about the black haired guy, or the airport. What was this 'master plan' they were talking about? Could it be an attack on the warehouse? No. If that were true, Claudia and I would be dead already. I felt my stomach sink as another explanation entered my mind.

Could this be the beginning of a terrorist plot?

"HEY!" Artie shouted from the balcony. We all looked and saw him standing there impatiently. "if you don't mind, I'd like to give her a tour now." Artie grumbled. He held his hand out. "Remy, dear. Follow me please" he said gently. Remy smiled and took his hand. Artie smiled as well.

"Welcome to warehouse 13."

To be continued…