OOM: The Saga of Todd, part 1
Univille Hardware Store
Unnamed Unincorporated Settlement
South Dakota
Jeez, try to make one little modification to your Farnsworth and suddenly everyone's blaming you when the whole set acts up. Claudia may be good, but she's not that good.
And the upshot is something weird's going on in town, so now they have to investigate. Oh, and the in-town cover story is that they're IRS, which Claudia thinks is ridiculously flimsy - though it does explain the bad reception Myka and Pete have gotten. But in any case, as long as they're investigating, she can drop by the hardware store and see what's what with her last order.
"Hellooo?" she calls, as she starts her way through the shelves. "Customer? I have a special--"
She stops short as she gets to the desk; there's a guy there that she hasn't seen before, about her age, glasses, kinda cute in dorky way.
"Order?" she finishes, as he gets up. "I was working on a project that needs... unworking."
"Can I get the name?" he says, starting down the aisle toward her.
"Claudia Donovan? It's old copper wire, um, 20th century blend, two-inch flange, one-inch reverse?" The guy gets to a box, and Claudia picks something up off the shelf and fiddles with it, wondering why the hell she's so nervous. "Also, um, some half-watt 180K ohm Bradley resistors and you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you."
The guy gives her a sheepish smile. "...I heard wire. Um, let me check the file - Donovan, you said? IRS, huh?"
Claudia gives him a blank look (that she thinks he misses, thanks to checking said file), then looks at the jacket Artie gave her for great Cover Story. "Oh, um. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I'll just... have a look around."
As she does so, the guy says, "So I just moved here."
"Why on earth would you do that?" Claudia knows why she moved here, but that can't possibly be all twelve of Univille's residents' reasons for staying. (Okay, so twelve is an understatement, but still, butt-nowhere.)
"Yeah, kind of a long story. Uh--" As Claudia approaches a back door, he runs over to intercept her. "That's the owner's apartment, he doesn't... like people to go up there. He's kinda private."
Claudia opens her mouth to reply, but before she can, her Farnsworth freaks out (it sounds like someone's trying to strangle the usual buzz).
"That's... loud."
"I know, right? Excuse me." She ducks out of the store to check it, but there's nothing on the screen when she opens it - but then the air shimmers, and there's the sound of galloping behind her. She turns to look, and sees an honest-to-God cowboy galloping down the surprisingly Old West-looking sidewalk with no indication that he sees her standing right in his way. She dives to the side, taking out the hardware store's specials sign as she does so.
The Surprise Cowboy disappears as mysteriously as he showed up, taking the Old West makeover with it; not long after, the hardware store guy comes out of the store. "I can't find anything under that name, but--" He looks at Claudia, still on the ground, and says, "Uh... is everything okay?"
***
After trying to regroup in the Warehouse and finding out something in the hardware store owner's apartment is sapping massive amounts of energy, Claudia heads back, Myka and Pete with her. They head up to check out the apartment, and she keeps an eye on things out front - until she hears the kid in the store (Todd; she got that much from him after the Surprise Cowboy) scream. So she runs in and tries out one of the self-defense moves Myka's taught her...
...On the back of Todd's head.
"...holy mackerel! Aw, dude! Dude!" She slaps his face, trying to wake him up. "I'm so sorry. Uh... don't move?
And then she sees what spooked him.
IT'S A TIGER, GET IN THE CAR.
***
Univille Veterinary Hospital
Unnamed unincorporated settlement
South Dakota
The power leech is a massive video piracy operation; Pete got his ass kicked by a Surprise Gladiator with a horrendous Scottish accent, who presumably showed up with the tiger; and while he hasn't exactly made friends with the town vet (quite the opposite), she graciously agreed to patch everyone up, including Todd.
"Ugh," he says, still holding an ice pack to his head. "I can't remember anything."
"Not much to remember," Claudia says. "Fell off a ladder, banged your head. Dropped your glasses!" Totally didn't get beat up on accident by the girl holding said glasses out to you! Nope!
Todd takes his glasses and puts them on. "Do you really work for the IRS?"
...oh, hell, she can't keep up this stupid cover story. "Actually, I work for a top-secret-organisation that tracks down mysterious and powerful artifacts."
There's a long pause, stretching into awkward, before Todd says, "You're gonna audit me, aren't you."
"Maybe."
And then Myka and Pete come in, making with the glowery faces. "Oh god, what'd I do now?"