Guardian: Chapter 17
Summery: When a threat on her life appears, Claudia is forced to leave the Warehouse and go to the small town of Haven, where she will be safe - if she isn’t killed by the odd, supernatural occurrences around the town, of course. However, once at Haven she realizes that the town and its inhabitants - especially Audrey Parker - might have more of a hand in her destiny - and true purpose to the Warehouse - than she thought.
Rating: PG-13 for violence and swearing.
Pairings: Audrey/Nathan (romantic), Artie/Claudia (father & daughter)
Spoilers: For Season 1 of Haven and all 2 seasons of Warehouse 13.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Haven or Warehouse 13.
Credit for banner: This awesome banner was made for me by the great dandilandi22!
Recaps: Read this quick recap to find out what’s currently happening on both shows!
Previous Chapters: Chapter Index
Chapter 17: A Crack in the Plan
“Let me go!” Artie yelled, struggling in his captors’ arms. “He is going to torture and kill her, do you understand? She is only a 20 year old girl! A girl! What is wrong with you?” He struggled some more, until a door opened and a blast of cool air hit him. He was out on the deck of the ship, which was moving a tremendous speed: he could barely see the outline of Haven behind him.
He was shoved down to his knees and his hands were tied behind him. He felt rough rope encircle his wrists and ankles and then he was pulled back to his feet, being dragged along by Valda’s men. Except something was wrong: his feet felt heavier than usual. The awful truth sunk in just as he was tossed over the side of the boat. He sank swiftly down, the bag of rocks weighing down his feet and the rope restraining his ankles and wrists, preventing him from swimming to the surface. He knew it was futile, but he still tried to fight back. He was Claudia’s last hope.
That was the thought that went through his mind as the icy water stabbed his body, as black spots began to dance in front of his eyes, as his consciousness began to fade away... He didn’t think about the fact that his body was getting heavier and heavier, that his lungs were desperate for air, that his head was getting lighter and lighter... Just Claudia. Just that he was Claudia’s last hope and he was failing her. He had always failed her: not protecting Joshua, leaving her to Social Services, not telling her about Caretakers, not protecting her from Valda...
He had failed Claudia for the worst way and for the last time.
Defeat rolling through his mind, Artie closed his eyes and willingly let the water take him.
*
“Artie...” Claudia said, still lying on the floor. Consciousness had just come back to her, and she woke up, immediately looking around for him.
“Stop whimpering, it’s pathetic. He’s gone and he’s not coming back. It’s just you and me.” Valda said, yanking her up by her hair again. Claudia struggled weakly in his grasp. Valda let go of her head and she feel to the floor again. “Honestly, I don’t know what you saw in that man anyway. A father figure? Humph, he loved the Warehouse more than he ever loved you.”
“Liar.” Claudia sniffed.
“Why did he wait to tell you about Caretakers? Because he would rather the Warehouse have a Caretaker, no matter if it was a enslaved Caretaker, bound to the Warehouse against their will.”
“You’re a liar.” Claudia said confidently. A few hours ago she might have believed his lie, the lie she had believed for months, but not now, not after seeing Artie struggle and scream her name. Not after the pain he had been put through trying to protect her. The pain he was being put through right at this moment, now that he was being ripped away from her. Valda, seeing that his mind games weren’t going to work on her, simply snarled and grabbed her by the hair again.
“Fine. You’re a clever little girl for realizing that Arthur cares about you. A lot of good that’ll do him and you.” He said as he began to drag her out of her cage.
“What did you do to him?” Claudia yelled.
“It doesn’t matter to you anymore.” Valda said.
“What did you do?” Claudia yelled again. Valda roughly shook her, causing her body to bang against the wall, making Claudia have to bite down on her lip to cover a whimper of pain.
*
“C’mon. Breathe!”
A voice.
Loud, rough, strong.
“Breathe for me damamit! I didn’t pull you out of the water to have you die!”
Why did the voice have to be so loud? All he wanted to do was rest...
“Oh dammit!” And suddenly he felt someone slapping his face. “Claudia had better apperiate this!”
Claudia...
He had left her in Valda’s care.
All alone.
Scared and helpless.
Needing him.
The blackness was so tempting.
But Claudia needed him.
Artie opened his eyes and looked up at the man who staring down at him.
“Claudia...” Artie attempted to get to his feet but was pushed back down by the man.
“Easy there....” He said. “Being drowned can take a lot out of you.”
“Drowned.” Artie said stupidly, still thinking of Claudia being tortured by Valda.
“Give the man a prize, now he’s getting it.”
“I - I have to get to Claudia. Valda, he has her.”
“Aw shit.” The man looked horrified. “I was hoping that she managed to get away. They all went onboard to look for her and Audrey, but I got stuck helping you.”
“Sorry.” Artie said, not very sorry at all - he didn’t have the time to be worried about some man’s irritation when Claudia was being hurt by Valda this very second....
“Alright. I’ll go with you.” The man rolled his eyes at Artie’s eagerness to run into danger but reached behind him and pulled up a huge gun. “Let’s go find Claudia.”
Artie, still too weary to dor or say much, struggled to his feet and began to nod. Then he stopped for a minute and looked suspiciously at the man. “Who are you?” He managed to get out.
The man smirked. “Just your simple, neighborhood friendly smuggler.”
*
Audrey struggled against her chains as much as she possibly could, but she wasn’t making any progress. She had no clue where Nathan was; who knew what had happened to Claudia; and Vince and Dave were dead because they had been trying to help her. Determined not to give up but feeling despair creeping through her, Audrey gave one last futile tug at the chains before letting her body go limp. She breathed in deeply, her wrists and ankles rubbed red and raw. She was exhausted from struggling and fearful of what was happening. If whoever it was had managed to get to her, had they gotten to Nathan, too? Or Claudia? Audrey’s stomach dropped out at the image of Claudia, sprawled out on the floor, blood flowing out of her like Dave. Then the image vanished and it was replaced with one of Nathan.
If something, anything, had happened to Nathan...
She would know, though. Audrey tried to grasp at whatever comfort she could get. Dave and Vince had said that she would be able to feel Nathan’s pain.
And currently Audrey felt fine.
Relived, she took another deep breath to calm herself and began to struggle with her chains again. Suddenly she heard a loud crack. She jumped (as much as she could in her chains) just as the sound began again. In the dim light of the bulb hanging above her head, she began to see cracks spreading through the metal of the ship. The ship cracked, creaked and moaned as the metal began to split apart. The cracks rapidly ran through the metal of the ship, through the walls of her prison and, finally, through her chains.
Audrey stared in shock as the chains fell around her, the walls of her prison came tumbling down and the cracks in the ship began to spew water, rising quickly and rapidly.