Chapter Text
"I do everything for you!"
"Artie, you have to give it to me. You know this thing is affecting you." Claudia said carefully. Artie's raised the golf club high over his shoulder and swung again.
"Oh I know alright. I know it, and it feels good to finally teach you a lesson. You are so selfish all the time! God! I'll give you something, I'll give it to you between the teeth." He ranted, swinging again. It connected with the shelving, and Claudia watched the red sparks dance up the beam and begin to rattle nearby items.
"Alright, hey, you're so right. I am selfish. What else am I?" Claudia asked, stepping backwards. If she was right, there was a hose right nearby that she could completely douse him with. If not, well, she could run for one. That was definitely what she wanted to do more right about now anyway.
"Oh-ho, you want to play games now?!"
"No! No, I just think, you know like you said, it's the perfect opportunity to let all your feelings out. So go ahead! Just tell me everything you have pent up big guy, I can take it." She smiled. It only made things worse, Artie lighting up even brighter and taking another swing.
The metal cracked against the wooden shelf once again, this time leaving a large splintering crack. If that had been her head- the images shot through her without permission, her skull caved in before anyone would notice. Leena was somewhere around here but not close enough to stop him before he beat her to a gooey red pulp in the floor if she didn't stall. Plus if he was still ramped up, he could kill her just as easily. She tried not to think about it, backing up quicker as he began to grin. At least the shelf rattling would set off a few movement alarms.
"You are a rude, insecure, social outcast! And you're going to try to get me to open up?! When you can't, because the second you do, you drive everyone away?!"
"Artie!"
"And it's not just you- all of you people! Always trying to get me to open up. I will never open up to any of you, I can't open up to any of you! You and your degrading, and your constant comments on my appearance, my body, my age, my attitude, my mind! If I opened up, you'd use it against me! You with your whining, and complaining, and agitating me! I would have had a better life if you were never in it!"
"Artie please, just-"
"You! You caused all this! If your idiot brother hadn't trapped himself, if he had listened to me, I wouldn't have to put up with you! No guilt! No shame! No annoyance! And I'd live for far longer if you just disappeared."
"Artie you're scaring me." Claudia tried, stumbling against a shelf and quickly righting herself as he tried to pin her in.
"Oh so now you want to appeal to my humanity! But not when you're driving a dagger through my chest?!"
"What are you talking about?!" Claudia yelled, reaching out to grab for the hose finally. Artie grinned again, something malicious and evil swirling in his eyes.
"That one's got a leak. I took it off two days ago for repair. One you didn't complete."
"You didn't tell me to complete a hose repair, you must have forgotten, I-"
"Forgotten?!"
"No! No, I didn't say that."
"So now you want to lie? I'll show you how to lie." Artie smiled. She didn't expect him to be so fast, she didn't even expect him to run. Artie took off down the aisle and to the right, and before she could catch up he was already out of view. Claudia shifted nervously, her head shooting from left to right. He could pick up anything, he could use anything. He knew this place too well.
"I love you." Artie echoed, making her throw her hands over her ears as the volume pierced like nails on a chalkboard into her head.
"I love you so much Claudia. I always will. I value you as a member of the warehouse. I want you in my life."
"Stop it!" Claudia yelled. She wasn't even sure which direction it was coming from. It was like a microphone feedback loop thrown into a megaphone mixed with a sonic device. It was rattling, and piercing. She pulled her hand back for a moment, noticing the blood covering her fingers, before shoving them back in. She couldn't even remember what artifact he was using with her inner ears and brains scrambling the way they were.
"Why should I?! You cause endless torment on my psyche! You deserve this, for all you've put me through, all you've done, and all the things you have yet to do! The institution wasn't good enough for you!"
"If you hate me so much, why don't you just tell me when you're not under the influence, huh? Are you a coward?" Claudia yelled, taking off at a run.
She didn't know where she should truly go. Every aisle had things in it that could hurt her, and him. Her head was on fire and thinking wasn't coming easily. If he touched something, he'd have the side effects, and in this state he'd touch anything he wanted to. Not only could he kill her, he could get himself killed. The things he was saying weren't helping. She didn't want to fight him, she wanted to run away and hide. Artie didn't think all those things for real… did he?
Claudia paused, catching her breath as she grabbed the neutralizer switch and pulled. The sprinklers pipes squealed before kicking on, dowsing the aisles directly ahead of her. There would be a hell of a cleanup, Artie was always pissed when he had to use that because the neutralizer didn't exactly soak in. It had to be sprayed away, and sometimes getting them wet made them act up again. Only the really gnarly ones ate the neutralizer without leaving traces. She should have heard him yelling by now, shouldn't she? He was guarding the hoses and circling her like a shark, but he wasn't here. It was almost too easy. It was almost like-
Claudia's vision went white and her body went rigid as electricity shot through her. She felt the hit as she landed on the cement floor, but not the pain. The next thing she knew she was gasping, fighting for consciousness as Artie's hands yanked her limp body around on the floor. At least, that's what she thought. She wasn't sure, she just knew she was dizzy and everything hurt, and there were big hands on her. She shrieked as loud as possible, begging for Leena to have gotten there in time, still not fully aware of her surroundings as her mind caught up.
"Cla… you hear m…"
"Get away from me!" She screamed, tears springing to her eyes. Was this really it? After everything, after Joshua and that vat of sports drink, and Sykes, and the metronome, was this going to be what took her out? Artie and a dirty old golf club?
It was Steve's hand grabbing her face and pulling her to look at him that made her stop thrashing. She settled as he said something she couldn't hear through the terrible ringing and pulled her in. He was the only thing she could see or feel, her hearing shot. He smelled like himself, he looked like himself. It wasn't an artifact trick, and it wasn't Artie. She buried her face in his shirt, taking deep breaths as her body began to shake. He had turned up the tesla far too high she realized, as her feet jerked against the floor involuntarily. Steve was talking, she could feel it, feel the vibrations in his chest. Yelling more like, but there was no input. Had he succeeded in harming her? Had he made her deaf?
"I-I can't- Steve?" Claudia spoke up. When he pulled back to look at her, she just shook her head. There was nothing.