Warehouse 13: Endless Wonder

How did you say goodbye to a love affair that had never started? Since her reawakening, it was fair to say Helena had been obsessed with the woman Myka Bering. They had seemed to have such commonalities that Myka Bering was destined to be her lifelong companion. But for all they shared—literature, loss, the Warehouse—their hearts remained their own. Myka was determined to be alone, while Helena was equally determined to take all of her lover, demanding and receiving everything. As a fling they might have worked, but that thought was so bittersweet as to be untenable.

Helena needed a new obsession. It was how her mind worked, running ever to the next adventure, be it in love or danger. A challenge defeated was a challenge done with. And a challenge unattempted, such as winning the insurmountable heart of Agent Bering, would have its taste washed away by sweeter victories.

Recently, her time had been monopolized by one Claudia Donovan. The girl, who had at first struck Helena as a somewhat callow youth, had both blossomed into a capable agent during the months HG had spent with herandrevealed herself as having a fine scientific mind. They kept similar schedules: working for long nights on the Warehouse's technology. In many ways, Claudia was continuing the work HG had started over a hundred years prior. As Helena had created the Tesla, so Claudia modified it, modernized it, miniaturized it. And now HG was helping her. Things had come full circle.

Thinking of Claudia sexually came after that. Helena was not a nymphomaniac, but it was hard to ignore how obvious Claudia was. She nursed a crush on Myka as hopeless as Helena's was. Frustrated, virginal—Helena saw the wonder Claudia could become with a little confidence. A bit of experience.

Not that Helena herself was the bastion of esteem she presented herself as. All her accomplishments could be wiped from her mind by the remainder of a single failure, and a hundred years hadn't weathered that scar from her. She vexed, she puzzled, in her darkest moments she wondered if she was fit to inflict herself upon young Claudia.

The final decision came down to boredom. Leena was at a film festival, Pete and Myka were bagging and tagging, and Artie was off with some mission so mysterious it could only be the Regents. Claudia had nothing to do, and so worked on her internet. Helena had nothing to do, so she worked on Claudia.

She dialed Claudia's number and allowed it to ring before evincing surprise on Claudia's answering. "Claudia! My word! This ingenious contraption is able to both convey my voice to you through the Aetherandplay Candy Crush!"

"You know, it's not super cute how you keep pretending to be impressed by everything. It's just a little cute. It's Jennette McCurdy cute."

"Please come to my room? I have a can I cannot open. Is there some amazing futuristic way of undoing it, my sweet?"

"I'll be right there."

***

Claudia did not have a crush on Helena.

Claudia wanted to be friends with Helena, sure, who wouldn't? She was funny and smart and a time-traveling bisexual steampunk inventor with amazing hair. If she were a gay man instead of... whatevs, Claudia would glue herself to her.

But was she curious what Helena looked like naked? Like,supercurious?

No.

She'd seen Helena getting out of the shower once.

***

Claudia came up to find Helena reclining on her bed, laptop on her belly. "No can opener? I thought we could have ravioli."

"No, dear, that was a subterfuge." Helena pouted sympathetically. "Explain this internet to me. It confuses and befuddles my primitive mind!"

"Okay, your act is going full-on Thor."

"Thor? Why are you referring to the mythological Norse god of thunder?"

"Like I believe Pete hasn't shown you any comic book movies."

"I have watched more than one film about a man who dresses as a bat and is thus worthy of attention. Now please, my dear, show me the internet?"

Helena scooted over, moving onto her back against the headboard, patting the mattress beside her. Claudia dutifully curled up with her, drawing her feet under her and hanging onto one sneaker with both hands to make a little pretzel of herself.

"Okay, grandma, here's how you internet. You got your web browser?"

"Yes." Helena had figured that out on her own. "It's asking me if I'm feeling lucky." She gave Claudia a bonfire-bright smile. "Are we feeling lucky, Claudia?"

***

Claudia was completely cool with sitting in bed—on a bed—with HG. In HG's room. It was what cool platonic friends did all the time. She'd done it with Myka. Once. It didn't mean she was gay. She was just showing HG how to surf the information superhighway (Claudia thought that was the Victorian term for it.)

***

Claudia hemmed her hands to her knee. "That's Google. It's a search engine. Like, uh, the librarian of the internet. You ask the subject, it gives you the card catalog."

"Ah," Helena enunciated. "I recall the librarians of my time being much more attractive."

"Sometimes they do a little doodle on holidays. Anyway, what do you want to know? The internet has the answer to every question, and also five hundred wrong answers thrown in free of charge. With some kittens!"

"I wish to know what a Pokémon is," Helena said confidently.

"Okay, so you just type in the word. P-O-K-E-M-O-N." Helena did, hanging on each letter from Claudia. "Good. Now hit search."

"But I'm feeling lucky," Helena countered, pressing the other button.

A YTMND came up of Bill Cosby talking about Pokémon as only The Simpsons could have Bill Cosby talking about Pokémon.

"Yes," Helena said as it looped, "that explained everything."

"You felt lucky, doesn't mean you were lucky. Backspace and searchpropernow."

Helena backpacked, retyped in the search field, and hit enter. Almost immediately a pop-up came on showing the warm, loving relationship between a woman and... herself.

"If that's Pokémon, no wonder boys like it so much," HG exclaimed.

***

Porn.

Claudia was in HG's room, sitting on HG's bed,withHG, and they were watching porn.

This was not something Claudia had done at sleepovers. Not that there'd been many sleepovers at the asylum. But what it lacked in teenage bonding and scary movies, it made up for in thorazine.

There was still porn, and HG, in her immediate vicinity. She should do something about that.

***

"I think you have a virus," Claudia said, moving to close the window.

All she accomplished was opening another pop-up. Now there were two women. And... apparatuses.

"My, my." Helena clicked her teeth. "Is that how it's done these days?"

"No! Well, sometimes." Fed up, Claudia closed the laptop. She'd run an antivirus program later. "That stuff's mainly for dudes. It's not like that in real life—I don't think..."

"You're not sure?" Helena asked. "It didn't appear too different from some of my experiences."

"Yeah, but you're like—you."

Helena smiled magnanimously. "Have you done anything worthy of... popping up on my computer?"

"What? Huh? No. I mean, sure, I've banged—lots—loads of guys—not loads of guys..."

"Women?"

"Women?" Claudia squeaked.

"Half the population," Helena said smugly. "Quite an oversight if you haven't."

"Not... as such," Claudia answered, very careful now. "Hey, what about you? Maybe you haven't slept with any women? Huh? How about that?"

"Perhaps. I could just have a vivid imagination." Helena's eyes widened suggestively beforenarrowingsuggestively. "Have you ever even been kissed, Claudia?"

Now some real outrage vented from Claudia. "Of course I've been kissed! What do you think I am? I may be into My Little Pony but I'm not a Brony!"

"I mean a real kiss."

"There was tongue. And. Everything."

"So... was it anything like this, my dear Ms. Donovan?"

Helena did not surprise Claudia with her kiss. She went in very slow. The thought of it froze Claudia more than anything. Like a deer in blinding headlights, she laid there as Helena moved the laptop from her body, and rolled onto her side over Claudia. She looked the girl over from stem to stern. Black tights, black jacket, pink top, and a streak of pink in her hair. So bright and punkish compared to Helena's conservative blouse and well-tailored trousers. And so intimidating on Claudia's behalf. Without them, she'd be a pale little bunny. Well, Helena would let her stay a predator for now. It'd just make her conquest all the sweeter.

Slowly, Helena whetted Claudia's appetite by brushing their lips to each other, then charted their mouths together, cajoling Claudia into opening up and letting her in. Her tongue silkily explored Claudia's mouth, discovering the pleasures Claudia had not known were hers to be had. Shortly, Claudia was wracked with paroxysms of ecstasy, thrilling to Helena's mastery of her body and desires, sharing the warm caress that could only come from a woman's kiss. Helena put her hand at the nape of Claudia's neck, tightening it, drawing her closer,tighter, bringing Claudia's tongue into her own mouth to engage in a battle of dominance. Their mouths raged with sweet war, tongues dueling within, as with gentility belying her tongue's aggressive efforts, Helena began to pet Claudia's hair.

***

HG was kissing her.

HG was kissingthe crapoutta her.

And she was kissing HG likewhoa.

***

It was only with the utmost care that Helena ended the kiss in whooping gasps of excitement, to move down and extend her dominion to Claudia's throat in the long, wet suckles a master would use upon their domain. Her fingers ran promisingly over Claudia's cheeks, her nose, under her chin, and now Helena softly spoke into Claudia's ears, her words spun glass, spoken at a whisper so they wouldn't shatter.

"Oh, Claudia—the taste of you. The feel of you. As sweet as sugar, my dear one. I must have more. More of you, Claudia. Forgive me—I want to feast upon your sweetness. Allow me one more taste... just one more... then another... and another after that..." Soon, the girl would be hers. Soon, Claudia would know a pleasure she had never—

"So, are you gonna cop a feel or what?"

"Hmm?" Helena asked, brow wrinkled.

"We've been kissing for, like, two minutes. My boobs areright here. Feel me up already, God."

Helena looked around in confusion. Claudia was underneath her, breasts acceptably heaving, but her cheeks weren't flushed, her eyes were not dilated, she showed none of the telltale signs of arousal that Helena waited for in her conquests. It was most odd.

"I'm... seducing you," Helena informed her stately. "Plying you with my wit and charm to open you up for my physical caress, transforming you into a being of sensual pleasure who cannot help but demand more of the ecstasy I bring you—"

"Uh-huh, yeah, that happened, I'm good. On with the foreplay!"

"Fore... play?" Helena was now very confused.

"God, you sound like Pete." Claudia shrugged off her jacket, unzipped her top, and exposed a bra that was quite black. It was most becoming on her fair skin. Helena felt herself trending toward the vapors. "You wanna just skip to the bang-bang? First lesbian I've ever met that's not a breast woman, but sure, yeah, let's light this candle!"

As she began to extricate herself from her pants—a chore, as they were most tight—Helena once more looked around. It was possible an Artifact had escaped her attention. "But... you're a virgin."

"Only half," Claudia said defensively. "If you're worried about my hymen, I'm pretty sure everything that one horseback ride didn't take out was done in by Mr. Phallic the vibrator. So yeah, just get in there and start whatever."

"But..." Helena bit her lip. "I was getting you comfortable with your deflowering. I have to make you feel safe, and warm, and loved, so that I may gently usher you into your sexual awakening as a glorious woman."

"God, grandma, Flowers In The Attic got to the banging faster than you." Claudia rolled on top of Helena, straddling her, then reaching behind herself to take off her bra. The first breasts Helena had seen since the bronze. They were worth the wait. "You want to suck my tits or should I bust out the whipped cream first?Cover my feminine charms in the frothy cream of sweet, cold passion!"

"I don't sound like that," Helena replied snidely. Cold passion? It didn't even make sense. Indelicate passion,maybe. But enough talk. If the 21st century didn't have time for romance, neither did she.

Helena reached up Claudia's body and clutched her breasts—not the biggest she'd seen, but certainly well-formed enough, warm and heavy in her hands. She gave them a squeeze that had Claudia laughing in delight. Encouraged, she wound her arms around Claudia's back and, sitting up, pulled their bodies together, her face embraced by Claudia's pert cleavage. Her tongue was a delicate instrument of torture, drawing cruelly over every facet of Claudia's sensitive skin, finding and sucking at the little kisses of feeling that brought a pained grimace to Claudia's lustful face. Soon, Helena felt the heat of Claudia's sex glazing her lap.

Further contorting Claudia's body, now doll-like for her purposes, she kissed Claudia's lips while continuing to massage a breast, her freed hand testing the curve of Claudia's spine. Her body arched majestically in pleasure, allowing Helena to caress her all the way to the Calvin Klein boxer shorts topping her svelte legs. Helena squeezed Claudia's ass right through the silk, finding it nicely buoyant.

"Wanna spank me?" Claudia asked wryly, giving her ass a little shake.

"You are incorrigible!" Helena exclaimed.

"Damn straight—well, notstraight-straight... keep kissing me."

"Yes," Helena barely muttered before her lips found Claudia's lips again. But she had more than those luscious lips, pleasurable as they were, in mind. Even more than Claudia's very touchable ass. No, she wanted her cunt. Her fingers swung around Claudia's body, slipped between their physiques down into the crotch of Claudia's underthings, and with a lightning-strike of pleasure, she was inside the girl.

"Ohhmannnn," Claudia breathed, her eyes tightly shut, something like relief spreading across her face. "Didn't think it'd feel this good—almost as good as my vibe..."

"Almost?" Helena curled her fingers, short fingernails scraping precisely along the walls of Claudia's tight pussy, and the girl lost herself in that—head lolling back, spine arching, breasts quite enticingly outthrust. Helena enjoyed her perspective on a girl's becoming. "My dear, I may just have to ravish you for that."

"Fuck yeah," Claudia said, for once quite terse.

And, flexing her thighs, Helena bounced Claudia on her lap and her two outstretched fingers. It was like starting an engine. The hacker went from a statue, a sculpture of a girl in lust to a vibrantly blurred motion of a girl in ecstasy.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,oh shit!" Claudia cried, taken completely by surprise. Helena was an expert rider, carefully calculating the force she brought to bear on Claudia so that though her senses were pushed to the maximum, she felt only pleasure and not an ounce of pain. Helena didn't even try to lay her lips on Claudia's rapidly jiggling breasts or scream-widened mouth. She just gazed upon her acolyte's pleasure. So it was that she knew the opportune moment to add a third finger to Claudia's penetration.

"HOLY SHIT!" Claudia screamed. Her bugging eyes were now tightly shut.

"Such language," Helena tsked. "One should reserve vulgarities for situations that truly call for them. Such as me fisting you."

The mere mention of that had Claudia groaning, both at the prospect of taking an entire hand inside herself and at the knowledge that if Helena asked it of her, she'd be more than willing.

Claudia came shortly, but it brought her no respite. Helena gave her a moment's rest, as she would a horse that had made its run, than she threw Claudia down to the bed. The abrupt slip of Helena's slender fingers from her sex undid any diminishing her lust had taken. She laid supine on the foot of the bed.

"Oh, fuck, Helena, am I gay?"

Helena ignored her query, advancing upon Claudia on all fours. "Round two," she said sweetly, and dipped her head between Claudia's open thighs.

A moment later, Claudia's legs were wide open, her arms gripping the bedposts.

***

Okay, this felt really good and apparently Channing Tatum was the best Men had to offer. Claudia was definitely a bit gay. At least Smallville gay.

***

As wonderful as Helena's fingers had been, her tongue might have been a blowtorch on ice for how it made Claudia's pussy feel. For once, her rushing thoughts stopped, her body took over, and she gave Helena all the pleasure HG asked of her.

If Helena had one great love in her life, it was the solution of puzzles. Whether it be the long, frustrating grind of scientific discovery, the abstract creativity of massaging one of her adventures into a novel, or the madcap spontaneity of retrieving an Artifact, there was nothing she loved more than applying her intellect to the world's complexities and finding it equal to the task.

Women and men were no exception. She enjoyed taking their measure, enjoyed seducing them, enjoyed finding their ecstasy. And with long minutes of groping exploration, sensual experimentation, she had the length and width of Claudia's bliss. To prove it, Helena fed it back to her, both dominative and worshipful, dining on Claudia until she was on her knees, the girl hoisted up to offer her loins to Helena's seeking mouth, a rush of blood to the head that left Claudia feeling luminous when Helena gave the girl a first-timer's mercy.

"Not bad for an old woman, I should say," Helena breathed, fetching herself back to the head of the bed, leaving Claudia wrapped around a bedpost. "I'd like to see one of your internets dothat."

Her breath still coming in whirling gulps, Claudia raised her head. "You would, huh?"

***

Claudia wondered what the odds were that this was all some Artifact-induced fever dream.

Good enough that she should probably prioritize round two over figuring out her sexuality.Whateverit was, it had to include H.G. Wells.

***

Naked, Claudia rushed Helena back to her own room, the inventor keeping up and undressing herself in equal measure. Claudia pulled her along regardless. Kids these days.

Safely ensconced in Claudia's room, Helena shed the last of her undergarments to sit on one of Claudia's couches. As much as she enjoyed the anarchic sprawl of Claudia's nudity, the girl had yet to learn how to truly present herself. When Claudia noticed howHelenawas lying down, her nudity artfully poised, it stopped her dead in her tracks.

After a moment, she forced herself to keep moving. Helena observed the technical details of her enterprise as much as she did Claudia's enticing nakedness. Claudia gathered up a guitar, an amp, and another, rather oblong device. This she plugged in much like the guitar and the amp, then presented it to Helena.

"You sorta... sit on this."

Helena set her eyes upon Claudia's face, her lips, gaze as focused as a sunbeam through a glass. "I can think of better things to be enthroned upon."

"Hey. Keep your pants on. Off. I like your pants." Claudia's attempt at conversation degenerated into muttering, as she rushed back to examine her connections.

Helena did her best to sooth the girl by sitting cross-legged upon the couch, device situated resolutely between her thighs. Her hair sweeping straightly and sleekly down her neck and shoulders like molten metal to tickle at her full breasts. She quite enjoyed the picture she presented, even if only to herself.