The Librarian's: The Beginning

"Ya, when we're in the library anyway," Alvin said as he continued down the hall, heading for the old caged elevator at the very end.

Her hair stood on end and she slowed. "We're.... still in the library, right? Where are you taking me?"

Alvin rolled his eyes. "Yes. It's below the library. I'm taking you to the archives." He paused in front of the elevator and motioned for her to come get in.

Alana shifted uneasily. "... After you." She jerked her chin up stubbornly.

Alvin rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to rape you if that's what you're thinking. Don't flatter yourself." He got in and waited unhappily for her. "Come on, we don't got all day."

Alana blinked rapidly and wrapped her arms around herself, her mouth pressed tightly together as she stepped in and essentially ignored his existence.

Alvin pressed a button on a box that hung from a wire inside the cage and shut the door. The cage jolted then started down through the ground, seeming to go for ages without stopping. Alvin just watched the walls, ignoring Alana just about as much as she was ignoring him. It was good practice for later he figured. After about fifteen minutes, light finally started to crawl its way up from the bottom, and they entered a vast room, the ends of which you couldn't see. It was filled with objects on every level, shelves and boxes, and crates, and multiple other things lining the ground.

Alana stumbled out, vastly unnerved and over flowing with questions, which she refused to voice to him. She stared around her, feeling small, the directors words echoing through her head.
His last partner passed away.
Her skin crawled and she stayed rooted in place.

Alvin started forward then looked back at her. "Well are you coming or not?" He asked with a somewhat irritated look. Her reluctance to follow was starting to irk him.

"Where are you taking me?" She finally snapped, still refusing to move.

"To the office," Alvin said in an "un-duh" sort of voice. "This is the archives, we keep everything here from Abraham Lincoln's top hat, to the first statue of Athena."

Alright, that made a little more sense. Intrigued, Alana crept forward, eyes darting everywhere cautiously.

Alvin couldn't help rolling his eyes a bit before starting forward again. "Don't touch anything," he said as he moved forward through the shelves. Whispers seemed to climb from the shelves. Movement occured behind one of the shelves before disappearing out of sight. "Keep up," Alvin called back.

For once, Alana listened, the hairs on the back of her neck urging her to stay close to his heels. She felt like she was in a dream. Or high. Or both. Like Alice and Wonderland.

A sword jumped out from behind one of the shelves and started towards Alvin who ducked, grabbing Alana's hand and yanking her down to the ground just before the sword zoomed past. "Damn thing," he grumbled and straightened himself out, pulling her back to her feet as well.

Alana squeaked, her hands out to guard her head from... a flying sword? "Who threw that?" she demanded, looking around for the source.

"No one, Excalibur just likes to mess with people," Alvin grumbled as he started back down the hallway, obviously perturbed. "He's a pill."

It was then that Alana concluded he was crazy. She went back to ignoring him, treading carefully.

Alvin lead her through the remaining aisle and up to a large room. One side was filled with computers and flashing buttons, the other with filing cabinets and a table with chairs around it. "Welcome to the office, where the real work gets done."

"What, you mean yesterday was just a warm up?" She grumbled, staring around.

Alvin rolled his eyes. "This is the real reason why we're here. Generally we don't have to work the library. We travel the world keeping bad guys from getting hold of dangerous artifacts and trying to save the lives of the idiots that get a hold of them by accident."

Alana stared at him dumbly. "...That's it, I'm out of here." She started to weave her way back the way they came. Or, at least, the way she thought they came...

Alvin sighed and rolled his eyes. "Scream when you need help," he called after her. "And don't touch anything!"

A half an hour later and she finally admitted she was lost. Her mood increasingly sour, she reached out to touch something, just to spite him.

On the plaque in front of the artifact it read "Charles Dickens' Bad Mitten Racket". It was a dusty old thing, the wood cracked and warped in some places.

At the end of the aisle, Excalibur came to a halt. It pointed in the direction of Alana and charged.