“Runaway” is episode sixteen of season four of Warehouse 13.
This episode opens at Arkansas State Prison. The inmates are in the yard when it seems to start snowing, which is unexpected. Then molten lava starts pouring out of one of the walls, leaving a hole in it.
Myka, Pete and Jinks are on the scene. Pete apparently thinks it was caused by a lava monster escaped from the Earth’s core. Artie thinks that’s more of a wish than a theory. There’s a U.S. Marshal on the scene and he recognises Jinks. Jinks gives him a bit of a cold shoulder (because he’s Jinks’ ex and he says that said ex dumped him. So Myka and Pete try to help. Despite Jinks wanting it left alone). According to the warden there is no-one missing, but it could be that the molten lava was a diversion. There is another molten lava hole in another place, and two inmates are actually missing. The prison break was done using an artefact used by the girlfriend of one of the escapees. The other escapee is not the one he was expected to escape with. Unfortunately, the new person double-crosses them and the situation takes a turn for the worse and he’s on the run with an artefact. One linked to volcanoes. He seems to have a problem with a local gang, but his motivations aren’t what might be thought.
The Warehouse is still a bit unstable from the tremors in the previous episode, “Instinct”. A rubber ball falls off a shelf and repeatedly strikes Artie in the face whilst bouncing off a clock. And Artie keeps hearing classical music – Beethoven. The clock was Beethoven’s. Unfortunately they lack the rest of the clock. So Artie and Claudia need to get the rest of it and neutralise the artefact before Artie essentially gets deafened by the noises in his head. This is not as easy as they first think.
Artie is throwing Claudia a 21st birthday party. He is refusing to take advice from Myka. Which worries Myka. Both Myka and Claudia are worried that Artie has hired a clown. Claudia, because she is going to be 21 – and therefore legal – plans to go out and grab a drink instead. Artie has got a rather special guest, but not what Claudia thinks (there is a clue).