Disclaimer: This is my first Warehouse 13 fanfiction. I don't own any of the characters of the show as they are product of Syfy. This is HG Wells' reflection of the events of season 2 (and possibly 3) from her place of incarceration.
Chapter 1: Plans
I hadn't really planned on ending the world.
Yes, I know that Artie and all those at Warehouse 13 think it was a long elaborate plan. But my only plan was to discover a new world, a better world. A world where women and cultures and lifestyles were respected rather than judged. A world that my Christina would have loved.
All those years stuck in torment, reliving the past and thinking of the future, designing new inventions – I swear some years I just recited all I learned about physics! If I had been in my right mind, I would never have been bronzed. But I didn't care. I only wanted to stop and think after my death wish caused another to be slain in my place. I remember finding the piece to the Minoan trident and how Sam took the arrow intended for me. And the Reagents were so willing to experiment with my life and I hated them for allowing me the choice of my time machine. But I didn't know about Warehouse 2 until an Agent assigned to the Bronze Sector would sit for hours by my statue and ponder about its location, talking to himself or me directly (I think he was a fan of my work) and I was grateful he gave me something else to think about. Somehow I knew that he would be back someday. But I never used all my years of incarceration to plan an elaborate payback scheme against the Reagents or to end the world; I just craved my freedom and clung to the hope that the future would heal my wounds.
But alas, nothing really goes as planned.
When James first awakened me he did not tell me much about this world. He was too obsessed with Warehouse 2, in which he wanted to sell the artifacts to the highest bidder to wreak havoc on Artie for God knows what reason. He lured me into his plan with my curiosity for the warehouse 2 artifacts and in my pride for all my inventions – I had really wanted to use my Imperceptor Vest so I could finally become invisible. And that is when I learned about antimatter and James had to fill me in on the world wars and atomic bombs. I could not fathom that this had occurred while I was bronzed. That men, when figuring out the atom, would choose destruction first, well, it fueled the fire I already had how men have ruined the world. I remember ranting about this as those 2 agents handcuffed me to chair and ransacked my home.
Ahh, Myka. What a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. There was a spark; an instant connection between us that I wished could have saved me. But I digress….
Once my invisibility vest worked, I entered the Escher vault and retrieved the only things I've ever called my own – my ring, locket, and compact. Seeing Christina's image shook me to the core, and reminded me of why I wanted to be in the future. I realized that I couldn't let James admit his scheme or his plans for me, so I killed him when I returned from the vault. I had killed before in ways to assuage the vengeance in my heart, but I had been a statue for so long that killing was nothing for me; I felt no emotional resonance for a practical solution to a problem.
I took what was mine, I killed James, and I left to discover this new world of my future. I decided to leave my power of invisibility to the warehouse; this time, I wanted to be visible in the world. I went back to London and my lawyers – the world still required currency – and when there were no Agents waiting on me this confirmed my belief that my records within the warehouse were lost or deleted or only privy to the Reagents. I couldn't live in my original home, so I decided to get a flat in Paris, close to my Christina. I still couldn't bring myself to visit her as the tip of the trident on her casket would remind me of my madness. So instead I set out to learn everything I could about the world.
For two weeks I traveled Europe's cities – absorbing the culture both new and old, and shopping (of which I was so pleased to see pants and suits for women!). I was glad to see lovers of all genders and cultures holding hands and being able to love freely. But I was devastated about world wars and Hitler and concentration camps, and all the poverty and violence that still surrounded these beautiful cities. The world was loud and complicated, and it seemed if people were too busy thinking of themselves. People here were conflicted about America, so I went back to the country of my imprisonment and found a culture less refined and even more self-obsessed. The majority of power was still in the hands of white men, and the church still spewed hate and intolerance for love that did not agree with doctrine. There was no Utopia, no enlightenment, and I longed for the days of discovery as a Warehouse agent. I had essentially traveled through time to find the world I had already written about. And this future was set just as the past was set – a fact that I had painfully learned to endure. I couldn't sleep and sometimes found myself standing against the wall as a statue – my mind locked in a trance of darkness. The only thing that was making me remotely happy was my inventions; so I set out to finish making my grappler and realizing again my love of science and discovery. I knew then I would not last in this world without being a part of the warehouse. How ironic that I needed to go back into the place that destroyed me.
So I went to the house where James first took me after my de-bronzing. I found files there on the agents that were associated with Artie Nielsen. Not surprisingly, I was intrigued by Agent Myka Bering as I read through her file. She was a woman in a man's world such that I had been once, and I knew somehow that she was my ticket back in.
So I waited and followed until I could get Agent Bering alone.