"Copier…"
Summary: Paracelsus is leaving a little gift for Arthur and the gang…
Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.
Part XXV…
Alternate Warehouseverse…
"So you're Amanda Martin, never married to Peter Lattimer?" Claudia asked the now revived Amanda, the de Sade collar secured back on her neck.
Puzzled look, anxious… "Married? No, ma'am…But you know all about me…"
"Just answer my questions, Amanda, please. I put the collar on you to get your help saving Artie, you said?"
"Yes, ma'am. You needed my help." Amanda nodded. "But you said you were leaving and I was to keep an eye on things here. Kill Agent Lattimer if he learned anything about your disappearance but not let him see I'm not quite as sharp as I used to be. Keep my head down, you said."
"You never married Pete?" Myka eyed her.
"Should I answer Agent Bering, ma'am?" Amanda to Claudia.
"Sure, yeah…Do whatever she says…Unless I say otherwise."
Myka eyeing Claudia…
"Just a precaution in case my evil twin sends Myka II back or something…" Claudia explained.
"I never married Agent Lattimer…I only met him when I was assigned to him here." Amanda noted to Myka. "He was married to that woman who helped Agent MacPherson try to steal the warehouse. You know that…"
"Amanda…" Claudia cut in…
"Just answer questions, yes ma'am…"
"I can see why the other Claudia wanted her to stay away from Pete. Were you a lot different after Claudia put that thing on you?" Myka asked.
"I wasn't as sharp as I used to be, Claudia said…" Amanda, a bit wanly. "I told everyone I'd had an operation and was on meds."
"Great…Just keep saying that while we're working together, ok?" Claudia, hastily. "We need to know if you know anything about the artifact I was trying to put together, with Paracelsus."
Narrow stare… "You said I should be careful if someone ever asks me about that…" Amanda, uncertain.
"I'm not 'someone'…I'm Claudia…"
"Right…" she nodded. "I don't know…Anything…"
Claudia eyed Myka, Myka, Claudia…
Lovely…
"You're sure?…Think, Amanda…" Myka tried… "Did you ever see the artifact or its parts? Hear Claudia talk about it, maybe with Paracelsus?"
"Claudia said I should be careful…" Amanda began…
"I cancel that command…Tell us anything…" Claudia, impatiently.
"You said it was cool…" Amanda noted. "You were going to send me first to test it, but Paracelsus said it wasn't necessary, it always worked for him."
"Ok, so you did see it…?" Myka, carefully.
"No. I just heard them talking…"
"Wait…" Claudia put up a hand. "It had to be reassembled, I wanted to test it because it wasn't put together when Paracelsus and I first talked about it…When you heard."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, it was in pieces that had to be reassembled?"
"Yes, ma'am…You said so." Amanda nodded.
"We'd better not stay here too long…" Myka urged…
"Yeah…" Claudia nodded. "Amanda? I was hiding in the warehouse from Agent Lattimer for a while, wasn't I? After Myka and I killed his fiancée? Is that right?"
"Oh, yeah…Ma'am…"
"We must have been, Myka…" Claudia frowned at Myka's look… "Look if you're gonna start suspecting that I'm poppin' back and forth from our world just ask yourself why I'd waste my time and not kill you right away? Besides…There's no artifact here…Yet…So I could only come back and be stuck here, without Artie and with Elliot Ness Lattimer on my tail."
"Ok…" Myka sighed. "But there's the answer Artie and Pete and Jenks figured you out and sent you back and maybe it's hard to tell when you jump over…" Claudia sighing…
"I'm just be cautious, Claud…" Myka shrugged. "This is all so bizarre I want to keep on my toes…And you shouldn't trust me too far, either."
"That'll get us outta here…" Claudia frowned.
"There's a blue light…" Amanda noted.
"Excuse me? You see someone coming?" Claudia, urgent...
"No…There a blue light when you go…" Amanda, quietly.
"I remember that light…" Myka nodded.
"Ok…I think I do too…" Claudia… "But first things first…Amanda, do you know where Myka and I hid? Did Agent Lattimer find the place?"
"I know where you hid…I brought you all those things…" Amanda noted. "I didn't ask Agent Lattimer if he found the place, you said to keep away from him."
"Ok, fine…Just take us there…" Claudia insisted. "And try to think of anything you can that might have something to do with the artifact or its parts, ok?"
"Yes, ma'am…This way…" Amanda led them down a corridor…
"Sorry…" Myka, to Claudia… "I didn't really…It's just…"
"I understand…Like you said…" Claudia shrugged. "It's just a little hard to accept oneself being the criminal mastermind behind one of these little adventures…And…"
"It's not you." Myka, urgently...
"I put that thing back on her quick enough…" Claudia nodded at Amanda who was quietly leading them… "I can see bits of that other one in me, Myka…"
"At least you're a mastermind…Good or evil…" Myka, rueful grin…
"True enough…" grin back…
"What if there are no parts…Nothing?" Myka, quietly. "What if we're stuck here?"
"Peter didn't think so…" Claudia frowned. "He didn't arrange that little prison break thinking we had no chance…Unless of course, he means to shoot us and write finis to the little escapade."
Myka, staring… "Pete wouldn't…Not even this Pete…"
"Maybe not…But you have to remember these people aren't exact copies of our friends, Myka…They can be very different…And Pete seems to have very few things along the lines of scruples. If we don't find a way back, outta here, I think he might decide it's for the greater good to have us taken care of…And he has reason to want us dead, even if we'd just be relatives of the ladies who murdered his girlfriend. Hey? Amanda?" Claudia hissed.
"Here, ma'am…This way…" Amanda peered back from a side.
"You don't suppose she's leading us into…" Myka eyed Claudia…
"…A trap?...With Peter's boys and girls eagerly awaiting…No…No, he coulda killed us earlier if killing us was all. Oh…Of course…" Claudia shook her head.
"What?"
"This isn't about nobly sparing us to save our world. He's sure we're the one who can open the way to our world…Plus we anchor our counterparts here. He's using us…"
"To get the real…His Claudia and Myka?" Myka stared.
"In every sense of the word, 'get'." Claudia nodded. "And with Mrs. Fredericks out as Caretaker, there's no one to stop him from inflicting his brand of justice upon our dopplegangers."
Myka, suddenly halting…"No…He wants more. Claudia, this is more than revenge, or Latimer justice, if it ever was that. He wants the gateway." She eyed Claudia, who gently urged Amanda to halt a moment.
"He's not satisfied with one Warehouse…He wants access to them all."
"And he expects us to give it to him…" Claudia, pensive. "Finger on it, Bering." She nodded. "Of course…He's a paranoid control freak…And knowing there's a gateway he could never feel safe unless he controlled it. He's playing for multidimensional stakes here."
"Lovely. I'm a dumb bimbo who gets led to murder by her over-obsession with this Pete, you're the criminal mastermind who did it for love of Artie, Leena's a scheming, jealous Latimer-in-training, and Pete's Adolf Hitler…"
"Eh, lets be fair…A power-mad J. Edgar Hoover on a very mean day, maybe." Claudia shrugged. "Yeah, quite the interesting crew our family is here. How the hell did they ever get trusted with this Warehouse? Didn't we sign up to fight people like this?"
"Agents…" Nicholas suddenly appeared before them…Pulling the cloak of al-Rashid off.
…
Original Warehouseverse…
"Ok, thanks. We'll be checking for anything that could help her." Artie nodded to Vanessa who was in his office to say good-bye after settling Mrs. Fredericks and making care and monitoring arrangements with her neurology team.
"Have a safe trip…Let us know how things go with whatshisname…" Claudia chimed in…
"Uh…Sure…" Vanessa nodded, a bit wanly… "Chet…Horowitz…I'll bring him with me sometime."
"No. You won't." Artie, sternly. "Vanessa?"
"She means to the B&B with all proper security measures, Neilson." Claudia, hurriedly.
"Yes…Of course." Vanessa nodded. "Well, I've got to get going…I'll be in touch. Don't worry about Mrs. Fredericks, we'll take care of her. Bye." She waved, pausing…Slight pat to Artie's arm.
Yes…A gently friendly faretheewell, ole lover…And off she goes…Claudia, watching quietly as Vanessa headed off, Artie watching her go, then turning away.
These things go wrong just like that sometimes, Neilson. But unbeknownst to you, sweet ole lamb, light of my troubled life…A better and purer love awaits. One who so, so desperately needs you…To make me good, to make be true…
It has to be you…Wonderful you…It has…To be…You. You. She eyed him.
Careful, there, Queen Claudia…She told herself. You don't want to start tapping Warehouse power for this sort of thing.
No…I want far more…I want the real thing. I want his whole heart. I deserve it. And I'll have it…Forever.
And of course tomorrow he's going on a diet. To make sure that heart lasts as long as possible.
I think I'll name our first girl Claudia Myka…A little tribute to the friend I'm shortly going to have to dispense with.
Hey, she is a murderess…