"Copier…"

Summary: Paracelsus is leaving a little gift for Arthur and the gang…

Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.

Part IV…

Section 17…

Just past Alois Hitler's Ouija board…

"Alois?" Pete stared.

"Adolf's half-brother…He ran a bar in Germany, kept his head down during the Nazi years…" Claudia noted. "The board predicted his brother's rise to power, all of the events of the Third Reich…"

"But…" Pete stared…

"Some people don't wanna hear bad news, Pete." She grinned. "Alois handed it over to the Allies after the war. He'd never wanted any part of it…Sensible part of the family. His wife of the time was something of a psychic and through her dread of her crazy in-law and psychic 'whatever' the board absorbed his brother's crazy vibe energy to predict his fate somehow and now…"

"It predicts the fate of anyone using it…?"

"Very good. The catch being…" she grinned…Holding the computer label board for him to see…

"The predicted fate is the worst possible for the user…" he read.

"Adolf's little gag gift to the world…Use to be avoided…Much…"

"Yeah…" he nodded.

"Peter…" she eyed him. "It's a timeline thing…Worst timeline thing…As in, hurt people you love as well as yourself…Get me?"

"Right."

I'd encourage you, but Fate has a nasty way of biting back at you…I oughta know…She reflected as they moved on, Pete unable to resist a glance back…

Section 9…

"Do you see it?" Myka looked round…Jinks on the ground, trying to eye under shelves where the Energizer bunny had gone…

"No, it just zipped off…" he sighed…

"Well, it must've crossed underneath to the next section…" she pondered. "Do you suppose it's an artifact?"

"I never heard of a bunny artifact…And it would have to be pretty recent." Jinks stared.

"I'll try and see if Artie recognizes it. Lets try and get to the section over there before it can get out in the corridor again."

Calling Artie about an Energizer bunny artifact…Well, no one can say this one isn't one of our more interesting ones…He thought.

"Artie?" Myka addressed the Farnsworth…

"Wait, Myka. That thing is remote controlled, right?" Jinks, suddenly…

"You said so, not me…" she eyed him. "Hey, Artie…"

Static-filled screen…Faint voice…

"He's probably listening in as well as jamming…" Jinks noted.

"Not now he's not…." Artie's image clear on screen. "Encrypted circuit, a little security thing of my own…What's up?"

Myka eyeing Jinks…Jinks, Myka.

"Uh…We're pursuing a possible lead…" she began…

….

Artie in chair sighed…

"An Energizer bunny…"

"We thought it was a joke on his part but he's probably using it to get some extra battery power for his hologram system…" Myka noted, a bit sheepishly.

"He's running his holograms off Energizer batteries?" Artie stared.

"Gotta admire his energy efficiency…" Myka shrugged. "But we did wonder about…"

"No…I have never heard of an Energizer bunny artifact." Artie, with finality.

"And Jinks has an idea…The bunny is remote controlled…Wirelessly?" Myka eyed the screen.

"Oh…Really." Artie stared. Swinging round in his chair…

"How's Claudia?" Myka asked.

"Making the rounds in 2-14 with Pete…And so far as I know, quite well. Ok, Energizer bunny, wireless…Radio Shack catalog, I love you." Artie addressed the screen image. "Ok, here's the frequency. Jinks, set your Farnsworth…"

Section 1…

Holographic images of various Regents surrounding Mrs. Fredericks…

"So it's agreed?" she asked the group…

"Yes…If Paracelsus isn't taken soon, there must be a full convocation…" Mr. Kosan nodded.

"I'm leery of this still…He may have anticipated our move, want us in one place…" Mrs. Lattimer shook her head. "And if he's used an artifact on Claudia…The next potential caretaker…"

"She's been cleared of any influence that we can detect…" Mrs. Fredericks noted. "And we must take proper action to prevent Paracelsus from doing further damage."

"Surely if he's been weakened…" another regent, male, spoke up…A nurse by outfit…

"A temporary condition unless we locate him…And right now, I'm unable to. And he still has some artifacts, however well concealed, we are sure of that. I won't be able to fight him alone at his full strength, not a second time." Mrs Fredericks sighed. "I don't make this request lightly. If he gains the upper hand, even for a short time…We could lose every artifact here…"

"It's decided. We're on our way. But I still have hope that your team can defeat him…They have my full confidence…" Kosan, firmly.

"Thank you…" she nodded.

…..

Section 10…

By a rather attractive portrait on shelf…Pete rather fascinated by the lovely woman…

"Portrait of Elisabeth Pepys, wife of Samuel Pepys…Isn't that guy with the diary?"

"1660-9, daily diary of his life during some of the most interesting times in English history, yeah…" Claudia dryly… "Not to mention rather revealing as to personal lives, including his own. That's his wife…Hmmn…" she read the computer label. "The portrait was supposedly destroyed in the 19th century but in fact was brought in along with the other components of Pepys' pantograph."

"This thing…?" Pete held up a metal piece, rather like a thin robotic arm with spot for a metal engraving bit.

"That thing…In part…" Claudia nodded, reading… "Mrs. Pepys died suddenly in 1669 and in his grief…And considerable guilt over his affairs…Pepys turned to his friend Robert Hooke the creative genius and rival of Newton…"

"For what?" Pete stared…

"The pantagraph makes perfect copies from one image to another…" she shrugged. "Guess he wanted prints. Lets move on…" she put down the label.

"Wait a mo…" Pete had taken the label… "Pepys used the device, modified through combination with another artifact by Hooke, to copy her image? Into a living replica? Whose identlty they concealed as 'Mary Skinner', known to history as his mistress until his death in 1703? He brought his wife back?"

"A copy…Not important right now, Pete."

"But what other artifact?...Hold on…"

He would…He would find this one…She sighed inwardly. But, no need to give him any reason to start his vibing crap jellin'…It's not the essential…

"…the rest of the artifacts Hooke combined were never identified…Pepys surrendered the pantagraph to the Warehouse in his will…Mrs. Pepys lived on to die a natural death in her sixties. Claudia? He brought her back…"

"And I brought Jinks back…Not all that big a deal these days, Pete." She noted.

Jinks…I brought back Jinks…

Of all people…My one chance…And I bring back…Jinks. Here, too, according to my lil' upload.

"Pete? This isn't getting us any closer to our tenant…"

"Yeah…" he sighed, putting the label unit back. "Sorry. Still, imagine…How could something like that work?"

"We'll figure it out over cocoa after we catch Mr. Big Bad. Come on…" she urged.

Yeah, just another funny little oddity of Warehouse 13…Lets move on before I have to kill you, hon?

They both stared at the sound of a tinny, banging drum…

And the Energizer bunny rolling by them…

"Was that?" Pete eyed Claudia.

"I think so…It just kept going…" she nodded.

Ok…Message received…Time to part company, dear partner.

"Ok…I think we need to follow the white rabbit...Alice…" he eyed her.

"Annie…Don't forget my password." She eyed him. "But you follow the wabbit and I'll cut him off at the pass, John Wayne."

Always make the most of an opportunity to accomplish the mission…Nielson rule #115…And I have them down by heart…

"Claud? Are you…?" he stared as she hurried round the corner. "Claud?! Artie said not to…"

"…leave you alone…" he sighed.

"Follow the wabbit, Elmer!" her voice, calling…

"Fine…Ok…Just keep talking so I know where you are, please!" he turned, hurrying after the scurrying bunny.

"You heard the gentleman, dear…" Parcelsus eyed her as she frowned at him on the other side of the section.

"Lets make this short, partner." She insisted in hissed voice. "Ok, Pete! I'm coming round the back way!" she called.