"Copier…"

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

Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.

Part IX…

Section 3…Original Warehouseverse…

Where Myka was currently pondering her instructions from Claudia…

Was it Section 3…Or…?

Yes…Section 3…The top row…Next to…Something…She looked up, scanning.

Mrs. Fredericks was so nice…A little less smiley, maybe…But…Ah, there…

Next to Annie Oakley's reading/shooting glasses…

Paracelsus' automatic controller for the holograms…Where better to hide than among some secure artifacts?

Hmmn…Remote control for battery-powered holograms…He picked up a lot in his time here in our era, poor guy. I still can't even program my DVD player…

I wonder if my counterpart here…Well, check later…

Ok…Now what was it she said? It'll need…Something…Something…

Oh, yeah…Batteries, right…

She fumbled in her trouser pockets for the various batteries Claudia, not sure of size, had made her take along…Got 'em…

Need something to stand on…There's a box…Great…She pulled the box over…

"Now, come to Mama…" she reached for the controller. Ummn…Can't quite…Got it…Got it…

"Whoa! Ahhhh!..." she fell with a cry.

Ooops…She rose with groan to knees…Eyeing the fallen controller…

Don't be broken…Don't be broken…Don't be broken…

I don't wanna be bronzed…And this Pete really seems to like me…She fumbled with the batteries, not AA…Not D...Ok, C…Yeah…

Yes! She saw a red light come on…

Showtime, folks…She beamed…Showtime…Showtime…At the Warehouse 13 café…

Like that song from the "Baghdad Café" movie with the woman who looked a lot like a younger Mrs. F…

…..

Alternate Warehouseverse…Temporary Confinement area…

"Leena…Hear me out, please…" Myka, desperately to the Leena who'd entered the outer cell area to ask if she had any requests…

Making it quite clear by tone that she meant… "Last requests"…

"Lady, you had your hearing. Not even Mrs. Fredericks believed your evasions…" Leena put up a hand. "Look…" thin smile. "I get it…Little Leena, dupe of MacPherson…The easy mark, the one who'll trust anyone. The sweet idiot." Cold glare. "No more, honey…Now, do you want anything or no?"

"I want someone to listen to me for a second…There's something going on that could destroy both our worlds, I think."

"Say…I saw that on 'Fringe'." Mocking tone, ironic smile. "So you're like…Alternate Myka?"

"Actually…Yeah…" Myka frowned. "And if you don't listen to me…Your Myka is going to escape permanently and do…Whatever it is she does…With Paracelsus, and I think now, your Claudia."

"Oh…With 'our Claudia'…I see." Leena nodded, sagely. "I'd sure like to see that…Seeing our Claudia is currently a hunk of bronze."

"What? No…Wait." Myka, blinking… Oh my God… "No, no…Not your Claudia!…Ours!…That's our Claudia in bronze. Yours escaped, to my world with Paracelsus."

"With a dissolved hunk of bronze, you mean?" cold smile. "Paracelsus is dead, Myka. The process screwed up during a power surge somehow and his bronze dissolved to ashes, we told you that before. Now, lets stop this nonsense, ok? Try and come up with something a little more reasonable for Mrs. Fredericks…You'll need it. The bronzer should be cleared for use by tomorrow morning. Just enjoy that we're humane and trying to be cautious. 'Cause some of us, honey?…Wouldn't bother to be so scrupulous about your safety."

"That's it…He's alive…In our world…" Myka stared. "Leena…You had the wrong one…It must have been the good Paracelsus…I mean the one who was appointed caretaker…In our world. He wasn't here, was he? A caretaker?"

Chuckle…"Come on…We all know the story, Myka…After decades of service the good and noble Paracelsus goes mad, like so many others workin' here…Turns maniac criminal, kills his friends and family in gruesome experiments to try to gain immortality. But a nice addition to the tale…I'll tell the guys later."

"Leena…"

"One last time…Do you want anything before I go? Mrs. Fredericks will be seeing you at 8, you can tell her all the wild stories you want then."

"Could I make a call?" she stared.

"You had your call to your mother…No others are allowed. Anything else?"

"Mom…? I didn't speak to Dad, too?"

Cocked head, sardonic "Please?" look…

"Honey. We both know poor little Myka lost her daddy years and years ago…And we all still feel real bad for the poor waif…Just as we feel for your poor little whore of a friend, Claudia and her terrible life on the street with her pimp brother. Nice to know the gratitude she felt for her rescue. I have to go now…Anything else?"

"I need my medication…"

Stare… "What?"

"For the cancer…I have ovarian cancer…I take some pills for countering the first stages of the chemotherapy. I don't want to be sick now."

"I've never heard this…" Leena eyed her. "If you're trying to pull something…"

"Never mind then…It won't be there…" Myka waved. "Just, anything for an upset stomach…"

"I'll check on this…If it's true I'll get you medication…But if you're lyin' again…"

"It probably won't be in my record…It's not me…" Myka shrugged.

Wait…

…..

Original Warehouseverse…

Section 15…

Artie pondering…Pete and Jinks eyeing each other…

Us dead would be "right"? Still leaving them a bit…

"Paracelsus wants to reclaim the Warehouse. He attacked but lost to the current caretaker, Mrs. Fredericks, but did weaken her…A good deal, but a single strike not a sustained attack. He then physically attacks Claudia, the potential caretaker, twice but leaves no apparent aftereffects, risking exposure even though he'd carefully eluded our efforts to find him." Artie noted carefully…Eyeing the two agents.

"He needed a distraction…If he's going to recharge and hit Mrs. F again…" Jinks suggested. "He distracts us with an attack on Claudia and then can recharge before we can detect him and cut him off."

"Possible, but he hasn't done it…Why?"

"Good question…" Paracelsus appeared, beaming at them in his robe… "Perhaps because it's nothing to do with my plans, Artie…Arthur…"

He vanished…

The three looking at each other…

"I've offered to negotiate, gentlemen…" Paracelsus, now at the opposite end of the section… "I'm still open to the same…I warn you that my next attack will harm the girl."

"And as for the current caretaker…" another Paracelsus, directly in front of Jinks… "She will not survive. Accept my generous terms, gentlemen and save your friends while you can. Vacate my house!"

Both disappeared…

Pete hurrying down to the first appearance…Tesla pulled…Looking round intently. "Nothing here, Artie!"

"I thought he was running low on power?" Jinks asked. Watching as Artie extended an antenna from his Farnsworth…

"These holograms are just for vainglorious show, batteries aren't that hard to come by." Artie shrugged, fussing with the Farnsworth's controls.

"Yeah, but he must be broadcasting from somewhere around here…" Pete, coming back to them, noted.

"Unless…" Jinks eyed them… "Maybe he's not even in the Warehouse?"

"The broadcasts are on a standard wavelength…And the Warehouse blocks transmissions from outside partially naturally and with intent, for security. The transmissions are therefore coming from inside…But…" Artie smiled. "Not necessarily from Paracelsus in the Warehouse."

"But he was here, right? He attacked Mrs. F and Claudia and took artifacts. A hologram can't do that." Pete noted.

"He was here…" Artie nodded. "But I've my doubts that he still is here…"

"Recorded holograms…?" Jinks eyed him. "He's got what he wanted and left? And now is throwing us off the trail with phony manifestations?"

"How do you know he's gone, Artie?" Pete asked.

"Because…Gentlemen…" Paracelsus smiling before them… "I was never here…"

Echoing Artie's voice…

The two agents staring at each other, then Artie…

"I'm transmitting on his frequency…In effect I've jacked into his holograph system." Artie grinned.

Paracelsus grinning as well…

Another appeared, just down the corridor…

"Very nice…But not quite enough…" Paracelsus, frowning. "You have my ultimatum thing, my ultimatum, don't risk my wrath." Glare…

Vanishing…

Ultimatum thing…? Jinks stared…

"So…He wasn't here but he was?" Pete stared at Artie.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. A Paracelsus was here…But not the caretaker…Not the man who ran Warehouse 9. I was suspicious before, especially when he pulled back after hitting Mrs. Fredericks but now I'm sure."

"So…What?" Jinks, blinking at Artie… "A double…A robot? Automaton, given his time? An agent using his holograms?"

"How can you be sure he wasn't here, Artie?" Pete, frowning.

"Let me explain…The man who was here…Who attacked Mrs. Fredericks and Claudia…Was never a caretaker, though clearly very powerful and familiar with a good deal of the Warehouse's set up. A caretaker, even a rogue caretaker, would know better than to waste effort taking what he took when the real power of the Warehouse is in the generalized energy here…A caretaker learns how to tap that immediately."

"But, Artie…" Jinks shrugged. "He used that energy to attack Mrs. Fredericks as soon as he got in…Nearly cut her off from it."

"He knew to collect power and hurl it like tossing a big club…But he didn't understand how to control it properly or store it…A caretaker would know that…You can't survive not knowing it. He'd be attacking as long as the Warehouse was operational, and he'd win because he could attack Mrs. Fredericks and she'd have to protect multiple areas...She'd have to give in eventually. And then he disrupts the potential power flow by grabbing a few artifacts that could never have protected him from Mrs. Fredericks? Fellas, I can't put it in simpler terms but no caretaker would be so sloppy. This enemy of ours was never a caretaker. And I think, he's gone…Fled maybe…But gone…For now."

"Ok…He wasn't Paracelsus. A minion guy, maybe? Paracelsus' stooge, trying to weaken Mrs. F then Paracelsus storms in for the big one?" Pete suggested.

"It could be…" Artie nodded. "If so he's taking his time…"

"Very good…" Paracelsus reappeared, standing on a shelf, hanging… "And quite right, I'm biding my time. And you have only…" the figure fell…

"OW!..." the hologram groaned… "OH…I think I broke…"

Uh… "Fear my wrath, Niely…Nielsen!" vanishing…

Myka on floor in section 3, groaning…

Had to get fancy, hanging from that shelf…

"Interesting…" Artie eyed the spot where the image had been.

"What was that?" Pete stared…

"More important, Agent Lattimer…What was it not?" Artie noted. "Clearly someone is operating the holograph system and they are still in the Warehouse…And transmitting on a frequency I've located."

Gentlemen? He eyed them…

"…as in…We can locate them." He explained to their stares. "Farnsworths…Set them to this frequency…And set your receivers to lower volume."

"And as we close in…" Jinks nodded. "We'll hear him…Or whoever…Better…"

"And if we close in from three positions…?" Artie eyed them in turn.

"Triangulation…" Jinks smiled.

"Go…Jinks, you move to Section 11…Pete, you to Section 21…I'll stay here and that should put us in at three points from our friend whichever area he's in."

"Artie? What if this is the distraction and Paracelsus is going to attack…Now?" Pete, anxiously.

"Claudia and Mrs. Fredericks are together, they'll let us know if an attack begins…But I doubt there'll be one just yet."

"What about Myka? I know…That's a square but still…"

"No time and we can't risk a transmission…Go! We may not have much time!"

"Artie?" Jinks paused. "Why didn't Mrs. Fredericks warn us about this? That she couldn't protect herself and the Warehouse against a direct attack like this for long?" he stared. Light dawning as Artie eyed him…

"She couldn't…But Claudia…"

"While she was defending the Warehouse and dying…Claudia could take up her caretaker position and use the full energy to attack Paracelsus, catching him in two fires, yes." Artie nodded.

"Is that why…?"

"If Paracelsus was attacking Claudia to stop her from stepping into the caretakership, he should have killed her. Even rendering her unconscious wouldn't have been enough, Mrs. Fredericks could have reached her even in an unconscious state. He should have killed her if he wants the Warehouse, a caretaker would know that. There's no other reason to attack her if he were a former caretaker. But he isn't and that slipup proves it." Artie smiled. "And now, please? Lets find out who is in here and if they can tell us where Paracelsus or whoever he really is, is."

"Artie…" Jinks stared. "You let Claudia…Knowing…"

"I was fairly sure, Mr. Jinks…But yes, I let her go out alone…I risked Claudia to confirm what I suspected. And if he had tried to kill her, Mrs. Fredericks would have sensed it, transferred the guardianship temporarily and while Claudia was defending herself before her death, destroyed Paracelsus while he was fighting Claudia."

Long stare…

"Well…I guess you must have been pretty sure." Jinks, hard glare…

"Pretty sure, Mr. Jinks." Nod. "Go, now, please."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"So you understand?" Mrs. Fredericks eyed Claudia. "I didn't bring you here to protect you…"

"But to bop Paracelsus if he hits you again before the cavalry, the Regents, get here? I get it, ma'am." Wry smile…

And counted on it…

"So…How do I?"

"It's not how do you, but when do I." stern look. "When I'm dying and sure to lose…I will transfer guardianship over to you…For a very brief period…Very brief…We will both have access to the energy field generated by the artifacts. You must ignore my situation and attack Paracelsus while I keep him occupied. Claudia? Can you do that?"

Abandon you to take control here? Well…It will be hard but…

"Is that why he attacked me?" Claudia stared. "To prevent me from helping you defend the place?"

"I imagine so…" frown. "But it puzzles me why he didn't kill you. He must know you being alive is the greatest threat to him."

"Sorry if my not dying's got you wondering…" Claudia stared.

"Arthur's doubted Paracelsus' history for a while now…His sudden aberrant behavior, his gaps in knowledge of the Warehouse…"

"He's seemed pretty knowledgeable to me…Ma'am." Claudia, carefully.

"Not for a caretaker…I have to agree with Arthur there…"

"Maybe he has an assistant...Acting for him, feeling us out, while he watches..."

"A definite possibility." Nod.

"Say…?" stare… "You two weren't by any chance expecting Paracelsus to kill me?"

"We expected…He'd try…And I would have defended you. Helped you defend yourself, at least."

"Artie let me…When would you have 'defended' me? After he cut my throat?"

"We're both at risk, Miss Donovan. And I am no more anxious to have my throat cut than you." Stare. "Claudia, you have to believe I wouldn't let you die…And Arthur wouldn't…For nothing…I would have been there to help you if your life was in jeopardy. And I would have done all I could to defend you. Including giving up my own…"

"But…My life was in…"

"No, child…Believe me, I would know…We are linked, now, Claudia…You and I…I would know if your life truly was in jeopardy."

Unless of course…Claudia thought, a bit smugly…Another Claudia was in place to keep up the linkage…

"So why didn't he try to kill me?" she stared.

"As you say…Maybe this incursion is being made by an assistant…Not Paracelsus…Or…Perhaps Mr. Nielsen's suspicions are correct and this is not the Paracelsus we thought…Not a former caretaker…"

"Whoa…"

"Don't worry…" Mrs. Fredericks patted her hand.

Claudia taking hers…

"Claudia?" she stared at her…

"Yes? Mrs. Fredericks?"

"What is that?...That…"

"Ma'am?"

"Screaming…I heard screaming…"

"I'm sure I don't know, ma'am…" she held her hand tightly… "But maybe if we concentrate…You can hear better…"

"Claudia…"

"I mean…We are linked, and I am the next caretaker…Ma'am…Forgive me if I'm jumping the gun a bit…"

"Oh…" groan…

"Are you all right, Mrs. F.? Should I call Arthur?"

"Claudia…I hear…Claudia!" she stared at the wry smiling, cold face…Hand in vise grip now…

"My screams?...Yeah, I guess you can…But just as you heard mine and didn't save me…You can't save her now…Ma'am." Hard stare…

"Pity Paracelsus' attack weakened you…" smile. "You might have been able to hold me off. But he served his purpose well, poor guy. See, you're right that one wasn't a caretaker…But he did have a potential one to advise him…"

OH!...

"Artie!" Claudia had opened her Farnsworth with her free hand… "Mrs. Fredericks…We're being…Artie!" she cried, dropping the Farnsworth.

"I do want…" she groaning now as well… "…you to know…This hurts me…Almost as much…Literally…OH…" she gasped. "You're one tough mother, I gotta hand it…To you…But…The torch…Has to be…Passed…"

Mrs. Fredericks collapsed in her chair…

"…sometime…" Claudia, gasping…Fainting a moment later.