"Copier…"

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

Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.

Part XVIII…

Alternate Warehouseverse…

Ok…Myka sighed to herself as she hid in what fortunately corresponded exactly to the crowded corner nook of Section 23 she remembered from her own world…

There's no doubt at all that this rather by-the-book, Men's Warehouse-suited Peter is aware my first move will be to head for the bronzer and try to free Claudia.

Always hopin' she is my Claudia and not some sort of murderous evil twin…Like the one who sent me here, again, no doubt.

After all, there are supposed to be not two paired good/evil universes but a whole infinite spectrum of them…Meaning I could be anywhere.

Though it stands to reason anti-Claudia sent me to her universe and not some other.

Meaning, naturally, that my place at home is likely now filled by anti-or whatever, Myka…

Of course…

The day I finally choose to try and sound Pete out on a closer relationship is the day my doppelganger chooses to visit.

But nothing to be making jokes about if Claudia…The Claudia willing to use an artifact to send me here…And by all the rather bitter accounts of the people here…Willing to kill and to use the Warehouse for her own ends…Is teamed with Paracelsus.

They could be tearing my world apart right now…

She…My double…Could be murdering right and left in my name…And sleepin' with Pete…

Ok…No use panicking. Right now is the time to focus…And stay alert.

Especially given that nurse's sweet noting that "Agent Lattimer would have [my] entrails on a platter for this" as I left.

Geesh, it's not like I hurt her or anything…And she was actually pretty sure I was going to kill her when I grabbed the syringe and got the guard to surrender to save her from my claim I'd shove it in her throat, having nothing to lose.

Am I really that bad here?…I mean, is she?

God…Well, apparently I…She…Did murder the here equivalent of HG...CG…Pete's…Fiancee (?!).

Ok, focus…The hounds are sure to be on your trail…

Well, Pete here doesn't even need hounds…Just to sit tight and wait for me to show.

I could try making a break from the Warehouse…Maybe contact the Regents…

Yeah, that's likely to go well…The only one I could conceive of locating, if he exists here, is Mr. Kosan…And I can just imagine how he'd respond to my tale.

Of course there's Mrs. Lattimer…

Whose future daughter-in-law I seem to have murdered…No, I don't think so…

If only I could think of some way to reach the bronzer undetected…

Hmmn…

I'm in a Warehouse full of artifacts allowing for teleportation, invisibility, invulnerability, really fast walking and high jumping, walking through walks, and interdimensional transport, among other things and I can't see any way to get to a place a few hundred feet away?

Ok, Bering…Concentrate and lets use that amazing memory to locate something useful, nearby, and potentially not on ole spit-and-polish Pete's (how he'd ever manage, if he did, to screw things with that ex-wife Marine who looks like Seven of Nine here?…She ought to find him just up her alley…Maybe she's the (former) screw –up here? Just tell me I didn't kill her, too?) list of heavily guarded and alarmed items.

And some kind of weapon wouldn't be a bad idea…At least something to hold Claudia off if I'm wrong and bronzed Claudia is even worse than anti- or whatever Claudia…? Cause if she were anti-Claudia, she'd've blown up in my universe, right?

Though does that make me anti-Myka here?

Well, in any case, we can't be antimatter from each others' pov since I haven't gone boom yet.

Though maybe we have to meet face-to-face for that to happen?

God, this sort of thing give me a headache…

Ok, back to problem at hand…Practical Myka needs to surface and focus.

He wouldn't sleep with her on the first date, would he? Not my Pete…Would he? Oh…

Uh-oh…Someone's coming…

Several someones…She tried to pull back in the corner…Hmmn…

Section 23?...What was that thing we bagged last year…?

Something that let you get out of tight situations…By rising above them…What, damnit?...

Yes!...She grabbed the sheets of paper on the shelf…

Kafka's reversible flypaper…!

Enabling him to live the existence of a fly on the wall…Literally…She rubbed the paper on her hands, then applied it to her feet…

Wait…There is, as always…A catch…A drawback…What was it now?...

OH!…As voices became distinct, headed her way…She clambered right up the shelf and onto the wall…Scurrying up to the ceiling…

Ah, right…Keep it on too long and you do the Jeff Goldblum experience…Becoming Brundlefly…

Or in my case, Beringfly…She peered down at the two agents looking around the section…

Thankfully making Khan Noonien Singh's mistake of a two-dimensional strategy in their search…

….

Original Warehouseverse…

Where a reluctant Charlotte had agreed to Nicholas' accompanying Artie to view the rumored remains of Uncle Paracelsus…On condition that she accompany them, leaving Sutton to tend to the two unconscious…One voluntary, the other, in-…Ladies.

Surely not an unusual task for him, she noted with sugary smile to his frown…

"Charlotte? I try to accommodate the modern tastes having always been a forward-thinking, independent type whatever else I was…But, really…"

"Either I go with Nicholas or he stays here with me and you go…And you haven't had the visions." She insisted.

"Nielsen…" Sutton appealed… "Surely you can agree I'm one to face my brother, if he's got something up his sleeve in this."

"Sutton, all I care about is finding out whether your brother is dead or no…And if he is dead, is it the end of this or no?…" Artie frowned. "If taking Charlotte with us won't hinder us in determining these things, I'm fine with anything that gets me over there quickly."

"Could the ladies really have killed Uncle in that last attack?" Nicholas eyed Artie... "Could he really be dead?" uncertain look…

"Perhaps just his evil nature, Nicholas…" Charlotte, soothingly. "Perhaps your visions testify to his soul being freed…"

"In any case, I need to know as soon as possible in case Claudia faces more attacks." Artie, firmly. "So make up your minds as to who goes and who stays and follow me…"

"Fine…I'll stay…" Sutton sighed. "But at the slightest sign of danger, Nielsen…I'm holding you responsible for my family's safety."

"We'll be fine, Father." Nicholas, smiling nod. "Please take good care of Miss Donovan…"

"Of course, Nick…" sly glance to Charlotte who smiled back… "Seein' as she could be my future daughter-in-law…"

"And Mrs. Fredericks." Artie, firmly. "If our medical team arrives, help them get her set up in the Bed and Breakfast."

"Certainly…Oh, by the way, which room is ours and Nicks? I rather fancy that nice corner one on the second floor?"

"Oh, that is nice. Yes, we'll take that and Nick will take the one to the left…" Charlotte, eagerly.

Artie, rolling eyes…

"Well, shall we?" she beamed… "Come along, Nicholas…" she headed for the main corridor.

"She's a wonder, isn't she?" Sutton beamed to Artie, Artie staring after the departing Suttons…

"Just watch them, and…Sutton…? Don't steal…Anything…I will hunt you down." Artie, grim stare.

"Mr. Nielsen. Whatever the Count of St. Germain may have been forced to, to maintain his Immortal family?...Professor Bennett Sutton is an honorable and distinguished historian." Sutton frowned.

"Right…Just remember everything is catalogued and we do have security measures in place."

"Are you coming or not, Mr. Nielsen?!" Charlotte called…

….

Alternate Warehouseverse…

Mrs. Fredericks now with Agents Lattimer and Jinks and the carefully positioned team at the bronzer area…

She frowning at the marked presence of guns…

"I remind you, Peter, of what I said…I talk to Myka first and there is to be no shooting unless she attacks."

"Yes ma'am…" Peter, coolly. "Copy that, Jinks? Repeat it to the rest." Jinks nodding and heading to the others in their various spots…

"I don't want us to be on opposite sides, Agent…" Mrs. Fredericks sighed at Peter.

"My concern is with the safety of this installation, my country, the world, and my people, ma'am. If that's assured, we have no conflict." Peter, calmly.

"As is mine, Agent…" sigh… "But you'll forgive me if I still hope there may yet be a chance to save Myka Bering from herself."

"If this one is what she claims, that's not a problem here." He noted. "But I don't think there's much room for hope in that department." Cold tone.

"Peter…This work…The Warehouse…Can affect and distort people in more than one way…" Mrs. Fredericks eyed him. "It may have corrupted Myka and Claudia, but I fear it's affecting you as well…"

"I appreciate your concern, ma'am." He nodded, coolly. "But I'm simply doing my duty."

"Duty…" she sighed. "Peter, sometimes that can be the easiest path to destruction…"

….

Ok…Myka on the ceiling watched the two agents move on to another section…

So far, so good…Now…Just gotta make my way and try to think of anything that might help me get past whatever Peter is sure to have awaiting me…

God…He really hates me, this one…

Guess with good reason, but…

Well, that's other Myka's problem once I get outta here and back home.

And I may well have reason to hate her as well when I get back home…

Oh, there's no point in fretting about that now…And it wouldn't be Pete's fault…

Though, geesh…Surely he can tell the difference between me and some evil doppelganger of me?

I mean we even talked about how we'd distinguish ourselves if we ever met one…This being Warehouse 13, it being just barely within the realms of possibility that we might one day…

"Miss Bering?..." Hissed voice…

"Nicholas?" she looked down to see Nick staring up at her…

"Oh…Please…" she began…

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you…" he whispered… "But you'd best stay up there for now, there are agents everywhere, combing the Warehouse…"

"Right. Nick, I'm not…"

"So I've heard…" he stared… "Not the Miss Bering we saw turn so sadly…It's true, then? You're not from here?"

"Claudia…Your Claudia and your uncle, in cahoots, I think, sent me here…They've escaped with that other Myka, to my world, somehow. I think the Claudia in the bronzer is my Claudia…I have to get to her and get her out…She's the only one who can figure out what they did to us…What they used to bring us here."

"Agent Lattimer has the bronzer secured…If you go there, he's sure to capture or even kill you."

"So I figured…And given his attitude toward me, kill's a lot more likely…But there must be…" she paused at his urgent wave to be silent…Moving hastily and quietly to a dark ceiling corner.

"Nick?" Sutton's voice from just down the corridor…

"Nicholas…Thank God…" Charlotte's…Both running to him…

"Sir…" Leena, just behind them… "I must ask you to return to Agent Lattimer's office."

Glancing round carefully…

"She's not here, Agent." Nick shrugged. "I just wanted to try and find her before Agent Lattimer's people shoot her. But there's no sign of her."

"All right…But we're heading back. Let me just check in…" Leena reached for her Farnsworth…

"Yes, we must go back…" Charlotte insisted. "This is no place for you right now, Nicholas."

"Good heart, son…" Sutton noted, wry smile. "But we've got to leave this one to the professionals…"

Leena pausing as she noted Nick's glance flitting upwards…Following his look, her instinctive sensation…

"Bering!" she called, grimly. Raising Tesla to shoot…

"No!" Nick grabbed at her…Wrenching the Tesla from her grip before a hard blow to the stomach sent him stumbling…He quickly firing before Leena, tensed and arms up for fighting stance, could dodge his aim.

"Nicholas?!" Charlotte, startled…Both she and Sutton eyeing the crumpled girl now on floor…

…And Myka Bering, crouched against the upper corner, high above them, peering down anxiously.