im in ur warehous, stealin ur artifax

[k39zzz]

Artie's Office
Warehouse 13
South Dakota

"Is she certain?"

"She claims MacPherson was posing as Joshua's professor. That's how he made his initial contact," Leena replies. "She's very upset."

"Where is she now?" asks Mrs. Frederick crisply.

"At the B&B. Your bodyguard's keeping an eye on her." Leena looks away, lost in thought.

Mrs. Frederick's tone softens a little. "What is it?"

Leena hesitates before answering. "I've just always felt that she was out of... tune. Something hovering. I just couldn't tell what exactly."

"This is troubling," Mrs. Frederick murmurs, turning away to gaze at the empty tabletop.

"Do you think that he could still be using her somehow?"

Troubling, indeed. But the buzzing of the Farnsworth cuts through Mrs. Frederick's thoughts. She flips the cover open. "Yes?"

Artie's face fills the screen. "MacPherson claims to have the Phoenix," he says without any preamble.

"The Phoenix is in the Warehouse," Mrs. Frederick reminds him with a faint, wry smile.

Artie's expression is dead serious. "I know."

Mrs. Frederick's smile fades. "...I'll get back to you," she says before closing the cover and striding briskly toward the door to the Warehouse proper.

---

Versailles Sector
Warehouse 13
South Dakota

Mrs. Frederick knows the layout of the Warehouse better than any other living soul. It's a long walk to the Phoenix's location, but she doesn't have to consult a map to get there.

The Phoenix is housed in a plain wooden box with a hinged lid. It would easily escape notice, if not for the videoscreen:

THE PHOENIX
Properties: Protects wearer from direct fire
Warning: Medallion takes nearby life in exchange for protection/use

Mrs. Frederick opens the wooden box.

There is no medallion inside. Instead, there is an index card torn off one of the other shelves, with two lines scribbled on the blank side:
I.O.U. one Phoenix!
xoxo James!

"Now I'm getting angry," Mrs. Frederick remarks to no one in particular before storming back toward the office.

---

Homs Sector
Warehouse 13
South Dakota

"When I told him the Phoenix was gone, he was genuinely surprised and distraught," Mrs. Frederick explains to Leena as they walk. "And then he told me about the goblet of Severan."

"Well, here it is, safe and sound," says Leena, nodding toward the box on the shelf before them.

"Open it, please?"

"Okay..." Leena shrugs and taps the video display screen to release the lock. The box is lined with foam conforming to the shape of the goblet... except that there's no goblet inside. In its place is a toddler's plastic sippy-cup.

Mrs. Frederick doesn't say a word, but her jaw works in a way that suggests she's grinding her teeth in irritation.

Leena just stares. "That's not possible. He can't possibly have access to Warehouse things unless--"

"Yes." Mrs. Frederick nods grimly. "These new video displays record access, do they not?"

Leena nods. "Hang on." She picks up the video display and calls up the access log. "There's my access, which was just a few moments ago. Let me just toggle back to see the last person..."

She trails off as the two of them stare at screen, displaying the file photograph and DNA profile of one Claudia Donovan.

Comments

[claudiometer]

Artie's office
Warehouse 13
South Dakota

She's been trying to stay out of the Warehouse since that nasty revelation about MacPherson, but you don't argue with Mrs. Frederick appearing in your room (how does she do that?) and saying she needs to talk to you there. She refused to go any further than Artie's office, though, so Mrs. F and Leena brought the problem to her.

The problem, it seems, is a video screen from one of the Artifacts - something she's pretty sure she's never seen in her life or on her inventory rounds - telling her she's not only seen it, but she took it out of storage (and, from the sound of everything else, passed it along to MacPherson). She's having a hard time doing more than stare at the screen in total disbelief.

"This... I didn't... no! There's no way!"

[k39zzz]

"Claudia," says Leena firmly, trying to cut through the younger woman's frantic babble.

[claudiometer]

Yeah, good luck with that one. Claudia's running on full Disbelief Mode; it's gonna be a while before she actually lets anyone else interrupt.
"There's absolutely no--"

[k39zzz]

"Claudia."

[claudiometer]

"Leena! Mrs. Frederick. This place is my home. I would never do anything to hurt any of you, least of all Artie."
Seriously. She spent so long without a family, there's no way she'd risk losing it.

[k39zzz]

"We know you wouldn't," says Mrs. Frederick gently. "Not on purpose."

[claudiometer]

...yeah, if that was supposed to help Claudia's mood, it's not. "...what does that mean? Do you think he put some kind of bug in my brain or something?"

[k39zzz]

"There are any number of methods to create sleeper agents. Apparently, MacPherson has amassed quite a collection of Warehouse Artifacts."

[claudiometer]

"Then torture me! You people do that! You've got some kind of truth serum laying around here somewhere, pump me full of it!" She gets in Leena's face, which she may or may not apologise for later; right now, she's just fighting to hang onto... she doesn't really even know what. "Read me! Tell my fortune, read my colors, whatever it is you do, you can tell, right?"

[k39zzz]

"Yes," says Leena quietly. "I can. And I have. Claudia, I'm sorry, but something is wrong"

[claudiometer]

Claudia grabs her hair with both hands (something that, according to Joshua, she's done to try to calm herself down since she was three or so; lately, it never seems to help). "oh my God. I'm the freakin' Manchurian Candidate or something." She storms over to the umbilicus door, jams her passcode into the keypad, and slams out. "What the HELL."

If Mrs. F wants anything else, lady knows how to teleport. Claudia... needs to not be in there, at least until she can clear her head.

If she can clear it at all.

[k39zzz]

Leena moves to follow her, but only gets two steps before Mrs. Frederick interrupts. "Let her go. For the time being, it's best if she weren't in the Warehouse.:

"What if she disappears?"

"She's being watched."

"I have never seen her this upset before."

"That's what made James such an excellent agent," Mrs. Frederick murmurs darkly. "He'd get inside your head, throw you off your game. Just when you thought you had the upper hand... he'd strike."