The "Return" of MacPherson (Warehouse 13 Fanfiction)

Part 8: What Happened In Ann Arbor

It was a beautiful summer day when Britney Horne opened her window and inhaled the fresh, early-morning scent. She and Doug had been dating steadily over the last three weeks, and she was fairly certain of one thing: she really liked Doug MacPherson. 

At first she was a bit nervous around him, considering that the mysterious Secret Agents had been asking her about him, but that was just before they showed her the fairy, and besides, they hadn't really said he was a criminal or anything like that. Agent Myka proved an excellent friend, calling Britney every once in a while to check up on how their relationship was going, wondering if Doug had ever shared a particular secret or anything like that. Britney willingly told her about Doug's insomnia and somnambulism, and Myka even offered periodic advice, having had relationships of her own, though Britney never quite found out exactly what happened in those relationships.

Today was a special day: their first "month-iversary." In honor of this, Doug was going to take her to Chicago, where they would catch a train to see the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Britney smiled when she heard the familiar rumble of Doug's car. It wasn't that she had been afraid to do things like this all her life; she just desperately wanted someone to enjoy it with, and now she had Doug. He got out of the car to open the door for her.

Doug helped Britney into his car. Walking around to the driver's side, he prepared to unlock his door, when another object fell from his pocket onto the dark asphalt. Doug bent down to pick it up: it was the chain from the waistcoat! How had it gotten into his pocket? For that matter, how had it gotten outside the case? Doug decided to ignore these mysteries for now.

"Ready for some fun?" he asked Britney, getting back behind the wheel.

"You bet!" Britney cried.

The day turned out a perfect success. Britney and Doug spent hours wandering around the museum, and a few other art houses in the area, such as a quaint little space called Snowden House and modern art museum which Britney didn't much care for. As the night came on, they stopped by the Nichols Arboretum to cap off their tour of Ann Arbor. As they began to walk inside, Doug paused.

"You know what?" he said, "I think I would actually rather look for a good place for us to have dinner. What do you say I do that right now, and meet you back here in an hour?"

Britney smiled, "That sounds like a great idea!"

Doug nodded, "All right; any particular food choice I should keep in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know," Britney shrugged, "I'm pretty easy to please; anything that looks good to you is fine with me."

"Sounds good; see you in an hour, Britney!"

An hour later, Britney emerged full of the gorgeous sights of the arboretum at night. Doug was nowhere to be found. Britney hastily dug out her cellphone and dialed his number, but it rang several times and went to voicemail. "Hello, Doug, this is Britney, just letting you know I'm here! Call me back! Bye," Britney snapped her phone shut, hoping that he would call.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Doug, however, was not reachable by anyone on earth at the time. Shortly after leaving Britney, he had felt an oppressive headache, and the compelling urge to sit down. Moments after doing so, he lost consciousness, but to any who saw him, it appeared that the man had stumbled onto a bench, only to spring up quickly and briskly walk back into town, toward the Morgan Museum of Modern Art.

There, he did not follow the normal course of the crowd, but turned suddenly down a hallway that contained no exhibit halls, only doors. He watched a man cross the hall ahead of him, enter a room wearing a suit, and emerge wearing a security uniform. Doug entered the room, which turned out to be the security guards' uniform closet. He selected a uniform and pulled it on over his clothes. He checked the name badge hanging from the pocket. The man in the photo looked nothing like him, but it was a simple matter of searching the other name badges for one that looked similar. He took care to pull the hat low over his eyes. Doug MacPherson strode down to the end of the hall, to a stairwell. A security guard blocked his way.

"How's it going?" He muttered to the guard.

The guard gave him a bored nod and no second glance.

Doug tripped down the stairs unhindered. He used the barcode on the name badge to pass through every checkpoint.

Down in the bowels of the Morgan museum, Doug searched carefully among the crates and retired exhibits, the pieces of art no longer on display, for a specific set. He found what he was looking for: a stack of bizarre creatures stacked around a massive, hulking form that almost looked like a mountain with a single glass eye peering out near its peak.

"The cyclops," he murmured, but Doug MacPherson could not have known. His eyes identified the heaps of goblins and ogres surrounding the behemoth, and at last, they found what they were searching for whilst their owner slept.

"Ah, here you are, my friend." He pulled on a sharp snout, and brushed the multiple layers of dust from the furry back of a savage-looking wolf. Quivering with excitement, he reached into his pocket and drew out a small, gold chain. "Welcome back..." he whispered, draping the chain over the wolf's neck.

With a snarl, the wolf instantly came to life and leapt upon him, snapping savagely.

Doug, though he probably had never seen such a thing before, nonetheless reacted quite indignantly. "Get off me, Adolf, you dumb brute!" he cried with wide eyes. "It is I, your master!"

Adolf the werewolf transformed into a man and sniffed cautiously. "Master? How did you escape?" Doug pushed, and Adolf stood, allowing him to struggle to his feet.

"Never mind that!" Doug snapped, "You have a job to do! Look at my eyes!"

Adolf obediently stared deep into the gaze fixed on him. Even though he recognized neither scent nor appearance, Adolf instantly knew the mesmerizing, steely stare of his master. "What is your will?" the werewolf growled.

"Find the Phantasmagyth and bring it to me!"

"Yes, Master."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When Doug awoke an hour later, he had no idea where he was at first. Then his cellphone beeped. He pulled it out and discovered he had missed a call from Britney. She had called an hour and a half ago. He listened to the message and immediately called her back.

"Britney?"

"Doug! Oh my gosh! I was so worried! Where are you?"

"I'm-" Doug glanced around the bench on which he was sitting, "in the middle of town, across from Snowden House."

"Okay, I'm almost there. Did you find a good place for dinner?"

"Dinner?" Doug rubbed his eyes. For some reason he suddenly felt exhausted, as if he had walked a few miles bearing an incredible weight. "Um, yeah," his eye caught a diner that looked pleasant enough across the way. "It's right over here." He glanced down to a lighted street corner just in time to see Britney emerge, her cellphone against her ear. Doug raised his hand and waved. She saw him and waved back, running up to him.

"When you didn't meet me at the arboretum, I thought for sure something had happened to you!" she cried.

"I guess I must have just fallen asleep," Doug surmised, "I remember having a headache, but it's gone now." He gestured to the diner, "Let's eat!"

"Great!" Britney laughed, "I'm hungry."

After dinner, the two friends hurried to catch the train back to Chicago, and from there drove to Rockford. Doug stopped by the waistcoat, remembering his discovery of the chain, and sure enough, it wasn't there. Yet he had just checked his pockets and found only his keys. Where had the chain gone? Doug shook his head. He'd probably left it in Ann Arbor. Chalking it up to just another fragment of antiquity he wouldn't have to keep track of any more, Doug closed the bedroom door and thought no more of it.