Fic: A Whole Lot Of Yesterday (2/4)
Mar. 7th, 2018 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tli_productionsHeader information and notes contained in Part 1.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
2
The silence is almost comical.
Becker tightens his grip on the EMD and glances back quickly to make sure everyone is still behind him. “No,” he says when it becomes clear no one else is going to say anything.
Ethan frowns at him. “Don't remember asking, sunshine. Danny Quinn -” he jerks the EMD again, “- comes with me.”
“Why?” It's Jenny. She pushes past the others until she's just behind Becker, level with Danny. She keeps her weapon steady and aimed at Ethan. “Why Danny?”
Becker looks past her. “Danny?”
Danny's face is pale. His mouth is open and his gun is hanging at his side. It takes Becker a second to realise he's staring at Ethan.
“No,” Danny mumbles, sagging a little. “...No.”
“Danny?” Becker asks again.
“How?” Danny asks.
Out of the corner of Becker's eye Ethan moves, just enough for Becker to switch his full attention back to him.
“So you do remember,” Ethan says.
Danny looks utterly lost. “I...”
There's more movement; Stephen appears behind Ethan, moving silently with an EMD in his left hand. Behind Stephen, Becker recognises one of his soldiers, as well as Emily and -
Jenny?
Becker blinks. The split second of hesitation must have been obvious because Ethan whirls around and then back to Danny and the others. “No,” he says, his expression hard.
He tosses the EMD to one side and reaches into his jacket.
“Gun!” Someone behind Becker yells.
Ethan ignores them. Before anyone can react, he moves forward, grabs Jenny into a one armed chokehold and points the revolver to her temple. “Now, where were we?”
Jenny grimaces but Ethan's hold is strong. She jerks her arm free and jabs him sharply. The surprise releases his hold on Jenny. With her EMD on the floor out of easy reach, she puts herself in front of Danny and holds up her fists in a fighting stance.
Ethan re-aims the revolver at her head. “She'll die before anyone can disable me,” he announces, deceptively mildly.
“Not necessarily,” Stephen says. He keeps his gaze fixed on Jenny as he steps forward and presses his EMD to the back of Ethan's head. “Drop the gun.”
“Do it,” Jenny growls – to Stephen, Becker realises. She seems unaware of Danny's weapon, or the others in the room all aimed at Ethan.
“Do it,” Danny echoes hoarsely.
For the first time Ethan's aim wavers. His expression hardens.
Before he can say anything else, Danny says: “Drop the gun, Patrick.”
What?
Ethan sags, just long enough for Danny to finally push past Jenny. He disarms Ethan with ease – and sweeps him into a tight hug, at the same time pulling him away from Stephen's aim.
Becker tries to think. Patrick?
“My brother went missing in that house,” Danny says, once the A&E nurse is out of earshot. He's slurring a little, probably from the adrenaline crash as well as the painkillers kicking in. He makes a huffing sound and looks horribly close to crying. “Patrick's dead, should never've...”
Oh, god.
Beside him, Jenny must have come to the same conclusion. The hostility and anger she was radiating moments ago is gone, and instead she looks exhausted and sad. “Oh, my god,” she whispers. “Danny...”
Danny doesn't react, just holds Ethan – Patrick? – tighter until the other man's arms lower and he suddenly hugs Danny back.
Behind them, Stephen slowly lowers his gun. For half a second Becker thinks he's going to come closer to him but Stephen's gaze doesn't so much as flicker in his direction. Becker has just enough time to berate himself for being a mooning teenager when Danny pulls back from Ethan.
“I waited for you,” Ethan says slowly, looking down at the ground. “You never came.”
Danny closes his eyes. “I didn't know where to look.”
“I waited.”
“I'm sorry,” Danny says hoarsely. “I'm so, so sorry.”
“It's done now,” Ethan says. Something flickers over his face, too quick to identify. He looks up, around at everyone then settles on Becker. “Your people are down by the anomaly. I didn't kill them.” He shrugs loosely.
Becker frowns. Before he can say anything, or even think about what Ethan had just said – and how he said it – Danny squeezes Ethan's shoulder. “Let's go get them,” he says loudly. “Make sure they're all right.”
Stephen glances at Becker. His expression is almost inscrutable but Becker thinks he knows how to read between the lines.
Stephen is wary. He backs away from the rest of the team, back to Emily. “After you,” he tells Ethan and Danny.
Danny hesitates but nods to Ethan. “Come on,” he says softly. He keeps a hand on Ethan's shoulder and they walk down the corridor, towards Stephen and Emily, who start to walk ahead of them.
It doesn't last long.
The woman behind Stephen – the woman who isn't Emily, Becker realises far too late – tenses up as everyone comes closer to her. This time Becker – and everyone else – gets a much better look at her.
Danny is the first to react. “What the?”
Becker can't help himself. He stares. The woman has short, wildly uneven hair. Her clothes are tattered, possibly military surplus. Her arm is bandaged. And she looks exactly like Jenny Lewis.
But Jenny Lewis... Becker turns to look behind him. Jenny Lewis is standing two feet behind him, still in the same clean, sensible clothes she's been wearing for the last few hours. Jenny Lewis is also staring at the other woman like she has two heads.
As is everyone else. Even Ethan looks perplexed.
Jenny pushes forward, so she and the other woman are sort of face to face. Now just a few feet apart, the similarities are even more obvious.
“Who...” Jenny makes a soft huffing sound. “Oh, my... You're her, aren't you.”
Realisation hits Becker like a blow to the chest. “You're Claudia Brown,” he says.
Claudia lifts her head slightly. If she was anyone else, Becker would think she was scared, but she just stares Jenny down and asks: “Who are you?”
Whatever Jenny had been expecting, it clearly wasn't that.
“I... Jenny. Jenny Lewis.”
“Great, more long-lost family.” Ethan pulls away from Danny, just enough to put some distance between himself and the others. “Do you want your people back or not?”
That breaks the spell.
“This is unreal,” Becker hears Connor mutter as Abby shushes him. Nobody else seems to have heard him, but Stephen steps back into the fray anyway. “Eth – he's right,” he tells Jenny quietly. “Matt and the others first.”
“And the anomaly,” Jenny says quietly, finally looking away from Claudia. “Yeah. Yes.”
The sort-of convoy resumes but with a lot more tension. Ethan darts looks back at everyone behind him and looks increasingly uncomfortable. It doesn't seem to matter though; he leads everyone to a door at the end of another corridor and down a set of surprisingly cold stairs.
As the surprisingly spacious basement comes into view the first thing Becker sees is the sealed anomaly. The light refractions are muted but distinct -
- and there are bodies on the floor. Becker slips past everyone else and goes to check. Brooks and Kelly – the two missing from the check-in – are unconscious but their pulses are steady. Matt's closer to the anomaly, at an unnatural angle on his back and his head is hanging awkwardly to one side, but again his pulse is steady and he's breathing evenly.
“What did you do to them?” Becker asks, still crouched down beside Matt.
Ethan waves in the direction of Becker's EMD.
Right. “They won't wake up for a while,” Becker says, but it's pretty redundant as those kinds of things go. They're obviously out for the count, but they're going to be all right. That's the important thing.
A real motley crew is gathering down here; Danny and Ethan, Jenny, Claudia and Stephen, and Connor and Abby as well as the couple of soldiers instinctively maintaining a perimeter in the background. Everyone seems to be drifting towards the anomaly, even Danny and Jenny. Becker doesn't think anyone's aware of it, but from his vantage point he can see it.
Ethan, though... Ethan is moving backwards, slowly putting distance between him and Danny, and by proxy everyone else. His eyes dart around, taking in the anomaly locking device, and for a long moment he meets Becker's gaze.
Becker tenses. He starts reaching for his weapon but Ethan is quicker. He jabs an elbow into the soldier behind him and grabs her EMD. He fires it at the anomaly locking device; sparks fly and something pops loudly – a split second later the anomaly surges and unfurls itself. Instinctively everyone jumps back, away from the exploding device and the anomaly itself.
Ethan's face morphs into something comical, but he grabs Danny by the arm. Danny pulls back, but Ethan twists around and uses Danny's movement to send him flying through the anomaly. He then dives through afterwards.
For a split second everyone stands still in shock.
“No,” Jenny mutters. She strides forward as if to go through the anomaly herself but she's stopped. Stephen – and Claudia, Becker has a moment to wonder dumbly why she's there. They both grab onto her.
“No!” Jenny wrenches herself free and whirls around to face them. To face Stephen. She jabs a finger right at his face. “Don't you bloody dare. After – after everything!”
“Jenny -”
“Don't,” Jenny says coldly. “I'm supposed to be getting married today. We are...” She looks around the room. “You're going to have to shoot me,” she announces, and holds her hand out to Connor and Abby.
It's Abby who steps forward and gives her another EMD. “You don't know what's on the other side,” she says softly.
“Danny,” Jenny says, her voice ragged. “Danny's on the other side.”
She turns and without looking back walks straight through the anomaly.
Abby makes a choking sound. “Come on,” she says. “Come on!”
Becker gives Matt's unconscious form one last look. Tamps down the feeling of total nausea as he remembers the guidelines – the guidelines he'd helped draft, all those months ago. “Obaid,” he announces. “Find someone with mobile reception and get hold of the ARC.”
“Sir?”
No expeditions.
Becker climbs to his feet and looks around at the others. “You're going to need backup for Matt and the civilians upstairs.”
Abby looks furious. “Becker!”
“Phone Jess and tell her to keep the comms offline until I say otherwise,” Becker adds.
No search parties
He glances over at Stephen, who inclines his head slightly. Then at Connor and Abby, and Emily and Claudia.
No rescue.
He's made worse decisions before.
“We're going on a rescue mission.”
o o o o o
Onto: Part 3
o o o o o
2
The silence is almost comical.
Becker tightens his grip on the EMD and glances back quickly to make sure everyone is still behind him. “No,” he says when it becomes clear no one else is going to say anything.
Ethan frowns at him. “Don't remember asking, sunshine. Danny Quinn -” he jerks the EMD again, “- comes with me.”
“Why?” It's Jenny. She pushes past the others until she's just behind Becker, level with Danny. She keeps her weapon steady and aimed at Ethan. “Why Danny?”
Becker looks past her. “Danny?”
Danny's face is pale. His mouth is open and his gun is hanging at his side. It takes Becker a second to realise he's staring at Ethan.
“No,” Danny mumbles, sagging a little. “...No.”
“Danny?” Becker asks again.
“How?” Danny asks.
Out of the corner of Becker's eye Ethan moves, just enough for Becker to switch his full attention back to him.
“So you do remember,” Ethan says.
Danny looks utterly lost. “I...”
There's more movement; Stephen appears behind Ethan, moving silently with an EMD in his left hand. Behind Stephen, Becker recognises one of his soldiers, as well as Emily and -
Jenny?
Becker blinks. The split second of hesitation must have been obvious because Ethan whirls around and then back to Danny and the others. “No,” he says, his expression hard.
He tosses the EMD to one side and reaches into his jacket.
“Gun!” Someone behind Becker yells.
Ethan ignores them. Before anyone can react, he moves forward, grabs Jenny into a one armed chokehold and points the revolver to her temple. “Now, where were we?”
Jenny grimaces but Ethan's hold is strong. She jerks her arm free and jabs him sharply. The surprise releases his hold on Jenny. With her EMD on the floor out of easy reach, she puts herself in front of Danny and holds up her fists in a fighting stance.
Ethan re-aims the revolver at her head. “She'll die before anyone can disable me,” he announces, deceptively mildly.
“Not necessarily,” Stephen says. He keeps his gaze fixed on Jenny as he steps forward and presses his EMD to the back of Ethan's head. “Drop the gun.”
“Do it,” Jenny growls – to Stephen, Becker realises. She seems unaware of Danny's weapon, or the others in the room all aimed at Ethan.
“Do it,” Danny echoes hoarsely.
For the first time Ethan's aim wavers. His expression hardens.
Before he can say anything else, Danny says: “Drop the gun, Patrick.”
What?
Ethan sags, just long enough for Danny to finally push past Jenny. He disarms Ethan with ease – and sweeps him into a tight hug, at the same time pulling him away from Stephen's aim.
Becker tries to think. Patrick?
“My brother went missing in that house,” Danny says, once the A&E nurse is out of earshot. He's slurring a little, probably from the adrenaline crash as well as the painkillers kicking in. He makes a huffing sound and looks horribly close to crying. “Patrick's dead, should never've...”
Oh, god.
Beside him, Jenny must have come to the same conclusion. The hostility and anger she was radiating moments ago is gone, and instead she looks exhausted and sad. “Oh, my god,” she whispers. “Danny...”
Danny doesn't react, just holds Ethan – Patrick? – tighter until the other man's arms lower and he suddenly hugs Danny back.
Behind them, Stephen slowly lowers his gun. For half a second Becker thinks he's going to come closer to him but Stephen's gaze doesn't so much as flicker in his direction. Becker has just enough time to berate himself for being a mooning teenager when Danny pulls back from Ethan.
“I waited for you,” Ethan says slowly, looking down at the ground. “You never came.”
Danny closes his eyes. “I didn't know where to look.”
“I waited.”
“I'm sorry,” Danny says hoarsely. “I'm so, so sorry.”
“It's done now,” Ethan says. Something flickers over his face, too quick to identify. He looks up, around at everyone then settles on Becker. “Your people are down by the anomaly. I didn't kill them.” He shrugs loosely.
Becker frowns. Before he can say anything, or even think about what Ethan had just said – and how he said it – Danny squeezes Ethan's shoulder. “Let's go get them,” he says loudly. “Make sure they're all right.”
Stephen glances at Becker. His expression is almost inscrutable but Becker thinks he knows how to read between the lines.
Stephen is wary. He backs away from the rest of the team, back to Emily. “After you,” he tells Ethan and Danny.
Danny hesitates but nods to Ethan. “Come on,” he says softly. He keeps a hand on Ethan's shoulder and they walk down the corridor, towards Stephen and Emily, who start to walk ahead of them.
It doesn't last long.
The woman behind Stephen – the woman who isn't Emily, Becker realises far too late – tenses up as everyone comes closer to her. This time Becker – and everyone else – gets a much better look at her.
Danny is the first to react. “What the?”
Becker can't help himself. He stares. The woman has short, wildly uneven hair. Her clothes are tattered, possibly military surplus. Her arm is bandaged. And she looks exactly like Jenny Lewis.
But Jenny Lewis... Becker turns to look behind him. Jenny Lewis is standing two feet behind him, still in the same clean, sensible clothes she's been wearing for the last few hours. Jenny Lewis is also staring at the other woman like she has two heads.
As is everyone else. Even Ethan looks perplexed.
Jenny pushes forward, so she and the other woman are sort of face to face. Now just a few feet apart, the similarities are even more obvious.
“Who...” Jenny makes a soft huffing sound. “Oh, my... You're her, aren't you.”
Realisation hits Becker like a blow to the chest. “You're Claudia Brown,” he says.
Claudia lifts her head slightly. If she was anyone else, Becker would think she was scared, but she just stares Jenny down and asks: “Who are you?”
Whatever Jenny had been expecting, it clearly wasn't that.
“I... Jenny. Jenny Lewis.”
“Great, more long-lost family.” Ethan pulls away from Danny, just enough to put some distance between himself and the others. “Do you want your people back or not?”
That breaks the spell.
“This is unreal,” Becker hears Connor mutter as Abby shushes him. Nobody else seems to have heard him, but Stephen steps back into the fray anyway. “Eth – he's right,” he tells Jenny quietly. “Matt and the others first.”
“And the anomaly,” Jenny says quietly, finally looking away from Claudia. “Yeah. Yes.”
The sort-of convoy resumes but with a lot more tension. Ethan darts looks back at everyone behind him and looks increasingly uncomfortable. It doesn't seem to matter though; he leads everyone to a door at the end of another corridor and down a set of surprisingly cold stairs.
As the surprisingly spacious basement comes into view the first thing Becker sees is the sealed anomaly. The light refractions are muted but distinct -
- and there are bodies on the floor. Becker slips past everyone else and goes to check. Brooks and Kelly – the two missing from the check-in – are unconscious but their pulses are steady. Matt's closer to the anomaly, at an unnatural angle on his back and his head is hanging awkwardly to one side, but again his pulse is steady and he's breathing evenly.
“What did you do to them?” Becker asks, still crouched down beside Matt.
Ethan waves in the direction of Becker's EMD.
Right. “They won't wake up for a while,” Becker says, but it's pretty redundant as those kinds of things go. They're obviously out for the count, but they're going to be all right. That's the important thing.
A real motley crew is gathering down here; Danny and Ethan, Jenny, Claudia and Stephen, and Connor and Abby as well as the couple of soldiers instinctively maintaining a perimeter in the background. Everyone seems to be drifting towards the anomaly, even Danny and Jenny. Becker doesn't think anyone's aware of it, but from his vantage point he can see it.
Ethan, though... Ethan is moving backwards, slowly putting distance between him and Danny, and by proxy everyone else. His eyes dart around, taking in the anomaly locking device, and for a long moment he meets Becker's gaze.
Becker tenses. He starts reaching for his weapon but Ethan is quicker. He jabs an elbow into the soldier behind him and grabs her EMD. He fires it at the anomaly locking device; sparks fly and something pops loudly – a split second later the anomaly surges and unfurls itself. Instinctively everyone jumps back, away from the exploding device and the anomaly itself.
Ethan's face morphs into something comical, but he grabs Danny by the arm. Danny pulls back, but Ethan twists around and uses Danny's movement to send him flying through the anomaly. He then dives through afterwards.
For a split second everyone stands still in shock.
“No,” Jenny mutters. She strides forward as if to go through the anomaly herself but she's stopped. Stephen – and Claudia, Becker has a moment to wonder dumbly why she's there. They both grab onto her.
“No!” Jenny wrenches herself free and whirls around to face them. To face Stephen. She jabs a finger right at his face. “Don't you bloody dare. After – after everything!”
“Jenny -”
“Don't,” Jenny says coldly. “I'm supposed to be getting married today. We are...” She looks around the room. “You're going to have to shoot me,” she announces, and holds her hand out to Connor and Abby.
It's Abby who steps forward and gives her another EMD. “You don't know what's on the other side,” she says softly.
“Danny,” Jenny says, her voice ragged. “Danny's on the other side.”
She turns and without looking back walks straight through the anomaly.
Abby makes a choking sound. “Come on,” she says. “Come on!”
Becker gives Matt's unconscious form one last look. Tamps down the feeling of total nausea as he remembers the guidelines – the guidelines he'd helped draft, all those months ago. “Obaid,” he announces. “Find someone with mobile reception and get hold of the ARC.”
“Sir?”
No expeditions.
Becker climbs to his feet and looks around at the others. “You're going to need backup for Matt and the civilians upstairs.”
Abby looks furious. “Becker!”
“Phone Jess and tell her to keep the comms offline until I say otherwise,” Becker adds.
No search parties
He glances over at Stephen, who inclines his head slightly. Then at Connor and Abby, and Emily and Claudia.
No rescue.
He's made worse decisions before.
“We're going on a rescue mission.”
Onto: Part 3
o o o o o
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2018-03-07 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-09 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-10 08:45 am (UTC)I have a bad feeling about this!!
no subject
Date: 2018-03-10 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-17 02:24 pm (UTC)Poor Ethan. There's such a world of hurt in those few words.
And I utterly love the arrival of Claudia!
no subject
Date: 2018-03-18 03:04 pm (UTC)