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Header information and notes contained in Part 1.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o


4

In the end, it's all rather simple. Given everything that's happened already today, Becker supposes it can only be a good thing.

Connor identifies which laboratory the anomaly remote is most likely to be in. “There's a list,” he explains in a fire escape staircase, “but they're all close together.”

There's no talk of splitting up, mostly because Becker's the only one who can access any of the labs, and even Jess can only make so much incriminating data disappear without suspicion.

There's also no talk of how the searches are going to be conducted. Stephen, Abby and Connor slip in through the first door that Becker unlocks. Emily, who based on her debriefs probably doesn't know what the remote looks like, waits outside with Becker, who doesn't see the point in overcrowding an already small search radius.

Claudia waits outside too.

She presses herself up against the wall opposite Becker, arms wrapped around her chest. She doesn't make eye contact and stays perfectly still. It reminds Becker of how Stephen had been on his first couple of nights back – unless he had been specifically doing something, he had been silent and motionless.

So Claudia has been alone, maybe as long as Stephen. Maybe longer.

“How is your arm?” Emily asks quietly.

The slight incline of Claudia's head is the only response.

Becker tries to hide the fact that he's staring. This woman has Jenny Lewis' face and voice (or the other way around, according to Stephen and Cutter), but they're completely different people. The handful of times Stephen has opened up about his old life, Claudia was mentioned but rarely in depth. Becker wants to know who she is. What makes her tick.

What had happened between Stephen leaving that timeline and Claudia arriving in this one.

The door opening beside him makes all three of them jump. Connor emerges first. “Got it,” he announces, holding the remote up in his hand.

Becker checks his watch. “Seven and a half minutes.”

They waste no time getting back to the car park.

o o o o o


Matt comes to slowly.

His head throbs and there’s a burning sensation in his lower back. Ethan Dobrowski’s revolver flashes in his memory and he winces.

Something pushes gently against his shoulder.

Instinctively Matt jerks away. He rolls over. Tries to reach for a weapon but a pain in his arm stops him.

“Sir?” someone says.

More of the world comes into focus. He’s surrounded by concrete.

And the enemy isn’t a predator.

Matt rubs his eyes. Looks up. A woman in a black uniform looks down at him.

“How are you feeling?” she asks him.

Matt groans.

He forces himself to breathe and lets his head rest on the ground. “What happened?”

o o o o o


Jenny crests the hill. As she gulps down long breaths she looks around her. Part of her had hoped that by now she'd have caught up with Danny and Ethan – Patrick – by now. Or that Danny had got away somehow. Or the new ARC team had...

A lot of things have gone through her mind the last few – she checks her watch – two hours since she'd last seen a clock at the wedding venue. Everything from Disney quality saccharine to the kind of death and destruction she and Danny had tried to leave behind them. With Becker a traitorous voice reminds her but she squashes that down.

But all Jenny can think to herself is that whatever she'd thought might happen when she walked through the anomaly... it wasn't this.

It wasn't anything like this.

Her knee twinges, and she half-falls, half-sits on the dry grass and runs a hand over her hair.

She doesn't cry, but it's a damn close thing.

o o o o o


Becker makes it back to the stately home in what feels like a blur. He parks in the same spot where they had started from. The only difference as they all climb out is Matt striding across the car park to meet them, carrying another EMD.

Becker braces himself. He's heard Matt give dressings down before, been on the receiving end of two.

Matt stops a few metres from the car and watches everyone get out. He doesn't react to either Stephen or Claudia, but he hesitates briefly when he sees Emily.

“I spoke to Lester,” Matt tells them. “We'd better get going.”

Becker's already lost count of how many punches he's rolled with today; he simply nods and everyone troops back inside and down to the basement. Emerson and Kelly are guarding the resealed anomaly.

“Sir,” Emerson nods. She unlocks the anomaly and stands back.

Connor goes through first, followed quickly by Stephen and Abby. Becker waits to bring up the rear; by the time he's in the cool stone pit again, Connor's standing just ahead of everyone else, remote held up in front of him. He frowns and pokes the glass part of it a couple of times.

Then the anomaly bursts open. It pulses brightly for a couple of seconds then settles down.

“It worked!” Connor breathes. He taps the remote again, and then hands it to Becker. “It'll be safer with you.”

Becker secures the remote, then considers the second anomaly. This is new territory now, for all of them.

“Let's go,” he announces.

“Stephen, Abby, with me,” Matt directs. Emily raises her hand to get Claudia's attention; they quickly follow through the anomaly.

“Ready?” Becker asks Connor.

He looks about as nervous as Becker feels, and nods grimly. Together they step through.

The rest of the team are already spread out. Becker quickly takes stock. They're on a grassy slope underneath a cloudless sky. Trees line the upward incline while behind them – and the anomaly – the grass thins out to stone and dirt.

There's a cliff edge barely ten metres away. Stephen stands at the edge of it and looks down. There's a flicker of shock on his face and Becker jogs over to him.

“What is it?” he asks.

Stephen aims his EMD downwards. Becker follows the line. The cliff drops into a round stone pit – with two anomalies sparkling at the bottom of it.

Stephen's gaze meets Becker's.

“Guys!” Connor's yell startles both of them and they look over to see him waving his arms. “Emily's found some tracks.”

Jenny. Danny. Shit.

Becker touches Stephen's elbow lightly. “Come on.”

Stephen gives the pit one last inscrutable look then breaks into a run for the rest of the group. Becker focuses on his surroundings but can't see or hear anything that isn't the seven of them. Stephen and Emily are quick, from what Becker can tell, taking a steady uphill path through the trees. Overhead the sunlight dims slowly.

Wherever – whenever – they are, Becker's pretty sure he doesn't want to be around after dark.

They've been moving for about ten minutes when the trees give way to a clearing – and a figure, hunched over in the distance.

It's impossible to tell who it is from this distance. Becker, Matt and Abby raise their EMDs on reflex, and it's Stephen who slips ahead of the pack again. He holds up a hand to the others, signalling it's safe.

It's downright gloomy now and in the shadows Becker can just make out dark hair swept into a bun. He drops his weapon.

“Jenny?” Abby approaches her wide and slow, like she would an injured animal. “Jenny, are you all right?”

Jenny looks up at Abby, then twists round to look at everyone else. She makes a choking sound. “Did you see them?” she asks quietly.

Abby drops into a crouch just off to Jenny's side. “See who? Danny and Ethan? I -”

“No,” Jenny says. She points down the hill ahead of her. “Them.”

Becker squints into the twilight. There are pockets of light in the distance, small and -

No. Not lights.

His stomach sinks.

“Anomalies,” he says faintly.

“Dozens,” Jenny says. “They come and go. I – I...”

Abby hesitates, then reaches out to put a hand on Jenny's shoulder.

Connor sidles over to Becker. “Spaghetti Junction,” he breathes.

Becker nods. He remembers the name Connor had given the phenomenon before, when Helen Cutter had tricked her way through to the site to escape Captain Ryan's custody.

“D'you think it's the same one?” Connor asks quietly. He wraps his arms around himself as he tries to count the different anomalies. “Site, I mean.”

“It is,” Stephen says quietly, coming up to Becker's other side.

“Same one you've seen or same one we did?” Connor asks.

“Both.”

Connor nods.

“We can't stay here,” Matt says, breaking the quiet spell. He moves back towards Jenny. “I'm sorry, but we can't.”

“I know,” Jenny says quietly. She lets Abby help her to her feet.

“Danny'll be all right,” Abby tells her.

“He's been looking for Patrick his whole life,” Jenny says quietly. “He has to be all right... thank you for coming.”

“Wouldn't leave you anywhere,” Abby replies quietly. “Come on.” She wraps an arm around Jenny's waist and at the same time unholsters her EMD and flicks the guide light on. She gently leads Jenny back towards the trees.

Becker and Stephen watch them go. Becker can't help looking down at the anomaly cluster again. It should be a let-down, after everything they've done to get here only for Danny – and Ethan – to have disappeared without trace.

Forget the last couple of hours. It's been one hell of a day.

“We're going to need a plan, aren't we,” Connor says suddenly. “To come back and find Danny – that's what we're going to do, right?”

“Not right now,” Matt replies. “We need to leave before it gets completely dark.”

“I – yeah.” Connor doesn't sound convinced, but he lets Matt guide him and Emily back towards the trees.

That leaves Becker and Stephen – and Claudia. Becker turns on his guide light and finds Claudia's legs. She's not too far away, still facing the cluster.

Becker telegraphs his approach but quickly realises he has no idea what to say to her.

She saves him the bother. “What now?” Jenny's voice asks him.

Becker doesn't know. “Regroup,” he says to his own surprise. He should tell Claudia that she'll be safer if she stays with them, that she should come back with them but he knows that's not his place – and not just because she shouldn't even exist. She does exist, but Becker doesn't know her, doesn't have any sway over what she believes or thinks or does.

Behind him Stephen stays silent. Becker's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Again Claudia takes the decision. In the light from the EMD her legs turn to face Becker. “Let's go.”

They go. Becker technically leads the way, but it's Stephen's ability to re-navigate terrain that keeps the pace up. Claudia doesn't seem bothered by the lack of light, though she stays close enough to be able to see where she's going as well.

Connor closes both anomalies behind them as they go.

In the basement's harsh overhead lighting Jenny looks as though she's aged forty years. “I need – I have to talk to my parents,” she mutters.

“D'you want one of us to come with you?” Abby asks.

Jenny shakes her head hurriedly. “Won't help. I don't even know what to -”

“Say he's been taken to hospital,” Matt suggests. “Are his parents here?”

Jenny looks at him. “What? No. Hospital, though. That works.”

She takes several long breaths, hands the EMD and holster to Matt and goes up the stairs.

After a few awkward seconds Connor breaks the silence. “Seriously, guys, what do we do now?”

Becker glances at Emerson and Kelly. They take the silent hint and pack up the anomaly locking equipment, then make their own exit upstairs.

“Do we go back to the ARC?” Abby wonders.

“No,” Becker says. After all the rules – his rules – they've broken today, not to mention Claudia Brown, the ARC doesn't feel like a very safe place right now. Even with Jess and Lester looking out for them.

“Becker's right,” Matt says. “We need to re-establish communication, though.”

He looks at Claudia. “I don't want to tell you what to do, but it's probably best you come with us for now.”

Claudia considers him carefully.

“At the very least you can get cleaned up properly, eat and then figure out what you want to do next.”

Claudia inclines her head.

Matt nods and pulls out his phone. “Jess? It's Matt. I'm fine... long story. Turn the black boxes back on, please.”

“Finally,” Jess says in Becker's ear.

“We're done for the day,” Matt says, pocketing his phone. “Anomaly's closed.”

“Lovely and convenient,” Jess comments.

“Think we're going to decamp somewhere,” Matt continues.

“My place is closer,” Becker says instinctively.

“Mine's bigger,” Jess counters. “See you all there?”

Matt looks around. No one disagrees. “Your place,” he says.

“Brilliant. I'll bring Lester,” Jess adds. “I keep telling him he needs to get out more.”

With that, she signs off.

Upstairs there's still sunlight streaming through the high windows. It's disconcerting. Becker packs the EMDs away in the boot of the 4x4 and tries not to react when he hears the discussion unfolding behind him.

When he turns around Jenny is at the far side of the car park, gesturing to someone Becker is pretty sure must be either her father or stepfather. It doesn't look heated enough to be an argument but it doesn't look pleasant either. After a couple of minutes of back and forth, Jenny holds up her hands and takes a few steps backwards. Then she turns around. When she sees the team her posture relaxes a fraction and she comes over to join them.

“Whatever you've got planned, tell me alcohol is involved,” she announces when she gets close enough.

Abby nods.

Stephen nudges Becker's shoulder slightly and tilts his head to the other ARC vehicles in the car park. Becker nods in understanding. “We'll need another car. Emily, you want to come with us?”

He looks directly at Claudia as he speaks, to make sure there's no misunderstanding. Jess has done a lot for them today and Becker doesn't want to be the one who finds her limit.

Emily glances at Claudia, then nods at Becker. “I'm ready when you are,” she says. It's for the benefit of the black boxes but it's still awkward.

Becker's under no illusions. As difficult and long as today as been, he knows things are only just beginning.

Date: 2018-03-11 07:01 pm (UTC)
goldarrow: (Stephen happy)
From: [personal profile] goldarrow
Holy wow this entire series has been amazing!

I love the timey-wimeyness of it, and the way the characters interact in their various iterations.

Superb.

Date: 2018-03-12 08:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] knitekat.livejournal.com
Ooh, more sneaking about. LOL over “Brilliant. I'll bring Lester,” Jess adds. “I keep telling him he needs to get out more.”

More? Soon.

Date: 2018-03-12 09:39 pm (UTC)
fififolle: (Primeval - Becker blood)
From: [personal profile] fififolle
Aw, yeah, this is brilliant! It's so good to have all the team together. I look forward to them finding Danny in future!
Becker is doing a great job, bless him.

Date: 2018-03-17 02:31 pm (UTC)
fredbassett: (raccoons - gutter)
From: [personal profile] fredbassett
Eeek, that's a hell of a cliffhanger!

This has been a great addition to the series. I love the way everyone in the team fits together so well.
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