Fic - Call it Fate (part 4 of 6)
Title: Call it Fate
Author: prehistoriccat
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Connor/Abby, Matt, Becker
Genre: Gen, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Characters not mine, no copyright intended
It was like a dangerous cocktail of drugs and alcohol that would ultimately lead to destruction.
Connor was now certain something wasn't right. He'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for most of the day, but during his conscious moments he had tried to ask questions. Had Alice managed to call Abby? Was she on her way to come and see him? Why was he here? Then there'd be someone at his side telling him he needed to rest and he'd feel a needle prick in his arm and he'd lose consciousness again.
This time, he was determined not to let that happen. The well-dressed man who had spoken to him earlier seemed to be in charge, so Connor decided to try and address him directly since the doctor and Alice were probably under strict instructions not to engage in conversation with him.
“Look, I just need to know where I am and whether Abby or one of my friends is coming!” he pleaded.
“Of course, Mr Temple. It seems you're feeling much better, so perhaps it's time we had a talk.” The others were ushered out of the room, and once they were alone the man pulled up a chair and sat beside Connor's bed.
“I suppose I should introduce myself properly. I'm Stuart Weston. You and I have met on a few occasions before, Connor.”
“Really?” Connor tried to remember. He had looked familiar when he had first come in, but Connor had not really been able to recall why. “The last time we met, I was working in the control hub at New Dawn.”
“You worked for Philip Burton?” Fear ran straight down his spine. This wasn't good.
“Until you came along, I was Burton's main anomaly expert. I worked for Prospero for over a year, advising him on what I knew about the phenomenon he hoped to harness the power of.”
Connor glared at Stuart. Connor knew other people were interested in the anomalies and would be just as curious about them as he was, but the thought that the man beside him had been involved with New Dawn made him angry and fearful.
“How did you know about the anomalies?”
“Before I was head hunted by Burton, I worked as a scientist for a military project that had its own anomaly that led to the future. That's where we met previously, albeit very briefly.”
Connor tried to think. The only military project he could think of with knowledge of the anomalies was the one led by Christine Johnson. He recalled being sent to her offices when the ADD had tracked an anomaly located in her building, but she'd sent them away saying they were mistaken. Weeks later, Helen Cutter disguised as someone else had been taken captive from her hiding place in the future and brought through the anomaly. At the time, Connor had wondered why the ARC had not detected the anomaly other than that one incidence and he'd also worried just what Johnson's intentions were.
“You worked for Johnson? Doing what?”
“Pretty much the same as you and your team,” Stuart said, a tight smile spreading across his face. “Except I had an anomaly on site that I could study 24/7 and access to a future where technology was far advanced of anything we had here. Christine was more interested in being able to predict where and when an anomaly would occur, but I thought it would just be easier to open one whenever you needed to.”
Connor felt the heat of his anger burning inside. If it wasn't for the fact that pretty much every inch of his body hurt, he'd have been on his feet and looking for a phone to get Matt and the others here for back up.
“I did manage to accomplish something that you never did.” The smug look on Stuart's face had Connor's interest. He quirked his eyebrow, encouraging Stuart to continue. “I developed a cloaking device that prevented Christine's anomaly from being detected by the ARC. Very useful. It meant we could do our work without fear of discovery. After her death, our team was broken up but I was approached by Prospero within a month because Helen Cutter had told Burton about my work. He thought the technology in my device could be used somehow to show how anomalies worked.”
Connor couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. As if having Helen Cutter and Philip Burton knowing each other wasn't bad enough, the man in front of him knew them both and had also worked for Christine Johnson. It was like a dangerous cocktail of drugs and alcohol that would ultimately lead to destruction. Then it hit them that it was no accident that he was here; his car had been deliberately pushed off the road. This man wanted Connor, and he could guess why.
“Please don't tell me that you actually think you can carry on with Phillip's work? Didn't you see how out of control that thing got? You do know that it almost caused the end of the world?”
Stuart laughed. “Burton was over ambitious and greedy. He seemed to think bigger was better, but my theory is that we can harness the power of several much smaller versions and still get the result he was hoping for without the … unfortunate side effects we witnessed.”
“Unfortunate side effects?” It was getting increasingly worse. The man was clearly a lunatic. He could understand the attraction of the anomalies themselves and he could also understand the need to study them and work out what they were; they'd ruled his own life for five years now and he knew in spite of all the terrible things that had happened he'd still be fascinated by them for many more years. But he'd also learnt that you didn't interfere with them, they needed to be respected and left alone to do whatever they did.
“I won't help you,” Connor said defiantly. “Abby and my friends will be looking for me by now. It's just a matter of time before they find me. We'll stop you, just like we stopped Christine and Helen and Burton.”
Stuart simply smiled and then stood up. “They'll have to find you first, and that will take some considerable time. A cloaked anomaly is not easy to find.”
Connor closed his eyes as the reality of this situation hit him. It was an anomaly that he'd seen as he lay in the wreckage of the car after all. Stuart had managed to use his cloaking device to hide it and take Connor through it to wherever or whenever he currently was. The others probably didn't have a clue an anomaly had even opened, let alone even start to look for him through one. He was stuck here; at least until he had recovered sufficiently from his injuries to attempt an escape.
-o-
Becker took a deep breath as he got out of his truck and strode towards the entrance of the building where the bunker had been constructed to keep the anomaly sealed and out of sight. His head was full of the memories of his previous visits to this place and the subsequent failed rescue missions through the anomalies at Christine Johnson's place and the field near Blackburn, culminating in Sarah's death and the reorganisation of the ARC. It had been one of the lowest points in his life, second only to the time his platoon had been ambushed in Iraq and four of the men under his command had been abducted and murdered. It was that event that had led to him leaving his promising Army career for private contractual security work, and then ultimately to his current post at the ARC.
He knew he had no reason to feel responsible for Connor's disappearance this time but he still did. They'd all said that Connor's knowledge could make him a target for anyone wishing to follow in Philip Burton's footsteps, but Connor had refused to let that stop him from doing what he wanted to do. Abby had insisted that she would be able to look out for him, and that she'd ensure Connor was more guarded in the friendships that he made. Yet no-one had batted an eyelid at Connor going off on his own, and Becker cursed himself for not realising what a security risk that could potentially be.
He hated waiting. Waiting for clearance delayed things needlessly in his opinion, especially when lives could be at stake. Matt and Abby were on their way, about half an hour away according to Matt's last text message. If official permission hadn't been received by the time they got here, Becker had decided he'd start knocking it down anyway. He suspected Abby wouldn't wait and there'd be no holding her back.
“Sir?” The voice of one of the soldiers interrupted his thoughts. He was holding out an earpiece. “Miss Parker wants to know why you're not wearing your comms?” Becker practically snatched it from his hand, annoyed with Jess. This was a search and rescue mission; something he was perfectly capable of handling on his own. He didn't need her in his ear, especially when his mind was on Sarah. He was about to tell Jess exactly what he thought but stopped himself. She didn't deserve that. Just because he was having personal issues it was no excuse to take it out on her.
“Jess, I'm glad you made contact,” he smiled, hoping he could distract her from chewing his ear off about not following procedures with his well practised charms.
“Lester says to make sure you don't do anything that he'll regret, and can you make sure Abby and Matt wear their earpieces once they arrive. I need to be able to track where you all are. Losing one team member is bad enough and...”
“I know, Jess. There really isn't a need for this since it's not an anomaly call, but if it makes you happy we'll all wear comms.”
“Thank you. Let me know when Matt and Abby get there.”
The earpiece went silent and Becker scanned around him. He had a group of men who were all sitting around doing nothing, itching to get going and begin the search for Connor. He made a decision; they would do it now. He had no doubt that permission would be given; it was a mere formality, and he suspected that Matt would do exactly the same. With a nod, the men practically leapt to their feet and were setting up a series of small explosive devices that would blast apart the bunker and enable them to get to the anomaly.
By the time Matt drove up and parked next to Becker's vehicle, the soldiers had pretty much opened the bunker enough for them to see the anomaly. Matt and Abby were handed the standard issue earpieces and EMDs as soon as they were out of the car, and Matt strode purposefully towards the soldiers, trying to raise Jess and Becker to alert them to the fact he was there. Abby had to practically run to keep up with him. She was tired, but grateful that, at long last, they were doing something positive to try and find Connor.
There was something very eerie about being back at the race track. The sound of their footsteps echoed and Abby felt on edge. She was bombarded with memories of the times she'd been here previously; the day her brother had disappeared through the anomaly and then again a few days later when they went after Helen Cutter. It was the start of the nightmare year stranded millions of years from home.
They found Becker stood directly in front of the anomaly, staring at it coldly as he watched his men clear the rubble away. Abby wondered just how many times Becker had stood in that exact spot waiting for her, Connor and Danny to come back through. If her memories of this place were bad, then what must he be thinking right now?
“Fill me in, Captain,” Matt said. “Has anyone been through yet?”
“No, I was waiting for you so that you could monitor things on this side whilst I went through with a couple of the soldiers to see what's on the other side.”
Matt nodded. “Good idea. We need to know what we're dealing with.”
“What?” Abby glared at both of them.
“I'm not putting anyone's life at risk, Abby. My men will assess the situation first and then we'll decide what weapons we need and if we need breathing apparatus or not.” Becker nodded at the two men he'd already selected for the job and the three of them disappeared through the anomaly.
Abby tried to follow them, but Matt held her back. “You heard what he said, Abby. We don't know what's on the other side now. We stopped New Dawn, the future has changed and therefore the world through there will be very different to the one that was there before.”
“I don't care what's through there, Matt.” Abby shrugged him off and began to stride towards the anomaly. “Connor's injured, and every minute we waste is another minute when he could be dying. You can stay here if you want, but I'm going after Becker.”
Matt watched helplessly as Abby disappeared through the anomaly too before resigning himself to going after her. If he couldn't stop her, he should at least be making sure she didn't do something reckless.
.
Author: prehistoriccat
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Connor/Abby, Matt, Becker
Genre: Gen, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Characters not mine, no copyright intended
It was like a dangerous cocktail of drugs and alcohol that would ultimately lead to destruction.
Connor was now certain something wasn't right. He'd been drifting in and out of consciousness for most of the day, but during his conscious moments he had tried to ask questions. Had Alice managed to call Abby? Was she on her way to come and see him? Why was he here? Then there'd be someone at his side telling him he needed to rest and he'd feel a needle prick in his arm and he'd lose consciousness again.
This time, he was determined not to let that happen. The well-dressed man who had spoken to him earlier seemed to be in charge, so Connor decided to try and address him directly since the doctor and Alice were probably under strict instructions not to engage in conversation with him.
“Look, I just need to know where I am and whether Abby or one of my friends is coming!” he pleaded.
“Of course, Mr Temple. It seems you're feeling much better, so perhaps it's time we had a talk.” The others were ushered out of the room, and once they were alone the man pulled up a chair and sat beside Connor's bed.
“I suppose I should introduce myself properly. I'm Stuart Weston. You and I have met on a few occasions before, Connor.”
“Really?” Connor tried to remember. He had looked familiar when he had first come in, but Connor had not really been able to recall why. “The last time we met, I was working in the control hub at New Dawn.”
“You worked for Philip Burton?” Fear ran straight down his spine. This wasn't good.
“Until you came along, I was Burton's main anomaly expert. I worked for Prospero for over a year, advising him on what I knew about the phenomenon he hoped to harness the power of.”
Connor glared at Stuart. Connor knew other people were interested in the anomalies and would be just as curious about them as he was, but the thought that the man beside him had been involved with New Dawn made him angry and fearful.
“How did you know about the anomalies?”
“Before I was head hunted by Burton, I worked as a scientist for a military project that had its own anomaly that led to the future. That's where we met previously, albeit very briefly.”
Connor tried to think. The only military project he could think of with knowledge of the anomalies was the one led by Christine Johnson. He recalled being sent to her offices when the ADD had tracked an anomaly located in her building, but she'd sent them away saying they were mistaken. Weeks later, Helen Cutter disguised as someone else had been taken captive from her hiding place in the future and brought through the anomaly. At the time, Connor had wondered why the ARC had not detected the anomaly other than that one incidence and he'd also worried just what Johnson's intentions were.
“You worked for Johnson? Doing what?”
“Pretty much the same as you and your team,” Stuart said, a tight smile spreading across his face. “Except I had an anomaly on site that I could study 24/7 and access to a future where technology was far advanced of anything we had here. Christine was more interested in being able to predict where and when an anomaly would occur, but I thought it would just be easier to open one whenever you needed to.”
Connor felt the heat of his anger burning inside. If it wasn't for the fact that pretty much every inch of his body hurt, he'd have been on his feet and looking for a phone to get Matt and the others here for back up.
“I did manage to accomplish something that you never did.” The smug look on Stuart's face had Connor's interest. He quirked his eyebrow, encouraging Stuart to continue. “I developed a cloaking device that prevented Christine's anomaly from being detected by the ARC. Very useful. It meant we could do our work without fear of discovery. After her death, our team was broken up but I was approached by Prospero within a month because Helen Cutter had told Burton about my work. He thought the technology in my device could be used somehow to show how anomalies worked.”
Connor couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. As if having Helen Cutter and Philip Burton knowing each other wasn't bad enough, the man in front of him knew them both and had also worked for Christine Johnson. It was like a dangerous cocktail of drugs and alcohol that would ultimately lead to destruction. Then it hit them that it was no accident that he was here; his car had been deliberately pushed off the road. This man wanted Connor, and he could guess why.
“Please don't tell me that you actually think you can carry on with Phillip's work? Didn't you see how out of control that thing got? You do know that it almost caused the end of the world?”
Stuart laughed. “Burton was over ambitious and greedy. He seemed to think bigger was better, but my theory is that we can harness the power of several much smaller versions and still get the result he was hoping for without the … unfortunate side effects we witnessed.”
“Unfortunate side effects?” It was getting increasingly worse. The man was clearly a lunatic. He could understand the attraction of the anomalies themselves and he could also understand the need to study them and work out what they were; they'd ruled his own life for five years now and he knew in spite of all the terrible things that had happened he'd still be fascinated by them for many more years. But he'd also learnt that you didn't interfere with them, they needed to be respected and left alone to do whatever they did.
“I won't help you,” Connor said defiantly. “Abby and my friends will be looking for me by now. It's just a matter of time before they find me. We'll stop you, just like we stopped Christine and Helen and Burton.”
Stuart simply smiled and then stood up. “They'll have to find you first, and that will take some considerable time. A cloaked anomaly is not easy to find.”
Connor closed his eyes as the reality of this situation hit him. It was an anomaly that he'd seen as he lay in the wreckage of the car after all. Stuart had managed to use his cloaking device to hide it and take Connor through it to wherever or whenever he currently was. The others probably didn't have a clue an anomaly had even opened, let alone even start to look for him through one. He was stuck here; at least until he had recovered sufficiently from his injuries to attempt an escape.
-o-
Becker took a deep breath as he got out of his truck and strode towards the entrance of the building where the bunker had been constructed to keep the anomaly sealed and out of sight. His head was full of the memories of his previous visits to this place and the subsequent failed rescue missions through the anomalies at Christine Johnson's place and the field near Blackburn, culminating in Sarah's death and the reorganisation of the ARC. It had been one of the lowest points in his life, second only to the time his platoon had been ambushed in Iraq and four of the men under his command had been abducted and murdered. It was that event that had led to him leaving his promising Army career for private contractual security work, and then ultimately to his current post at the ARC.
He knew he had no reason to feel responsible for Connor's disappearance this time but he still did. They'd all said that Connor's knowledge could make him a target for anyone wishing to follow in Philip Burton's footsteps, but Connor had refused to let that stop him from doing what he wanted to do. Abby had insisted that she would be able to look out for him, and that she'd ensure Connor was more guarded in the friendships that he made. Yet no-one had batted an eyelid at Connor going off on his own, and Becker cursed himself for not realising what a security risk that could potentially be.
He hated waiting. Waiting for clearance delayed things needlessly in his opinion, especially when lives could be at stake. Matt and Abby were on their way, about half an hour away according to Matt's last text message. If official permission hadn't been received by the time they got here, Becker had decided he'd start knocking it down anyway. He suspected Abby wouldn't wait and there'd be no holding her back.
“Sir?” The voice of one of the soldiers interrupted his thoughts. He was holding out an earpiece. “Miss Parker wants to know why you're not wearing your comms?” Becker practically snatched it from his hand, annoyed with Jess. This was a search and rescue mission; something he was perfectly capable of handling on his own. He didn't need her in his ear, especially when his mind was on Sarah. He was about to tell Jess exactly what he thought but stopped himself. She didn't deserve that. Just because he was having personal issues it was no excuse to take it out on her.
“Jess, I'm glad you made contact,” he smiled, hoping he could distract her from chewing his ear off about not following procedures with his well practised charms.
“Lester says to make sure you don't do anything that he'll regret, and can you make sure Abby and Matt wear their earpieces once they arrive. I need to be able to track where you all are. Losing one team member is bad enough and...”
“I know, Jess. There really isn't a need for this since it's not an anomaly call, but if it makes you happy we'll all wear comms.”
“Thank you. Let me know when Matt and Abby get there.”
The earpiece went silent and Becker scanned around him. He had a group of men who were all sitting around doing nothing, itching to get going and begin the search for Connor. He made a decision; they would do it now. He had no doubt that permission would be given; it was a mere formality, and he suspected that Matt would do exactly the same. With a nod, the men practically leapt to their feet and were setting up a series of small explosive devices that would blast apart the bunker and enable them to get to the anomaly.
By the time Matt drove up and parked next to Becker's vehicle, the soldiers had pretty much opened the bunker enough for them to see the anomaly. Matt and Abby were handed the standard issue earpieces and EMDs as soon as they were out of the car, and Matt strode purposefully towards the soldiers, trying to raise Jess and Becker to alert them to the fact he was there. Abby had to practically run to keep up with him. She was tired, but grateful that, at long last, they were doing something positive to try and find Connor.
There was something very eerie about being back at the race track. The sound of their footsteps echoed and Abby felt on edge. She was bombarded with memories of the times she'd been here previously; the day her brother had disappeared through the anomaly and then again a few days later when they went after Helen Cutter. It was the start of the nightmare year stranded millions of years from home.
They found Becker stood directly in front of the anomaly, staring at it coldly as he watched his men clear the rubble away. Abby wondered just how many times Becker had stood in that exact spot waiting for her, Connor and Danny to come back through. If her memories of this place were bad, then what must he be thinking right now?
“Fill me in, Captain,” Matt said. “Has anyone been through yet?”
“No, I was waiting for you so that you could monitor things on this side whilst I went through with a couple of the soldiers to see what's on the other side.”
Matt nodded. “Good idea. We need to know what we're dealing with.”
“What?” Abby glared at both of them.
“I'm not putting anyone's life at risk, Abby. My men will assess the situation first and then we'll decide what weapons we need and if we need breathing apparatus or not.” Becker nodded at the two men he'd already selected for the job and the three of them disappeared through the anomaly.
Abby tried to follow them, but Matt held her back. “You heard what he said, Abby. We don't know what's on the other side now. We stopped New Dawn, the future has changed and therefore the world through there will be very different to the one that was there before.”
“I don't care what's through there, Matt.” Abby shrugged him off and began to stride towards the anomaly. “Connor's injured, and every minute we waste is another minute when he could be dying. You can stay here if you want, but I'm going after Becker.”
Matt watched helplessly as Abby disappeared through the anomaly too before resigning himself to going after her. If he couldn't stop her, he should at least be making sure she didn't do something reckless.
.