[Primeval/Spooks] Fic: Shadows Falling, Team, Gen, PG-13, (5 of 13)
Fandom: Primeval/Spooks
Title: Shadows Falling (5 of 13)
Author: cordeliadelayne
Characters: From Primeval: Cutter, Stephen, Jenny, Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, Lester, Lorraine, Becker, and others From Spooks: Lucas, Harry, Ruth and Tariq
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Warning: Character deaths (not of anyone you've met before)
Word Count: 1,935 (Total: 32,315)
Summary: Forced to split up in order to deal with a series of anomalies at home and abroad, the ARC team soon find themselves facing their toughest challenge yet - one that will send shockwaves through time and across continents, and will ultimately threaten their very existence.
Notes: Part of my Man-Made Series which can be read here. It's not necessary to read all of that before this, though here's a handy, spoiler-rific cheat-sheet if you so desire. All you need to know about Spooks is that it's about MI5 operatives. With thanks to red_2 for help with Russian naming conventions.
Masterlist
Chapter Five
The ARC
Stephen finished helping Becker select the last of the supplies and then went off in search of Cutter. Something had been bothering the older man for the last few days and Stephen was determined to find out what that was. Before he could track Cutter down however, Stephen was waylaid by Dr Jin, the ARC's newly appointed resident psychologist.
“Ah, Stephen,” Dr Jin said. He stood directly in Stephen's path, smiling serenely. A small man due to a hunched back which left him barely as tall as Abby, he pushed his glasses back up his nose and blinked rapidly.
Stephen bit back his annoyance and attempted to smile. “Dr Jin.” He paused, hoping Jin would give some indication of what he wanted, but of course he didn't. “I don't know if you've heard, but we're shipping out in an hour.” Another uncomfortable pause. “To Russia.”
“Yes, I had heard.” Jin smiled. “And you think you're ready for that?”
“Yes.” Stephen knew he was now glaring at the other man but he couldn't seem to help it. Dr Jin had that affect on him.
“Okay. You have my details if you need to contact me urgently.” Jin then turned around and headed back in the direction of his office.
Stephen watched his progress with a bemused smile on his face. As usual he had no idea where he stood with the psychologist. He did feel like seeing him was helping, even if he had to mentally brace himself for hours before their appointments. And he had to admit, even if only to himself, that after the initial discomfort it was good to share his fears with someone outside of the team itself. But the man was very hard to read. Though Stephen supposed that as long as the doctor kept signing him off as fit for the field there really wasn't anything to worry about.
He shook his head, deciding that he had more pressing matters to attend to and was about to restart his search for Cutter when the alarm for the Anomaly Detector went off, startling him. A door down the corridor opened and Danny Quinn came barrelling out and rushed past Stephen, broad grin on his face.
Stephen shook his head. Despite himself he liked the ex-policeman, and even found his enthusiasm infectious, but his gung-ho attitude could do more harm than good if they weren't careful. And he knew the price of such recklessness first hand.
Sarah Page hurried towards Stephen. “What's happening?” she asked, a little breathlessly.
“No idea,” Stephen replied. “Let's find out.”
They entered the atrium together to find Danny, Connor and Lester already standing by the Detector.
“Well?” Lester asked.
“Looks like its opened in the Midlands,” Connor said. “Hang on.” His fingers flew over the keys. “Yeah, middle of a field in Nottinghamshire.”
Lester nodded. “Let's hope there are no prying eyes nearby then. Right,” he turned to Danny. “You're in charge, god help us. Take Sarah and a team of soldiers and find out if anything came through.”
“Right you are, guv,” Danny said.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?”
Danny just shrugged and winked at Sarah, who rolled her eyes.
“What about me?” Abby asked. She'd appeared in the doorway behind them, her footsteps only noticed by Stephen.
Lester spun on his heels to face her. “You have your arm...” He trailed off. Abby's cast was gone. Lester raised his eyebrows.
“I asked Dr Evans to take it off. It's practically healed. And I want to help.” She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. It wasn't as if she hadn't thought about making the same gesture in the meeting earlier - Connor, Stephen, Cutter and Jenny, even Becker, were her team, her friends and the thought of not going with them had been gnawing at her, but Danny and Sarah were her team too and they had hardly any experience out in the field.
“It's okay,” Stephen said, rightly guessing at her conflicted feelings, “you're right. Danny and Sarah will need your skills. As long as the arm really is okay.”
“It's as good as new,” Abby assured them. “Honestly. I have a doctor's note and everything.”
“Then what are you still standing around here for?” Lester asked. “Chop chop.”
“Chop chop?” Sarah mouthed at Stephen. Stephen smiled and shrugged.
Abby went over to Connor. “You look after yourself, okay? Don't do anything too heroic.”
Connor gave a lopsided grin. “Who, me?”
Abby leaned forward and gave Connor a peck on the cheek before turning around and hurrying after Danny and Sarah.
“I'm going to be an old man before you two get your act together, aren't I?” Stephen asked.
Connor didn't reply. Instead he just stared after Abby's retreating back, a wistful look on his face.
The AAU - Russia
Anatoly cursed and slammed the phone down. That may well have been his one and only chance to make contact with the Others. Damn the anomalous events and damn the AAU.
“Where is it?” he snarled as Dmitry came through the door. There were still lives in danger and a team would need to be sent out. Anomalous events were still areas that he was in charge of, for the moment at least.
Dmitry opened and closed his mouth and pointed behind himself. But there had been no need. Anatoly could see the twinkling reflections of the anomalous light, a dangerous beauty floating in mid-air. Right in the middle of the Kill Zone.
The only area on the planet where that was supposed to be impossible.
The M1
“This is fun, isn't it?” Danny asked. He was driving one of the ARC's fleet of Jeeps, speeding up the M1 towards Nottingham.
“Oh yes,” Sarah replied. “Us girls together.”
Danny laughed and then zigzagged around a coach full of holidaymakers. Sarah, sitting next to Danny, grabbed the dashboard. In the back Abby was trying to keep her injured arm out of harm's way. She might have convinced the doctor to remove her cast but that didn't mean it was 100% yet.
“You all right back there?” Danny asked.
“I'm fine, Danny, really.” She paused and turned to stare out of the window, as the scenery zipped by. “I'm just worried about the others.”
“At least they haven't got the Keystone Cops looking after them.” Danny indicated the soldiers in the van behind them, just about keeping up with Danny's version of driving.
“They're not that bad,” Sarah said.
“That's just 'cause you fancy the blond one.”
“I do not!” Sarah objected, carefully not turning around to look at Abby. Just because she may have confided in the girls that she quite liked the look of blond Patrick Donovan, didn't mean she wanted Danny to know. He could be infuriating at the best of times.
Danny just shook his head and turned back to focusing on the road. Abby and Sarah withdrew to their own thoughts, perfectly aware that without any witnesses to what had come through the anomaly, they had no idea what danger they were about to face.
Warehouse - The Midlands
The creature lunged and Singh rolled, knocking into Walters as he did so. She gave a short yelp, the sound of cracking bone setting Singh's teeth on edge, but he couldn't worry about that now. He chanced a glance up as he rolled into a standing position, gun gripped tightly in his hand. But the creature just kept on running, little droplets of blood flying out from its body, but apparently not doing enough damage to slow it down.
Singh sank to his knees, breathing deeply. He was trying not to let himself think what was staring him in the face. That he'd just had a close encounter with a dinosaur. He wasn't an idiot, he'd seen pictures of them in books, even if the name of it escaped him right now, tangled up in the sheer terror of being alive at the same time as something that was supposed to be extinct.
He'd thought the anomaly they were supposed to open was going to take them somewhere where they could get weapons, maybe even gold. He'd dreamed of ending up in Fort Knox and the world having no idea how they'd done it. But just like in Iraq he'd counted his chickens before they'd been hatched.
There was a low rumbling from behind him but his lungs ached too much, his limbs felt sluggish and everything he thought he knew was turning on its head, a dizzying array of the impossible that was making his stomach churn.
He needed to move. Do something, call someone. The MoD probably, they'd know what to do. They'd be able to find out who had hired them. Trace the money left in their bank accounts. If, of course, it was still there.
He shook his head and then jerked forward. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out except a dribble of blood that he spat on to the ground. He wanted so badly to say something, anything, have his last words remembered by Walters, who was staring at him, eyes wide, more terrified than he'd ever seen another human being. But it was impossible now. Now a creature's horns were embedded in his chest, crushing the life from him.
He went to the grave with Walter's screams echoing in his ears.
5,000 years in the future
Dr Banyon's anger was palpable and the Clerk took a step back as Banyon whirled on her, face distorted into a terrible picture of rage.
“How could you let this happen?!”
“I - I - I...” the Clerk stammered, words caught in her throat. She didn't know, she didn't know how it was possible. But it had happened and now she was going to die, she was sure of it.
“Idiot,” Banyon spat. “You know how important keeping the clones secure is. Or you should do. If you had a brain in that pathetic head of yours. Brady!”
The Clerk flinched as Banyon screamed and then whimpered as she realised that she had wet herself, an embarrassing trail of urine splashing onto the concrete floor.
Banyon's nose wrinkled up in disgust.
The man, Brady, a thick set guard with deep-set eyes that looked almost completely black strode into sight. “Yes?” he asked.
“Take her away.”
The Clerk opened her mouth to speak but nothing would come out.
“Yes, Dr Banyon. To the cells or...”
“No,” Banyon replied, “to the pens. The Echolocators deserve a treat.”
The Clerk fainted and Brady caught her and hefted her over his shoulder. He marched out of the room and shut the door firmly behind himself.
Banyon took a deep breath and surveyed the room. She wanted, desperately, to see evidence of how one of the Helen Cutter clones could have escaped. A faulty circuit perhaps or a door being left unlatched and a Clerk too stupid to admit to her error. Because the alternative was too startling to process and filled Banyon with horror.
If the Helen Cutter clones were starting to disappear, as if they'd never existed in the first place, it meant that history was being changed.
And none of them were safe.
Chapter Six
Title: Shadows Falling (5 of 13)
Author: cordeliadelayne
Characters: From Primeval: Cutter, Stephen, Jenny, Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, Lester, Lorraine, Becker, and others From Spooks: Lucas, Harry, Ruth and Tariq
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Warning: Character deaths (not of anyone you've met before)
Word Count: 1,935 (Total: 32,315)
Summary: Forced to split up in order to deal with a series of anomalies at home and abroad, the ARC team soon find themselves facing their toughest challenge yet - one that will send shockwaves through time and across continents, and will ultimately threaten their very existence.
Notes: Part of my Man-Made Series which can be read here. It's not necessary to read all of that before this, though here's a handy, spoiler-rific cheat-sheet if you so desire. All you need to know about Spooks is that it's about MI5 operatives. With thanks to red_2 for help with Russian naming conventions.
Masterlist
Chapter Five
The ARC
Stephen finished helping Becker select the last of the supplies and then went off in search of Cutter. Something had been bothering the older man for the last few days and Stephen was determined to find out what that was. Before he could track Cutter down however, Stephen was waylaid by Dr Jin, the ARC's newly appointed resident psychologist.
“Ah, Stephen,” Dr Jin said. He stood directly in Stephen's path, smiling serenely. A small man due to a hunched back which left him barely as tall as Abby, he pushed his glasses back up his nose and blinked rapidly.
Stephen bit back his annoyance and attempted to smile. “Dr Jin.” He paused, hoping Jin would give some indication of what he wanted, but of course he didn't. “I don't know if you've heard, but we're shipping out in an hour.” Another uncomfortable pause. “To Russia.”
“Yes, I had heard.” Jin smiled. “And you think you're ready for that?”
“Yes.” Stephen knew he was now glaring at the other man but he couldn't seem to help it. Dr Jin had that affect on him.
“Okay. You have my details if you need to contact me urgently.” Jin then turned around and headed back in the direction of his office.
Stephen watched his progress with a bemused smile on his face. As usual he had no idea where he stood with the psychologist. He did feel like seeing him was helping, even if he had to mentally brace himself for hours before their appointments. And he had to admit, even if only to himself, that after the initial discomfort it was good to share his fears with someone outside of the team itself. But the man was very hard to read. Though Stephen supposed that as long as the doctor kept signing him off as fit for the field there really wasn't anything to worry about.
He shook his head, deciding that he had more pressing matters to attend to and was about to restart his search for Cutter when the alarm for the Anomaly Detector went off, startling him. A door down the corridor opened and Danny Quinn came barrelling out and rushed past Stephen, broad grin on his face.
Stephen shook his head. Despite himself he liked the ex-policeman, and even found his enthusiasm infectious, but his gung-ho attitude could do more harm than good if they weren't careful. And he knew the price of such recklessness first hand.
Sarah Page hurried towards Stephen. “What's happening?” she asked, a little breathlessly.
“No idea,” Stephen replied. “Let's find out.”
They entered the atrium together to find Danny, Connor and Lester already standing by the Detector.
“Well?” Lester asked.
“Looks like its opened in the Midlands,” Connor said. “Hang on.” His fingers flew over the keys. “Yeah, middle of a field in Nottinghamshire.”
Lester nodded. “Let's hope there are no prying eyes nearby then. Right,” he turned to Danny. “You're in charge, god help us. Take Sarah and a team of soldiers and find out if anything came through.”
“Right you are, guv,” Danny said.
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?”
Danny just shrugged and winked at Sarah, who rolled her eyes.
“What about me?” Abby asked. She'd appeared in the doorway behind them, her footsteps only noticed by Stephen.
Lester spun on his heels to face her. “You have your arm...” He trailed off. Abby's cast was gone. Lester raised his eyebrows.
“I asked Dr Evans to take it off. It's practically healed. And I want to help.” She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. It wasn't as if she hadn't thought about making the same gesture in the meeting earlier - Connor, Stephen, Cutter and Jenny, even Becker, were her team, her friends and the thought of not going with them had been gnawing at her, but Danny and Sarah were her team too and they had hardly any experience out in the field.
“It's okay,” Stephen said, rightly guessing at her conflicted feelings, “you're right. Danny and Sarah will need your skills. As long as the arm really is okay.”
“It's as good as new,” Abby assured them. “Honestly. I have a doctor's note and everything.”
“Then what are you still standing around here for?” Lester asked. “Chop chop.”
“Chop chop?” Sarah mouthed at Stephen. Stephen smiled and shrugged.
Abby went over to Connor. “You look after yourself, okay? Don't do anything too heroic.”
Connor gave a lopsided grin. “Who, me?”
Abby leaned forward and gave Connor a peck on the cheek before turning around and hurrying after Danny and Sarah.
“I'm going to be an old man before you two get your act together, aren't I?” Stephen asked.
Connor didn't reply. Instead he just stared after Abby's retreating back, a wistful look on his face.
The AAU - Russia
Anatoly cursed and slammed the phone down. That may well have been his one and only chance to make contact with the Others. Damn the anomalous events and damn the AAU.
“Where is it?” he snarled as Dmitry came through the door. There were still lives in danger and a team would need to be sent out. Anomalous events were still areas that he was in charge of, for the moment at least.
Dmitry opened and closed his mouth and pointed behind himself. But there had been no need. Anatoly could see the twinkling reflections of the anomalous light, a dangerous beauty floating in mid-air. Right in the middle of the Kill Zone.
The only area on the planet where that was supposed to be impossible.
The M1
“This is fun, isn't it?” Danny asked. He was driving one of the ARC's fleet of Jeeps, speeding up the M1 towards Nottingham.
“Oh yes,” Sarah replied. “Us girls together.”
Danny laughed and then zigzagged around a coach full of holidaymakers. Sarah, sitting next to Danny, grabbed the dashboard. In the back Abby was trying to keep her injured arm out of harm's way. She might have convinced the doctor to remove her cast but that didn't mean it was 100% yet.
“You all right back there?” Danny asked.
“I'm fine, Danny, really.” She paused and turned to stare out of the window, as the scenery zipped by. “I'm just worried about the others.”
“At least they haven't got the Keystone Cops looking after them.” Danny indicated the soldiers in the van behind them, just about keeping up with Danny's version of driving.
“They're not that bad,” Sarah said.
“That's just 'cause you fancy the blond one.”
“I do not!” Sarah objected, carefully not turning around to look at Abby. Just because she may have confided in the girls that she quite liked the look of blond Patrick Donovan, didn't mean she wanted Danny to know. He could be infuriating at the best of times.
Danny just shook his head and turned back to focusing on the road. Abby and Sarah withdrew to their own thoughts, perfectly aware that without any witnesses to what had come through the anomaly, they had no idea what danger they were about to face.
Warehouse - The Midlands
The creature lunged and Singh rolled, knocking into Walters as he did so. She gave a short yelp, the sound of cracking bone setting Singh's teeth on edge, but he couldn't worry about that now. He chanced a glance up as he rolled into a standing position, gun gripped tightly in his hand. But the creature just kept on running, little droplets of blood flying out from its body, but apparently not doing enough damage to slow it down.
Singh sank to his knees, breathing deeply. He was trying not to let himself think what was staring him in the face. That he'd just had a close encounter with a dinosaur. He wasn't an idiot, he'd seen pictures of them in books, even if the name of it escaped him right now, tangled up in the sheer terror of being alive at the same time as something that was supposed to be extinct.
He'd thought the anomaly they were supposed to open was going to take them somewhere where they could get weapons, maybe even gold. He'd dreamed of ending up in Fort Knox and the world having no idea how they'd done it. But just like in Iraq he'd counted his chickens before they'd been hatched.
There was a low rumbling from behind him but his lungs ached too much, his limbs felt sluggish and everything he thought he knew was turning on its head, a dizzying array of the impossible that was making his stomach churn.
He needed to move. Do something, call someone. The MoD probably, they'd know what to do. They'd be able to find out who had hired them. Trace the money left in their bank accounts. If, of course, it was still there.
He shook his head and then jerked forward. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out except a dribble of blood that he spat on to the ground. He wanted so badly to say something, anything, have his last words remembered by Walters, who was staring at him, eyes wide, more terrified than he'd ever seen another human being. But it was impossible now. Now a creature's horns were embedded in his chest, crushing the life from him.
He went to the grave with Walter's screams echoing in his ears.
5,000 years in the future
Dr Banyon's anger was palpable and the Clerk took a step back as Banyon whirled on her, face distorted into a terrible picture of rage.
“How could you let this happen?!”
“I - I - I...” the Clerk stammered, words caught in her throat. She didn't know, she didn't know how it was possible. But it had happened and now she was going to die, she was sure of it.
“Idiot,” Banyon spat. “You know how important keeping the clones secure is. Or you should do. If you had a brain in that pathetic head of yours. Brady!”
The Clerk flinched as Banyon screamed and then whimpered as she realised that she had wet herself, an embarrassing trail of urine splashing onto the concrete floor.
Banyon's nose wrinkled up in disgust.
The man, Brady, a thick set guard with deep-set eyes that looked almost completely black strode into sight. “Yes?” he asked.
“Take her away.”
The Clerk opened her mouth to speak but nothing would come out.
“Yes, Dr Banyon. To the cells or...”
“No,” Banyon replied, “to the pens. The Echolocators deserve a treat.”
The Clerk fainted and Brady caught her and hefted her over his shoulder. He marched out of the room and shut the door firmly behind himself.
Banyon took a deep breath and surveyed the room. She wanted, desperately, to see evidence of how one of the Helen Cutter clones could have escaped. A faulty circuit perhaps or a door being left unlatched and a Clerk too stupid to admit to her error. Because the alternative was too startling to process and filled Banyon with horror.
If the Helen Cutter clones were starting to disappear, as if they'd never existed in the first place, it meant that history was being changed.
And none of them were safe.
Chapter Six