Primeval Art Fic: To Save The World - Part 2
Title: To Save The World - Part 2
Author: knitekat
Word Count: 1666 words out of 5034
Characters: Danny Quinn, Hilary Becker, Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, James Lester, Connor Temple.
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N 1: For goldarrow's Art prompt. Also for my Primeval Bingo Card (round 8) Wild Card prompt: Wibby-wobby-timey-wimey: Time travel (13/25)
A/N 2: Thanks go to The Libran Iniquity for the beta.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Hart hadn't proven to be a cooperative patient. Luckily the injury to his leg meant he was somewhat immobile, but that did little to still his tongue. “I told Lester if I saw any of his men I was done.” Hart spat. “Where is he?” The man paused, taking in the run-down nature of the room he was in before asking, “Who are you?”
Danny really wished James was here, he would be able to convince Hart... except, from what he recalled, James had said Hart thought he was the traitor. He needed to come up with an explanation before Hart tried to do something stupid, again. He glanced at Becker, but realised he wasn't going to get any help from the soldier.
“Where is Nick?” Hart demanded. “What have you done with him?”
Danny swore softly before raising his hands in surrender. “Look, Hart. We're the good guys.”
“Then why am I here and not at the ARC or a hospital?” Stephen asked before adding, “Why have you kidnapped me? Is this Lester's doing?”
“No, we haven't,” Danny began before realising they actually had. “OK, maybe we have but we have a good reason.”
“Which is?”
Danny exchanged a glance with Becker, realising they would have to tell Hart the truth if they wanted his cooperation. “Look, Hart. We're not with the ARC. Not yet, anyway.”
“Danny!” Becker barked out.
“We have to tell him the truth, Becker.” He turned his attention back to Hart. “We're from the future, Hart. We came back in time to change events and we need your help.”
“And you haven't given me a reason to believe you, let alone help you.” Hart glared at both of them. “Anyone could say they're from the future. Why shouldn't I believe you work for Lester and Helen?”
“Ja... Lester wasn't the traitor, Hart,” Danny said, cursing his misstep when Hart's eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Leek was.”
“Was?” Hart queried.
“His own creatures killed him,” Becker informed him.
“Nick did say Helen was behind it all and that I should trust Lester,” Hart mused. “But you haven't given me a reason to trust you or him. Nick wouldn't let anyone come back to change the past.”
Danny nodded. “From what I know of him, he wouldn't have.”
“What you knew of him?”
“Helen Cutter came to believe that Nick Cutter caused the end of the world. She decided that the only way to save the world was to kill him.” Becker said, his expression grim. “She took over the ARC and killed the professor.” Becker's voice cracked. “On my watch.”
Hart just looked at them before shaking his head. “No, you're lying. Helen wouldn't kill Nick,”
“When Helen blew up the ARC, the professor escaped with the team,” Becker continued. “But Helen was still inside so he went back in to save her. She pointed a gun at him and...”
“Why would Helen want to kill Nick?” Stephen interrupted.
“Because she thought Cutter was conducting experiments which led to the end of the world.” Danny gave a bitter laugh. “Except she did a shit job of investigating. She found evidence that the ARC's chief scientist authorised the experiments and assumed that it was Cutter.” He shook his head at such shoddy investigations. “But Cutter wasn't responsible so in killing him, Helen allowed whoever had done it to start their experiments. Everything, everyone is dead or dying in our world, Hart. We came back to save it.” He looked Hart straight in eye, willing the man to believe him. “And with your help, we will save our world. Your world.”
“What makes you think I'd help you?” Hart said. “You still haven't proven anything to me.”
Becker cleared his throat before handing over his mobile. “These are photos from the ARC. Of myself and Danny with the team.”
Hart took the mobile and flicked through the photos, frowning at some of them before he cursed at one. “Fuck! Is that the future?”
Danny peered at the photo - one showing a future predator perched on Nelson's column. “Yes.”
“Bloody hell,” Hart said, sounding suitably shocked. Danny hoped that he now believed their story. “If Nick knew Helen was responsible for helping Leek and for blowing up the ARC, why did he go back in for her?”
Danny smiled. “Because, from what I've heard, Cutter went to pieces after your death, he blamed himself for it. For not listening to you, not giving you a chance to explain. I think that is why he wanted to give Helen a chance to talk to him and she used that opportunity to kill him.”
“We've got to warn him.” Hart struggled to get out of his bed. “You've got to take me to him.”
“Stay fucking still,” Danny growled, easily holding a struggling Hart down.
Becker added, “If you show up alive, then you'll change what will happen. We won't know what Helen's planning and we won't be able to stop her and save Cutter.”
Danny nodded. “Connor tried to explain it to us. He said time is like a stream and that your death caused a chain of events which led to Cutter's death. If you turn up alive, he said it would be like a boulder being dropped into the stream, damming it and changing it's course. We wouldn't have the faintest idea of how Helen would react to learning you are still alive. What we do know is that she still believes Cutter is responsible and she would still be planning to kill him.”
“Finding out I'm alive might stop her...” Hart's voice trailed off when Danny shook his head.
“She didn't care who she killed, Hart, just so long as Cutter died.”
“And she might change her plans if she knew you were still alive. She might still attack the ARC, but she could just as easily attack Cutter elsewhere, at home or on the way to work,” Becker said. “She might decide not to risk your life or she might decide you're expendable.” He leaned forward. “At the moment we have the advantage, we know her plans and what happens. We can stop her and save the world. But only if Helen doesn't change her plans.”
Hart almost seemed to deflate. “So, the only way to save Nick is for me to stay dead.”
“For now,” Becker agreed.
***
Danny found the next three months almost unbearable. Knowing that James was out there, just outside his reach, and that he couldn't even risk a single peep at him. Not when the Danny-of-the-now would soon poke his nose into ARC business. He could only wait and go through their plan over and over again, with Hart adding his personal knowledge of the Cutters.
He found he liked Hart, and over time Hart became Stephen and Becker became Becks and he almost wished he could stay here. But he knew he couldn't, this time already had a Becker and a Danny and, well, he couldn't - wouldn't interfere in the start of his relationship with James. Not to mention his own James would be waiting for him back in the future.
Finally, it was the night before the attack on the ARC and Danny wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. This was the moment they'd been waiting for and Danny could think of so much which could go wrong. When he did fall into fitful sleep, he woke with James' name on his lips, the image of him lying dead at the hand's of Cutter's clone clear in his mind. He gratefully accepted the glass of cold water and met the understanding eyes of Stephen.
“So... you and Lester?” Stephen asked. “How?”
Danny bit back the comment he was going to make. “I often asked myself that, I mean,” Danny indicated himself, “I fancied him from the start but I didn't think he'd be interested in me, not a common copper from a sink-end estate.” He leaned in to speak quietly to Stephen. “Before I knew I, I'd fallen for him hook, line and sinker.” Danny smiled softly. “It took me a while to get James to admit his own feelings and by the time he had... the world fucking ended.” Danny shook his head and leaned back before deliberately changing the conversation. “What about you and Cutter?”
“Nick doesn't think of me that way.” Stephen refused to met Danny's eyes.
Danny snorted. “The man went to pieces when you died, Stephen. I think you'll find he wants you.” He leaned in close again and looked Stephen in the eyes. “I think he was angry with you because you were with the wrong Cutter.”
“Maybe,” Stephen murmured, a thoughtful look on his face.
***
Using Becker's and Danny's intimate knowledge of the ARC and of events which hadn't yet happened in this time-line, the three men crept unseen into the building. They found a secure spot to hide out of the way of both the ARC employees and Helen's clones until the moment to act came.
Once the bomb exploded, Becker led them through the smoke and into the damaged corridors to lay in wait for the Cutters. The plan was simple, they'd wait for Cutter to understand that Helen was mad and then EMD her before she could shoot him. Then would come the hard bit, meeting the ARC team - James - and convincing them that Danny and Becker where from the future and needed to return there. They hoped the gift of Helen Cutter would sweeten the arrangement.
Of course, it didn't go to plan. Stephen, obviously unwilling to risk Cutter being shot and losing his chance with the man, had to step in front of Cutter to take the bullet rather than wait for Becker to shoot Helen. In the confusion, she escaped and Danny and Becker found themselves under arrest before they could utter a word, and with Stephen unconscious in the infirmary, without a friend to speak for them.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Author: knitekat
Word Count: 1666 words out of 5034
Characters: Danny Quinn, Hilary Becker, Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, James Lester, Connor Temple.
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N 1: For goldarrow's Art prompt. Also for my Primeval Bingo Card (round 8) Wild Card prompt: Wibby-wobby-timey-wimey: Time travel (13/25)
A/N 2: Thanks go to The Libran Iniquity for the beta.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Hart hadn't proven to be a cooperative patient. Luckily the injury to his leg meant he was somewhat immobile, but that did little to still his tongue. “I told Lester if I saw any of his men I was done.” Hart spat. “Where is he?” The man paused, taking in the run-down nature of the room he was in before asking, “Who are you?”
Danny really wished James was here, he would be able to convince Hart... except, from what he recalled, James had said Hart thought he was the traitor. He needed to come up with an explanation before Hart tried to do something stupid, again. He glanced at Becker, but realised he wasn't going to get any help from the soldier.
“Where is Nick?” Hart demanded. “What have you done with him?”
Danny swore softly before raising his hands in surrender. “Look, Hart. We're the good guys.”
“Then why am I here and not at the ARC or a hospital?” Stephen asked before adding, “Why have you kidnapped me? Is this Lester's doing?”
“No, we haven't,” Danny began before realising they actually had. “OK, maybe we have but we have a good reason.”
“Which is?”
Danny exchanged a glance with Becker, realising they would have to tell Hart the truth if they wanted his cooperation. “Look, Hart. We're not with the ARC. Not yet, anyway.”
“Danny!” Becker barked out.
“We have to tell him the truth, Becker.” He turned his attention back to Hart. “We're from the future, Hart. We came back in time to change events and we need your help.”
“And you haven't given me a reason to believe you, let alone help you.” Hart glared at both of them. “Anyone could say they're from the future. Why shouldn't I believe you work for Lester and Helen?”
“Ja... Lester wasn't the traitor, Hart,” Danny said, cursing his misstep when Hart's eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Leek was.”
“Was?” Hart queried.
“His own creatures killed him,” Becker informed him.
“Nick did say Helen was behind it all and that I should trust Lester,” Hart mused. “But you haven't given me a reason to trust you or him. Nick wouldn't let anyone come back to change the past.”
Danny nodded. “From what I know of him, he wouldn't have.”
“What you knew of him?”
“Helen Cutter came to believe that Nick Cutter caused the end of the world. She decided that the only way to save the world was to kill him.” Becker said, his expression grim. “She took over the ARC and killed the professor.” Becker's voice cracked. “On my watch.”
Hart just looked at them before shaking his head. “No, you're lying. Helen wouldn't kill Nick,”
“When Helen blew up the ARC, the professor escaped with the team,” Becker continued. “But Helen was still inside so he went back in to save her. She pointed a gun at him and...”
“Why would Helen want to kill Nick?” Stephen interrupted.
“Because she thought Cutter was conducting experiments which led to the end of the world.” Danny gave a bitter laugh. “Except she did a shit job of investigating. She found evidence that the ARC's chief scientist authorised the experiments and assumed that it was Cutter.” He shook his head at such shoddy investigations. “But Cutter wasn't responsible so in killing him, Helen allowed whoever had done it to start their experiments. Everything, everyone is dead or dying in our world, Hart. We came back to save it.” He looked Hart straight in eye, willing the man to believe him. “And with your help, we will save our world. Your world.”
“What makes you think I'd help you?” Hart said. “You still haven't proven anything to me.”
Becker cleared his throat before handing over his mobile. “These are photos from the ARC. Of myself and Danny with the team.”
Hart took the mobile and flicked through the photos, frowning at some of them before he cursed at one. “Fuck! Is that the future?”
Danny peered at the photo - one showing a future predator perched on Nelson's column. “Yes.”
“Bloody hell,” Hart said, sounding suitably shocked. Danny hoped that he now believed their story. “If Nick knew Helen was responsible for helping Leek and for blowing up the ARC, why did he go back in for her?”
Danny smiled. “Because, from what I've heard, Cutter went to pieces after your death, he blamed himself for it. For not listening to you, not giving you a chance to explain. I think that is why he wanted to give Helen a chance to talk to him and she used that opportunity to kill him.”
“We've got to warn him.” Hart struggled to get out of his bed. “You've got to take me to him.”
“Stay fucking still,” Danny growled, easily holding a struggling Hart down.
Becker added, “If you show up alive, then you'll change what will happen. We won't know what Helen's planning and we won't be able to stop her and save Cutter.”
Danny nodded. “Connor tried to explain it to us. He said time is like a stream and that your death caused a chain of events which led to Cutter's death. If you turn up alive, he said it would be like a boulder being dropped into the stream, damming it and changing it's course. We wouldn't have the faintest idea of how Helen would react to learning you are still alive. What we do know is that she still believes Cutter is responsible and she would still be planning to kill him.”
“Finding out I'm alive might stop her...” Hart's voice trailed off when Danny shook his head.
“She didn't care who she killed, Hart, just so long as Cutter died.”
“And she might change her plans if she knew you were still alive. She might still attack the ARC, but she could just as easily attack Cutter elsewhere, at home or on the way to work,” Becker said. “She might decide not to risk your life or she might decide you're expendable.” He leaned forward. “At the moment we have the advantage, we know her plans and what happens. We can stop her and save the world. But only if Helen doesn't change her plans.”
Hart almost seemed to deflate. “So, the only way to save Nick is for me to stay dead.”
“For now,” Becker agreed.
***
Danny found the next three months almost unbearable. Knowing that James was out there, just outside his reach, and that he couldn't even risk a single peep at him. Not when the Danny-of-the-now would soon poke his nose into ARC business. He could only wait and go through their plan over and over again, with Hart adding his personal knowledge of the Cutters.
He found he liked Hart, and over time Hart became Stephen and Becker became Becks and he almost wished he could stay here. But he knew he couldn't, this time already had a Becker and a Danny and, well, he couldn't - wouldn't interfere in the start of his relationship with James. Not to mention his own James would be waiting for him back in the future.
Finally, it was the night before the attack on the ARC and Danny wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. This was the moment they'd been waiting for and Danny could think of so much which could go wrong. When he did fall into fitful sleep, he woke with James' name on his lips, the image of him lying dead at the hand's of Cutter's clone clear in his mind. He gratefully accepted the glass of cold water and met the understanding eyes of Stephen.
“So... you and Lester?” Stephen asked. “How?”
Danny bit back the comment he was going to make. “I often asked myself that, I mean,” Danny indicated himself, “I fancied him from the start but I didn't think he'd be interested in me, not a common copper from a sink-end estate.” He leaned in to speak quietly to Stephen. “Before I knew I, I'd fallen for him hook, line and sinker.” Danny smiled softly. “It took me a while to get James to admit his own feelings and by the time he had... the world fucking ended.” Danny shook his head and leaned back before deliberately changing the conversation. “What about you and Cutter?”
“Nick doesn't think of me that way.” Stephen refused to met Danny's eyes.
Danny snorted. “The man went to pieces when you died, Stephen. I think you'll find he wants you.” He leaned in close again and looked Stephen in the eyes. “I think he was angry with you because you were with the wrong Cutter.”
“Maybe,” Stephen murmured, a thoughtful look on his face.
***
Using Becker's and Danny's intimate knowledge of the ARC and of events which hadn't yet happened in this time-line, the three men crept unseen into the building. They found a secure spot to hide out of the way of both the ARC employees and Helen's clones until the moment to act came.
Once the bomb exploded, Becker led them through the smoke and into the damaged corridors to lay in wait for the Cutters. The plan was simple, they'd wait for Cutter to understand that Helen was mad and then EMD her before she could shoot him. Then would come the hard bit, meeting the ARC team - James - and convincing them that Danny and Becker where from the future and needed to return there. They hoped the gift of Helen Cutter would sweeten the arrangement.
Of course, it didn't go to plan. Stephen, obviously unwilling to risk Cutter being shot and losing his chance with the man, had to step in front of Cutter to take the bullet rather than wait for Becker to shoot Helen. In the confusion, she escaped and Danny and Becker found themselves under arrest before they could utter a word, and with Stephen unconscious in the infirmary, without a friend to speak for them.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4