The ARC - London

[itsananomaly]

It had been a very long and busy several days once Cutter and Connor had returned to London. Even though they were no longer involved with the field work, there was still a lot of research to be done both with the ARC and Prospero.

Cutter and Connor had been given an office to work out of while they were back for the summer, since Cutter’s old office now belonged to Danny ,and there were papers and books all over the office. Cutter was still trying to figure out what some of the numbers from the anomaly prediction model before they had left Fandom and the numbers and data was starting to blur together and he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

“I’m starting to think we might need a break,” he remarked with a sheepish smile from where he had taken a spot on the floor, surrounded by a pile of papers and notebooks.

[for Connor and SP! NFB due to distance]

Comments

[itsananomaly]

"Aye," Cutter said with a small smile as he reached out to take Connor's hand and give it a second squeeze, "the team is always going to have an important part in our lives, I'm glad that we can still come back and visit and help out for the summer,"

Danny smiled, "and we're glad that you keep coming to visit us, you may not be on active field work anymore but we'll still keep you in the loop whenever there is something new happening with the anomalies," he promised them.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Good! Not gonna get rid of us!" Connor said with a nod. "So speaking of the team, how has everyone been? Becker and Sara doing ok? Jenny keeping everyone in line as usual?" Connor thought about asking how Nate and Stephen were doing but thought better of it at that moment.

[thearcfamily]

"Everyone's doing as well as they can be," Danny told them, taking a sip of his coffee and putting it down, "Sarah still has bad days so she's not always in and Becker stays home with her during those days and works from home," he said, "Jenny has been a lifesaver, even though she's not out in the field anymore, she's one of the most organised people I know," he said with a fond smile, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone handle the day to day admin side of things like she does," he shook his head, "and Abby helps out with research and the creatures that we have on site and you know our Connor has been helping out with Prospero as well, I swear he must live in his lab, I barely see him leave it,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Glad to hear everyone is doing pretty good. Nice change from how things had been going. Think we all deserve a bit of a break for sure!"

No Connor.... don't jinks it....

"Though that is a little concerning about Connor..." he said softly. "Maybe I can have talk with him, see how is doing. Maybe take a little of that load off his shoulders."

[thearcfamily]

"Honestly the quiet time is nice," Danny agreed, "It would be nice if it lasted,"

You just had to say that didn't you Danny? and then he considered Connor's last sentence, "you know that might not be bad idea, I'm a bit worried about him if I'm being perfectly honest, it's like he won't stop until he's found the answers. I'm worried he's working himself too hard and I know Abby's concerned as well," he admitted.

"We can always stop by the lab and see Connor before we go back to our research?" Cutter offered, "spend a bit of time with him in the lab?" he was trying to not think about the fact that one of the last times he was in the lab had involved nearly freezing to death with a deadly fungi.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I think we should pop by. Would do all of us some good" Connor agreed after a moment's thought. "If nothing else, we can tell him about the things that have been going on In Fandom and everything. You know he always likes hearing about the oddities that we have going on there" he added with a chuckle.


"Somone mention oddities?" a voice from the doorway said. A moment later Becker walked in with a grin and headed right for Connor and Cutter and gave them both a big hug. " Well aren't you two a sight to behold! Thought you would never come back for a visit!"

[itsananomaly]

"Becker!" Cutter said happily as he returned the hug, "it's so good to see you, we thought we definitely needed a break from the research to come and see hat was happening. How have you been?" he asked, it felt like it had definitely been a while since they had last spoke, "how's Sarah?" he added, remembering that Danny had said that Sarah was still having bad days.

[thearcfamily]

"Becker!" Connor echoed as he also gave a tight hug and a pat to his friend's back. "It's been too long since we talked- other than a face time call" he added with a chuckle.

"Ha! Yes, nothing beats a good face to face, I agree," Becker said with a smile that still stayed but went a little softer when Cutter mentioned Sarah. "She is doing ok, she's home resting. Had a couple busy days of therapy, but she has made such good progress lately. I know she will be excited to see you both when she has a bit more energy."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded understanding, “we’ll have to catch up when she’s feeling better,” he said, “it will be good to catch up with everyone while we’re here,”

[thearcfamily]

"She asks about the two of you, and Rex often after our calls" Becker said with a fond smile. "And she still pokes at some of those formulas and data she had collected when shes feeling up for it."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter gave a smile at that, "we'll have to have a catch up when Sarah's feeling up to it and we can bring Rex to her," he told Becker, "I'm glad that she's still keeping involved in the research when she can, it definitely helps us,"

[thearcfamily]

"Aye, we need all the help we can get to figure these anomalies out. Especially now that Prospero ios getting more and more involved with the ARC and the anomalies" Becker said. "I admit... I don't fully trust Philip..."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter hesitated, looking at Becker and then Danny, biting his lip as he wondered whether or not he should say something before he looked over at Connor and what he wanted to do before they revealed about their own suspicions about Phillip.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor met Cutter's gaze and gave a small nod. It was better to let them know, at least to some extent, what they thought about Phillip... especially since their Connor was getting deeper and deeper into things with Propsero from the sound of things.

"We... we have our suspicions and concerns about him too, actually" he admitted. "It's part of the reason we are back. I... We, want to try and keep a closer eye on him and the work Prospero is doing."

[thearcfamily]

Danny looked concerned, looking at Becker before back to Connor and Cutter, "I have been keeping a closer eye on him myself," he admitted, "I mean as much as I could without tipping him off, I have a feeling that Prospero has a different end game to the ARC, that Phillip's interest in working with us is not as altruistic as it seems," he hesitated, "I haven't voiced my concerns with Lester, I wanted to make sure I had enough evidence before I talked to him,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We have been trying to figure out the best time to talk to Lester about our concerns as well" Connor said as he looked at Cutter then to Danny. "Maybe if we all go and talk to him? With all of us having concerns and some thoughts and observations, even if there is nothing really concrete just yet... maybe with all of us being leery, Lester might be willing to help us keep an eye on Phillip and Prospero?"

"I think he would be willing to hear us out at least" Becker said after a moment's thought. "It is not like it's just one of us jumping to conclusions or being unreasonable. Lester trusts us so I think we should talk to him."

[thearcfamily]

Danny considered that option and nodded, “I think if we at least give him the heads up that we have our suspicions then it should be okay,” he looked around the room, “at least that way Lester could help us if things do go wrong,” he admitted.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Exactly. Even half a plan or a start of a half a plan is better than nothing if things start to move faster than we think they will" Connor said before stopping, realizing he might have said too much about the whole other timeline and what they were watching for with Philip. He looked at Cutter, silently wondering how much of THAT can of worms they should divulge to the others right now.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter looked at Danny and Becker to see if they had noticed Connor’s wording, before he looked back at Connor and gave a nod to indicate that it wouldn’t hurt if Danny and Becker at least knew what to look out for.

“We’ll need to be careful,” he said quietly, “especially since we don’t know how things could play out,”

[thearcfamily]

"See, thing is... you know how we have had missteps with the timeline before?" Connor said softly. "Well, we are in the middle of another one, right now I think. The problem is, I don't know how big of a shift it is comparatively."

"You mean... between now and, what?" Becker said as he looked at Connor and raised an eyebrow. ""Some other future... or past?"

"Aye. I...I have seen some of these events... a few... play out before in my time line. But there are differences, so I don't know how bad its going to be this time around" Connor admitted, letting that hang in the air for a moment.

[thearcfamily]

Danny blinked a bit as he processed that, “okay that’s different,” he admitted, “is there anything that we should be looking out for that would give us an idea about the timeline? If it is going to be similar or different?”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Becker looked from Cutter then to Connor. He could tell by the looks on their faces that it wasn't going to be easy or good news.

"Back in the original timeline, mine," Connor said, licking his lips a little. "Prospero was working on controlling the anomalies, just like Phillip is now. Only thing is... it got out of hand... badly. Philip lost control of the anomaly he ended up creating, and it... it nearly destroyed the world."

Connor looked at Cutter and took a breath before turning back to Danny and Becker. "And I... was helping him at first. That's... that's why we are so concerned about how involved your Connor is with Prospero."

[thearcfamily]

Danny was quiet for a moment as he considered the different timelines, "and did our Phillip start working on anomalies at the same time or are we looking at an accelerated timeline?" yeah he definitely didn't think he'd ever be uttering that sentence, "maybe it wouldn't hurt to keep a closer eye on both our Connor and Phillip," he looked at Connor and Cutter, "and we should consider the option of briefing Lester on this as well, if we're wrong and accuse Phillip without proof ... this could end very badly,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We think it's a bit accelerated. There's some differences already that we have noted and it seems Phillip might be farther along in this time line" Connor admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "That's part of why I kinda want to get back with Phillip and start working with him a little again. Will be easier for me to keep tabs on things and see what he is doing and get a better idea of where we stand compared to the old timeline."

He looked around and then nodded to Danny at his words. "I think we need to ring Lester in and talk to him and let him know what our concerns are and what we have noticed and seen. We are going to need all the help we can get.... before Lester was one of the few allies we had..."

[thearcfamily]

Danny looked over at Becker and Cutter and then back to Connor, "okay I think that's what we'll do," he decided, "Connor if you're comfortable with working closely with Phillip, you can try and find out what experiments and research they're doing at Propsero that we're not privy too here and in the meantime, we talk to Lester when he's next in and tell him what we think, I think if we go as a group it will add weight to our concerns,"