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

[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,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I agree" Becker said with a nod. "Connor can be our eyes and ears inside Prosero and we can start to gather what we need to make our case, comparing Connor's time line and what he has seen and done compared to what is going on now."

"Aye, Phillip trusts me, and to a certain extent, Cutter too." Connor looked at Cutter somewhat apologetically as he continued. "I think it's because of the connection to Helen. Back... back in my time Phillip had... he had been working with Helen."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, understanding, "I could go back over Helen's notebook and see if there is anything that would show that Phillip and Helen knew each other in this timeline?" he suggested, "I'm guessing if Helen was involved, there would have been something she wanted out of it," he said softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"That would help, be one thing we can check off our list either as yes or no it is the same as before," Connor said as he reached over and put a hand on Cutter's shoulder and gave a reassuring nod. "We will see how Phillip reacts and behaves. I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow to get caught up on everything he has been doing. Hes really tight with security and all but I will find a way to get what I can out of the lab and back to the ARC."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter placed his hand on Connor's gratefully, reassured from that, "I'll have a look at it when we get back to the research," he said, "and if we stop by Connor's lab on the way we can get an idea of what he's working on and see if it's familiar to what you worked on as well?" he suggested.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor thought for a moment and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We can plan to meet up every couple of day here and share what information we all manage to find. Hopefully things are not as far along or as bad as we are worried about." He wasn't really hopefully of that but he was trying to not be too pessimistic, for the sake of Cutter and the others.

[thearcfamily]

Danny nodded, "okay we'll do that for now, gather what information we can and then go talk to Lester and see what he thinks, I mean it could be nothing and we're being cautious but at the same time, considering everything we've already gone through I think it's better to be safe than sorry," he added.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Agree. So... maybe regroup in two or three days and see what we have found out? After that we can get things organized and go talk to Lester with a better understanding of exactly what we are facing and dealing with."

[thearcfamily]

"Sounds like a plan," Danny nodded, "I'll keep an eye on the security detail here as well, make sure no bugs have been planted, at least that way we'll know we're in the clear to talk to Lester without tipping off Phillip what we suspect," he said.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Oh very good idea yes... Helen had planted bugs all around the ARC before so... it is definitely possible that Phillip might try and do something similar or has already got bugs in the main areas and labs." Connor looked at Becker and Danny. "I can try and work it to convince Phillip and Connor
to actually plant bugs... ones I design that will feed us information and deliver false data to them."

[thearcfamily]

Danny grinned, "oh I like that, I definitely think that will work and we can see what they do with the false data as well, maybe that will help slow things down and stop them from achieving whatever their end goals are,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Exactly! Give them some red herrings to chance and slow them down! Buy us some time to get ahead of them," Connor said with a nod. "And I can help feed the info back and forth, real and fake, if I end up getting on Phillip's good side again."

[thearcfamily]

"Okay, so I think we have our goals for the next few days then," Danny nodded, "we'll meet back here and then go and talk to Lester about our findings and see what he thinks our next course of action should be, I also think we should keep these discussions to ourselves for now," he added, "I don't want the others to find out if it can be helped,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor saw Becker shift a little and start to open his mouth but stayed quiet, slowly nodding. He knew it must be hard to keep some things from Sarah after everything. But Danny was right, they needed to keep this as tight as they could between just the four of them for now. And it would also keep Sarah safer too, if she knew as little as possible about what Propsero might be getting into. He put a hand on Becker's shoulder as he nodded to Danny and gave a small smile when Becker put a hand over his and nodded in silent understanding and agreement.

[thearcfamily]

Danny felt bad, knowing that Becker wanted to tell Sarah and he would speak to him privately after but for now they had to make sure that everyone kept it quiet, "then we're all in agreement?" he said once he saw Cutter nod his ascent as well, "okay, we'll see what we can find out in a few days and then take it from there, I also want all of us to be in regular contact as well, we don't have to say what we've found but I would feel better knowing everyone was reachable," he added.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I agree" Becker said softly. I can work on getting us new burner phones so we can talk without the risk of someone having tapped our known phone lines. We can keep in touch each day just to make sure everyone is alright.

"And once we have the phones, I can add on a program that will make them harder to tap and bug too" Connor said with a nod. "Will help give us another layer of protection as we work."