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]

Cutter nodded, "maybe letting him know that he can talk to us if he needs help, will be enough," he said, "maybe if we can even convince him to get out of his lab for a while that will help to, have a break from what's he working on" he considered.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"If he's anything like I was.... it might be a challenge. Philip had his claws in me pretty deep and early on. At one point he wouldn't let me even see Abby anywhere on the property at the ARC or have anyone in my office when I was working on Prospero property" Connor sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "So the sooner we can start getting back in with Connor, the better!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded understanding, "maybe it will be different this time round Connor knows that Phillip trusts both of us?" he suggested, "that we're working for Prospero as well?" he said softly, "but I do think the sooner we can get Connor to open up to us the better it will be, give us a clearer idea of what we're up again,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I hope so. I know I was always open with Abby- until Philip really got his claws into me.... so maybe it's not too far along this time. We won't know till we go and talk to him, though! So its a good thing we are doing this sooner rather than later" Connor said as he reached out and gave Cutter's hand squeeze and led him down the hallway towards his old lab area, where Connor was now set up and working,

[itsananomaly]

Cutter took a deep breath as he returned Connor's hand squeeze and followed him to where Connor's lab was. "I guess we'll find out," he said, finding that he was rather nervous about how this was going to go.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We will make it work... it has to work" Connor said as he kissed the back of Cutter's hand as they reached the door to the familiar looking lab. "We're in luck, it looks like Connor is actually here and not trailing after Philip."

He took a sigh and drew a deep breath then knocked on the door and looked through the window at the top to see if he could see Connor and what he was up to.

[itsananomaly]

At first Connor looked like he wasn’t going to respond, distracted by whatever he was looking at the computer but then he noticed he had visitors and came over to the door and opened, “oh hey Professor, Connor,” he hesitated, “is something wrong?”

“No, we just wanted to check in, see how you were doing,” Cutter said, hopefully reassuring Connor that nothing could potentially be wrong.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Ayem just haven't had much time to chat lately and wanted to see how you were doing" Connor said with a smile, trying to hide the relief on his face when the door had finally opened. "Heard you been keeping busy and just wanted to pop in and see how you were and if you needed anything," he said with a small smile and a nod, trying to sound natural and casual.

[itsananomaly]

"Oh," Connor blinked, ran his fingers through his hair, "yeah it's been pretty busy, Phillip has me working on quite a lot of Prospero work," he said and then hesitated, "I ... do you remember Duncan?" he suddenly blurted out, looking at Cutter and Connor.

"Aye, I do remember him," he said, nodding as he thought back to the day that Tom had gotten infected and hadn't made it through his injuries.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor listened, glancing at Cutter now and then as the other Connor spoke about Prospero and Philip and the workload. His gaze snapped back to Connor when he mentioned Duncan, his mind immediately going to one of the last times he had seen his friend, shortly after Tom had died...It had been at his funeral in fact.

"What about Duncan?" he asked softly, a chill going down his spine at the memories flooding back to him all of a sudden. "Is... is he ok?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter looked at Connor worriedly, knowing how hard this must be for Connor and reached out to put a hand on Connor's shoulder.

"He's ..." Connor started and then stopped, "I don't know," he eventually admitted, "I ... I never kept in contact after ...everything," he said softly, "but the other day he sent me this email, said something about people in the homeless communities are going missing and he wanted me to look into it, so far I haven't come across anything that would indicate there's an anomaly ..." his voice trailed off. "I know we're not supposed to be investigating this stuff anymore, that's for Danny and Becker to take care off but ... it's Duncan," he looked at Cutter with pleading eyes.

Yeah Cutter had never been able to resist that look and he looked back up at his Connor, "I mean, we could always just go and have a look? See what's happening and if it is an anomaly then we put it through the official channels?" he suggested.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Definitely see no harm in checking," Connor said after a moment as he tried to get his brain to stop dancing to all the times he and Duncan and Tom had had together before everything changed so much. "If its not anomaly related then we technically wont be breaking ARC rules right? We can take a look and see what we can find, and if....if it turns out to be something related to an anomaly, then we can let Danny and Becker and Lester know."

The other Connor gave a sigh and visibly relaxed a little as he gave a grateful smile. "I'd really appreciate it. I know things are different... you and me with he timelines and all..." he said looking at Connor with a small chuckle. "I still cant quite believe there are two of us here and all... but I know Tom and Duncan were both important to us and most of those memories are shared. So...thank you for remembering that. I'd go out again but... Philip is really loading me up with work here lately."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter looked worriedly at Connor at that, he knew that Connor had said one of the early signs was the workload that Phillip had given him, why he had gotten so far as he did, "we're happy to go and look for you Connor, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" he asked gently, not wanting to put to much pressure on Connor, "I'm sure Phillip won't mind if you leave your lab for a couple of hours?"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor stood silently, eyes darting from Cutter to the other Connor, trying to read his expressions. He knew that look all too well, he had given it to Abby more times than he wanted to remember when she had tried to get him out of the lab and away from Philip and Prospero.

"I'll consider going next time..." he finally said with a slightly awkward shrug and rubbed the back of his head. "Philip already thinks Im spending too much time away from his work as it it lately."

"I understand" Connor nodded as he glanced at Cutter, also slightly worried. "We will let you know what we find. If it does turn out to be anomaly related we could use your expertise!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter knew that the odds of Connor agreeing to come with them weren't going to be good but he still felt rather worried, he nodded, "we'll definitely keep you updated," he promised, "we'll make sure every possible explanation is covered, including both anomaly and non anomaly related, we'll find out what's been happening," he said, wanting to reassure Connor.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor had fallen a little quiet, his mind full of a dozen what if scenarios and none of them looking too promising for them. He blinked a little when Cutter spoke and gave a small nod, trying to hid how nervous he was.

"If you ever need any help with Prospero stuff, or just need someone to ya know.... talk to and whatever, I'm here" he offered, with a small but sincere smile.

"Thanks" the other Connor said with a small nod, as if he was trying to figure out how to respond to the offer. "Might actually be good to have some more brain cells working on things"he admitted. "Ths would be the closest we could get to cloning me... which is something Philip has joked about wishing he could do more than once already!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter tried not to startle to much at the mention of cloning, that was definitely too close to what Helen had been able to do and Connor had mentioned that Phillip had known Helen, "we know how hectic things have been here, so if you do want a break we can hang out in the break room and get some take out and not do any work for a while," he offered, wanting Connor to know the invitation was there if he wanted to step away from work.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Can even see about talking Lester and Danny into letting us have the media room to ourselves now and then" Connor said, giving Cutter a reassuring squeeze of his hand, knowing how freaked out he would be about the cloning mention. "we could grab some of the old DVDs we always used to watch- food and drink and no work, might be a good break for all of us. The invitation is definitely open if you ever feel like it!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter returned the hand squeeze, feeling reassured at that. Connor nodded, "I'll think about it," he told them, "maybe not right now though, there is way too much work I need to but that does sound nice, watching a movie," he considered.

Well that was a positive sign though, wasn't it? If Connor was at least interested in hanging out and watching a movie at some point.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor nodded and then reluctantly let go of Cutter's hand and gave a smile. "Of course, I'm sure Philip is putting a lot of his faith in you.... it has to be hard to keep with it all, but I know it does feel good to be needed. But we are here anytime you need. And who knows... maybe the ARC and Prospero can start working together some more on things" he added hopefully, not wanting to see too eggar about getting into Prospero. "We'd have a lot of time to talk and plan and hang out then!"

[itsananomaly]

Connor brightened considerably at that, "oh that would definitely be awesome, I can run by things with Phillip and see if he would be open to further partnership? At the least I'm sure he would love to have you on board and you too Professor," he added to Cutter.

"It would definitely help with the work load if all of us were working on it?" Cutter considered at that, at least that way they would be able to keep an eye on Connor and Propsero without raising too much suspicion.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Sounds like we have some plans in place at least" Connor grinned, feeling a little better, though he was still worried about the whole Prospero thing and he was worried about Duncan now too...but it was going better than it could have, so he was going to take what he could get. "We will track down Duncan and see what we can find out- and if it's anything that is of interest, we will let you know!"

[itsananomaly]

Connor smiled slightly, rather relieved to hear that, "thanks guys," he said softly, "it means a lot that you're willing to do this and hang out with me, I know how busy things have been here,"

Cutter gave a reassuring smile, "of course we're willing to help, after everything we've been through, we've got to stick together through all these new changes working with Prospero and the ARC,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Of course- it doesn't matter how the teams are split up- field work, office work, ARC, Prospero... we are still a team" Connor said with a reassuring nod. "We... we've been worried about you with all the work and all that's been going on... on both sides. A little down time soon might do some good for all of us!"

[itsananomaly]

Connor gave a small smile, “I’m okay, really there’s just a lot that needs to be done,” and then he yawned, “and maybe I do need some sleep,” he admitted sheepishly, “I think the downtimes a good idea,”

“Then we’ll talk to James the next time we see him about using the media room,” Cutter promised, even though he was still worried about Connor maybe this timeline would be different?