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, "I hope so," he said softly, "I mean it's not just as us, it's Danny and Becker as well, surely between everything this has to mean something, at least enough so that James doesn't just outright dismiss us," he said softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I know back before... in my original timeline... Lester wasn't a believer in the alternate times and everything. But he came around eventually when he started seeing things for himself. Hopefully, Lester now has some of that openness to him." Connor gave Nick a small nod and a hopefully reassuring smile. "And with Danny and Becker voicing similar concerns, it will definitely count for something! When do you think we can get some time to talk to him?"

[itsananomaly]

"Hopefully we'll be able to talk to him later today," Cutter said as he felt a bit more reassured and gave Connor a smile in return, "I think Danny said he would be in later this afternoon, hopefully we can go over our evidence and then go talk to James, see what he thinks about it,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Good, sounds like a plan." Connor nodded then took a step closer and reached a hand out and pulled Cutter closer and into a hug. "In the meantime... I think you need one of these," he said with a grin as he hugged Cutter and leaned his forehead against his.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter grinned as he was pulled in and gratefully returned the hug, "I definitely won't say no to that," he said with a smile as he enjoyed the hug and leaned close against Connor, "I just wish I wasn't so nervous about this, after everything that we've been through," he said softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I know... Im trying not to go down the what-if worrying route..." Connor admitted softly as he wrapped his arms around Cutter tightly. "It was so bad before... I messed up so so terribly bad before.... I don't want to do it again this time. Not now with you."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter held on to Connor tightly, “I’m going to be with you through all of this,” Cutter promised, “we’re going to get through this together,”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Thank you Nick, I can't do this without out... I don't want to either," Connor said as he finally loosened his grip and then reluctantly let his arms fall to his sides. "We'll figure it out, together! So, what's first on our plans now?" he asked trying to push back the worries and concerns- for now at least.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "we'll figure it out together," he said and then he considered Connor's question, glancing back down at Helen's notebook, "I think first on our plan is to meet with Danny and Becker before we go over to see James," he said, "if we all go over our plans together, I think at least that way James will know we aren't disorganised with this and he might be likely to see things our way," he said softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We need to get inside Prospero... the sooner the better" Connor said as he glanced at Helen's notebook as well. "Before... ahh... there had been video recordings. At Prospero. Philip had clips of Helen's lectures and even a few conversations they had had together..." Connor glanced at Cutter and then continued. "If we could find those, it might help us expose Philip and stop him sooner this time."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter bit his lip at but nodded, "that would help us," he said softly, "but I think it can't be me to make that link," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I think James would think that I'm too blindsided by Helen, desperate to make a connection," he said softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"True... and it wouldn't be too far a stretch for Lester to think that at first" Connor gave a small apologetic shrug and smile. "It has to be me going in and digging around again. I know Prospero better than anyone... even better than Danny or Lester or even Connor right now. This... this is something I have to do."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded worriedly, "I just hate that you have to put yourself in such a dangerous position," he said softly, "you'll be careful won't you?" he knew Connor could take care of himself but he was still going to worry.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Aye, I will be careful, I promise. It's risky but I AM the best qualified of any of us to try and get in and see what Philip is up to in this timeline," Connor reached out and took Cutter's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I will be fine. We both will be. I am going to make sure of it" he added as he gave a quick kiss to the back of Cutter's hand.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter returned the hand squeeze, comforted by the quick kiss, "aye and Phillip doesn't have any reason to distrust us, I just can't help but worry," he admitted softly, "Phillip has a lot of resources and connections to make our lives difficult if this doesn't work, I don't want to put you in that danger,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We'll be as careful as we can be. And Lester and the ARC have some good resources and our team is the best there is. We will get through this." Connor gave one last squeeze then let go of Cutter's hand and turned to look at the stack of papers. "I think I have much data as I could get from the prediction model and our last few readings the team gathered for the anomalies."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, taking a deep breath, "and I've gone through Helen's notebook as well, I couldn't see any connection with her and Phillip but maybe she just hid it really well in her notes and I haven't been able to find it yet," he admitted.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"She was really good at covering her tracks and leaving things in code and in secret" Connor said as he added a few more papers to the file and sighed. "I always wondered if I was looking at answers the entire time and never realized it... maybe if I hadn't been so blinded...it wouldn't have taken so long for me to see that connection."

[itsananomaly]

"She was always good at fooling people, if I had handled things differently all those years ago, we never would have been in this situation now," Cutter sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "maybe if I got out some of her old research, I might be able to work out what codes she used then and compare them to her notebook, I might be able to find some answers that way," he considered.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We can work on that for sure... together," Connor said, emphasising the last word, knowing how much Cutter still blamed himself for Helen and what had happened with Stephen and everything. "It can't hurt to go back at things we haven't seen in a while and double-check to make sure we haven't missed anything."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, grateful that he had Connor with him for this, "thank you," he said softly, "having both of us go over it, will be more helpful, I know I've gone over it before but there's probably something I missed in the notes," he admitted softly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Two pair of eyes and between us both, almost a full working brain" he said with a small nudge, trying to lighten the mood a little. "We could always head over to the archives and the library... see if there is anything in other records we might have missed?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter gave a small smile at that, "that sounds like a great idea," he said, feeling a bit better, "the library does have a lot more records than we have, we're bound to find find something there that will help us,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Alright! To the library archives we go!" Connor said as he slipped the file folder and papers into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's go see what we can dig up!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter grinned at that as he got Helen's notebook and some other books as well to take with him, "yes, we have a bit of time before we have to meet up with Becker and Danny, let's see if we can find something that will help us,"