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]

" Think we need to make this sort of thing a normal thing... research out of the office. We aren't chasing anomalies with the res tof the field team so... this could be our little thing. Research dates in a way" Connor said with a small chuckle as he gave Cutter's hand a squeeze.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter smiled as he returned the hand squeeze, "aye, that does sound nice research dates, I definitely could get used to that, it would be like us doing our own field work," he considered.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Aye, we are going to find our own routine and make the research our own."

Connor walked on in silence for a bit then stopped as they got to the stairs leading up into the library.

"Well, here we are! Let the adventure begin huh?" he said with a chuckle, not realizing just how real those word would tun out to be just then.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter smiled as they got to the library, "aye, let's see what we can find here for our research," he said, also not realising just how much of an adventure they were about to have, "we should be able to get some good work done here for a couple of hours at least," he considered.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Find some books and a table in the corner.... no Danny or Becker pranks to interrupt us" Connor said shaking his head a little, remembering the last little game of theirs that ended with Becker chasing Danny down the halls of the ARC building and back and forth out of Lester's office. "Will be nice and quiet here for a change."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter grinned, "that will definitely make a nice change," he agreed as he started to look down at the list of books that he had made for them to check out while they were in, "as nice as it is hanging out with everyone, it can get a bit loud at the ARC, it'll definitely be nice to be here in the quiet," he said, not knowing how that was going to change.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor nodded and looked around as they walked in. "I'll drop my bag at a table and help you find those books. I have a few topics I'm curious to see if they have anything on."

[itsananomaly]

"Thank you," Cutter smiled, as he began to look in the direction that they needed for their books, "it will definitely help if both of us were looking, there's quite a few books in here," he said, "and that's not a bad idea, checking out what else they have that we may have missed, it will help when we present our information to James later on,"

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor looked over and set the bag down and followed Cutter down the first row of books, looking at the titles and covers. Suddenly, he thought he heard something and paused, listening closely before shrugging and moving on to look through the books some more.

[itsananomaly]

At first Cutter didn't hear anything and was focused on looking through the titles of the books that they needed, "ah, here's one," he said as he pulled the title from the shelf and then he thought he did hear something.

Something familiar.

"Did you hear that?" he said softly to Connor.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor heard it again and this time he knew instantly what it was... after everything they had bee through, there was no way he was ever going to forget that sound.

"It's an anomaly...." he said softly, not wanting to be too loud but also almost feeling afraid that if he said it too loudly, another one might show up.

"Nick... it's an anomaly.. here?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter bit his lip as he tried to listen again and all he could hear was the whirring sound of the anomaly, "it has to be an anomaly," he said softly, "but I don't see any sign a creature has come through, should we go and check before we call it in?" he knew as soon as they made the call that the library would be shut down and then they wouldn't be able to do the research that they

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, let's see if we can find it and check it out first. That way, we can let Danny and Becker know more details rather than having them run in here blind."

That was a good plan right? It wouldn't lead to any issues-they would be fine checking things out and being on their own till the team did finally arrive...

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "aye, at least there doesn't seem to be that many people in the library, we should be able to check out the situation first and then call for Danny and Becker, we're not technically breaking any rules right?"

He knew they should call straight away and not investigate but well some habits just did not go away.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We're doing them a favor checking it out- the more they know coming into this the better it will be for us all" Connor reasoned, already feeling that familiar tug of wanting to run and investigate, like old times.

"We'll call Danny and give him all the details as soon as we know exactly what we are dealing with" he said with a nod as he turned and started heading down he long row of shelves towards the door where the familiar noise was coming from.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "okay, we can do that, who knows the anomaly may disappear and they won't have much of a clean up to do? This could end up being more of our domain with the anomaly research?" he considered as he walked with Connor towards the door.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Aye, we can do our research bit and see what's going on, and then if there's an issue, we can call for backup." That's not at all how this is supposed to work, Connor...

"Alright, ready?" he asked as they reached the door, and he hesitated a moment before reaching out for the handle and opening the door carefully.

[itsananomaly]

"It'll be simple and then we won't have to have the ARC come and make such a big fuss," Cutter agreed, it was never that simple Cutter.

And then he nodded, "I'm ready," he said softly as he watched Connor opened the door and tried to see what was behind it.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor peered in, then opened the door a little more and stepped in. It was a larger storage room that branched off into other hallways and rooms, with offices, supply closets, boxes, and shelves all along the walls.

"I don't see anything or anyone" he said as he stepped aside and let Cutter come in. He glanced down at the necklace he wore, the metal pendant starting to move and dance on the chain a but. "But there's definitely an anomaly here... close, and a pretty strong one at that," he said as he looked over at Cutter.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter tilted his head as he looked at Connor’s necklace and then around the room, “I can still hear the anomaly,” he agreed, “do you think we should call Danny, just to be safe?”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Let's try and find the anomaly and then we can call" Connor said as he started walking farther into the room. "We need to have something more than 'thers an anomaly' to tell them after all" he reasoned.

Slowly he made his way across the room and down the hall, glancing down at his necklace that was nearly standing straight up from his neck.

"Here," he said, nodding to the closed door they stopped at. He started to reach for the door, then stopped and stared at Cutter in disbelief for a moment. "Nick... do, do you hear that? Voices?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter followed Connor to the closed door and froze at the voices, “do you think someone has already found the anomaly?” he asked worriedly.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"I'm not sure if that is worse or the alternative...that however is there came in with the anomaly..." Connor said with a worried look of his own before grabbing the handle and pulling it open slowly.

As soon as the door opened, the voices were louder and clearer...

"Emm, I don't care where this is... It's worth exploring and seeing what we can get from it before going back..."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter leaned in closer, trying to see who was talking,

“Ethan you know the rules,” Em snapped, “we can’t stay in a place to long, especially if there’s signs of life, we could be interfering with history,”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor's eyes went a little wide and he turned to look at Cutter, silently mouthing the words "time travelers?" to him.

He leaned against the shelf in front of him a little more, trying to get a view of who was talking... when suddenly a stack of books on the shelves shifted and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Oh bloody hell..." Connor muttered as he closed his eyes and whinced at the noise.