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 and began to slowly approach Em and Ethan, raising his hands to show that he wasn't a threat, "hey, um ... it's okay, we want to help you," he said softly, "we're not going to hurt you,"

Em had immediately tensed when Cutter had approached her, "my name's Nick," he said, "Nick Cutter,"

"I'm Lady Emily Merchant," she said crisply, still not trusting anything around her.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor passed along the anomaly alert to Danny and then joined Cutter, standing beside him and giving a small awkward hand wave. He started to say something, but then his eyes met Ehtan's, and the next instant, the man turned and bolted, vanishing through one of the doors in the hallway.

"Oh bloody... that's not good..." he said as he started to run after Ethan, only to stop almost immediately, realizing he was far too fast to try and catch up with that big of a lead.

[itsananomaly]

"Ethan!" Emily called out after him but Ethan showed no signs of even hearing her, "You need to find him, there's no telling what he'll do in your timeline," she told them.

Cutter bit his lip, it really was a far gap to try and track him down, "we work for an organisation who can track him down," he assured her, hoping that they would him before any damage was done.

Lester was going to love this latest development wasn't he?

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"We are going to find him" Connor said as he slipped the coms back into his pocket and looked over at Cutter. "Danny and Becker are on their way" he said, a lopsided grin and shrug, having already gotten a partial lecture from Danny and knowing they were likely to get more once they were face to face.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter could only imagine the lectures they were about to get, "they'll be able to secure the location and I'm sure they've already told Jess to start a city wide search," he said, hoping to reassure Emily who still didn't look convinced.

"What year is it?" she asked suddenly.

"it's 2012," Cutter told her.

Emily looked a little stunned, "I'm from 1867," she said, "I'm over a hundred years into the future?" after everything she had seen, this was still all too strange for her.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Connor's eyes went wide at that and he tried not to stare. Even after everything they had gone through and seen... it was still weird talking to someone from the past.

"So you and... Ethan was it... are from the past" he said as he tried to wrap his brain around it all. "Well, maybe then he won't cause too much trouble... maybe he will just kinda hide out and watch?" he asked hopefully, though he wasn't sure that was even something they could count on this time.

[itsananomaly]

"Ethan is closer to your time," Emily said softly, "we found him and he joined our group, he doesn't talk much about his past but I know he wanted to go back and ..." she hesitated, "I don't think it was for good intentions, he is full of anger and rage, one of the members of our group used to be able to keep him calm and focused but she ...she passed a few days ago and I fear there's no telling what he'll try to do,"

Cutter looked worriedly at Connor, "that doesn't sound good at all," he said, "we'll need to tell Danny and Becker this when they get here,"

[thearcfamily]

"Tell us what when we get here?" Becker asked as he and Danny walked up to them. He only needed to take one look at their faces to know whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

"Even more bad news than what you had already told Danny?" Becker asked as he gave a quick glance at Danny then met Emmily's gaze. "I'm Becker" he said with a small nod.

[itsananomaly]

"Lady Emily Merchant," Emily introduced herself as she looked curiously at Becker and Danny, "and I was telling Mr Cutter and ... " she looked blankly at Connor, realising she didn't know his name, "about one of my travelling companions, you're going to have your work cut out for you if you don't find him, there's no telling what he'll do,"

[thearcfamily]

"Right, wonderful" Becker said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Connor, you over here with me," he said as he stepped over to the side a little and started talking to Connor.

In the meantime, Danny walked over and started talking to Cutter and Emily.

"So when you say no telling what he will do... like is he violent to just... michevious and a trouble maker?" He was already dreading having to call Lester with that first update.

[itsananomaly]

"A bit of both but Ethan can get quite violent, he does have a temper on him and now that we don't have Charlotte ... she was our other travel companion, he has years of pent up rage and ..." Emily looked at Danny and Cutter, "he'll find something or someone to take it out on,"

Cutter really didn't like the sound of this Ethan, "we've got to be careful about the timeline as well," Cutter told Danny, "Lady Emily is from 1867, she said Ethan was closer to our time but still in the past,"

[thearcfamily]

"Oh that is brilliant...." Danny said with a sarcastic sigh as he rolled his eyes. "More time line insanity, just what we don't need."

Danny then looked back at Emily. "Has Ethan given any indication or clue about where more precisely he's from? Time-wise? Ever mention family or what his motivation or goal is?"

[itsananomaly]

"He never talked about his family, it sounded like he wasn't from a happy home," Emily said softly, "he did say he was from London and an anomaly appeared while he was out with friends and that's how he got stuck, I don't know much else beyond that," she said softly, "his surname was Dobrowski but that was also he ever said about who he was," she said apologetically.

"I wonder where the anomaly appeared in London?" Cutter wondered curiously, "or when that could give us some more insight to how frequently these anomalies had appeared,"

Emily shook her head, "we kept asking him for details but other than his name and that he was out with friends, that was all we could get out from him,"

[thearcfamily]

Danny listened closely to what Emily said and he glanced towards Becker and Connor and it looked like they were about to head out to go try and look for any sign of where Ethan had gone.

"Thank you, that information does help us some" he said looking back at Emily and Cutter. "I cant help but feel... I feel like I should know that last name...But I don't really recognize it off hand," he admitted, somewhat frustrated and confused. "I guess in the meantime, until we get a good lead on where Ethan ran off, we should head back to the ARC?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "I guess we need to go and debrief James about everything that has happened, he's not going to be happy, is he?" he sighed, not looking forward to that meeting.

Emily was looking curiously at them, "the ARC?" she blinked, "what is that?"

[thearcfamily]

"The ARC is our headquarters, it's where we work from- The Anomaly Research Center," Becker said as he and Connor walked over. "And I agree, you all go back and let Lester know what is going on. Connor and I will see if we can track down any sign of Ethan. We'll meet up this evening."

Danny nodded and handed over a fresh set of coms to Becker and Connor. "Alright, you two be careful. See you in about.." Danny glanced at his watch, " Four or five hours. Let us know if you find Ethan or run into any trouble."

[itsananomaly]

Becker nodded, "no more than five hours," he agreed, "and we'll keep in regular contact us well," he assured them, "and we'll call for back up if we happen to find Ethan,"

Cutter nodded, "please be careful, both of you," he said softly to Becker and Connor, not liking the idea of Connor going off but he knew that it needed to be done.

[thearcfamily]

"I'll be ok Nick, promise" Connor said with a reassuring smile as he grabbed his backpack and then followed after Becker. "See you guys this evening!"

"Thank you Becker, Connor. Cutter and I will get Emily settled and let Lester know what is going on" Danny added, trying not to imagine the groan he knew would come from their boss when they told him about Ethan.

"Guess Sara and Abby will be glad to have some more company at the ARC," he said with a small smirk.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter stared worriedly after Connor followed Becker, he knew that Connor was going to be okay and he had Becker with him but he was still going to worry.

"They definitely will and Jenny too if she's around, even though last I heard she was trying to finalise some of her wedding planning," Cutter said, since it had been a while since he last seen Jenny.

Cutter then hesitated, wondering if he should tell Emily about Nate or not, since that was going to be pretty obvious when Emily did see him but maybe he should wait to ask James how much information they should share with Emily just then.

[thearcfamily]

Danny watched as Becker and Connor left, checked his com settings before adjusting the earpiece and slipping the pack into his pocket. He looked at Cutter and gave a small nod, almost sensing what he was wondering.

"We'll do all the introduction after we talk to Lester and get that out of the way." He looked at Emily and then lifted his arm and signaled towards the door he and Becker had come through. "Shall we?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded back, relieved he didn't have to try and explain about Nate at that point.

Emily gave a smile at that, as she linked her arm with Danny and nodded, "I am very curious to see this ARC of yours," she told him, "we do not have anything like that with the other travellers, we mostly try and stay out of the way of history,"

[thearcfamily]

"If only everyone was as careful as you" Danny said as they went. A couple minutes later they were outside in the parking area an Danny was helping Emily into the SUV and he climbed into the driver seat. "Thankfully its not much of a drive at all to the ARC. Five minutes... so long as the London traffic cooperates" he added with a small chuckle, trying to lighten the mood a little.

[itsananomaly]

Emily had never seen a car at all in her life as she was helped into the car, "what is this?" she asked, eyes wide, "I have never seen anything like this," she looked around, "are there no carriages here?"

Cutter had climbed into the back seat, "some, but they are mostly in Hyde Park," he explained, "this is an SUV, it's one of the ARC's," he added.

[thearcfamily]

"Welcome to the future" Danny said with a grin and that usual wink of his. "Horseless vehicles are the normal mode of transportation here" he said as he got the key out and started the engine. As he backed out and started on their way, he made sure to go a little slower than he normally would- both so Emily wouldn't get too startled,a nd also so she had more time to look around at everything as they went. "Buildings are a lot bigger now than they were back in your time, too, I bet," he said as he watched Emily's awed expression as they drove.

[itsananomaly]

Emily's eyes never left the window as she tried to catch everything, "London has gotten so big," she said in awe, as she tried to see if there was anything familiar at all that she recognised. "I would very much like to have a look around one time," she said, "when Ethan has been found,"

"I think that could be arranged," Cutter said with a smile as he watched Emily's reaction to seeing London, "we'll definitely give you the rundown on how things operate here, you'll need money and clothes and supplies but James will make sure you're looked after,"