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]

Emily looked curiously at Matt as he came over and opened the door, he offered her his hand and after a moment she took it and climbed out of the car.

"Lester wants a debrief now," he said, looking over at Danny and Cutter, "and he wants to know why a trip to the library caused a man hunt,"

Cutter winced, "oh James is not going to like this at all,"

[thearcfamily]

"Sheesh, he's not giving us any time to prepare for this at all is he?" Danny said as he rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with then... There's been no update from Becker and Connor so., I guess we go tell Lester what we know and then see how many shades of red he turned before we are shooed out of his office."

Danny gave a small, tired smirk... it would be a lot funnier if it wasn't so accurate and hadn't happened far too many times already over the past year.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, trying to give a tired smile back but he was worried about Connor and Becker, "he's definitely going to be angry with us isn't he?" he said softly, not looking forward to this debrief, "I'm sorry that we got you in trouble,"

[thearcfamily]

" Cant be helped" Matt said with a small shrug and a smirk. "At least there's no dragon or future predator running around in Lester's office this time... We'll find this Ethan fellow and make sure he is ok."

Matt looked at Danny with a questioning tilt of the head. "You ok there boss man?"

"Oh yeah sorry" Danny said still a bit distractedly. "I just cant shake the feeling that Ehtan's last name sounds vaguely familiar... though I have no clue why..."

[itsananomaly]

"Do you think it could be related to the ARC?" Cutter suggested, "In one of the previous reports maybe? Or maybe there's a connection to Helen? Even though I've gone through the notebook hundreds of times and I haven't come across an Ethan," he considered.

[thearcfamily]

"It might be ARC, but I don't recall anything recently. I may have to dig through some files and see what I can figure out... It's gonna drive me crazy."

"You mean crazier right?" Matt said with that typical chuckle but it quickly faded when he got the look from Danny that said he was being dead serious about this. "I can pull a few files too and see what we can find out" he offered, even as he started leading them down the hall towards Lester's office, stopping when they got to the all-too-familiar-looking door.

[thearcfamily]

Cutter nodded, "thank you, I'm sure with the ARC's resources we'll be able to find out who Ethan is," he reassured Danny and took a deep breath as he went to knock on the door, "well, here goes nothing," he sighed and knocked.

"Come in," Lester said sharply.

"This does not sound good," Cutter winced at Lester's tone as he opened the door.

[thearcfamily]

Matt grabbed the door and held it open as everyone filtered into the office, a heavy silence falling over the office. Matt took a spot just inside the door as he stood there and gave a reassuring nod to Danny and Cutter.

"Lester, Sir" Danny said with a small nod as he stepped forward, knowing that there were no words to try and diffuse the situation and he just had to wait and see how this all panned out.... ready to take the brunt of the anger so Cutter and the others could be spared the worst of it.

[thearcfamily]

Lester leaned forward in his chair, steepling his hands together as he looked at the group, he was silent for a few more years moments, "can someone please enlighten me as to how a trip to the library, has resulted in not only said library being shut down and why I've been fielding angry phone calls from the head librarian this afternoon but also there is currently a city wide manhunt underway?" he glowered at them.

"Connor and I were doing research and ... there was an anomaly," Cutter started to explain and then hesitated, realising how bad this was going to sound.

"An anomaly," Lester looked at Cutter pointedly, "and did you and Mr. Temple happen to follow correct procedures and call Mr. Quinn and Captain Becker straight away and therefore prevent any manhunt from happening?"

"No...No we didn't," Cutter said softy, "we ...er...we..." and then he found himself looking anywhere but Lester.

[thearcfamily]

"It was my fault, Gov'" Danny said, dropping the title even as he saw the little twitch at the corner of Lester's mouth start. "I hadn't debriefed Cutter and Connor properly on our new protocol processes since their return. That is on me, Sir, and I accept responsibility for what has happened."

Danny stood straight and tall in front of Lester's desk, hands clasped behind his back. "I am waiting for an update from Becker and Connor any minute and I am sure we will locate Ethan and get to the bottom of all of this."

danny didn't turn to look at his but he was watching Cutter out of the corner of his eyes as he kept his gaze on Lester.

[thearcfamily]

Lester stared at Danny and then at Cutter, who was still not meeting his gaze, "be that as it may Mr. Quinn, we're now dealing with an unprecedented situation involving travellers from the past roaming around current day London and Captain Becker and Mr. Temple are dealing with a lot of unknowns," he frowned, "I trust in future you'll make sure that Professor Cutter and Mr. Temple are well versed in our new protocols?"

[thearcfamily]

"Of course, Sir. It won't happen again. We are going to be meeting right after we are done here to discuss what happened and what we are going to do to rectify the situation..."

Danny looked at Cutter and gave him a quick apologetic look for having to sound so harsh.

"I will debrief Becker and Connor when they return, which should be shortly, and we will figure out our plan of action moving forward."

[thearcfamily]

Cutter tried not to flinch at the harshness of Danny’s tone but he knew it was warranted. He nodded to show that he understood.

Lester looked from Cutter to Danny, “very well Mr. Quinn, make sure this doesn’t happen again, I also expect regular updates on your action plan and when you hear from Captain Becker and Mr. Temple,”

[thearcfamily]

"Of course, Sir," Danny said with a small nod and then fell quiet.

Matt took that opportunity to try and shift the focus without drawing Lester's ire any more than they already were.

"Well, I will go take Emily here to the guest quarters and help her get situated..." eh started as he took a step from the corner he had been standing in at the far side of Lester's office and took a step towards Emily. His hope had been to get them out the door before Lester paid much attention to the OTHER mystery person the ARC was now dealing with....

It almost worked...

[thearcfamily]

"Don't think I haven't noticed that we had one more person present in this meeting Mr. Anderson," Lester said but his tone had softened a bit as he looked over at Emily, "James Lester," he introduced himself to her.

"Lady Emily Merchant," Emily said, looking at Lester and then back at Matt, Danny and Cutter. She still wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to here.

"Normally this would be where I would say that Lady Merchant has to sign the Official Secrets Act before we assign her a room but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that she's about a hundred years out of time?" he looked back at Danny.

[thearcfamily]

"That would be about right Sir" Danny said still keeping his head down a little, now being he one not meeting Lester's eyes directly. "She and Ethan are from the past... though it seems Ethan might originally be from closer to our time."

[thearcfamily]

Lester frowned at that, "you don't happen to have a name for Ethan?" he asked, "if he's closer to our time, there may be a record of him, and that could give us a clearer understanding of where he might go, if he had family still,"

"The name he gave us was Ethan Dobrowski," Emily told him, "he didn't say much about his family at all, I got the impression that he didn't have a happy home life, he never seemed to be in a hurry to get back to his time,"

[thearcfamily]

"Funny then how he ran off once he got here. Even if this is not his actual time... it's closer than where he was with you, Emily," Matt said with a slight tilt of his head as he thought. "You'd think he wouldn't want to run around London if that was really the case."

"And that last name... still feel like I have heard it somewhere," Danny interjected. "I haven't been able to find anything yet with that name. Does it sound familiar to you, Gov... I mean... Lester, Sir?"

[thearcfamily]

Lester frowned as he tried to recall the name, "I'm not sure," he admitted, which was something that he didn't like to admit when he didn't know something, "I can start putting in some requests and see what a search comes back, any kind of record would be helpful for us at this point, to know what we're dealing with," he considered, "especially when it could interfere with our timeline," he leaned back in his chair as he thought about their options, "once Captain Becker and Mr. Temple get back I want a full briefing of the situation, Lady Merchant will stay here for the time being until we know what our options are and if need be we will do a full lockdown until Mr. Dobrowski is safely in our custody,"

Cutter winced at that, as he remembered what it had been like the last time they had been forced to a lockdown.

[thearcfamily]

"I will buzz you as soon as I hear from them when they arrive" Danny promised. "And I am sure there will be no need for a lockdown this time..." He really, really, really hoped that turned out to be the case.

"Alright then I will make sure Emily is settled in. We'll go see if Abby is around" Matt said as he looked at Emily and gave a slight nod towards the door. "We wont leave the ARC grounds until we figure out what our game plan is!"

"Thanks Matt" Danny said with a nod then turned to Cutter. "If you want you can come hang in my office till Becker and Connor get back. Unless it's too... ya know" he muttered with an awkward grin, understanding if it was still too odd for Cutter to spend time in his old office.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter really hoped there was no need for a lockdown either and gave a small smile at Danny's offer, "thank you Danny," he said softly, "I would like that, it'd be better than waiting for Connor and Becker to come back in the other office," he admitted.

[thearcfamily]

"It has been a while since we has some time to chat and catch up" Danny admitted with a nod. "It'll be nice to have the chance now."

"Well then it sounds like that is all settled" Matt said, still trying to discreetly usher everyone towards the door. "We'll be in touch as soon as there is any update, Lester."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter gave a smile, "that would be nice," he said, "and then we'll hopefully find out what's happening with Becker and Connor," he added, still not liking that they hadn't heard from them.

Emily moved to follow Matt out the door, she was definitely curious about seeing more about this ARC and the time that she had found herself in.

"Very well," Lester agreed, "but I want everyone to be on comms at all time, the minute anyone finds out something, I want a briefing, and I'll start looking for what I can find out about this Mr. Dobrowski,"

[thearcfamily]

Danny gave Cutter a small smile and then reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys and handed them over. "I'll be there in just a minute. Im' sure you know your way" he added with a small wink.

Matt gave a small nod acknowledging Lester's orders about the coms and then walked out with Emily.

When they were alone Danny turned to face Lester, leaning over and lowering his voice a little. "I don't think Dobrowski is from anything the ARC has done before.... I... I think it might be related to one of the old cases I worked on before joining the ARC. But I am not sure, and I don't really have access to those old case files anymore either."

[thearcfamily]

Cutter couldn't help but grin at that as he took the keys and nodded as he left the office, before Lester found another reason to get mad at him.

Lester frowned at that, "that could complicate things," he considered, "I can put in a call to Scotland Yard, I know the Commissioner, I can pull a few strings to get access to your old case files," he suggested, "it might take a couple of days but I'll stress the utmost importance of getting those files as soon as possible," he told Danny.