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 had been hanging out in his ... no it was Danny's office now for the last few hours, it had been nice just catching up and talking and staying distracted from worrying about Becker and Connor but at the same time, it felt like it had been a while since they had last seen them and that they should have checked in right now.

"I hope we hear from Becker and Connor soon," Cutter said softly as he started to pace around the room, he had been sitting down but he was getting to anxious the longer they didn't hear anything.

[thearcfamily]

Danny looked up from the file he had opened and laid on the desk in front of him. It had been nice talking to Cutter for the last hour or so, but he kept finding his focus drifting back to Ethan and why that name was so familiar yet so strange to him.

"Aye... we should hear from them soon" he said as he nodded and closed the file. "I'll give them another quarter hour or so....then try and raise Becker on the Coms and see how they are doing."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, still trying to not worry, "I just would have thought we'd have heard from them by now," he said softly, "especially after everything we've heard about Ethan, I hope they're alright,"

[thearcfamily]

Danny was about to say something when the com unit clipped to his belt started to buzz. He grabbed his phone off the desk and looked at the number and gave Cutter a nod as he answered it.

"Becker? Hey yeah I'm here. Whats going on? You and Connor ok?" he asked as he watched Cutter and realized he too was holding his breath waiting for the update.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter leaned closer, anxious to hear news about how Becker and Connor were doing.

"We're okay," came Becker's voice on the other end, "we're still tailing Ethan, we had to keep up with him as he's showing no signs of slowing down, that's why it took us longer to check in, but he's also not causing any trouble at this stage,"

Cutter breathed out a sign of relief at that. They were okay, this was a good sign, everything was going to be alright.

[thearcfamily]

"OK good... good to hear. We need to get you guys back here to the ARC soon though" Danny said glancing out the window and seeing the sky was getting darker as the sun was starting to set. "I don't want you guys out there at night."

He fell silent for a moment as he thought. "Connor? is there a way to get that tracker you had been working on put on Ethan so we can keep tabs on him?"

"It'll be tricky cuz I have to get close enough to slip it in his back or stick it on him somewhere...." Connor said. There was a little muffled talking between him and Becker then he came back. "But I will try,"

[itsananomaly]

"Please be careful Connor," Cutter said, not liking the idea of Connor getting that close to Ethan.

"Okay, Connor will attempt to get the tracking device on Ethan, and then we'll be right back to the ARC," Becker promised and then there was a pause, "how is Lester taking all of this?"

[thearcfamily]

"About as well as you would expect" Danny said the sarcasm evident in his voice. "He was spitting like a cat caught in the rain by the end, but we survived. Matt is taking Emily around to show her the ARC and get her settled. Abby will meet up with them and watch out for Emily while shes here."

[thearcfamily]

"I can imagine he's not happy about the fact we hadn't checked in until now," Becker winced a bit at that, "but Abby's a good choice to helping Emily get settled while we sort everything out," he paused, "has there been any luck on finding out who this Ethan is?"

[thearcfamily]

"Not yet. Lester is going to call in some favors with Scotland Yard and get my old case files from when I was in the force before joining the ARC team." Danny sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I think... the name might be tied to an older case I worked. We haven't figured out anything else connected to the ARC so that is all I can think of" Danny said with a frustrated sigh.

[thearcfamily]

"Why am I not surprised that Lester knows someone at Scotland Yard that he can do that," Becker shook his head, "I'm fairly confident I've never come across the name Ethan Dobrowski in all the reports that we've done for the ARC so it's the best lead we've got at the moment, he just doesn't seem to be slowing down, like he knows where he wants to go but it's too far away,"

[thearcfamily]

"Well hopefully we can get that tracker on him then we can see where he goes and watch from a little farther away. It's kinda troubling how focused he is...and us having no clue where it is and what his goal is."

Danny sighed and was about to say something when he heard Connor coming back and talking to Becker.

"It all go ok Conn? You alright buddy?" He asked, the concern slipping through with the softer tone as that genuine worry about not just tow of his men but two of his friends slipping through that "ARC Team Leader" mask he often wore these days.

[thearcfamily]

Becker finished talking to Connor before returning to his comm, "everything's okay," Becker assured him, "Connor's with me, everything should be set up now, we'll finish up here and then we'll head back, preferably before Lester decides that he wants to go into Lockdown or something," he sighed.

[thearcfamily]

"Aye, yes get back here as soon as you can. That's a direct order" he said, but the tone was anything but harsh or commanding...it was more quiet and worried still.

"I'll have the tracker app loaded and ready for when we get there" Connor called out over the coms. "I can patch the feed in to all our devices so we all can track Ehtan and see what he does."

[thearcfamily]

Becker nodded, "understood," he said, knowing how precarious their situation was, "we're going to head out now and we'll be at the ARC as soon as we can," he told them.

"Please be careful," Cutter told them, unable to hide the worry in his voice, "and we'll need to let Lester know the moment you're back,"

[thearcfamily]

"Alright, call me if you run into any issue" Danny said. "Otherwise we will see you soon. And of course be prepared for a briefing with Lester as soon as you arrive. He will have my hide if you are on ARC property for more than ten minutes without a debriefing" Danny said with a weak laugh, knowing it really wasn't that much of an exaggeration at this point.

Connor gave a small sigh at that and then to Cutter he called out "See you soon Nick. and Don't worry I will be back soon."

[thearcfamily]

"Roger that," Becker nodded, not looking forward to the debrief with Lester, "and will do, as soon as it looks like we're going to be delayed, I'll let you know," he promised.

"I'll see you when you get back," Cutter said, knowing he would still keep worrying as long as Becker and Connor were still outside the ARC.

[thearcfamily]

Danny nodded and waited till Becker hung up before he shut the com off and slipped it back into his pocket. He reached over and put a hand on Cutter's shoulder reassuringly.

"They will be here soon, Cutter. It's almost over," he said with a small smile, knowing that this was not really over until they figured out the whole Ethan dilemma.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, trying to give a small smile in response, "thanks Danny," he said softly, "I just...after everything that's happened in the last few years, I don't like that we've now got this new potential threat that we haven't encountered before," he admitted.

[thearcfamily]

"Tell me about it..." Danny said as he grabbed his cup of now cold coffee and finished it off in one go. "I don't like not knowing what we are dealing with or how best to protect my team. Makes me feel a bit shit as a leader...but that seems to be the norm for the ARC in terms of what we deal with. Just another mystery we have to solve... just wish I could figure out why his name still sounds familiar to me."

[itsananomaly]

“You’re a great leader Danny,” Cutter assured him, “much better than when I was, I know you’ll figure this out,” he said confidently.

[thearcfamily]

"Different stlyes thats all. You were good, the team respected you...it's take some work to get where you were in that regard, but I think I am finally there."

Danny gave an appreciative nod to Cutter. "I know we will figure this whole Ethan mess out. We have a great team, we will stop whatever Ethan is doing and get him back to his time.. the right time."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "we've been through worse," he said softly, "once we know exactly what we're dealing with, we'll be able to find a way to stop Ethan, once you get those files it will only be a matter of time," he said confidently. At least he hoped it would be that simple.

[thearcfamily]

Danny fell silent for a moment then shoved the file away to the corner of his desk. "Ok, enough business and work talk. How are you and Connor doing? Things still good with you both?"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "things are still good," he said with a fond smile, "we've been busy between the ARC and Prospero but I couldn't imagine my life without Connor now,"