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

[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,"

[thearcfamily]

"Good, you two deserve to be happy and I am glad to hear you are doing alright. This is a rough time for everyone, but if you got someone by your side, it makes it all the easier to get through things." Danny smiled at Cutter, remembering just how far they had come since their first meeting.

[itsananomaly]

Cutter returned that smile, "it definitely does help," he agreed, also thinking how far they had come since that first meeting, "if you had told me when we first met that we'd be having a conversation like this, I would have thought you were crazy," he admitted.

[thearcfamily]

"Yeah... going from trying to arrest the two of you and nearly coming to blows with Lester over it... to leading the team and seeing you both, and everyone else here, as a family." Danny shook his head and laughed. "Yeah I would have thought you were off your rocker back then if you said this is where we would be now."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter couldn't help but laugh at that, "we've definitely come a long way from that first meeting," he said with a grin, "but I'm glad things have worked out, I meant what I said earlier you are a great leader Danny and I'm glad that I've got you as a friend,"

[thearcfamily]

Danny laughed then stopped suddenly, his face going serious all of a sudden. "Nick...." he said, eyes going wide a little as a thought finally hit him. Did Lester get those files from the department yet? The ones from when I was on the force?"

[itsananomaly]

"I'm not sure," Cutter tilted his head slightly curiously, "depending on how soon he called the Commissioner, he may have the files," he paused, "do you think you've remembered something about Ethan?"

[thearcfamily]

"I can picture that name...on a case report. I can see it in my mind, I just... I can't remember what case it was," Danny said with a frustrated sigh. "If we had the records, I'd start going through them. I'm almost certain I know Ethan from one of my old cases!"

[itsananomaly]

"Maybe we could check with Lester see if he's had any luck with getting the records yet?" Cutter suggested, "if you said that you had were certain that it was connected to one of your cases, he might be able to get the reports faster?"

[thearcfamily]

"Good point there Cutter," Danny said with a nod. "I know he is as keen on getting to the bottom of this as we are. So Im sure he will pull every favor he can with the department. It will be good to know... one way or another... who this Ethan guy really is."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, "I know Lester will get the rest of the files here soon," he said, "if we can figure out who Ethan is, we can find out where he's going and what his plan is and if we need to, we can stop him,"

[thearcfamily]

Danny was about to say something when he gave a small jump as the com on his hip buzzed. He leaned over and clicked a few keys on the keyboard and looked at the computer screen.

"Ah good, they are here. Becker just pulled into the parking lot!"

[itsananomaly]

Cutter let out a sigh of relief at that, "oh that's good," he said, "I was getting worried about them," he said softly, "what happens now?" he asked, still not entirely sure about these new protocols and how briefings were handled.

[thearcfamily]

"Becker and Connor will come here and give us a brief run down of what they found out. Then we go and talk to Lester and see what he wants to do next and how he wants to proceed with what we uncovered..."

Danny glanced at the door to the office, waiting for them to get there. "I hope they found out something that can be useful to us in unraveling this annoying mystery."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter nodded, still a little nervous about these proceedings after how Lester had reacted earlier, "hopefully they have an idea of where Ethan is headed, that might also help narrow things down, especially if they're in the police files," he said, trying to remain optimistic that they would have something for Lester.

[thearcfamily]

"Anything is better than what we had to start off with, so hopefully we have something to report to Lester."

Danny looked to the door and stood as he heard the knob click and watched the door swing open as Becker and Connor walked in.

"Hey, you two, glad you made it back safe!" he said, the concern evident in his voice and on his face.