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]

"I can hear him moving around in there.... but I can't see anything," Danny whispered hoarsely as he tried to shift to get a better look into the window.

[thearcfamily]

Becker nodded as he kept his guard up, trying to keep his ear out as well.

Meanwhile Ethan was pacing the house up and down, now that he had gotten to the house, he wasn't entirely sure what his game plan was, he needed time to think. He knew there would be people after him, he couldn't go back.

He stopped close near the window Danny was at, not realising he already had company.

[thearcfamily]

"Head around the back" Danny whispered, as he glanced towards the front door. "I'm going to go in. Make sure he doesn't try to make a run for it."

Danny hesitated a moment, then slipped his gun into the holster at his belt. He knew it was a risk. The cop side of his brain was screaming at him that this was a bad idea. But he also knew that going in to confront Ethan with a gun drawn was not going to make him willing to talk at all.

[thearcfamily]

Becker nodded, "please be careful," he said softly and he headed around the back in case Ethan did have other plans.

At first Ethan wasn't sure if he was hearing noises, it was an old house but after a few minutes he was sure he could hear whispering, "who's there?" he said sharply, looking towards the door and window.

[thearcfamily]

Danny tried to keep still when he thought Ethan might have heard him and Becker, and he cursed under his breath when he called out. Taking a deep breath, Danny stood and walked to the door, opening it. He walked in with his hands raised.

"I don't mean you any harm, Ethan....I just... I just want to talk."

[thearcfamily]

Becker was by the back door, ready to go in if Danny was in danger. He kept his ear out in case he had to stop Ethan escaping or help Danny.

Ethan raised his eyebrow, “you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to just talk,” he said dryly, “I know you lot have been tracking me,” he didn’t know how but he was sure of it.

[thearcfamily]

"You're right. We have been following you" Danny said as he took a cautious step further inside, hands still held out to the side. "Because we want to talk... Ethan. We want to help you, if we can."

[thearcfamily]

Ethan narrowed his eyes, "help me," he scoffed, "I was helping myself, I wanted to go back to the anomaly, I wanted my life back and the anomaly's gone, how can you help me now?"

Becker was still listening by the door, in case things went badly.

[thearcfamily]

"We can try and get you an anomaly back to your time... my friends.." Danny paused, raising his voice enough so Becker could hear him "... and I can help you. Or we can help you get settled and adjusted here if..." Danny trailed off, having an idea Ethan didnt want to settle.

[thearcfamily]

Becker did hear that, he moved a bit closer inside but still close enough so that he was near the back door in case Ethan tried to make a run for it.

Ethan looked very skeptical at that, "I know how these anomalies work, I've been travelling through them a long time and this is the closest I've come to where I'm from, getting an exact anomaly back has been impossible," he raised an eyebrow at that last part, "I definitely don't want to stay here mate," he remarked, "I want to go home,"

[thearcfamily]

"Let us help you then, we have studied the anomalies and traveled through them a lot" Danny offered. "I know this isn't your time... but I do know it's close. You were one of the kids that dissapered... from this house... that day arent you, Ethan?"

[thearcfamily]

Ethan hesitated, "I never meant to go through the anomaly," he said softly, "it just ... it just appeared and we thought it would be fun to see what was there ... " he paused, looking in the direction of the stairs where they had found the anomaly, "I ... thought if I came back to the house it would be here,"

[thearcfamily]

"That's the thing about the anomalies..." Danny said with a small dip of his head. "They show up when they want to, most of the time. We still don't even know everything there is to know about them."

[thearcfamily]

Ethan sighed, this wasn't what he wanted and now he didn't know what to do, he didn't want to be stuck here but he didn't know where to run and he was pretty sure there would be someone blocking the back entrance, he took a couple of steps back anyway in case he could make it.

"I don't, this isn't supposed to happen!" he shouted.

Becker heard the shouts and moved in a little closer, ready to intercept in case Ethan took off again.

[thearcfamily]

Danny stayed where he was his eyes glancing over to Becker when he caught sight of him. "You can come back to the ARC with us. We're studying the anomalies...sometimes we can figure things out where one leads. We might... might find some information that may help."

[thearcfamily]

Becker nodded over at Danny that he was ready in case Ethan made a bolt for it, Ethan started pacing, running his hands through his hair, "I'm not going to some government facility, I'm not going to be locked up," he growled.

[thearcfamily]

"Easy there Ethan... easy. No one is going to lock you up or anything. We just want to help you" Danny said. "We want to help you like we're helping Emily" He said, hoping the mention of Emily might help calm him down a little.

[thearcfamily]

Becker was not liking how this was escalating but he didn't want to draw attention to himself just yet, it seemed that Ethan hadn't yet noticed him.

Ethan's eyes narrowed at that, "you mean she's your prisoner," he said, not trusting any of this, "I told her she was too trusting, that I knew more about the anomalies," he turned to the staircase, Becker ducking out of view slightly as he did and then he slammed his hand against it, letting out a scream of frustration.

Becker looked over at Danny worriedly, waiting to see how he wanted to act.

[thearcfamily]

Danny cursed under his breath slightly - Ethan was gonna snap soon at this rate.

"No one is our prisoner. I know you are scared, Ethan, but we can figure this out...you don't have to make any decision right now, one way or the other..."

Danny slowly moved closer, and when Ethan had his head turned away, Danny took his chance to try and grab hold of Ethan's arm.

[thearcfamily]

Ethan let out a yelp as Danny reached out and grabbed his arm and he struggled to throw him off, he kept hold of the railing with all his might and then he got another idea.

He reached down and pulled out one of the pieces of wood to use as a weapon.

Becker moved in at this point, "Ethan please calm down, we're trying to help you," he pleaded as Ethan began brandishing the piece of wood around.

"Lies!" Ethan screamed and then he rammed the piece of wood into Becker's thigh, wedging it in so that it was suck.

Becker screamed and stumbled backwards, gasping out in pain. Of course Ethan had stabbed his bad leg.

As soon as he had that distraction, Ethan tried to make a beeline up the stairs.