Title: Call of the Wild, Chapter One
Author: Pinkcat4569
Rating: T
Characters/pairing: Becker/Jess, team members seasons 4/5.
Description: The ARC is invaded by hostile forces, and one of them stirs the primal instinct in Becker to protect Jess.
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval or the characters
Author's Note: I had this idea and wrote a 100 word drabble (of the same name) but had to write a longer story. It's not really connected to the drabble.
Becker and Jess are a couple in this and live together, probably not with Abby and Connor. Also, my original characters: Chef Bernie Rice, Lt. Fred Flowers, Lt. Vale, and Sargent Nicole Bilson, appear. In my mind, this is set after all my stories involving these characters, but this story stands alone, and is not related to any other.
Update: Boy there was a lot of typos! This has been edited for spelling and some slight corrections for story flow or logic have been made.
7548 total words. 1947 Words, this chapter
Call of the Wild, Chapter One
It was a typical day at the ARC, or it was, until they got a strange anomaly reading.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know, Matt," said Jess. "It was there, but then it stopped. Now I'm getting no anomaly at all."
"Weird," said Connor.
"Maybe our field coordinator is hearing and seeing things," said Matt. "She's been distracted lately. I blame you." He pointed at Becker, who smiled.
"What! How dare you?"cried Jess in Matt's ear. "I am as efficient and focused as ever. It's not my fault if the anomaly is loopy."
Matt grinned.
"I believe you have hurt her feelings," said Emily.
"I apologize, Jess."
"You better. I accept."
Becker laughed. "Still no reading, Jess?"
"Still none. It's like the anomaly was never there."
"OK," said Matt. "Let's head in."
"See you soon," said Jess.
Jess waited in Ops, hoping to see her private hunk of perfect man soon, but it took longer than expected. Finally, the lift opened.
Jess turned and smiled, but it quickly fell. Becker and the others were pushed in by masked men with guns.
"Listen up!" yelled one of the men. "James Lester front and center."
A tall man in a well-pressed designer suit walked in front of Jess. "I'm here," he said. "What's the meaning of this?"
"The meaning, Sir, is a takeover. Everyone follow our commands and no one gets hurt. I don't like it when people get hurt, it's a nuisance."
"What do you want?" asked Lester.
"Your files, your snazzy guns—the EMDs, and the creatures."
"I don't know what in heaven's name you're talking about," said Lester.
"Of course not. Sit. All of you, sit," he commanded, then turned to one of his men, "This is Three, please take him over to the ADD, Miss Parker and log him in. Please, don't do anything stupid. You're a civilian and it would especially pain me to kill you."
Jess' eyes grew wide and instinctively, she looked to Becker. He nodded calmly and gave her a small smile. She nervously returned it and did as she was told.
The others were separated, men on one side of Ops, women on the other. All were tied up. "Who the devil are you?" asked Lester.
The man in charge smiled. "You may call me Leader."
Lester rolled his eyes. "You've a bit of an arrogance problem, huh?" The man laughed. "How the devil did you get in?" demanded Lester. "Becker, you're fired."
Leader laughed again. "Actually, your security's brilliant. We couldn't find a way in. Finally we had to fake an anomaly alert so we could ambush a team and use them to get in. It was sheer luck that it happened to be Anderson's team."
"You know an awful lot about us," said Abby.
"Yes, Miss Maitland, we do. Congratulations by the way, on your engagement."
Abby looked at Connor, stunned.
"OK, that's creepy," he said. "I want to know how you know that, but first, how in the heck did you fake an anomaly?"
The leader smiled. "It was tricky. You'd be impressed. I wish we could talk more, but our chatting time is up. I need to check on the rest of the ARC." He turned to Three. "Keep working." Then Leader left.
Becker pulled at the ropes. "Matt?" he whispered.
"Nah, I can't get free either," answered the Irish man.
"They're in the system," whispered Lester, eying Three at the computers. "They really can't have those files. It would be a disaster. The minister would demote me to tea boy."
Becker looked at Jess. She stood near the ADD, keeping her eyes on Becker, but she looked frightened.
"Nice system, sweetheart," said Three to her. "I'm impressed." He looked down at her legs and slowly up her body. "Very impressed." He licked his lips.
Becker saw Three looking at her and his heart raced. He really didn't like Three's body language.
Moments later his instinct proved him right. Becker watched in horror as suddenly Three turned from the ADD and pounced on Jess.
She screamed.
"Get off her!" screamed Becker. He pulled frantically at his ropes. "Jess!"
She flailed inside Three's arms, trying desperately to get away.
The lifts opened and Leader walked into Ops.
"Leader! Corral your animal!" yelled Lester.
The leader ran over, grabbed Three, and threw him against the wall. "She is not our objective," Leader said. "You're here for the files."
"I know," said Three, panting.
"Then do your job or I'll leave you behind and they can deal with you," said Leader, gesturing to the tied-up team.
"You don't want that, I promise you," said Matt.
Becker growled, keeping his eyes on Jess.
Three eyed him cautiously, then nodded toward Leader and returned to the ADD.
"Jess, are you OK?" Becker asked. He pulled at the ropes. He desperately wanted to hold her.
She nodded toward him, fear still on her face.
"Sit with the women," the Leader told her.
Jess was shaking but she managed to walk over to Abby and Emily.
"You're OK," Abby said softly, rubbing against her, like a cat. It was all she could do since she was tied.
Jess nodded but focused her eyes on Becker.
He smiled at her.
She took a deep breath, calmed herself and and managed to weakly smile back.
"Everything will be fine," Lester reassured her, and Becker had to smile at his boss' moment of concern. "Don't sit there, get to work," he whispered at Becker and Matt.
They grinned and began working on their ropes.
As time passed, Three copied the files, but to Becker's dismay and anger, he kept leering at Jess.
Becker growled. Three's attention to Jess was stirring something animal in him.
"Four, Come in," said Leader over his comm. "Are the rest of the security forces secure?"
"Yes. They are all locked in the security cells."
"Ironic. Locking them in their own cages,' said Leader. "Four, help Two and the others with the creatures."
"Uh, shouldn't I stand guard?"
"The forces are locked up. They can't do anything. I need you on the animals. Go!"
Leader looked at the team and smiled. "Can't really blame him. The creatures are frightening."
"We wouldn't want your men accidentally mauled, would we?" Lester asked dryly. "That would be horrible." His tone made it clear he was being sarcastic.
Leader stared at him. "You should hope it goes smoothly and we can leave you all in peace."
"Maybe you should help," suggested Three. "Make sure it does go smooth. I'm almost finished. One more disc to go."
Leader thought for a moment. "Alright. I'll be back," he said.
Three smiled as Leader left. "That was easy." He turned his attention from the ADD and put it back on Jess. She clung to Abby in fear.
Then Three got up and slowly moved closer to her. He smiled creepily as he saw the fear rising in Jess.
"Stay away from her," warned Becker, in a steady, low voice.
"Butt out," snarled Three, a few paces away from her.
Jess began to shake.
"Easy, Jess," said Emily. "You should back away," she said loudly to Three.
He just smiled. Finally he stood in front of Jess. She looked away. "Where were we?" he asked, in an oily voice, smiling evilly.
"I said stay away," said Becker.
Three laughed cruelly but didn't say a word. He just stood, eying Jess up and down. "You are hot," he said slowly, leering at her.
Finally he bent slightly down.
That's when Jess panicked. She jumped up from her chair and backed away.
Three laughed and followed her. "No where to run, baby."
"Don't!" cried Connor.
"Get away!" screamed Matt.
Jess didn't say a word and she didn't look at Becker. She couldn't. She continued backing away from the creep, finally hitting a wall.
Three smiled. "Got ya."
She shook her head, panting with fear.
"Stay away from her!" screamed Lester.
The team watched helplessly as Three ended the game.
He lunged for at her.
"Stop it!" cried Abby as Three grabbed Jess.
She screamed.
Matt, Connor, Emily and Abby all struggled with the ropes. Lester yelled and screamed.
Jess kicked, and hit and even bit, but Three was too strong. He threw her onto the floor.
"No!" she cried.
Three laughed as she struggled. "Hope you don't mind an audience," he snarled. "I get off on it, actually."
"Get off on this," said a cool, calm, steady voice.
Three looked up and saw the fist that punched him in the face so hard that he flew off Jess. Becker's eyes were focused and deadly. He slowly advanced on Three, picked him up and threw him against the wall, he held him there by his throat.
"I told you to keep away from her," he said calmly.
Three gasped for breath and turned blue. He looked at Becker and realized that he was going to kill him. Then he saw a small hand on top of the one holding him.
"Becker," said a calm, soft voice. "Don't."
"He tried to..."
"I know, but don't. You'll regret it. I know you, even this monster's death will bother you. Please, calm down. I'm alright."
Becker didn't release him, and Three was losing consciousness.
"Please," said Jess. "Look at me."
Becker turned to Jess, and slowly the animal blood-lust drained out of him. He released Three who crumpled to the floor, then Becker gently took her into his arms. He held her and tenderly stroked her hair with the hand that had seconds before been draining the life from a monster.
They stayed entwined, hanging onto each other. Ops was quiet, as the team sighed with relief.
"Untie the others," Becker finally said. "We have an invasion to quell."
She smiled and untied Matt first. Matt went straight to Three and tied him up. Jess untied the others.
Becker was at the monitors, studying the positions of the intruders and of the ARC forces. He smiled.
"They made a stupid mistake," he said. "Lucky for us. My men are unguarded. Jess, unlock the cells."
She smiled, and jumped into the ADD chair. "With pleasure." She typed on the keyboard, chuckling. She looked toward Three, who was more or less conscious. "You're as brutish with computer systems as you are with women. Was this really supposed to keep me out?"
Becker smiled. "You are the best."
"I am," she said, smiling back. "Done. They're free, Becker."
Becker spoke into the speaker for the cells. The ARC speaker system was set up so speakers could be isolated to individual rooms or sections, without alerting the rest of the ARC.
"Flowers, Vale, Bilson, listen up, arm yourselves and await further orders," he said. On the monitor the soldiers gave the thumbs up.
The team was now all untied, and Matt had passed out the emergency EMDs hidden in Ops.
"You and your men take back the creatures, we'll handle the EMDs," said Matt.
"Right," said Becker, then he turned to the speaker system and said, "Meet me at the loading dock."
The soldiers nodded and carefully headed out into the rest of the ARC.
"You won't be needing these," said Jess, braking the discs. Three grumbled.
Becker looked at Jess. Obviously, he didn't want to leave her.
"She'll be fine," said Lester, holding a large EMD. "I promise."
Becker smiled and nodded.
Jess leaned up and kissed him. "I love you."
He nodded. "Me too," he said, stroking her cheek.
He took one long look at her, then ran with the rest of the team to to take back the ARC.
End of Part One