Would you kill to save a life?
Would you kill to prove you're right?
~ Hurricane, 30 Seconds to Mars
Stephen moved forward, lifting Helen into a tight embrace in one fluid motion. He felt her thin, muscled arms wrap around him, the hilt of her dagger resting solidly on his back.
"What is this place?"
"I don't know. Lester's people brought me here."
"What did he do to Cutter?"
"There are creatures here, Stephen. He was killed."
"You saw it?"
Helen could hear the hope in his voice. Keeping her lying face straight, she nodded. Stephen turned away.
"Where's Lester?"
When he turned around, Helen could see the murderous rage bubbling just beneath the surface of her lover's face. She could see how hard he fought to keep it under control. She hesitated, calculating. She couldn't have this.
"He's gone." Helen whispered. "He left as soon as the creatures escaped. I don't know where he is now."
Stephen turned, slamming a fist into a metal locker. When he looked back at Helen, he let his fist fall to his side, but didn't unclench it. His knuckles were white with anger and pain.
"We have to go, Stephen." Helen pleaded, moving closer. "We can't stay here to be eaten by the creatures." She lifted her hand to his face. "I promise you, Lester will pay for what he's done. But not now, not today. We have to survive to repay him." She could see she was getting to him. Stephen's problem was that he wanted so badly to believe her that his longing overrode his suspicions at how easy it all had been. "He's not here anymore but we're going to find him." Helen assured the young man determinedly. "He killed your friends, Stephen."
That did it. Stephen drew in a breath of air, and Helen could see the change come over him as he moved from his murderous intent to determination to get her and himself out alive.
"Let's go."
"Jenny, Abby, Connor." Cutter jogged up to the foursome – the three ARC operatives and the amateur con artist – internally congratulating himself on figuring out how to cage the creatures and get out before the velociraptor could have eaten him. It had been simple, really. Push the button to set off the noise and run, closing the door behind him. He had remembered Helen mentioning how the feeding system worked and deduced that the creatures would associate the sound with food.
"Cutter!"
"Cutter!"
"Nick!" Jenny rushed up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck before pulling back abruptly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, embarrassed. Cutter smirked affectionately at her. "Sorry." She murmured. Cutter remembered suddenly that she hadn't been in the loop during his show that he'd put on for Helen.
"You know I was lying when I said I was still in love with my wife, right?" He whispered. Jenny looked up and smiled hopefully.
"No, I didn't know that."
"Where have you been?" Lester demanded.
"We were out celebrating the fact that we're alive." Cutter retorted. "We didn't tell you because in your case it's not exactly a cause for celebration."
"Well it's a good thing there wasn't another anomaly alert. Stephen might not have been able to handle it on his own this time."
Cutter stiffened at the mention of his wife's lover and his estranged best friend. "What about Stephen?"
"Oh right, you don't know." Lester sighed condescendingly. "One of those giant scorpion things was loose in a public beach. We couldn't reach you and I had to call Stephen."
"Why would he be doing it on his own?" Connor asked.
"Because he won't accept help from us for some reason. Something about not trusting me." Lester turned to leave.
"Not trusting…" Cutter's eyes widened. "He doesn't know. Helen must have told him you were the traitor."
"If he doesn't know about Helen, he would still trust her." Abby stated, eyes dodging between Cutter, Lester, and Connor.
"He's still with her." Cutter breathed. "We need to warn him." All trace of anger over the betrayal was temporarily washed away with Cutter's concern for his…his friend.
"Right, I can get someone to track his phone." Lester said. "You know, if the future predator didn't destroy our ability to do that."
"Cutter," Jenny ran up to the man who was standing knee-deep in the water under the dying rays of the sun, holding a soaking wet, and completely abandoned, cell phone.
"He's not here. Helen must have told him to throw his phone away." Cutter's voice was dead.
"We'll check his apartment." Jenny told him decidedly. Cutter shook his head.
"He won't be there." He predicted.
He could have told Jenny what Lester's men would find when they burst into Stephen's apartment later that day, knocking the door down when nobody answered; nothing. Everything was normal, as if Stephen had left at a moment's notice, intending to return in a few hours. Cutter could have told them Stephen hadn't been home since he'd left to fight the Silurian Scorpion. He could have told them that they would find one of Helen's undergarments lying around conspicuously as if she was taunting them. He could have told them they wouldn't find any other clues because there were none to find. He could have told them all that, but he didn't.
He'd already ruined Stephen's chances at a real life, away from the manipulating black widow known as Helen Cutter, so he might as well waste a few hours of everyone else's time on top of it.
"You need to rest," Helen chastised gently, resting herself against the wall. Stephen stood across from her, studying blueprints under a harsh light at a desk. He didn't know where or when they were, and he didn't care.
"I could get in here any number of ways. It would be so easy."
"He's not going back to the ARC, not after this." Helen said. "He's not that stupid."
"I have to keep trying. He'll go somewhere familiar, or take up a familiar routine."
"You know, that's what I love about you." Helen mused. "Your single-mindedness. It's refreshing."
Normally, a comment like that would have gotten a grudging chuckle or an amused snort. Not today. Stephen was determined to find a pattern in Lester's routines that would leave him helpless. Not that he would ever get the chance to make good on his vow of bloodshed. Helen would see to that. She could wear him down. And slowly, she would make him forget about his revenge. She would make him forget everything and everyone but her.