DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN, DON'T SUE!

Chapter 1: Still Standing

It had been a few months since Connor had been released and nearly several months since the ordeal with Helen in the tunnels.

Connor sat at his desk in the ARC.

His arm was nearly healed; but the doctor's warned him that if he did not make attempts to attend physical therapy and strengthen his arm, it would more than likely never work to its proper capacity again.

Connor had managed to convince Lester to arrange for him to have physical therapy at the ARC in order for him to be able to still help out with the team.

"Ready?" Abby asked snapping Connor out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Connor smiled as he slowly stood and put his jacket on with Abby's help.

Connor wasn't allowed back out in the field yet, under Lester's orders; but Connor and Danny both agreed that it was mostly the fact that Connor had snapped at Lester that Connor was stuck doing desk work at the ARC.

"I can't wait to get back to the flat." Connor said lightly gripping his shoulder.

Abby noticed this. "Are you okay Connor?"

"I'm fine," Connor lied, "just tired and a bit worn out from all this physical therapy."

Danny and Jenny arrived back at Danny's flat sometime around midnight when they were done filling out their paperwork.

"Whew, I'm beat." Danny said collapsing on the couch, "I just can't wait to get up and do it all again tomorrow."

Jenny threw a pillow at him, "oh, come on, Danny, everyone knows you're the king of paperwork."

"Yeah, well, if Lester let me have it my way, we'd all get out early every night and leave Becker to do the paperwork." Danny smiled.

"What do you have against him, Danny?" Jenny inquired as she stepped near the couch.

"Nothing," Danny said crossing his heart and raising his right hand.

"You are such a liar!" Jenny laughed.

Jenny inadvertently squeaked when Danny grabbed her hand and pulled her on top of him on the couch. Their faces mere inches apart.

"Only when it matters" he smiled as he kissed her.

Jenny pushed herself off of Danny and stood up straightening her clothes.

"Danny Quinn, you are skating on fairly thin ice." Jenny warned trying to keep a straight face; but ended up smiling.

"Would you care to point out this thin ice, Miss Lewis? Seeing as it's the middle of spring?" Danny asked smiling as he walked towards Jenny.

"I think you need to lie down and go to sleep, so we're not late to work again." Jenny replied lightly pushing Danny away.

"Ow, that's where I was nearly torn apart by a creature," Danny whined.

"You are a liar, Danny." Jenny joked. "That wound fully healed a few weeks ago."

Danny kissed Jenny again.

"Like I said, only when it matters," He said breaking the kiss and smiling.

Jenny kissed him; but quickly broke the kiss and began walking the bedroom where she slept. "Goodnight, Danny," she smiled closing the door behind her.

"Totally unfair, Jenn!" Danny called, smiling as he lie down on the couch and fell asleep.

Connor lay in his bed, thinking. He had his iPod running, which, ironically enough, was playing "A Beautiful Lie" by 30 Seconds to Mars.

The irony of it was that it seemed to sum up his experience with the ARC.

Lie awake in bed at night and think about your life.

Ever since he had joined the ARC project, his life seemed to go further and further down hill. He had lost so much. Tom, Stephen, Cutter, and nearly Abby and Jenny.

Do you want to be different?

He loved his job, most of the time; but he couldn't stop thinking about what Helen had said to him all those months ago.

Try to let go of the truth.

He never told anyone what Helen had said to him. Mostly, it was because he refused to believe any truth that could come from Helen.

The battles of your youth.

There was no way that he would become leader of the ARC team again and even if he did eventually find a way to open and close anomalies, there was no way in hell he'd ever surrender that kind of technology to Helen. Not after what she'd done and how much she'd ruined his life.

'Cause this is just a game.

There was something that he had to be missing. Some kind of clue that was in plain sight. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks.

How did Helen even know that he was temporarily leader of the team?

Connor jumped out of bed and got dressed. He quietly snuck down the stairs.

As he neared the door, Rex flew overhead chirping excitedly.

"Shh." Connor whispered, "you're gonna wake up Abby, mate."

Connor quickly and quietly slipped out of the door and out of the building.

He climbed into the car and drove off. He wasn't even entirely sure where he was going. He just knew that if he stayed in his room thinking, he was going to go mad.

Connor couldn't shake the conversation he'd had with Helen in the tunnels.

Connor smiled, "So what does that device do and how'd you get it?"

"From you."

Connor turned his head to her fear across his face. "What are you talking about?"

"You see Connor, one day, when you're once again the leader of the ARC team; you're going to make a brilliant discovery that will forever change man's destiny. Now, I have a proposition for you. You can either stay there, bleeding to death on the ground as the creatures get closer to devour you, or you can come with me."

Nothing made any sense anymore. If Cutter were here, he'd know what to do.

But Cutter wasn't here and Connor was left to decipher Helen's cryptic threat before something worse happened to the team.

Helen's words had begun to haunt Connor.

"You are going to help me fix the future."

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