This is a new fic that has been sitting in my head for absolutley ages. Please note that there will be a very slow update on this due to school and my life being far too busy. Reviews are muchly appreciated! :D
Chapter One
It was just another day at the office. Abby was in the menagerie, Connor was tinkering with some new contraption of his, Jess was running a systems diagnostic on the ADD and Matt was going through reports with Lester. Emily was, as far as anyone else knew, with Abby, and Becker was sitting at his desk in the Hub writing out yet another condolence letter. It was, he decided, the worst part of the job. He had known Sargent Grey for a long time. They had become friends, and Becker had to try very hard not to get weighed down by it. They had been ambushed the day before by a group of Raptors, and Grey had been the chosen target. Of course, Grey's family would never know what happened. The only detail they would get was that he was killed in action and had died protecting his team. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. Becker hated that he couldn't let the family know how Grey had died. It destroyed a little piece of him every time.
The inbuilt alarm on his watch beeped at him and he sighed, clicking Print on his computer. The printer he and Matt shared hummed for a few moments and Becker quickly scrawled his messy signature at the bottom. He folded it neatly in thirds and slotted it into a pre-typed envelope and sealed it on his way across the Hub to Jess.
"This needs mailing," he said to her, not trying to sound unfriendly but somehow managing it anyway. Jess seemed completely unphased, like she was used to this sort of thing.
"Sure," she smiled up at him, earning one back that didn't quite reach Becker's eyes.
"Is he here yet?" he asked before she could start spouting platitudes at him.
"Security shows he arrived twenty minutes ago. He's waiting in the Rec Room." Becker rolled his eyes. He liked a man to be early, it showed precision, a quality Becker looked for in his men, but twenty minutes? Twenty minutes, for a first meeting, was overdoing it. Jess laughed at his gesture and turned back to the ADD, giving Becker cause to smile properly and make his way through the Hub to the Rec Room, determined to be precisely on time.
Becker didn't know very much about Grey's replacement, Sargent West. He knew that West was Spanish, had recently moved into London because that's where he had been sent, and that he was a very good soldier. The Spanish Military division West had come from; a special field with a name Becker didn't know how to translate; hadn't sent West's file. Lester had told him that West didn't have a file, which only sparked more curiosity seeing as the same man had once said that EVERYONE had a file. But what Becker had seen was West's service record. The only other person he knew of to have a fifteen-page service record at the age of twenty nine was himself, and his commanding officer had said that was an achievement. By the looks of it, West had been in combat since he was old enough to know how to fire a gun. The Spanish had also said that West was "Subject to redeployment at any time," which made him sound like a piece of furniture rather than a man. But Becker wasn't going to complain. No matter how temporary, West sounded like a valuable addition to his team.
At 15:30 on the dot, Becker pushed open the door to the Rec Room, immediately spotting someone standing with their back to him, examining the nerdy film posters Connor had taped to one wall. An untouched glass of water sat on one of the coffee tables. As he entered, the person turned, and Becker was surprised to see a woman standing in front of him in ARC security uniform, baseball cap and all. She reacted first.
"Captain Becker? Sargent Teresa West, we had a meeting," she crossed the room and stretched out her hand. He shook it, his brain being unable to form words due to surprise, and noticed her distinct accent. Definitely Spanish, he thought to himself. His silence seemed to last a little too long, because a grin broke out across West's face and she put her hands in her back pockets.
"Let me guess, you got the impression I was a guy," she said.
"It was implied, yes," Becker confirmed, also smiling. It was more of an awkward 'you got me there' expression than a smile, but it would pass.
"It happens," West said, and another slightly too long silence passed between them before Becker remembered something important.
"Do you have your file on you?" he asked, getting right down to it as usual rather than bothering with small talk. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to his question.
"Sorry, no. You see, I don't actually have one." West's smile turned apologetic.
"Right. It's just that this operation is extremely high security and we need to know everything possible on our staff."
"Well, I know my service record was sent ahead of me," Confusion tinted both West's voice and her expression.
"Yes, we have that, but..."
"Well then you're going to have to make do," West cut him off, all trace of emotion completely gone. "It's more than anyone else has ever got." West looked at Becker with something in her eyes that told him he didn't want to press the matter any further.
In the short silence that followed, Becker evaluated West, and he had a feeling she was doing the same to him. His first impression? She was naive. She assumed that she could just step into Sargent Gray's position and carry on as if nothing had changed. She also seemed completely unprepared for the kind of work they did at the ARC: The kind of work that got people killed. He was tempted at that point to tell her that she wasn't the right person for the job, but something stopped him from making the decision. Her service record, still in his hand. He knew what she had done previously in her career, most of it special operations, undercover, elite work, plus her own fair share of front-line duty. His next logical thought along this path was that she was hiding something. The smiles, the easy-to-read face, the all-too-obvious emotions; they had to be an act. Either that or she was the luckiest person alive. He dismissed the last thought when he remembered how she had completely closed up when he had brought up her file, how she had gone from warm and friendly to cold and dismissive in less than a second. No, she was definitely playing up the naivety, and the fact that she was doing it in the first place told him he was never going to find out why. If he asked, she wouldn't tell, so there was no point.
Becker trusted his instincts; he had to, otherwise he would never have gotten anywhere in his life; and right now, they were telling him not to give West the job. But another part, the less rational, more insane part, was telling him that he should. Instinct said she was too volatile; he would never know what her next move will be and so having her as his second in command could endanger the whole team. But his other side was telling him that with a history like hers, there were bound to be things she could teach him and his men. Becker had never been much of a spec-ops soldier, so anything and everything she could give him was an added bonus. She would be his wild card; unpredictable but he could still count on her to follow orders and get the job done.
For the first time that he could remember, Becker ignored his instincts. He stretched out his hand to her again, noticing how her once warm eyes had turned cold and sharp. Warily, she responded to his handshake.
"Welcome to the Anomaly Research Centre," he said.
She loved that smile. His entire face softened when he did it and it was heart-meltingly beautiful. She also loved the fact that she could make him smile. Even when he was in one of his moods, like today, she made him smile. An odd sense of self-pride welled up inside Jess and she turned in her seat to get one last look at Becker before he left the hub. She sighed. 'Get a grip on yourself, Jess.' her mind said. 'He's only going around the corner.' She turned back to the ADD, thankful that she was the only one in the room, and tried to focus on the systems diagnostic she was running rather than Becker. His smile wasn't the only thing that she loved about him. She loved his eyes, she loved his hair, that lovely, lovely hair that made her want to run her fingers through it, and she loved his unfaltering sense of protection. Actually, she loved everything about him, but especially his smile, and the fact that she could make him do it.
So it was understandable, then, that when Becker came back into the Hub twenty minutes later laughing with a woman Jess didn't know, she wasn't particularly happy about it.
Becker wasn't famous for laughing. He laughed with people he was friends with, so he laughed with Matt, occasionally with Jess and he tended to laugh more at Connor than with him, but he did not laugh with strangers. Not in that way. So, logically, Jess assumed that this woman was a close friend of his, and for some reason she didn't like that. Her mind was telling her not to be stupid, of course he has friends that are women, why is that so surprising? But Jess still wondered; what if the whole time she had been fluttering her eyelashes at him and dropping oh-so-subtle hints, he had actually been dating someone else? Had he even noticed her at all? True to her word, she had never read the personal bits of his file, so she didn't know. Jess suddenly felt very crushed and had to try hard not to cry. She ignored her mind yelling at her not to be so stupid and returned her full attention to the ADD, determined to get some work done and not think about Becker, or this woman, for the rest of the day. But she knew that wasn't going to happen. She was always thinking about Becker.
Three days later, Becker had completely changed his outlook on West. He had discovered through observation and common sense that her emotional outbursts were only there for appearances sake, but he had also realised that if she didn't do them, she would be a very scary person and come across to everyone she met as ruthless, cold and heartless. She had that sort of voice that demanded attention and obedience, and when she was angry with someone she narrowed her eyes and moved her head in such a way that blocked the light from them and made them go even darker than they already were. This, coupled with her almost unnatural beauty, made her someone you did not want to get on the wrong side of. Hers was an archaic beauty; the sort that originated in an ancient family and had filtered down without a single flaw through the generations. Becker imagined one of her ancestors as being the Duchess of Somewhere, with more money than she knew what to do with, a husband who would do anything for her and a village or small town to rule over. Or was that an extremely British thing to think? He had no idea.
Despite all this, he felt no attraction to her whatsoever. Yes, she was beautiful; he would have to be blind or stupid not to admit that; but Becker wasn't the kind of man to fall head-over-heels every time someone even mildly attractive came into his life. She made him laugh, and he reckoned that given enough time they could become good friends, that was it. And besides, the thought of Teresa West in a relationship with anybody was just plain weird.
The phrase "speak of the devil and the devil shalt appear" went through his mind as West chose that moment to round the corner at the other end of the corridor. She was bent over a small computer console and didn't notice him, but as he passed her he got a look at the computer screen. BBC news, something about the war going on in Libya. Becker brushed his curiosity aside. It was none of his business, whatever her reasons.
At that moment, the ADD went off, sending flashing lights and sirens throughout the entire ARC. Once, he would have jumped out of his skin whenever that happened but not anymore. Now it was merely an annoyance. Behind him, West took off running towards the armoury and Becker sprinted towards the Hub.
"Where is it, Jess?" Matt's voice came over the Com system just as Becker entered the Hub.
"City centre, Trafalgar Square." Jess announced.
"How many people in the area?" Becker asked, slowing down and putting an arm around the back of Jess' chair.
"Right now, none. There were about fifty before the anomaly opened." Was it just him, or did she sound really icy today? And Becker may have been imagining it, but didn't she usually lean back in her chair? 'No time to think about it now,' he told himself. He picked two black boxes and an earpiece up off Jess' desk and sprinted out of the Hub after Matt, meeting West on her way out of the Armoury. He exchanged one black box and the earpiece for an EMD rifle and they were ready to go.
"Jess, do you have CCTV in the area?" Matt asked a split second before Becker did.
"Confirmed. So far no sign of an incursion." There it was again, the iciness. Jess was clearly having a bad day. Becker put it out of his mind and climbed into the truck behind Matt's, put it in gear and followed him out of the car park, absently noticing Abby and Connor arguing in the other truck. He had learnt to tune out their almost non-stop bickering. Beside him, West snorted with laughter, only to shrug at Becker's inquisitive glance. She was grinning all the way to the anomaly site.
Jess jumped when the ADD went off, something that rarely happened anymore due to how used to it she was. But this time she had been distracted, and as a result she nearly fell off her chair. She recovered before Matt arrived in the Hub asking where the anomaly was. She heard Becker's heavy-footed arrival as she answered.
"City centre," she said and waited for the ADD to give her a more precise location. "Trafalgar Square."
"How many people in the area?" Becker's smooth voice came from behind her and she felt his arm snake around the back of her chair. Usually Jess loved that he did this. It made her think that maybe he might return the feelings she had for him. But now that she knew that he didn't, it only angered her. She leaned forwards in her chair, not backwards into his arm like she usually did.
"Right now, none. There were about fifty before the anomaly opened." Jess allowed open hostility to creep into her voice and was satisfied to note Becker's hesitation before scooping a black box off the desk and running out after Matt without another word, leaving her with a huge grin on her face that she had made him feel bad. Maybe. Her eyes fell on the bank of black boxes on her desk and the satisfaction disappeared as she realised there was one more missing than there should have been. Another earpiece too.
"Jess," Matt. "Do you have CCTV in the area?" Jess' irritation made itself apparent once again.
"Confirmed. So far, no sign of an incursion." So Becker didn't feel it necessary to ask her the important questions anymore? That was fine. He was probably too busy making cow-eyes at that new Sargent of his. But that was okay. Jess wasn't going to be bothered by it.
Abby and Connor soon began a heated discussion that started with Connor complaining that his seatbelt was too tight, and ended fifteen minutes later with Abby telling him that he would be doing the washing up for a month if he didn't shut up. Jess silently agreed with her. She could only put up with Connor's whinging when she was in a good mood.
By the time Connor had been silenced, the team had reached the anomaly. Matt jumped out of his truck first, followed by Connor who immediately began setting up the locking device. Becker's truck skidded to a halt beside Matt's and five black- clad figures emerged, all of whom headed straight for the gun cases strapped to the back. Jess watched two more people get out of Matt's truck, the latter of whom was instantly cornered by Becker.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"What do you think I am doing here?" Emily's stern voice reached Jess through the Com system. Becker didn't seem to have an answer to this, which made Jess chuckle at the image of Emily staring Becker down. She watched Connor lock the anomaly and, for a whole five minutes, nothing went wrong.
Jess saw it first. Something moved in the corner of the CCTV feed, so far in the corner that at first she thought she was imagining it. But she didn't want to take the risk.
"Matt, I think I see something. North-East corner of the Square." Jess watched the whole team besides Connor and Sargent West advance in the direction she had indicated, Becker in front and the rest following in a flat line. Jess' eyes went to Sargent West, standing by the anomaly with Connor. She was now convinced that there was something going on between her and Becker; the way he had been acting over the last few days confirmed it. Usually it took him weeks to get over the death of one of his men, but just that morning he had been strolling through the ARC with a smile on his face. Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course, it was just odd. For one thing, Becker didn't stroll. 'Pack it in, Jessica,' she told herself. 'You'll miss something important at this rate.'
No sooner were the words fully formed in her brain, Jess saw again what the team were trying to track down. It was behind them now, on the other side of the Square.
"Matt, behind you!" she cried. The team whirled, EMDs raised, and then froze. A whistle shot through the Com system.
"Dios mío," someone said. It was a voice she didn't recognise. Sargent West.
"How did it get over there?" Connor whined. "It's huge!" And sure enough, huge it was. Becker, the tallest member of the team, didn't even come up to the top of its leg. The rest of it was a round, feathered body with larger, wing-like feathers on its arms and a fan of them on its tail that served no purpose other than show. It also had a huge, bird-like beak, and stood over eight metres long.
"Gigantoraptor. Definitely not a herbivore," Connor squeaked, sounding like he needed to use the toilet quite desperately. Jess didn't blame him. The team took up a ready stance in the centre of the Square, unsure of what to do. There were nine humans against one positively enormous and deadly dinosaur. The odds didn't look promising.
Something Jess didn't pick up on the Com system caused Sargent West to turn, EMD raised in the opposite direction to everyone else. She tapped Connor on the shoulder and pointed. Connor's eyes widened as he took in what she was indicating and he squeaked in terror once again. This caught the rest of the team's attention, and Becker turned to see what the problem was.
"Jess," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "There are two of them." Jess silently cursed the limited CCTV in the area.
"Why do the dinosaurs always have to find the blind spots in Traffic Control?" she mumbled to herself.
"What was that Jess?" Connor asked.
"Nothing." she said quickly.
"If anyone has a plan," Matt said slowly, "Now would be a great time to share."
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