"We've got another one!"

"Say what?" Jess, the team's nurse, yelled from the lounge. "That's the third one this week! And it's only Wednesday!"

"Oy, quit your yipping' and do your job!" Danny Quinn, self proclaimed leader, yelled as he walked past the door.

Jessica Ellsworth, youngest employee at the Anomaly Research Centre, reluctantly got off the chair she had been nestled in and turned off 'SLC Punk'.

"So where is it this time?" Abby Maitland, the zoologist, asked James Lester, the boss, as the team gathered in the main room.

"Just my luck" Lester mumbled as he flipped through the phone call they had intercepted. "A 'little person with wings who flew through a light' is now rampaging throughout a day care…"

"Well, let's get going" Connor Temple, the team's technology geek, said, grabbing his suitcase full of nerdlicious gear.

"Excuse me ma'am, but you need to calm down, okay?" Danny said for the 50th time since they had arrived, not 5 minutes ago.

A group of 5 or 6 year olds was gathered on the sidewalk being calmed by what was assumed to be an assistant of some sort.

"How the hell am I supposed to calm down?" The woman yelled at him, poking him in the chest. "If anything happens to those children, I'm gonna kill something!"

"Ma'am" Becker, the teams 'security guard', said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We're here to help you. Remember, we're on the same side…"

The woman turned around to face him, probably to yell at him too. She looked up at him, for he was towering over her, and it begun. "Oh… well, if you say so…" she said slowly, staring into his deep brown eyes.

Jess laughed. It was hilarious how fast women calmed down for Becker. It was funnier still how many of those women asked him out for a drink or two. However, he was a 'happily married man with two children'. The real excuse was that he was gay but being gay and in the army wasn't really… welcoming. He had told Jess his secret but only after she guessed it.

Becker glared at her and silently mouthed "You're gonna get it…"

Jess stuck her tongue out at him.

Abby just stared at their silent exchange of faces for a while before grabbing a tranquilizer gun.

"What is that?" the woman asked Abby.

"This is a state of the art tranquilizer gun, specifically designed to not harm animals while still subduing them. It leaves not but a pin prick" Abby explained, loading the gun.

"Oh that's no good! I want the little bastards dead!" the woman yelled.

"Let's go" Connor whispered to Jess. "Before this fight turns feral…"

"Yeah, I don't think Becker's smolder is going to work this time…" Jess giggled as he handed her a gun.

"You're 16, right?" Connor asked her.

She inspected the gun in her hand. "Yeah, why?"

"So you're legally aloud to carry this…" he said.

"Yup!" she said, pointing it at the ground.
"Yeah, cause I'm not allowed to carry a gun anymore…" he explained.

"Do I want to know why?" she asked, pretending to shoot an ant she saw.

"I'll tell you later, I think that fight is turning deadly…" he said, gesturing to the huddle of people trying to refrain the woman from getting a gun. A 'clawed' hand flew and one of the men started bleeding.

"Ouch… yeah, I think we should go check out the anomaly…" Jess said, wincing as a man was kicked where no man should ever get kicked… ever…

They snuck towards the front door and Connor slipped in, closely followed by a wary Jess.

Once they were inside, they were amazed at what they saw. It looked like hundreds of toys were flying around by themselves! A few were even on fire!

"Duck!"

Jess fell to the ground just before a fire truck collided with her head. "Whoa!"

She got back up and walked over to the fallen toy. Inside it, there was… a little doll. It was extremely detailed and about 5 inches tall. The doll was… electric blue and had tiny wings. Well, at least, she thought it was a doll. That was before its eyes opened up and it started wriggling about.

"Conn?" she called out. "Come check this out…"

He came over to Jess' side and looked at the… thing. "Neat…" he said, reaching out to touch it. "Ow!" he yelled when his finger touched its skin. "It burned me!"

"It's not a stove, Connor. Maybe it stung you…" she said, taking his finger. However, sure enough, there was a little blister on his finger.

Connor angry stared at the little doll-like thing. "What the hell are you?"

"You need to go tell Danny" Jess said, letting go of Connors hand.

He sighed. "Will you be okay for a minute?"

Jess laughed and patted the gun in her belt loop. "Are you kidding me?"

Connor chuckled and left to go give Danny a status report. Jess slowly walked up to the anomaly and inspected it. It was a tad larger than the other ones they had seen before but the creatures coming through were just as dangerous. Everyone at the ARC had been through an anomaly but her. She felt kinda left out…

Becker backed off from the fight with the day care lady a bit. He decided to go check on Jess. Lord knows what trouble she's gotten into… she was worse than Connor! He walked up to the window to see Jess standing awfully close to the anomaly. Becker remembered a conversation they had a few days earlier.

"What's it like to go through an anomaly?" Jess asked him out of the blue.

"Well," he said. "It's exhilarating… but terrifying all the same. You know you're defying every law of physics ever written but you can't help but worry that it's gonna close while you're between worlds or on the wrong side."

"Wow… that sounds awesome…"

He laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

"When do I get to go through an anomaly?" Jess asked.

His face got extremely serious. "You don't. Leave it to the professionals."

"Come on, Becker! Connor said he went though an anomaly on his first day! I've been here for 4 months!" she complained.

"And you believed him?" he asked.

"That's not the point… Hilary Becker" she said, slyly using his biggest secret. His first name was in fact Hilary. But only she knew that.

"You wouldn't" he challenged.

"I wouldn't?" she laughed. "Hmm… who would you want to know the least…?" she thought for a second. "How about… Danny?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh come on! You're so over protective of him! That one time we all went out and that girl was hitting on him, you almost tore her apart!" she explained.

He sighed, defeated. "One time, okay? And I'm coming with you. We all know you're a terrible shot."

She huffed. "You got the bullet out of your arm, didn't you?"

"Once, you and me, and only for an hour. ONE hour only!"

"…Fine…"

They shook on it.

"Jess!" he yelled as she put an arm into the anomaly and pulled it back out. He ran to the open door. She turned around like a deer in headlights. "Don't you do it…"

She took a step forward. "Jessica… please…" He pulled his gun from the holster on his hip and pointed it straight at her. "I'll be forced to shoot you"

Jess looked at him, to the anomaly, and back at him. Her shoulders hunched and she slowly shuffled over to Becker's side.

"Thank you"

"Becker…" Jess began.

"Yeah?"

She turned back around to face the anomaly. "It beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it kind of is… in its own "I'm defying physics and letting dangerous creatures beyond the barrier of time and space" kind of way…"

She sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"That's okay. You have no idea how bad I wanted to run in after Danny once…" he explained.

"No…" she whispered. "I'm sorry for this…" she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down. She kissed him on the cheek then caught him off guard by pushing him. Once he was down, she ran towards the anomaly and jumped through.

"Damn it!"

Jess landed on her face. When she looked up, what she saw confused her. She was in a large building, surrounded by about 20 people, all in medieval clothes. They were all staring at her with wide eyes. She looked behind her to see the anomaly shining brightly.

A little boy walked up to her and offered a small hand. She took it and he helped her up.

"How did you do that!" he asked, arms flying into the air. "You walked through fire!"

"Um… I'm… a…" she stammered, not knowing how to explain it.

"Are you a firedancer?" he asked.

"Yeah! I'm one of those! I'm a fire prancer!" she stated, smiling.

Thunderous applause arose from the crowd. People were cheering "Show us something!" and "Do a trick!"

She took a step back. "What?"

The little boy's face lit up. "Can I be your apprentice!"

"No" she heard.

The crowd parted for a tall man with shoulder length blond hair. He was in a brown leather outfit with his hair shining, soaked with water. He slowly walked up to Jess and she felt like an ant under his gaze. That was when she noticed three long scars trailing across his eye. He talked around her, looking Jess over from head to toe. This was when Jess realized she was wearing skinny jeans with neon skater shoes and a Metallica t-shirt. Her blond hair was in a ponytail. She must look like an apple tree in an orange grove.

He then turned to the boy and said "I've been waiting to show her to you all but my little secret is out. This lovely lady here is my apprentice!"

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. Jess didn't know what to do until the man whispered "Smile, you idiot!"

Jess flashed the crowd a smile and waved a bit.

Then the man placed a large hand on the small of her back, earning him a quiet yelp from the girl. He got the crowds attention. "Thank you, thank you! This is all very wonderful; however, we must be going."

"Aw…"

He threw something into the air and it burst into fireworks. A chorus of 'Ahh…'s emitted from the crowd.

"Let's get out of here" he whispered while the crowd was distracted. He took her hand and they wove through numerous little stands. They left the large building and disappeared into the woods.

***********************************************************************Becker ran towards the anomaly but Danny got to him and grabbed his shoulders before he could go through. "What are you doing?" he yelled.

"Jessica went through!" Becker yelled angrily at Danny.

Danny sighed. "Of course she did…"

"Let me go!"

Connor walked over to Becker. "Jess is smart! She'll make it"

Becker threw a punch that collided perfectly with Connor's cheek, which sent him flying.

"Abby! Give me your gun!" Danny yelled.

A shot was fired and Becker looked from Abby to the dart in his leg. His eyes slowly closed and Danny caught him before he hit the ground. He dragged the soldier over to the closed door and hand-cuffed his right hand to the door knob. He propped his limp body against the door.

"Conn, are you okay?" Danny asked. Connor had a red mark on his cheek where a bruise was already forming.

He rubbed at his jaw and nodded slightly. "I can't believe he freaked out like that…"

"Yeah, that's not like him…" Danny agreed.

Suddenly, the anomaly shone brightly and something came through. Danny took a step back as a person fell to the ground. A clunk was heard as their head hit the ground hard. Danny guessed it was a girl. He slowly walked over and gently rolled the person, confirming his guess. Her brown hair was cut short and her clothes looked like they belonged to a medieval male peasant. Numerous small bags hung from the waist of her pants and in a small holder, there was a dagger

"…A girl…" Abby stated.

"Yes, I know it's a girl!" Danny yelled back.

"What do we do with her?" Connor asked.

"Toss her back, duh…" Danny said.

"Wake her up first…" Abby told him.