AN: The continued adventures of Feral!Connor... and an explanation of what happened to him...
It was a struggle to get Connor to let himself be led out of the abandoned factory building he'd hid from them in, and getting him to stay buckled in the backseat of the 4x4 with Abby between the factory and the ARC was even more of a struggle. He'd snarled at Danny and Becker several times, but calmed under Abby's gentle touch. He'd whined the whole car ride, the sound almost beyond their hearing.
Now he was fidgeting, perched awkwardly upon the seat of a wheeled computer chair in the ARC's ops area, Abby's fingers carding through his hair.
"Abby," The blonde looked over to see Sarah, looking apologetic, "apparently they didn't get a big enough sample of his blood before for the tests to come up with anything conclusive..." She continued. Abby bit her bottom lip.
"I don't think he'll run off again, but I can't be sure." Abby paused. "But we don't have many other choices, do we?" Sarah shook her head. "Okay, I'll try and keep Connor as calm as possible."
The subject of their conversation looked between them, head tilted and eyes bright. Abby glanced at him. "I'm half worried he'll stick his tongue out or ask for a belly scratch at this point - he's more like a... puppy, right now, but I think that's just because of how much he trusts me." Abby said, humor in her voice fading to a more thoughtful tone as she spoke.
Sarah snorted, and nodded.
"I think I'll go get the medic instead of a lab technician." Sarah told them, before heading off.
"Do you know where Danny's gone?" Abby called after her friend. She knew Becker had gone to the Armory at first, but he, too, had seemingly vanished somewhere in the ARC. Sarah turned back and her brow furrowed.
"He told me he thought it would be better for Connor if they stayed away? Something about wolf behaviors?"
Abby chuckled.
"Danny's all sorts of surprises lately, isn't he?" She commented. "Okay, see you in a while Sarah."
/Earlier that day.../
It had been a normal day to begin with: as usual, both Connor and Abby privately bemoaned the fact that they were no longer sharing a flat, though neither knew the other one missed them just as much. Abby yelled at Jack to wake up and not to make a mess of the flat while she was at work; Lester yelled at Connor for whatever damage Sid and/or Nancy had done during the night. Abby drove to work alone, missing Connor and the way he restlessly changed the station every few songs; Lester and Connor drove to work together, Lester missing his quiet car rides, Connor missing the ability to change the stations when he wanted.
Connor took over at the ADD from the night technician, who headed out, ran scans, and updated anything that needed it; Abby headed to the menagerie, bidding the vet who observed them at night a good rest as the man left, and then she checked on each of the creatures.
The morning passed quietly... until the ADD went crazy, the alarms blasting and readings going wild, the lights all went out at once, and an anomaly appeared in the middle of the ops room.
Abby rushed out of the menagerie at the sound of the alarm, and made her way through the dark hallways, worried about Connor. She found him a few feet away from the swirling shards of an anomaly, staring as if hypnotized.
Helen Cutter walked out of the anomaly, grinning cruely at Connor in a way that made Abby's stomach plummet. The ARC's resident genius backed off, glaring daggers at Helen. She smirked, Abby took a step forwards, and Helen raised what looked like a tranquilizer gun to point at Connor. The ARC's generator had horrible timing, as the lights suddenly went on, blinding Abby for a split second.
Apparently it was long enough for Helen to do something to Connor and get out of there, the anomaly closing behind her. Connor was lying on his back on the floor, and when he opened his eyes and backed away from her, growling, she realized something was wrong.
/Now/
Connor purred quietly, watching as Abby played a game of solitaire on his laptop next to him, waiting for the medic to get there from the office on the other end of the ARC...
