A/N: It seems I have a lot to apologise for in this chapter. Firstly, the delay in updating. Secondly the length, which is lacking. And thirdly? I am going to be in Argentina for the next four weeks, teaching English and working in an orphanage. While I will have sporadic access to the internet, I doubt I'll have much time to write so it could be some time before I get the next chapter up. Adios!

Fate, it seemed, had deigned to be kind to the ARC team. The bodies of the strange canines were disposed of without a hitch, and they managed to return to the ARC facility without any new crises cropping up on the way. They were even allowed the luxury of a whole two days with no new anomalies, in which nothing once tried to eat them and the most difficult decisions they had to make involved what they were going to have for tea. But remember, fate can decide to be kind but it is never entirely lenient.

Which is why the anomaly detector went off at a quarter to three on Saturday morning, dragging everyone out of bed.

They stood gathered in front of the anomaly detector, blinking in the harsh strip lighting of the ARC, while they got the coordinates of the latest creature incursion. It took Connor a moment to translate the data into an actual place, and when he did he groaned faintly.

"Northwest Wales," he informed the rest of the frankly quite horrified team. "On the island of Anglesey."

"Please tell me that the Home Office is going to fly us over there. I don't think I could stand being stuck in a car with this lot the whole way," Abby turned pleading eyes on Jenny, and the older woman smiled.

"I'm sure I can sort something out."

'Something', as it turned out, was a private plane belonging to an acquaintance of Lester. At Heathrow they stood around and watched as the team from Special Ops loaded all of their weaponry onto the plane, and it quickly became apparent why a private plane was necessary. There was no way that Captain Dunton was going to get a semi-automatic weapon through the airport's metal detectors.

That, Nick suspected, would have caused something of a stir. So it was a good thing that Lester and Jenny had been able to arrange this, really. But, as he boarded the little plane (and it really was little - surely that wasn't a good thing), he couldn't help but wish that they'd been given something a little more sturdy looking. He didn't exactly enjoy flying at the best of times. And this? This was downright unpleasant.

There were enough spare seats on the plane to spread out and so they did, Connor claiming a row for himself while the men from special forces, again led by Dunton, installed themselves in the back.

"So where are we going?" Abby turned around on her seat to look between Nick, Stephen and Connor.

"Anglesey Aluminium, apparently. Judging by the anomaly's coordinates, it should have opened up right in their factory," Nick checked the information that Connor had printed off again, just to confirm it.

Abby grimaced. "Fantastic. How are you going to explain this one, Jenny?"

The woman in question looked up from the papers she had been looking at with a grim little smile. "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something."

She had enough time; between the rest of the flight, the time it took to get everything unloaded from the plane and then the drive from the airport to the factory, it was another few hours before they arrived at Anglesey Aluminium. Enough time for anything to happen, and that was their real worry.

"You're here about our problem?" The foreman did not waste time by introducing himself as the team clambered out of their SUVs in front of the factory. He wore a high-viz jacket and a worried frown.

"Jennifer Lewis, Home Office," Jenny flashed him her I.D and a professional smile. "Now what seems to be your problem?"

"Leo Carpenter," the foreman shook her hand, pausing to glance curiously at the others as they gathered behind her, apparently armed and prepared. He didn't answer her question at first, just glanced nervously back at the factory building. "We can talk about it in my office. There's things you need to see."

Nick opened his mouth, ready to protest. If there was an anomaly in there somewhere then they needed to get there straight away. Before he could say anything, though, Jenny had already spoken.

"Of course." And then she turned to face the others, "Dunton, will your men stay here until we need you? I doubt we'll all be able to squeeze into the office."

Nick wasn't the only one who looked unhappy with this idea, but Captain Dunton nodded anyway. "Right. But if we see anything suspicious…"

"You'll blow it to pieces, we know. Just give us a little warning first," Jenny's smile was a little exasperated as she addressed him, but then Leo was leading the way to his office and the others had little choice but to follow. It quickly became obvious by his hurried steps and jerky movements that the foreman was nervous, and this only served to put the others on edge too. Something was obviously going on here.

Leo closed the door behind them as they stepped into his office, Connor and Abby having to squeeze forward so that he could shut the door. There were used mugs cluttering the desk and a calendar featuring scantily clad women pinned to the wall next to the door, which held Connor's attention for a few moments before Abby elbowed him in the side.

"Here you go. Take a look at these," Leo held out a thick cloth bag of something lumpy and handed it to Stephen. He opened it and peered inside then looked back up to Leo, frowning.

"What-?"

"What's in there?" Nick took the bag and emptied it out onto Leo's already disordered desk. Various objects of different shapes and sizes tumbled out, all of them exactly the same shade of bright silver. The others stared at them, and it was a moment before anyone realised what they really were.

"It's a skull!" Abby pointed at the largest object, which was indeed skull. It looked human-sized.

"What are these made of?" Nick asked, hefting what appeared to be a leg bone in his hand. "Looks like aluminium, but it's too heavy."

"It's coated in aluminium," Leo told them, a strange look on his face. "But that's not what it's made of. Under the metal, that's real bone."

Connor dropped the metallic fibula he'd been examining with a look of faint horror.

"Why are you showing us this?" Nick had put the femur back onto the desk, and did not look best pleased.

Leo shrugged, looking vaguely apologetic. "I thought you might be interested. They're what we fished out of one of our electrolysis tanks this morning. You've just met one of our night workers."

"Oh. Oh dear." That just about summed it up, really.