The other way

Chapter 3

The morning dawned in an undetermined, windy sort of way, as the sun shone dully through the veil of clouds, and a wind, rather brisk and chilly for the end of spring swept through the streets. It also crawled into every and any unsecured opening or entrance with tentacles of relative chill, and greedily reached to suck out any sort of warmth that it could find. It reached through a not-fully-closed window of Abby and Connor's house and it struck.

"Abby!" Connor Temple had woken for once of his own volition and wasn't happy about it. "What's with the opening windows in this weather – do you want Rex to catch a chill?"

"Sorry Connor," Abby sounded half-contrite, half-absent as she walked up to the window, sliding it shut, with a towel wrapped around her hair as the only indication that she had already taken a shower while Connor had been still sleeping. "Guess I am not quite myself this morning-"

Instantly Connor went from indignant to concern. "Are you all right from that crazy yesterday?"

"Oh, I am fine about that – well, as fine as I can be after a day of psychological warfare," Abby paused. "Anyways, I called Caroline – she and I have some unresolved issues from yesterday's morning to resolve – and she didn't answer. So I called her cell phone – and her mum picked it up instead."

"Her mum," Connor echoed.

"Yeah. Apparently, after yesterday Caroline went to her parents for advice, and-" Abby paused and then plunged in, "Connor, have you ever thought about talking to your folks? I mean not about the ARC, but, just, in general..."

"I'd rather not," Connor said slowly, as memories and thoughts of his own family made themselves felt. "My parents never approved my choice of career or my approach to life. As soon as I could afford it, I was so out of there...and I never really looked back. Make no mistake, my family is my family, but I would rather have it from a distance than up close. And you?"

Abby paused, looking oddly at Connor. "I don't know. I mean my folks don't like it either that I work with lizards at the zoo, but still... Maybe I should give them a call – I mean family is family, and I ought to keep in touch..." she trailed off, realizing that Connor isn't going to interrupted, challenge, or somehow other respond to her.

"Well, be my guest," Connor finally spoke. "You, uh, want privacy for that?"

At that moment Abby's stomach chose to growl. "Right after breakfast, I suppose," she said faintly. "Whose turn it is to cook, anyways?"

"Rex's?" Connor suggested carefully. Abby flashed him her first grin of that morning.

"Nice try, Connor. Start cooking!"

* * *

"So – that was Abby Maitland," Mrs. Steele said as she carefully slid the cell phone back to her daughter. "An interestingly-sounding girl – a friend of yours?"

"Not really, I cannot say," Caroline shook her head. "The only thing in common we have, really, is our ages, I suppose."

"Mmm, perhaps, but she did call to check out on you," Mrs. Steele shook her head. "That got to count for something."

Caroline shrugged. "Yes, well, I guess I have a different set of priorities and concerns, and speaking of them, what's your advice?"

"Hmm," this time it was Caroline's other mother that spoke up. "Our government – and may it continue to remain as it currently is for the next one hundred or more so years – has a tendency to see only the big picture, and in broad strokes as well, forgetting that the devil is always in the details. Plus, I believe you told us that that boss of yours, Lester, has some issues of his own?"

"I'm just telling you what I have seen and heard," Caroline shrugged uneasily. "I'm not really interesting in drawing my own conclusions on this one."

Caroline's parents exchanged looks between each other. "Well then, child," Caroline's mother spoke up quietly. "Then maybe we ought to come to your Center this morning."

Caroline shrugged – she wasn't exactly in a confrontational mood today. "It's your call," she said quietly, "I'll just go and start the car, shall I?"

As she left to do it, Caroline's parents exchanged concerned looks – James Lester was going to get an earful today and no mistake!

* * *

"Stephen – what a nice surprise!" Helen Cutter's lips formed a smile – not a very good one, but only due to the lack of practice. "And how are you feeling this morning?"

"Concerned for you," Stephen sighed as he sat. "Somehow I got a feeling that yesterday's evening could have been handled better."

"No, it could not," Helen said sharply, giving Stephen a rather familiar and pointed look. "The change was too abrupt, Melinoe's involvement in that situation too deep for my handling to be nice," she paused. "And then again, I remember memories from another life of mine – and trust me when I say that that path has not been any better, not at all."

Stephen remembered the time when he had seen Helen and her clone (or was it a clone?) standing face to face. Now that he had time to think about it, and have an individual Helen for an initial comparison, he could clearly realize and remember several key differences between the two.

"The Helen – the other Helen that has been there with us in Leek's HQ," he said slowly, "she had those glasses – the kind that Melinoe and the other one wore. Does it mean that she, that you-"

"Yeah, I kind of-sort of went that path," Helen shook her head, "but as Master Tolkien had once written, I felt like a piece of butter stretched over too much bread. Melinoe may have no problem with it, and Iymrith – well, I don't want to think about Iymrith at all, as the damn thing was never human from the start – but the more I went, the more I wondered just what the Hell am I thinking by going down this road? Power was supposed to be a means for me, not an end. And so I say, pondered, and made a choice – no, I made a decision. And so, as far as I am concerned, this is an improvement from where I've been, an improvement!"

Stephen was quite aware that Helen's hand that was currently grasped his own was hot and trembling. The next moment Helen also became aware of that grasp of hers and turned red, probably for the first time in a long while. "So, uh, anyways, why are you here-"

"Lester will probably have interrogated with all the angles covered," Stephen slowly moved closer – an inch or so – to his interlocutrix. "He would have probably started yesterday, if he hadn't been so busy reading our reports and planning his strategy for today. But now, though-"

Helen shrugged. "I doubt that Lester wants to scare me that much, and I am ready to co-operate now, so I doubt that he'll have much excuse to go overboard. And as for me being not scared or concerned – well, the day has just began and who knows what it will bring yet..." some of the old Helen had tinted her last statement and facial expression, causing Stephen to frown in concern. "Oh, don't look at me like that. This will not be any of my doing, not at all!"

"Honestly."

"Oh yes. Sometimes – well, most of the times in my opinion – people have to lie in beds of their own making. And on this day, James Lester will have to realize it so very, very much..."

* * *

James Lester was in a relatively good mood today. The unpredictability and bizarreness of yesterday has gone with the break of a new day – albeit of a not very warm or sunny one – and he was now ready to face the challenges of a new one. Therefore, it was only karmically appropriate that the first person that he met at the ARC was Caroline Steele who looked rather subdued and unhappy – more so than usual.

"Ms. Steele," James Lester said with a slight grimace – during her still brief period of work the dog trainer has gotten onto his nerves – "what do you want now?"

"Lester," Caroline bit off curtly, "I want to re-evaluate my position at the ARC. As we decided last time, it was going to be a part-time job only."

"Yes?"

"Well, you forgot to add the part where complete strangers knew about me!" Caroline snapped. "I don't like it!"

"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it-" Lester began, but Caroline looked at him, and some long-buried self-preservation instinct kicked in.

"Listen carefully, Mr. James. As a part-time employee, I only have to train dogs – not give others free rides. To do that, I need either a full-time position, complete with pay and job security, or – I want out, completely out, as I have initially wanted to, with you paying me for the time I have spent working you being the only satisfaction that I need."

"Satisfaction you need," James began and stopped. He had read the reports of Abby and Connor from the previous incident, how Caroline's voice has turned tense and her promise to blast Helen and her cohorts (or former cohorts?) apart with a 10-gauge shotgun had been as plain as day. Somehow, looking at her now he had no problem in believing that she would if she could – and vice versa.

"Look," he carefully began, suspecting in his gut that right now his interlocutrix was tense enough to have a total emotional breakdown if the discussion went in a wrong direction. "Today is a bad day for this kind of decision, we-"

Caroline grabbed him by the collar and pulled forwards, while glaring at him with eyes the temperature of a lunar reflection on the barrel of her gun. "Then make the decision now!"

James Lester gulped.

* * *

"Nick! Cutter! Wait!"

Nick slowly turned around. As far as clothing and other accessories went, Jenny Lewis looked as impeccably as always, but her face looked redder and more flustered than usual. The way that her hands were twirling around the closed cell phone clearly indicated a state of emotional disarray as well. "Yes, Jenny?"

"Nick, uh, Cutter," for some reason Jenny sneaked one more peak at the closed cell phone and the determinedly stuck into her handbag. "I was wondering if you were free this weekend-"

"Uh," Nick paused, thinking quickly. "If there aren't any time anomaly related emergencies-"

As if on purpose, the alarms came on, indicating that one such emergency has just become active.

"Oooh!" Jenny looked as if she was going to explode. "Nick Cutter, this is so not over-"

"Yes, Jenny, I know that."

"Good!"

It could be anyone's guess as to what this misdirected conversation could have led to, but at that moment Caroline Steele emerged from the corridor that led to Lester's office looking, well, as she usually had. Considering that yesterday had left her rather badly shaken (according to Stephen and others, at least), this was something of a surprise, actually, something that Nick didn't fail to point out; Caroline, however, had just shrugged and walked away, clearly having recovered her inner balance by that time.

Connor and Abby – who met them at the main time anomaly detector – noticed it as well. "Caroline," Abby cautiously began, "we need to talk?"

"Oh? About what?" Apparently, whatever inner balance Caroline had regained wasn't enough to keep her oblivious to Abby's own tone of voice.

"About you calling me Miss Maitland."

"What about it? Isn't it who you are?" Caroline's voice was clearly, carefully, controlled.

"Ye-es," Abby growled, clearly beginning to get riled, "bu-ut, I'd rather you not call me that. You can call me Lizard Girl if you want to, but not Miss Maitland – please! It just makes me feel... old."

"An interesting point, but," Caroline leaned forwards, suddenly eager to talk back, "you see, after yesterday's little stunt of Helen Cutter or whatever-her-last-name-is, I realized that when Lester had roped me into working here, he left an opening."

"What – what are you talking about?"

"He roped me into being a part-time worker here, promising protection of the government and whatever. As yesterday's incident had shown, that is not enough. So – either I am allowed to leave this place free, in which case all the baggage that comes from associating with the Center here, or I am made a full-time worker, in which case me and my family are given a better government insurance deal and all that it entails."

"So why so smug?" Abby insisted.

"Well, as me and Lester were discussing this, I noticed something on his desk. Apparently, a mammoth daily needs 100 kg of grass and leaves, 20 kg of beets or carrots, 6 kg of oats, 2 kg of barley and wheat flour, 100 grams of mineral and vitamin mix and also of salt. The mammoth alone is eating over a 100 kg of food daily – transfer it to cash and you get an even bigger number. Add to it the food of my dogs and the prehistoric cats that we have rescued from the museum, add in Lester's speed about financial straits that the ARC has found itself in due to Leek – and I think I can safely assume about which way Lester's decision," Caroline's lips twisted in a grimacing smile. "How's that for a lark?"

Abby stared. "You saying that you would abandon us just like that?"

Caroline shrugged. "Lester pretty much dragged me into this – naturally it was only a matter of time before I did something about it, so there."

"That's just cruel," Abby muttered. "I was beginning to think that you were better than when I initially thought."

"Since when?"

"Since, since, oh I don't know – I guess I just did!"

"Well, I guess you need to get out more and make some new friends of your own age and gender besides me! Just who do you think I am? Some sort of a secondary actress in the wonderful theatrical world of You?"

Abby turned red (Caroline had turned brown already before that) and was ready to explode.

"Girls," Connor's voice sounded as if he would rather be somewhere else – like already at the time anomaly's site – "we have pinpointed the time anomaly – it's in a hospital at West London."

There was a small thud as Jenny Lewis accidentally dropped her handbag. "West London?"

"Yeah. What me to pinpoint where exactly?"

"No! No need to!" Jenny quickly said. "Girls, Connor get into the car. Nick – where'd he go?"

Nick Cutter just wasn't there.

* * *

Nick Cutter was busy walking through the corridor, looking determined to do something distasteful in regards to himself. He walked up to Helen's cell, where Helen was busy telling good-bye to Stephen and cleared his throat.

"Yes?" Both Helen and Stephen turned to face him. "What is it?"

"Helen – I believe that you're coming with us," Nick grimaced. "Just for the record, I still don't trust you, but since you've been trying to be helpful to us, I'm giving you a chance," he paused. "Besides, I doubt that you'll be able to do any harm to us other than escaping at a time convenient to you," he added as an afterwards.

"Oh Nick, you're piece of bedrock and your mother's son," Helen smiled. "Come on then, I'm ready to go."

"Good," Nick said curtly. "Stephen?"

The younger man just nodded in agreement.

* * *

Outside, Becker noticed, the weather continued to grow decisively nastier, especially for the last week of spring. The sky was now totally overcast, and the wind continued to blow strong and cool – much stronger and cooler than this morning's weather prediction for the day.

Meanwhile the team – his 'charges', so to speak – were also apparently a bit under the weather. The younger women, Abby and Caroline, were sort of glaring at each other, while Connor Temple looked as if he would rather be anywhere else but with them. Among the older generation, Nick Cutter too was giving Stephen Hart a rather glaring look that was promptly ignored, while Jenny Lewis looked as if she would rather be doing anything else instead of going to the time anomaly site. In short, it was a far cry from the efficient, co-operative team of the time when Becker had come to it, and the Secret Service man just didn't like it. Efficient, co-operative teams just don't break up like that because-

At that moment a cell phone rang; after a brief exchange of glances it was determined that the phone was Caroline's. "Who is it?" she snapped into it.

"Oh, it's you, Quinn. Just whom I needed."

"What? Wait, let me get you an expert on these things-" she turned and thrust it straight to Connor. "I think it's more of your thing."

"What?" Connor asked cautiously, expecting more bad things. He was right, actually, just not in the way he was actually expecting to be. "A what? A giant bear? You sure?" By then the rest of the ARC's field agents had grouped around him and listened carefully. "Well, did you see it yourself? I mean, 'general bearness' isn't as much of a guideline to go along as you would think-" he paused. "The man had hanged up on me."

"Connor," Nick said slowly, "what did the man say?"

"Apparently, the hospital has been invaded by brown grizzly bear or something," Connor grimaced. "Not exactly helpful, is it?"

"Connor?"

"Yes, Nick?"

"Next time, hand it over to me instead. Abby, Stephen – think we have enough tranquilizers to handle a bear?"

Stephen nodded, but Abby hesitated. "Nick," she said quietly, "a bear is hard to bring down. You got to get it first to stand up, and then you have to shoot at the chest, 'cause the skull is just mostly bone – not good for the tranquilizer darts at all."

"You mean, the head isn't good enough," Connor said slowly, "and also Quinn said it eating a calf or something, so getting it into a standing position will be tricking."

"We got dogs," Nick said slowly, "I think we can count on them into getting the bear into the right position, am I correct?"

"Mmm-hmm," Caroline nodded thoughtfully. "This is going to be much trickier than the cat, though."

There was a pause as everyone just looked at Jenny Lewis, as if expecting her to say something as well. The latter, upon realizing that, shivered from the admittedly cold wind, and then said, reluctantly:

"Well, I guess that that's settled, so let's go?"

There was another pause, and Nick Cutter frowned in concern. "Jenny – is something bothering you?"

"Well, actually, Nick... it's not something that I can't handle, so let's go now, already!" Jenny flatly commanded, as she climbed into the car. The others exchanged looks of mutual confusion before remembering that they had their own issues to deal with, and quietly got into their own vehicles, which then drove off, leaving Becker – as he rode in his own vehicle – to wonder just what was going on here... and why was Helen Cutter – the strange woman with some stranger acquaintances – coming along with them?

* * *

The rides in Caroline's van were always quiet, but this time...it was even more so than usual, and Connor, who never liked silence to begin with, decided to break it instead. "So, Stephen," he asked his friend carefully, why Helen has gone with us?"

"Why shouldn't she?" Stephen replied just as carefully. "As Nick is aware by now, she's not that dangerous than she appears...and this morning we had a talk...I think she's trying something new – helping us with the time anomalies, that is."

"Well, great for her!" Abby's voice indicated that she couldn't care any less for Helen or for Nick. Connor, however, decided to ignore her for a change, and continued to talk to Stephen.

"Yes, well, one would think that Jenny would try to object at least. I mean, yes, Helen had helped her with the orthocone, and she probably had helped us with the museum incident, but-"

"But nothing," Stephen shook his head. "It was Nick's call in the long run, and he made it. Moreover, Jenny... she seems to be preoccupied with something else, something just as personal, I think."

"You think that it's about her family, maybe?" Connor bravely went on. "'Cause, you know, this morning Abby and me-"

"Connor!" Abby literally barked. "Don't drag me into this!"

"Anyways," Connor bravely continued, "I was wondering – how's your family?"

Stephen paused, clearly thinking. "Honestly? Not very good. My family, it's just... so very conventional, you know? I really don't think that they would really like you all... they always thought that I should do something else than palaeontology."

"Yeah, like breed dogs as Caroline does," Abby said scornfully.

"And yet you find a need for my dogs to deal with a prehistoric bear," Caroline clearly had metaphorically risen to the challenge. "How's that for dramatic irony, mmm?"

Connor gulped. The last time Caroline had used this tone of voice was at the disaster of Nick's birthday, when the two young women were ready to fight it out then and there just because they didn't like each other. And now, after all that they all have been through together – Leek, Ordovician orthocones and sea scorpions, Pliocene prehistoric beasts and some sort of the alternate reality dinosauroids, they were back from where they have started – hating each other's guts, and not even because of him this time.

Abruptly, Caroline stopped her van flat, startling the others. "Stephen," she said quietly, "is it normal to be snowing so late in May? ...Is it normal for foxes to walk around the city streets in broad daylight? Because both of these facts are taking place outside my car as of right now."

There was a pause as the others looked outside. The suddenly fallen snow was seen right away, the fox (a red fox) took longer until Caroline point it out as the animal sniffed the pavement at the left side of the car.

Abby, upon seeing the fox, immediately climbed out of the car – but stayed near it all the same. To her – and the others' – surprise, the smallish animal showed no intimidation or fear regarding her and other humans, unlike any wild animal that Abby and others had ever seen.

Suddenly, the pavement of the street clanged with the sound of many hoofed legs stomping down on it, and the fox jumped into the car – to avoid getting trampled on, just in case. Abby, however, had hesitated, and so she was able to see the megaloceros herd in all of its glory, underneath the gently falling snow.

"Oh crap," Stephen muttered weakly. "Caroline, call Nick – I think we can guess now from where did the giant bear had come from."

* * *

As time went and the London scenery changed around the moving vehicles, Jenny Lewis grew more and more worried. Throughout the week, she had been torn between what she wanted to do – well, actually that was very simple: she wanted to take Nick out to dinner since obviously no initiative in that direction was going to come from him – and when she had finally decided to do something specific, her family's life history was rising up with a vengeance; and to make matters worse, the weather was acting up: it was actually snowing-

"Snowing? Nick – it's snowing in May!" Jenny suddenly exclaimed. "It's – it's-"

"It's the anomaly," Helen said slowly. "I think I know now to which time period it links, yes."

At that moment Jenny's cell phone rang, and Connor spoke on the other end. "Nick," Jenny said at the end of Connor's little speech, "it's Connor. He called and says that he and the others are being delayed by a herd of Irish elk. He says that the Irish elk have lived-"

"Jenny. The time anomaly opens to the Ice Age... Europe, most likely," Nick interrupted her. "This means... this means that the bear that Connor had heard on his phone call earlier was not am American short-faced bear as I have feared, but the relatively smaller and less aggressive European cave bear. Jenny, what are you doing?"

"Connor had also given me Quinn's phone number. I'm dialling him right now to find out how things are at the hospital," Jenny gulped. "As in – has anyone been hurt by the escape deer or the bear or whatever."

"Good idea," Nick nodded and took-up Becker's walkie-talkie. "Captain, how are things at your end?"

* * *

"They are magnificent," Abby whispered quietly as she and the other three just stared at the giant deer that looked back at her with big, apparently mild, eyes. Abby, however, having worked at the zoo for quite a while now, knew better – despite their gentle or majestic appearance, a deer could easily be deadly with its hooves and horns: the biggest deer, elk and moose, could easily fight off and even kill wolves and brown bears, and the megaloceros looked even bigger and stronger than those animals.

"Guys," Abby said with a sign and shiver, as the weather had gotten colder and darker, "we got to do something about them. We cannot dawdle here... but we cannot just charge them – it would be a disaster."

"I know," Stephen nodded – some of Abby's files had been on animal-car collisions. Neither he nor Caroline doubted that should they charge the megaloceros herd, the resulting damage would be disastrous to both sides. "Fortunately, I have an idea. Abby, Connor, get in the car – if it works I don't want to dawdle. The weather is getting worse by the minute, and if it turns into a real blizzard or an ice storm, we might be stuck for good."

Abby and Connor climbed back into the car. The fox glanced at them and turned back to its' smelling session with Michael, Caroline's prize dog. Although the Brazilian mastiff was considerably bigger and heavier than the wild canine, it and the fox seemed to be on quite the friendly terms.

Of course, Abby belatedly remembered as she stole a glance at the two animals, Michael had been trained to defend, fight and kill – the dog could finish the fox probably before it could even realize that something was wrong, just like its' mistress, who apparently could change tactics at a drop of a hat.

"Ready?" Stephen asked the aforementioned mistress.

Caroline nodded, her grip at the steering wheel stiffening further.

"Then here goes nothing!" and Stephen hit the stereo button. Instantly the re-fitted car speakers resonated once more with the battle-cry of the ARC's mammoth. The effect on the deer was instantaneous – as swiftly as any of their smaller modern kin they whirled around and fled from the direction they came, with the car following suit at a reasonably high speed.

* * *

"Well, Connor just called – again," Jenny said as she herself was driven by Nick with Helen sitting well behind them. "The deer have left – they have scared them off with the mammoth's recording and now they're moving once again."

"Good for them!" Nick grinned with pride and respect. Though he wasn't specializing in the Pleistocene megafauna unlike Connor, he knew that the megaloceros had lived side by side with the woolly mammoth, a relative of the ARC's own animal. Though the two animals were quite different species, the similarities of their challenging calls were similar enough for any smaller creatures to get as far away from them as possible whenever they heard it – no one wanted to be trampled or tossed away by an angry and impatient mammoth.

Behind him, Helen smiled as well at these thoughts, with no less pride and admiration than Nick himself, albeit for slightly different reasons – but Nick either didn't notice her or just didn't care. And Jenny Lewis was already busy contacting Quinn once again.

"Mr. – right, detective-constable – Quinn, how are things on your end. Any more deer have come through? Oh, you meant to call us. How nice. Have the warm blankets and what-not been issued to the victims and the rest? Glad to hear it. We're almost there."

Something soft and fuzzy was thrust at her cheek. She half-turned and saw Helen thrust a thick scarf, definitely of modern make, also definitely not bought at a second-hand thrift store, at her face. A matching scarf was already tied around the other woman's neck, and Nick now sported a furry cap with ear flaps, which made him look rather silly. Still, warm clothing was warm clothing, and Jenny gave the other woman an appreciating grin as she tied the scarf around her own neck and turned back to see as to where they were arriving.

The sight that greeted her had killed that smile completely dead.

* * *

"Well! Here's a sight one doesn't see every day!" Connor exhaled as they looked at one of West London's mental institutions. "And for a good reason, too!"

"Shut up, Connor," muttered Abby, but her heart wasn't in it, her bad temper spent and weakened too much by the sight of the giant deer and by the ride in the pleasantly warmed van. The sight of the big Brazilian mastiff lying peacefully and equably side by side with the much smaller fox didn't help her bad mood either; in short, right now Abby was feeling rather spent...and the sight of the mental institution just made her depressed further.

"Look – Nick and others are already there," Connor continued, "and he must've gotten a new hat. I swear, he almost looks like a troll in one of the earlier RPG games that I and my mates used to play-"

"Connor! Get out of the car!" Abby barked as she did just that. "Caroline – are the dogs ready?"

"Yes," echoed the other woman as she summoned her pets with whistles, "they're ready... oh boy."

"What?"

"Michael's new friend decided to come along so you ought to handle it," Caroline snapped as she pointed to the fox that trotted alongside the dogs, looking wary yet curious at the same time.

"Oh!" was all that Abby said as she carefully picked up the smaller animal. The fox gave Abby a curious look, but since they were still moving in the same direction it didn't try to bite Abby or wiggle away and instead just played along, sort of.

"Well now, isn't this cozy," a new, unfamiliar, and yet somehow familiar voice spoke up suddenly.

Slowly, both the animals and humans stiffened and turned around – the newcomer sounded somewhat rather crazy.

Given the fact that they were standing before a messed-up mental institution, this was never good.

* * *

There were several – well, not so much perks as abilities that developed when you travelled in time – literally speaking. And, although they were nowhere near as powerful as Melinoe's had been, Helen knew that she was powerful enough – still or yet or whatever. She still had certain foresight, and as such she had foreknowledge and was forewarned.

As she strode towards an opening, made by the herd of the Irish elk, she heard two pairs of footsteps. Nick and Jenny Lewis. Naturally.

"And where are you going, Helen?" Nick spoke, slipping into his trademark accented exasperation.

"Oh, just over there," Helen said calmly, remembering that now aggravating Nick was a bad thing. "There's someone that we have to meet."

"We have to meet?" Nick repeated sceptically. "You mean like... those two yesterday?"

"Oh no!" Helen didn't even thought to fake what she thought about Melinoe and Iymrith. "This one... he isn't that bad – he's just crazy."

"He?" Jenny Lewis spoke in a tiny little voice. "You don't mean – you can't –"

"For what's little that it is worth, I'm sorry," Helen said quietly. "But some things in your life are just unavoidable."

And then Jonas Lewis appeared on the scene.

* * *

For a moment Nick just couldn't figure out where he had seen such a madman – barefooted, dressed in remains of a straightjacket of all things, with greyish dishevelled hair on his head and in his moustache – and then he realized that the face behind the hair, the bone structure under the skin and behind the crazy eyes was actually very, very familiar – it was the face, the bone structure of the ARC's own PR agent, gender-bent.

Right now, though, this aforementioned PR agent was trembling like a leaf and trying her best to hide behind Nick or her scarf – whichever would work best in hiding her.

"Well, isn't this cozy – my own grand-niece is in such company," Jonas Lewis ground, as he ignored the falling English temperature and the cold and rough pavement underneath his feet. "Hello Jenny, glad to see you actually making it on time, though I wouldn't say the same for your company..."

Since Jenny was still hiding behind them and trying to make herself appear as small and inconspicuous as possible, Nick turned to Helen – after all, she was the saner one out of the two. "You know him?" he asked, trying to keep disgust out of his voice – after all, this man was apparently related to Jenny.

"Yes," Helen herself sounded partly exasperated and partly disgusted. "Jonas Lewis – Jenny's great-uncle had, what at the turn of the 20th century, was called a delicate psychological nature – or something like that. Once upon a time, he found a time anomaly and went through it, and had a mental breakdown, and died one million years in the past. Let's call this world Claudia-world, shall we? Now, after a certain misadventure with the future predators and gorgonopsids, I went back to that moment and prevented him from going through it. As a result, his mental breakdown took place here, he's been put into an appropriate institution, he lived for a long time...and instead of Claudia you have Jenny – a 50% different version... at most!"

"You mean without you he would have been dead and gone?" Jenny finally spoke up.

"Gone for a million years now," Helen nodded.

"Yes, yes, I would have been gone! I would have been free! But now – I have a second chance! I'll be free again! I'll be me again! I will be able to kill again!" Jonas put his (unwanted) two-bits in, as he jumped up and down on the spot in a rather unholy glee.

"Jonas," Helen kept her half-exasperated half-disgusted voice, "I agree that travelling back through time can have a rejuvenating effect on the body, but that is it. You may become young again, but this is a totally different time anomaly, leading to a very different place – not to Pliocene South America, you can believe it-"

"No! No!" Jonas shouted. "No more interferences, you witch! It's time for me to be me!"

He whirled around and ran into the messed-up mental hospital, presumably to the time anomaly. There was a deep, grunting sound like that of a pig – a really big pig, and Helen froze. "Oh no," she muttered "it just got worse. People – don't move!"

The next moment Jonas was flung back outside, hurt and bleeding, following by the woolly rhino that had done the actual hurting.

* * *

"Holy crap!" Connor whispered to Stephen. "This would be so cool if it wasn't going to hurt us!"

Stephen had to agree that Connor had a point. The rhino was covered in thick wool of various shades of reddish-brown colour from legs to the middle of its back, from the tip of its tail up to ears. The muzzle itself was much less furry and much lighter in colour and sprouted a pair of horns, just like the modern African rhinos, rather than a single horn like the Asian species. Yet, regardless of the similarities, one more thing really stood out about these horns – they were really, really flat like sabres, not cone-like like the modern rhinos' horns. But other than that and the wool, the Ice Age rhino seemed to be pretty much like the modern animals – big yet low-slung, near-sighted yet with a great senses of hearing and smell. And right now it smelt Caroline's dogs – and it didn't like it.

In an almost complete silence, the rhino began to hoof the ground and lower its head in a preparation to charge – and Caroline released the dogs' leashes, and the smaller animals instantly scattered apart, surrounding the rhino in a circle, ready to launch a counterattack. The rhino whirled around, trying to keep head first to the attacking animals, but the dogs constantly shifted, aiming for the not-as-formidable hindside and flanks. It was an impasse, and it got broken... by the recorded call of the ARC's mammoth.

Even though Becker, and Nick, and Jenny, and – well, all of the rest of ARC's field agents would later interrogate Becker's men regarding the identity of the doer, the man would remain unidentified – and that was good, because Becker and others, from Abby to James Lester to Stephen and the rest were ready to court-martial the unlucky sod for his actions:

The recorded mammoth's challenging cry caused the woolly rhino to attack instead.

* * *

It was amazing, really, in a rather painfully and deadly way. One moment the woolly rhinoceros was just whirled around, trying to pinpoint a single dog out of the pack at which to charge at, and the next moment it did charge – straight at the direction of the mammoth's recorded cry. Only the car from which the recorded cry had resounded was quite a bit lighter and shorter than a Columbian mammoth, and when the rhinoceros had charged and gored it – the machine was flung away after being toppled onto its' side, leaving skid marks and stench of burning rubber and what-not on the institution's driveway.

The dogs burst into angry barks, as they besieged and bit the bigger beast on all the sides (except for the front, of course), trying to lead it back closer to the building. Michael, as one of the biggest (and probably an unofficial leader due to Caroline's training anyways) managed to get so close enough to the woolly rhinoceros to bite it deeply in one of the ears – and the rhinoceros squealed almost like an oversized pig and whirled around, but Michael had jumped safely away from the dangerous horn...

Of course, the dogs weren't the only ones who took on the rambunctious rhino: Becker's men too had began to fire, but the animal's heavy fur, hard skin and thick layer of fat beneath it created a natural armour thick enough to take on the tranquilizer darts without any effect on the animal's behaviour... plus the men were afraid to shoot the dogs on accident: if one of them got hurt, then somehow – none of them doubted – Caroline wouldn't hesitate to criticize this sort of approach with her shotgun or whatever. Thus, the darts weren't coming as plentifully as they should have.

A sharp whistle suddenly broke that situation: Nick Cutter managed to manoeuvre himself between the prehistoric animal and the hole in the institution's hallway, and caught its' attention. Well, he actually tried to, but the animal reacted on the first go and charged straight at him – only to have Nick jump away just before its' horns. The rhinoceros, admittedly, tried to rotate, but Stephen by that time had his hands on Caroline's shotgun and discharged a load of rock salt from both barrels. If the rhinoceros had had any thoughts of whirling around and doing another run, the direct hit of rock salt had changed its' mind for good: with (rather porcine) squeals the woolly rhinoceros fled back into the Ice Age world.

Nick wiped sweat of his forehead, and glared at the rest of his people:

"Whose idea was it, to scare the rhinoceros with the challenge of one of its' main competitors, hmm?"

"Jenny, grand-niece Jenny," came a sudden, gasping, wheezing response.

* * *

There was a pause before Nick (and possibly others) realized that Jonas was not confessing his grand-niece of doing the daft deed, but rather talking to her directly, oblivious to the recent confrontation with the prehistoric rhinoceros or even his own wound. "Jenny, grand-niece Jenny," he muttered as he grasped his much-younger relative by her upper arms, "listen to me carefully. In that place, that sick and twisted metal place, lies an opportunity, a golden opportunity! It is a pathway to great strength, to freedom, to immortality! Twice I have been denied this, by that witch who stands behind you! Don't let her deny you as well! You're of my blood, Jenny, you're a Lewis! Seize the throat, seize the day!"

"Great-uncle Jonas, you're not quite yourself, you're too excited," Jenny tried to calm her relative down, but he wouldn't listen to her, growing more and more enthusiastic by moment.

"Don't give me that talk, Jenny, you know that I am sane! There's an entire new world, an entire fresh new world out there for the taking! You're of my blood, Jenny, you're a Lewis! Seize the throat, seize the day!"

Jenny was never particularly cowardly – she had, after all faced everything from primeval worms, to Ice Age rhinoceros, to Leek and his minions, but the sight of her great-uncle, his hair standing at an end and his eyes rolling wildly in their sockets was disturbing all the same.

"I think that that's enough, sir," Nick decided to intervene and grasped the older man's arms. Jonas shifted his gaze towards him, and the sight of those eyes convinced Nick that the older man clearly had a mental and nervous for a long time now.

"You, you – voodoo man, hoodoo man," Jonas wheezed, as he released Jenny and began to turn to Nick clearly with non-peaceful intent. "You, you-" Suddenly he stiffened and stared at someone, or rather something, behind Nick's back.

The herd of Irish elks came back.

* * *

As far as numbers went, Abby would later realize, the herd of the Irish elks wasn't particularly numerous – more than six but far less than twenty, which was the number of the herd of fallow deer in the zoo. Yet, as individually each of those animals was quite bigger and more massive than any fallow deer, it all evened out in the long run.

Meanwhile, the animals just looked around, nonchalantly standing and waving their heads, except for the stag of the herd, whose antlers were far too big and heavy for such undertaking. Suddenly, the animals took a collective sniff of the air, stiffened, and quickly trotted into the hole in the institution's doorway, vanishing there.

"What the-?" Abby muttered, as Caroline's dogs just began to howl.

"I think they have smelt death," Stephen sighed, as Nick realized that Jonas Lewis had died just in his arms, and couldn't help but drop him in hurry back on the cold street with a thump.

"Well!" Helen spoke up for the first time since they got to the time anomaly's site as she looked down at the deceased man. "Here, but the matter of time go I!"

"Excuse me," Danny Quinn chose this moment to come up to the live trio and one corpse, "but I just wanted to tell you that the bear has kind of left around the time that the rhinoceros came out. I think that the bigger animal had scared him into leaving or something."

"Well then! This only leaves the fox!" Helen said, turning to the younger field agents of the ARC, one of which, namely Abby, held a fox in her arms. "Is it going or staying?"

"I'll ask," Nick sighed and left Jenny and Helen on their own with detective-constable Danny Quinn.

"Jenny," Helen clearly had something of her own to say, "I want to tell you something."

* * *

"What?" Jenny turned to the other woman, not knowing exactly what to expect from her – their relationship as such was practically non-existent. "What do you want?"

"Almost a hundred years ago from this day, I have interfered in your family life," Helen said softly. "I did it – well, the reasons were irrelevant, they were selfish. I kept this colourful character in your family life, and thus have changed you – from inside, and the outside... well, you did that yourself, after a while. Since I am trying to make amends, well, I can amend that-"

Jenny shook her head. "No, no, please don't. Thanks, but I will figure the way out of this myself-" She paused. "Just for the record, can you do what you have done at the museum?"

"Yes, but this is the last time," Helen nodded slowly. "Next time when a time anomaly opens, you'll be the one doing damage control – from a public relations standpoint, of course."

"Of course," Jenny nodded, calming down, and paused. "Now what about that fox?"

* * *

"Abby – what about the fox?" Stephen asked sternly as the smallish animal was sitting promptly at Abby's feet, looking with innocence and curiosity. "You're going to carry it back into the time anomaly or what?"

"Well, probably – Connor and I cannot keep it at our house straightaway – what if it eats Rex or something?" Abby argued, but her heart wasn't quite in it.

"Well, maybe Caroline would loan us a spot at her kennels-"

"But she won't-"

"Sure I will – with a price equal to that of a dog of its' size," Caroline intervened with a slight eye roll. "Provided that you'll start caring for it as soon as possible, there won't be any problems-"

Meanwhile, Michael, the big Brazilian mastiff and now a veteran of the battle with the woolly rhinoceros, trotted over to his mistress and her... well, the dog didn't care what they were because they weren't enemies. And so, Michael trotted over to them and looked at the fox. The fox looked back at the dog and licked its' nose. Then it emitted a short bark, got onto its feet and quickly trotted into the depths of the ruined mental institution.

"Well," Connor blinked, "that was unexpected. Is it gone?"

"Yes, it is," Helen had trotted over to them in her soft, non-noticeable manner. "Now hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because this is going to be a bright one!"

The next moment the air itself appeared to have been lit with the chromatically white light of a time anomaly – this was a bright one indeed!

* * *

"I don't believe it – they did the second time now!" James Lester groaned as he looked at his static-infested TV. "Capturing, or whatever, of Helen Cutter, was supposed to make things easier and simpler, not keep them the same! Well, at least no strange new characters from her other life seemed to have make an appearance, so it balances out, somewhat. Still, those reports will better be some really good ones indeed!"

"Sir?"

"What is it, Lorraine?"

"Christine Johnson has come to speak to you in person."

"What?!"

* * *

"Well, that was different from the time at the museum," Jenny exclaimed some time later, as they were driving back from the mental institution. "Not to mention the sensation-"

"Don't get too excited," Helen said flatly. "This is the last time I'm doing this, as I have said earlier. Not unless the world is coming to an end literally or something like that."

"Fair enough," Nick began to speak, when Jenny spoke up.

"Nick – um. As you've seen, my great-uncle has died."

"Yes," Nick felt an extreme desire to wash his hands – again.

"Since – um, Nick would you come with me to his funeral? I, uh, don't really know anyone else as important to invite- to ask-"

"I don't have anything appropriate for such an occasion," Nick said slowly.

"What about-?" Jenny indicated Helen with a nod of her head.

"He never believed that I was dead, which I wasn't, so no sombre clothing," Helen shrugged. "Guess he'll have to buy it brand new."

"Oh, I can help with that," something rather unholy came into Jenny's eyes. "What do you say, Nick? Shall we go shopping tomorrow?"

"Yes," Nick nodded while looking to Helen for help. The anthropologist turned time traveller had turned away to look at the car's window and not noticed that.

"Oh good!" Jenny almost squealed with glee, save for the shade of her recently deceased relative that kind of cast a gloomy pallor over all.

But not as gloomy as some moments ago, not at all.

* * *

The drive in Caroline's car, conversely, was much more silent, as the driver and her passengers kept to themselves for a change, even Connor, as none of them wanted to talk this time. It wasn't that the memories were too raw – they were too recent and jumbled up as well, the personalities involved were too up and personal for them just to be satisfied with each other, and so, when the big van arrived at the driveway of the ARC, the situation was as bad in a different way as the one when they have left – and the fact that there were now some strange people in the Center didn't help matters either-

"Lester!" you didn't need to have some super-sensitive hearing to realize that the speaker was rather angry. "What's the meaning of this? It's twice now that your people have somehow messed up the city's TV and radio programs and waves and I don't know what else! Is this your idea-"

"It's not!" Lester's voice was protesting, oddly defensive. "In fact, professor Cutter has phoned me and told me very determinedly, that this is absolutely the last time it happens!"

"That man of yours is no better than you're yourself-"

A very loud and unexpected sound interrupted the stranger's monologue. Then there was a series of thuds – and a smell.

"Abby," Caroline grimaced as the dogs whined and retreated from the smell, "I think that that mammoth of yours has just farted and knocked Lester out with it."

Abby and Connor blanched.

* * *

"Ah, you're all back – all of you," James Lester glared, as he pressed a handkerchief to his nose with one hand and used the other to comb his hair. "So answer me this question – do you plan on destroying our news at such a high speed?"

"No – not unless the world is falling apart and it's the time of the second coming," Helen shrugged and looked down at Christine Johnson. "Shouldn't someone wake her up or something?"

"In a moment," Lester nodded, as a canny look came into his eyes – and froze. "What's with Ms. Lewis? Has someone died?"

"My great-uncle," Jenny nodded. "The funeral is next week."

"Oh. Well," Lester faltered, but then made a gamely attempt of recovering. "Anyways, do not wake Ms. Johnson just yet. She-" he paused. "I have a plan of how to take advantage on this state, and for the record, someone call a veterinary to see the mammoth. That kind of smell is just plain wrong!"

"Of course it is," Helen shrugged. "It's not a modern elephant; it's not supposed to eat, say, carrots and beets."

"Well, what it's supposed to eat? Grasses?" Abby glared at the older woman.

"Yes, and also such fruits as the Osage-oranges and honey locust and conifer needles," Helen shrugged. "It's an American animal – it doesn't function in Europe all that well."

"Yes, well as fascinating as that is," James Lester interrupted the talking women, "we have a different issue to deal with. Ms. Steele, I believe you wanted job security?"

"Does it mean that you're hiring me full time? Fine, but if you try to cheat me, I am so taking you to court that it won't even be fine," Caroline shrugged and left in the direction of the kennels.

"James – just how will you be able to afford this?" Jenny asked.

James Lester grinned. "I plan to take advantages of Johnson's current state – that's how. The woman was driving me to tearing out my hair about her complains," his lips pursed. "She thinks that she is all that – but she's not!"

"Lester-"

"Look," Lester snapped, "between Ms. Steele's ultimatums, your own individual little demands, and even the damn mammoth, I've been backed into a financial corner, and now that I have a stone that just may be able to kill all of those birds at once! So if you don't mind-" he helped the still dizzy and semi-conscious Christine Johnson onto her feet and led her in the direction of his office with nary a word.

Silence followed.

"I really hope that Lester knows that what he is doing," was all that Nick Cutter said.

To be continued...