The Curse
Spoilers: Season 3 onwards
A/N: This story is different from my 'Saving' series of stories. I liked the idea of Connor being a twin, so have brought his brother back, to avoid confusion in this story I have called him Ashley. The Other Characters, whilst are actors, have all been created by me and belong to me.
Thanks go to Basched for the Beta reading I have made changes since she read this so any other errors are all mine. This story will be turning AU very quickly in to the story, be prepared for the impossible to happen!
Warning - Core Character death!
Chapter 4
Lester watched as Ashley was brought back to the ARC. He was shivering continuously, and someone had given him a blanket to keep him warm.
"Where's C-C-Connor?" The young soldier shook with cold.
"Are you and Connor brothers?" Lester pursed his lips into a thin line.
Ash looked at his boss, it was clear that Lester knew, that he had put the information he had together and come up with the truth. Connor was his twin and he was experiencing the extreme cold that Connor was feeling. He turned and stared through the glass of the wrecked lab.
"Come on Connor give us a sign." Ash spoke aloud, hoping his brother could hear him. He glanced at the temperature gauge, minus thirty and still going down. He felt the cold even more now.
"It's dying." Lester stated, and Ash watched as the fungus withered away.
Ash knew, even before Connor had given a thumb up signal that he was still ok. He rushed inside the lab himself once Lester had given the go ahead to get him. This was his brother and he was not going to let him down. Taking off his own blanket, he wrapped it around his younger brother. He would warm up himself once Connor was feeling better.
He gave Connor a hot drink and he began rushing around the building preparing the atrium, setting out huge tubes to make the room as cold as possible. Within minutes, he felt himself getting warmer.
Soon Connor was moving around too, he was wearing a thick coat and he had the look of a little child as he rushed around excitedly.
"It's working!" He smiled at the man who had given him a blanket and a coat to wear. "Soon this place is going to be colder than the North Pole!"
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-o-o-o-
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Ash followed Connor as he rang Danny; he was telling him to keep the creature in isolation for as long as possible.
"Eh?" Connor froze mid conversation. He looked up to him, "They've lost the creature."
"Oh fuck!" Ash swore. "What do we do now?"
"Wait for Danny I suppose." Connor began to rack his brains, while Danny, Jenny Becker and Abby, made their way towards them.
Ash stood alongside Becker, Danny, Jenny, and Abby.
"Guys listen up, we need to find the creature, it'll be hiding somewhere dark, and we need to force it down this corridor and into the main operations room."
"How do we do that?" Abby asked.
"Freezing carbon dioxide!"
Ash grinned; his brother certainly was the clever one! He had an answer for everything including where they were going to get the carbon dioxide.
"There are three canisters in the operations area." Abby shouted. Ash followed Abby and Jenny into the operations area.
They managed to retrieve them when Jenny's phone rang.
"You two carry on, I'll be there in a minute." Jenny ordered, unaware that she didn't have any time at all, that the fungus-man was above her right this minute and it wouldn't take long for the creature to kill her.
She turned slowly to see the huge animal behind her. If she didn't get out of there and fast, she would die.
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-o-o-o-
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Ash watched Abby as she shouted at something. Curiously, he went up behind her and found what she was looking at.
Jenny was still in the operations area and the creature was right behind her. He watched as she sprayed the creature.
Ash melted into the background as the others entered the room, he was tingling, and the feeling usually brought about a change in him that he didn't want to experience right now. He tried to subdue his inner animal instincts. He didn't need them right now, not in front of the new team, but he was fighting a losing battle.
Not able to control himself any longer, he moved away from Lester, Danny, Becker, Connor, and Abby. He went into the corridor and away from the operations room.
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-o-o-o-
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Danny could bare it no longer, he needed to do something; Jenny was going to die! He rushed into the operations room holding a canister of carbon dioxide. He encouraged the creature to come after him.
Suddenly, from nowhere, a wolf appeared; it began snarling and barking at the creature, who tried to catch it. The creature was slow, and its large feet slowing it down. The wolf was fast, almost running circles around it, managing to keep the creature away from both Danny and Jenny.
Soon the fungus-man began to slow down, the cold air around it was working and it was dying, then it stopped completely, crumbling away into nothing.
The wolf shrank into the shadows once more, as the team gathered around Jenny.
"Where's that dog gone?" Lester questioned.
"You have some wonderful pets around here Lester." Danny smirked, "Where is that wolf? I'd like to say thanks."
Lester sent McDonalds on an errand to find the wolf as quickly as he could, He didn't want loose animals running around the ARC.
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-o-o-o-
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The team waited until the fungus growing on Jenny died; quickly they took her into one of the rooms to the side of the Operations area and began to resuscitate her.
Ash burst into the room alongside them, his Kevlar vest and buttons to his shirt undone. He had brought the breathing apparatus.
"Not again, not again," Connor muttered. Ash could clearly see that he was anxious and he felt Connor's concern for the woman. He knew that his brother was distressed and he did not want Jenny to die.
He waited as Abby checked her pulse. Danny grabbed her hand and rubbed it furiously.
Medics arrived quickly and wheeled Jenny away, trying hard to kick-start her breathing along the way. The whole team followed her trolley up to the medical wing, praying that she would survive.
It was too soon, they had only just buried Professor Nick Cutter and to lose Jenny too would be disastrous.
Fifteen minutes after Jenny was taken to the emergency room, a doctor came out. Quietly he took Lester into a side room to chat.
They spoke in hushed tones, and no one could make out what the young doctor was saying. Whatever it was, it did not bode well, because the young doctor left after a few moments leaving Lester, ashen faced, sitting in a chair against a wall.
Slowly Lester stood, and he called everyone into the small room. Once Becker, Connor, Abby, Sarah, Justin and Ashley had gathered inside the small room, he told them of Jenny's untimely demise.
Becker stood with his back and head against a wall, his knee casually bent with his foot resting against the wall. Sarah and Abby clutched at each other unable to take in the dreadful news and Connor was the one who stepped closer to the women and taking them under each arm he hugged them, letting them bury their faces into his shoulders, as they wept.
He too found the news terribly distressing, tears rolled down his face unashamedly. He and Abby had worked with Jenny for a long time and her loss reminded them of how fatal the job could be. It had only been a matter of a few weeks, and now Jenny was gone too.
Connor really wanted to tell Abby how much he loved her, that he wanted to be with her, but now was not the time. He decided he would wait until after the funeral.
"I'm sorry," Lester blinked and left the room, a static mask descending on his face. He did not want his staff thinking that he cared.
He turned to Danny and beckoned him to follow before walking slowly back to his office.
Danny could not understand what was going on, he wanted to know if Jenny was going to be OK.
Lester asked Danny to wait in the corridor outside his office.
Sauntering in, he reached into the depths of his filing cabinet pulling out a hidden bottle of whiskey, and a glass. Pouring two fingers, he rang Christine and asked to meet her as soon as possible.
He was sad to see Jenny die in this manner, she had been one of the best PR people he had ever had and probably there would never be anyone like her. She was one of the best and he had enjoyed having her work under him. Lester's heart sank but he tried hard not to let it show. Jenny had been a mere shadow of herself since Cutter's death, and maybe Quinn's arrival was not such a bad thing.
He drank all of it in one go, the amber liquid burned, as it slid down his throat giving him a small amount of courage, enough to carry on. With gloomy feelings in his heart, he called Danny into his office.
"Sit down." He ordered, and repeated himself when Danny didn't comply.
Danny huffed and slouched down in the available chair.
"Is Jenny going to be OK?"
"Jenny Lewis died twenty minutes ago..." Lester tried to sound as stoic as he could, but he was struggling, any moment now his emotional barriers were going to fall and tears were going to flood out.
Danny buried his face in his hands; he had begun to like Jenny. She was smart; or rather she had been smart. He found it hard to accept she was dead, was never going to come back. He began to wonder if Jenny had lived would they have ever had a chance to be together.
Danny stood and wandered aimlessly down to the atrium. Now he realised why Lester had asked if he still wanted the job.
Sadly he joined Ash, Becker, and Sarah. They were huddled together whilst Connor had his arm around Abby as she wept over the loss of her friend.
Stephen's death had been hard, Cutter's death was even harder, but this was harder than both of them put together and her death so soon after Nick's was unbearable.
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-o-o-o-
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Christine glowered as she was led into the main atrium, her friend and colleague had died today, Lester was being uncooperative, and she was not happy.
"I'm glad you could join us at such short notice, I wanted you to know... Jenny Lewis died today," he waited for a reaction to this terrible news and he was saddened, when none came, but he continued. "You were right; I do need a man just like Captain Wilder to take over Cutter's job." Lester sighed as he thought to himself, 'heartless bitch!'
"I'm glad you came round to my way of thinking," Christine smiled, at last one of her own trusted men working inside the ARC.
"Oh no, I didn't mean Wilder himself! Oh no, he's doing a far more vital a job on your own staff, but you see Danny Quinn here, is just like him; he has just the right qualifications for the job: Background in the police, management skills, and firearms training ... The perfect choice, I've already cleared it with the minister."
Slowly she walked up to the chosen man, she would have rather Lester had chosen Wilder or Ashley. She didn't trust Danny Quinn... Not one bit!
"Congratulations... I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." She smiled, her action not quite reaching her eyes.
The team; saddened by Jenny's death still gathered around Danny and gave him the warmest welcome they could, considering the circumstances.
Danny felt as if even though he had managed to reach his goal, without Jenny everything seemed meaningless.
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-o-o-o-
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Ash was assigned security gate duty for the rest of the day and was surprised to see Christine's car approach and be waved in. McDonalds told him that Lester had requested a meeting with her, and she had come straight away.
He had not known Jenny well, but he was sure what he was feeling just had to be Connor, his brother's grief manifested itself once more and Ashley felt his heart breaking. He almost collapsed, let himself feel what Connor was feeling, but he shook his head and like his father had told him yesterday, he tried to lock it away, so he could deal with it later.
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-o-o-o-
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Abby opened the door to her flat; she heard laughter coming from inside, then a squawk that sounded like Rex, and something falling off a shelf.
She frowned, what was Jack up to. Silently she walked in; Jack and his friends were too busy trying to catch the flying lizard to notice that she had come in.
Suddenly she flew into a rage, a rage she couldn't control; she normally tried to keep calm, but this time she lost it, lost it completely. Jack and his mates were chasing the Rex around her flat, trying unsuccessfully to catch him.
"Rex!" She called and the little lizard flew straight into her arms.
Abby saw the playing cards on the table, and heard the exchange between Jack and the other boys; it seemed as if he had gambled Rex away in a card game. Her rage went up a notch and then the playing cards began smouldering and caught fire, there was nothing to start the fire, but they seemed to just start smoking and burst into flame.
She turned to glare at her brother and his friends.
Jack had seen this look before, it was not a look he liked, and he had only seen her do this once before when she was angry and he dared not cross her path again.
"Give us the lizard love, I won him in a bet," the dark haired boy approached her with his arms outstretched.
"No," she shouted and in mid air she pushed him away. Her hand had not connected with his body, but he seemed to fly backwards into the sofa behind him.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll get out of here, and you'll leave Rex alone." She spat angrily.
"I'll just collect my money, and I'll go," he stuttered, astonished as to what had just happened and he reached for the money that lay on the table.
Abby glared and raised her hand, fingers reaching out in the direction of the money. Suddenly it began to rise, floating magically in the air. The boy screamed.
"Keep your money, I don't want it," instead the boy grabbed his jacket and fled, his accomplices running behind him.
Jack cowered behind a sofa, wondering what his sister was going to do next, she did not look happy and Jack did not want to incur anymore of her wrath.
Abby knew Jack was hiding, and she knew if she spoke to him now, she would say something that she would regret.
Instead she took Rex to her room, and laid him on the bed before coming out and shutting the door behind her. She angrily stomped upstairs to the loft where Jack had taken over Connor's old room.
She walked into his room, and raising her hand she willed all his things together.
Various objects flew around the room magically to land in a heap on the bed, socks, shirts and jeans. Still fuming she grasped the clothes which floated in the air, and shoved them untidily into a rucksack.
Grabbing his bag, she thundered down the stairs to where Jack was still cowering behind a sofa.
"GET OUT!" She thundered, shouting at the top of her lungs. "I never want to see you again! I gave you a home, a place to stay, and you gamble away my things and then you expect me to still keep you around! Well not anymore! I've had enough of you, you're not my real brother and I don't have to keep you around! Get out!" She stomped over to the door and opened it throwing his bag to the floor by her feet.
Red faced, Jack came out, he had expected things to be strange around her, but this was cold. He never expected this from Abby. She was supposed to be his sister; he knew he too had been adopted, but the reminder that they were not related hurt more than she would ever know. He had let her down, in a big way too.
He hung his head as he trudged to the door grabbing his jacket as he did so. He bent down to pick up his rucksack slowly he raised his eyes to meet hers and the sheer contempt that he saw in them made him leave without another word. For the first time in his life Jack was truly on his own, and it was his entire fault. As he stepped over the threshold, he turned to face her once more.
"Goodbye Jack." She muttered before closing it.
Abby was about to storm up to her bedroom to let Rex out, when an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness overcame her. She turned and sat on the steps of the stairs.
She heard her bedroom door being nudged open and she wondered if she had willed the door open or if it had opened by itself. Abby had always been very aware of her magical abilities, sometimes they scared her beyond belief. The fires which started of their own accord, things flying across the room when she was angry, being able to hear animals talk, all of these things made her worry, and so she suppressed her feelings, trying to control what she said and did. She had tried hard to keep her skill hidden from the world, but today she had lost control.
She heard Rex chittering, as the little lizard managed to squeeze through the tiny gap, he flew into the rafters wanting to be away from all the fuss.
Then the little dinosaur heard something he had heard the day the other blonde haired human had moved in, the same day that his favourite dark haired human had moved out - the sound of someone weeping. Slowly he edged out trying to catch a glimpse of the people in the flat. He could only see Abby.
Silent tears dripped down her face at first; then she buried her face in her hands and began to crying. She heard a flapping in the flat and knew that Rex had managed to get out of her bedroom and up into the rafters. She heard more fluttering and flapping as he flew down to sit next to her. Slowly he climbed into her willing arms, as she cuddled him.
He nuzzled her neck trying hard to cheer her up.
"Don't worry Abby, He's gone now." Rex chirruped.
"Maybe you should go and find Connor, he'll make things better." Rex chittered.
Abby blinked. She had always understood the creatures better than she could humans. It was as if she shared a special connection with them. Almost as if she could understand what they were saying to her. She recalled the day when Manny the Mammoth had been trapped on the wrong side of an anomaly. She had heard the prehistoric elephant calling out to his mate in a panic, and then his dismay when he couldn't smell his companions as he was trapped on the wrong side of the anomaly.
Abby thought she'd had a wonderful idea of going to find Connor. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she went out again in search of Connor. She wondered if he would still be at the ARC, and started her search there.
Upon arriving she caught Becker going home, and when she questioned him as to Connor's whereabouts, she was told that Connor had left ten minutes ago with Ash.
"Damn! I've missed him." She muttered sadly. Grief overcame her once more, and sitting behind the steering wheel of her car, she began to weep.
Nick was dead, Jenny was dead, Connor was not around and she had never felt as alone in her life as she did now.
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-o-o-o-
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Well... The end of Chapter 4...
Have any of you figured out what is going to happen to Connor?
Where does Abby fit in?
Why is Ashley behaving strangely?
