"Everybody's watching you now, everybody waits for you now. What happens next?" ~Switchfoot
Lester's P.O.V.
"Alright, since Lester's too busy brooding at you, I'll ask: What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" Nick asked James, and I turned to glare at him. I was not brooding, I was simply trying to figure out how he'd found this place.
"I intentionally pushed his shoulder and I slid a microchip under the collar of his suit jacket. It's a tracking device. I followed the coordinates here and now I want to know what this place is," he said simply, crossing his arms and leaning back on his heels. Uh oh. That was his not-taking-an-for-an-answer pose. He was too hardheaded for his own good.
"That was stupid. Clever, but really, really stupid," Danny said, speaking for the first time since James had shown up.
"Ask me if I care. I want to know what the hell's up with this place," he said simply, walking forward and looking Danny dead in the eye, clearly challenging him.
"I think you need to leave," Danny said in a deadly controlled whisper.
"Oh for god's sake this is not the time to play alpha idiot!" I yelled, my temper breaking.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Jenny looked over at me worriedly, and Connor's eyebrows went up. Well, it wasn't my fault that my son had a way of playing with my temper. We're both far too stubborn to get along.
"I really hate to say it, but Lester's right. Let's just calm down and figure this out like adults," Nick said in a calming tone.
I smiled slightly, happy to have had the recorder on my phone on. The minute he'd said "I really hate to say it," I'd assumed it would have something to do with me being right.
"What are you so happy about?" Nick asked, giving me an irritated look.
"I have my new ringtone," I said, holding up my phone and clicking the button to play it.
"Lester's right," Nick's voice said. Jenny choked back a laugh and pulled out her mobile, dialing my number to test it out. Connor tried to cover his laugh with a very fake cough when Nick's voice yet again said "Lester's right."
"Do you all act like idiots all the time or is this reserved for visitors?" James asked, putting his hands in his pockets and glancing between us all.
"No, it's reserved for extremely annoying sons that show up at the worst time possible," I snapped, tucking my phone back into my jacket. He narrowed his eyes at me and sneered, folding his arms over his chest.
"So, no one ever got around to answering me. What goes on in this place?" he asked, looking around at the team.
"We cannot and will not tell you," Becker said simply, lifting his eyebrows.
"You can and you will. Nobody likes me, so I don't have any friends to tell," he said, giving a triumphant smirk.
"Gee, I wonder why no one likes you," I muttered under my breath.
"What could it hurt?" Sarah, ever the optimistic, said.
"Shall I recite the list or have someone type it up?" I said, lifting an eyebrow.
"Lester, he obviously isn't going to give up until we tell him. Why don't we just save ourselves the heartache and go ahead and fess up?" Abby added.
"'Fess up?' You teenagers and your slang," I muttered.
"I am not a teenager, I am a college graduate!" she said defensively.
"That is not the point. The point is we can't tell him," I said, looking over at Jenny, who was always the first to back me up.
"He's right, guys. One little slip to anyone, and the media gets a hold of it, and we're dead. We were trusted with this job because we can keep it a secret, which means we are not telling this boy about what we do here," she said, tossing her hair with finalization. James scoffed at the "boy" bit, but otherwise remained silent, waiting for the rest of the team's reactions.
"Hey, what about me? I was a civilian and I ended up working here," Danny said, and Jenny glared at him with a you're-supposed-to-be-on-my-side look.
"James is just a kid," I pointed out.
"I am not 'just a kid.' I am twenty-four years old," he spat back.
"He's too young to be a part of this," Jenny said.
"I'm only twenty-three," Connor said, lifting his eyebrows. Jenny and I both shot him looks that said he was so not helping.
"I say we put it to a vote-" Sarah began.
"We cannot put the possible fate of our careers to a vote!" Jenny cried, looking tired and distraught.
"She's right," Nick interrupted. "Let's do it. All in favor of telling James about the ARC raise your hand," he said much to mine and Jenny's shock.
Connor, Abby, Danny, Sarah, and Nick's hands went up, and James smiled widely, looking as cocky and self assured as ever.
"All in favor of not telling him, raise your hand," Nick said, crossing his arms. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever done, I thought, but still lifted my hand.
Mine, Jenny, Claudia, Stephen, and Becker's hands all went up, and the wind went right out of James's sails. He glanced between the two groups, eyebrows lifted.
"It would appear we are in need of a tie breaker," he said, leaning back against the wall. I remained silent, simply because sadly, he was right.
"How about we tell him what we do and then let him decide if he still wants to join?" Abby said, shrugging.
"The issue is not him joining, the issue is him knowing," Claudia replied. Nick, even though he was on a different side, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I bit back a laugh when James made a gagging motion, which was exactly what I wanted to do.
"So what are we going to do then?" Danny said, ignoring James.
"With these new anomalies opening, we need all the help we can get, and he seems like a smart kid. I say we let him in," Nick said, and even the most cynical of the group (which was mainly me) couldn't disagree with the logic.
I sighed. "Fine, fine," I said, walking over to James. Jenny looked aghast, but I just gave her a head nod that said I knew what I was doing. James and I looked at each other a long time before I finally spoke.
"Welcome to the team."
Jenny's P.O.V.
After thirty minutes of showing James (the sequel) around the ARC, I was ready to pull my hair out. He had a smartass comment for everything. Talk about like father like son. If it was possible, James The Sequel was even more sarcastic than the original.
"So far my favorite room is the armory," he said as we made our way back to the main room.
"Ah. Of course. All of the men go for the gun room," I sighed, shaking my head.
"Not all. I doubt Dad even knows how to shoot a gun," he scoffed.
"Actually, he can. Once, over two years ago, a traitor let a future predator loose on James and he was completely alone in the ARC when it happened. He had to fight it off with a rapid-fire military rifle," I explained.
Nick had wanted James to explain how the attack had taken place, and we were all a bit surprised at how well he'd handled himself. I shuddered at the thought of that predator getting him. I had seen the bodies after predators got them, and I couldn't imagine finding James in that condition.
"And speaking of traitors, let me explain something to you. If I find out you leaked this to anyone, not only will you never set foot in the ARC again, but I will make sure your life is a living hell," I said curtly.
"Got it," he said, leaning against the table that held the A.D.D. He had a cocky smile on his face, and it seemed permanently fixed there.
"So, who's single around here?" he asked, glancing around the room.
"Ask someone who cares," I said, walking off to find Danny, but Sarah told me him and Becker were in the armory. I nodded and leaned against the railing of the ramp that led to the upper offices. I was just about to go to my office to find something to do when the familiar, shrill ringing of the Anomaly Detector reached my ears.
"Alright, James The Second, welcome to your first field experience," I said.
"Can't wait," he said sarcastically, going into the armory and grabbing a large rifle and a tranquilizer gun.
"Do you even know how to shoot those things?" I asked skeptically.
"I've been able to shoot a gun since I was fourteen," he said, walking out of the armory with Stephen and Becker.
"The anomaly's in…oh my god," Connor said as I walked through the main room.
"Where is it?" I asked.
"The British Library."
I felt my eyes widen slightly, and I took off up the ramp and into James's office.
"James, are you coming?" I asked, walking into his office. He was doing paperwork, as usual.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Because you said you would help us. Now come on, get yourself a gun and let's go," I said, leaving his office without another word.
For once, he actually listened. He begrudgingly armed himself with the same rifle he'd used against the predator, and simply scoffed at me when I told him we like to try to tranquilize them before resulting to killing.
"If some prehistoric creature attacks me, I am going to shoot it. If you have a problem with that, let me go back to my office," he said simply.
"Fine, but if you get an earful from Nick about messing with workings of the universe, then don't say I didn't warn you," I said as I got into the truck. He slid into the driver's seat after putting the rifle in the back, and I handed him the key.
Becker and Stephen were in one truck, Abby and Connor were in one, Nick and Claudia were in one, and Danny and James The Second were in the other.
"I can't believe there is an anomaly in one of the most highly populated places in London," I said, shaking my head.
I internally groaned when I thought of all the witnesses and how much I would have to cover up with media, not to mention how many casualties there would be. It was the most recognized research library in London.
When we arrived, I got a sick feeling at the sight of the screaming students running from the building. As usual, they screamed "Monster!" and "Beast!" Could no one think of anything more original?
We went in, fully armed, and Connor came up and told us that an entire herd of Acrocanthosauruses were on the loose.
"A herd of whats?" James asked, brow furrowed.
"Very large carnivores from the early Crustaceous period," he said as he took off again.
"Wonderful. How very wonderful," I said, immediately setting off to get the building evacuated.
I wasn't even to the main office when someone shoved me down, and I looked up to see three Acrocanthosauruses surrounding me and James, who had pushed me down. We got to our feet and stood back to back, guns cocked and at the ready. They edged closer, and I felt the report from James's rifle shake our bodies. He shot until the one closest to us fell, and I began firing at the other two.
"We're going to be fine," I said, not knowing which one of us I was trying to reassure.
"Somehow I doubt it."
Well, so much for optimism.
Connor
As I walked slowly down the aisle between two bookcases, I wondered anxiously where Abby was. These things were huge, and there were mean. I knew she could take care of herself, but I still worried myself sick.
I snapped my head up at the sound of a heavy footstep behind me, and I felt the blood leave my face when I realized that nothing human had made the noise. When I looked up, trembling, I was staring up into the eyes of a Acrocanthosaurus.
Then it all went black.
"As my life flashes before my eyes, I'm wondering will I ever see another sunrise." ~Rihanna
Author's Note:
First off, let me say sorry for how boring this chapter is! This is more of a filler than anything, but the next chapter highlights more of the Connor/Abby/Stephen and Danny/Jenny/Lester triangles, and also will have some Nick/Claudia.
As always, thanks to all of my amazing readers!
