Chapter XXIV: Operation: Saving the World Pt. 1

The early morning sun shone through the trees of the Forest of Dean, even though it was still a cold September day.

This is where it all started. How fitting it should end here. Nick thought nervously. He was having second thoughts. What if we mess up and make it even worse? What if I have my facts wrong and the world's not heading for destruction? He knew his facts were right, but that didn't stop the second-guessing.

He glanced behind him and saw Jenny and Danny talking. They could've had a wonderful life together. As much as I love Claudia, I'm still gonna miss Jenny, a lot. He glanced around at everybody else who had come. They were all there: Lester, Becker, Sarah, Connor, Abby, Stephen, Danny, and Jenny, and hopefully soon, Claudia.

Those who had been chosen to bring Claudia back were Nick, Connor, Abby and Becker, Stephen was not pleased, thinking he should go instead of Becker. But Lester painfully reminded him that he had not fully recovered from his near-fatal bite, so Stephen reluctantly stepped down.

Connor said they had to do this quick. He would have to keep the anomaly open so they wouldn't become trapped with a dead AC and no anomaly in a dangerous place: The Forest of Dean during a temporal shift. Nick walked over to Jenny and sadly they shared their goodbyes. Nick saw a tear slide down her cheek.

"You sure you want us to go through with this?"

"Yes, Nick, I don't want to be a copy of someone else any more. I want this more than anything, even if it doesn't look like it." She wiped the tear away and shook her blonde head.

Cutter, Abby, Connor and Becker stood in front of the open anomaly. Finally, after one last look at Jenny, Nick stepped through, followed by the rest.

It was afternoon when they stepped through. Connor confirmed that they were in the separate dimension. Thankfully, the anomaly was opened in such a spot that it could not be easily spotted from anyone not part of them. After walking a ways they were able to spot the camp set up two years ago. Nick's heart leapt at the sight of Claudia, her lovely auburn hair dancing in waves around her shoulders, worry clearly shown on her face of the Nick that had gone through the anomaly.

"We need to find out what happens to Claudia." Nick opened his hand and Connor placed a tiny tracking device that was hooked up to the anomaly creator.

"You sure you can find out what happens with this?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I made it myself." Nick tried not to frown, considering that the first trial runs of both the ADD and the Anomaly Sealer were both failures. Connor continued

"We just have to get this onto Claudia or her clothing." Suddenly, Cutter was glad Becker had come along.

"Connor, why don't you and Abby return to the anomaly and make sure it's still stable." As they rushed off to fulfill his order he pulled Becker aside.

"I want to do another rescue as well." Cutter knew no one would recognize Becker; he was wearing nearly the same uniform as Captain Ryan and his men.

Understanding what he had to do, Becker took the tracking device from Cutter and walked into the camp. He went up behind Claudia and snapped the tracker to the bottom of her white jacket. She obviously felt something because she turned around to face him.

"Do I know you?" Behind the trees, Cutter chuckled at her bluntness.

"Umm, Miss Brown, Captain Ryan told me to tell you. . ." he stopped, just as he had planned, and stared at the anomaly in mock horror.

"What?" Claudia's fear over Nick made her forget about not recognizing Becker.

"Something just went through the anomaly." He grabbed his gun and ran towards it shouting "Stay here, don't let anybody else go through!" he desperately hoped they would follow his warning.

"What is he doing?" Connor whispered loudly to Cutter. Abby crouched beside him, mirroring his look of worry. They had both seen Becker rush for the anomaly. Nick shrugged.

"Oh, just a little side-mission, shouldn't take too long." Cutter had full faith in Becker's ability to complete the task he had given him.

Becker gazed around at the area he had been told was the Permian in wonder. It was as beautiful as he had imagined. He saw human tracks and followed them until he saw who he was looking for.

Captain Tom Ryan stood by himself, looking for anything that would look like a future anomaly. Captain Becker sneaked up behind him and hit him in the back of his head using the butt of his gun with a force powerful enough to fell him first blow.

The strong man who was able to take a punch directly in the face from Nick Cutter fell to the ground.