"How's it going?"
"I've still got ways to go in terms of cleaning it up," said Sofi. "But, I do think I may have found something."
"What is it?" Connor asked.
Sofi handed over her notebook, revealing a series of numbers on the page. "It looks to be some kind of code," she said.
"But to what?" Connor asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," said Sofi. She blinked and looked up as she heard a small squeaking noise, followed by a heavy thud and found Connor laying on the floor. She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.
"Do you remember Jack?"
"Jack?"
"Jack, with Abby?"
"Oh, yeah, did you ever find out who he was?"
Connor nodded. "He's her little brother," he answered. "Anyway, long story short, he's staying with Abby at the flat, which means Sid, Nancy and I have to... what?" he asked, trailing off as Sofi's eyes glistened with tears.
"You called them Sid and Nancy."
"Oh, yeah," said Connor, realising why she was crying. Sid and Nancy had been the last nicknames that Cutter had given himself and Abby before he had died. Hugging Sofi tightly, Connor pulled back and rubbed her shoulders.
"You better find him before Lester finds out," said Sofi. "He'll kill you."
"You keep Topaz here," Connor said, heading out of the lab.
"In a cage under my desk," said Sofi. "He's not running amok through the ARC."
Connor nodded and skirted passed Ryan as the Captain arrived at the lab.
"What's he up to?" Ryan asked.
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," Sofi said, dabbing away the tears on her face. She took a deep breath and turned back to the artefact, squeezing a stream of chloride solution over the grime and watching it melt away. She used a scrapping tool to clear the muck that lingered in the crevices.
"Have you figured out what this stuff is yet?" Ryan asked, leaning against the table opposite her. He was indicating to the black and grey sludge on the table. "I'm going to take a guess and say it's not mud."
"You'd be right," said Sofi. She flipped back to a previous page in her notebook, and then pushed it across the table toward him. "It's Selenium."
"Come again?"
"A non-metal chemical with properties of sulfur and tellurium, but also has similarities to arsenic, too."
"Science nerd," Ryan teased.
Sofi laughed and met his gaze.
"You okay?"
Considering I spilt my coffee and then burst into tears, I'd say no," said Sofi. "I'm scared that I'm never going to be the same as I was before. Dr Bennett said that I have to work through the stages of grief - I'm supposedly at the reflection and loneliness stage."
"You're not alone, Sof," said Ryan, gently.
Sofi nodded. "I know that physically, but mentally?" she shook her head. "Nick was more than just my professor, Ryan, he was one of my best friends. I could go to him for literally anything, and trust him to not say a word of it to anyone without asking him not too."
"You can do that with me."
"But it's not the same," said Sofi. "I trust you with my life, but the bond Nick and I shared couldn't be replicated or replaced. He reminded me so much of my dad. He believed in all my theories, pushed me to put them into practice, respected me enough to let me have my own opinion, even if it was different from his."
Ryan watched as Sofi looked down at her work. He could tell she was trying her hardest to keep it together, but she had started to tremble and the grip on her tools had tightened. He sighed, pushed off the table and walked around to her, pulling her into his arms.
"I'm interrupting."
Sofi peered over Ryan's shoulder and then pulled away. Jenny stood in the doorway to the lab.
"No, it's okay," said Sofi, shaking her head. "What do you need?"
"I just needed to give you this," said Jenny, sliding a worn journal across the table. It was found in Cutter's things, and after reading a few pages I realised he left it for you. He thought very highly of you, Sof, and he believed that you could do anything. I'll leave you to get back to work now." She turned away.
"Hey, Jenny," Sofi called.
"Yeah?" Jenny asked, turning back.
"Thank you," Sofi smiled.
Jenny smiled back and then left completely.
Sofi stared at the journal. She lifted it carefully from the table, afraid that if she held it too tightly then it would disintegrate or disappear. She slid her finger under the cover. almost afraid to turn to the first page. Did she want to see what Nick had written? Had he written a goodbye letter? Did she want the last remembrance of Nick to be the last words he had ever written?
"What's she doing here?" Ryan asked.
Sofi looked up and saw that he was staring out the window into the Ops area. She followed his gaze and saw Christine Johnson, Captain Wilder, and a man she didn't recognise loitering around near the detector. "Crap," she muttered, dropping the journal and removing the artefact from the table. She stored it out of sight, just as Christine glanced her way.
Christine smiled and disappeared from view, only to appear minutes later on the threshold of the lab. "Sofi, a pleasure to see you again," she said.
"Wish I could say the feeling is mutual," said Sofi. "What are you doing here?"
"Meeting with James."
"Let me guess, trying to manipulate a loophole and get your claws into the ARC?"
Christine's eyes glittered with amusement.
"Let's not pretend that you care about us," Sofi added. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
"Christine," Lester said, appearing behind Johnson. "My office is this way." He led her away from the lab, and Sofi swung the door closed on Wilder and his friend; she then turned to the window and opened a panel on the wall, inputted a four-digit code, and watched as the glass was glossed over with a holographic image.
Ryan quirked an eyebrow.
"I had Connor put it in after the explosion," said Sofi. "It's like the two-way windows in the interrogation rooms. We can see out, but no one can see in."
Ryan nodded and watched as Sofi set the artefact back up on the table. "I'll let you get back to work," he said, pressing a kiss to her head.
"Okay," said Sofi. She watched as he left and then returned her attention to her work. She only had a few more pieces of the artefact to clean up, and then the real research could begin.
~X~
At least an hour later, Sofi was drawn out of the lab by the alarms ringing loudly. She furrowed her brow and headed into the main Ops room, surprised to find Danny Quinn gearing up in a biohazards suit with Connor.
"What's going?" Sofi asked, looking between the two.
"Everything under control?" Lester asked, arriving with Johnson and Wilder.
"Everything is fine. He's helping me," Connor said, zipping up his suit. The pair headed out to the new lab and entered, careful to close the door securely behind them.
Sofi watched as Danny cautiously approached the body on the ground. She couldn't see much from where she was standing, but if she had to venture a guess, she would've said it was the man that had arrived at the ARC with Johnson and Wilder. He was lying motionless on the floor.
Danny heaved a sigh and looked up at the window. He shook his head and Sofi covered her mouth with her hand.
"You've killed one of my men," said Johnson looking to James.
"Care to explain why he was trespassing in a security zone, Christine?" Lester challenged. "We'll send you a full report when the postmortem's in. Now, for your safety, I suggest you leave."
Christine tore her gaze away from Lester and locked it onto Sofi. She then pursed her lips and left the Ops room along with Wilder and two new security recruits.
As Christine left, Sofi pushed the intercom button on the wall and turned to Connor and Danny. They were still beyond the glass and in the middle of zipping up a body bag around the dead civilian.
"What were you looking at?" Sofi asked Connor.
"That," said Connor, pointing at the ever-growing fungus in the observation box. It looked like fungi, but its growth was exceptional.
"What is it?" Danny asked, crowding around the box.
"I don't know," said Sofi, shaking her head. She couldn't make an accurate guess just by looking.
"It must've come through an anomaly," said Connor.
"Past or future?" Danny asked.
"Does it matter?" Connor replied.
Danny shrugged. "Can you kill it?" he looked between Sofi and Connor.
Sofi shook her head. "We'd have to do some more tests," she said.
"Unless we find out how to stop it, there's going to be a lot more infected people," said Danny.
"Yes, thank you, Danny. I do realise that," said Connor.
Danny sighed and reached for the velcro tags on either side of his collar. "I got to get out of this thing," he said.
"What are you doing? Are you mad?" Connor asked. "You can't do that. When did you have biohazard training?"
"Back when I was with the police force," said Danny.
Sofi furrowed her brow. "I wasn't aware Police Detectives had biohazard training," she said.
"Well, it was a while back. What does it matter?"
"What does it matter?" Connor asked. "Of course it matters! You're -"
Sofi's eyes widened as movement behind the guys caught her attention. "Guys," she hissed, pushing away from the window. "You have to get out of there."
"What, why?" asked Danny.
A growl caused Danny and Connor to turn around. Behind them the body that had once been Johnson's man had risen like a zombie, fighting against the body bag he was now trapped in. It managed to rip a hole in the side of the back, it's fungus-covered arm slicing through the material, and ripping it apart.
"Oh my god..." Connor gasped.
The door opened and Danny turned to see Sofi leaning against it. "Come on, guys," she called. "Come on!"
Pushing against the table, Connor and Danny wheeled it into the fungus and then darted for the door. Sofi slammed it shut behind them and locked it using the panel on the wall. The fungus roared and shoved the table away before pelting at the door and smashing its fists against the metal.
The door quivered in its frame.
Danny sighed in relief and removed his hazard helmet as he, Connor and Sofi returned to the Ops room. The fungus stared at itself and then looked up at them, smashing its fists against the glass.
"It's polycarbonate glass," said Sofi, noticing the concerned look on Connor's face.
"Polycarbonated?" Connor repeated.
"Bulletproof."
Connor nodded, relaxing a little.
"What is that?" Lester asked, returning.
Sofi shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours," she said, watching as the fungus destroyed the lab.
"Well, this could be tricky to explain to the next of kin," said Lester. "Good news, he's not technically dead. Bad news, he's turned into a mushroom. What are we going to do with it?"
Connor shook his head. "This all happened when it reacted with a saline solution," he explained.
"Well, all fungi like damp environments," said Sofi. "Why don't we try drying it out?"
"Bake the hell out of it. We'll see what happens," said Connor. He brushed past Sofi and opened the temperature panel on the wall. He rapidly hit the increase button as the others watched looked on.
But nothing happened.
"What's it at now?" Danny asked Connor.
"850."
Sofi shook her head. "I don't know of anything that can survive that level of heat," she said,
"Right, so come on, what's our Plan B?" Lester asked.
Silence followed his question as the others turned to look at him.
Lester sighed. "You know, just once, just once would be nice," he said.
900c.
1000c.
The temperature gauge continued to climb. Sofi watched as the little red numbers changed time and time again, but still, nothing seemed to be happening beyond the glass. She sighed and shared a look with Connor. They couldn't turn down the temperature, it would only allow the fungi to continue growing.
"Wait, something's happening," said Danny, drawing everyone's attention to the glass. The fungi had started to swell.
SPLAT!
Sofi gasped and jumped as the fungi splattered against the window.
"Result," Connor grinned, high-fiving Danny.
"At least now we know how to help the others," said Danny.
Sofi shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose," she murmured, staring at the fungi as it slid down the window. There was something that was bugging her, she just wasn't sure what it was.
"But what burns at 1000 degrees?" Cadet Lewis asked.
Connor and Danny shared a look.
"Flamethrowers," said Sofi.
"Do we have any?" Connor asked. He looked at Ryan for help.
The Captain nodded. "Lewis, Stevenson, come with me," he said, leading his men out of the room and towards the armoury.
"Come on," said Connor, taking Sofi's arm.
Sofi followed her friend out into the garage as the others were loading up one of the trucks for transport to the city. The others had called in with their location and were standing by for assistance.
"What's the matter with you?" Danny asked Sofi.
"I don't like how it exploded," said Sofi. "It's not completely gone. If the one in London explodes as that did, then the spores will still manifest and spread through the city."
"That's why we're using flamethrowers," said Connor. "We'll incinerate it."
"But that's not a foolproof way of getting rid of the spores, either," said Sofi. She shook her head. "Something's not right here. I feel like we're missing something."
"We don't have time to figure out what that is," said Connor.
"I think we should take the time!"
Connor sighed and turned to Lester. If he gave the order for them to use flamethrowers then Sofi wouldn't have a choice but to comply.
"We have to make do with what we have," said Danny. "Incinerating this thing seems like the logical solution right now."
"What if we're wrong?" Sofi challenged.
"What if we're not?"
Sofi sighed and shook her head.
"Do it," said Lester, much to Sofi's chargin.
Connor nodded and loaded the last of the boxes into the truck bed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you think you're doing?" Lester asked, intercepting Danny as he passed.
"What does it look like I am doing?" Danny asked, opening the passenger side door and sliding a black box onto the seat.
"Oh, yes, that's a great idea," said Lester. "Let's send the criminal out on the city streets with a flamethrower."
"I'm not a criminal," Danny defended.
"You broke in here, didn't you?" Lester asked.
"Yeah, but I didn't steal anything."
"B&E is still an offence," Sofi pointed out.
"You're splitting hairs," said Lester. "The point is, A, you should be in custody, and B, you're not part of this team."
"He's done a pretty good job for us," said Connor. "Twice."
"Three times, actually," Danny corrected.
Sofi rolled her eyes. "I'm not on board with this plan," she said. "But we need all the help we can get. I think we should trust him."
"Fantastic. You've been here five minutes, and already I've got a mutiny on my hands," said Lester. "Do you know how to use that thing?"
"Well, no, but I mean, how hard can it be?" Danny asked.
Lester heaved a sigh and looked around at the others. "Right, he goes, you two geniuses stay here," he said, pointing at Connor and Sofi.
"You're kidding," Connor whined. "I so wanted to fire this."
"Find a way to stop this thing before it infects anyone else," Lester said, his voice rising.
Sofi nodded and headed back into the ARC. She could hear Danny peeling out of the garage as Lester called after him about insurance.
~X~
Connor sighed heavily and braced himself against the windowsill looking into the lab. The flowers that Abby had grown overnight were covered in black and grey spores, just like the rest of the lab. "Look at those flowers," he said to Sofi as she joined him. "Abby is so going to kill me."
"I think she will understand," said Sofi.
Connor nodded numbly. "Wait, is that -?" he paused and groaned. "Sid!"
"How did he get in there?" Sofi asked.
Connor shrugged and slipped back into his biohazard suit. "I have no idea, but now I have to go back in," he complained.
"Be careful!" Sofi called. She turned back to the glass and watched as her friend entered the lab. He hurried over to the far side of the room and climbed up on the cupboard, reaching into the via duct for Sid. Sofi's breath hitched as Connor slipped, knocking over a vial of saline solution. The tube shattered as it hit the floor, sending glass scattering across the tiles and the solution was soaked into the ash, causing it to climb the cupboard like mould.
Connor's eyes widened and he looked up at Sofi.
"Connor, get out of there now!" Sofi called, placing the palm of her hand against the glass.
Connor shook his head as he watched the fungi climb up the cabinets towards him. "Looks like you were right, Sof" he called. "The spores aren't dead. It's like they're hibernating."
"Given the current circumstances, I don't feel good about being right. Just get out of there so we can deal with this situation."
"I can't. If I open the doors now it's going to spread out into the ARC."
Sofi sighed. "Then we have to figure out how to destroy, and fast, if you stay in there for too long, you'll end up like Baker," she said.
"Well, logically, if fire and heat don't kill it..." Connor met Sofi's gaze with wide eyes. "Turn the temperature gauge down to as low as it will go."
"Are you crazy?!" Sofi cried. "I can't do that with you still in there! You'll freeze!"
"It's the only way," said Connor, shaking his head. "Do it."
Sofi hesitated and then sighed, frustratingly. She pulled the panel down, revealing the temperature gauge, and started to lower the temperature slowly.
"What's the matter now?" Lester asked, wandering over with Ryan.
"I told you we should've taken the time to figure out what we were missing," said Sofi. "Now there's a chance that Connor could freeze to death, and if Danny incinerates that fungus in London, we're screwed. Jayden," she turned to her best friend. "Call Jenny. Tell them not to use the flamethrowers."
Jayden nodded and walked away.
Sofi turned back to Connor. The fungi had stopped chasing him and was retreating into the centre of the room. Connor had now slid down the wall, pressing his head into his knees and hugging them tightly in hopes of conserving body heat.
"Come on, Connor, give me a sign," Sofi muttered, as the temperature continued to drop. Frost had started to appear on all surfaces, and Sid had disappeared from the vent.
Suddenly, Connor lifted a shaky arm and gave a thumbs up.
"Get him out of there!" Ryan barked.
Two soldiers rushed into the lab and dragged Connor out into the hallway. Sofi dropped to her knees beside him and checked his pulse. It was slow and weak. "Where are those blankets," she called. "Come on!"
Jayden quickly draped an aluminium blanket over Connor, as two other soldiers did the same. Sofi tightened them around his shoulders and held them flat against his body.
"Careful," Sofi warned Lewis. "If we heat him too fast then the blood will rush back to his heart, and he'll go into cardiac arrest."
Lewis nodded and Sofi stood, joining Lester and Ryan at the door.
"What's the plan?" Lester asked.
Sofi glanced back at Connor and sighed. "If we can't burn or incinerate this thing, then the only logical plan is to freeze it," she said. "We need to get a freezing truck over to Jenny now, and keep that thing locked inside until it's completely gone."
Lester nodded at Ryan and he left to contact Becker.
~X~
Connor slid across the floor, stopping beside a funnel that was blowing cold air into the room. They had just heard from Danny that the freezer truck was too far out for them to contain the creature in London, and he and Jenny were on route to the ARC, the creature in tow.
"Yes!" Connor grinned. "In a few minutes, this place is going to be colder than the North Pole."
Sofi furrowed her brow. "You mean the South Pole," she said.
"What?" Connor asked.
"This place is going to colder than the South Pole," Sofi repeated. "You know since the South Pole is significantly colder than the North."
Connor cracked a smile. "Maybe you can correct me when we're not turned into mushrooms," he said.
"I don't know," said Sofi, shaking her head. "Correcting people is fun."
"It's also annoying."
Sofi gasped and followed him towards the doors. "You find me annoying?" she asked, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.
Connor rolled his eyes and steered her through the doors. "Only sometimes," he said, teasingly.
"We have a problem," said Jayden, hurrying down the hall towards them. Danny, Jenny, and the others in tow.
Sofi took in their worried faces. "Where's the creature?" she asked.
"We lost it," Danny answered.
Connor's eyes widened. "You what -?" he asked.
"At least we got it in the building," said Jenny.
"Oh, we got it in the building," said Danny. "But we don't know exactly where."
Sofi pursed her lips and turned to Connor. "We need to find it," she said. "The longer it is loose the less chance we have to kill it."
"How are we going to kill it, by the way?" Abby asked, "I'm guessing you have a plan?"
"We've dropped the temperature in the main room," said Connor. "When we find this thing, wherever it is, we need to force it down this corridor and through the doors." He pointed at the double doors over his shoulder.
"How do we do that?" Jenny asked.
"Freezing carbon dioxide," Connor answered, indicating to two silver cylinders beside him.
Danny nodded and dived for one of the cylinders.
"Whatever you do, don't let it touch you," Connor warned.
"I wasn't planning on shaking hands with it, mate," said Danny.
"Does anyone have an idea of where it's going to be hiding?" Jayden asked.
"Somewhere dark, damp, and secluded," said Sofi. "The loading docks could be a potential place."
Jayden nodded and led Danny down the hall, turning right at the end of disappearing from view.
"Right, there's two more extinguishers in the Ops area and another in my lab," said Sofi.
"Abby and I'll get the two from the Ops area," said Jenny, leading the blonde away.
Sofi looked to Connor and Ryan. "Guess you two are with me," she said, turning on her heels and disappearing into her lab. She hurried around her desk and knelt before the cupboard behind her chair.
Topaz barked from his cage.
"Here," said Sofi, rummaging around and removing containers and boxes. Right in the back, hidden from view was a silver cylinder. She dislodged it and passed it over her shoulder to Connor.
The door opened and Abby wandered in, checking the pressure on her cylinder. "How is this half-empty?" she asked, setting the cylinder on the table.
"It shouldn't be," said Sofi, standing up. "Jayden did the inventory last night and it was full. The gage could be wrong," she said, reaching for the cylinder.
The door smashed open and Danny, Becker, and Jayden toppled inside. Danny made a break for the window and slammed his fist against it, yelling Jenny's name. Realising quickly what the problem was, Sofi abandoned the carbon dioxide cylinder and pressed her hands against the glass of her lab.
Jenny was stuck in the Ops room with the creature circling her.
Removing the pin on her cylinder, Jenny pointed it at the creature and pulled the trigger, unleashing frozen air from the nozzle.
"The creature's searching for heat," said Connor, watching as the creature backed away from the spray but tried to move closer as the cylinder spluttered as it emptied.
"But it's freezing in there!" Abby exclaimed.
"It's Jenny's body heat," said Sofi. "It's drawing it towards her."
Sofi watched, her hand over her mouth as Jenny's supply of carbon dioxide run out. The older woman staggered, the cold air zapping away the little energy she had left.
"No, no, no, no. Stay on your feet, Jenny," Connor called.
"Jenny!" Abby yelled as Jenny's legs gave out and she hit the floor.
Sofi stared helplessly through the glass.
"It's going to kill her," said Connor as the creature moved in closer.
"Turn off the cold air," Danny ordered.
Sofi swallowed hard but shook her head. "We can't," she said, her voice breaking. "The creature's not dead yet."
"But Jenny's going to die if we don't," Abby argued.
"Don't you think I know that?!" Sofi yelled. "I don't want to leave her in there any more than you do! But we have one choice here - risk Jenny's life and protect thousands of lives out there, or save Jenny and risk the majority."
Abby sighed and backed off. She knew Sofi was right, but that didn't mean she had to feel good about it.
"Give me a minute," said Danny, rushing from the lab.
"Where's he going?" Connor asked.
The doors to the main ops room burst open and Danny charged in, squirting his cylinder into the air. The commotion drew the creature's attention away from Jenny and over to Danny.
As Danny drew the creature away from Jenny, he tried to fire a burst of frozen carbon dioxide at him, but the cylinder spluttered. Danny checked the nozzle and then tossed it aside, backing away from the creature as it staggered forward.
"It's working," said Connor. "The creature's freezing."
"Come on, come on!" Sofi whispered.
The creature ground to a halt and then shattered into a pile of ash on the floor.
"Go. Go, go go!" said Abby, bypassing Becker and Jayden and leading them into the main ops room.
"We got to get her out of here!" Danny called, racing over to Jenny.
"No! Don't touch her!" Connor yelled. "The only chance she's got is if the cold kills the fungus. We wait."
From behind the glass, Sofi watched with bated breath as her friends crowded around Jenny. Her mind raced a mile a minute as she conjured up different scenarios of how this could play out - of course, the main one was that Jenny had been frozen too long and was already dead, but Sofi banished the idea aside in hopes of a more hopeful one.
The ARC had already killed Nick. It couldn't kill anyone else, and especially not Jenny. Sofi could remember when Jenny joined the team, she had been sceptical of her new job position, and she most definitely didn't believe that Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures could exist in the 21st century. Her first encounter and been mealworms from the pre-Cambrian, and her reaction to them as been as expected - fear and alarm.
"Clear the table!" Connor's voice jarred Sofi from her thoughts. He burst into the lab and shoved aside the papers, books and pens that littered Sofi's desk, apologising to the redhead as he did, and carefully moving the laptop and artefact to safety.
"We need to warm her up," said Danny, pulling off his coat.
"Not to fast," Sofi warned.
"If we don't warm her up quickly, she'll die," said Danny.
"If we warm her up too quickly, she'll die!" Sofi argued. "Get me a blanket."
Jayden helped Sofi cover Jenny in the foil blanket while Abby checked her wrist for a pulse.
"Connor, grab the oxygen mask," said Abby.
Connor did as instructed and placed the mask over Jenny's mouth and nose. He squeezed the bottle intermittently while glancing at Sofi and Abby simultaneously.
"Anything?" Becker asked.
Abby shook her head. "If she stays like this for much longer then we've lost her," she whispered.
Sofi rubbed her hands over Jenny's arms, massaging the cold out of them and helping the blood flow freely through her veins.
The minutes ticked by in silence before Abby gasped. "I've got a pulse," she breathed.
The tension in the air disappeared as Jenny took a gasp, half raising off the table. "Nick," she called, her voice weak.
Sofi took a shuddering breath. "He's gone," she said, sadly, wiping a stray tear from Jenny's face.
Jenny gave half a nod and then lay back down.
~X~
Sofi looked up from shuffling papers as Jenny appeared in her the doorway. She smiled and set the papers down, hiding them away inside a pink folder. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Warmer," said Jenny, stepping in the lab. She had been in the medical bay for the last three hours, receiving a thorough check-up from Samantha, and then she's requested a meeting with James.
"Good," said Sofi. "You scared us there."
Jenny watched as Sofi set up the artefact on the edge of her desk. "Abby told me what you said," she said.
Sofi paused, her back to Jenny. "Did she?" she asked.
"Yeah, and I just need you to know that you made the right call."
"I risked your life," said Sofi, turning to face the older woman.
"My life or thousands," said Jenny, shaking her head. "There was no decision, Sofi, you made the right one. Besides, I know you would've chosen it even if it hadn't have been me."
Sofi lowered her gaze.
"But, it all worked out for the best in the end," Jenny added, brightly.
"Except for the fact that this was the last straw for you," said Sofi. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
Jenny chuckled. "I'd forgotten how good you are," she said. "But, yes, I am. I've left specific instructions with Lester on who I want as my replacement."
"Danny?"
"He's good," said Jenny. "I think he'll do well, and being here may do him some good, too."
Sofi nodded. "I've always believed that no one joins the ARC with a reason, too," she said, smiling. "Nick, Stephen, you, me, and now Danny."
Jenny smiled and watched Sofi from across the desk.
"There's something else," said Sofi, catching Jenny's look, "You're not just leaving because of what happened today." She searched Jenny's face, watching as the tears welled in her eyes. "You're leaving because of Nick, aren't you?"
"The letter Nick left for you," said Jenny. "It wasn't the only thing I found, I found this, too," She held out a small square.
Sofi took it and turned it over, gasping at the image printed on the other side. "Claudia Brown," she murmured. "I can see why Nick was confused when he first met you. Why he thought you were her."
Jenny nodded. "Yeah," she murmured. "This is why I need to leave. If I stay here, I'm always going to be looking back and wondering who I am. I just want to go and try and forget about the ARC, and forget about the creatures and the anomalies. And most of all, I want to try and forget about Nick Cutter and Claudia Brown."
"You can try and forget him, Jenny, but trust me, you won't," said Sofi, sliding the image back across the table.
Jenny shook her head. "Keep it," she said, pushing the image away. "I don't want nor need it." She stood and turned to the door, pausing on the threshold and turning back to Sofi.
"Goodbye, Jenny," Sofi said, forcing a smile. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
Jenny smiled softly and then walked out.
