Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: No way is either House or the Tomorrow People mine!
Author's note: I always use these to thank you out there reading and reviewing, and I'm doing it again. I do have a sequel planned, so I'm hoping some of you might be interested in that, as well. Also, this last episode of House just made this entire story more AU than it was already…ooops!
Chapter Twenty-Three
Both Tim and Elizabeth convinced Cameron to hold off her "assault" until dusk.
It made sense, if just from a strategic standpoint. Dusk was when human vision was at its weakest, and the chances of them being seen by any security guards was at the lowest. Besides, people would be leaving the complex on their way home, and there wouldn't be as many employees around.
Still, it meant they would have to wait for a couple of hours. And, in this circumstance, Cameron hated waiting. She was certain something was happening to House, even as she sat in the Lab, twiddling her thumbs.
"If it would help," Tim replied, "I do have the results of my analysis of the recording given to us by the Sharrion."
"What did you find out?" Elizabeth asked, a cup of tea cradled in both hands, her elbows resting on the link table.
"Please take into consideration that this was a recording from the original transmission," the A.I. began, "and therefore the information I was able to discover is limited. However, I have discovered something you might find interesting." He paused, and Cameron and Elizabeth glanced at each other knowingly. Tim might have been a sophisticated biotronic computer, but he did have a fine sense of the dramatic. "I have been able to extrapolate the types of technologies used to transmit the message."
"Wait," Cameron interrupted. "Technologies?"
"Yes, Allison, there were three separate technologies used in the creation of this signal. Thargon, Federation Standard, and Megara."
"That is interesting," Elizabeth mused.
"Any idea where the signal originated, Tim?" Cameron asked.
"The Sharrion did obligingly include their own sensor readings of the transmission. As a matter of fact, they managed to track the signal to Earth."
"Why am I not surprised?" she snarked in true House fashion.
"Have you listened to the actual recording, Allison?" Elizabeth asked.
"It really just says to go to these coordinates – namely, in Earth orbit over New Jersey – and when you see this signal, you'll know where your technology is."
"It was also washed through a Federation Standard translator," Tim added.
Cameron glanced over at the whiteboard, where it was still set up from their last meeting in the Lab. House's distinctive handwriting stared back at her. She was tempted to go over and add their latest discoveries, but just couldn't do it. Maybe it was the fact that House went mental when someone else wrote on the whiteboard in the conference room and it had been just drummed into her so often that she had an aversion to touching it, or something else entirely, but she refrained. She'd let him do it once she got him away from Intellex.
"Allison?" Elizabeth's voice broke through her reverie. She looked at her fellow Tomorrow Person; the older woman looked concerned. "We will get him out, you know."
"I know. It's just the waiting, that's all."
"Allison!"
Cameron laid her palms flat on the link table. "Yes, Elena? What's going on?" There was something about the tone of Elena's voice…
"Dr. Cuddy just came in. She said that the hospital board have decided to leave your Dr. House on John's case."
She sighed in sheer relief. It was one less thing she had to worry about. "Thank God. That's the best news I've had today."
"Where are you?"
"I'm…still trying to find House. I still think we should move John, even though the board ruled in our favor."
"I agree with you. We should go with the original plan."
"All right. As soon as I locate House, I'll have him sign the AMA papers and we'll get it done. But it's getting late in the day, maybe we should wait to move him first thing in the morning."
"Sounds good to me. I'll let John and Paul know the new plan. Do you have any idea where Dr. House is?"
Cameron debated with herself for a few seconds, then decided to go with the truth. "He went back to Intellex, Elena."
"What?" The other Tomorrow Person was incredulous. "Why on Earth would he do that?"
"I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out what House was thinking." She knew the reason, but didn't want to share it. "Elizabeth and I are planning on going in after him."
"Do you need help?"
"I think we can handle it." She was touched by the offer. "The less of us running around in there, I think the better it will be."
"All right, but call us if you need us."
"I will, don't worry."
"I can't help it." Amusement tinged Elena's mental tone. "You're a friend, Allison. Besides, I'm really good at worrying."
"I can tell." Cameron laughed. "Tim can fill you in on what we've discovered. It's quite interesting."
"I'm sure it is. I'll look forward to it."
"Tim, can you pass along what we've found out?"
"I shall be happy to, Allison." Tim's voice went quiet, but she could sense him and Elena conversing. While she couldn't hear them, their presences were still very much there.
"Allison." Elizabeth said, "I know you're blaming yourself for what's happened, but you can't. Dr. House is an adult and, from what little I do know, he isn't stupid. He must have known what he was doing when he walked back into Intellex."
"I don't know what worries me more," Cameron admitted, "that he didn't know and walked in quite ignorantly…or that he knew exactly what he was doing."
Cameron crouched behind a rubble pile, her eyes searching for any security guards that she knew had to be around. It had started raining sometime earlier, and while it made her miserable to be out in the ruined area of the Intellex R and D complex, she knew it could only help her and Elizabeth remain unseen. "Do you see anything?"
"Nothing," the older woman's calm voice filled her mind. "Looks as if the coast is clear."
She knew Elizabeth was close, but she was hidden from sight. "I'm going to check a little further on. Keep me covered."
"I shall."
Cameron moved forward, her stun gun held out before her. She recognized the area from where she and House had been that night, when they'd heard that mysterious noise. She carefully made her way along the broken corridor, every sense outstretched. Tim's hypothesis had been that the heat source had been some sort of vent, and it would be well hidden. After all, one of the Federal investigators who'd been all over the site would surely have stumbled over it. And Cameron was quite certain it would have made some sort of news if they'd discovered a huge underground complex under the rubble.
It was so hard, to take her time. But Cameron didn't want to be caught, and that meant she had to use caution. She had to remind herself that she wasn't that same teenager who'd rushed into every situation and damn the consequences. Falling back into bad habits wasn't the way to go about rescuing House.
Then she heard the noise again. Now that she was expecting it, she was able to pinpoint its general location: ahead and to the left. It was as if the remains had exhaled. "Did you hear it?" she called back to her companion.
"I did," came the reply. "I think it was just in front of you."
"That's what I thought, too. I'm going to check it out."
"Be careful."
Cameron didn't think that needed an answer. She was already being more careful than she quite possibly had in her entire life.
Taking a few more steps forward, Cameron caught sight of a pile of rubble in the general direction of the strange noise. There was about twelve feet of clear space between her position and the mound. She would be exposed as she crossed over.
She relayed the information back to Elizabeth. There was the unmistakable sensation of someone teleporting in beside her. "I see what you mean," Elizabeth replied, once she'd taken her own look. "I'll keep a lookout as you head over there."
Cameron nodded, which also served to shake some of the water out of her hair. She took a quick look around, not seeing anyone around, then began moving in a crouch toward the rubble pile.
If she was being completely truthful, Cameron was terrified. She knew her duty, her responsibility, but that didn't keep the fear from making her heart hammer so hard she was surprised the sound wasn't bringing every security guard for miles around. She never remembered feeling like this as a thirteen-year-old, but then when one was a child one really didn't know any better. But even with a healthy dose of terror, she was still having a hard time reigning herself in. Old habits were, indeed, hard to break.
The pile looked just like any other in the ruins: large blocks of concrete pierced with long pieces of rebar, bent out of shape by the force of the explosion. It would be months before the area would be totally cleared.
Cameron reached out, laying her hand on the wet surface. It was somewhat warmer than the air around it, and that made the rain evaporate and form a faint mist over the pile. She thought she caught a whiff of something she recognized: it was some sort of disinfectant. Now, who would want to clean rubble?
Using telekinesis, she shifted some of the pieces out of the way, careful not to make too much noise. As Cameron burrowed further down, the warmth increased. "I think there's something definitely here," she called back to Elizabeth. She continued to move the rubble, setting the large chunks of concrete down easily and without much effort at all. This had always been her strongest talent, one that she'd worked on diligently. Back then, she'd wanted to be the best telekinetic ever. Now, she just wanted to dig down deep enough to discover Intellex's secrets.
And to find House and rescue him.
"This is just bizarre," she sent as she worked. "I mean, it just can't be this easy. If it were, why didn't the investigators find this? They had to have raked this place over with a fine-toothed comb."
"Intellex has a lot to hide," Elizabeth returned. "And I'm sure the investigators would have been using equipment specifically made to detect explosives and such. I doubt an anomalous heat source would have even drawn their attention."
"I suppose you're right." Maybe Cameron was just being paranoid. After all, hadn't Tim claimed this had been hidden from even the sophisticated sensors of the Watchdog satellite among other temperature anomalies caused by the actual explosion?
"Someone's coming."
Cameron heeded Elizabeth's warning, falling flat among the rubble she'd been working with. Within seconds she could hear the unmistakable sound of boots crunching among the pulverized building material, followed by a loud cough.
The beam from a powerful flashlight strobed across the debris Cameron was hiding in, coming far too close to her for her liking. She clutched the stun gun in her hand, ready to use it if she needed to, knowing that if she did so the hum it made would most likely bring others down onto them.
Even though she wouldn't have thought it possible, Cameron's heart started hammering even harder. She bit her lip in order to try to keep her breathing under control. The adrenaline was racing through her body, her nerves twisted tighter than an overwound watch spring.
The footsteps came closer, as did the flashlight beam. Cameron ducked her head against her arm, hiding the paleness of her face among the dark folds of her clothing. The dirt tickled her nose, and she used her telekinesis to keep it from getting too deep into her nostrils and thus avoiding a major sneeze.
She wished she'd had Andrew's talent of illusion, that way she could make herself look like just another section of rubble to the guard. But she'd never learned, being much more interested in improving her own skills.
Then Cameron cursed inwardly.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked anxiously.
"Nothing," she assured the other woman. "I just realized something, that's all."
The security guard moved past her hiding place. Cameron held herself perfectly still, holding her breath. Surprisingly, she went suddenly calm, as if time itself had gone silent.
She continued to lay there even after the guard had gone. When she finally rose to her knees, and almost felt like laughing. It was the release of tension, she diagnosed automatically, as she went back to work with her telekinesis.
"You never said what you realized," Elizabeth reminded her.
Cameron smiled, even though the other woman wouldn't see it. "It's funny. I can deflect bullets using my powers, but I never thought about deflecting the rain."
"You can deflect bullets?" Incredulity echoed through their link. "I can't do that and I've been a Tomorrow Person far longer than you."
"TK was always my best talent. You should ask John who taught him the trick in the first place."
"It's amazing that he was even hurt in that explosion."
"Not even John can anticipate everything."
"Have you tried to tell him that?" The dryness in Elizabeth's mental tone should have caused the rain to evaporate within a hundred feet radius.
"Sorry, he's yelled at me too many times. I don't relish another round, thank you very much."
Elizabeth's chuckle filled her mind. "I'm certain that's changed, Allison."
"I'll let you know when I haven't been around him when he's down, and I haven't done something stupid."
"You mean like rescuing your employer from his own idiocy?"
Cameron ignored that comment. She had the pile almost down to the ground now. The tile floor was becoming visible in the fast waning daylight – which hadn't been all that much to begin with. She pulled the penlight from her pocket using telekinesis; she was amazed at how easy she was regaining this facet of her powers, but then, as she'd told Elizabeth, it had always been her best talent.
Then she was amazed by something else. "Elizabeth, you're not going to believe this."
"What is it?"
"This section of the floor isn't damaged in the slightest. It looks just as pristine as if there hadn't been an explosion at all. It's a little dirty, but there's nothing wrong with it."
"That's not possible!"
"You're telling me! Everything else is torn up in some way, except this." She stroked the surface carefully. "It's perfectly smooth, too. You can't even feel the joins. And it's warm, like there's some sort of heating system under it."
"Sounds like our heat source…hmm, and like we have another mystery."
"Like we need another one." Cameron brushed off the area, exploring it more closely. She was able to find the edges; it meant this piece of floor was, at a guess, three feet square. The rest of the floor surrounding it was in bad shape, pitted and broken. "Could something have been protecting this part of the corridor?" she wondered in Elizabeth's general direction.
"Is there any sign of furniture or anything that might have covered it?"
"No, nothing. And I suppose that wouldn't explain why it feels different…it's not getting wet."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, now that it's exposed to the open air, the rain isn't starting to puddle on it at all. It's actually repelling it. Okay, I'm weirded out by this."
"You and me both. Wait a moment…Allison, it could be some sort of force field."
Cameron sat back on her heels. What better way to hide an exhaust system than by disguising it behind a force field? After all, Intellex had access to all sorts of alien technology. Their scientists could easily have come up with something like that. "That makes sense. So how do we get around it?"
"Perhaps I can help with that," Tim's voice entered into the conversation. "I am sending you a device in order to take readings of the supposed force field. Please stand by."
She only had to wait about ten seconds. Then, with little ceremony, a piece of equipment appeared on a large chunk of building material to Cameron's left. "Thanks, Tim." She picked it up. It looked like an unusually large salt shaker with a ring around the middle. "What do I do?"
"Please turn the ring clockwise and point the device at the area to be scanned."
She did so. The machine started to vibrate slightly. "Are you getting anything?"
"Indeed. Elizabeth is correct: this is a force field, based on Thargon technology. It will be simple for me to bypass. Now, if you would turn the ring counterclockwise until you feel a click…"
Cameron did as instructed.
"I shall send a contrawave through the scanner that should disengage the mechanism."
"It's working, Tim. The floor is shimmering."
"You sound surprised, Allison."
"I'm not. I'm just…glad you're on out side." God save them all if Tim ever went rogue…
"As am I. The force field should be shutting down in five seconds."
"You are a wonder, Tim."
"I am simply doing what I am programmed to do." The computer sounded a combination of smug and humble.
True to his word, the energy field was dissipating. The tile pattern that disguised the area was flickering in and out, as if she were watching a strobe light.
Then it was gone, revealing an open section that extended down into the ground. On either side of the dark hole were two flashing red lights, and Cameron guessed those were the force field controls. "Can you tell if there are any alarms in the shaft, Tim?"
"Only to a depth of three meters, Allison. You are clear until then."
"Just how far down does this go?" She peered into the blackness. It seemed to mock her.
"That I cannot tell, however I should think not much farther than that. I am sorry, Allison."
"It's okay. I'll just have to go down there myself."
"I have an idea," Elizabeth chimed in. "Since your telekinesis is so much stronger than mine, why don't you use it to lower me down?"
"That would work," Cameron mused. "I'm willing to try."
"Then I'll join you." Thought became action, as Elizabeth teleported beside her.
Cameron looked down the shaft, the warm air blowing her wet hair around her face. "Can't see the bottom at all, and I'm not sure I want to shine the light down there to check."
"I'll signal if you need to bring me back up." The other woman moved to the edge, dangling her legs over. "Ready when you are."
Lifting Elizabeth proved not to be difficult at all, especially after moving all that rubble. Cameron "felt" her gliding down the shaft. "Everything all right?"
"It's fine, Allison," came the comforting reply. "I think this opens up into a maintenance –" Her voice cut out.
And suddenly Cameron wasn't levitating her any more.
She went back on her ass, as if the release of tension in her mind translated to her physical form. "Elizabeth!" she called out. "Tim, I've lost Elizabeth!"
"As have I, Allison," the computer answered urgently.
"I'm going down." She holstered her stun gun, in order to have her hands free.
"Is that wise?"
"Tim, I can't just leave her down there! She might have been hurt when my telekinesis cut out." She swung her own legs over the hole. "I'm going to brace myself against the walls of the shaft. Is there any way I can turn the force field back on from inside?"
"Yes. Simply turn the ring back to its original position. That will cause the contrawave to cease."
Cameron slid into the darkness. Her hands were slick with sweat, and wouldn't gain a hold on the smooth metal. She had to trust her running shoes to grip as she maneuvered her body downward. It was at this moment when she wished she could use her telekinesis on herself.
Once she was past the twin red lights on the shaft walls, she did use her powers to manipulate the small device as Tim had instructed. The faint light that had been coming from the hole was cut off, and she was left in complete darkness.
"Elizabeth?" she sent, hoping her companion would answer her. She'd counted on Elizabeth's own powers to help her down the shaft; despite her comments about her own TK powers being no match for Cameron's own, they would have been enough to steady her descent. She couldn't even sense her friend any more. "Can you still hear me, Tim?"
"Yes, Allison. Please be careful."
She didn't answer. Instead, she used all her concentration on getting down the exhaust shaft. Warm air dried the sweat and rain from her body as she descended. She was going to be so sore in the morning…
Cameron put herself into a controlled slide – or as controlled as she could get. She tried to make as little noise as possible as she made her way downward. Okay, climbing down ventilation shafts was straight out of a bad sci-fi movie, but it seemed to work.
She must have gone about two thirds of the distance when a light came from below her.
"Allison?" came Elizabeth's whispered voice, echoing up toward her.
Why wasn't she using telepathy? "I'm on my way down."
"Be careful. I think there's a psionic dampening field working down here. I can't use any of my powers."
Oh, great. Why couldn't things ever be easy?