Just a gentle reminder this is canon... you know what that means. If you don't stop reading and go watch Primeval because... spoilers!
We pulled into the ARC, Connor and Abby check on the diictodons in the back of the truck. Nick and I got out of the car and walked around trying to decide what to do with the diictodons, even though I knew, and in reality, he knew as well. "They should have checked our passes," Becker said as he joined Nick and me.
Nick turned to Becker after giving me a look."Yeah, your men are getting slack."
Becker looked between the two of us. "You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna have a little word with security." Becker said as he walked off towards his security team.
I looked up to Nick rolling my eyes. "Ever the macho soldier," I muttered to him.
He smirked to me. "I think you like him," he said.
I let out a fake boisterous laugh. "You're having a laugh. He's an idiot." I said to him as we followed Connor and Abby through the doors. We walked down the hall, something wasn't right. There was hardly any personnel around. Hell, usually Lester greeted us after a mission to check for damages at the very least. "It's too quiet," I said as we made it to the doors to the main room.
Connor and Abby pushed them open. "Somethings not right," Abby said when no one was on the other side. The place was completely deserted. "Where is everyone?" Connor said as we all cautiously moved forward.
Once we made it to the middle of the room we heard guns cocking behind us. We spun around to see a couple of the same exact Silurian guys, clones for lack of a better word, and Helen standing on the balcony above us.
Nick looked to her then turned to us with a look of hatred. We watched as an exact replica of Nick came walking through the doors we just came through. None of us could say anything in pure shock. We just stared as the replica stopped behind him. "It- it's you," Connor said stunned.
Nick turned around and came face to face with his clone. No one could say anything at all. We were all in pure shock that not only this was happening but Nick had a clone. "Put Connor and Abby with the others," Helen said from above.
My attention went from the two Nicks to her. I couldn't help but glare at her presence. "Hello, Skyla." She said with a smirk. I felt the weight of my gun in my waistband.
Connor and Abby made their way back to the door we just came out of. I watched as Helen's focus was on them walking out of the room. I snaked my hand around to the gun. Once Connor and Abby were completely out of the room, safe, I would grab it and shoot her ending this charade once and for all.
She walked over to one of the clones she had made of the Silurian guy. I watched as the doors shut behind Conner and Abby and drew the gun firing up at her, barely grazing her thigh. As I was about to shoot again, this time with better aim, another shot rang off. The sudden searing pain in my shoulder caused me to drop the weapon and let out a yelp. "Silly girl." She said as she walked down the ramp to where we were. Cutter, no longer staring at his clone, ran over to me putting pressure on my shoulder. "Lock her with the others since she cannot play nice, just like her Grandfather."
I stood up ignoring the pain in my shoulder. "What do you mean my Grandfather?" I asked not sure I really wanted to know the answer. She let out a laugh that somehow made the pain in my shoulder worse. "Your dear Granddaddy failed to assist me in telling where his journal on the anomalies was located. Poor chap, it's a shame what the mind can lose." She said looking up the ceiling. Her attention then turned to me. "He was of no further use to me."
My breath caught in my throat at what she was implying. "You're saying-" I began before she cut me off.
"I killed him Skyla. Smothered him with his own pillow. You should be thanking me really. I put him out of his misery." I saw red and lunged at the woman who had taken yet another person from my life. Nick and one of the clones stopped me, pulling me back. The pain in my shoulder began to increase as my anger flowed through me. "Nick. Kill her if you can," I whispered. He looked at me with wide eyes as the minion who stopped my lunge grasped both of my shoulders pulling me towards the doors. I screamed in pain as he jostled the wound. "You're gonna get yours, Helen! I don't care if its the last thing I do." I watched as she smirked again as the doors closed. I struggled and fought with the minion as much as I could until he stopped in front of a storage closet. He opened the door and dropped me inside unceremoniously then shut the door.
Everyone who was in the room stopped what they were doing and ran over to me as I held my shoulder. Blood continued to seep through my fingers. "Oh my god, you've been shot," Sarah said as she looked around for something to use to put pressure on the wound. Jenny took off her sweater and handed it to Sarah.
Tears began to spill down my cheeks. I was unsure if it was due to the fact that I was shot or that Helen had killed my grandfather. "Helen- she killed my Grandfather." I was able to mutter out as Lester put the sweater to my shoulder, slowly applying pressure. "First Stephen, now my Grandfather." I looked up to the others. "I tried to shoot her, I think I grazed her. Then one of her minions shot me."
"We're working on a way to get out of this," Jenny said aloud. I nodded at her.
"Please do so. I really need to kill her." I whispered. I felt suddenly dizzy, probably from blood loss. Jenny Sarah, Connor, and Abby walked over to the computer to continue what they were doing before I had come in.
Lester stayed by my side, applying pressure to my wound. Neither of us paid any attention to what the others were doing. "You know," he began. "Killing her will not bring you peace," he said.
I looked up to my boss, tears still streaming down. "I know. But it's a start at least. She needs to pay for what she's done. Not only to me but to Nick too. She's a wretched woman who needs to perish."
Lester looked to me in a way that I never thought I would know. It was a look of sympathetic compassion. He settled next to me and kissed my temple. "I know. I know." He said as he continued to hold the pressure on my shoulder.
It wasn't much later when Lester and I heard a grunt from outside the door. The minion guard was no longer standing as the door opened. Becker appeared, dragging the unconscious minion into the room. "Everyone okay?" he asks.
Lester had me place my hand on my shoulder as he stood up. "Helen's taken over the ARC." he stated standing slightly in front of me.
Becker nodded. "I know. Her people are crawling all over the place."
I let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, you mean the identical twin people that you didn't believe when Cutter and I explained it?" I asked from my spot on the ground. Lester looked back to me and helped me stand up.
Becker walked closer to me when he saw my blood-stained hands holding the sweater to my shoulder. "You're injured."
I smiled a fake smile. "I'm fine." I wouldn't let him treat me like a wounded child, no matter how much I wanted to curl in the corner and sleep through the pain.
"How many men have you got with you?" Lester said ignoring my bickering moment.
"Just me. Should be enough." Becker said. I let out a snort, of course, it was just him. The knight in shining tape to save the day.
"Becker, we need to get this to the PA system," Connor said holding out a CD.
"What is it? It doesn't matter. You come with me, the rest of you stay here." Becker said.
Becker looked at me before Connor got up to follow him out the door. I was unsure of the look he was giving me but I rolled my eyes and successfully held my tongue in not saying anything as to being ordered to stay in the godforsaken storage closet.
It had been a couple of minutes since the two had left to put the voice recording of Helen over the PA system. Sarah had explained to me that she believed the minions were controlled by Helen's voice, chosen to obey. She had pulled old security footage from the archives to create a recording stating not to follow her voice anymore. "Do you think they made it?" Sarah asked after her explanation.
"We'll soon find out," Abby said as we stood around waiting for the answer to her question.
A sudden movement caught my eye. Before I could say anything in warning the minion grabbed Lester in a chokehold. "James!" Jenny said she dove to assist, being knocked back into the wall.
Abby and I stood there for a moment, assessing the situation. When Lester went limp, deeming he was now unconscious and placed on the floor, Abby began to attack the minion. She grabbed ahold of him and was thrown around into the wall. The minion walked over to Jenny who was now standing and Sarah. He picked them up by their throats, choking them. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, some piece of forgotten construction wood, and began hitting him with it. Each time I moved my arm to bring the wood down on his head I winced at the pain in my shoulder. "Come on Connor!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
As if he had heard me Helen's voice came over the PA system. "Do nothing, obey my voice. Stop, do nothing, obey my voice." It repeated over and over again on a loop. The minion dropped Jenny and Sarah, obeying the recording. I dropped the piece of wood thankful I wouldn't have to use my arms anymore to beat the man. I watched as Lester regained consciousness and stood up. He walked over to the minion and punched him, knocking him out as he fell to the floor.
Now that the minion was taken care of we were all safe. I noticed the gun in his holster, it was similar to the one I had just used. I looked around at everyone as they tried to catch their breath. I took the distracted opportunity. I bent over the unconscious man and unhooked his gun from the holster and stood up. Without a word, to the others, I ran out the door. "Stop Skyla, it's not worth it." I heard Jenny say faintly as I ran down the hall where Helen and Cutter were.
I ran down the familiar twists and turns of the hallway to get to the main room in the ARC. As I rounded a corner I slammed right into someone and dropped the gun. I looked up noticing I had run into Helen, the one I wanted to kill. The gun was now on the other side of the hall, just barely outside of my reach. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder I balled my hand in a fist and punched her in the face. She stumbled back for a moment before she punched back right into the gun wound. I let out a scream as I collapsed to the ground in pain. Helen ran down the hall towards the exit.
It took a moment for the pain to subside to a decent level where I could think clearly. I had a horrible thought remembering that Helen was alone. I stood up in fear of the worst, that she had killed Nick, after all, I bolted in the direction I was going before. I began to jog and it turned into a run as I tried to make it to where I believed Nick was.
I don't know if I first heard the boom or felt the heat as an explosion break out from the main area of the ARC, sending me flying into the wall behind me. All I knew at that moment was I was finally pain-free as I slipped into unconsiousness.