"Let me go, Helen." He repeated, voice lower, edging on dangerous. Helen just laughed, shaking her head as she headed towards the door. He practically growled, moving towards her. The chain pulled him up short again, and he winced at the pain.
"This is going to be fun to watch. And afterwards, you'll help me by building the technicaly equipment I need." She told him, matter-of-factly. Connor shook his head roughly.
"No, I won't! I will not do anything for you! And if anythin' happens to Abby, if she dies, I have no intention of sticking around after." He knew, without a doubt, that if Abby was dead, he would not want to live another day.
"Oh, so it's that way then? Perhaps it might be best if I arrange for her to be held in tandem to force you to cooperate..." Helen said, smirking as she turned around and left the cell, shutting and locking the heavy door after her.
"Helen!" He didn't even know what he wanted to say, and he was hoping to get more out of her about her plans, if he had to just sit here. Connor sighed, sinking to the floor and leaning his head back, eyes closed, so it bumped into the wall lightly.
"Abby, just be safe." He murmered. "Please..."
"Okay, so the team's on the way, but it'll be ages before they show up!" Abby said, pursing her lips as she thought.
"I hope it will be straightforward." The clone said, looking out the passenger window, forehead creased in worry.
Jess piped up again. "I'm sure it will, but best to be on the safe side. Becker's gone to inform the others. Where are you right now?"
Abby told the clone to look for a sign while she concentrated on driving, and a few moments later he caught sight of one, reeling the name off for Jess to scribble down.
"Okay, I'm searching for abandoned buildings nearby..."
"It's definately close. I think. Uhm... west, about 20 kilometers if I'm not mistaken.. the signal feels stronger." The clone said slowly. "I'm trying to suss out the exact words for it, but I have none that fit quite right."
"It's okay, that's definately helpful c- Erm, yeah." Jess fumbled over the end of her sentence, and Abby could imagine her eyes wide. "Sorry."
"It's alright, Jess. I'm not about to have a panic attack or throw a fit 'cause you called the clone Connor. I did it enough earlier... Can't believe I did that." Her voice became softer, as if she wasn't even talking to anyone but herself. The clone answered her anyway, apologetically.
"I'm sorry. It is my fault, isn't it?"
"No. It's Helen's." Abby told him firmly.
"Right." He didn't believe her, not compeltely. He had a bad feeling about this, a niggling feeling like they should turn around right then and there. That heading towards Helen and Connor was like leaping into the fire.
"'bout fifteen minutes, at this speed." The clone said abruptly, and Abby glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"What, did you just calculate that in your head, or..?"
"Er, sorta? Is that... bad?" He asked, clearly worried he'd made some sort of fau-pa. Abby held back the inapropriate giggles that threatened to burst free. Her husband was still missing and this man was genuinely worried about doing something wrong. It wasn't a time to be giggling, at all. But it was somehow funny despite all that.
"sorry, sorry." She said at his look, swallowing more laughter and shaking her head. "No, it's not bad. Connor does things like that all the time. And no, before you ask, no I don't want to know how. I'm smart, but having maths spoken out loud to me just messes with my head." She told him.
"Oh. Okay!" He brightened, like a child, the worry over that fading away. Earlier he'd looked downright dangerous. But right now, with that look on his face, he looked like a younger, more innocent Connor. Like he'd looked back before Stephen's death, when things were just fun and games. Maybe even before that, actually. She shook herself a little and focused on driving.
"Okay. Jess?" She asked.
"Yes?"
"How's it coming? Did you find anything plausible?"
"Not yet..." The coordinator's voice trailed off. "Oh! Wait, yes, just found one. Abandoned factory building about twenty two minutes from your last spot, though i'm sure you've moved from there."
"Yeah, but there's about 15.. no, 12 minutes between us and him, according to.. yeah." Abby cleared her throat over the awkward moment, and then continued. "Uh, where exactly is it?" She may have said that she didn't mind people accidentally calling the Clone, 'Connor', but she could not bring herself to voluntarily call him that. He would need a name, if he meant to stick around. She filed that thought away. If- no, when - they rescued Connor, they could discuss what would happen with the Clone.
"Hmm... you'll have to make a right turn at the next light- the road you're on becomes a more commercial area soon enough, though the light is some way before the more populated section- and then continue down that way until.. well, it should be pretty obvious, it's quite a large, in-your-face type factory." Jess said, some of her normal cheer back. She clearly was sure this was going ot end well. Abby wished she could be as optimistic.
It was getting dark out now, which meant that his little cell was nearly pitch black. Connor had his eyes shut, not sleeping yet but attempting to.
He didn't like small enclosed spaces in broad daylight. In the dark, his latent claustrophobia bubbled to the surface, threatening him with panic attacks and hyperventillation. He tried not to think about it, instead shut his eyes as tight as he could and pulled up images of Abby to distract himself with. He had only been apart from her for a single day, but it was hard, especially when he had no idea what was happening outside of his cell.
His stomach grumbled in protest, reminding Connor that Helen hadn't had anyone bring him food since earler in the morning.
He was hungry, though compared to what they'd had to deal with a few times in the cretaceous it wasn't too bad. He was just afraid of how long Helen planned on leaving him in the cell without food or water. That was the priority, water. But he would not agree to anything Helen offered in exchange for water or food or even a blanket. It was chilly in there. Connor sighed again, biting his lip and concentrating. Remembering his and Abby's first kiss, and then moving on to the first kiss as 'boyfriend and girlfriend' in the cretaceous. He missed her; he needed to see her alive and okay. Since the Burton fiasco, they hadn't spent any sizeable length of time apart, until now.
AN: Woopsies! Heh, the spelling/grammatical/other errors have been corrected! Can't believe I forgot to proofread it... And hoefully the next chapter wont be too long in coming :)
