Connor glared at the opposite wall of the empty cell, huffing angrily under his breath. He shut his eyes for a moment, running through options in his head. He didn't want to just sit here and wait for it; he hated being innefectual, and unknowing what was happening with Abby. He had a bad feeling he was both bait and prisoner. Helen had taken the black box and his cell phone, and his wrists were chained, but he really, really couldn't do nothing. He was better able to block out his claustrophobia with an idea in his head, determination making it easier to not panic. Connor first tried to twist his wrists in the chains, to see if there was any wriggle room. There wasn't which he'd thought there wouldn't be. He turned around, hands running along the surface of the wall until he felt the cold, rough chains attached there. He nodded contemplatively to himself, wrapping his hands around the 'root' of one of the chains, and pulling on that instead. This way, he wouldn't be injuring his wrists. His eyes had begun to adjust to the relative darkness, and he didn't see any changes at first. After a few more pulls, however, a small amount of plaster sprinkled his hands. A grin touched the corners of his lips.

Don't you worry, Abbs.


"Where is it, Jess?" Becker repeated.

"Oh, right. It's on the complete opposite side of town. You'll have to split up the team." Jess said, bringign up the map and typing something in the keyboard. Over the coms, she could hear Captai Becker talking to Mat, Emily, and the SF's.

"Okay, Alpha team consists of myself, Emily, and half of the Sf's assigned to the main team. Matt will take the other half and head towards the anomaly." Becker told her.

"Alright, noting positions of teams alpha and beta. Now get going!"


"Bolt cutters?" The clone asked, looking at the tool held easily in Abby's hands.

"Yep. I'd wonder what professed Connor to leave bolt cutters in the boot of our car, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. So to speak." She paused. Connor'd always been a bit on the paranoid side, so actually, him putting bolt cutters in wasn't so completely irrational, for him. She felt a rush of affection for her husband surge, swiftly replaced with fear for him. "C'mon." Abby marched up to the lock and carefully positioned the bolt cutters with the top of the padlock between the two parts.

"Hopefully it'll work." He said quietly. She bit her lip.

"'Course it will." Whether either of them were talking about the bolt cutters or the whole plan, they weren't sure; they didn't want to be.

A moment later, a sharp 'snap' was followed by the clunk as the broken padlock dropped to the ground.


AN: Sorry about how short these chapters are! I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, to be honest. As for Connor, well, I think he Would have a few moments of hopelessness/near-panic before he shook himself out of it and focused, so I made sure he didn't seem like a total 'damsel in distress'! And... the bit with Jess, I'm trying that out. I'm no great shakes at the characters besides Connor and Abby, but this story couldn't go anywhere with just them and mr clone there, yeah? Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!