Author Notes: Sorry this took so long! I had meant to start after my exams, but realised I didn't know how to continue. I hope this is worth the wait!
Chapter 6
They say the world is made of uncountable numbers of tiny atoms, all skipping about in chaotic harmony. They say that this balance is fragile, as if of glass. One pinprick of pressure, and it all comes shattering, crashing through reality, spiderwebs of edges and blades.
As one takes a tentative step out onto a frozen lake, only to gasp at that last heart-wrenching, certain moment when you jerk but a fraction and pause, as the cracks shoot away, planning an unplanned route through the changeable ice, each fracture bigger, more frantic than the last.
As one falls.
Only a fool would step out onto the ice, as only a fool would dare to crack the glass, the mirror of time and space, smashed and abandoned.
It is simple.
If no one had stepped onto the ice, then it would not have torn, sending chaotic fissures and splinters back along not only the path you have just stepped, but ones you will now never step, and paths you could have taken to the epicentre upon which you now stand.
So you see, the cause that makes the effect needs not to be at your beginning, nor at your end, or any of the infinite beginnings and ends of the multiverse. You personally may in fact have never stepped there, or even been destined to step there. But you did.
At the centre of all things, one raindrop can cause a flood.
Because that is all it takes.
"It can't be."
No one knew who uttered the words that saturated the small group of people standing transfixed at the screen held together by what might at a glance seem like tape and string. It did not matter. The little band gaped as across the map of the world, little blinking lights multiplied, each with its own unique set of data, cascading outwards from a little island in Europe, a little country led by a madman. And the little lights focused around the ARC.
"What has he done?" The voice was older than its owner, as a small blonde woman pushed to the fore; focusing on one of the men she knew well, "What happened?"
The man shook his head, "Our readings from the ARC went haywire. It's Leek. I don't know what he did, but we're reading more anomalies than ever recorded!"
"I thought that Temple kid was meant to fix this?" A young man spat, little older than Connor, but a witness to so much more, "He's made it worse!"
"No." The woman's voice held so much conviction, it made the man flinch. "Nick was right."
Her last words were barely more than a breath, but all heard them and froze. Their leader hardly ever mentioned her old mentor, and when she turned, her eyes blazed. The scientist who knew her the best laid a hand on her shoulder, "Abby? What do you need us to do?"
She regarded the small band, the few survivors from the effort to get Connor home, "Get your weapons and find me an anomaly that goes to Connor's time. This is where it begins, so we will go to the time when it ends."
In the following battle cry, no one truly registered the strangeness of her words.
Almost as soon as they were plunged into darkness and the emergency lighting kicked it, screams permeated the air, echoing distantly through the halls of the ARC. Abby's breath hitched, "Not again. Please not again."
Nick adjusted his grip on Connor's arm as his young friend somehow managed to find the energy to straighten and fix his gaze on the eerie blue-washed corridor, a strange blank resolve gracing his features. Gunfire started its distant rattling song, rising in chaotic dissonance with the howls and snarls of a myriad of creatures. "Damn. We need to get some weapons, and a radio to contact Stephen. Connor? You think you can manage?"
Connor swallowed harshly, and gave one sharp nod, not sure if he trusted his voice to remain steady if he spoke. Nick clearly wasn't convinced, but accepted the answer, "This way, come on!" He dragged them in the direction of one of the arsenals.
Only to all be floored by the shockwave of a forceful explosion from deep within the facility. Many of their meagre light sources went out. "What the hell was that?" Abby sat up half gasping, half choking from the debris.
"I think it was an explosion." Connor commented dryly.
"Because things just keep getting better." Nick agreed as the three wrenched themselves to their feet and increased pace.
"Here!" Abby skidded to a halt and wrenched open the door, the familiar locker room come armoury looming in view.
And then a low growling caused them all to freeze, hearts pounding as they slowly turned as one, Cutter unconsciously shifting to half-block Abby and Connor from view of the sabretooth. Bile rose in Connor's throat as his eyes fixed themselves on the hated red blinking device on the creature's snarling head. He didn't want to, hell, he was pretty sure he couldn't right now. Nevertheless, none of them were armed, and he knew all too well what effect running had when faced with this ancient big cat. It placed one paw forwards, and Nick's darting eyes revealed his frantic mind at work, calculating whether they could get inside and shut the door before it pounced. Connor knew they couldn't take that chance, and his eyes began to slide shut.
A whistle, a thud, and an ear-splitting howl all blurred together within a second. Connor's eyes flew open in time to see a furious sabretooth whirl and stagger, before falling to the ground groggily, still trying to rise before finally lying still. Stephen shouldered his gun, striding forwards and stepping around the animal, "Before you give me the lecture, it was a tranquilliser gun, although the way this place is going to hell, you're gonna be hard pressed to stop me from switching to bullets. You all okay?"
Nick nodded, "Good timing."
They strode into the armoury, all three momentarily pausing to watch in awe as Connor, oblivious to the stares, picked up a gun, checked it, loaded it, and checked it again before holstering it and moving onto a larger rifle, all in a matter of a few seconds. They decided not to comment, Abby instead filling the tense silence, "What happened?"
"The anomaly detector went haywire, short-circuiting before anomalies began forming all over the ARC. There are creatures everywhere, and they're all being controlled." Stephen replied, face grim.
"What can we do? It's not as if we can stop anomalies from forming!" Abby snapped, her voice strained.
Stephen shrugged, exchanging worried looks with Cutter, "I've never seen so many anomalies in one place before. It's all concentrating on the ARC for some reason."
"Did you see Leek?" Connor quiet voice drew their attention; as much as it pained them to admit, they had become so used to working without him that they had almost forgotten he was there.
"I didn't see him. Lester thinks he did a runner when you came back. Not that it matters now."
Connor shook his head, "I didn't mean him," he rebuffed enigmatically, "You had a theory, Cutter, and then there was the Last Stratagem..." He trailed off.
"I'm sorry, the what?" Abby paused from her examination of the corridor to regard Connor closely.
He shrugged, "It was Leek's last project. No one could find out what it was for, only the name. The scientists he had working on it were kept under tight security in the ARC 24/7."
"What was my theory?" Cutter interrupted sharply.
Wailing echoed distantly down the corridor outside, drawing Connor's already scattered attention. He shook his head, "It doesn't matter now. Even if we can't stop the anomalies, we can't allow the creatures to make it outside."
"Connor's right." Stephen gave his friends a look to tell them to forget about it, and both Nick and Abby nodded.
Almost in agreement with the needed urgency, the last vestiges of emergency lighting failed. Connor cursed, before digging into a box and cracking something, an almost ethereal yellow glow emitting from where he stood. He passed a few of the lightsticks to his friends, before following Stephen's lead and attaching a small torch to his gun.
"Keep alert." Nick muttered as they moved forwards as one. It didn't really need to be said, but the saying made them feel better anyway.
"Keep alert." Abby hissed to her team, crouched low. "We're heading for the control centre – we need to stop Leek. Shoot to kill."
"What if you're wrong?" Someone muttered from behind.
"It's the only option we've got. Remember – there'll be two of them here."
"Wonderful." Another voice commented snidely to the darkness.
"Split up, two teams. Stay in radio contact, and keep your earpieces in; it's not just creatures we have to worry about noticing us. And keep your eyes open for Connor. He's the only one with chip-control, and if the anomaly readouts are to be believed, we're going to need all the help we can get."
Somehow in the confusion, Connor and Stephen had become separated from the other two. Creatures were everywhere, and they had been more focused on finding the next target than keeping track on what direction they were headed next.
Connor half collapsed against a wall, throwing his dying lightstick away from him as he slid to a crouched position, using the brief rebate to reload his gun with what little ammo they had managed to pick up from someone who had not been so lucky. Stephen slipped down next to him, saying nothing. He and Connor had never shared the same level of connection as Stephen experienced with the other two, perhaps rooted in the way Connor had always behaved, seeming to never take things seriously; the baby of the group, at least in maturity. This version though? He was even harder to figure out than his counterpart. He was more competent at holding his own, that was for sure, but that uniquely Connor attitude of wearing his heart on his sleeve had disappeared.
"We should keep moving." Connor murmured, his breath short.
Stephen nodded, making to rise, when a disturbingly familiar clicking sound made him freeze. Lightly footed steps, with sharp claws clacking against the floor. He swallowed, trying to hold his breath against his instinct to run. He exchanged a look with Connor in the dim afterglow of his own failing lightstick. The other man gave a sharp nod in the direction away from the sound, pressing firmly on Stephen's arm in an indication to move, but move quietly.
They made it a little way before Stephen, who was in front of Connor, took another step, his boot connecting with Connor's discarded lightstick, sending it skidding away into the darkness. A cry of triumph sounded behind them, "Run!" Connor yelled, shoving at Stephen's back while firing off three blind rounds behind him.
The noise coalesced in the confined space, causing confusion and chaos, until both their guns stopped adding to the cacophony, an oddly pathetic clicking replacing the previous cracking of shots. They had run out of bullets.
Shadows loomed in the dark from in front and behind, as the two men stood with their backs pressed against each other. Spots of red glowed dimly in the dark, indicating where the heads of their attackers were. Lust and instinct combined with the control they were under as the extinct creatures advanced. Stephen swallowed, "Connor?"
Connor didn't answer. He knew what Stephen was asking him to do, but also knew one tiny problem that his friend did not.
There were seven devices.
This meant there were seven creatures he had the potential to stop.
But he had only ever attempted to simultaneously control two creatures in his life.
To Be Continued...
Author Notes: Gasp! What will happen? Only one more chapter to go, and I'll try and get it done as soon as I can! I'd love to know your thoughts on this!