[[Author's Note: Considering that I was planning on updating this story every two days or so, this chapter is extremely late. To make it up to all of you amazing people who have followed/favourited/reviewed this story, this once is extra long. Really, I cannot be more happy at the comments I have gotten on this story; be it criticism or praise, I seriously am grateful for it all. I hope you guys like this chapter: the next one will continue from where we leave off, and delve deeper into the foundations of the CBO. Thanks again, and enjoy :) ]]
CHAPTER {3} ENGAGED
"When that light opened up in my bedroom, I was confused. When I heard the deafening roars coming from it, I was afraid. As I clutched at my bed sheet, begging for someone to save me as that monster tore up my leg, I was in pain. Now? Now I'm just angry. I was an athlete; and now I'm a victim of a story no one will believe. Just look at me. I've lost everything. Give me answers. I deserve them."
Jessica Parker was blind. All three computer screens that made up her hub had shut down; and it was surely no coincidence that such a thing happened just as the intruder alarm sounded throughout the building. It was no feat for her to reboot the power to the main systems — the power wasn't the problem at all. It was the camera feeds. Boxes on her screen that usually showed all necessary rooms of the ARC building now showed only grey static; and due to the unlikelihood of every camera that made her the all-seeing eye of the ARC malfunctioning at once, it was clear that something had been tampered with.
Within two minutes of the alarm blaring through every sound system, whilst the military staff followed their own rehearsed protocol of securing each exit of the building, members of the initial team began to surround Jess, each with their own question. Jess gave vague, half-sentences as answers, as she frantically swivelled her chair and typed faster than any average human could, desperately trying to get the cameras back online. It was Becker who got silence to replace loud queries, with words of his own. "Matt and I will help my men to patrol the lower floor. Abby, Connor and Emily can take upstairs." He ordered the team, picking up his EMP from the desk adjacent to Jess' hub as he did.
"Where is Abby?" It was Matt who spoke this time, turning to Connor as he did. Connor seemed surprised at the questioning, pivoting as he looked around, as if Abby would jump out from behind a pillar or table. "She was in the menagerie." He answered after a few short moments of silence, turning in the direction of the corridor that would take him there. "She's probably— "
"Guys. You need to see this." Jess interrupted, causing Connor to turn back around as the rest of the team gathered around the middle computer screen. The camera feeds, after several attempts, had begun to turn back on, one by one. Jess had magnified the feed that came from the camera in the upper corner of the menagerie; the image it displayed being what caught her attention, and that of the others. It didn't take a genius to know that the two strangers in black that were seen in the room with their missing team member weren't friendly (if the fact that they didn't work in the building wasn't proof enough, than how one had a tranquilizer dart gun pointed at Abby surely was.) The team had seen enough; whilst Jess called for men to retrieve the hostiles, Emily, Matt, Connor and Becker had already made their way to the scene.
— — —
Rex chirped as he circled the room, landing underneath the table (the woman who held the camera had been attempting to take a picture since they arrived in the room, but the flashes that occurred each time had driven Rex away.) Whilst the reptile was avidly trying to avoid contact with the new arrivals, Abby wasn't breaking her gaze on them; it was hard to look away when the male was standing less than an arm length from her, the gun he held even closer to her than he was.
Upon the entrance of the two, Abby had been quick to block the door that lead to the creatures — when she had seen the gun, the blonde had believed that it was to be used on the animals, thus her decision to stop them from nearing them anymore than they already had done. However, despite her first impression, it seemed the visitors wanted no more than to gather photographs of the creatures, rather than actually take them; but even if that was the lesser of two evils, their attempts to cross her would still be futile.
Abby's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the red haired woman chase Rex around the room, knocking over the sand box as she failed once again to get a clear shot of the flying lizard. Despite the mood of the situation, Abby couldn't help but smile ever so slightly at the fight her green friend was putting up — a smile that was wiped as the head of the man's gun was pushed harder into her chest. "I said let me pass, or I will have to put you down." The man repeated, for the third time. He seemed to be all talk and no action; he had yet to 'put her down', and with her own EMP and comms out of reach, all Abby could do was hope that these threats were empty after all.
When the intruder pushed his tranquilzer against her for the second time, this time with more force than the times prior, Abby's patience began to wear thin. She was neither a fan of being assaulted nor pushed around — and when the woman began to throw things at Rex in order to get him still for a picture, her fists clenched. The blonde raised her arm, planning on knocking the tranquilizer out of the man's grip; but it seemed her opposer saw this coming, as he met her arm with his spare hand, fingers tightly wrapping around her wrist. Right before she was going to retaliate and allow a proper fight to break out (despite the man clad in black's advantage of holding a gun) the door to the menagerie was opened from the outside once again; Becker entering with a medium sized EMP in hand, the rest of the team following through. Their appearance was only noticed by the three humans (and one coelurosauravus) in the room when Connor made their presence clear, as he entered the room after Becker and Matt, calling out Abby's name as he did.
The gun-holder released his hold on Abby, turning around to face the new comers, as his tranquilizer found a new person to point at. To him, the solider holding a gun larger than his own was much more of a threat than the small blonde woman he was close to attacking. Much to his surprise, his change in direction was a mistake on his behalf, it seemed, as said small blonde woman took the advantage of no longer being on gun point and the man's attention being diverted. With a swift kick to the back of his knees, and bringing her elbows down on the crook of his neck, the man that once held the upper hand was now kneeling, facing the floor. Were he to avert his attention from the ground to above, he would get a close up of Becker's EMP, which was now positioned directly between his eyes.
The woman too was swiftly taken care of, as the backup Jess had previously requested traversed in and confiscated both her camera and her ability to do anything with her hands (the latter being done with the aid of a pair of handcuffs.) It was only when such a deed had been done that Abby left her guarding position of the balcony door, moving to stand beside of Connor (whose worried expression had morphed into a more bewildered — and possibly even slightly turned on — one, after seeing the fall of the male intruder first hand.) Becker and his men had begun to leave the room, taking the red head and the gun holder with them; directly on their way to question the two in the interrogation room that Lester had been waiting in since Jess told him about the invasion.
"So much for a peaceful day off." Abby looked up at Connor as she spoke, arching one eyebrow as the pair left the menagerie, which was now empty (except for Rex, of course, who had to stay contained due to ever going bioscans, much to his distaste.) Connor grinned, following Becker's lead — he for one certainly wanted to hear what the intruders had to say, and Abby held no different opinion on the matter. "There's always tomorrow, hey?" He replied, before they slipped into the room, Connor closing his mouth and choosing not to speak again when they were faced by the sincere faces of collegues.
The male and female behind the glass window, still handcuffed, were sat at a table similar to the one Nick Cutter had interrogated his deranged wife in five years before. Matt and Lester were sat opposite, leading the questioning. Emily left her seat and walked over to Connor and Abby after they had entered, shutting the door behind them, speaking in a hushed voice to as to not to interrupt the female who was telling, with a tone of pride, just how they got past the ARC's hefty and high tech security.
"Conspiracy Buster Operation. They're members."