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Once Belle woke from her rest she joined the other 3 in the kitchen where they proceeded to discuss their plan. It was decided that Danny and Belle would sneak into the ARC through a very under used and mostly unknown passage that had been found by Connor back in their own time. Connor had used it on more than one occasion to slip into work . He had told Danny about it and it was Danny who thought to use it. Belle did not know about the passage, but just because she didn't know didn't mean that no one else did; but that was a chance they would have to take. Then once they were inside they would make their way to Trina's office where Belle was sure the devise would be. Luckily she knew how to get into the woman's office so that was one thing they didn't have to worry about. The only problem was when to do it. They decided that Abby would watch for when Trina when she left for work, which was usually about the same time each night so they were counting on this.
As Connor listened to the 3 of them talk he had to ask about his job again. He was told that he would be waiting at the site where they first entered this world and make sure it was clear for when they arrived. He didn't like this plan, but had to admit to himself that it was probably the most useful thing he could do.
As the day wore on the 4 prepared to leave, bringing only the necessities as to not weigh them down. When everything was ready they headed to the site that Danny had shown Abby when they had first arrived at the apartment. They found Connor a safe place to hide out while still being able to keep an eye on things. He wished the 3 luck and watched as they left him alone to wait.
Belle led the way to the ARC using a less used route. Once they arrived at the building Abby stationed herself to where Trina would eventually exit the building. Danny and Belle made their way to the passage which was some ways away from where Abby was. They would communicate through some phones that Belle had found in her friend's apartment.
Abby tried to find the best place to hide so that no one would see her, but the area was devoid of trees so that left the vehicles for her to hide behind. She just hoped Trina would come out soon.
After about 30 minutes there was movement coming from one of the outer doors of the building. As she watched she saw several people coming out, but none of them were Trina. Abby was just beginning to give up hope when she finally spotted the one she was waiting for.
Trina was busy talking to one of the people who had come out before her; which gave Abby time to call Danny, "Danny, Trina just came out of the building. It looks like she is done for the day so you should start to make you way into the building".
Danny waited until Abby was finished before replying, "Ok Abby, just keep an eye on her until she leaves the parking lot, then I want you to get over to the site and wait with Connor. If this goes as planned, we will be there shortly".
"Good luck Danny". Abby was just putting the phone back into pocket when she looked up to see where Trina was. As she looked around she started to panic when she didn't see her. She stood up to get a better look and soon regretted it as she felt something poke her in the back. As she turned around she saw Trina, who was standing there with the biggest grin on her face.
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Getting inside the building was easier than Danny thought it would be. Once inside Belle took over and led him through a maze of hallways and stairwells until they reached the floor where Trina's office was. To Danny this all seemed just a little too easy and he was starting to have a bad feeling about everything. He was glad that the place seemed deserted, but he had to wonder why they didn't have more security. Maybe they were walking into a trap, but he didn't have time to think about that right at the moment.
Belle stopped suddenly and motioned Danny to get back into the corner. As they stood up as close to the wall as possible, two guards walked by. As Danny watched them he started to feel foolish for thinking it was a trap. The guards didn't seem to be worried about anything as they walked by so why was he so worried.
When the guards passed by Belle motioned Danny to follow her. Within minutes they stopped again, "This is Trina's office. Just keep an eye for me while I put in her code".
Danny kept guard as Belle punched a few numbers into the keypad. It didn't take long before Belle was pulling Danny by the arm.
Danny followed Belle into the room while Belle turned on the light. "So we're in, now all we need to do is find the device". Danny looked around the office and could see they had their work cut out for them. The room was very large and the device could be anywhere.
After spending 20 minutes looking Danny was starting to think that the device was not in Trina's office and their attempt to find it was now lost, "It doesn't seem to be here Belle, can you think of any other place it could be?"
"I thought for sure it would have been here Danny. Trina would have wanted to make sure it was safe so I just assumed she put it in here".
"Well I think we should get out of here and try and come up with another plan".
Belle could see the disappointment on Danny's face, "Maybe I could try and convince some of the others in the lab to help us out".
Danny wanted to respond, but thought that if this was something that she could guarantee she would have brought it up before. "We need to get back to Abby and Connor and come up with something else. At least we know it is easier to get inside this place than originally anticipated".
Belle silently agreed with him. She helped Danny put everything back the way it was so as to not bring attention that they ever there.
Danny checked outside the office to make sure it was clear before leaving. Belle closed the door behind them and then once again took the lead as she led Danny to the exit.
Once they were outside Danny got the phone out and called Abby. When she didn't answer he figured she must be out of range so he would try again when they got away from the building.
When Danny tried again he couldn't understand why she was not answering it. He looked over at Belle, "I don't like that she is not answering".
Belle tried to lighten the mood by offering her idea of what happened, "Maybe she is still out of range. She may have had to keep out of sight when she went to join Connor. I'm sure once we get there we will find her waiting where she was supposed to be". Belle didn't know if this made Danny feel any better, but when he didn't answer she figured he was.
As the two of them of them cautiously made their way to where Connor and hopefully Abby were, Danny thought about trying the phone again, but decided against it when he realized they were almost there. He figured that Belle was right in thinking that Abby had to keep a low profile to prevent from getting caught.
When they turned the corner Danny felt relieved to see Abby and Connor sitting on a bench that was directly off to the side of where they were to wait. But as he approached he suddenly had a bad feeling about it. It was the fact that Abby and Connor were sitting out in the open when he specifically told them to keep themselves hidden.
He didn't know if Belle felt the same way but he kept his feelings to himself, trying to convince himself that he was just being paranoid.
When they were directly behind Abby and Connor the feeling that Danny had earlier was confirmed to be accurate as he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello Danny, so nice of you to join us".
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Sarah followed Becker as he made his way down to the street. They had to take a more unconventional route since they were not sure if the creatures were hidden somewhere in the building.
Once they were outside the wind was starting to pick up and the sky looked like it could rain at any minute. Becker kept a tight grip on Sarah's hand while holding his weapon with the other. He didn't know if this were a trick or if they really had a shot at getting out of here, but he wasn't about to take the time to figure out which assumption was correct. He just wanted to get back to the anomaly and unlock it so they could get home.
As they made their way over to the site, both were happy to see that nothing was following them, but they were even happier to find that nothing was waiting around each corner or hiding in one of the many destroyed vehicles that lined the streets.
It wasn't long before they finally saw what they were hoping to see. And to the relief of both of them the anomaly looked just as it did when they left. Sarah had feared that it would eventually shut itself down leaving them with no way of getting home, but she was more than happy to be wrong. She thought that perhaps by locking the anomaly it helped stabilize it.
They stood off to the side of the anomaly as Sarah dug out the device that would unlock the door and lead them to freedom. Before she pressed the button she said a silent prayer that this would work. Her prayer was answered as the lock disappeared.
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Danny looked for Trina immediately after hearing her voice. She was standing off to the side of Abby and Connor just enough that it would have been impossible to see her from any angle. "What are you doing here Trina?" He quickly looked over to make sure Abby and Connor were ok. "Are you guys alright?"
Before Danny's second question could be answered Trina offered an answer to the first question, "I am here to help you get home of course".
Danny was instantly suspicious at Trina's response, "Why would you want to help us if all you have been doing is trying to keep us apart".
Trina came out of the shadows as she responded, "I'm sorry about the events that occurred after you first arrived. I have had time to think about it and I decided that I had no right to keep you here. But since I could not find you to tell of my decision this was the only idea I could come up with".
Danny kept Belle behind him as he made it over to his friends, "Hey, are you guys ok?"
Abby spoke first, "We're ok. I'm sorry that I got caught Danny. She forced me to come here, but she hasn't hurt either of us".
"Do you believe she is serious at wanting to help us?"
Connor turned to look at Danny, "I think she is. She gave me this".
Danny looked at Connor as he held up the anomaly device. This would explain why they had not found it in Trina's office. She must have known they were coming, but how. He turned and looked at Belle thinking she may have something to do with it, but quickly changed his mind. The only thing that mattered was that he was here with Abby and Connor and they had the device. If this were a trap, they were at least the closest to home they had ever come since they entered this altered time.
Danny was starting to reach for the device when Trina suddenly snatched it back from Connor. "Now I said I would help you, but there is something you must do for me before you can go home".
Danny knew there had to be a catch, "I knew it couldn't be this easy. What do you want?"
"I plan on going back with you".
"Why would you want to do that? There is nothing for you back in our time. Your world is here".
Once Connor had heard Trina's response he understood why she wanted it this way, "She wants to come with us because she is afraid that once we are back we will erase anything she had in this time".
Trina smiled down at Connor, "I always knew you were the smart one of the group".
Danny ignored Trina's comment, "We can't do that. Any changes we make here could affect the timelines".
"What? How could you worry about such a thing? I bet you didn't think about the changes that would take place when you went after Helen. How dare you tell me you don't want to risk changing the timeline when it has already been changed? The least you could do is to take me with you so that I can continue my life and not have to worry about the kind of future you described this place should be".
"You're not giving me a good enough answer Trina. Why should we take you when everyone else in this time would be affected? We can't take everyone back with us. All we can do is take our chances and hope that it doesn't change much. We're not even sure the altered timeline had anything to do with us".
Trina was starting to get angry with Danny, "I don't care about the others; I just want to make sure my life continues as I know it. I don't really think you have much of a choice since I am the one holding the device".
Danny thought about leaping toward her and taking it away from here, but thought against it since she was also holding a weapon that was pointed directly toward his friends. He didn't want to risk it going off.
"So, the way I see it is that you have no choice. Now I am going to open the anomaly and we are all going to go through it; well all of us except for Belle".
Danny suddenly remembered that Belle was standing there and looked over at her. The idea of her coming with them had never even entered his mind. He had actually not put much thought into it.
Trina took a few steps away from the group and pointed the device toward the open. "I hope I have this aimed at the right place. I would hate for you to go through all this trouble only to end up somewhere other than your own time".
Connor didn't like that idea and spoke up, "you need to point it more toward the east". He watched as Trina did as he said, "Yes, I believe that is the right place".
Trina didn't waste any time opening up the door to her past. The lights from the anomaly were a sight to behold, but Danny just wished there was some other way to do this without having to take her with them. Maybe he could somehow get Belle to hold her back while the 3 of them got through and shut down the anomaly on the other side.
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Sarah and Becker stood there looking at the lights from the anomaly. They looked around quickly to once again make sure they were not being followed. They didn't want to get back to their own time and bring company. They knew that once they were back they would have to shut everything down as quickly as possible.
Little did they know that somewhere in an altered reality Danny, Abby and Connor were contemplating the exact same idea.
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Hope you are still enjoying the story. More to come soon and since I am on vacation I hope to finish the story soon.