Helen's Hi-jinks Part VI

All characters, unless noted otherwise, belong to Primeval™ and Impossible Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended

Intermission VI

"Nick Cutter, just where are we going?" Jenny spoke up in a huff, as it became obvious to her that Nick was driving them in an unknown direction. "James's place is located at a completely different part of London – you don't know where it is!"

"I don't need to know that, because we don't need to go to Lester's," Nick shook his head. "What we are going to do is set-up a pre-emptive strike instead."

There came a pause, pregnant with unasked questions.

"Let me explain, then," Nick decided to accept the silence as a sign of agreement and further inquiries. "How did this attack against the ARC began? The Silurian happenstance aside, it began when Eugene had infiltrated the ARC once again, and had altered Connor's anomaly monitor."

"Yeah – and it almost did what the Silurian anomaly did, it almost took us back into the past," Connor pointed out.

"Perhaps, but it was also the point where the time anomalies had changed, so why don't we look at it as if it was a coincidence instead? The Silurian anomaly was probably Helen's mischief, but after that, when Eugene and others got into the act, the time anomalies began to change."

"Nick, we don't follow you," Jenny spoke-up. "You try to repeat similar things in different styles, it seems."

"Fair enough. Helen, let's suppose, can somehow control the time anomalies, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to supply Leek with all the creatures so handily, or with the neural clamp he had used on the future predators."

"That's fine, Nick, but what about Lester?"

"I am getting to him. As Connor had told us, Eugene and others had no intention of destroying the ARC equipment – that part was purely an accident on Connor's part."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Connor, but if you hadn't pulled the fire alarm, the events of yesterday and today would have been quite different, we wouldn't have had to split up because we would all have ended up in the Jurassic time period instead, leaving Eugene and the others in control of this time in particular."

There was another pause, equally poignant in its' silence. "I haven't thought of it like that," Connor spoke up once again. "Guess I have saved you all instead, hah?"

"No, Connor," Abby shook her head. "That time anomaly shut down on its own, your setting of the sprinklers had just covered that event."

"Exactly!" Nick nodded. "Our enemies obviously believe that the time anomaly was shut by the ARC's general burn-out or whatever, and so did Lester – due to the arthropleura we forgot to tell him that. Therefore, what Lester had his underlings' doing-"

"You already told us that," Caroline interrupted, as Michael whined, looking through the front window of the van with big mournful eyes. "No offence, but you can skip this part."

"Fair enough," Nick nodded, even as Abby jabbed Caroline in her ribs for disrespect. "The others want to use the ARC as some sort of a time travelling base, because otherwise they wouldn't have sabotaged, or rather altered, that equipment. Consequently, after picking up Lester, they would go there for some sort of a dramatic action."

"And," Jenny added, as she turned to the younger people, "Lester also tends to spend a lot of time at the ARC – his domestic life isn't so good, as you would – or would not – know."

"Right," Nick nodded, "that probably explains his relationship with the mammoth."

There was another pause, during which Nick winced. "You know what kind of a relationship I mean, right?"

"Yes," Jenny replied with a roll of her eyes. "We get it. We also understand why we are going to the ARC. What I am wondering at any rate is how are we going to storm it, if they are already there, and defend it, if they are not."

"I have no ideas about defence, but when it comes to offence, I have a thing or two to say," Caroline piped-up once again.

"Feel free to speak," Nick shrugged.

"We approach the center on foot," Caroline shrugged in reply. "I just don't believe that we'll be able to beat Eugene and Phil and others in a direct confrontation. Sneaking up on them and freeing Lester is our best chance."

"And then what?"

"I have no idea – this is your plan. What did you want to do?"

"Let's play it by ear instead," Abby shrugged, "but overall you may be onto something here. A sneak attack in this murk is such a daft idea that no one will be able to expect indeed!"

"Yeah, it even started to snow," Connor echoed in agreement with his girlfriend. "They won't see us till we're right on top of them."

"No!" Nick snapped. "First, we will see what is going on, then what's with Lester, and no Western-style shoot-outs – not unless Caroline-"

"No," Caroline said curtly from her seat. "I breed dogs, not train commandoes. You want something more equal with the enemy's fire power, contact the Interpol, or whatever."

"It won't work – not without Lester's influence backing us up," Jenny said with a hiss of irritation.

"Then we're on our own," Nick said quietly, "and what's more, we're here." He killed the engine.

'Here' was actually quite some distance away from the ARC, but Caroline's suggestion did include approaching the building on foot from some distance away, so there was no grumbling. The visibly deteriorating visibility worked in advantage of that too – Nick had almost skidded onto the boardwalk and into some building or other several times as well.

"How do you drive in such a weather in this vehicle?" Abby – whose balance had recovered since the accident – asked Caroline.

"I don't," the other woman said uneasily. "That's for my other car – the one taken by Eugene, apparently. Let's go."

Getting there, actually, could be easily described as half of the battle, for the storm literally drowned the pavement in several inches of water and water-drenched garbage, making the foot journey just as precarious as a one inside a car, and even less comfortable. "Jenny," Nick exhaled, as Jenny grasped him while tottering in her high heels. "Maybe it is time for you to switch to different footwear?"

"Not now, Nick!" Jenny huffed as she did another step, still holding onto him. "After we've done with this whole thing... maybe."

Nick, who had suspected of hearing something along those lines, just rolled his eyes. Obviously, Jenny was going to stick to high heels even if it snowed or hailed, and all someone like him could do was submit.

In the back, Abby Maitland was having her own troubles, as being the shortest in the group, she was the one stuck the most and the longest in the cold dark puddles, and had to hang onto Connor as well. Not unlike Jenny, she found this to be not so much as she supposed that it would have been, and when Caroline offered her to ride Michael, she actually considered doing something like that for a moment. Then her pride won, and she declined, somewhat snippily, even as Connor had to keep her from falling to her knees onto the pitted bottom of the puddle.

Only the dog enjoyed the goings on. Moving on four legs rather than enabled it to be more surefooted than the humans, and being of a curious nature it sniffed at various junk flowing on top of the surface. Only Caroline's tight control of the leash kept it out of mischief.

Suddenly the ARC building rose out of fog like a ghost castle, or rather the fence around it did. "Funny how it looks different in broad daylight," Nick muttered, rubbing the bruised nose. "Now, the other entrance to the building is to the right."

"Damn straight it is," Jenny nodded in agreement, as she followed Nick's turn. "It is a small, backdoor entrance, really, for supplies at what-not. It is probably guarded though-"

"You think?" two of the mercenaries – fortunately was neither Eugene nor The Cleaner – came out of the darkness. "We've been expecting your merry crew of the dilettantes for a while now. Hands up!"

Nobody expected Abby, who was still tottering somewhat to strike first, but strike she did by throwing something in one of the mercenaries' face. As the man staggered back, Michael, released from the leash by Caroline, smashed into the two men from the right and below, knocking one of them down, and the other one into the wall. The downed man still tried to reach his weapon, but Connor followed the dog's leap and kept the man knocked down in the puddle.

"Good job, men," Jenny spoke up as the ripples settled down. "Abby, just what was that?"

"Mace," the blonde-haired woman replied sheepishly. "Caroline scared-off a giant scorpion with it, remember? Therefore, I decided to try it as well. Guess it worked too, just not how I expected it to."

"People, let's move!" Nick exclaimed. "Before they begin to suspect that something is wrong!"

"I think it's too late for that," Caroline said in a chocked voice.

The others stopped admiring the victory of Connor and Michael and turned away from the wall – to see something rather similar to an angry mob. Eugene and The Cleaner were in the front of it, and so was another figure, but the dark weather made it hard to distinguish the latter's form or even gender.

But not the voice. "Professor Cutter. And the full set of his little sidekicks. You really should have gotten out when it had gotten tough," grated a familiar, hated, masculine voice. "Instead you tried to outmanoeuvre a bunch of professional military men. Truly, hubris is the root of all the flaws of tragic heroes, or tragic hero wannabes at any rate."

"Leek?" Jenny sputtered. "Is that you?"

"It's me indeed – and in flesh too, not just spirit," Lester's evil ex-assistant said cheerfully, as he emerged into the light.

Everyone else just stared. Leek was indeed too solid and real to be a ghost or a spectre, with the emphasis on 'too'. He was now several inches taller than he was before, wider in the shoulders and more muscular as well, and had a surprisingly balding and bulging forehead.

"So, what do you think?" he said cheerfully, with his hands firmly in his pockets. "How do I look?"

"Probably like Dolly felt when looking at her clone," Connor said, surprisingly cool. "Only in your case the cloners must have been from some third-rate Chinese clinic and given you encephalitis in the process. How's that for an answer?"

"Eugene?" Leek's voice was smooth from anger. "I don't need the funny little sidekicks after all. Shoot them."

"One last question, Oliver Leek, and it's a trick one," Caroline's voice did not waver, as she backed to Michael and Connor (Abby was on the side, closer to Jenny and Nick). "Why are you hiding your hands in your pockets?"

Leek smiled; there was something also wrong with his teeth. "Clever girl," he snapped, "but it won't help you. You are all going to die anyways, so it is as well that you will die now. Eugene-"

Then the back dropped from out of the world, and when it dropped back in, Nick and others found themselves not at the ARC fence but somewhere else – and it was mountain country. Wild mountain country, which was definitely not in England at all.

"Where – where are we?" Abby gasped, as she grasped Connor for balance.

"I think I have an idea," Caroline said quietly. "Come on – I have one last story to tell – but it's going to be a long one."

To be continued...