Chapter 5
"Remember what I told you," Steve told Gartus gravely, patting him on the arm.
"Trust no one, watch my back, and trust no one." Gartus repeated in a low tone, his face a mask of preparation and readiness.
"It's going to be a mad house," Darren added, watching the Roman with apprehension, "but just keep a level head and you'll do fine."
"Don't respond to anyone else." Taylor said, "You can't do anything to them so don't give them the satisfaction."
"You can do this." Emily assured him. "We've been training for a month. You're ready." Gartus gave a final nod and looked at Steve with his warrior's gaze.
"I'm ready." He said, "Start it up." Steve nodded and pressed the button.
"WhiteTechSupport92 had entered the match." The computer voice announced. Steve and the others sat back as they watched Gartus trying to play an online game of Call of Duty.
Steve allowed himself a small grin as Gartus ran around the field, shooting wildly. He'd always thought it would be funny to teach the man how to play video games, just because of how much fun they'd get out of seeing his face when he used the controller for the first time. But it had become a small team project. Ben refused to have any part in it, he was too busy with school. And Danny and Lucien had both opted out, choosing to play the 'mature adult' card. Which left Steve and Darren, and by default, Taylor and Emily, to teach Gartus about the world of video games.
Steve still wasn't sure how he felt about Emily. She was nice enough to everyone else, but she didn't seem to want anything to do with him. Which wasn't a huge problem with Steve, except she was over at his apartment every day. She seemed especially close to Taylor, and the two spent the majority of their time together. Why they needed to spend it in his apartment was the mystery.
As Gartus continued to run around the map, shooting in random directions and using swear words Steve hadn't even heard before, the anomaly detector went off. The group sighed as a whole. It had only been two days since the last anomaly, and everyone was still a little worn out from that experience. Being chased by an angry Dracorex could do that to anyone.
Steve got up and looked at the coordinates while Darren began getting their equipment together. Unfortunately, the locking device still wasn't one hundred percent functional, although having Connor's improvements did help considerably. Steve frowned while he double checked where the anomaly was on the map. When he was sure he was right, he immediately pulled out his phone and called Ben. When he picked up, Steve wasted no time.
"Ben, we've got an alert. It's at an elementary school."
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Danny rushed into the school, Steve and Ben on his heels. The others were waiting outside to find out what they were dealing with. The trio stopped in the foyer and looked around.
"Judging by the lack of screaming." Steve said in a low voice, "I'd say nothing has come through yet."
"In my experience," Danny told the pair, "something always comes through. We just have to find it before it kills someone."
"If it hasn't already." Ben added. Steve glared at him.
"Now why would you say that?" He said angrily, "That's practically begging for fate to kill someone." Danny shushed the pair, he needed to think about their plan of action.
"Excuse me," A middle aged woman walked out of a small office. "but if you're visitors, you need to sign in here please." Danny exchanged a quick look with Ben and Steve, but before any of them could make a move, a voice called out from down the hall.
"Uncle Danny." Danny looked in surprise and dread as Nicholas Temple came running down the hall to see him.
"Did you come to eat lunch with me?" The small boy asked. Danny knew he couldn't leave Connor and Abby's child alone in the school with an anomaly open.
"Yes I did." Danny responded. "I've got to sign in, and then we'll go eat lunch." The small boy beamed with happiness. His teacher came to put him back in the line with the rest of the students, but he kept looking at Danny with a huge grin on his face. Danny couldn't help smiling back and he returned the wave the boy gave him before walking off.
"Are you two eating lunch with the boy too?" The office woman asked skeptically.
"No ma'am." Steve replied confidently, "We're the exterminators, I've never met this man in my life." The woman frowned.
"We didn't call for any exterminators." She said, looking suspicious. Steve didn't miss a beat.
"Private call." He stated. To Danny's surprise, the woman's face changed from suspicion to exasperation.
"I've told Mrs. Haggerty that we'll get someone to look at her supposed roach problem, but if she wants to pay out of her own pocket then that's fine." The woman looked at Steve and Ben. "Her room is number 204. It's down the hall, take a left, then it's the third room on the right." Steve nodded calmly.
"Thank you, ma'am." He said. Danny walked into the office to sign in and get a visitor sticker.
As he walked out, Ben stopped him outside of the woman's field of vision.
"Wait in the hallway to the left." Ben instructed in a whisper. "Steve's stealing more visitor's passes, we're going to let the rest of the team in through the window in the open classroom down the hall. Then we'll get the anomaly."
"I'm going to eat lunch with Nick." Danny told Ben firmly, "If something happens, I owe it to his parents to be with him." After a moment, Ben nodded.
"Fine, but take Taylor with you, just in case." He said. Danny nodded and walked down the hallway in the direction of the lunchroom.
As soon as Steve exited the office and slapped a sticker on Ben's chest, they walked down to where Danny was. He walked over to them and they went into the unused classroom, locking the door behind them.
"That was good thinking, Steve." Danny congratulated. "I was impressed, you came up with exterminators fast and kept your head. Jenny Lewis couldn't have done better." Danny knew the New ARC constantly held themselves up to the standards of the old ARC, so he knew how much that compliment would mean to Steve. Sure enough, Steve seemed to be incredibly pleased with himself as he helped Ben lift the frosted glass window, revealing the rest of the team standing outside.
"C'mon then," Steve said with a grin, "we don't have all day." Darren climbed through the window first and walked over to Steve, holding the detector.
"There's something wrong with the detector." He said, holding it out. Steve took it from him and Danny came over for a better look.
"Something's interfering with the close range signal." Steve said, giving the detector a slight shake. "But I have no idea what."
"So we're all adults, tresspassing in an elementary school." Lucien began, closing the window behind him, "And there's a portal to prehistoric times somewhere in this school, and now we can't find it. Great."
"Cheer up," Ben said with an obviously false smile. "Nothing bad could happen in a school." Danny was surprised to see both Steve and Darren tense up.
"Bad things can happen in school." Darren said gravely, "Especially with anomalies." Danny didn't understand what the problem was, but apparently everyone else did. Ben looked ashamed of himself.
"I'm sorry," He began, "I forgot, I didn't mean to..."
"Don't worry about it." Steve said, clapping Ben on the shoulder. "Now what's the plan?"
"We'll have to split up and search the school." Ben informed the rest of the team while Steve passed out the visitors passes. "Danny and Taylor will go to the lunchroom with Nick Temple and keep an eye on him. Darren and Lucien will come with me, we'll take the east wing. Steve, you take Emily and Gartus and search the west wing. Keep in touch on the phones and kep a look out for any creatures. Good luck everyone." The team nodded as Ben finished his instructions. Danny took the lead and the New ARC walked out of the classroom on a mission.
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Emily trailed behind Steve as he muttered angrily and slapped his palm against the detector. Gartus was bringing up the rear, trying to casually look through classroom windows for any signs of a disturbance.
"We need to find somewhere quiet, like a bathroom or a cupboard." Steve told them suddenly.
"What makes you think it isn't in a classroom?" Gartus asked. Steve sighed.
"You were a kid once, Gartus." He replied. "What would you do if a glowing ball of golden light appeared in your classroom and dinosaurs started coming out of it?" Gartus nodded his head, conceding the point.
"You didn't have to be so rude." Emily admonished, even though, from what she could tell, he didn't have any other way to interact.
"I wasn't being rude." Steve argued, "I was just being direct." Emily continued to glare at him. Steve sighed angrily.
"I'm not apologizing for something I didn't do." He stated sullenly. "I'm going to start looking for some storerooms around the corner, you two stay here and check the bathrooms." Steve walked off, leaving Emily and Gartus standing alone.
"You take the boy's bathroom." She told Gartus, "I'll take the girl's." Gartus nodded and began heading into the girl's bathroom. Emily hastily grabbed his arm.
"What're you doing?" She asked hurriedly. Gartus frowned.
"I thought that was a man." He said, pointing at the little picture. "He's wearing a toga."
"It's a dress." Emily corrected, "That's the symbol for girls now, no one wears togas anymore, remember?"
"Ah," Gartus replied. "I did think it was a bit strange to have a picture of a man wearing a toga in this time." He turned and walked off into the boy's room. Emily sighed and went into the girl's room.
She gave the room a quick check for anomalies or incursions, but couldn't find anything. As she walked back outside, she expected to find Gartus waiting outside of the boy's room as well, but he wasn't there. After three minutes, she started to get worried. Emily looked back down the hallway to see if Steve was coming back, but he didn't appear. Emily began panicking that something had happened to Gartus and now he was dead or dying. She took a deep breath and rushed into the bathroom.
Gartus was sitting on the floor next to a young blond haired boy who looked like he'd been crying earlier. They both looked up as Emily stormed into the room. Emily froze, trying to take in the scene. She frowned, looking around at the lack of anomalies or creatures.
"Is everything alright?" She asked Gartus. He smiled.
"Yes, it's fine. I was just trying to help Timmy." Gartus patted the boy's arm, who looked to be no older than six, as he stood up. Gartus walked over out of earshot with Emily.
"What are you doing?" She asked, both curious and angry.
"I'm sorry," Gartus apologized. "He was crying when I came in, and he reminded me so much of my son, Titus, I just had to see what I could do for him." Emily's mind froze in shock. She'd never even known Gartus had a son, or a family of any kind. She'd never asked. All she could manage was a strangled 'oh'. She looked back to the boy, who was wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt. She couldn't imagine what kind of pain Gartus had to be in everyday he was away from his wife and child. She patted his arm consolingly.
"Take your time." She told him, "Steve and I will keep looking. You can meet back up with us when Timmy feels better." Gartus smiled at her and nodded.
"Thank you, Emily." He said. Emily walked out of the bathroom as Gartus went back and sat next to Timmy, whose face lit up.
When she got back into the hallway, Emily looked around again for Steve, but he still wasn't anywhere to be seen. She went around the corner and saw an opened door. Emily moved quickly down the hall and checked inside.
Steve had his head behind a large cabinet, checking for something. Emily stepped inside the room, stumbling unceremoniously over a box in front of the door. Steve mumbled something without looking up.
"What?" She asked, walking closer.
"Don't let the door close." Steve repeated, pulling his head back from behind the cabinet. Emily spun around, but it was too late. The door swung shut with a loud bang. Emily tried to push the door back open, but it wouldn't move.
"It locks automatically." Steve informed her angrily, "That's why I said to not let the door close. That's why I put a box there."
"I didn't know," Emily defended herself, her voice rising as well. "I couldn't hear you, you should have spoken up."
"I spoke just fine." Steve countered. "What are you even doing here anyways?"
"I was coming to help look for anomalies." She told him, trying to calm down. "What were you even doing behind the cabinet?"
"I though I heard something." He said, looking back towards the large filing cabinet. "It was nothing."
"I'll just call Gartus." Emily said, pulling out her phone. She looked at the screen and saw that she had no signal. She frowned.
"I can't get a signal." She told Steve, "Can you?" Steve pulled out his phone and checked it.
"No, me neither." He said angrily. "We'll just wait for Gartus to check this room. He's got to be one his way soon, right." Emily winced, looking away from Steve's gaze.
"He might be a little delayed." She told him. Steve frowned.
"Why would he be delayed?" He asked in a falsely calm tone.
"He's with a little boy who was crying. I think he's trying to comfort him." She said, waiting to see Steve's reaction.
"So we're locked in a storeroom with no back up and the stupid phones don't work." He said. Emily could see his entire body was shaking. She took an unconscious step backwards as she waited to see what he would do next. Suddenly, he snapped. With a vicious yell, Steve threw his phone against the far wall and punched the filing cabinet as hard as he could.
Emily was shocked, she'd never even seen Steve get angry before and now he was yelling and thrashing around the room, throwing boxes and kicking large bookshelves piled with papers and books. Emily sank back into a corner and watched, too afraid to say anything. After a few minutes, Steve seemed to wear himself out and he sat down on one of the boxes, breathing heavily. Emily stood up and walked over to him, sitting down tentatively next to him.
"I'm sorry," She said quietly, hoping he wouldn't explode again. Steve turned to face her.
"No, I'm sorry." He replied, his voice hoarse from the yelling. "It's not your fault and you shouldn't have had to see that. I've just got a lot on my mind and I'm more stressed than usual. I'm sorry." Steve looked down with an expression of shame. Emily put her hand on his arm. When he didn't throw it off, she continued.
"You can talk to me about it, if you want." She told him. "It's not like we're going anywhere." After a minute of silence, Steve nodded.
"Yeah," He said, "I'd like to talk, if you don't mind." Emily gave him a reassuring smile.
"I don't mind." She told him.
XXXXX
Taylor watched Danny talking with the small boy and for the first time, she really understood everything he'd given up to travel through the anomalies. He'd never told them his exact reasons for going back through, but Darren always thought it had to have been for some grand reason. Danny wasn't the type of man to just run off through the past for a laugh.
But watching him here with Nick, Taylor really started thinking about all the things he'd missed out on while he was gone. If he hadn't gone back through the anomaly, he would have seen Nick born, and coming to eat lunch with him wouldn't have been a random coincidence. Danny's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Can I ask you something?" Danny said as Nick got up to take his tray to the trash can. Taylor nodded.
"What happened with Steve and Darren when Ben mentioned schools?" He asked, looking curious.
"An anomaly opened up in their school while they were in detention." Taylor told him, "Their teacher and a girl named Beth died during the incursion." Danny nodded.
"So this, working with anomalies, really is personal to them, isn't it?" he said, looking thoughtful.
"Yeah," She replied, "they were the ones who found their way into the old ARC files, it's been an obsession with them for years."
"What about you?" Danny asked, "How did all of this start for you?"
"I went through an anomaly when I was eleven." Taylor told Danny. "Cutter and Stephen went through after me and saved my life. Cutter said I could come and work with him when I grew up. I'd been waiting for years, but now, here I am."
"Living up to your expectations?" Danny asked with a smirk.
"Can't complain." Taylor responded with a grin of her own. "Occasionally I get stuck working with ex-cops that apparently don't like the twenty first century, but other than that,it's been great." As Danny was preparing to make a retort, Nick walked up to them.
"Uncle Danny, Ms. Taylor, do you want to come back to my class with me?" He asked. Danny looked at Taylor, who inclined her head back to him, passing the decision on to him. She knew he'd want to keep Nick in sight until the crisis was averted. Danny smiled at the young boy.
"We'd love to come back to class with you." He said with a tone of excitement. Nick's face lit up with happiness. He took Danny's hand and led him back to the group, Taylor following behind. Then a woman screamed.
XXXXX
Lucien led the way, with Ben and Darren trailing behind him. He was listening intently for any noise that sounded out of the ordinary. The trio had already checked several empty classrooms and closets, but they'd had no luck finding anything yet. And the detector was still malfunctioning. Lucien could tell the bad detector had Darren on edge. He knew that Darren, more than anyone, wanted to find the anomaly fast and keep any creatures away from the children.
Lucien felt the weight of his pistol underneath his jacket. He'd begun carrying it around with him since Danny and Gartus had their encounter with the spy. Lucien felt the stress of being one of the only two people on the team to be qualified in firearms. He was constantly worried that one day, he wouldn't be fast enough and someone would be hurt or killed as a result. He couldn't stand for that to happen again.
A door being kicked open from around the corner broke into Lucien's thoughts. He held up his hand for the others to stop, but before he could explain to them what he'd heard, a woman's scream filled the air. Ben and Darren turned around hastily and tore off back down the hallway. Lucien was about to follow then when he heard something else from around the corner. It sounded like the faintest noise of an anomaly. Making a snap decision, Lucien ran in the opposite direction from Ben and rounded the corner.
As he moved into the next hallway, Lucien was confronted with the sight of two men in black jumpsuits and ski masks facing him. He could see the glowing light from the open door the two men were standing in front of. Lucien began walking forward to find out who the men were and what they were doing with the anomaly. The shorter of the two men walked forward as well and began pulling something out of his pocket.
Lucien's soldier instincts kicked in and he grabbed the man's wrist, twisting it away from the pocket, and punched the man in the face with his free hand. Letting go of the man's wrist, Lucien hit him again, sending him sprawling back. The second man approached Lucien carefully as the first got to his feet.
Lucien looked around the narrow hallway for something to use as a weapon. He wanted to keep both men in front of him to keep from being surrounded. The two well built men seemed unable to stand next to each other in the tiny space, so Lucien launched himself forward, hoping to keep them pinned in front of him.
As he moved up, Lucien's right arm shot out and he grabbed the second man's head, slamming it into the wall with a dull thud. The first man delivered a solid punch to Lucien's stomach, sending him back a step. As the first man advanced and the second slid to the floor, unconscious, Lucien debated pulling out his pistol. He decided against it, choosing to use it only as a last resort, life or death situation.
The man pulled a nightclub out of one of his leg pockets and began walking menacingly towards Lucien. Lucien pulled out his pocket knife, preparing for a fight. The man swung his club at Lucien's head, but he dodged it and rammed his knife into the man's shoulder.
The man gave a yell of pain, stepping back and dropping his nightclub. He grabbed his shoulder in agony as Lucien picked up the billy club. Unfortunately, the second man had woken up. Lucien made eye contact with the man seconds before he saw the gun in his hand. As Lucien reached for his own, knowing as he did that it would be too late, the man fired.
Thousands of volts of pure pain and electricity coursed through Lucien's body as he fell to the floor, twitching with muscle spasms. He tried to yell in pain, but he couldn't make his body do anything. He felt someone kicking him in the stomach repeatedly as his body spasmed out of control. The first man leaned down in front of Lucien and, with a grunt of pain, pulled Lucien's pocket knife out of his shoulder. He looked at Lucien with a wild glint in his eyes as he placed the knife at his throat.
Suddenly, Lucien could hear someone yelling from where he'd originally come from. The men both looked up in surprise. The second man grabbed his companion's good shoulder and urged him along. The first man growled in anger and tossed the knife aside before getting up and running away as well. Ben's face filled his field of vision.
"Lucien, Lucien, talk to me. Are you ok? What happened." Ben's voice sounded tinny and out of focus. Lucien tried to tell him to go after the two men, but his mouth still wouldn't form words. Darren was looking at the anomaly, and then back at the detector, with interest.
"Are you ok?" Ben asked again. Lucien nodded, he'd survive.
"I still can't get a reading on the anomaly." Darren said, looking confused. Suddenly, the detector beeped loudly. Darren frowned and looked at it again.
"Now it's registering." He said, puzzled. Lucien tried to get off of the floor, but he still couldn't.
"Who screamed?" He asked, his tongue feeling thick and heavy.
"Don't worry about that." Ben told him, "We're taking care of it." Lucien could see Darren walking into the room with a thoughtful expression. Ben stood up and walked over to the doorway to keep an eye on him. Lucien allowed himself to lean over onto the floor and rest for a moment. He was trying to figure out who the men in the jumpsuits were and how they'd known about the anomalies and why they'd even been there in the first place.
While he rested his head against the cool, smooth school floor, Lucien could feel a slight vibration. He frowned as the vibration got louder, something large was coming their way. He tried to sit up, but his muscles were still too weak. Then, Lucien felt someone grab his arm and pul him upwards into a sitting position against the wall.
"Something's coming." Lucien told Ben hurriedly as the other man backed away from him and stood next to Darren, blocking the hallway after the door. Ben just grinned.
I know." He said, "Just sit still, you're gonna love this." Lucien looked in the direction Ben and Darren were staring and his mouth fell open.
At least twenty or thirty small dinosaurs were waddling their way towards Lucien and the others in a mini-stampede. Danny and Gartus were chasing the small dinosaurs, making loud noises as they did, herding them on. When they got closer, Ben and Darren began making noises too, causing the creatures to veer away from them as well, leading the small dinosaurs into the anomaly.
As the last of the dinosaurs went through, Danny looked down at Lucien with confusion.
"What happened to you?" He asked, still wearing a broad grin.
"Stun gun." Ben answered. Danny looked up suddenly, his grin quickly replaced with his stern business expression.
"Who tased you?" He asked Lucien, "What happened?" Lucien tried to get to his feet. He stumbled, but Ben grabbed one of his arms and Gartus took the other. They stood him up, holding onto him for support.
"Two guys in jumpsuits and ski masks." Lucien told Danny. "They walked out of the anomaly room and saw me. We got into a fight and I got stunned. I think one of them was going to kill me if Ben hadn't gotten here in time." Ben nodded. Danny looked thoughtful and concerned.
"I don't like this at all." He said, "Spies tailing us and now men who know about the anomalies and aren't afraid to kill over them." Suddenly, the anomaly closed, causing everyone to look where it had been.
"We need to get out of here." Danny said tersely. Ben nodded as he and Gartus both put one of Lucien's arms over their shoulders. Suddenly, Taylor frowned.
"Where are Steve and Emily?" She asked, looking around.
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Steve was sitting across from Emily, holding her hands as she talked to him. He didn't even remember when he started holding her hands, it just happened. He felt embarrassed and slightly ashamed that she'd seen him loose control as badly as he did, but he was grateful that she didn't seem to hate him for it. She'd calmed him down and let him vent. It had been halfway through their conversation that Steve had remembered she was studying psychology in school. But now, the conversation had thankfully drifted away from Steve's stresses and anger issues. Now they were just talking about anything, but he was still holding her hands.
"First girlfriend?" Steve asked for clarification. Emily grinned and nodded. Steve racked his brains, it had been a while since he'd had any girlfriends, not that he'd ever admit it to Emily.
"Jane Sanderson when I was fifteen." He said finally. "You?"
"Mark Aadams." She responded with a sly smile, "Fourteen." Steve grinned, she wanted a competition.
"First kiss." He challenged, grinning.
"Fourteen," She replied, "same guy." Steve tried to hide his disappointment, she'd beaten him again.
"First kiss in a storeroom." He amended, glad for the inspiration. "Sixteen." He added with with a tone of pride.
"Never." She admitted. Steve grinned, he'd won that challenge. Then he realized that he and Emily were a lot closer than he remembered and her eyes were closed. Steve's mind made the connection and he leaned in.
"Steve! Emily! Where are you?" At Gartus' call, Steve and Emily jerked back from each other. The both exchanged nervous glances and Emily pulled her hands back hastily.
"We're in here Gartus." She called loudly, "It locks from the inside, we're stuck."
"Ok," Gartus replied, "I'll go get the others." As his footsteps faded off in the distance, both Steve and Emily avoided each other's gaze.
"We should probably, um, you know." Steve said, gesturing for them to stand up.
"Oh, yeah." Emily agreed, nodding her head rapidly. They both stood up quickly and waited apart from each other.
"So what happened," Emily began, "it wasn't anything... I mean, I didn't want..."
"It never happened." Steve said calmly, "We never have to mention it."
"Exactly." Emily said, "We were just stuck in a storeroom together and that's it."
"Yep." Steve agreed, "Nothing else. We just sat in here and talked. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Emily responded.
At that moment, a sword was thrust through the opening between the door and it's frame. With a grunt from the outside, the door was thrown open. Steve and Emily saw the expectant faces of Danny, Darren, Taylor, and Gartus, who were all standing in front of the doors with slight smiles. Gartus slid his sword back into its sheath inside of his coat as Danny spoke.
"Cozy?" He asked with a cheeky grin. "You two didn't seem to be in a hurry for us to find you."
"I don't think they wanted to be found." Darren added with a smirk.
"Don't look at me." Steve bristled, "Girl wonder here locked us in with her amazing displays of coordination and observation." As he'd predicted, that made Emily mad.
"Well maybe if the supposed 'technogenius' could build a detector that worked, we wouldn't have had to search individual rooms."
"So you're both fine, then?" Taylor asked, cutting off Steve's retort. They both nodded and Steve looked at Darren.
"What happened at the anomaly?" He asked. Darren just grinned.
"We'll fill you in at the flat." He said. "Some of us were working while you were 'locked up' in the storeroom." Steve shook his head as they all left for their cars. Darren didn't get sarcastic very often, but when he did, he just couldn't stop. Apparently, mocking Steve was cause enough for Darren to use his sarcasm. As he got into the backseat of the car and Emily sat next to him, Steve thought about how awkward working together was going to be until the two of them reached some sort of agreement.
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Darren grinned at Steve and Emily's faces of disbelief.
"You herded dinosaurs." Steve repeated to Danny incredulously. Danny just smiled mysteriously.
"We were lucky they were harmless." Ben added. "Coeulruvaurus, burrowers and herbivores."
"And adorable." Taylor said, "They were so cute."
"How'd you get witnesses to believe they didn't see a dinosaur?" Steve asked. Darren held in a sigh, Steve always worried when he didn't come up with the cover story.
"There were no witnesses." Taylor said.
"Some woman started screaming her head off because she saw a mouse." Danny explained. "So Taylor and I followed it out of the lunchroom. I had to leave poor Nick there all by himself."
"Then all of a sudden," Taylor said, picking up the story. "a Coeulruvaurus came burrowing out of the wall in front of us. Then another, and another, then they all poured out."
"By this time, Darren and I had reached the others." Ben said. "And Danny told us to go ahead and find somewhere to put them."
"So Ben and I went running off." Darren told everyone who wasn't there. "And we got to the hallway where we'd been with Lucien."
"Except at that point, I'd been beaten and tasered by two guys in jumpsuits." Lucien added. Emily's eyes grew wide.
"Someone attacked you?" She asked with concern. Lucien shrugged.
"I got in a few blows." He said modestly. "They didn't get away without something to remember me by."
"And then we shepherded the creatures back into the anomaly." Gartus finished.
"And then," Darren said with a grin at his best friend. "we thought, where are Steve and Emily and how can we ruin their romantic rendezvous?" He was slightly pleased to see both Steve and Emily turn bright red. It wasn't often he had a chance to give Steve any kind of humorous abuse, so when the opportunity arose, Darren took it with gusto.
"I think we need to talk about the men that attacked Lucien." Taylor said, looking at the others. "Because it obviously means that someone else knows about the anomalies, and they don't want to share."
"I think you were right last time." Lucien told Danny, "I think this is bigger than just the government. It just felt like something worse." Darren frowned, thinking about what had been bugging him since they had left the school.
"I think whoever those guys were," He began slowly, "they were blocking the anomaly's signal." Ben nodded.
"The detector did work as soon as they were gone." He admitted, "But it could have been coincidence. Maybe there's something wrong with the detectors and it only worked right in front of the anomaly."
"Oh come on." Steve interjected, "If any of us were that lucky, we wouldn't be chasing dinosaurs all day. Whoever those people were, they can block our short-range detectors, maybe even the main one."
"And besides," Darren added, "we checked the detectors when we got back. There's nothing wrong with them." Ben nodded again.
"Fine," He conceded, "does anyone have any ideas on how to handle these guys?" The room was quiet as everyone thought about solutions.
"Ok then," Ben said, looking at everyone again. "We'll just have to deal with them the next time we see them. Until then, I want everyone in pairs on an alert. No excuses, always have at least one other person with you, just in case." Everyone nodded and began getting up to leave.
As Ben, Danny, and Lucien left, Emily grabbed Taylor and pulled her into the kitchen. Gartus got up to leave and Steve immediately came over and sat next to Darren.
"So are you going to tell me what really happened in the storeroom?" Darren asked with a small grin.
"I almost kissed Emily." Steve admitted after a moment. Darren shrugged, confused about what the problem was.
"So?" He asked, "You've kissed loads of girls before, and you've been shut down plenty of times too. So maybe this one works with you to fight dinosaurs, but so what? I don't get why it's such a big deal to you."
"Because..." Steve began, trailing off. Darren waited while Steve composed himself. "I think I really like her, Darren. And you of all people know how bad I can get when this happens." Darren nodded, remembering Steve's past problems with women.
Casual flirting he could handle without a problem, but when he really started to develop feelings for the girl and he wasn't sure if she returned them, that was when Steve got into trouble. He would either harass her until she hated him or he'd ignore her completely, expecting that she'd do the same. Expressing his emotions had never been his strong point, it came as a result of two uncaring parents. So now that he had a girl he really liked, Steve had no idea what to do.
"As cliche as it sounds," Darren advised, "just talk to her. I don't know if you noticed, but she's talking with Taylor right now. And what do you think they're talking about?" Steve gave a small grin.
"I will talk to her." He said. "I'll do it tomorrow." Darren looked at his friend with a proud smile.
He was proud of both of them. They'd both come so far from the two nerds who barely survived regular school, not just the detention where they were almost killed by dinosaurs. Now they were two men on a team of people who kept others safe from the dinosaurs. And today they'd gone into a school to save kids. The circle was complete. Taylor and Emily walked out of the kitchen, Emily steadfastly avoiding Steve's gaze as she headed out the door.
"I'm going to walk Taylor to her car." Darren told Steve as he stood up, "I'll see you later." Steve nodded as Darren took Taylor's hand and they left the apartment.
As they walked, Taylor began laughing.
"What's so funny?" He asked, looking at his girlfriend curiously.
"It's not so much funny as... well I guess it is funny." she said, "Emily and Steve almost kissed in the storeroom. Now she said she can't stop thinking about him." Darren grinned.
"Steve told me almost the exact same thing." He admitted.
"I told her to just talk to Steve." Taylor said, "I told her that he could act like an adult when the situation calls for it."
"I told Steve the same thing." Darren said again. "Hopefully they should be talking to each other now." Taylor nodded and they walked the rest of the way to her car in silence.
"Can I admit something to you?" Taylor asked as they reached the hood of her car.
"Of course you can." Darren assured her, "What's up?"
"I think you were right about this getting more and more dangerous." She said, looking scared for the first time.
"I mean, someone tried to kill Lucien today." She continued. "That could have been anyone of us. It could have been you." Darren pulled her into a tight hug.
"But it wasn't me today," He told her comfortingly, "and Lucien wasn't killed. Now we know we're not the only ones who know about anomalies and we know to watch out for this other group. They won't catch us off guard next time."
"I hope you're right." Taylor responded. Darren let go of her and checked his watch, which read four o'clock. They still had plenty of time to do anything.
"We should go see a movie." Darren suggested. Taylor looked surprised.
"Right now?" She asked. Darren nodded and she smiled. "Ok, any you want to see in particular."
"We'll choose when we get there." Darren told her. "There's no sense worrying about it if it until you have to." Taylor nodded and they got into her car, driving off for the movies.