AN: The motivation to finish this story came to me in a dream. I was sleeping soundly, when suddenly the skies seemed to open up and my muses descended like angels from on high. And they said to me, "Finish Next Gen or we will beat you to death with a bag of trout." And they left. I was actually kind of offended, I feel like I deserve halibut, at the very least. So here it is, the final installment of Primeval: Next Generation, because no one wants to be beaten to death by trout, that's just embarrassing.
Chapter 8 ½
As Danny drove the stolen van closer to the guard box outside of the government research facility, he looked over his team. In the passenger seat, Steve sat with a look of complete calm and confidence. The others didn't look as optimistic.
They were all dressed in the black jumpsuits worn by the military members of the facility. Taylor and Ben both looked scared, but ready. Emily just looked sick. Danny and Lucien exchanged a brief look, the kind only shared by two men who'd been into battle before and knew they were going back again. Lucien nodded grimly and Danny stopped in front of the booth.
Danny rolled down his window and held out the id card he'd taken from Reynolds. The man in the booth took the card, but paused before swiping it.
"Weren't there supposed to two vans?" He asked suspiciously.
"They're getting gas." Danny replied calmly. The man in the booth frowned.
"We fill the vans here. They shouldn't even need gas." He said slowly. Danny fought to keep a straight face as the man slowly reached for the phone. Suddenly, Steve sighed loudly.
"Fine." He said in a tone of exasperation. "You caught us. The other van made a McDonald's run." The booth man's face lost its tension.
"Samuelson!" He exclaimed loudly. "I told that bastard to let me know the next time he was going to do that. You call that son of a whore and tell him I want a large number four, no onions, and a Diet Coke." Steve smiled and gave the man a mock salute.
"Will do, boss." He told the booth man. The booth man swiped Danny's card and the gate lifted. Danny took his card back and drove on through to the parking garage.
As they drove past the booth, Danny looked at Steve in admiration.
"Your ability to lie both impresses and worries me, my friend." He said with a grin. Steve smiled as well.
"My mom hated it." He told them. "She knew I could lie to her face and she could never tell. It's just a gift."
Danny parked the van and looked back at the rest of the New ARC.
"Alright," He began, "so the plan is: we get in, we get the Beckers and Lester, we destroy the generator, and we get out. No problem."
"We need to get to a computer, or at least I do." Steve added. "That way I can find the Beckers and Lester, and the generator." Danny nodded.
"Right, so we just get out of the van and walk right in." He told the team. "Act like we belong and we'll be fine."
"Stay behind me and Danny when the shooting starts." Lucien added gravely.
"Don't you mean if the shooting starts?" Emily asked pointedly. Lucien looked at her and she sighed. "You're right, wishful thinking."
"Good luck everyone." Ben said, looking around. "Let's go do this." He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, exiting the van. Danny and the others followed suit.
The six of them walked calmly into the building and looked around. They'd entered into a lobby, with a large reception desk thirty feet in front of them. Danny took the lead and walked up to the desk with a large smile on his face.
"Hi," He said jovially to the receptionist sitting behind the counter. "We're new here and we were instructed to take some computer stuff to the tech labs. Could you tell me which way that is?" Danny kept smiling as the receptionist looked at him with a disinterested expression. Finally, she sighed loudly and pointed down the hall.
"Go down that hallway, take the second right and follow that hallway to the end, and then go left. The tech lab is room 442." Danny smiled at her.
"Thank you very much." He said politely. He walked away from the desk and motioned for the others to follow.
As they walked down the hallway, Danny peered through each window and open door as he passed. All he could see were people working at desks or at computers. He looked at Steve walking next to him.
"Are you sure you can hack into their system?" He asked quietly. Steve grinned.
"Positive." He answered confidently. "I can get into any system made by man."
"You couldn't break into the ARC's." Danny pointed out. Steve visibly deflated.
"I said man, not techno-god. Connor Temple built the ARC system from the ground up. It would've taken me weeks to crack it. And when Jess Parker beefed it up, it became impossible. Even I have limits." Danny grinned.
"Let's not find out if this system is one of them." He said. Steve nodded and stopped outside of the lab's door. Ben peered through the glass on the door.
"I see eight people working in there." He reported. He looked at Danny. "What's the plan?" Danny took a deep breath.
"We hold them up." He responded, unholstering his pistol. Lucien grinned and clicked the safety off of his rifle.
"Shiny." He said with a grin. "Let's go be bad guys." Lucien kicked open the door and walked in with his rifle raised. Danny and the others followed, holding out their own guns.
"Put your hands in the air and get on the ground." Danny barked. The frightened scientists immediately dove for the ground and put their hands on their heads. Steve rushed over to one of the computer terminals and began typing rapidly at the keyboard.
Danny corralled the scientists into one corner of the room and left Ben and Taylor to guard them. Emily and Lucien stood next to Steve while Danny checked the hallways outside.
"I'm in." Steve announced suddenly. Danny looked at Steve as his hands flew over the keyboard. "It looks like the old ARC is being held on the second floor."
"Right, second floor then." Danny said confidently. He began moving towards the door, but Steve didn't move.
"Wait," Steve said in a distracted tone of voice. "There's something else. It's weird, some of these cells have been outfitted with enough layers of steel to keep Wolverine in place."
"That doesn't make any sense." Ben interjected. "Nothing could keep Wolverine in place, he'd just teleport out." Steve looked at him in shock and amusement.
"Wolverine can't teleport." He said slowly. "Wolverine has the claws coming out of his hands." Ben frowned.
"Then which one can teleport?" He asked in confusion.
"You're probably thinking of Night Crawler." Lucien added. Now Steve looked at Lucien in amazement.
"Who are you?" He asked incredulously. "I've known you for months and I didn't even think you knew what sci-fi was. Now you're quoting the Big Damn Movie and educating Ben on the X-Men. What happened, man?"
"I like sci-fi." Lucien answered plainly. "I've just never mentioned it before." Danny cut Steve off as he opened his mouth.
"We did come here for a reason." He interjected. "Remember, save the prisoners, save the world."
"Or is it the cheerleader?" Lucien muttered to Steve. Steve snorted, but Danny shot them both a glare. Steve dropped his grin and stood up.
"I think I have an idea for a diversion." He volunteered. "I can't shut off the alarms, not from here, but I can cause a problem that'll keep everyone busy."
"You have a plan?" Emily asked. Steve shrugged.
"Well, half a plan." He replied with a cheeky grin. "Well, half a plan and a bad idea… A really bad idea."
"Want help?" Lucien asked as Steve walked towards the door. Steve looked at him in surprise.
"Could be dangerous." He warned him.
"Gee, I've never been shot at before." Lucien replied sarcastically. Steve nodded.
"Come on then, I'll fill you in on the way." Steve looked at Danny. "The generator is on basement two. Apparently, it's the only thing in basement two. Once you get the Beckers and Lester, we'll meet you there." Danny nodded and held out his hand. Steve shook it, and then Lucien did the same.
"Good luck." Danny said. "We'll see you at the generator." Steve nodded and the two men ran out of the room.
XXXXX
"Raptors?" Lucien asked Steve in shock. "Your plan is 'raptors'?" Steve nodded confidently.
"That third floor cell was pumped up way too much to hold a person. They wouldn't need a quarter of that much steel. Unless, what they were locking up has six inch claws and an angry disposition."
"But how do you know there are raptors in there?" Lucien asked as they walked up the stairs. "Or anything, for that matter. It could just be an empty cell."
"The anomaly at the movie theater." Steve explained. "We know these people go to anomaly sites, maybe they're supposed to kidnap dinosaurs while they're there."
"I just hope you're right." Lucien said as he pushed open the door to the third floor.
The pair stopped dead as they encountered four armed security guards blocking their path. The six men stared at each other for a quiet moment. Finally, one of the four men spoke up.
"You just gonna block the stairs all day?" He asked testily. Lucien and Steve both shook themselves out of their stupor.
"No sir, sorry sir." Lucien said quickly, dragging Steve out of the way. The man prepared to walk past, but stopped suddenly and looked at Lucien.
"I don't recognize you." He said suspiciously. "What unit are you in? Show me your identification cards." He held out his hand expectantly.
Lucien decided not to wait for Steve to come up with an answer, he launched into action himself. Without warning, he grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it outwards. He followed with a quick punch to the man's elbow. Lucien could hear the bone's crack. In the same move, Lucien rammed his own elbow into the man's nose, sending his head jerking back. Lucien grabbed the man by the shoulder and hurled him into the second guard.
Even though his attack had been quick and unexpected, the third and fourth guards were already advancing towards Lucien. Lucien lashed out rapidly, using his hands, feet, elbows, and knees as weapons. Soon, the second man had gotten up, giving Lucien three opponents. He continually countered their attacks while responding with his own.
Eventually, Lucien was able to dispatch one of the guards by taking out his legs with a sweep. He then grabbed the second man by the shoulders and rammed his knee into his gut. As both men dropped to the ground, Lucien turned to see the final guard facing him with his pistol leveled at Lucien.
Suddenly, Lucien heard a gunshot and a scream. He saw the guard drop to the ground, clutching his knee, which was bleeding everywhere. Lucien looked in shock at Steve, who was holding his pistol straight out with a slightly surprised look on his face. Lucien kicked the man in the head and turned to Steve.
"Thanks." He said calmly, walking past the shorter man towards the reinforced cell at the end of the hallway. Steve looked at Lucien in shock as they walked.
"What did you do in the Army?" He asked with a tone of amazement. Lucien grinned.
"Classified." He responded. Steve opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a blaring klaxon alarm that was sounding all over the building. They both looked back at the guard Steve had shot. He was holding a radio. He also had his gun pointed at the pair of them.
"Run!" Lucien shouted quickly. He leveled his rifle and fired at the sitting guard. The man slumped forward, his pistol dropping out of his hand.
Unfortunately, reinforcement guards had arrived from the stairwell. The three men fired down the hallway at Lucien and Steve. Lucien returned fire and turned to run. Steve was already halfway down the hallway. Lucien took off after him, occasionally firing behind his shoulder.
Steve rounded the corner as Lucien was three quarters of the way down. Suddenly, more gunshots filled the air. Lucien heard several shots that whizzed past him. And one that didn't.
Lucien stumbled with a grunt of pain as he felt the round in his lower back. Steve began returning fire from around the corner. He hadn't noticed Lucien yet. As Lucien tried to get back on his feet, he felt another round pierce his back, higher than the first. Everything was beginning to get fuzzier, he could hear Steve yelling something, but he couldn't make it out.
Oddly, the door at the end of the hallway filled Lucien's vision. The voice of his Captain telling him to do his duty filled his ears. Lucien used the last of his strength to bring his assault rifle to his shoulder. He aimed at the door and unloaded the entire magazine. As he dropped his rifle, Lucien felt another round pierce his shoulder, but he barely felt it. His entire body began to go numb and he dropped forward onto his chest. The very last thing Lucien could see was the cage door swinging open and four very large raptors walking out. Then the world faded to black.
XXXXX
Steve saw Lucien fall and in his mind he was watching Darren die all over again. Steve's entire mind filled with rage. He was going to make sure that no one else on their team died and that Darren's and Lucien's sacrifices weren't for nothing.
Steve rolled around the corner and fired wildly at the guards, keeping them behind their cover. That allowed the raptors to rush forward, giving out loud cries of hunger. They rushed straight past Lucien's body and charged the guards, who turned and ran, the raptors close behind.
Steve walked calmly out into the hallway and knelt next to Lucien's still body. He placed a hand over his friend's glassy eyes and closed the lids. Steve stood up and began walking towards the elevator. It was time to end this.
XXXXX
Danny marched down the hallways, looking for the room number of the office that had recently been converted into a cell. Behind him, Ben, Taylor, and Emily were fanned out and continually checking over their shoulders for any activity. Danny grinned as he found the correct office door. He signaled the others over.
"Is this it?" Ben asked, still looking around the hallway. Danny nodded.
"Do we have keys?" Emily asked curiously.
"Not exactly." Danny replied with a grin as he shot the doorknob. The others jumped slightly.
"Ben, Taylor, you two keep watch on the North stairwell." Danny instructed. "Emily, you're on the South." The three nodded and moved quickly to the end of the hallway. Danny pushed open the door hesitantly, expecting the worse.
He was greeted by the sight of Becker, Jess, and Lester shackled to the far wall. Lester and Jess seemed to be unharmed, but Becker was sprouting a fresh black eye and a busted lip. Becker gave a short laugh when he saw Danny.
"You never call," Becker said in a slightly mocking tone, "you never write, you never send flowers. I'm beginning to think you don't care about me."
"It's just been busy at work." Danny responded, playing along.
As Becker opened his mouth to respond, Lester cut in angrily.
"As much fun as I'm having being chained to a wall and forced to listen to your banter, I would like to go home sometime today if you can manage it, Quinn." Danny grinned at his old boss.
"Glad to see retirement has mellowed you out, Lester." Danny replied with a grin as he pulled out his lockpicking set.
"I'm a very mellow person, Quinn." Lester stated calmly. "I simply have an aversion to being a prisoner. I know, it's a character flaw."
Danny grinned as he set to work on the locks. He spared a glance at Jess, who seemed very calm for someone who'd been taken prisoner and chained to an office wall. He'd only met the former field coordinator once, but she didn't strike him as someone who would be used to being in situations like this. He saw Becker nudge her.
"You okay, Jess." He asked quietly. She nodded and looked at Danny.
"Are those boys alright?" She asked. Danny frowned, confused.
"Which boys?" He asked, looking around the room to make sure there weren't other people.
"The ones I sent the backdoor password to." Jess replied. Comprehension dawned on Danny. Who else could have given Steve and Darren access to the ARC systems. Danny stopped for a moment, debating whether or not to tell Jess about Darren.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded over the buildings intercoms. Danny whipped his head up in shock. Becker glared at him.
"Is this part of the plan?" He asked, looking worried.
"You know how I feel about plans, Becker." Danny replied, trying to keep calm. "I'm more of an improviser."
"Well then improvise the locks open." Lester said testily.
"Just give me a minute." Danny replied tersely. The locks were more sophisticated than he'd anticipated.
"Danny," Lester began slowly.
"What?" Danny replied, still fiddling with the locks.
"Do you have a brown haired boy on your team?" Lester asked. "Average height, medium build, black jumpsuit." Danny frowned.
"What do you-" Danny was cut off by the sound of a hammer being drawn back on a pistol.
Raising his hands slowly, Danny turned around to face one of the armed guards, who had a tight grip on Ben's arm with a pistol aimed at his head. Danny looked at the man and tried to assess the situation.
"You alright, Ben?" Danny asked cautiously.
"Fine," Ben replied, sounding angry at himself. "Taylor's hurt, though. Bastard shot her in the leg."
"She'll be fine." The man asserted. He pointed the gun at Danny. "You, on the other hand."
Suddenly, hands appeared on either side of the man's head. With a sudden twist and a sickening crack, the guard's neck was broken. His body fell to the floor, revealing the last person Danny expected to see.
"Hello, Danny." Patrick said calmly.
Danny stared in dumb shock. Patrick appearing out of the blue would be one thing, but Patrick rescuing him and acting very calmly about the whole thing was seriously messing with Danny's understanding of the world.
"You really need to train your people better." Patrick continued. "The girl you put on the south steps let me walk right past her."
"He said he was your brother." Emily interjected, peering her head around the corner.
"Exactly." Patrick said, still seemingly unconcerned by the effect his appearance was having. "I could have been anyone."
"Like a lunatic murderer?" Becker suggested venomously. Patrick sighed.
"I guess you're still upset about the bomb, then?" He asked casually. Danny shook his head, trying to regain control of the situation.
"Ben, go get Taylor." He instructed quickly, "Bring her back here. And you," He pointed at Patrick, "what are you doing here, Pat?"
"Redemption and forgiveness, Danny," Patrick responded honestly, looking Danny squarely in the eye. "Plain and simple, I've made some mistakes, well, a lot of mistakes. I've hurt people. A lot of people, actually. And I'm sorry, I truly am."
Danny looked at his brother in silence for a moment. Then he rushed forward and wrapped Patrick in a tight hug. Patrick awkwardly patted Danny's back.
"Maybe not ready to hug yet." Patrick said in a strained voice. Danny released his brother and grinned.
"Tough," He replied sternly, "I'm a hugger, get used to it."
"It's true," Becker vouched from the floor. "He tried to hug me once."
"You'd almost died." Danny retorted, moving back to the locks. "I was worried."
With a final click, the locks fell off of the prisoners wrists. Becker stood up and grabbed Jess in a tight hug. Lester rubbed his wrists tenderly and looked around. Danny walked over to the door to see Ben carrying Taylor over to the converted office. He set her down gently and looked at Danny.
Danny took a moment to glance over Taylor. Other than obviously being in pain, she looked like she would survive. She glared at Ben from the floor.
"If you pick me up again, I will bite you." She threatened. Ben shook his head and fixed Danny with an intense look.
"What's the plan now?" He asked. Danny looked over everyone involved. He reached his decision quickly.
"Becker, I want you to take everyone and get out." Danny instructed. "Patrick and I will meet up with Lucien and Steve at the generator."
"No way." Becker protested angrily. "I'm sticking with you, Danny."
"Me too." Ben added quickly. "This is our fight just as much as it is anyone else's." Danny looked over the faces of his friends, but he knew he was making the right choice. Thankfully, Jess took his side.
"Danny's right, Hil." She said quietly. "We can't stay here. He and Patrick can handle it." Becker looked upset, but nodded his head slowly. He clapped Danny on the shoulder.
"When this is over, you're coming to our flat for dinner." He said. Danny grinned.
"I look forward to it." He responded. He turned to face Ben glaring at him angrily.
"I'm not leaving." He stated stubbornly. Danny sighed.
"Ben, you've got to go." Danny repeated firmly. "You've got to get out and take care of your people. We can handle this; you need to take care of Taylor."
"I'm fine, actually." Taylor interjected suddenly. Danny watched her as she laboriously tried to stand up, using the wall to support her weight. Ben frowned and gave an angry sigh.
"Good luck." He said simply, holding out his hand. Danny shook it and patted Ben on the arm.
Ben walked over to Taylor, who was struggling to walk down the hallway with an injured leg. She saw Ben and held her hands up in defense.
"Don't you do it." She warned. Ben simply bent down low and grabbed Taylor around the thighs, lifting her up onto his shoulder.
"I'll get you for this." She said sullenly. She gave Danny a pointed look.
"You'd better come back." She told him. He smiled at her.
"I plan to." He replied.
Ben walked off down the hallway, following Becker and the rest of the team. Danny turned to Patrick and grinned.
"Let's go break something expensive."
XXXXX
There are bad plans, there are worse plans, and then there are Danny Quinn plans. One of Patrick's earliest memories of being with Danny involved an infamous Danny Quinn plan. Patrick couldn't remember much of that day, but he did remember learning that badgers do not like to be provoked. And as with most of the following Danny Quinn plans, that day ended with the pair of brothers running wildly while being chased by something or someone they'd pissed off.
The only difference was today, they were being chased by armed guards. Angry, armed guards.
"Why did you think this was a good idea?" Patrick yelled to Danny over the noise of gunfire. Danny shot him a Quinn smile.
"You said we needed to keep the guards busy so the others could get out." He replied before returning fire down the hallway. Patrick sighed.
"No," He corrected, "I said, 'let's use sneak attacks to draw their fire'. And then you went charging in there like Han bloody Solo."
Patrick reloaded his pistol and rolled around the corner, crossing the hallway as he fired at the guards. Despite his complaints, he really did love a good firefight. Something about trading bullets spoke to the lunatic murderer in him.
He reached the other side of the hallway where Danny was standing and the two men exchanged reckless grins. As they prepared to fire back down the hallway, screams of terror and loud screeches filled the air.
Patrick and Danny cautiously peered around the corner. The armed guards who had been shooting at the pair were now being savagely attacked by a vicious pair of raptors. Both brothers stared in silence while watching the carnage.
"Did you let raptors loose?" Danny asked quietly. Patrick shook his head.
"As much as I'd like to, I can't claim responsibility for this one." He replied.
"It was probably Steve, then." Danny said, still in a quiet tone. "It's the sort of thing he'd think of." Both men stared in silence for another few moments.
"It does have a kind of ruthless efficiency to it." Patrick observed. Danny nodded in silence.
"We should probably get to the generator." Danny said finally.
"Yeah," Patrick agreed. They both moved away from the raptor massacre and ran down the hallway to the stairs.
Danny kicked open the stairwell door, allowing Patrick to move in first. Unfortunately, the four guards who were coming up the steps reacted faster than Patrick could.
They opened fire quickly. Patrick returned it as he backed away. Danny soon joined in as well. The men on the stairs dropped quickly under the hail of bullets Danny and Patrick laid down.
"Let's move." Danny said confidently.
Patrick tried to step forward, but was suddenly stopped by blinding pain. He looked down to see blood seeping from his stomach. He tried to stop the bleeding, but he could already feel his legs getting weaker. Patrick backed up against the wall and slid down silently.
XXXXX
Danny turned around to see his brother slumped against the wall.
"Pat!" He yelled frantically. Danny rushed back up the steps and crouched by his brother. Patrick looked at him with slightly unfocused eyes.
"Danny, go." He instructed in a pained voice. Danny shook his head, tears beginning to cloud his vision.
"I'm not leaving you." He responded.
"Yes you are." Patrick stated firmly. "This is bigger than both of us. You've got to stop it." Danny tried to argue, but he could hear guards shouting in the distance. Danny stood up and tried to grab Patrick by his arms.
"C'mon," Danny grunted angrily. "We can make it, just let me carry you." Patrick refused to move.
"It won't work, Danny." He said calmly. "We both know it. The remaining guards are coming and they'll catch us both." Danny looked at his brother, the tears flowing freely now. Patrick just grinned.
"I found you, though." He said weakly. "I could have died at any time in the past, but at least I managed to make peace first. You don't know how much that means to me." Danny stared at his brother.
"I wish we'd had more time." He choked out.
"We had enough time." Patrick responded. He slapped a new magazine into his rifle. "Now get going, I'll buy you some more." Danny nodded.
"I love you, Pat." He said finally.
"I love you too, Danny." Patrick responded. He grinned. "Now go give 'em hell from the Quinns." Danny nodded one final time and ran down the stairs. As he reached the final floor, he could hear gunshots from where he'd left Patrick. Danny squared his shoulder and opened the door to the second level basement.
As he walked in, Danny could see Steve fiddling with what Danny guessed to be the generator. As Steve heard movement behind him, he whirled around, pointing a pistol at Danny. Danny put his hands slowly. Steve took a deep breath and lowered the gun. Danny quickly walked over to the young man as Steve turned back to the generator.
"Where's Lucien?" Danny asked, looking around the large room. Steve didn't say anything, he just kept messing with something on the interface. Danny understood.
"Too many people have died for this thing." Danny said, looking at the generator with genuine hatred. He pulled out his pistol and leveled it at the generator. Steve looked up.
"Don't you think if it was that easy, I'd have done it already." He said quickly. "It's safeguarded against physical attacks. And where is everyone else?" Danny saw the fear in Steve's eyes.
"They're fine." He reassured him. "I sent them out. Taylor was shot, but she'll live." Steve nodded.
"You need to go too." He said quietly. Danny frowned at him.
"Well let's break this thing and we will go." He said. "What's the hold up?"
"I'm not going." Steve replied, still not looking Danny in the eye. "This generator, the only way to destroy it is to overload the system. It'll cause a total meltdown, ending in self-destruct." Danny nodded.
"How long will we have after triggering it?" He asked, looking at the door.
"I will have long enough to kiss my ass goodbye." Steve said firmly, stressing the 'I'. "You will have time to get out of the building and live a long and happy life." Danny shook his head forcefully.
"Oh no," He said angrily. "You are not blowing yourself up. No, sir, that'll be my job."
"I'm not budging on this, Danny." Steve responded firmly. "I'm going to blow this, you are going to live."
"I'll make you leave." Danny said, pointing his pistol at Steve in desperation. Steve laughed.
"And how will you trigger the overload?" He asked sarcastically. "I'm the only one who knows how." Steve crossed his arms and glared at Danny.
"What about Emily?" Danny asked, trying desperately to convince his friend. Steve's expression softened for a moment.
"She'll be fine." He said. Danny could hear the weakening conviction in his voice.
"No she won't." Danny persisted. "They've already lost Darren and Lucien, and now you want to kill yourself too. How will any of them go on?"
"And how will your death be any better?" Steve asked angrily, his voice rising. Danny just stared as the young man sunk down to the floor against the generator.
"I don't want to go on, Danny." Steve said weakly. "I can't anymore. I've watched too many people die. I just can't."
Danny crouched next to his young friend. He put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
"I know how this feels." Danny said quietly. "I lost my brother when I was twenty one. The police told me he was dead, but there was no body, so I kept looking. Joined the force so I could keep looking. I didn't know how I could keep going, but I did."
"Did you find him?" Steve asked curiously, looking at Danny for the first time.
"Sorta," Danny replied. "After my first year in the past, I came back, and he was there. He'd gone slightly insane, became a terrorist in the nineteen hundreds. And he wanted to kill me."
"Just minor details." Steve said with a small smile. Danny nodded.
"Exactly. He ended up not killing me; he decided to run off into the past instead. And I followed him." Steve nodded, but still looked confused. Danny grinned, understanding his confusion.
"When I think about, I don't know what the moral of that story was supposed to be either. I think I just needed to get it off my chest." Steve stood up and looked at the generator.
"I lied." He said thoughtfully. Danny stood up quickly.
"You mean no one has to be a martyr?" He asked. Steve shook his head sadly.
"No such luck." He replied. "I just meant that blowing this isn't that complicated. I rigged it to blow when you slam this button." Danny looked at the console and noticed the pronoun use.
"The big red one?" He clarified. Steve nodded. Steve walked towards the door and turned back.
"Thank you, Danny." He said suddenly. As he turned to go, he looked back a final time.
"Did you ever find your brother?" He asked. Danny grinned.
"Yeah, he forgave me, followed me into this time, broke in here, and saved us back in the cell. Then he died on the stairwell."
Steve's face was a study in shock.
"Huh," He said finally. "Life's funny like that." Danny shrugged.
"Like I said, I don't know why I told you that story. I think I just needed to tell someone." Steve nodded.
"Good luck." Danny said finally. Steve opened the door.
"You too, Danny." And he was gone.
Danny sat with his back against the generator, a small smile on his face. He'd lived a pretty good life. He'd loved, he'd lost, he'd evaded death a dozen times, and he'd spent years surviving against all odds in the past. Overall, Danny decided he didn't have any regrets with the way he'd lived his life.
He gave Steve another four minutes time to get out of the building. As he debated whether or not to wait a few more minutes, a door at the end of the room burst open.
Four men wearing black jumpsuits ran forward, rifles leveled.
"Hands in the air and don't move." The first man yelled.
Danny slowly raised his hands and thought about all the times he'd yelled that at suspects. It hadn't always worked then, either. As the man got closer, Danny slammed the butt of his pistol into Steve's magic button.
He could see the slow realization of what he'd done dawn in the guard's eyes. So Danny did the only thing left to do: he gave the guards his cheekiest grin and flipped the bird. And then everything went white.
XXXXX
Ben stood with his hands jammed into his pockets, looking at the headstones. Darren Richards, Lucien Bell, and Danny Quinn. Steve stood quietly beside him, holding Emily's hand tightly. On Ben's other side, Taylor stood, holding a crutch to support her weight.
The service had been touching; they'd held Darren and Lucien's back to back. Danny already had a grave marked by the ARC after the anomalies closed. Lester had pulled some strings with the right people to get the graves next to each other.
As the four survivors stood quietly looking at the gravestones of their friends, a loud beeping broke the silence. Ben looked sharply at Steve, who fished a phone out of his pocket with an odd expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked with concern. Steve looked at the screen blankly.
"It's an anomaly alert." He said weakly. Ben's jaw dropped.
"I thought we stopped them." Taylor said in shock. Steve shook his head slowly.
"After convergence, the anomalies got worse before they got better." Steve said thoughtfully. He slowly turned to look at Ben. Ben realized that the others were all waiting for him to make a decision. He met Steve's gaze.
"How far away is it?" He asked. Steve grinned.
"About 10 miles." He responded. Ben nodded.
"Let's get going." Ben said.