Hey look! Plot!


"Henry, report," Rose barked, storming into the room and Nikola was pleased to note that the young HAP jumped at her tone. The wolfgirl, however, remained calm, turning with a steely look for the intruder.

"Uh-uh, we, ah," he spluttered, not quite catching up.

"We've managed to figure out what the issue is," Erika cut in smoothly. "When the system was being designed, an external control point was established so that security could be monitored and, if necessary altered and updated. During one of the adaptations-."

"Magnus did it," Henry blurted out.

"Pardon?"

"When we were transferring our data across, like with what happened back on the surface, there was a nano second where our defences were down-."

"So when Helen was setting up the protocols surrounding the safety of the data, a glitch formed in the security measures?" Nikola asked. "That sounds pretty far fetched."

"No because the glitch was actually built in," Henry continued. "Buried in all the data that we transferred was a copy of all our old security protocols and, within that was a command. It's why the power problems have been plaguing us ever since we got here. The power fluctuations are actually set to an exact timeline. It stretches over a period of eleven days which is why I didn't see it."

"So the pattern repeats every eleven days which means-."

"Which means if someone knew when the pattern, they knew when to take her," Rose finished bitterly.

"But that still doesn't explain why Helen would have an old security protocol that placed the Sanctuary at risk," Nikola continued. It didn't sound like Helen to be so cavalier about something as important as the EM shield. He'd built it for her years ago and, in all that time he'd never known her to take chances with it.

"It wasn't Dr. Magnus," Erika supplied. "It's a very good cover up job but you can clearly see that it was inserted after the original coding was written. It was added a few months before everything was relocated."

"When? I want an exact date," Rose growled, showing no restraint towards the young woman she'd only just met. He could almost understand it, tensions running high and all but this was uncalled for, even for her.

He took her hand, squeezing harshly in silent warning. She glared at him from the corner of her eye but didn't relinquish the contact.

"October 21st, 2011," Erika supplied, her tone nothing less than frosty.

"Does that mean anything to you?" Rose asked, finally softening a little as she cocked her head.

Henry and Erika shared a look.

"That was the day I told Henry I was pregnant," she said softly, a wistful smile on her lips as she placed a hand on her growing belly.

"Which means it was the day SCIU first came to visit," Henry added softly, eyes growing wary as he looked to Nikola.

"When they were 'checking' the systems..." Nikola breathed, anger growing. It was one thing to be overtly dirty and dangerous, it was another to secretly screw with data that would affect the entire network. Though, admittedly, he'd kinda done the same thing.

"But that means they knew," Henry cried. "They knew about all this, the underground network and everything! Why else would they implant this kind of stuff?"

"I don't think it was them," Rose said slowly, eyes glazed.

"They're too dumb for something this clever," Nikola put in darkly.

"I think it was an accident on their part, they were just the... just the courier. Or, at least, it wasn't a sanctioned SCIU activity."

"So there's someone out there bigger and badder than SCIU with the ability to use the government agency as a meagre courier?" Henry asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

"We have to inform Will and Declan," Rose said, turning to Nikola. They'd left the two young men co-ordinating the various teams out sweeping the Sanctuary for any clues, as futile as such an effort might be.

"How long will it take you to fix this?" Rose asked, turning to Henry. Nikola was fairly certain that it was only his tightening grip on her hand that kept her tone resembling anything close to civil.

"Uh... I don't know," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I mean, I'd have to switch everything off and essentially rewrite all the affected protocols..."

"Do it."

"But... but everything is affected! I'd have to power down the entire network to do something like that. We'd lose the air filters!"

"How long can we last without the air filters?" she asked reasonably.

"A day, maybe two if we confine everyone to quarters. If the primary systems fail, the secondary ones are programmed to jump in within an hour though, I'd have to disable everything which could compromise, like, everything and then there's the issue of getting it all back online afterwards AND the even bigger problem will be the heating. We're miles and miles underground, the cold would kill us in a day easy."

"Then work quickly. You need to power everything down and I mean everything, strip out whatever this... this glitch is and then piece it all back together before we all die of frostbite, understand?"

"But-."

"And if it looks at any stage like you will not be able to complete the task in that time, you will enact a network wide evacuation."

"But that's-."

"Yes, a lot of people, I know. We have no choice, Henry."

"But-."

"What would you have us do instead?" Rose asked softly, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. Erika stiffened slightly by his side and Rose slowly withdrew her hand, stepping back ever so slightly.

Henry pulled a face and shoved his hands into his pockets, causing Nikola to fight the urge to slap the man. He didn't seem to be grasping the concept of 'immediate action'.

Rose waited for a long moment, the silence growing thick with words better left unspoken before her face darkened.

"What Henry? What is it? What do you think would work so much better than this? Because if you have a plan, I'd sure as hell love to hear it."

"I didn't mea-."

"Didn't mean what, Henry?" she spat scornfully.

"Henry," Nikola cut in, grabbing Rose by the arm. "You'll manage, I promise. Get Erika to help you. Just make sure you let us know when you shut the power off."

And with that he turned, dragging Rose bodily from the room. Only when they were several corridors away from the HAP's and their oversensitive hearing did Nikola stop and release his spitting and hissing 'hostage'.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?" he asked, curiosity tinging his anger. "He's afraid, we're all afraid and you waltzing around like that isn't helping the matter!"

"And what right do you have to tell me how to behave?" she snarled back, hands curling into fists he knew wouldn't quite break his cheek bone but would give him a nice little shiner for a few hours. So long as she held back, that was.

"Rose, it's me," he tried, not sure where the sentence was going.

"Which is my point exactly! You walk around, crying bloody murder half the time and blaming every single one of your failings on other people. Who are you to lecture me on being polite?"

"I'm the one person in this place who knows you, Rose. Who actually knows you and, without Helen, the obligation falls to me to pull you back into line."

"Since when?" she yelled.

"Since you started acting like a crazy, spoilt brat!"

For a moment they remained absolutely still, air fizzling around them as blue eyes met brown.

"You're an absolute bastard, you know that right?"

He grinned.

"You're insane, you know that right?" he parroted back.

Her lips quirked into a quick smile before she relaxed, shoulders sagging as she shook her head. Tentatively, Nikola stepped towards her, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"Try not to antagonise the pregnant HAP, all right?"

Rose chuckled softly, stepping closer and winding her arms around his waist, head coming to rest in the middle of his chest.

"Pull me outta there earlier next time, all right?"

Nikola rolled his eyes but let his arms fall around her, holding her close. They stayed that way for a moment before he heard what sounded suspiciously like a sob.

"We'll find her," he whispered softly, tightening his hold. "I promise we'll find her."

Rose let out a watery laugh but didn't pull away from him.

"You forget I can see inside your head, Nikki," she said, voice muffled. "You don't believe that any more than Declan did."

"But I said it aloud, surely that counts for something," he offered, pulling away to flash her another grin. She smirked back.

"It proves you love her."

Swallowing heavily, Nikola carefully released Rose, making certain to put that little bit of distance between them. She chuckled and shook her head, reaching out to cup his cheek.

"Don't shy away from it, Nikki. It's a good thing."

He didn't respond and her face dropped.

Why are you so afraid of loving her?

"I'm not."

She pulled a face.

"She won't run from you Nikola. Not really. Perhaps push a bit and make out like she wants to but Helen... She can't do that to you."

His jaw was tight and he went to walk away. He didn't do discussions on feelings, not now, not ever and especially not with an old flame. Especially not with Rose.

"Why not?" he ground out as she pulled him to stand still.

"Because she's spent too long hurting you and has only just realised it."

He felt his body tense, a thousand emotions running through his mind all at once. Part of him wanted to dance and scream and generally behave like a loon while the rest of him was slowly crumbling apart. She was gone, Helen was gone and she loved him but she was gone and he couldn't save her. He couldn't save the woman he loved. The woman who loved him.

"Nikola," Rose said quickly, stepping close enough to take him by the shoulders. "Nikola, we have to focus. We have to find her... her body." The last word was at a near whisper and Nikola watched as a shiver ran through her body. It was a thought neither of them would ever come to terms with, regardless of how incontrovertible the proof may be. Until her cold, dead body was in their hands, it just couldn't be true. And even then they were going to have a hard time convincing him that she wasn't going to come back from the dead. Again.

"Let's go," he said gruffly, straightening his jacket.

Rose said nothing but kept pace with him, striding down the long corridor and leaving him to his own, rather dark and twisted thoughts.

If Helen really was dead, then there was going to be hell to pay.