Title: Future Possibilities
author: Cindy Ryan
notes and summary: See part one

They watched the rapidly growing crowd/fight for forty minutes with no success. Lucy was getting more worried about Wyatt's injury by the minute. He had kept dabbing at the blood but Lucy had noticed he was gripping the edge of the low brick wall in front of them more than he would normally. If he passed out…..there was no way she'd be able to carry him off the roof by herself.

"There's Flynn!"Wyatt exclaimed breaking into Lucy's thoughts. "Is that Hines's with him?"

Lucy squinted into the dark and found the two men on horseback three blocks down. They were headed in the direction of the Wigwam but were ironically being held up by the police who were trying to corral the crowd.

"Yes, we can catch up to them, let's go!"Lucy said leading the way to the stairs.

Lucy had just opened the door to the stairs when Wyatt felt the world spin. He silently cursed and fought through the dizziness; trying to ignore it. Two more steps and Wyatt was regretting ignoring the dizzy spell. Darkness overcame him so swiftly that Wyatt couldn't even call out to Lucy. One of his last conscious thoughts as he felt his legs buckle was that he hoped he didn't hurt Lucy on his way down.

Lucy started in surprise as a heavy weight hit her right shoulder. She turned in time to see it was Wyatt pitching forward; unconscious. Lucy had just enough time to get out of the way and close the door before they both toppled down five flights of stairs. The historian turned to attempt to break Wyatt's fall after she closed the door but wasn't quick enough. The delta force member hit the rough bricks of the roof and Lucy winced. She raced forward and turned Wyatt over. Checking his vitals Lucy was relieved to find a strong pulse and steady regular breathing. As worried as she was about Wyatt Lucy also knew their chances of capturing Flynn were rapidly evaporating. She gently patted her friend's right cheek.

"Wyatt, can you hear me?"Lucy called. "Wyatt, come on."

From far away Wyatt heard a familiar voice. As he concentrated he realized it was Lucy and she sounded worried. He fought the pain and the sluggishness and latched onto her voice. It anchored Wyatt enough that he woke and opened his eyes.

"Are you okay?"Lucy asked anxiously helping him sit up.

"Yeah, sorry. He must've hit me harder than I thought."Wyatt replied sheepishly as he struggled to his feet. "How long was I out?"

"Not long."Lucy commented as she helped Wyatt stand. "Think you can handle the stairs?"

"Let's go."Wyatt responded taking Lucy's right hand in his and leading the way to the stairway door.

Rufus had to remind himself to breathe as the seconds ticked by. Finally Anthony moved and took Rufus by the right arm herding him towards the door which was still blocked by the henchman.

"You remember that small shack a little ways into the park?"Anthony asked Flynn's man.

"Yeah, what of it?"The man asked not moving.

"I"m going to lock Rufus inside it until Flynn gets back and decides what to do with him."Anthony stated.

After a long moment the British man shrugged and stepped aside.

"Less work for me then."The hired gun commented and walked to the rear of the mothership.

Once they were outside and several feet away from the time machine Anthony turned to Rufus. The tech didn't know what to think; his former mentor was still clutching the gun in his right hand.

"Let's get out of here."Anthony stated as he tossed the gun into some bushes.

Rufus smiled, laughed and clasped the older man on the right shoulder briefly before taking off at a run.

"I knew you hadn't gone to the dark side."Rufus exclaimed happily.

"Don't start quoting Star Wars to me."Anthony muttered rolling his eyes. "Let's find the others so we can go home."

"This is an example of things working too well."Flynn muttered darkly as he glowered at the large crowd they were caught in.

"You forget my friend that this is my neighborhood."Hines replied with a smile. "Not only are my colleagues continuing our plan but I know access points."

Flynn raised an eyebrow. He wasn't in the mood to have any more delays or drama.

"This plan must be carried out preciscely if one part fails because we are delayed..."Flynn warned.

"No delays. I'm as eager as you to finish this."Hines responded turning his horse. "This way."

Lucy and Wyatt threaded their way through the crowd and made it across the street. They saw Flynn and Hines manuver their way into an alley a few blocks away. They hurried to catch up. They used the cover of the crowd to follow the former NSA agent. Ten minutes later Flynn and Hines had broke free of the large group of people and were picking up speed. Lucy and Wyatt found a horse and followed. When the buildings grew thin Lucy knew what Flynn's next move is.

"I know where he's going."Lucy stated.

"Where?"Wyatt asked.

"Prison; they're going to break out the confederate inmates."Lucy explained. "If that happens Lincoln won't get the nomination."

"Short of shooting them; I don't know how we're going to stop them."Wyatt responded.

"I'm going to let Rufus know what's going on and hopefully he can meet us."Lucy said as she took the radio out of her handbag and hid it in the folds of her skirt. "If he can between the three of us we can come up with a distraction."

"We need more than a distraction and Rufus."Wyatt commented. "Maybe if we got an anoyonomous message to the Army; they'll send the backup we need."

"Worth a try; we'd have to backtrack to the telegraph office."Lucy replied as she sent her own message in morse code.

"Let's go."Wyatt suggested as he turned the horse around and headed back to Chicago.

"What is that?"Anthony asked as a beeping interupted their conversation.

Rufus ducked into an alley pulling his mentor in after him. He pulled out the radio and listened carefully. Anthony opened his mouth to speak but Rufus held up a hand to silence him.

"It's Lucy. We need to meet her and Wyatt at the telegraph office near Hines's building."Rufus explained as he sent a short reply back.

"Didn't Mason tell you how dangerous it is to bring tech back..."Anthony began.

"We decided it was the lesser of two evils until I can come up with a better communication system. It was either this or carrier pigeons."Rufus said as he put the radio back. "Or we can put you in a room at a boarding house if you don't want to tangle with Flynn."

"No, in for a penny; in for a pound."Anthony replied grimly. "I'm with you."

Rufus nodded and lead the way back out onto the street.