Cogs Of Fate

Drifting

Present Day

"So we decided to stick around to make sure that nothing was too impacted by our presence there as it already was," Lucy explained to Agent Christopher.

Denise nodded as she listened. "That was a smart decision."

Rufus asked, "I have to ask...is this something they teach in schools?"

Agent Christopher shook her head as she crossed her arms. "No but it is mentioned when you go through training for any government program..." she glanced between them. "It's well known that the FBI managed to discover and contain the threat as the spies infiltrated our shores..."

"Of course..." Rufus sighed. "It's always someone else taking credit."

Denise suppressed a smile. "Get yourselves cleaned up."

As the team went their separate ways, Rufus stopped next to Jiya and Mason. "Have you had any luck repairing the pen transmitter?"

Jiya shook her head. "It was pretty badly damaged after the Britannic," she started. "But we are making some progress on it. I've been tweaking with the schematics-"

"You've been doing what?" Mason interrupted her. His face seemed shocked to hear her admission. "Why is this the first that I am hearing about it?"

Jiya's face flushed red as she realized her excitement had gotten her into trouble. "Nothing too severe," she muttered.

"I want to look at what you've been doing with your tampering," Mason told her as he began to walk toward their workstation. Jiya shot Rufus a look of 'help me' before following Mason, like a child heading to the principal's office. Rufus shrugged at her helplessly as she left the room.

Rufus meandered down the hallway toward his room, ready to change clothes. As he rounded the corner, Flynn spotted him. He nodded to him as he tried to walk by.

Flynn asked, "Any luck on the transmitter?"

Rufus stopped to turn back around, facing Flynn. "Jiya said they're still working on it. Guess it got pretty beat up on the Britannic."

Flynn nodded aimlessly. He knew it had to be from the water that sloshed upon him and Tenley during Rufus's timely rescue back then. He sucked his teeth before saying, "Yeah, sorry about that."

Rufus shrugged. "Machines and water are bad bed-fellows."

Flynn watched as Rufus started to leave again. "How long before it's working again?"

Rufus halted his step, sighing. With a shrug, he confessed, "I don't know. Jiya's working on it. Mason wants to be in control...it's hard to say."

"Because," Flynn added, stopping the annoyed Rufus once more. "We could have really used it on this mission."

Rufus rolled his eyes before continuing toward his room. He didn't need to be lectured by Flynn over the transmitter. He knew how important it could have been on the mission - on any of their missions. He also guessed that Flynn was still frustrated by Tenley's disappearance.

Rufus entered his room and grabbed a change of clothes. He paused, thinking about whether he should help Jiya and Mason with the transmitter or not. He knew that Mason wouldn't appreciate more fingers in the pot.

His mind wandered back to the warnings that Future Jiya had given him. There were too many distractions caused by Rittenhouse and Bloodstone lately. He was trying to wrap his mind around how they were so far ahead of them when the memory of the journal that Mason kept locked up in his room came to him. He needed to get his hands on that journal.