Cogs Of Fate

Shock And Despair

Present Day

Mason sat at the computer in the control room as the alarm chimed overhead, alerting everyone inside the bunker to the returning team. Agent Christopher stood behind him, her hand resting on the back of the chair, eyes trained through the window at the landing pad.

Within moments of the alarm sounding, the Lifeboat followed by the dark Mothership landed side by side, narrowly missing the parked white Mothership. The blast of air from both machines landing at the same time rattled the window, creating a minor crack to form at the bottom left corner.

Agent Christopher and Mason entered the landing room, anticipating both teams' exit. As the doors opened, each team exchanged curious glances. Tenley stopped in her tracks at the sight of both Rowan and Flynn.

"What happened?" Agent Christopher questioned them.

Flynn's eyes darted over to the other team, brows drawing together in confusion. "I was about to ask the same thing..."

Mason quickly explained, "As soon as you left for 1822, Rittenhouse jumped again to 1781 - "

"And you sent another team?" Flynn growled.

Agent Christopher held her hand up, keeping the peace before it could explode into a fight. "We can discuss all of that after we get everyone checked out," she stated, eyes bouncing over to Tenley. She scanned the length of the doctor to see if she was wounded beyond the scrapes she sported.

Tenley's eyes lifted to meet Denise's and she shook her head, silently telling her she was fine. "Let's go..." she sighed to the others, motioning her hands out to the side in defeat.

Once everyone was situated inside the infirmary, Tenley began assessing everyone's needs with Jiya's help who was listening carefully to the doctor's instructions on how best to aid everyone.

As Jiya helped clean up Rowan's head laceration, Tenley worked on Flynn's pierced thigh, which wasn't as deep as it seemed on the first examination. Quinn admitted he had a couple of bullet grazes and a superficial wound on the left calf that could wait.

Agent Christopher said, "Let's begin with the first team," she turned to Lucy, "What happened?"

Lucy explained what took place in 1822 as best as she could, including how they thought they were there for Jedediah Smith's expedition into the wilderness but it turned out to be something more sinister. She admitted to being the reason the team got separated in the first place which resulted in Rowan and Flynn returning hurt.

"Who was behind the murders? Do we know?" Agent Christopher asked, turning her attention over to Rowan and Flynn.

Rowan opened his mouth to answer but Flynn groaned, "It was a trap..." His eyes lifted to see the others staring at him in stunned silence. He grimaced as Tenley continued to work on his thigh. "The murderer didn't belong in that time..."

"How do you know that?" Wyatt questioned. "Lucy never saw the guy - "

"Because I recognized the man," Flynn admitted.

The room fell silent. Tenley and Jiya stopped working to stare at him. Agent Christopher asked, "What do you mean you recognized him? From history books or - "

Flynn shook his head. "When you 'lovely' people put me in prison," he explained, "and I was stabbed by that Rittenhouse agent?" He saw their expressions shift to guilt at the memory; he continued, "The man who stabbed me in prison was the same man we found in 1822."

"That's not possible," Wyatt retorted. "How the hell would Rittenhouse manage to remove someone in prison from the present and send them into the past without anyone noticing?"