Crossover Challenge Fic, 3B Title: On The Beach

[fredbassett]

Title : On the Beach
Challenge : 3B Crossover
Fandoms: Primeval and (Don't make me say it as it will only spoil the surprise!)
Characters: Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, A. N. Other
Warnings : Very mild swearing, wouldn't offend your granny.
Spoliers : Teeny, weeney for Primeval 1.2, .    Other fandom : None
Genre : Action (ish)
Pairings : None
Rating : U
Disclaimer : Not mine, all characters belong to other people

“Cheerleaders?” said Professor Nick Cutter of the Central Metropolitan University, rolling the middle r in the way that only someone born and brought up north of the border can achieve. “Stephen, you are joking?”

Cutter’s lab assistant grinned and shook his head. “Nope. The V-C is keen on exchange programmes and he’s even more keen on our transatlantic colleagues. Don’t you read your memos?”

“Most certainly not. The V-C’s as mad as a box of frogs.”

“Maybe, but do you want him taking a hard look at your budget?”

Cutter snorted and carried on shuffling the papers on his desk.

“So, are you coming?”

“I’m in the middle of a grant application. Can’t you just go away and drown a few students in a barrel somewhere and stop distracting me?”

“I’ll take that as a no, then.” Stephen rummaged on Cutter’s desk for the keys to the departmental mini-bus, grabbed his leather jacket and wandered off, looking amused.

Fourteen students were waiting for him in the car park, seven from their own university and seven others, all wearing the same bright-eyed, bushy-tailed look that only third years looking for post-grad funding seem to be able to achieve.  It made him positively nostalgic for last year’s bored second years. They grow up so quickly at this stage, he mused, cynically.

An hour later, they reached their destination and were waved through the barrier into the military area. At least the contacts they’d made over the last few months were useful when it came to organising Palaeontology Department field trips. It almost made up for the number of times he’d been stung by giant insects, chased by things with big teeth, and driven to distraction by Connor. Almost, but not quite.

He delivered the usual warnings about not wandering off the paths, not stepping on unexploded shells and not having unprotected sex and then they made their way down to the coast. As they walked, Stephen delivered his standard lecture about Britain’s rich fossil heritage, the number of species that had been found in the ever-eroding debris from the cliffs, their contribution to scientific knowledge etc etc and, as ever, he was certain that all they heard was something closely resembling blah, blah, blah.

“Will we find a T-Rex bone, sir?” asked one of the exchange students, brightly.

Drowning them all in a barrel of water suddenly seemed like a good idea.

Half a mile later, Stephen settled himself down on a large rock, leaving the little darlings to wander around, wielding their geological hammers in search of something interesting.

An hour later, decamping to a pub was starting to seem like an extremely attractive idea. He got up, wondering vaguely if they’d all come to heel if he whistled loudly enough. Before he had chance to implement any plans for a general recall, an all-too familiar sight attracted his attention.

The air on a section of the pebble beach suddenly broke apart into what seemed like a thousand shards of glass.  Very sharp, very sparkly glass. And like all sharp, sparkly things, this was dangerous.  Very, very dangerous.

The thing that emerged from the anomaly was about two metres tall, looking a bit like a scaly, reptilian chicken, with two short forelimbs, sporting long claws and a jaws set with the sort of teeth that would strip the flesh from your bones before you had the chance to yell help. Connor would know doubt know what the damn thing was, but as far as Stephen was concerned, it looked unfriendly, and that was all he needed to know.

Instinctively, he reached for a gun that he wasn’t carrying.

Sod it, this wasn’t in the risk assessment he’d handed in before leaving campus.

The student closest to the creature when it burst into the sunlight of a twenty first century afternoon was slim, blonde, attractive and female. Even worse, she was one of the exchange students.  The V-C was so not going to be happy about this.

The girl watched the reptile-chicken thing close on her at a fast run. The creature’s mouth opened and displayed an array of teeth that would have unsettled even a Professor of Dentistry.

Stephen reached down and grabbed a rock, cursing his lack of suitable weaponry.

Before he had chance to draw his arm back to throw, the girl pivoted gracefully on one foot and delivered a kick to the reptile-chicken’s head, flipping it backwards with bone-cracking force. Whether it’s neck was broken or not, Stephen couldn’t tell but the girl was clearly taking no chances. With a strength wholly out of keeping with her fragile appearance, the student hoisted the creature up into one shoulder, took three quick steps forward and hurled it back through the fractured light.

A moment later, the anomaly winked out of existence, as suddenly and dramatically as it had appeared.

The girl turned round, tucking a stray wisp of blonde hair back behind one ear. She saw Stephen watching her and smiled.

                                                        *          *          *          *          *          *          *      

Several hours later, Stephen threw the mini-bus keys back on Cutter’s desk.

“How did your cheerleaders get on?” asked Nick, with a grin.

Stephen smiled.  “Fine.  I think you’ll find Ms Summers will be quite an asset to the department.”