fredbassett | Fic, Silk and Steel, Part 17

Title : Silk and Steel, Part 17
Authors :

munchkinofdoom
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Lester, Ryan, Cutter, Connor, Ditzy
Rating : 18
Disclaimer : Not ours, no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : None.
Summary : Lester tells Cutter some much needed home truths.
Warning : Slave!fic!
A/N : The remainder of the series can be found here

Sir James Lester dropped the used hand-wipe into the wastepaper bin, tucked his shirt neatly back into his trousers and rearranged his tie.

On the other side of the desk, Captain Ryan adjusted the straps of his thigh-holster and turned his radio to transmit mode, rather than simply receiving. At least on this occasion he’d remembered to change the setting before offering his arse so compliantly to his master. He’d only made that mistake once, but Lyle still ribbed him about it – from a safe distance.

“You can go about your business, Ryan,” commented Lester. “I believe the need for a nursemaid has now passed.”

Ryan shook his head. “Not until Stringer reports all clear, sir. I’m not taking any chances, if you don’t mind.”

“And if I do mind?”

Ryan allowed himself a quick smile. “Then we’d no doubt need to discuss it further, master.”

“You can stand there and look decorative if you want, Captain,” snorted Lester, “but at least have the good grace to stop fiddling with those straps, I do have work to do for the rest of the afternoon, even if you don’t.”

The soldier made one last adjustment to the upper strap, shooting his master a provocative grin, his back to the camera, then stood to one side of the desk, facing the door, while he listened attentively to the traffic on the radio. It sounded like the lads had matters well under control. Stringer was methodically sweeping each section in turn, deciding with the various Department Heads who needed to remain on the premises and who didn’t. As far as Ryan could tell, this phase of the operation would be completed in less than thirty minutes, then all they’d have to do would be to keep a lid on any festering resentment until the newly indentured staff settled down and realised their new status wasn’t so different after all.

His main concern was evil-minded and unpredictable bastards like Oliver Leek and Professor Dawson, but every cloud had a silver lining and with the military’s new status now in force it gave him and his lads a clout they’d previously lacked when dealing with some of the more obvious predators as well as the bloody idiot scientists. The phrase obstructing a police officer, soldier or civil servant on duty at a Prohibited Placecould cover a multitude of sins, as some of the head-up-arse academics might well find out, if Lester decided to play his cards that way.

Speaking of heads up arses, Ryan was about to speak into the throat mike and ask Stringer where Cutter had got to, when his earpiece crackled into life and he heard Ditzy’s voice, laced with urgency, saying, “Captain Ryan, you’re needed in the shower room, sir, we have a situation on our hands.”

“I’m listening, Ditz. Sit rep?”

“Cutter’s gone ape-shit and thumped Temple, by the look of it. I’m on my way, but I’d appreciate back up.”

“What?” Ryan’s exclamation caused Lester’s eyebrows to execute a well-rehearsed high jump. In answer, the soldier quickly repeated the medic’s words, adding, “I’ll send Stringer. I’d rather you stayed out of the general areas until the building is cleared, sir.”

“Stop acting like a mother hen, Ryan, it doesn’t suit you. Tell Owen I’ll be there immediately. In the meantime he has my authority to take whatever steps he feels are necessary to restrain the Eccentric Academic,” and with that, Lester stood up, smoothed his jacket down and swept out of the door without a backward glance.

With a look of exasperation on his face, Ryan followed his master, hand resting on his pistol, grey eyes sharp and alert for any threat. He noted with approval, as they crossed the now deserted atrium, that Stringer had already given orders to the cleaning staff to remove all traces of blood from the tiled floors. Cleaners, now wearing white overalls rather than the loose white clothing of the Collaring Ceremony, went about their business as quietly and efficiently as they had done earlier that day, although it didn’t escape Ryan’s notice that none of the men or women he passed now met his eyes and at least one openly flinched as he approached. He was in too much of a hurry to attempt any reassurance, and today of all days, a healthy respect for authority was only to be encouraged.

“Ditz, what’s the score?” Ryan muttered into his mike, as they approached the shower room, not wanting to go into any situation without advance intelligence.

“Could be worse,” came the reply, in a voice which sounded half amused, half irritated.

Ryan wasn’t sure if there was interference on the signal or whether he could hear the sound of running water in the background.

A moment later, Ryan stepped smoothly in front of Lester, entering the shower room first, gun in hand. Connor Temple shrunk back against the lockers, trying his best to look inconspicuous, with a livid red mark standing out in stark relief on the pale skin of his face.

Ryan hadn’t been mistaken about the sound of running water. One of the showers had been turned on and Ditzy had Cutter held up against a wall, both arms twisted up his back, as water streamed down onto the man’s face.

“Thought he needed cooling down, sir,” said Ditzy, continuing to pin the professor’s arms in place with his left hand, while with his right he threw a quick salute to both Lester and his captain.

“Very sensible, Owen,” said Lester, eyeing Nick Cutter’s situation with obvious approval. “Cutter, you don’t need me to tell you that you’ve gone too far this time, do you? Lieutenant Owen is going to let go of you now and if you don’t immediately proffer your apologies to Mr. Temple, we’ll be continuing this discussion in the Interview Room.”

The medic reached out and flipped the shower off, letting go of Cutter so abruptly that the Scotsman dropped to his knees on the wet floor. The soldier stepped back, hand hovering closely over the gun strapped to his thigh. Ryan gave him a tight-lipped nod of approval.

Cutter coughed and ran a shaking hand through his soaking wet hair.

“Mr. Temple is waiting, Professor Cutter,” chided Lester.

Connor threw the civil servant a wordless plea, dark eyes afraid. The student looked like he was praying for the earth to open up and swallow him. He was out of luck.

Lester’s eyes swept remorselessly over Cutter as he gasped for breath.

“Professor ....” Ryan’s voice held a note of warning. Lester wouldn’t ask a third time.

With a final cough, Cutter struggled to his feet, an expression of naked shock on his face. He looked like someone who’d just had a ring side seat for a showing of one of his worst nightmares. The man’s blue eyes were drawn inexorably to the now swelling bruise on Connor’s face, as the enormity of his actions suddenly settled on him like a ton weight.

“Connor …. I …. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me, lad.” Cutter’s voice held honest entreaty. The professor stretched his hand out as though he could somehow wipe away the bruising and soothe the hurt and at that moment, Ryan wasn’t sure who looked more horrified, Cutter or the young man, still dressed in the loose white robes, who was clutching his trousers up with one hand, a stricken look on his face.

Cutter took a step forwards, Connor flinched, then backed away as Ditzy’s gun appeared in his hand in the blink of an eye.

“Don’t move, Professor,” the lieutenant warned. “You’ll not lay another hand on the lad. It’s an apology he needs, not another run in with your fists.”

“It’s …. it’s all right,” stuttered Connor. “It was just a misunderstanding, honest.”

Lester folded his arms and stared at Cutter, ignoring the now shivering student, backed into the dented and battered lockers. “It seems Mr. Temple has graciously accepted your apology, Professor Cutter.” He shot a sharp glance at Ditzy. “Clean up here, please, Owen, and do ensure Connor isn’t left to his own devices quite yet. Cutter, we’ll continue this discussion in the grounds. You can drip over the grass, rather than the carpet in my office.”

With that, Lester turned on his heel and stalked off.

Ryan made a curt movement towards Cutter with the barrel of his pistol and jerked his head in the direction of Lester’s retreating back. Casting a final, imploring glance at a young man who had never so much as been known to raise his voice in anger to anyone on the Anomaly Project, Nick Cutter ran a hand through his hair again, causing it to stand up in wet, surprised spikes, before he trailed damply after Sir James Lester.

* * * * *

By the time they’d made their second circuit of the ARC’s grounds, Cutter’s hair was somewhat drier, but no less surprised looking. It was a warm sunny afternoon, and only a faint breeze disturbed the surface of the small lake which surrounded two sides of the facility. Two swans glided serenely over and cast hopeful glances at the three men. For once there were no ARC employees bringing them tidbits during an afternoon’s coffee break.

Ryan watched a range of emotions play across Cutter’s face and he remembered something he’d heard from the man on the day when he’d first started to mouth off about the disappearance of a woman named Claudia Brown. Cutter had stared at the enormous glass and steel building, set in its own grounds, and groaned, muttering, Where the hell did that come from? It had been one small oddity amidst a host of greater ones, but it had stuck in Ryan’s mind. He’d reported it to Lester that night and together they’d tried to make sense of the professor’s ramblings.

Sure, the man had done his best to cover up for himself almost immediately, taking his cues where he could from the ever-helpful Connor, but there had been no disguising the look of almost naked confusion that had suffused Cutter’s face ever time he’d looked at Jenny Lewis. He’d been equally thrown by Leek, although that was something Ryan easily sympathized with. The soldier rather liked the idea of a world without Leek.

But what the hell had Connor done to have Cutter turn on him like that? It looked to Ryan like the lad had only just managed to drag his trousers up. Ryan had seen Cutter get over-friendly with Stephen Hart on a couple of occasions, but this was the first time the professor’s attention had strayed to his student, and Ryan had to admit that he hadn’t pegged Cutter as the type to take advantage of one of his subordinates in quite such a blatant way. Copping a quick feel of his attractive assistant was one thing, but molesting someone who most of the team still regarded as a kid? Nope, Ryan hadn’t expected that.

“Have you got a death wish, Cutter?” demanded Lester, suddenly.

The professor stared at the lake with an expression that could easily be described as sullen.

“I’ll take that as a no, shall I?” Lester noticed a crust of bread on the grass and bent down smoothly to pick it up. “Let me try another tack. Have you got no thought whatsoever for the safety of your team?” Lester pulled the crust in half and flipped the morsels out onto the water. “I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr. Leek would almost certainly give his eye teeth for the security tapes from the shower room and, yet again, you have created a situation where others have to clean up after you. Something that Mr. Temple has been doing, to my certain knowledge, for several weeks now. There’s a limit to the number of excuses even that resourceful young can come up with to explain gaps in the footage. You do realize that, don’t you?”

“You know about it?” Cutter sounded genuinely surprised and Ryan had to fight to control the urge to knock the man down rather more forcefully that he’d done back in the Permian.

“Of course I bloody well know about it,” snapped Lester. “The way you’ve been carrying on, I imagine that half of the damned ARC know about it. Discretion is not exactly your middle name, Cutter.”

“But ….”

“Spare me your dismal protestations of innocence. I know perfectly well the lengths to which your loyal retainers have gone to protect you. God only knows why, I hasten to add. You’ve hardly given them much cause to like you, from what I can see, but there’s no accounting for taste. So why lose your temper now?” After a moment’s silence, Lester added, testily, “That wasn’t a rhetorical question, by the way.”

“He …. Connor offered himself to me …. it was …. obscene ….”

Lester raised one eyebrow and sniffed delicately. “You’ve used that word rather a lot, recently, Professor. Frankly, after the day we’ve just had, Temple’s actions displayed something approaching commonsense, for once. Or don’t you like slumming with the lower orders? Is that the problem?

Cutter recoiled like he’d been struck and Ryan’s hand dropped instinctively to his gun.

“It wasn’t like that ….”

“He was barely managing to hold his trousers up, Cutter. He had a bruise the size of your fist coming up on his cheek. So you tell me what it was like.”

“I never touched him, not like that.”

“How very restrained of you. It’s a shame you haven’t been able to display such commendable restraint in other directions. And in case my comments haven’t yet penetrated that thick Scottish skull of yours, take it from me, you have been putting Temple’s freedom on the line on an almost daily basis. If you continue with the same behaviour now, you will be putting his life at risk. Do I make myself clear?”

Cutter’s eyes widened with horror.

Lester pursed his lips in annoyance.

Ryan watched the two men, and waited, hand resting on the butt of his pistol. It wasn’t that he thought the professor would make any untoward move on Lester, but the soldier was taking no chances.

“If you don’t get a grip on yourself, Cutter, you’ll be attending something worse than a Collaring Ceremony. Slaves who transgress on matters of national security can expect swift and summary punishment. Do you really want to watch Ryan or one of his men blowing Temple’s brains out in the Punishment Room? That’ll make more than a splash of red on the nice white tiles, I can assure you. And if it happens it’ll be your fault. You’re the leader of this merry little band, so bloody well lead for once. Stop wallowing in self-pity and get a grip on yourself.”

Cutter had already paled at Lester’s words, but before he could get a word in edgeways, the irate civil servant continued, almost without drawing breath. “No, I have no idea whatsoever what has happened to turn your nice, simple existence upside down. No, I do not know who Claudia Brown is or whether she ever existed in the first place, not do I know what you did back in the past to bring all this about, but I strongly suggest you start using Temple’s undoubted skills for something more than hacking into my security systems and try and find some bloody answers. You’re a scientist, Cutter, or so I’m told, so start thinking with your brain for once, not your fists. Do I make myself clear?”

A look that bore a suspicious resemblance to hope leaped into Nick Cutter’s blue eyes. “You believe me?”

“Try giving me some good reasons to believe you, Professor. Until then I suggest you do what you can to make amends to your team. You’re going to need them more now than ever. But for the moment, go home, get some rest, and do some thinking. And I suggest you start doing a little more healthy exercise in future to work off some of that middle age spread you seem to be developing. A healthy walk around the lake on a daily basis will do you no end of good. If you have something you want to get off your chest I suggest you do it out here, unless of course you happen to notice Mr. Leek hiding in the bushes.”

It was a measure of Cutter’s agitation that his eyes slid sideways towards a patch of rhododendrons.

“The disgusting little man will no doubt have found someone to introduce to the delights of Indenture by now,” Lester snorted, dismissing Cutter’s apprehension.

“And you’re happy to let him do that?” Nick’s eyes grew challenging for the first time since they’d come outside the ARC.

Lester sighed. “No, I am not happy as you put it. Little that Leek does fills me with happiness, but on this occasion, just be thankful that Ryan had a plan to keep your team out of his hands. You might think today was extreme, Cutter, but believe me, it could very easily have been a lot worse.”

And with that, Lester left Nick Cutter staring out over the water of the lake, for once, lost for words.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

lukadreaming.livejournal.com

Erk! Well done, evil twins *g*. That was a cracking installment, and Lester was magnificent!

From:

Fic, Silk and Steel, Part 17

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