"Action Man Says He's Coming."

Cutter lead the way as the team chased after the runaway Dr. Page. They weaved around display cases and through doors. Suddenly Jessi heard roaring coming from what she assumed was the basement. Then came a scream.

"Awe shit!" she cursed as the took off down the sloping path to the basement.

They burst through the door, guns at the ready. Dr. Page was pressed up against some large wooden crates with a frightened look. Cutter walked up to her.

"You ok?" he asked. After a pause he worriedly,"I'm guessing not".

Abby walked up and asked reassuringly "What did you see?"

After a pause Dr. Page stepped away from the crate and answered shakily , "Amut. I saw the goddess Amut". With new found strength she took a few steps forward and said defensively,"Look, I know what I saw ok? It looked like that". She pointed to a statue of a crocodile headed...person?...Jessi wasn't really sure what to call it. But then it was the ancient
Egyptians and they had all kinds of weird deities.

Just then Abby jogged off to look at something.

"Look I believe you saw something. I've seen things that confused me too, but I don't think it was Amut", he said calmly.

"Found tracks", Abby said coming back. "Biped and quadruped. It's heading south".

Just then Jenny's phone rang.

"I've got to get back to the ARC", she said putting her phone away.

"The arc?" Dr. Page asked confused.

"Not that one", Conner said quickly.

Dr. Page had a confused look still.

"I'm going to brief Lester. Becker can you secure the area?" Jenny said as she walk briskly out.

Becker nodded.

"Need any help?" Jessi asked as he jogged off.

"Nope, got it", he called over his shoulder.

She nodded and turned back to the others.

"Conner stay here and work out what period the anomaly is linked to and find out what Dr. Page knows about the Suncage. Abby you're with me", Cutter said as he walked past her.

They jogged out of the door.

It was only then that Jessi got to look around. The whole basement was filled with wooden crates of every size. In the center of the room stood a huge, black stone, statue. It had four beings, each with a different animal head. In the middle of it was the anomaly. It looked like the sun reflecting on a bunch of uniform, triangular pieces of glass that were for some reason floating around a sparking, silver...thing.

Conner turned to face Dr. Page, his gun was resting on his shoulder. Jessi liked the fedora that was covering his curry black hair.

"I bet I can read your mind. You wanna know who we are, what the ARC is and what the big flickering thing behind me is", he said with a grin.

"Actually, umm, I was wondering why any Egyptian demon was trying to eat me", she said.

Jessi chuckle. She saw Becker closing the big metal doors that lead to the loading dock. That was the way the creature has escaped. He walked over to one of his men and said, "Everything is secure".

Conner turned on the lights. They were bright.

Becker walked over and leaned against the crate that Jessi was sitting on.

"What do you think came through?" he asked.

Conner was talking to Dr. Page about the Suncage.

"No idea. It's obviously a crocodilian but crocs have been around for 200 million years. That really doesn't narrow things very much", Jessi replied.

Conner kneeled down in front of them and opened a big black tool box and said," Right. Let's see what we've got here".

Suddenly a large wrench flew out of the tool box, attracted to the anomaly's magnetic pull, and broke the chest muscle off of one of the statues. Dr. Page turned to look and Conner had a horrified expression as he picked up the piece.

"I didn't do it", he said instantly.

"So it just fell off by itself?" Dr. Page said skeptically.

"Yep".

"The Suncage is curse. Any person who touches it is doomed for life", she said seriously.

Conner face got even more horrified.

"Really?" he asked dropping the piece and whipping his hand on his shirt.

"Marion was the last person to touch that".

"The dead one?", Conner asked worriedly.

Dr. Page had a 'ok you're doomed' expression as she turned away. She turned back after a moment and said, "I told you about that earlier right?"

Conner jumped forward a step. He looked freaked out.

"Sorry 'bout that. Bad luck", she says nonchalantly as she turns away.

"Bad luck", Becker nodded, trying not to smile like Jessi.

Conner look around at the Suncage and sat down on a crate. He knocked off the old vase that was sitting on it and in shattered on the ground. Conner put his head in his hands and Dr. Page sighed looking at it.

After a bit Jessi got up and began looking around. She could hear Conner rustling around and working on something. He was probably trying to guess the time the anomaly was connected to like Cutter had asked. Suddenly his phone rang. Bothe Becker and Jessi walked up to Conner who was face to face with a golden, mummy mask thing.

"Yo", the phone was on speaker.

"It's me. Whatcha got?" Cutter asked.

"I just took a reading from the anomaly. What ever came through is at least 55 million years old".

"Eocene epoch. It's fast, it's strong, it can switch from two legs to four and it' obviously carnivorous. Search the database and profile me some creatures". There was a pause before Cutter continued. "Ok. Headin' south. I think we got it".

"Tell him I'm on my way", Becker told Conner before he took off with Jessi behind him.

"Action man says he's comin'", Conner said.

"And me too", she called to him.

"And Jessi", Conner relayed before closing the phone.

Jessi looked at Becker and laughed," Action man? It's kind of fitting. I like it. But I still like soldier boy better".

'Soldier Boy' dated back to Sandhurst and Becker had hated it. Judging by the disgusted shutter he still did.

"I had hoped you'd forgotten that", he said as they hopped into one of the ARC cars.

"Nope!" she grinned.

He looked down at her and shook his head smiling. Jessi loved that smile.

"Come on Beck, ya know ya love me! At least I don't use your first name", she pointed out.

"True. Let's just keep our little secret, shall we?" he said nudging her.

"Ok", she laughed.

Jessi wasn't mean...or foolish...enough to use his first name, Hilary, against him. He hated it even more than he hate 'Soldier Boy'. She couldn't blame him. What a big, tough, sexy military guy like him was doing with the name Hilary she had no clue.

Becker came to a screeching halt beside a busted up, black car. Cutter and Abby were looking at a dead cop that was laying by the car. Jessi and Becker hopped out and trotted over to them. Jessi made her way over to stand by Abby.

"Professor", Becker called out as they reached him. "What have we got here?".

Cutter picked up a tooth that was on a busted area of the cars roof and tossed it to Abby.

"What do you two make of that?" he asked.

They both knew instantly what it was.

"Crocodile tooth", they said at once.

"The river!" Cutter said before bolting off.

They reached the Thames river and looked around. On the other side of the river was a shopping center that looked busy. That could be a problem. Abby went down the steps that lead into the river. There were tracks and little drops of blood that led into the murky water. Abby looked as confused as Jessi felt. This wasn't typical croc behavior.

"Crocodiles usually drag their victims into water to finish them", she said pointing at the river.

"So why did this croc attack on land?" Becker asked.

"Why is it walking on two legs?" Abby replied.

"Let's take this one question at a time, shall we? First thing's first what in the Hell is it?" Jessi said.

Cutter looked like he was thinking hard about something. He pulled out his phone and punched a speed dial number. When the other person answered she could hear Conner but she couldn't understand what he was saying.

"I think I know what you're going to find", Cutter said.

There was a pause. Conner was probably on his laptop looking for what ever they were dealing with on his database of every know prehistoric creature. Jessi wondered about him sometimes.

"Pristichampsus", Cutter said.

There was a pause where Conner must have confirmed it before Cutter closed his phone.

"Alright so it's in the Thames. But it's not gonna be there for long", Abby said as she walked back up to join Jessi, Cutter and Becker standing by a large, stone sphinx. "It's gonna come ashore looking for warmth and food".

They continued to look around. Cutter pulled out a pair of small binoculars. Jessi was beginning to get antsy. Maybe it had gotten out farther up or down stream.

"If it's been living in Egypt the Thames would be much colder than what it's use to. It'll be lookin' to get out pret'y soon", Abby said trying to reassure them.

Just then Jessi spotted it on the far side of the river. It was walking up a gravel beach and heading for the shopping center. Cutter pulled the binoculars away from him face.

"Make that right now", he said pointing it out to Abby.

Jessi and Becker were already in the car. They jetted over.

"Becker. I should warn you. Stay out of my way when things get going. I don't want you to get hurt", Jessi said seriously.

"What are you talkin' about?" Becker asked

"I have special...abilities...that I use to help with the animals", she wanted to tell him about her shape shifting but he wouldn't believe her until he saw it himself. It would stick in his mind and distract him from the task at hand. That would put him in danger. He would be pissed as Hell when they got back to the ARC but she could deal with it then.

"You mea your telepathy? You can use that on them?" he asked.

She paused. "Yea. Something like that", it was the truth. She did many times use it to calm them. But it usually worked best on mammals. It had been very helpful when they dealt with the smilodon (episode 2.3) some time back.

He gave her a confused look.

"You're just going to have to trust me. Ok?" she said looking at him.

"Is this one of the things you said you'd tell me about when we get back to the ARC?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Alright. We'll do it your way. But if it looks like this thing is going to hurt you I'll kill it", he said protectively.

Jessi nodded silently. Becker knew that she hated being saved but right now he didn't care. He'd just found the girl he'd dreamed of for so many years and never thought he'd see agin. He'd be damned if he lost her again to some oversized, walking handbag! Becker did worry about what she wasn't telling him, though. There was obviously a good reason for it but still. What other tricks did his crafty, feline-like companion have up her sleeve?

When they got to the mall Jenny was already there. Her long, brown hair was worn down and it matched her causal yet professional attire. They heard screams and breaking glass. People were fleeing down the stairs that led up to the main area. Abby was prepping her tranq gun. Becker pulled out a full amo cartridge to load into his automatic.

"If your first tranquilizer dart doesn't floor this thing we have no option but to use live rounds", he warned. "Ok, Professor?".

Abby looked at Professor Cutter. Neither of them looked happy with that. Though he preferred to get along, he wasn't going to jeopardize lives if it meant doing so. He had a job to do and he intended to do it. Even if it required dragging them kicking and screaming.

Jessi glared at him a little.

"Please tell me we haven't lost it again", Jenny said.

"Just follow the screaming", Jessi said as they followed Cutter who had bolted off and up the stairs.

Cutter randomly taking off was beginning to be a usual thing, Becker noticed. It was kinda starting to bug him a little.

They reached the top and slowly stepped through a floor to ceiling window that was broken. The glass crunched under their feet. Everything was dead silent.

"Where is it?" Abby said.

Just then they heard more screaming and roaring. They dashed out the door to see people rushing down another flight of stairs. They all looked up.

"Up the stairs?" Abby asked Cutter.

"Yea", he nodded before they ran up the steps leaving Jenny to deal with the crowd.

When they reached the top Abby and Cutter went to the left and Becker and Jessi went right. They ran through different shops looking for any sign of the croc.

Just then Jessi heard glass breaking and Cutter yelling. Shit! They had gone the wrong way.

"Come on!" she told Becker as they rushed back to find the others.

They found Abby looking over the railing and a fire hose hanging over it. What did Cutter do now?! Jessi looked over the edge to see him holding a woman and the fire hose tied around his waist. The pristichampsus had landed below them on some tables.

"Are you ok?" Abby asked Cutter.

"Yea. Just enjoying the view", he answered.

"Looks like it's heading back to the river", Becker noted.

"Not if I can help it", Jessi said walking backwards.

It might escape if it got back to the river. Becker turned around and gave her a questioning look.

"This is where I come in", Jessi said before she launched herself over the railing.

She shifted into an eagle in midair and landed in front of the pristichampsus as a human. It roared angrily.

"Ok beasty we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. Take your pick", she said sending telepathically as well.

It roared again and lunged at her.

Eight Second Ride by Jake Owen was playing in her head.

"Alright. If you insist".