Disclaimer and Continuity Note: I don't own any of the characters used in
this fic, who were created by Mutant Enemy productions unless otherwise noted.
This fic is set approximately circa October 2001. It is presumed to occur
pretty soon after the S6 episode "Flooded" (marking the return of Giles),
PRIOR to the series finale of the Lone Gunmen (which had to occur pretty soon
before their blue-faced appearance on the last season of the X-Files), and
at a corresponding point early in last season's ER.
Giles: Previously, on The Fallen:
Buffy: Look, you don't understand, everyone in here is in real danger, you
need to get out NOW.
Dr. Weaver: No, it's you who doesn't understand. This is MY ER, and
you've got to do a lot better than that before I'm going to consider evacuating.
Abbey: What exactly is the threat, anyway?
Buffy2: *from the other side of the ER, which startles everyone, since Buffy
is also standing with Abbey, Dr. Weaver, and the Scoobies, points to the other
Buffy* That would be HER.
Buffy1: Everyone, stay back, she's dangerous!
Buffy2: Guys, keep your distance, I'm me, and that's Adam!
Anya: Now what's the plan?
Giles: I believe panic might be in order.....
The Fallen: Chapter 5
Buffy Summers was clearly beside herself. For everyone else in the room,
the question was only, which one was her?
Buffy1: Two years in the pentagon computers, some fancy back-up contingency
plans, and the best you come up with is trying to look more like me?
Buffy2: Funny, last time we met I don't remember you rambling on so much....
oh wait, except for the whole demon messiah complex you had going.
Buffy1: Funny, last time we met, I remember ripping your nuclear-powered heart
out of your robotic chest.
Buffy2: I don't suppose I'm going to convince you to take this outside by
pointing out that the real Buffy wouldn't want civilians to get hurt in this
rumble.
Buffy1: I don't suppose the real Adam would be bothered by stabbing me in
the back with one of those spikey things on the way out the door.
Buffy2: Point. We going to do this?
Buffy1: I'm game.
With that the two Buffys leap into the air, colliding above the phone station
and crashing down, knocking clipboards off their usual countertop homes as
the ER staff runs for cover along with the SG. A Buffy hits the
other in the guy with double balled up fists, knocking her back. As
she moves in to take advantage, the other Buffy suddenly kicks her twice,
grabs her and throws her through the assignment board, shattering it into
pieces. She recovers, and flips back to her feet, grabbing a wheeled
IV holder and wielding it like a spear.
Dr. Carter: *coming down the hall, having successfully handed off his patient
to Corday before the carnage broke out* What's going on here? *blinks
to see the shattered board* New way of clearing the board, Weaver?
Dr. Weaver: Cut the smart guy antics and call the police!
Both Buffys: NO! They can't deal with her.
Buffy1: Isn't this gimmick getting old for you yet?
Buffy2: Beats the alternative. Been dead twice. *jabs with the
IV holder*
The other Buffy grabs the IV holder and tries to yank Buffy around with it,
but she lets go, which throws the other Buffy off balance. She jerks
harder than she intended, and the holder goes flying across the room, knocking
over some equipment by a fortunately empty bed.
Both Buffys: *wince* Sorry about that!
Xander: *standing with the scoobies next to the Ambulance Bay door* It's uncanny.
Anya: No, dear, you can't have them. And, does anyone else remember
the Buffy-bot being stupider at the whole Buffy impression thing?
Giles: Whatever Dr. Walsh had in mind for Adam coming here, it must have included
enhancements to the Buffy-bot programming and mimicking algorithms. For
better or worse, it may be Buffy's match now.
Abby: *ducking for cover* Walsh? Margaret Walsh, the evil bitch monster
of death?
Giles: *adjusts glasses surprized* I see you've met her.
Abby: No, but she used to work here and had that reputation.... Dr. Greene
thinks she may have been storing some of her stuff in the basement....
Xander: Brilliant. An early Christmas for Dr. Walshensteins's favorite
monster.....
Giles: Xander, I believe it may be time for... desperate measures.....
Dr. Kovac: *also coming out of an exam room, ducking to avoid flying debris*
What's going on here?
Dr. Carter: Remember how last week I suggested the hospital invest in a secure
triage area and they said it wasn't in the budget?
Dr. Weaver: *from across the room* Carter, if you don't shut up about that,
I swear I will come over there and beat you to death with my crutch! Now
someone do something!
The Buffys trade kicks and block with incredible speed and strength, when
a stray blow knocks an EKG monitor into the hand-wash station. Sparks
fly everywhere until a fuse blows, killing all the lights in the ER. Back-ups
start up, giving the ER minimal lighting that produces an eerie, under-lit
glow as only the most essential equipment is powered by the back-up generator.
The Buffys face off, as a few stray sparks from the monitor arc between
them.
Xander: Are you sure about this? I have no idea which is which.
Giles: Well, I think under the circumstances, she'll forgive us. NOW!
With that, both Xander and Giles raise tazers, and fire their wires at both
Buffys. They both look surprised, and then thousands of volts shock
both of them, and they collapse.
Xander: *winces* Sorry about that, B.
Dr. Weaver: *getting up angrily* Who ARE you people, and what's going on here?
Anya: Well, it's all pretty simple....
Xander, Giles, and even Abby, who's caught on quick: NOT NOW!
Giles: *to Weaver* One of those two girls is our friend and came here with
us to protect you all from the other, which is a robot controlled by a rogue
government project bent on using humans as experimentation.
Xander: Fortuntely, the robot was never very well insulated against electric
shock, so we should have taken it out.... and you don't believe one word of
what we just said, do you?
Dr. Weaver: No, but I can get you all a very good Psych consult as soon as
the police let you go.
Anya: *smugly* I told you that you should have let me explain.
Abby: Uh guys.... not to rain on the parade, but which one is that?
The group all turns around to see a Buffy standing up, and snapping off the
wire, preventing the gang from shocking her again if they wanted to. The
other Buffy is also struggling to her feet, and the wire has fallen out, but
she's very disoriented.
Xander: Why do I get the idea that the presents included something for that
poor insulation problem?
Suddenly, an all-too familiar beeping indicating a flatline is heard from
the trauma room, where Dr. Greene is still working on his accident victim.
Dr. Kovac runs back into the room.
Dr. Greene: *hollering* Patient's coding, I could use some help in here!
Dr. Kovac: *grabs the defibrillator* Charging to 300.... Uh... *flicks the
on-off switch on the device* It must have been fried when the circuit blew!
Dr. Greene: I need a battery powered unit NOW!
Abby: *outside, is closest to one* I've got it! *grabs the unit and
starts to run towards the OR, when the Buffy who is standing suddenly raises
a hand*
Buffy: *warningly* Wait!
Dr. Carter: *grabs the nearest thing handy, a chair, and tries to get in between
Abby and the Buffys* Both of you stay back.
Standing Buffy: You don't know what you're dealing with.
The next few moments occur in a blur. The standing Buffy twirls around
and rips the chair out of Carter's hands, kicking him over. Abby shrieks
and is torn for a fraction of a moment between the fallen doctor and the beeping
from the OR. She tries to dash for it, but Buffy grabs her shoulder
with one hand, and raises the other arm. Suddenly, from out of her
wrist bursts.... a Polgara demon spike. She is about to skewer Abby
when suddenly.....
Buffy: NO!!!!
Buffy, who has finally recovered from the tazer blast, charges in, half throwing
herself between Abby and the Buffy-bot. With a cruel smile, the bot
stabs forward, and the spike pierces straight through Buffy's shoulder. She
winces in great pain, but doesn't cry out, and looks over towards Abby.
Buffy: GO!
With that, Buffy does a roundhouse chop with her uninjured hand, breaking
off the Polgara demon spike still embedded in her injured shoulder. She
spins around and kicks the Buffy-bot, sending it flying.
Adam: *gets up* Unit damaged. Weapons integrity compromised. Retreating
and deploying Jekyll protocol. *turns and begins walking out of the
ER deeper into the hospital*
Buffy: Like hell you are.
Buffy starts to take off after him, when she wobbles. The pain from
her injured shoulder, combined with some loss of blood and the recent electric
shock are too much even for a Slayer. She nearly collapses, only to
be caught by.... Dr. Carter.
Buffy: Have ... to stop him....
Dr. Carter: He... er.... her.... it's gone. And YOU need attention.
Buffy: No... *fading fast* Who.... knows what.... he'll do......
And with that Buffy's world is engulfed in black.
*Magoo's, a while later*
Rachel: Oh you're so totally kidding.
Dawn: You wouldn't believe it. She was gone for the whole summer, we
had no idea where she was, we were worried sick, and then she nearly bolted
her welcome-home party.
Rachel: That sucks. What happened?
Dawn: Well, my mom's friend Pat, who personally always seemed a bit too clingy
for me anyways, put on this mask mom brought home from work and became this
lord of the Zombies, and they crashed the party and everyone banded together
to fight them and we were all together again. I even hit one in the
head with a flower pot. I was so proud, it was the first time I hurt
an evil thing....
Rachel: *shakes her head* Wow, you really do have a few years worth
of these ghost stories stacked up, don't you? Well, don't let my dad
hear you, he might send you off to a nice padded room where they'll tell you
that everything you think is real is in fact an aspect of your delusion.
Dawn: *worried* Your dad wouldn't actually do something like that, would
he?
Rachel: Only if I came in late or something.
Dawn: Oh god, how long have we been here?
Rachel: I don't know, an hour or so. Don't worry, it's right across
the street, my dad always said to come here if I wanted a shake or something
while I waited.
Dawn: Yeah, have you been listening to my stories?
Rachel: Good point. Okay, let's go track down this sister of yours.
The two leave Magoo's, and are walking towards County General when they notice
a side-door in the hospital alley opening up. They wander over, only
to see Buffy staggering out, clearly beaten and somewhat disoriented.
Dawn: *running up* Buffy! What happened?
Buffy: Uh... it's Adam.... he... she... me... got away... have to catch it.....
Rachel: What's going on.... your sister looks pretty bad, Dawn, maybe we should
take her back into the hospital.
Suddenly, Buffy's eyes narrow.
Buffy: Sister? Error. Unit Slayer Buffy Summers did not have a
sister.....
Dawn: *turns pale, backing away slowly* Oh god... Rachel, run, now, go get
help....
Rachel: What's going on?!
Buffy: Interesting. Public records indicate that Slayer Buffy Summers
has a sister, Summers, Dawn. This anomaly will be analyzed further at
a later date. These two will make excellent first subjects for Jekyll.
Suddenly, mini-Polgara spikes emerge from the Buffybot's fingers, and it slashes
at the girls. Dawn throws herself in front of Rachel, and is scraped.
She immediately screams, clutches her arm, and collapses to the ground.
Rachel kneels down at Dawn's side and looks up at the approaching Buffybot.....
*The Cave in Sunnydale*
Jimmy: She's waking up....
Willow: About time. Did you HAVE to hit her that hard?
Tara: Sorry....
Willow: Aww... I'm teasing.
Eve: *groggily* I'm glad you can find happiness in the face of the annihilationof
human life as we know it.
Byers: Yeah, you said something like that before, Eve. What's going
on?
Eve: You remember reading about the Initiative? The one that conducted
human/demon experiments?
Willow: *shudders* All too well....
Frohike: Yeah, we're here looking for more evidence about that ourselves.
But what is there that could cause the end of the world?
Eve: I've been tracking a sleeper algorithm buried in the Pentagon computers
ever since the Initiative shut down. It was tied to a report so classified
that I couldn't even get a copy of it, a report titled Jekyll.
Langly: The legendary government plague? Doesn't exist, they couldn't
find any DNA exotic enough to engineer a controllable weapon. We did
a whole issue on it.
Eve: Well, Maggie Walsh, the woman in charge of the Initiative site here,
found some exotic enough DNA in the form of some unusual life forms around
this area, demons.
Byers: You're saying she might have created a super plague?
Eve: She did. And that algorithm was linked to it. But 24 hours
ago it activated.
Jimmy: That's because it downloaded into this robot we found....
Eve: Then our only chance is to stop it from getting to it before it finds
the plague. Which is why I came to this site, one of exactly two sites
the government couldn't find to destroy when they shut down the Initative.
Frohike: Well, there's no biocontainment equipment in this storehouse.
Eve: *looks around* Maybe not.... *picks up a few items* Some of this may
prove useful regardless. *finishes stashing some gear, and a disc, turns
to leave the cave* But you have managed to waste valueable time. The
robot has probably reached Chicago by now.
Willow: *detached, deadly serious* Then we need to be there now.
Tara: Willow.... don't.....
*County General ER*
Dr. Carter: I don't understand it, your friend should need extensive trauma
surgery, that injury should have severed nerve endings, but it's almost like
she's healing faster than humanly possible....
Giles: I think you would be happier not knowing.
Dr. Greene: *comes walking out of the OR at last* Okay, so I've gotten an
account that says that there's some crazed robot thing that trashed the ER
and shorted the power, nearly killing my patient in the process.
Abby: That's as much as I got, and I was here.
Dr. Kovac: Where's Dr. Weaver?
Anya: The boss lady with the crutch? She couldn't take it anymore, and
needed to go sit down in your lounge. *nods*
Dr. Carter: Who is this girl, and can she work here?
Buffy: *emerging from Exam 1* More importantly, WHERE did Adam go?
Dr. Kovac: I'm not sure you should be standing up....
Xander: Don't bother. She doesn't take well to that sort of advice.
We've tried.
Suddenly, Dr. Greene drops his clipboard with a clatter.
Dr. Greene: RACHEL!
Everyone turns to see Rachel Greene, pale and weak, barely supporting an almost
unconscious Dawn, has just staggered in the ambulance bay doors.
Rachel: Dad....
With that, she collapses.
Buffy and Dr. Greene both run to the fallen girls.
Dr. Greene: High fever, sweat, Abby, get some IV's, both these girls may need
fluid NOW!
Abby: I'm on it.
As Abby goes, no one takes note of a bright flash in the ambulance bay.
Buffy: What's wrong with my sister?
Dr. Greene: I don't know, but it looks like the same thing my daughter has.
Only it doesn't make sense. She wasn't ill before and symptoms
this severe don't usually pop up in a couple of hours....
Suddenly, Eve walks in the Bay doors, followed by the Gunmen, with Jimmy and
Tara supporting a very pale and weak looking Willow.
Eve: That's because this isn't a normal disease. We're too late. The
Jekyll plague has begun.
To Be Continued....
The Lone Gunmen
Bruce Harwood .... John Fitzgerald Byers
Tom Braidwood .... Melvin Frohike
Dean Haglund .... Richard 'Ringo' Langly
Stephen Snedden .... Jimmy Bond
Zuleikha Robinson .... Yves Adele Harlow
ER
Anthony Edwards .... Dr. Mark Greene
Noah Wyle .... Dr. John Truman Carter, III
Laura Innes .... Dr. Kerry Weaver
Alex Kingston (I) .... Dr. Elizabeth Corday
Paul McCrane .... Dr. Robert 'Rocket' Romano
Goran Visnjic .... Dr. Luka Kovac
Maura Tierney .... Nurse Abigail "Abby" Wyczenski Lockhart
Created By Michael Crichton
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