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:
Eve: And I thought rushing in was a guy thing. We're not going to be
able to open this door with a tank.
Xander: Well, do you have a helpful suggestion? *silence for a moment*
Anya: Well, shouldn't someone in the hospital have a key?
Buffy: Let's go.
Xander: That's why I love her....
*An alley behind the hospital*
Two figures have fallen to the ground, and finally stop twitching. The
camera pans up to reveal standing over them.... Buffy. Sorta.
Adam: Trials confirm original suspected finding. Either Jekyll Plague's
infectious dose is higher than anticipated, or stock quality has degraded
during storage. Inoculation with an intravenous dose one hundred times
in excess of the recommended dose results in expected near-immediate subject
death and transformation.
As Adam speaks, the seemingly dead bodies rise up, and we see that they have
suddenly taken on aspects of demons sprouting from their bodies. From
the rooftop, a figure drops his cigarette in shock....
Spike: Bloody hell.....
The Fallen: Chapter Seven
*Just outside the critical care area*
Dr. Kovac: They're getting worse, fast.
Dr. Carter: I think their best shot's for us to hit them with a broad spectrum
TGC.
Kovac: Reactions to the Cephalothin family can include acute neurotoxicity,
especially in patients suffering renal distress. These girls have systemic
bacteremia, you could be taxing their systems to cope with a drug that won't
help them.
Dr. Carter: I've called up to clinical microbio twice already. They've
brought in a consult, but it takes a few days to get a positive ID. They'll
be dead before then.
Dr. Greene: Well, what the hell do you two expect me to do? That's my
daughter in there, and she's dying! How the hell can we find out what
it is in time to save her?!
Buffy: That may be up to you.
The three doctors turn to see Buffy, along with Eve, Xander, and Anya.
Anya: That nurse said you might be able to let us into room 0314.....
*by the triage area, where the Gunmen and Willow have set up several laptops*
Jimmy: I don't know, I just feel like I'm a bit out of my depth here....
Byers: Don't feel bad about it, I'm not quite following them either.
As the two Gunmen stand back and watch, Frohike, Langly, and Willow are hacking
furiously away at the encryption for the initiative files they recovered from
the Sunnydale Initiative site.
Anya: *walking up* Well look on the bright side. At least you don't
spend so much time with computers that you'll never get a date again.
All the Gunmen glare at her.
Anya: What? It's TRUE!
Eve: *coming up with Anya* New plan. One of these doctors may have access
to the Initiative storeroom here in the hospital. Can one of you come
with us to make sure we get what we need?
Frohike: Sure, I could use a breather. *mutters* Kid's faster than I
am in my old age anyway.... *leaves with Eve*
Xander: *looks over the Gunmen's shoulders* So, how goes the quest to
find out What is the Matrix?
Tara: *shakes head* They've been at it for hours.
Anya: *admonishing* Be careful, Willow. Word around the office was that
someone had laid down a vague curse on computers that makes it hard for people
who spend too much time on them to get girls. Wouldn't bother most
girls but in your case....
Xander: Say... she was using less computers right before...
Willow: XANDER!
Jimmy: Hey, look, I don't know what your problem with computers is....
Anya: Do you have ANY idea how many times I got called out to provide vengeance
for some girl who got stood up by some internet loser.....
Jimmy: And that sucks, but these guys have their hearts in the right place.
Anya: *pauses for a moment, considering this*
Langly: *mutters* And besides, if we're talking about getting dates, not like
anyone would be fool enough to date a bitca like you....
Xander: HEY!
Willow: *can't help herself, snickers*
Anya: I'll have you know that THIS bitca happens to be engag-...
Xander: Sweetie, now is NOT the time.... *realizes Tara and Willow are
looking, wondering what Anya was about to say* I don't think these boys are
impressed by the whole "enraged ex-demon" routine...
Anya: Fine. *storms off*
Xander: Dear... *sighs, runs off after her*
Tara: *shakes head, turns to the Gunmen* We're sorry.... she isn't usually...
well, alright most times she is actually, but she doesn't mean too much by
it. She's sorta from a different culture....
Langly: *darkly* What culture would that be, HELL?
Willow: More right than you could know.
Tara: Will... you've been at it for several hours. Shouldn't you take
a break?
Willow: No, I think we're making real progress here. *nods* Could
use something caffeinated though...
Byers: There's a vending machine area down the hall.
Jimmy: Really? How do you know, we just got here?
Byers: It's one of those weird geeky powers.
Tara: *smiles* Stranger things have happened.
Byers: We'll bring back coffee.
As Tara and Byers leave, Jimmy leans over and looks at the screen, which is
still as full of gibberish and Matrix-style scrolling digits as it was when
they started.
Jimmy: Hey... is it me, or is that one over there flashing every so often?
Langly and Willow look at the spot Jimmy pointed to on the monitor for a minute.
Willow: I think you're right....
Langly: That could be a passkey algorithm or some sort.
Willow: Maybe we're onto something.
Buffy: *walking up* Hey guys. Heard screaming. Did someone kill
Anya?
Willow: Not yet.
Jimmy: She just seems a bit difficult....
Buffy: You could say. So how's the hacky goodness coming?
Willow: Good. If we've actually found a foothold here, we could have
this stuff decoded in an hour or so.
Buffy: *nods* That would be... *voice changes* Most detrimental to Mother's
vision.
Willow: *getting up and starting to back away slowly* Adam....
Adam: The last time I left you a puzzle, my probability tables indicated that
you would be unable to solve it. That was an underestimation.
Jimmy: Get away from her you robotic freak!
Jimmy charges, but Adam swats him aside, once again bowling over the hapless
Langly.
Willow: BACK!
Willow thrusts out a palm, expecting to throw Adam across the room, only to
have.... nothing happen.
Willow: No... still too weak... *backs away slowly*
Adam: *advancing towards Willow, his mini-Polgara spikes emerge from his fingers*
Know that your body shall serve as a vessel in furtherance of Mother's vision....
Suddenly, Adam is hit by a rolling med cart, and knocked over. He looks
up, only to be hit in the face with an IV holder. Unfazed, he uses one
of Buffy's own moves, rolling gracefully to his feet.
Adam: Subject Hostile 17. As I recall, the terms of our agreement were
that I owe you the removal of your head.
Spike: Bugger the deal, I just want to beat the living daylights out of you.
Adam: Ever rash, number 17. In good time. But for now, you can
chase me, or you can attempt to preserve your... asset.
In one motion, Adam overturns the medicine cart and sends it hurtling towards
Willow faster than any human could hope to dodge it. Willow raises her
hand instinctively to try a spell, and is ready to be crushed when Spike makes
a diving tackle, knocking her out of the way of the cart just in time. When
the dust settles, Adam is gone.
*The Basement, Room 0314*
Dr. Greene skeptically slides his card in the card reader, only to be greeted
with...
Door: Access Granted. Welcome, Doctor Mark Greene.
Dr. Greene: So she actually did leave me with access to all her work.... but
why?
Buffy: More importantly, is there something here that's going to help Dawn
and Rachel?
The group wanders around the room, discovering several tanks holding severed
demon parts in vats of liquid, the diagnostic machine used to upgrade Adam,
and numerous biohazard containers.
Frohike: Here we go.... *Finds a computer terminal, and calls up some data,
only to find that it's encrypted too* God, not more of this.
Eve: Wait... these patterns look like the ones the guys have upstairs, only
they're running backwards. Walsh must have encoded some of this data
to only be accessible if you first decrpted the key from the other set of
files....
Buffy: Great. Let's download this stuff and see what the gang upstairs
can make of it.
As the group gathers the data and leaves, Dr. Greene takes one last look back
at the demon parts.
Dr. Greene: Maggie, what were you doing? *shakes head and closes the
door*
Maggie Walsh's voice: *quietly, from the computer* You'll know soon, Mark.
Things are proceeding right according to schedule.
*Upstairs*
Buffy: SPIKE?! What are you doing here?
Spike: *groans, in pain* Slayer... figures you'd bloody be here too.
But how do I know it's really you and not that freak....
Buffy gives Spike a quick punch to the face.
Spike: OUCH! Bloody hell.... *glares* Alright, only the real Slayer
could be that bitchy....
Buffy: WHAT are you doing here? Renewing your old alliances?
Spike: I didn't even know that freak was back until I saw him out back....
oh, alright, if you must know, I know this demon who works in the blood bank...
Dr. Weaver: You're a vampire and you were going to raid my blood bank?
Spike: *looks hurt* I wasn't going to take any of the rare stuff....
Dr. Weaver: *to Buffy* Would you mind if I killed him?
Buffy: Probably not. I'm thinking about it.
Spike: I bloody saved your Wicca friend, and this is the thanks I get?
Buffy: *sighs* Alright, we've got bigger problems than Spike. Will,
what've you got?
Willow: Eve was right... Walsh was actually paranoid to store her decryption
key separately from the data. Here's the information on the Jehkyll
Plague...
Dr. Kovac: It's a transgenic Listeria derivative.
Dr. Carter: Intracellular pathogen. Gets the materials into cells to
speed transformation of the host. I've heard people are working on using
this as a gene and protein delivery vector....
Giles: While I'm rarely the one to cut off discussion on the fiend's background,
how do we kill it?
Dr. Kovac: My best bet would be hitting it with a whole lot of Ampicillin,
works on the wild type anyway.
Dr. Carter: Yeah, but this bug's got all kinds of foreign DNA in it, how do
we even know it's still succeptible?
Eve: Because this thing isn't supposed to last long enough to be treated.
Look, her frozen stocks are in an unusally high glycerol concentration,
and it doesn't look like from these schematics of Adam's injection system
like she diluted it out before loading it. It probably dropped her cell
count by at least 100 fold as soon as they thawed.
Dr. Carter: What do you think, Mark? Your call.
Dr. Greene: We don't have a choice. We'll treat this as a severe case
of listeriosis until the labs tell us different.....
Abby: Alright, ampicillin coming up....
The doctors head off to treat the sick girls.
Jimmy: So we've got a treatment. Is it over?
Eve: Not hardly. This isn't some Hollywood movie plague. Treatment
or no, if we don't get to the victims before the bacteria has tranformed too
many of their cells, they'll die.
Anya: And turn into one of these icky things... *points to a schematic of
a human/demon hybrid on one of the monitors*
Byers: Dr. Jehkyll and Mister Hyde....
Willow: Enhanced speed and strength, claws and a thickened scaly hide... we
don't want to run into these guys.
Buffy: Then we'd better find Adam and stop him before he can spread the plague.
Spike: I saw him use it on at least two people....
Frohike: It gets worse. I've got the schematics of the upgrades Adam
had on the Buffybot. He's completely elimated its original vulnerability
to electricity and added sufficient armor and padding.
Anya: What's that thing in his head?
Spike: Is it a chip? Cause that would just beat all....
Langly: Maybe, but this isn't a chip that's good for us. Schematics
say it's got realtime tactical applications, and analysis software. It's
taken the programming Willow gave the Buffybot when she had it standing in
for Buffy and made it adaptive. It can now do anything Buffy can.
Xander: Great. But what's the weakness?
Willow: Hm... actually, there isn't nearly enough computing power in that
CPU, even on top of the Buffybot's onboard machinery, to explain the complex
behavior Adam's been showing....
Eve: Which means that Walsh has some routine running him from a central location.
Xander: Who else wants to bet on room 0314?
Willow: Got it... I applied the decryption codes from the data here in County
General to the stuff we got in Sunnydale and...
Frohike: Clap on, clap off for the Buffybot. All we have to do is install
it in the system downstairs.
Adam: I will not allow that to happen.
The gamg all whirls to see Adam, standing with several Jekyll human/demon
hybrids standing behind him, zombie-like and barely sentient, yet clearly
strong and dangerous.
Buffy: You know, that threat from you just gets less credible each time I
hear it.
Adam: This, Slayer, shall be the final time. You were to be part of
the final phase of Mother's plan. But this time you don't have your
ritual, and your assistance in creating the building blocks of an army is
no longer required. For that, we have the people of this city.
Dr. Weaver: You wouldn't dare.....
Suddenly, Jekyll creatures burst through the ambulance bay doors, crash in
the windows of the triage area, and shamble in from all directions.
Adam: I already have.
To Be Concluded....
The Fallen will not air on Thursday, Nov 28th, which is Thanksgiving in
the US. Come back on Thursday, December 5th, for the conclusion.
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
Back to GA's fic page.
