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:
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.
The Fallen: Chapter Eight
*The ER*
The Jekyll creatures snarl and charge into the ER, as patients, nurses, and
anyone else in the way scrambles to get clear. A patient over in the
bed area screams for help, as a creature advances on him.
Xander: Anya! Weapon!
Anya: *fumbles in the weapons bag* HERE! *tosses a thin, fencing
style sword, sheathed*
Xander: *draws the sword, swings wildly, but the creature stays just out of
his reach* I would have preferred something a little less subtle, I don't
know, big axe or something?
Dr. Carter: *running in* Here, give me a shot with that!
Xander tosses the sword to Carter, who advances on the creature, parrying
its blows deftly, and finally burying the sword in its chest. It falls
over, flops around a few times, and stops moving.
Xander: Wow, good shot.
Carter: I used to fence. Let's get these patients out of here!
Across the lobby, the monsters advance on the triage area where the Gunmen
and Willow have set up their laptops, hurling chairs as the gang scatters.
As they run and dive into the phone area, Langly grabs the laptop with
the shut-down codes for Adam. Dr. Weaver, however, can't clear out quickly
enough, and Willow dashes in to try and save her, only to be slashed across
the knee by one of the creatures. She falls, and Weaver stands over
her, preparing to hit the creature with her crutch but clearly afraid, when
suddenly....
Tara: BACK!
Tara holds out her hand and a force field appears between the girls and the
oncoming creature. It bashes the field, and Tara staggers back, but
she perseveres and the field holds.
Willow: *clutching her leg in pain* Langly! You need to get that disc
downstairs!
Frohike: We need to get to that Doctor. He's the only one who can get
in.
Byers: How are we going to get past those creatures?
Jimmy: I've got an idea....
With that, Jimmy grabs half of a mattress from one of the beds that had been
chopped in half sometime during the fighting and braces behind it, using it
as a ram.
Jimmy: *screams* FOR THE GUNMEN!
Jimmy charges into a crowd of the creatures, bowling them over, as the other
gunmen follow and run past the creatures.
Langly: Remind me not to give him a hard time for being a football player
again.
Jimmy turns around to hold off the oncoming creatures.
Jimmy: Go, guys!
Byers looks back and hesitates for a moment, and then runs to the critical
care room with the other two Gunmen. Dr. Kovac and Dr. Greene are standing
over Rachel and Dawn.
Dr. Kovac: What's going on out there?
Langly: It's invasion of the zombies all over again.
Byers: Dr. Greene, we need you to get into room 0314.
Dr. Greene looks at Rachel and Dawn.
Dr. Kovac: I've got them covered. We've already dosed them with antibiotic,
all we can do is wait. I'll bar the doors.
Dr. Greene: Okay. *as he heads out of the OR with the Gunmen* What's
the plan?
Frohike: *hands Dr. Greene the disc* All we need to do is put this disc
in the computer in room 0314.
Suddenly, the group walks into the space in front of the elevators only to
have creatures emerge from the hallways on all sides, surrounding them. The
creatures charge and the group scatters. Frohike grabs the leg of a
shattered chair, as Byers snags an IV stand and Langly grabs a hospital bed
and spins it around, knocking down one of the creatures. Dr. Greene
looks back at the group from the door to the stairwell.
Byers: We're not all going to make it, go!
Dr. Greene ducks down the stairs, as the Gunmen stand back to back, with their
makeshift weapons, surrounded by the creatures.
Langly: This is it, isn't it guys?
Frohike: We've always been about fighting the good fight. Not usually
quite so literally, but if we're going to go out, at least we've had a good
run of it.
Byers: All for one, and one for all.
Then, the creatures charge them.
*Room 0314*
Dr. Greene slides his card key through the key reader, and walks into the
door. He flips the light switch, but nothing happens. He frowns
and starts walking towards the computers with his disc, when suddenly one
of the arms of the diagnostic device that had examined Adam swivels around
and zaps him with a small electric charge. He drops the disc, which
slides into a corner of the room.
Maggie Walsh's Voice: I can't let you do that, Mark.
*The ER*
Buffy and Spike attack Adam, in the Buffybot, from both sides, but Adam deflects
both their blows, and deftly flips back, much like Buffy herself would do.
Adam: This vessel was crafted at your specifications, Subject Seventeen. I
am impressed. It has proven most suitable.
Spike: Bugger off.
Adam: Which is not to say that I have not made a few... improvements, with
Mother's help.
A Polgara spike emerges from his wrist as he attacks again. He lands
a hard blow on Spike, sending him flying through a window into one of the
exam rooms, but Buffy catches his arm and breaks off the spike.
Buffy: You know, you should really learn to take better care of your toys.
Adam: *uses the Buffybot's voices to mimick Buffy's voice* Why? I've
got more. *horn-like blades emerge from both of the Buffybot's arms,
and he slashes away, forcing Buffy to dash backward to avoid being skewered.
*across the room*
Giles fires several crossbow bolts into one of the creatures, but they do
little to slow its advance, and Giles has to fall back, only to be saved when
Dr. Corday grabs a small axe from one of the bags and buries it in the creature's
back.
Giles: *adjusts glasses* Why thank you.
Corday: Can't let the only other Brit in here get killed.
Abby: *looking at the crossbow bolts* Hm... can I have one of those?
Giles: Sure... though I can't say I recommend them in melee....
*Room 0314*
Dr. Greene: Maggie? How... they said...
Walsh: That I was dead? Yes. Killed by my own creation, and that
girl, the Slayer. If she hadn't interfered..... but regardless, my work
must continue.
Dr. Greene: Those... creatures up there, who once were human? Those
are your work? Are you mad?
Walsh: You don't know what goes on in the world around you, Mark. Vampires,
demons, they're all real. I was like you once, I walked through life
with my eyes closed, never acknowledging the truth about the world around
us. And then... March Fourteenth... our anniversary... one of them killed
my husband. We don't rule this world, Mark. We exist because they
let us. Hostile Seventeen, Spike, who I can only surmise is named after
his hairstyle, he helps them only because we put a chip in his head to stop
him from eating us. You didn't hear what he was muttering when we brought
him in, Mark. How we were just happy meals on legs. And he's
one of the GOOD ones, Mark. When my husband died, I swore that I'd
do whatever it takes to protect people from suffering as I did.
Dr. Greene: *looking around the room, standing just out of reach of the robot
arm, which stands between him and the disc, spies a metal pipe* And
you're going to kill people to save them? That's your idea of a better
world?
Walsh: I wasn't going to kill innocents, Mark. The initiative was about
trained professional soldiers, who knew the risks.
Dr. Greene: That's not what they said on the news.
Walsh: They pledged to give their lives to protect their nation! It's
that girl who forced me to this.
Dr. Greene: She's done nothing but risk her life to protect people since she
got here.
Walsh: *laughs, distantly* Do you know what a Hellmouth is, Mark? Years
ago, I would have thought it was some silly myth or science fiction. But
there IS a mouth to Hell, Mark, and it was right under our noses in Sunnydale.
One day that mouth is going to open, and all evil shall be let loose
upon the world. Who are you going to trust to protect you, protect your
daughters then? One girl? One girl in all the world to stand alone
against the vampires and demons and forces of darkness? Or an army.
One prepared to meet these threats as equals and overcome them. My
army, created by the Jekyll plague so we can finally fight fire with fire!
Only then....
As Walsh is talking, Mark has been inching towards the pipe. Finally,
he grabs it, and lets loose a mighty swing, smashing the diagnostic arm. He
grabs the disc and dashes towards the computer. When he touches the
keyboard, its screen lights up with the words "Manual over-ride engaged."
Walsh: Mark... you're dying.
Dr Greene: *inserts the disc, waits as it begins to load* I don't believe
you.
Walsh: I've read your records, Mark. I know about your cancer, and I'm
sorry, but you're going to die. The biosensors in this room are more
advanced than anything the hospital has, and I can see. Your cancer
is back. You'll be dead within a year, and from its pathology, there's
no chance for them to operate.
Dr. Greene: Why are you telling me this?
Walsh: I can save you, Mark. Within my files are knowledge that ordinary
physicians could never obtain for fear of harming a living subject to get
it. I know how we can remove that tumor, but it will all be destroyed
if you load that over-ride disc.
Dr. Greene: You tried to kill Rachel.
Walsh: An unfortunate mistake, but your treatment will be successful. We
never engineered Jekyll to be resistant to drugs, or transmissible from person
to person. It was only meant to be used on soldiers as a last resort.
And now that we know it works, it can be that way again. Think
of the lives you'll save, the people you can protect from the creatures that
live in darkness! Do you really want to put your faith in one girl to
protect your wife? Your new baby?
Dr. Greene looks down, and back up at the screen, which now reads "Project
0314 termination protocol loaded. Execute? Y/N".
*The ER*
Giles and Corday have reunited with Willow, Tara, and Weaver. They are
fighting off the creatures, but trapped in the phone station when suddenly,
Abby comes running up with a bag that makes several clinking noises and the
crossbow bolt, which now has a small bottle stuck to the tip of it..
Abby: Here!
She tosses the bolt to Giles, who loads it and fires a snap shot at one of
the creatures. As the bolt strikes it, the force of the impact shatters
the bottle, and then the bolt pierces the creature's skin, exposing its blood
to the liquid in the bottle. For a second, it reacts just as it has
to the normal shots, disregarding it. Suddenly, its body quivers, and
stiffens, and it falls to the ground, motionless.
Giles: What did you do?
Abby: *holds up a bottle from her bag* Three times a lethal overdose of Thorazine.
Dr. Weaver: Ordinarily, I wouldn't approve of administering drugs to patients
without their consent, but in this case I think we can make an exception.
*The Elevator area*
The Gunmen are pinned up against the wall. Langly clutches an injured
arm, and Frohike is slumped down on the floor. One of the creatures
is about to charge at them, when suddenly, it stiffens, and falls forward
on its face, a scalpel sticking precisely out of its neck.
Dr. Romano: You wouldn't believe the people they let into this hospital these
days.....
Two other creatures growl, and are about to advance on him when one is kicked
over by....
Byers: Eve!
Eve: I had to make sure the upper levels had a chance to get out. I
hope you boys didn't miss me. *the other monster charges at her* Clear!
She thrusts her palm out at it, revealing that she's holding the paddle to
a portable defibrillator she's got clipped to her belt. The jolt sends
the creature flying. Another creature suddenly jumps on top of her from
behind, only to be grabbed and thrown through a window by....
Jimmy: Guys! Sorry I'm late.
Romano: *looks over the Gunmen, shakes his head* You people are the ones keeping
the rest of us safe?
Jimmy: *smiling* And I wouldn't trust the world to any other guys.
*Room 0314*
Walsh: Please, Mark, don't throw it all away! I can still save your
life!
Dr. Greene: It's not worth. Maggie, I'm sorry for what happened for
you, but it's not worth inflicting this upon humanity.
With that, he pushes the 'y' key, and the screen reads "Deactivating and deleting
all remaining protocols relating to the Initiative, Project 0314, and the
Jekyll plague." A status bar starts counting down to complete system
shutdown.
*The ER*
Adam slashes away at both Buffy and Spike, who aren't able to make headway
or even get close to it, when suddenly...
Adam: Error... uplink... hampered.... does not compute.... what's happening?
Buffy: Looks like you're suffering from an attack of dumb blonde.
Adam: Why...*looks towards Spike, incoherent* Number... seventeen...
Spike: *smirks* Well, I can't say that I like you very well, for one.
Adam falls to his knees, and Buffy coldly walks up, and snaps the Buffy bot's
neck, removing its head. She lays it down on the table, grabs a stray
mace, and smashes it thoroughly.
Spike: *winces* Well, I'm no shrink, but it looks like you're pretty inclined
towards doing damage to yourself....
Buffy: *glares* Not one word.
*Room 0314*
Walsh: You've chosen death, Mark. Death for yourself, and all those
you care about. What's going to protect them? What do they have
left?
Dr. Greene: Hope. Hope that a brave girl, or some dedicated hackers,
or even an occasional vampire will be willing to give their all to protect
others, and to make a difference. Sure, it's hard, it seems hopeless,
but we try anyway, and maybe, just maybe we make a difference. That's
what makes us human.
Walsh: *breaking up, as the deletion protocol begins to degrade her program*
I hope... that the difference you made.... is worth... joining me.... amongst
the fallen....... Good bye, Mark.
With that, the deletion finishes, and the screen goes dead.
Dr. Greene: *sadly* I wouldn't change a thing. Goodbye, Maggie.
Next Week, The Fallen: Aftermath!
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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