Title: Trinity
December 23rd, 2010
Dr. Walter Bishop was experimenting in his lab at the grounds of Harvard University. Sometimes he experimented on matters of urgent national security. Other times, he experimented on foods, especially desserts. Right now, it was the latter.
Astrid Farnsworth was also in the lab with Dr. Bishop. She found her life very rewarding, but sometimes wondered how her career took a turn into being a lab tech for one of the world's craziest mad scientists. However, as mad scientists go, Dr. Bishop was quite the benevolent one. Astrid was a junior agent in the FBI, and was officially the assistant to Special Agent Olivia Dunham. More often than not, though, Astrid served as Walter's assistant.
As Walter was preparing to taste his newest concoction for the first time, he saw Agent Dunham enter the lab. Only, he couldn't tell which Agent Dunham it was. The Olivia from the parallel universe had recently escaped FBI custody and returned to her own world. Walter had nicknamed her "Fauxlivia." He was on a roll with nicknames for parallel universe counterparts, having dubbed his own counterpart as "Walternate" many years ago.
The Olivia who just entered Walter's lab had dark red hair. That threw Walter off for a moment.
"Dr. Bishop, I need your help," said Dunham.
"Of course," said Walter.
"First, I would like to explain something. Please stay calm and wait until after I'm finished."
Walter nodded.
"I'm not Olivia Dunham."
Walter was afraid of that. But he showed no emotion. His mind told him he should run away, or hide somewhere. But he couldn't move.
"My name is Patricia Dunham. I come from a universe that exists parallel to yours."
This was a third Olivia Dunham. Only, her name wasn't Olivia.
"I am a United States Marshal liaison to the Department of Defense's Fringe Anomalies Investigation Unit. One of their missions is to prevent visitors from other parallel universes from entering into ours. If one slips in, I am a part of the fugitive retrieval teams."
Walter was intrigued. So far, this version of Olivia Dunham did not seem to be hostile to his world.
"And how might I be of help to you, Agent Dunham?" asked Walter.
"It's Marshal Dunham."
"Of course."
"One of my colleagues is Oliver Bishop, your son. Well, your son from my universe."
"I see," said Walter, even more intrigued.
"Lieutenant Bishop, Oliver, has a special ability that nobody else seems to have. My world's Walter Bishop also experimented with cortexiphan. Oliver was given a dose when he was a child. Similar to your Agent Olivia Dunham, our world's Oliver Bishop can travel through universes. In fact, he has more control than your Olivia. I am on the fugitive retrieval task force because I can recognize persons from another universe. Oliver performs fugitive repatriation. He is capable of returning the intruders to their proper worlds."
Walter was surprised. He didn't think that he would ever have experimented with Peter and cortexiphan. Although, there were some very safe experiments that he may have tried with Peter when he was very young.
"You mentioned worlds," said Walter. "How many are there?"
"So far, we have identified eight. Our scientists believe that there may be dozens. Out of the eight, only 5 are aware of the existence of parallel universes. One of the remaining three is inhabited by animals, but not intelligent humans. The other two have human populations but go about without any knowledge of other universes."
Walter had a mix of emotions going through him. Part of him was giddy with anticipation to learn about these other worlds. Another part feared the possible dangers. He wondered why he was unable to discover the other worlds. He asked Patricia Dunham about this.
"The world which you have discovered is the world which is most similar to yours, and therefore the most easily discoverable. The other six worlds, including mine, are drastically different. I believe my world would be the next closest to yours. The others would be very much farther removed."
"It seems as if the people on your world have a better grasp of the parallel universes than even I do. What exactly do you need my help with?"
"Like I said, Oliver was seemingly the only person from our world who could control which universe he could travel to. We are able to monitor all eight universes that we've discovered, but we can't really travel to any of them. Except for Oliver, that is. Thirty-six hours ago, a team acting under the person you call 'Walternate' entered into my world and abducted Lieutenant Bishop. I'm not entirely sure why. Deputy Director Broyles from the Fringe Unit tasked me to find Lt. Bishop. I was able to get assistance from our world's Walter Bishop, but we were only able to make it to this world. Your world. We couldn't reach Walternate's. I need your help, or perhaps Agent Olivia Dunham's help."
"You said 'we.' Is your world's Walter Bishop with you?"
Walter was looking forward to meeting another version of himself. Perhaps another version whish wasn't as cold-hearted as the Walternate version.
Just then, they heard a commotion coming from outside the lab.
Fauxlivia Dunham was getting back to her usual routine. It had been months since she was in her own universe. She was glad to see that Captain Lincoln Lee's injuries were all healed. She was also surprised that none of her colleagues realized that she was missing. Apparently, Secretary Bishop was able to devise a way for her own memories and personality to be implanted into blonde Olivia.
"Sorry to hear about you and Dr. Dreamy," said Lee. She had recently broken up with her doctor boyfriend. It was an amicable split. The two of them had felt that their paths were starting to diverge. They promised to remain good friends.
As she wandered through the Manhattan headquarters of Fringe Division, she noticed someone new. He wore an outfit that resembled a navy uniform, but was a little different. By his rank insignia, two silver bars linked together, Fauxlivia deduced that the gentleman was a navy lieutenant. He had his face turned away and was speaking with one of the Secretary Bishop's lead scientists.
He was several feet away and she walked towards him with the intention of introducing herself. When the man turned to face Fauxlivia, she stopped in her tracks. It was Peter Bishop. For the past few months, Fauxlivia had been pretending to be Peter's Olivia. The two of them had shared a bed together. Although she originally initiated the relationship as a part of her mission to the other side, she eventually developed feelings for him. She wasn't sure it was love, but she felt for him.
The man smiled and walked toward Fauxlivia.
"You must be Agent Dunham," he said warmly.
"Peter," Fauxlivia said in a low voice, somewhat dumbfounded.
"Not quite. My name is Oliver. Oliver Bishop. I am slightly different version of Peter Bishop. The one who originated in this universe but now lives in another."
"Oh," she said. She smiled, but was slightly disappointed.
"Don't be so disappointed," Oliver joked.
"No, that's not it," said Fauxlivia.
"I know, I know. Just not who you expected," Oliver said. He was still in a happy mood. "Don't worry. No offense taken."
"Sir!" said an electronic voice. Peter thought he was imagining a hint of panic in that voice. But then again, he was aiming a pistol at the robot's head.
Peter and Olivia had just pulled up at Walter's lab when they spotted an unfamiliar vehicle sitting idle nearby. It looked like a delivery van, but there was no logo on the sides or anything. They both snuck up to the rear of the van, and opened the rear doors, both with pistols at the ready.
Although both Peter and Olivia had seen stranger things, what they saw in the van was different from anything they had ever seen before. Well, different from anything they had seen in real life. Peter recognized the robot and his companion instantly from a movie he saw as a child.
Walter and Patricia watched as a gold-plated robot and a large furry creature walked into the lab, followed by Peter and Olivia, both with their pistols drawn, but aimed toward the ground. When Peter saw the red-headed Patricia, he instinctively raised his weapon.
"Peter, no," said Walter.
Olivia saw her double, but for some reason, sensed that it was not her copy from Walternate's universe.
The redhead walked over to the blonde.
"Deputy Marshal Patricia Dunham," she said, with her hand extended in a friendly gesture.
"Olivia Dunham," responded Olivia.
They shook hands.
"I know who you are. We've been able to intermittently monitor your world for a few years now. We have weeks and weeks of footage of both you and Peter."
"Are these guys with you?" asked Peter, pointing at the two from the van parked outside.
Walter was quite fascinated by the two of them. His face held the expression of a child in a candy store.
"Yes," said Patricia. "Their official designations are X-1 and X-2. They were designed by my universe's Walter Bishop, the head of the Fringe Anomalies Science Team."
"Which one is 1 and which is 2?" asked Peter.
Walter interrupted. "Let me guess," he said in an excited voice. "The robot is 1, and the creature… the gorilla grizzly bear hybrid… is number 2."
"Walter, are you serious?" asked Peter.
"What do you mean, son," asked Walter.
"That's not a gorilla grizzly bear. He's a wookiee. These two are characters from Star Wars. This one is the android C3PO. That's Chewy."
"Oh." Apparently, Walter had never seen the movie.
"That is correct," said Patricia. "Professor Bishop modeled them after those two characters because Star Wars was the first movie that he and Oliver watched together."
"Oliver?" asked Peter.
"Yes. Oliver is my world's version of you."
Peter thought about it for a second and was amused.
"Wait, Star Wars came out before I was born," said Peter.
"Right. I'm not sure why it would be the first movie. I'm guessing it was on a video tape."
"So, X-1 and X-2," said Peter, looking at the two.
"Actually, you call them Goldman and Furman," said Patricia, somewhat annoyed.
Peter smiled. "Because one's gold and the other's furry."
"Right. Professor Bishop sometimes calls X-2 'fuzzman' instead."
Peter smiled and had a quick laugh.
Patricia shook her head. She looked dismayed.
"I guess in all universes, you are a childish juvenile delinquent," she said.
Peter was still smiling. "No offense taken," he said.
Although Patricia was very fond of Oliver Bishop, she often felt that he played dumb and purposely engaged in tomfoolery just to not be seen as a nerd. On the other hand his father Walter Bishop would sometimes genuinely engage in tomfoolery. It took her great patience dealing with that family.
Patricia continued to explain the situation to Olivia. Professor Bishop had designed a small sized submarine that could travel to other parallel universes as long as controlled by a cortexiphan enhanced pilot. However, the only person that could control it properly was Oliver. Patricia used it to get to this universe, but couldn't reach Walternate's. The several times she tried simply brought her back and forth between this universe and her own. Patricia needed Olivia to bring her to Walternate's universe.
X-1 was initially created because whenever Oliver traveled to another universe, his energy would be drained and he would be weakened for the next two minutes or so. Any human traveling with him would also be knocked unconscious for several minutes. However, X-1 could function normally, so he tagged along on the mini-sub.
X-2 was created in the event the team needed backup from someone significantly stronger than your average marshal. X-2 was considered more of a subordinate of Dunham's, as X-1 was considered to belong to Bishop. X-1 never went into the field, and X-2 typically did, but stayed hidden.
Besides chasing people from different universes, the Fringe Investigation Unit often chased after other unique threats that originated from her own universe. In fact, at least 90% of the time, Patricia and Oliver investigated events with no connection to other universes.
The mini-sub was too small to fit any more than two humans and X-1. X-2 was barely able to fit in and was quite uncomfortable in the cramped space. Patricia was unable to bring any more of her Fringe unit colleagues with her to rescue Oliver.
"So, let's take your sub out for a ride," said Peter, eager for this adventure.
"No. We should try to arrive directly at the Fringe HQ in Walternate's world. I believe the fact that I am cortexiphan enabled, as well as X-2, should provide enough energy for Olivia to bring about 6 of us into Walternate's world."
"Who should be the sixth?" asked Peter.
"Dr. Bishop?" asked Patricia.
"No. No. I'll probably just slow you down. It's a rescue mission after all."
"Fine, then the five of us can go."
Olivia thought about bringing Astrid along, but she thought the junior agent might be uncomfortable with it.
"Why should I help you?" asked Olivia.
"There's only one reason the Secretary would abduct Oliver. He wishes to activate his doomsday device and destroy your world. He thought he couldn't use it without Peter. But since stumbling into discovering our universe, he decided that Oliver would be a proper substitute."
"The entire division has gone rogue," reported Major General David Benjamin.
"What?" shouted the stunned Secretary of Defense.
"Fringe division, NYC HQ, went dark as of midnight this early morning. Their systems have completely detached from our mainframe. Division security has set up barricades at HQ. The whole complex has been reinforced with units pulled from Boston and Philly. The DC backup control center is not responsive. I've got people looking into the Texas office and the California office."
"Who's in command at HQ?"
General Benjamin looked down at his iPad.
"Their new Director arrived at 1730 yesterday evening, took the reins at 1800 hours. Navy Commander Lucas Piccard. 38 years old. He was slated to be promoted next month and take command of the air wing on the carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt. That was put on hold and he was lateraled and reassigned to Fringe."
"Under whose orders?"
"Colonel Broyles, sir. It appears he set this in motion several hours before the incident at Harvard."
"And nobody caught this?"
"Sir, personnel transfers are still under the purview of the Pentagon down in Virginia. That command structure did not move up to NYC with your office. The Joint Chiefs have been saying for years that we are still too decentralized."
Secretary Walter Bishop was not pleased.
"Can we take the complex by force?" he asked.
"Not advisable at this time, sir. We're running through incursion scenarios. This will be a delicate operation."
Peter, Olivia, and the rest of their crew emerged on the other side. Exactly according to plan, they had managed to make it into one of the sub-levels of Fringe HQ in Manhattan. However, unlike their plan, they had been immediately discovered and an alert was triggered.
"Commander Piccard," said one of his aides. "We've apprehended several intruders. They are being brought here as we speak."
"Just put them in a secure location. I don't need to be bothered with this," said Piccard. He was more focused on the task at hand. As long as the intruders were contained, he did not feel it necessary to interrogate them. He was glad that the heightened security protocols were effective.
"Sir, you might want to see them," said his aide. "They aren't the Secretary's men."
"Secret Service?" asked Piccard.
"No. They're from… another universe. Two other universes. We have in custody two other clones of Agent Dunham."
"Great," said Piccard. "At least it's not eight."
Oliver Bishop was asked to join Commander Piccard in his office. When he arrived, he was surprised to see three versions of Patricia Dunham. Two of them were in restraints, hands behind their backs. Even more surprising, he saw himself.
"This must be the Secretary's son," said Oliver.
"It is," said Piccard. "Peter Bishop, please meet your counterpart, Lieutenant Oliver Bishop."
The two of them shook hands. Peter had been left unrestrained. The experience was quite surreal. He had thought meeting the duplicate Olivia or even his own original father had been a trippy event. This was exponentially moreso.
"The restraints are unnecessary," said Peter, gesturing to indicate Patricia and his Olivia. "You can release them."
"That's going to be a no, Mr. Bishop," said Piccard.
"I think they'll be okay," said Oliver.
"Well… in that case, I guess I'll release them," said Piccard sarcastically. "Oh wait, that's right, I'm in charge here."
Oliver Bishop gave Piccard a nasty look, as if silently saying "seriously?"
"As a reminder, lieutenant, this one here," said Piccard as he pointed to at blonde Olivia, "has a death vendetta against this one here." Piccard then pointed to red-headed Fauxlivia.
"I mean, I understand. She feels like my Olivia stole her life and then destroyed it. I'd be angry too. Vengeance is a human emotion. But still, I can't have that," finished Piccard.
"What about Patricia? You can release her," insisted Oliver.
"Well, right now, she thinks I've kidnapped you, so no. At least until you explain the situation to her. As for the robot and the… um… creature, they'll be kept in the basement levels for the time being for their own protection. Lord knows the science geeks are gonna want to poke and prod the poor guys for hours on end if they see the two walking around. Why are those two here anyway?"
"Goldman's a loyal member of my crew. Of course he'd want to assist in rescuing me!" said Oliver. "If I were Maverick, he'd be my Goose."
"Oh my God," said Piccard. "I can't believe I actually understood what you just said to me."
Agent Farnsworth entered the room.
"Sorry to interrupt, Commander. We need you in the situation room."
Piccard grabbed his beret off of his desk.
"Lieutenant, I'll leave you to explain the situation to our visitors."
Piccard walked out of his office and a few aides immediately handed him reports to review.
The five of them walked into Oliver's lab. The labs at Fringe HQ weren't as sophisticated as the labs on Liberty Island, but they would suffice.
"So you're trying to reconfigure the Secretary's wave-sink device?" asked Patricia.
"Yes. I think it can be done. If I can pull this off, we'll save both universes. This one where Peter originated, and the one where he lives now."
Peter looked at the schematics and the lab notebook Oliver had been furiously scribbling in for the past couple of days. Peter looked at it for a couple of minutes and decisively said "This won't work."
"It will. I just need time."
"No, it won't," said Peter. "Unless you can change the laws of physics." Peter pointed to three separate equations on in the notebook and said they were not correct.
"Laws are meant to be broken. Or bent," said Oliver. "Fringe anomalies unit regularly runs into events that should not happen according to the laws of science. I can do this."
Peter dropped the notebook.
"You can help, jackass!" said Oliver. "This is your world I'm trying to save here. You'd think you'd at least care a little about this, if not more than I do."
Peter was taken aback.
"The best thing we can do now is to return you to your universe. You can bet Walternate isn't just sitting on his hands right now. He's devising a way to get you back so he can use that contraption of his."
Secretary Bishop smiled to himself. Just minutes ago, he was about to lose it. But his team just came up with an acceptable plan of action. They would quarantine the entire Fringe HQ in amber and then cut out Oliver Bishop. It would be time-intensive to do it after the quarantine, but it was the only answer they had thus far. Any attempt to take the complex by force had a high degree of Oliver winding up seriously wounded or dead.
The Secretary was not aware that Oliver was working with Commander Piccard. Oliver had been abducted from Liberty Island by several of Piccard's men. Ironic, as he had been abducted by Secretary Bishop's men in the first place. At first, the Secretary had thought agents from Oliver's own universe had come to rescue him. Then, he learned there was a mutiny in his ranks. He knew that Colonel Broyles had decided that it was immoral to have to destroy an entire other universe to keep his universe intact.
However, the DC backup HQ's commander apparently agreed. The California field office split and was now fighting amongst themselves. The Secretary had been unaware of the widespread nature of discontent. Only the Texas field office fell in line behind the secretary's plans.
The Secretary was confused by how Broyles set the plan in motion with regard to Commander Piccard. The Secretary reviewed both men's service records and they did not appear to ever cross paths. Broyles had been Army. Piccard had never served within a thousand miles from anywhere Broyles had. Nothing in Piccard's record would suggest he was even familiar with Fringe investigations. Piccard had been a navy fighter pilot his whole career, serving on various aircraft carriers or naval bases. For a brief 9 months, the commander took graduate courses in forensic biology at the University of Pennsylvania. But that was the extent of his science background. This was a perplexing puzzle. Another mystery was how Piccard got Broyles' people to fall in line behind him so quickly and effectively. It vexed the secretary greatly. But he pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.
Only Fringe units had the constitutional authority to execute amber containment measures on American soil. The rest of the Defense Department was restrained by the posse commitatus act. As all the units from the Northeast were effectively under Piccard's control, the Secretary had to fly out a unit from either California or Texas. It would be at least several hours before his plan could be put into effect.
The time was ticking. Commander Piccard heard news about the possible amber containment protocol from some of his sources within the Liberty Island. Secretary Bishop had demanded the surrender of all Fringe Division units. For now, Piccard had refused. He also now had control over the California office. However, he told the field directors of the DC and Cali offices that they should consider surrendering if they thought it they were about to be ambered.
Piccard went to Oliver's lab and pulled him aside.
"Lieutenant, I think you should consider what your partner Patricia has been urging you to do. We've got wind of the Secretary's plan to amber this whole place up and then cut you out. It looks like we're fighting a losing battle here."
Oliver was still stymied from figuring out how to reconfigure the wave sink device. He knew in his gut that if he could reconfigure it, he could prevent future rifts from developing in this universe. Peter had reluctantly started looking over the device schematics and also Oliver's equations. But they just couldn't do it.
Agent Jessup and her field team from Texas arrived at Fringe Division's Manhattan headquarters. She had only been here twice in her life. Once during her orientation to Fringe Division, and the second time when she received a commendation at an annual awards ceremony.
"You want me to do what?" asked Jessup, on the line with Secretary Bishop.
She had just gotten the order to amber the entire complex. She was unaware of the various happenings within Fringe division for the past 24 hours. Her boss back in Texas didn't inform her, if he even knew. She had just been informed that most of the division had been infiltrated by enemies of the state, but she couldn't believe it. Earlier she was merely told that the NYC HQ needed an additional reserve team because all of their teams were occupied investigating simultaneous potential rifts in multiple locations throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.
"You gotta go. You gotta go!" screamed Piccard.
Reports were pouring in that Jessup's team had just arrived outside HQ. They parked their Hummvees about 2 blocks from where the HQ security had set up a defensive perimeter.
Piccard had ordered his men to shoot on sight anyone who got within one block of the perimeter. Jessup and her men were going to have a hard time placing the amber dispersers, but eventually, they'd be able to. His men had already exchanged brief gunfire with the Texans before Jessup's team pulled back. No doubt she was now re-grouping and re-strategizing. Assisting the Texans were NYPD swat teams. Of course, they were also kept in the dark regarding Piccard's mutiny. They were simply told that dangerous elements were holed up in Division HQ and orders came directly from the Secretary of Defense himself that the group needed to be contained.
"Lieutenant, that was an order," said Piccard.
"I'm going, I'm going!" said Oliver Bishop. He grabbed all his notes and schematics and ran to follow Peter into the sub-basements. He knew he could figure out the device and was determined to work on it even after returning to his world. Perhaps he would figure it out soon.
Just then, shots rang out.
"Have we been breached!" screamed Piccard.
"No! Perimeter is holding," reported Farnsworth.
Lee, Francis, and Fauxlivia returned fire.
"It's Bert and Ernie, from the Secretary's research division." That was Francis' nickname for two of the members of the materials research team.
The two of them had stayed quiet in hopes that the Secretary would somehow re-take the Fringe HQ. However, now that they heard the rumors about the HQ being ambered, they decided that that particular fate wasn't to their liking. Piccard had explained to everyone that he would surrender the HQ before Jessup's men could come near enough to amber the complex; that he was simply buying time for Oliver Bishop to return to his world. Even after that explanation, the two scientists were still unsatisfied. They agreed with the Secretary that it was imperative for them to retain control over Oliver so they could use the wave device. They also convinced a few of the Fringe agents that Piccard was wishful thinking in hoping that they could save their own world without destroying the other. There were now about a dozen armed men and women intent on preventing Oliver from escaping. The arrival of Peter threw some confusion into the mix, as the Secretary only needed one, either Oliver or Peter. They had originally decided to try to capture both. But now that one of them killed Oliver, they knew they would have to be careful with their gunfire. They needed Peter alive.
Oliver lay on the ground, bleeding from his chest.
"Noooo!" screamed Patricia. She held him close as he was bleeding out. Peter placed both of his hands on the wound to try to stop the bleeding. Lee and Francis were firing to pin the two scientists down. Fauxlivia ran to Oliver with her gun drawn to return any fire coming their way.
Oliver was gasping for air. The injury was significant. It was a mortal wound.
"Leave me. Run," insisted Oliver.
"No," said a distraught Patricia.
"Run."
Patricia put her forehead against Oliver's. "I won't leave you."
Fauxlivia handed her backup pistol to Olivia. She wasn't 100% sure she could trust her, but she did it anyway.
"We have to go," said Olivia.
Patricia had tears in her eyes and was sobbing.
Oliver was starting to succumb to his injuries. A few more gunshots rang out.
"Don't leave me," said Patricia in between sobs. "I… love you."
Peter still had his hands putting pressure on the wound. What he just witnessed reminded him of what happened several months earlier, when Olivia had told him that he belonged with her.
Oliver reached his bloody hand out and grasped Patricia's.
"Erin," he said. Nobody every used Patricia's middle name. Except for Oliver.
"Promise me you'll let me go and live a full life."
Patricia shook her head furiously.
"Please. You must promise me."
Patricia looked into Oliver's dying eyes. "I promise."
"I've always loved you," said Oliver, before he went limp. Patricia cried and cried. She wouldn't let go of Oliver's hand.
"What the hell is going on?" asked one of the guards in sub-level 3.
"All hell is breaking loose," said an agent who had just ran down from the situation room. "Orders from Piccard, let the two of them go."
The guards freed X-1 and X-2.
"Where is Lieutenant Bishop?" asked X-1.
"In the situation room, that way. I think they're pinned down by gunfire."
X-2 asked for a weapon, and the agent gave him a pistol.
"Good luck," said the agent.
Secretary Bishop was pacing in his office on Liberty Island.
Agent Jessup's team wasn't aggressive enough for his tastes. He was especially concerned because the cortexiphan inhibitor injected into Oliver would probably be wearing off within the next hour or so. At that time, Oliver could travel back to his world at will. The Secretary had yet to assess the extent of Oliver's abilities, but he believed Oliver could travel between universes anytime he wanted.
General Benjamin then briskly walked into the Secretary's office.
"Sir!" he said. "We have some interesting developments coming from reports from inside Fringe HQ."
"Inside?"
"Yes. One of our scientists just reported in. He and about a dozen agents are shooting it out with Piccard and his men."
The Secretary smiled. General Benjamin was almost scared to tell him the rest.
"Unfortunately," said the general, "Oliver Bishop has been shot and mortally wounded."
The Secretary was about to lose it, but lucky for the general, he was able to follow that up with good news.
"Your initial hypothesis was right, there are agents from the other universe involved in this. Unsure as of now whether Piccard initiated this whole thing after being prodded by the other side or Broyles started this before the agents from the other side came in. Of note, your son has returned, and he is unharmed."
The Secretary was happy to have this information, but he was frustrated that there was nothing he could do at this time. All he could do was wait and watch the situation unfold. If he ordered Jessup's team in prematurely, the shootout might endanger Peter.
X-1 and X-2 stormed into the situation room and found Oliver laying on the ground bleeding out.
"You have to let him go," said Olivia to the sobbing Patricia. Olivia tried to pull her away, but she wouldn't let go. Olivia was now trying to pry Oliver's hand out of Patricia's fingers.
"Marshal Dunham, I'll carry him home," said X-2 somberly. He reached to grab a hold Oliver.
Suddenly, Oliver spasmed to life and took a deep breath. X-2 and Olivia both backed up in shock.
Oliver then went limp again.
"Come back," said Patricia in a squeaky voice. "Come back."
"Whoa," said Peter. He looked under his hands to Oliver's wound. "For a second, it looked like it was closing up slightly."
Olivia then had a quick thought.
"Patricia, you said that I have both you and Oliver's capabilities. That I can see people from another universe, and that I can travel to another universe."
Patricia nodded, still crying.
"Furman, I need you to hold onto a part of Oliver. Any part of Oliver."
X-2 grabbed Oliver's right thigh. Olivia then grabbed his torso. Suddenly, Oliver came back to life again.
"Don't let go until Peter says his wound is healed," said Olivia. Her theory had been correct. Oliver may not have had all of Olivia's powers. But he did have a part of hers and a part of someone else's. One of Olivia's cortexiphan classmates named James had the power to heal himself if he made physical contact with another cortexiphan enhanced individual. Oliver must have had this ability to some extent. It took all three individuals to supply enough energy: Patricia, Olivia, and X-2. As Oliver's wound was healing, the other three could feel their energy drained from them.
Fauxlivia could see that Olivia's strength was being drained. She grabbed the mini-pistol she previously handed to Olivia. Fauxlivia now had a weapon in both her hands and was firing at Bert & Ernie. She then decided to give herself up as a diversion and popped out from under the desks they were hiding under. She ran across the room while Bert & Ernie fired. As the two scientists came out from behind their cover to shoot at Fauxlivia, Lee and Francis took them both out.
Lee ran over to Fauxlivia. She had been shot.
"That's enough!" said Peter. Oliver's wound was now closed and he was starting to breathe somewhat normally. His pulse was getting stronger. Olivia and X-2 released their grips. Patricia still held on tightly, but her energy was no longer being drained. However, both her and Olivia were significantly weakened. X-2 was okay.
With Bert & Ernie down, it seemed that there were no more threats in the situation room.
Peter walked over to Fauxlivia to see if she was okay. Olivia looked on and couldn't help but be upset. She and Peter were still experiencing an icy rapport and she couldn't bear the thought that Peter still cared for the woman who took her life away. Even if this woman had just risked herself to save the lives of others.
Peter squatted down to get a better look at Fauxlivia.
"She'll be okay," said Captain Lee. "It was through and through. Upper shoulder. Nothing a week of rest won't heal." Lee smiled.
Peter looked at Fauxlivia for several seconds, then looked her in the eye.
"Thank you," said Peter.
Fauxlivia was silent. She nodded once.
"For what it's worth, although I can't forgive you for what you did, the last thing you said to me before we last parted: I believe you," he said.
Fauxlivia was still silent, and she nodded once more.
Fauxlivia then watched as Peter walked away and rejoined his group.
"Talk about timing," said Captain Lee. Agent Jessup's team had been ordered to stand down. In fact, Secretary Bishop had been ordered by the President to stand down, and he was temporarily relieved of his position. Defense would be temporarily run jointly by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Navy for foreign operations and the Attorney General for domestic operations until the President determines that Bishop had recovered from his "exhaustion and nervous breakdown." Close advisors to the President would report anonymously to the press that he was furious upon learning that Secretary Bishop was on the verge of ambering his Fringe Division HQ and even more furious to learn the mutiny led by Commander Piccard was a result of trying to prevent Bishop from annihilating the parallel universe. The President believed the same as Broyles and Piccard, that they had to find a better way to resolve the predicament.
Hours after the incident, everyone seemed to be fine. Fauxlivia was recovering from her gunshot wound. Olivia and Patricia were feeling much stronger. X-2 was almost 100%. Ironically, Oliver was probably the one who felt the strongest out of all of them.
Patricia had still been crying a little bit and in a state of concern, even though Oliver had reassured her that he was okay.
Fauxlivia watched as the six visitors from different universes joined hands and disappeared in a flash. She smiled a bittersweet smile. She walked over to her desk.
"Charlie, what's this?" she asked as she picked up an envelope with her name on it.
"I dunno," he said in his usual scratchy voice. "I think I saw the Secretary's son leave it there a minute before he left."
She opened up the envelope. Inside was a photo strip of three images of herself and Peter inside a photo booth. She was breathless for a moment, and Charlie thought he saw her eyes water up.
Oliver and Patricia were both packing their things. They weren't moving in together just yet. They were changing cities.
The Fringe Anomalies Investigations Unit was moving their headquarters from Philadelphia to Washington. For over 100 years, Philadelphia had been the capital of the United States. This happened after the Civil War divided the nation into two parts, and Washington had been swallowed up into the Virginian Dominion when everything south of the Mason-Dixon successfully ceded from the Union. Ironically, soon after the split, the two nations became strong allies and acted together often. They were basically brought back together immediately as they needed to ally with each other to fight Spain in the late 1890s. After simultaneous terrorist attacks in 2001 against both nations, the North and the South finally decided to merge back into one nation, and were even bringing Canada into the fold. Washington, D.C. would be re-established as the new nation's capital.
In a few days, it would be 2011. Oliver laughed at himself when he realized that a few times, he had wished his friend a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2010. Kind of the reverse of when people would write the wrong year for January dates because they were still used to the old year.
"I guess now that it's after Christmas, my favorite song isn't Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas is you' anymore," said Oliver. He and Patricia were at their soon-to-be former headquarters putting their personal effects in cardboard boxes.
"So what is it now?" asked Patricia.
"I'll say… Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight.'"
Patricia laughed. "What are you, a 16 year old girl?" she joked. Throughout Oliver and Patricia's partnership, their subordinates had always viewed Patricia as the tougher one and Oliver as the softer one.
"Wait a minute," said Patricia. "I don't have long blonde hair!"
Oliver laughed. Patricia smiled.
"Do you think I would look good as a blonde?" she asked.
Oliver moved toward Patricia and held her close.
"Marshal Dunham, I think you are perfect exactly the way you are," he said. He brought his face to hers and they kissed.