I started writing this months ago and was really struggling to finish it. It started out as a one shot but then took on a life of its own. Without the encouragement and support of my wonderful beta mvariorum - who incidentally gave me the plot bunny for this - I don't think I would have made it. So thank you, hon, you are amazing!
This fic starts with a scene towards the end of Night of Desirable Objects and goes AU from there. If you want to refresh your memory, the fight between Peter and the monster can be found on youtube. I'm not supposed to put the url in here, but if you search YT for 'attack molebaby' it should come up as one of the first recs.
This is a six chapter fic, and it's complete so updates will be daily. Actually, it will also be my countdown to S4. Of course, the time until Fringe finally returns would pass even quicker if you could drop me a review now and then. Every writer craves those, and I'm an absolute junkie for them.
Chapter 1 - Trapped
A tremendous crash shook the underground tunnel. Dust billowed, shining golden in a shaft of sunlight that suddenly cut through the gloom. When the dust started to settle, Peter and Olivia saw that the sheriff's car had broken through the ground, neatly severing the molebaby in two with its fender. They both stared at the creature for several seconds, and only when they were sure it was really dead did Peter allow himself to flop backwards and take a deep breath of relief.
"Peter?" Olivia asked. "Are you alright?"
"I'm okay," Peter replied. "Just catching my breath." He cast here a grateful look. "That was quick thinking with that bone."
"You're welcome." Olivia scanned their surroundings. "We better get out of here before more of this tunnel collapses.
"I'm with you on that one." Peter pushed himself to a sitting position. He winced when a sharp pain flared up in his right arm.
"Peter?" Olivia's super sensitive hearing had not missed the slight hiss that had escaped him.
"That little bastard chewed up my arm," Peter admitted, casting a rueful glance at the sleeve of his jacket that showed several puncture marks where the creature's teeth had ripped through the black denim, the edges saturated with blood.
"How bad is it?" Olivia wanted to know, leaning closer to catch a look at the wound.
"I'll live. Let's get out of here," Peter stalled her.
He helped Olivia crawl back through the tunnel into the basement room. While she brushed the dirt from her suit and retrieved her cane, Peter inspected the door.
"The lock is state-of-the-art. Papa Hughes didn't take any chances with this monster he created. Look, it has an automated locking mechanism." Peter closed the door, and the bolt on the other side snapped shut with an audible 'click'. "Eliminates any danger of leaving it unlocked by mistake."
Olivia pulled a face. "I sure hope you thought this through and have a way to open it again. I'm not planning on spending any more time in this house than I have to."
Peter gave her one of his cheeky smiles. "Your confidence in me is greatly appreciated, Agent Dunham. True, the locking mechanism is state-of-the-art. But the bolt is small fry. You can open it with a piece of plastic. Which I guess was good enough for the molebaby. I don't see him sending out credit card applications, do you?" He pulled out his wallet and extracted a card.
"I guess not," Olivia agreed. She stepped closer to watch him deftly feeding the plastic into the crack of the door.
"I'll have us out of here in two shakes. I can't wait to…"
That's how far Peter got, when a massive explosion shook the house, and they could hear the upper floors come crashing down on top of their basement room.
The tremors knocked Peter and Olivia to the ground. When the shaking abated, they both sat up, still dazed from the blast.
"What the hell was that?" Peter asked, staggering to his feet and holding out his left hand to help Olivia up.
Olivia shrugged before grasping his offered hand. "It sounded like the whole house came down on top of us." She pulled herself upright and shook her head, her over-sensitive ears still ringing from the blast. "Something must have triggered an explosion."
"No shit, Sherlock." Peter cast a reproachful look at the door. "I guess Hughes, the old fox, booby trapped the lock so it would blow up the house if his creature tried to get out."
"Destroying his research at the same time," Olivia added.
Peter bit his lip. "I should have thought of that possibility. I'm sorry, Olivia."
"Forget it. No harm done. Actually, I hope he did a good enough job that nobody will be able to lay his hands on that research. The world has enough problems without adding a tried and tested recipe for genetic transmutation to the mix, don't you think?"
"If by 'nobody' you mean Walter I couldn't agree more." Peter held up the card. "Now that the explosion has already happened it should be safe to breach the lock."
"It's worth a try," Olivia said. "But be careful when you open it, there's no telling what could be on the other side."
This time Peter used his maglite to check for wires in the crack of the door before inserting the plastic square. But the moment the lock disengaged, he could feel the door pushing inward.
"Dammit," Peter swore, "I think there's debris piled up against the other side." He gritted his teeth and tried to push the door back in place. "A little help here?"
Olivia moved up beside him and set her shoulder against the door as well. Together they managed to close it once more. Olivia ran the back of her hand over her forehead. "I guess we're not leaving through this door any time soon."
"Guess not," Peter agreed, but when he looked at Olivia his eyes widened at the sight of the blood smeared along her hairline. "Olivia, you're bleeding."
"What?" Olivia froze when she saw the blood covering her hand. "But where…" She inspected her hand and wrist but could not find any cuts or scrapes that would account for the blood. Then her eyes grazed Peter's right arm and everything became clear. "It's not my blood, it's yours, Peter."
"Really?" Peter inspected the blood soaked sleeve. "That's strange. I would have thought the blood would have clotted by now."
"Well, there's no telling what kind of attributes this Chimera might have had." Olivia pointed to a stool. "Sit. I'm going to have a look."
Surprisingly, Peter did for once as he was told without protest. "Vampire bats," he mused. "Their saliva contains a natural anti-coagulant to stop their victims' wounds from closing up while they feed."
"What a cheery thought," Olivia deadpanned as she helped Peter shed his jacket and rolled up the sleeve of his formerly white Henley, now marbled with interesting shades of grey and brown. "I'll just warp this up and then…" She broke off at the sight that met her eyes. They both stared in horror at the faint bluish green lines that had started to radiate from the wound, tendrils already beginning to snake up towards Peter's elbow.
