Title: A Teraverse Sidestory: The Fringe Files
Author: Joshua
Disclaimer: First off, for the record, YES, DianeCastle has given her permission to post this story as a part of her ongoing 'Teraverse' fanfiction series. Bones is owned by 20th Century Fox and was created by Hart Hanson. Fringe is owned by Warner Brothers and was created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Castle is owned by ABC/Disney and was created by Andrew Marlowe. Numb3rs is owned by CBS and was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton. Limitless is owned by CBS and was developed for TV by Craig Sweeney. Unforgettable is owned by CBS/A&E and was developed for TV by Ed Redlich. NCIS, and all franchises, is owned by CBS and was created by Donald Bellisario. Blue Bloods is owned by CBS and was created by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. Batman is owned by DC Comics and was created by Bob Kane. Quantico is owned by ABC/Disney and was created by Joshua Safran. Rizzoli & Isles is owned by Warner Brothers and was created by Tess Gerritson and developed for TV by Janet Tamaro. The Outer Limits (1995 series) is primarily distributed, and owned by MGM Studios, with many different authors/creators involved. Now You See Me is a 2013 film directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt. Leverage is owned by TNT and was created by John Rogers and Chris Downey. Scorpion is a TV adaptation of real life Walter O'Brien's company, distributed by CBS and developed for TV by Nick Santora. Katherine "Kitt" Katt/Martini/Reader was created by Gini Koch as part of her ongoing Touched By An Alien series. Kitty Norville was created by Carrie Vaughn as part of her ongoing Kitty Norville series. Angel, Darla, Spike and Drusilla were created as part of BtVS and owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions and Joss Whedon. (Any additional crossovers/disclaimers will be placed in the chapters where they are required)
Summary: In response to the growing Metahuman issue, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has created their own Metahuman Division; the Fringe Division, investigating the very fringes of the Teraverse.
Entry (0001): Case#0000 - Retasking
J. Edgar Hoover Building
F.B.I. Headquarters
Washington D.C.
"Look, Bones, I've got to go," Seeley Booth said to his partner (in more than just a couple of ways) over his cell phone. "No, it's not because of anything to do with any case, or with you, or anything like that. … The Director, he wants to see me about something. … I don't know yet, that's why I'm walking to his office right now. … As soon as I know something Bones, you'll be the first call I make. …Look, I gotta go, I'm at his door now. I'll talk to you later, Bones. I love you."
With that said, he hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and approached his boss's office, knocking softly on the open door.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" he said, noting that the Director was not alone.
"Come in Special Agent Booth," the Director ordered. "Close the door behind you. These are Assistant Director Phillip Broyles, Special Agents Olivia Dunham and Don Eppes, and Agents Astrid Farnsworth and Rebecca Harris. Everyone, Special Agent In Charge, Seeley Booth. Although that still remains to be seen, pending the results of this meeting."
"Sir?" Booth asked, taking the free seat at the table, suddenly nervous.
"We're short on time, and only three other people at this table know what is actually going on here, so I'll be blunt," the Director stated, still standing. "There is a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations that is responsible for investigating, identifying, and dealing with situations, people, events, etc, that are deemed by the Bureau as being… unorthodox. That division is not called the X-Files. But, minus alien involvement, the mandate is much the same as what the public would believe from watching that television show."
The Director let them all process that for about a minute before continuing. "It is known as the Fringe Division, and until recently has been headed by AD Broyles. Rather than aliens and monsters, however, Fringe is meant to investigate, identify, and deal with the unnatural results that come from science run amok. In recent years, that has transformed from various black organizations utilizing advanced technology and the random science experiment gone wrong, to dealing directly with metahumans. With the public reveal of Homeland's Hazardous Waste Assessment Amelioration and Abatement, also known as the SRI, I felt that the Bureau needed to step up with its own answer to General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill's Initiative."
Feeling the need to interrupt, as he had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going, Booth raised his hand and spoke up. "Sir, with all due respect, I happen to know General O'Neill, Jack, personally. He's a good man, despite whatever rumors are being spread about him. He doesn't let power go to his head, and he doesn't play at politics."
"Jack O'Neill is a good man," the Director agreed, nodding. "But he's only one man, and the SRI is only one organization, which came out of the Department of Defense, was drafted into Homeland Security, and is still made up of ninety percent soldiers from various Armed Forces, most of them Air Force or Army. They only managed to branch out into investigative areas within the past couple years. At best, they're rookies when it comes to investigation, at worse they're in way over their head and struggling to stay above board. In either case, the do not have the resources, nor the experience that we at the FBI do in analyzing and investigating. And they get most of their intel from what all the other agencies send to them, or what they can scrounge up with their own independent sources. I've got nothing against the SRI, Agents."
The Director finally sat down and looked at each of them in turn, resting on Booth at the end. "My problem is that I don't like having all our eggs in one flimsy, newly made basket. I'm re-tasking Fringe Division. Your mandate is now to deal with all Federal level incidents involving metahumans, or even the rumor of metahumans. Homeland has a lot of leeway with the Patriot Act and everything, but they can't cover everything. Fringe has the full backing of the F.B.I. and everything that comes with it. Not to mention a bit more leeway as Congress is still debating the fine print when it comes to laws on metahumans. So, if a metahuman is even peripherally involved, even as nothing more than a witness, Fringe has full jurisdiction, even if the rest of the FBI can't get involved. Provided, of course, that the new Assistant Director of Fringe accepts his new posting." All eyes turned to Booth.
His nervousness, or rather anxiety, had suddenly solidified into a cold rage that he was careful not to let into his expression, although he couldn't keep it entirely out of his eyes or tone when he spoke.
"Director, as I'm sure you're aware," said Booth, "the last time I was offered something like this… it didn't go so well. For anyone."
"Well, in that at least, you can take whatever small comfort in that you're not being offered the position, Agent Booth," the Director replied. "You're being ordered to fulfill it. This isn't entirely a promotion, though you will be the Assistant Director, you'll be in the field as much as you always are. The title of Assistant Director of Fringe Division is entirely what you make of it, Booth."
"Sir, I…"
"Now hold on for one minute while I explain exactly what is going on here," the Director interrupted. Booth held his tongue.
"In the past ten years, you and your team at the Jeffersonian have done a phenomenal job. Your clearance rate is among the best, in the D.C. and surrounding areas at the least. Since teaming up with Dr. Brennan and her team you've stopped, what is it? Five? Six different serial killers? And you've uncovered and stopped, as strange as it is to say out loud, at least two active conspiracies from within the FBI, one of which was targeted directly at you. My point, Special Agent Booth, is that you have proven time and again that you are loyal to your country, to this Bureau, and to saving lives. Now, I need somebody to take the reigns of Fringe as they go from looking into 'mad science' to handling metas directly. Can you truly recommend anyone else that could do as good a job at it as you?"
"There are a lot of good agents out there, Director," Booth started to say, but he was cut off.
"But none that have dealt with metahuman threats the way that you have," Broyles spoke up. He was a tall, bald black man with a deep voice and intense stare, but with Booth his reputation actually preceded him.
"I'm sorry, AD Broyles, but… what meta threats?" Booth asked. "I'm Major Crimes, we deal with serial killers and murderers and the like. We've never dealt with any metahuman, criminal or victim."
"According to the record," said Broyles, "that's not entirely true. Knowingly or not, you've actually dealt with two… I suppose the common term is, Super Villains; Christopher Pelant, who was a Breslynn Orphan, but thankfully you dealt with him before he could join up with the Collective. The other was the killer in the case that you just concluded quite recently, confirmed cyborg; Rose… Tattoo. The self-proclaimed 'spirit of murder'."
"Yeah, but we still haven't caught her," Booth argued.
"It would've been a miracle if you had," Broyles told him straight up. "The only ones to have actually survived encounters with this… villain, have been other metas, notably Action Girl, the Creeper out of Chicago, and the SRI's Texas Ranger liaison, Francesca Santana. You tracked her down, trailed her to the Bethesda shipyard in Maryland, and while you did not capture her, you survived an encounter with her, which is just as telling."
Rubbing one particular scar, which was still healing beneath his suit, Booth nodded his head. "Yeah. Some of my guys weren't that lucky. If it hadn't been for Terawatt showing up like that…"
"That wasn't a coincidence," Olivia Dunham, sitting on Broyles right hand side, interrupted. Everyone was now staring at her, so after a moment to compose herself, she addressed Agent Booth. "I'm… not too clear on the precise chain of events, but… your team at the Jeffersonian, or somebody there, 'had a bad feeling' and one," she checked her notes, "Angela Montenegro-Hodgins, tapped into your comms. At the same time, on the advice of her husband, Dr. Jack Hodgins, she sent an anonymous e-mail to the SRI, who then contacted Terawatt and sent her to the area, thanks to Mrs. Hodgins' tap into your comms."
"I know that," Booth smiled understandingly at the younger agent.
"Who had the 'bad feeling'?" she insisted.
His face uncertain, as he kept glancing back and forth between Broyles and the Director. Finally, it became clear to him that they already knew the answer, and it wouldn't help him to keep it hidden, so he ultimately admitted, "It was… Angela's psychic."
"One," again the agent checked her records, "Avalon Harmonia. Born, Stephanie Susan James. Correct?"
"Yep-pah!" Booth popped his lips on the word, turning away from Agent Dunham.
"Ms. Avalon is a meta," Dunham said, bringing his attention back to her. "Confirmed psychic potential, in the form of comprehensive empathy, but not quite enough to be called full on telepathy. There is also Dr. Jack Hodgins, although we all hope that you already knew this…"
"I do," Booth cut her off. "I also put it in the man's file. I was also there when he and Angela and Bones came to me with the print-off of that damned e-mail that went out. He was never a part of the Collective."
"But Jack Hodgins is an Orphan," the Director said this time.
"Yes sir, he is," Booth stated as plainly as he could. "But he is good at his job, and his dedication and loyalty…"
"Are not in question, nor a factor in these proceedings," the Director interrupted a final time. "The Jeffersonian and its Medico Labs are a separate institution from the Bureau. We have no control over who they employ or why the do or do not keep them employed. And I believe that I already said something to the effect that Fringe Division has full discretion when it comes to fulfilling their new mandate. Who you and your new division want to consult with, Director Booth, is entirely up to you."
"With all due respect sir," said Booth, "I haven't accepted the position."
"We all know you're doing it Booth," the Director stated. "You seem to be the only one here that doesn't know that. I need Broyles to work the political front to keep Fringe out of the fire. You'll be taking over his old job. Agent Dunham is, shockingly, Fringe's best agent, alongside Agent Farnsworth. Eppes is from the LA office, and has his own consultant he's bringing along with him into Fringe. And Agent Harris here is from the CJC in New York. Again, bringing with her a very… special consultant. When you say yes, and sign the paperwork, Booth, you're going to hit the ground running. Fringe already has a new case."
With that said, the Director turned on the large screen on the wall, showing a news report about a metahuman attack in western Pennsylvania, involving multiple homicides and thousands of dollars in property damage. Once the report concluded, the Director turned it off and continued.
"The SRI is currently overseas dealing with a multitude of issues in Europe, and their other teams are in Chicago and the Bay Area in California, respectively. They're stretched thin as it is, and taking out the meta involvement, this case would fall under FBI jurisdiction anyway. Hence re-tasking Fringe to being the FBI's new Meta-Division. I've spoken with O'Neill, and the President about this. To be quite frank about it, O'Neill was relieved to take some of the pressure off his people, and the President was never quite comfortable leaving everything having to do with metas to only the SRI. As for chain of command, consider Fringe an entirely new branch of the Bureau, taking in and able to call upon each of the other branches as necessary. You answer to me, and the President. Broyles' job is to keep various Congressmen and Senators and Committees off your back. Your job is to do the same thing you were doing in Major Crimes, only now if it involves a meta in anyway, it is your jurisdiction. No exceptions."
"I… I can still use the Jeffersonian team?" he confirmed.
"And every other 'consultant' that you can get your hands on," the Director ordered. "If you can get heroes like Terawatt to agree to help you out, you have standing authorization to duly deputize them into the FBI and have them listed as consultants or deputies or both. Their true identities, if revealed to you, are at your discretion. Personally, so long as they're helping and being heroes as opposed to villains, I don't care who they are! But the fact is that the SRI has done more for this country in dealing with metas because they use and have a number of metahumans on their side. Hell, at last count there were over a dozen Orphans still on their payroll, each and every one of them vetted. That says nothing of the other metas they have working with them."
"So… you want us… me… Fringe Division," Booth stammered, "to work with metahumans? Just to confirm, sir."
"Yes," the Director confirmed. "Agent Harris's consultant? When he takes a special drug, he becomes the smartest human being on the planet, without exception. He's currently the only living human being that can take this drug without risk of long term side-effects. Eppes' brother, a Professor by the name of Charles Eppes, is a highly skilled mathematician. He basically sees the world in terms of numbers, and is even able to predict human behavior thanks to an algorithm he's developing. Agent Dunham?"
Grimacing, the blond woman nodded her head and held out her hand. The pitcher of water in the middle of the table slid all the way down to where Booth was sitting, before the water, without the pitcher moving further, flowed up and split off until everyone had a full glass of water beside them.
"When she was a child, Agent Dunham was exposed to another… unique drug," Broyles was the one to explain. "She and a group of children from this drug trial are on our watch list. A number of them have begun to… develop abilities now that they've reached adulthood, and not all of them can control their new abilities. That is what we were investigating primarily before the Director retasked us. The current consultant that we have on tap is actually the doctor that conducted the drug trial, a Walter Bishop."
"You're a metahuman?" Booth asked Dunham.
She shrugged and smiled. "That's what the media is calling those affected by these 'special' drugs, aren't they?"
Booth just stared at her for a little while, before settling back in his chair. He stared across the table at the Director before coming to a decision.
"I'm going to need about a day to inform my people and clear my workload with Major Crimes," he stated, still leaning back in the chair.
"Your workload has already been taken on by your replacement; Agent James Aubrey. As for your team, I can give you twelve hours, starting now. Then I need you on the job. For cases outside of the D.C. and local area, the jet is freely available to you and your team. With the exception of Broyles, Farnsworth and Harris, consider everyone in this room your department heads. Divide the workload as you see fit, but I would recommend, for this first case at least, that you get everybody together and work it as a single unit. Just to get used to how everybody works together. Now, if there is nothing else, the clock is running people. Get the job done."
The newly designated Fringe Division trudged out of the Director's office. Less than ten seconds after the door had shut behind them, it reopened to admit one of the few people that he truly trusted in this world.
"So," his friend asked, "how'd he take it?"
"About like you'd expect," the Director replied, taking off his glasses and beginning to diligently clean them with a handkerchief. "Think he'll do the job?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"OK, stupid question," he replied. "Think they can handle the job then?"
"Only one way to find out," former astronaut, and current Deputy Director of the FBI, Steve Austin said as he turned and walked out of the room, leaving his friend and FBI Director Oscar Goldman to consider the consequences of his decision. "Only one way to find out..."
END Entry