Act 4
Fade In:
Int.
Military Facility – O.R. Observation Area – Continuous
As Kadin flew toward Kennedy, Faith spun out from the side and stuck out her leg, tripping Kadin up and sending her tumbling to the tile floor. With Kadin temporarily down, Faith turned to her squad of slayers.
“Run! Now!” she barked, motioning urgently toward the door. “Get back to the van, and tell them to get the hell outta here!” When the slayers hesitated for the briefest of seconds, Faith yelled, “Go!”
The slayers did as they were told and hurried out of the viewing area, leaving Faith and Kennedy alone with Kadin. After jumping to her feet in a crouch, Kadin turned her head toward the two slayers and growled deep in her throat. Faith cast a nervous glance at Kennedy, who shared the same look of fear and concern.
Cut To:
Int.
Council Van – Moments Later
Skye pointed out the front window of the van.
“Here they come,” she said.
Buffy slid open the side door, and the girls began to pile inside.
“What are you doing here? What’s going on?” Willow asked.
Hadley was winded as she tried to speak. “Lehane…” she started.
“What’s wrong with Faith?” Buffy asked with growing concern.
“Fine, she’s fine. Ordered us all out,” Hadley answered, as she continued to try to catch her breath. “I don’t really know what that thing was, but it sure wasn’t Kadin.”
Willow looked over at Buffy, who motioned her head outside. Buffy then made the same gesture to Dawn.
Once all three women were outside, Buffy turned to Dawn and said, “You and the troops wait here. Stay on surveillance and call in reinforcements.”
“What are you two gonna do?” Dawn asked worriedly. “Even Hadley said it wasn’t Kadin and –”
“Stay put. As Chairwoman, I’m ordering you. No matter what you see, don’t come in. Have a backup ready at every exit within the next ten minutes.”
As Buffy ushered her sister into the back of the van, Dawn started to object. “But –”
“Do it!” Buffy shouted, before she slammed the door shut, ending the argument. She then turned to Willow and said, “Let’s go.”
Cut To:
Int.
Military Facility – O.R. Observation Area – Moments Later
Kadin stood to her full height and began to slowly circle the perimeter of the room. Kennedy and Faith mirrored her actions, keeping a safe distance between themselves and the blue beast.
After nearly a half-turn of staring and stalking, Faith leaned over to Kennedy and whispered, “Why isn’t she trying to rip our throats out?”
Kennedy winced at the question and then shook her head. “Not sure.”
“I don’t like it,” Faith hissed warily.
Keeping her black eyes trained on the two slayers, Kadin just kept silently moving, flexing her bloody fingers as she did so. The only sounds in the room were the slight hum of the ventilation system and the occasional soft flickers from the damaged fluorescent lights in the operating room. In an instant, Kadin ended her circling and took off in a full sprint towards them. Both Kennedy and Faith braced themselves for the impact.
Suddenly, they saw Dr. Goodell rush into Kadin’s path, holding a small spray bottle in her hand. As Kadin collided with her, the doctor held the bottle in front of Kadin’s face and squeezed down on the trigger, sending a light blue mist straight into Kadin’s face.
Kadin was howling in pain before the two of them had even hit the floor. Kadin scrambled away from Dr. Goodell, shaking her head and screeching in rage. She stumbled a bit, then dashed for the door. One fury-filled body-slam later, Kadin was out the mangled doorway and down the hall. Kennedy ran to the door, but by the time she got there, Kadin was long gone.
Faith turned to Dr. Goodell, who was now groaning on the floor. “Who the hell are you, and what the hell is that stuff?” she demanded as the blonde woman got to her feet.
As the doctor struggled to regain her breath, she pointed at herself and said, “Dr. Kimberly Goodell.” Then she pointed at the bottle and said, “This is, well…” Instead of finishing her sentence, she just lifted the bottle and sprayed it directly in Faith’s face.
“Hey!” Faith protested, lifting her hands to shield herself from the mist.
In a split second, Kennedy was at Dr. Goodell’s side, snatching the bottle from her hand. Faith wiped uselessly at her face, but it was too late. The light spray had already landed and been immediately absorbed into the skin. Faith backed away, expecting a reaction similar to Kadin’s, but none was forthcoming. After a moment, she looked up and turned angry eyes toward the doctor. Kennedy did the same, and the woman nearly crumpled under the twin glares.
“Uh, it’s, um…” she stammered as she pointed at the bottle, now in Kennedy’s hand. “T-T-To me or you, it might as well be water, but to Kadin…it’s kryptonite.”
Fade To:
Int.
Military Facility – Hallway – Minutes Later
“I lost her,” Faith heard Dawn say over her headset. “I‘m sorry.”
“Just keep scanning the camera feeds,” Faith replied. “I know there’s a million of ’em, but she’ll turn up.” She looked at the demolished door that she, Kennedy and Dr. Goodell were moving through and added, “In the meantime, we’ll follow the carnage.”
Dr. Goodell was on her radio as well, speaking with the general in charge of the facility.
“If this creature of yours threatens my men –” the general said to Goodell.
“She won’t threaten your men if you stay put,” she countered.
“I‘m not letting some out-of-control beast wreak havoc in my facility!” the general barked. “Delta team has mobilized, and unauthorized lockdown or not, they will take this creature down by any means necessary!”
“General, I’m telling you the serum will work. We just tried it, so you don’t have to use lethal methods to stop her,” Dr. Goodell pleaded.
“I‘ll try to keep your science experiment intact, doctor, but the recovery of the subject is now my operation,” the general said. “I‘ll handle it as I see fit. Over and out.”
The doctor looked defeated as she put the walkie-talkie back on her belt. “I don’t know why it went wrong,” she said as they traced Kadin’s path. “Her body is the perfect vessel. The perfect host.”
Kennedy grabbed Dr. Goodell by her lab coat and pushed her against the wall. But Faith quickly interceded, making her release the doctor.
“Slayer strength, Ken, remember?” Faith warned. “Take it easy.”
“Ken,” Dr. Goodell whispered the slayer’s name in recognition.
Kennedy didn’t charge again, but she did verbally open fire on the woman. “Kadin isn’t a vessel or a host! She’s a person! She…was a human being. A living, breathing human being with-with thoughts and feelings, and you took that away!”
“I know,” Dr. Goodell said softly, “and I’m sorry. I truly am. It was never my intention to harm her.”
“Just what the hell were you thinking, then?” Faith asked.
“Kadin was already an excellent fighter, and we had the means to make her even better…at least I thought we did. The plan wasn’t to turn her into a monster, I swear.”
“The only monster I see right now is you,” Kennedy said, pointing her finger. “You took a person and turned her into your personal experiment. And now we’ve got to clean up your mess…one way or another.”
Kennedy began to walk down the hallway alone. Dr. Goodell called out after her.
“She made me promise to tell you that she loves you…and that she’s sorry. I’m not sure what that means but…you’re Ken, right?”
Kennedy’s fists clenched at her sides as she turned back to face the woman. “Don’t try to push your guilt off onto Kadin. None of this is her fault.”
“I’m not saying it is. That’s what she told me to –”
“If I, or anyone else on this base, has to kill her because of you,” Kennedy continued, ignoring the doctor’s comments, “I won’t rest until I see every last one of you sick, god-playing, freaks –”
“Slick,” Faith told her, trying to be diplomatic. “Don’t finish that sentence, all right? We’ll find her, okay? I promise.”
“Well, there’s no sign of her on this side of the facility,” they heard a voice say to them from the hallway to their left. They turned and saw Buffy approaching, with Willow behind her.
When she arrived, Buffy gave Dr. Goodell a hard look-over and said, “And you would be?”
“Dr. –”
” – Frankenstein,” Kennedy finished for her.
“Really?” Buffy asked the doctor. Then she turned to Willow and added, “Because that might explain a lot, then.”
“No, it’s Dr. Goodell,” she said. “I was one of the doctors spearheading the project, but we ran into…unexpected complications.”
“Always the unexpected complications with you government types, huh?” Willow sighed. “Look, I’ve got two questions. One, are there any other experiments gone awry in here that we should know about? Anyone, or anything, besides Kadin that might rip our throats out?”
“No,” Goodell answered.
“‘K, second, is there any way to lift the magic wards to do a locator spell?” she asked.
“Not that I know of,” the doctor replied. “But that really wasn’t my area of expertise.”
“Okay,” Buffy said, “then we do it the old-fashioned way, with recon.”
“Why don’t we split up?” Faith offered. “I’ll take Slick and the good doctor here, and you take Red. Sound good?”
Buffy nodded, and the doctor reached into her coat, pulling out a bottle.
“You’ll need one of these,” she told her. “It will neutralize the subje –” Goodell stopped and edited herself when she caught Kennedy’s angry glance. “Kadin, I mean. It won’t kill her, but it will stop her, should she corner you.”
Buffy took the bottle and put it in her pocket. “Let’s move out,” she told them.
“Found her!” Dawn’s voice suddenly came over the headset. “She‘s on the southwest side. Looks like she’s about to enter the motor pool.”
“Copy that,” Buffy said. “Thanks, Dawn.”
“Yeah, good job, Dawnie!” Willow praised.
Buffy turned to Dr. Goodell. “Motor pool on the south side?” she prompted.
“This way,”the doctor said, motioning to them to follow her.
Cut To:
Ext.
Military Facility – South Motor Pool – Moments Later
Outside the main facility, Kadin wandered aimlessly, her vision blurry. She stumbled into a row of parked vehicles and became enraged. She easily tore the door off one, triggering an alarm. The sound angered her even more, and she hurled the door over a chain-link fence and into another vehicle’s windshield.
The sound of boot steps behind her made her turn sharply. Her eyes tried to focus on the ten soldiers who were taking aim at her. When she heard the men disengage their safeties almost simultaneously, Kadin roared and charged forward. Soldier after soldier opened fire, but Kadin didn’t slow for an instant, the bullets seeming to just ricochet off her body.
She reached the first man and grabbed his gun, bending the barrel into a ‘u’ shape as the other soldiers tried to fire at her at point-blank range. She tossed the useless weapon to the ground and picked the soldier up by his fatigues. As she effortlessly flung him aside, the other troops realized what they were facing and began to run.
Cut To:
Int.
Military Facility – Hallway – Same Time
Dr. Goodell and the others jogged down the hallway.
“If we can just get enough of this in her,” the doctor was saying, holding up her own bottle of serum, “then she should –”
Just then, the walkie-talkie at Dr. Goodell’s hip went off, and the group stopped to listen. At first it was a jumble of gunfire, screams and crashing noises.
“Repeat please. Over,” Goodell said.
All they could make out was the raging battle, but then three words, “South motor pool,” managed to make their way through, confirming Dawn’s report.
“Come on!” Goodell said. She waved to the group to follow her before breaking into a run.
Cut To:
Ext.
Military Compound – South Motor Pool – Moments Later
Kadin seemed to fall from the sky in front of the two remaining soldiers, who were scrambling away in terror. Almost as if in a chorus, they screamed at once and tried to double-back. She grabbed one soldier’s arm and pulled it so hard that it ripped from its socket. He fell to the ground screaming while she casually tossed the useless appendage to the ground and went after the other soldier.
She dove to tackle him, but before she could make contact, she was blindsided. As she rolled to a stop, she found herself face to face with Kennedy, who was also flat on her stomach about fifteen yards away. In perfect sync, they both pushed off the ground at the same time, their eyes not leaving each other’s.
“You’ve got a lot of power, Kadin,” Kennedy told her. “How about you pick on someone your own size, huh?”
While the last soldier standing took cover, Kadin charged and tackled Kennedy, with both of them falling to the ground again. They rolled in a single direction, looking like nothing more than a blur until they slammed into the side of a parked Humvee. Kadin got to her feet first and jumped on top of the truck’s roof. She easily ripped the M2 machine gun from its housing.
“You can’t shoot me,” Kennedy told her smugly.
Kadin gave her a devilish grin and then raised the weapon above her head.
“Oh crap,” Kennedy said, and took off into a run.
Kadin tossed the weapon with all of her might. Kennedy ran as fast as she could as the huge gun bounced along the ground, nipping at her heels and tearing up blacktop as it followed her.
“Arrrghhhhh…” Kennedy growled in effort as the gun barreled down on her.
Black Out
Fade In:
Ext.
Military Facility – South Motor Pool – Moments Later
Kadin walked casually through the dust and debris that filled the area. She strode with determination around the huge gun that now lay still on the ground. She saw Kennedy lying on her back, her eyes closed.
With a grin, Kadin reached down and grabbed Kennedy’s shirt. Before Kadin could lift Kennedy up, the slayer’s eyes shot open. She used one hand to grab Kadin by the back of her head and used the other to grip Kadin’s throat.
Feeling two more sets of hands grab her, Kadin turned left and then right to see Faith and Buffy holding each of her upper arms. She opened her mouth to roar in anger when suddenly a liquid-filled bubble about the size of a golf ball flew into her mouth and burst. Before Kadin could spit the liquid out, Willow stepped in front of her and waved her hand. Kadin’s mouth slammed shut and would not open.
Mumbled, choking screams followed as Kennedy pulled her hand from Kadin’s throat and used it to pinch Kadin’s nose closed. In spite of the strong slayers holding her, Kadin managed to pull her arms forward enough to dig her claws into Kennedy’s flesh.
Kennedy cried out in pain as Kadin’s sharp nails raked across her shoulders and down her arms. “Don’t let go! Don’t let go!” she yelled to Buffy and Faith.
After a bit of thrashing, Kadin finally stilled and then collapsed on top of Kennedy. Her blue color began to fade, and her normal flesh tones returned as her claws retracted.
Gingerly, Faith and Buffy released the hunter and took a step back. Willow moved closer and waved her hand again. Immediately, Kadin took a deep breath and began to cough.
Faith came around to stand beside Willow. She put her hand on the witch’s shoulder. “That’s one hell of an arm you got there, Red.” She mimicked the throwing motion that Willow must have used earlier with the bubble. “The Browns or the Indians might steal you away from us if they saw that.” Willow just grinned in response.
Bleeding and exhausted, Kennedy held tightly onto Kadin, who continued to lie on top of her. She then looked at the three women above her.
“Thanks, guys,” she told them sincerely.
Faith grinned. “Thanks for believing in the team,” she told her.
Kennedy smiled.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Infirmary – Night
Kennedy lay in a bed with heavy bandages around her shoulders and arms. Machines were beeping all around her. Her eyes snapped open, and she turned her head to the right to the bed next to her. Instantly, she began to relax.
Kadin was lying with the same wires and tubes hooked up to her own body. Her eyes were wide open, and she was watching the slayer with an appreciative smile.
“Hey,” Kadin whispered softly.
Kennedy grinned and replied with her own quietly whispered, “Hey.”
Fade To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Robin and Faith’s Apartment – Night
“Okay,” Casey said, “at least the March woman never found out about the whole Kadin situation before she left.”
“Assuming she didn’t already know,” grumbled Xander. He, Casey and Faith were all sitting around Faith’s kitchen table. A handful of beers were on the table in front of them. “It’s a bit odd the surprise visit comes the day Felix goes out to check on Kadin going missing.”
“Yeah,” said Casey.
“Well,” Faith put in, “I’m not saying Felix didn’t tip them off so that he could say, ‘Come watch the Council screw up.’ I’m just saying I don’t think he was behind the whole fiasco.”
“What makes you so sure?” Casey asked.
“Maybe he could win an Oscar, but he looked as baffled as we did out there at the cabin. That said, I don’t think he was behind the experiment. Anyway, what else can you tell me?”
“March was totally on the B-niners side,” Casey answered. “Approved of everything Hartley or Carew said, tried her best to make everything sound reasonable and non-threatening. Like an insurance salesman.”
“The agenda, I gotta say,” said Xander, “seems pretty clear. We’re not supposed to stay the Watchers Council. We’re supposed to become Bureau Ten.”
“Yeah,” Faith sighed. “Deep down, that’s what I think the whole Oversight thing is all about.”
“A way to make us sit up and beg,” snarled Casey.
“Pretty much.” Faith nodded slowly.
“And they’re playing their hand brilliantly,” Xander complained. “Even Buffy and Giles are totally taken in. So’s Rowena. Willow at least has some doubts.”
“Giles, yeah. Buffy and Ro?” Faith said, more in consideration than as an actual question. “Buffy tolerates them. Ro just wants their gadgets and tech stuff and organizational plans. She’s all about the hardware and the game plans to make the Council better. And I gotta give the Bureau props in that department. But Buffy and Ro…they’re more on the fence than you think.”
“And Willow?” Casey asked.
“Willow, on the other hand,” Faith began, “I don’t think she’s as impressed with Felix’s crew. And let’s not forget, the man did nearly kill her. I don’t think Willow, or her Coven, harbor deep resentments – that’s why Ro and Buffy tolerate them. But having someone almost off you, not the best way to build trust, ya know?”
“That’s true,” Xander replied.
“And I think where Willow goes…” Faith began.
“…so goes the Council,” Xander finished with a grin.
Faith nodded. “But they’re gonna balk at something. You can bet on that.”
“Like what?” asked Casey.
“Dunno. But sooner or later, Felix’s whole crew is gonna insist – or suggest – something that’ll go too far. The question is, will it be too late by then?”
Silence. Then Casey said, “What do we do?”
“What can we do?” Xander asked, throwing his hands up.
“Make a plan,” Faith said. “We’ve got to upset their timetable. Get them to try too much too soon, and make sure that when they try something, it fails. God only knows what it’ll be, but we have to. I mean, maybe they’re cooking up things to push their plans along sooner than expected.”
“Such as?” Xander prompted.
“Maybe they’ve got a nice, convenient assassination in the works for the near future.”
Casey nodded. “Like you or Kennedy. Maybe Buffy.”
“Nope,” Faith shook her head. “I’d say Willow. She’s got power they don’t have, and a lot of it. Plus, like I said, she’s the one that’ll turn the tables. If Willow’s out of the picture, there really isn’t anyone who has that much influence over the Council.”
“Yeah, but killing Willow isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do,” Xander pointed out. “She can take care of herself.”
“Most of the time, sure,” Faith said. “But think of it this way. She’s a big gun. That means she’s on the front line a lot.”
“Friendly fire,” Casey said, anticipating Faith’s point.
Faith nodded. “Or maybe a little bit of tactical support arriving a minute or two too late. And let’s not rule out the fact she’s got two brand-new cutie-pie, bargaining chips that could be used against her.”
“Meaning?” Casey asked.
“The twins,” Xander replied. “Take them, give her an order and Willow would follow it, right into a trap, if that’s what they wanted.”
Faith chewed her lip. Xander stared at the kitchen wall, considering the matter for a long moment.
“We need to get ready,” he said finally.
Casey said, “We need a core of people loyal to the Council, people who haven’t been taken in, people who can act when the time comes.” She paused. “I’ll start putting feelers out. We can forget about Shannon and Lorinda, they’re way too close to Jeff.”
“And Jeff is one of them,” agreed Xander.
“I’m not too sure,” Faith said. “He’s tight with Willow. After his mom died, she stepped up to the plate. If there was even a hint that Willow had been assassinated, he wouldn’t stand for it. Plus, he’s loyal to Dawn, who’s loyal to Buffy, who’s also tight with Willow.”
“Like you said, Willow does seem to be the load-bearing wall here,” Xander replied. Faith and Casey looked confused. “Carpenter talk,” he explained. “It’s the wall in a room that bears the weight and force of the structure and holds everything together. Lose that, and your house crashes down around you.” Faith and Casey didn’t say anything. “Load-bearing wall,” he said again, softly. “Sorry, go on.”
Faith grinned. “Actually, that’s a very good example. I just wanted to see you squirm a little.”
Xander grinned. “Anyway, back to Jeff. Let’s not forget that he’s in love with your sister.”
“Yes, Jeff is obsessed with my darling sister. But I think if it came down to it, love or not, he’d do what’s right by Willow and the Coven. So if the wall did come down, like you pointed out, Xan, he’d be findin’ out why and lookin’ for a little payback.”
“Hope’s one of them, though, right? A B-niner and in the coven?” asked Casey.
“Oh yeah. No doubt. No doubt about that at all.” Faith looked grim. “Bottom line, guys…we can’t turn our back on any of them. We need to be ready.”
Cut To:
Int.
The Alcove – Same Time
Siobhan looked around the bar. “I don’t see any guys here at all.”
“I told you,” Lori said, “this is a lesbian bar.”
“And we’re here because…?”
Just then, a waitress brought a tray to their booth and started to place drinks and appetizers on the table. “For the Irish coffee,” Lori replied, “the fresh onion rings, and the best baked potato skins in this whole city.”
Valentine looked at the huge plates in front of them. “Yeah, okay.”
Lori grabbed several of each appetizer and began to munch on them. Siobhan and Valentine each took a long sip of their Irish coffees. “Oh God,” Siobhan crooned. “I think I’m in love.”
“Just what we all need, after the last day or so,” said Valentine.
“Yeah,” agreed Siobhan heartily. “Bloody stuck-up, know-it-all amateurs, the lot of them.”
“That’s not totally fair,” Lori countered.
“Yes it is! All right, not totally. But where do they get off swinging an attitude like that around? You’d think they invented demon-fighting or something.”
“I think that’s what they actually believe,” Valentine grumbled, shaking her head.
“Well, they weren’t with us in Madagascar, were they? Every single one of them’d be fish food right now if it weren’t for us! A great big bloody apocalypse almost happened, and they missed it!”
“Bureau Nine didn’t answer every single threat, either,” Lori pointed out.
“Nobody’s claiming Bureau Nine has or had all the answers,” was Valentine’s retort. “I’ve been around our teams getting trained by Council members. Yeah, there are arguments now and then, but nothing like I’ve seen here.”
“It’s almost like they’d rather fail following their way than succeed using ours,” Siobhan said bitterly. “They’re like children!”
“That’s the problem,” Lori said. “Age. There’s hardly a watcher left alive over the age of thirty. Not really. But they’ve been put in charge of the equivalent of a multinational corporation.”
“Over their heads,” said Siobhan.
“Sometimes. Still, it isn’t like they’re all crazy.”
“That Lindquist boy…at least he hasn’t got his head shoved up his arse,” said Siobhan. “Maybe he can talk some sense into them…if Faith and Xander ever stop shouting, that is.”
“You know what gets me?” Valentine said quietly.
“What, Val?” Lori looked at her.
“That damn wall of theirs. The Fallen Slayers. How many of our slayers died saving them, and where are their names? Not there, I can tell you, ’cause I looked.” She shook her head ruefully. “Good enough to get sliced in two saving the Council’s lives, but not good enough to merit putting their names up. Maybe I’m being petty, but that steams me.”
“Lori,” asked Siobhan, “did anyone over there ever thank you?”
“Not…in so many words.”
They said nothing for a few minutes, just ate and drank. Finally, Valentine raised her cup of Irish coffee. “To Nadia Montoya!”
Siobhan raised her cup, too. After a moment, Lori did the same. “To Nadia,” they said.
“And to Danielle Goldstein,” Lori added.
“To Danielle,” the other two intoned.
“And Lilly Harper,” said Siobhan.
“Natalia Borski.”
“Ginger van Horn.”
“Zoe O’Connell.”
“Abigail Leslie.”
“Penny McDevitt.” Lori choked a little as she spoke this name.
The three of them paused, then took sips of their drinks. “We won’t forget,” Valentine said.
“Never,” agreed Siobhan. She took another sip. “Thank God that March woman was there today. At least she seemed like she knew what she was doing.”
“I like the Oversight Committee,” Valentine commented. “Maybe they’re the ones who can clean some things up.”
Lori stared at her cup for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “I hope they do it soon. Because I’m not sure where all this is going.”
“I know what you mean,” Siobhan said. “I wouldn’t put it past them to do something drastic, set us up.”
Lori nodded slowly, while Valentine just looked back and forth between her two companions.
“Wouldn’t be too hard,” Lori said. “Plant evidence maybe, discredit Jason. What would a few lives lost be, if they got all of us out of their hair?”
For several seconds, the three of them sat in a noisy bar, thinking their own thoughts. Then Valentine said, “We need to be ready.”
Cut To:
Int.
Military Facility – Hallway – Same Time
The hallway was vacant and silent, except for the sound of hard heels meeting the tile floor.
Two pairs of black leather shoes, both buffed to a gleaming shine, marched down the nondescript corridor. Their steps were perfectly timed to match the other’s.
One pair belonged to a man, the other to a woman, as could be told by the tall, thin, inch-high heels.
Cut To:
Int.
Military Facility – Office – Same Time
Through the frosted glass panel of the door, the two distorted forms of the approaching figures grew closer.
Then they stopped. One reached out and opened the door.
As the door clicked open, the general looked up from his paperwork, and, at seeing the figures before him, his eyes grew wide.
“Wha –?” he stuttered, startled.
“No please, general, don’t get up,” Ms. Sanger said, both her tone and expression sarcastic when she saw that the general was making no attempt to rise in the presence of his visitors.
The door closed behind her, and the general looked over at the second visitor, Mr. Nogura.
He took his place beside Sanger and looked down at the seated general.
“You are aware of who we are, General Bealer?” Nogura asked.
He nodded, while covertly swallowing the rising lump in his throat. “You’re from the Oversight Committee.”
“That we are, general, or should I say, Mr. Bealer.” Sanger cocked her head to the side as she let that bit of information begin to sink in.
He frowned. “Excuse me?”
“As a courtesy,” Nogura began, “we are here personally to inform you that the Oversight Committee has drawn up a formal recommendation that all funding for this project be pulled – effective immediately.”
“What?” Bealer exclaimed. “The S.A.V.A.G.E. program is critical to the future security of this country! You can’t do this!” the general bellowed.
Nogura and Sanger both seemed unaffected by his outburst.
“We can do this, and your program is officially over. In simple terms, the costs of a program such as this outweigh the benefits. It will be shut down immediately,” Nogura stated in a level voice.
“And for the record, Mr. Bealer…” Sanger added tonelessly, before a smile appeared on her face. “…you’re fired.”
Fade Out.
Special Guest Starring:
Marc Blucas as Riley Finn, Jennifer Beals as Miss Sanger and George Takei as Mr. Nogura
End of Savage
Next on Watchers…
In the year 2031, both new and familiar faces come together to take on a magical threat of global proportions, one that will require drastic action to defeat.
