Life at FANWOOD: Season Four

Episode 4.6: The End

Bruce Banner returned to the lobby from his recent trip to the roof.  “There’s a bunch of guys surrounding the building,” he explained to the tenants who were in the lobby, “So the current escape plan doesn’t look too good right now.”

Silva was still staring angrily at them through the metal mesh.

Bilbo turned his head suddenly, as if he heard something.  He walked over to the wall where the Van Gogh painting of the exploding TARDIS hung, and he took it down.  After he set it against the main desk, he returned to the wall, placed his hands on his hips and listened.

A gentle tapping was heard from the other side of the wall.  Bilbo walked over to the desk, pressed a button, and a door (that was originally thought to be just a part of the wall) swung open to reveal a corridor, in which London and a man stood.

Well, I say ‘stood’, but really, he was so tired, he couldn’t stand up – in fact, he was bent forward and his head was hung in a manner that nobody in the room could tell what he looked like.

His left arm was around her shoulders and she was trying to help him stand up.

“Help?” London asked, taking an unsteady step into the room.

Tom and Bruce rushed forward and gently took the man off of her shoulders.  They took him to a chair and set him down.

“Gee,” Paris said, looking at the corridor from which her friend had just emerged, “How many buttons do you have on that desk, Bilbo?”

“I’ve never actually taken the time to count,” he said distractedly as he tried to get a glimpse of the newcomer.  “Who is he?” he suddenly asked, turning toward London.

“He said his name was Dune,” she replied breathlessly as she sat heavily on the floor.

“How did you know about the tunnel?” Paris asked, kneeling beside London.

“I didn’t.  But he did.”

The man called Dune had closed his eyes, but he was breathing heavily from his recent trip as Bruce examined him.  “You have multiple cuts,” the doctor noted, untying the bandage on his arm, “And you don’t seem to have been able to get any proper medical attention.”

“You’re very astute,” Dune said softly.

“What were you doing?” Banner asked.

Dune smiled widely and gave an airless laugh.

“Where were you when you got these?”

At this, Dune’s smile fell and he slowly opened his eyes.  He lifted his head to look at the doctor and replied in a dark tone, “Nowhere I would like to return to any time soon.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Yes, it does.  Just not in the way you wanted it to be,” he shot back.  Dune looked at London and asked, “London?  Would you come here, please?”

Bristling at this strange form of a ‘Come-hither’ request, she stood up and cautiously approached him.

“Listen,” he said, gently taking her hand and pulling her down to a kneeling position, “Listen carefully.  It’s Eden.  Don’t trust him.  He wants to destroy FANWOOD.”

“I say bring it on,” Sarah said, “We’ve faced worse.”

Dune shook his head.  “Not like this, you haven’t.  Not like this.”

“What do you mean?” Tom asked.

“What’s worse than Weeping Angels and reality-hopping and… and…?” Sarah began but quieted down when Dune’s eyes began to roll and his head began to lean back.

He suddenly snapped himself back into consciousness and continued, “Go ten miles from here in that direction,” he instructed, pointing behind him, “You’ll find a house.  A stone house.  That’s where he lives, that’s where you’ve got to go.  Find him and stop him.”  Dune’s eyes fluttered shut and then his arms fell from the armrests and his head dipped backward into the chair’s cushion.

Paris’s jaw dropped and her eyes bulged.  She many a few incoherent sounds as she pointed at him.

Banner sighed and said, “No, he’s not dead, he’s just unconscious.”