Moral Code
Part Four
By Aeris Jade Orion
aerisjade@worldnet.att.net

Rating: PG-13
Pairing: KW, KW/KL, Ensemble
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles
Spoilers: Season Seven, but only were Kim is concerned...
Timeline: Season seven



Randi paced down the hall towards the elevators with this annoying tingling at the back of her mind. She stopped and turned in time to see one of the doors slam closed. She could have sworn... Shrugging, she started for the elevator again.

The tingling started up again, this time it was stronger. It was like... She swung around, watching curiously as one of the hazard bins tipped slightly then righted itself. On the other side, the food cart rolled about an inch. That's strange.

She relaxed and entered the elevator. Punching in one of the buttons she kept her eyes locked on the hall. The hazard bin moved slightly as a bleached head popped into view. 'Aha. Gotcha, geek.'



Agent Malucci scanned the hall for any terrorist soldiers, Flush Hormones was sneaky. She was evil, she was...a desk clerk. He held up his "gun", posing with his knees bending. He felt his lifelong partner, Agent Carter, press into his side, also posing with his "gun".

He could hear their theme music playing in the background, and softly began to hum along. Carter's British-accented voice joined him, as they slunk their way down to the elevator. As one, they jumped around with guns pointed. No one was there...or so it appeared.

Ding. They spun around in time to see number thirteen light up. Uh-huh. So that is where the evil queen Hormones went. To see the even eviler...was that even a word? He shrugged... the even eviler Dr. Bald and Dr. Phatso.

Would they be able to stop the evil threesome? Would they ever get the beautiful model? Would they save the world from Dr. Bald? Would...

"Come, Agent Malucci..." Carter said in a thick British accent, "We must hurry. The security of Chief, hospital, and medicine is on the line."

Together they dashed up the stairs, looking dashing with their "guns" still posed. Whatever lay ahead, they would face it boldly, side by side. There might be danger, there might be disaster, they might not come out alive...



"Do you think...will we get out of this alive?"

Kerry paused in her ministrations to glance at the scared young woman. "How old are you?"

"Twenty two. I...just started med school."

She fought down the lump that immediately formed in her throat. 'Damn. Not another one.' "What are you majoring in?"

"Pediatrics..."

Kerry put her concentration back on David, feeling she needed to keep Karen talking. The poor girl was in mild shock. "Any particular reason why you chose that field?"

"My little brother died from pneumonia two years ago," Karen answered softly, "I...just need to know why, to understand why him and not someone else... You must think it's stupid..."

"No, not at all. A lot of doctors have done the same thing..."

"Having a nice time, are we?" a voice intruded, like a younger version of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Kerry glanced up at Erin. The woman was seriously trying her patience, and considering she could put up with Romano, that was a huge accomplishment. "I'm just trying to..."

"I know what you're trying to do." Erin leaned over and smiled sweetly. "And if you don't stop..." Erin pulled back and stared at Karen, considering. "You know what? We don't really need you anymore..."

Kerry's scream of protest was lost as the gun went off once more...

Karen's body flew backwards, as Kerry reached for her instinctively, as though to catch the bullet in flight. Or, perhaps, to catch her life before it escaped her body, each goal equally impossible.

Erin turned furiously and booted Kerry under the arm, driving the breath agonizingly out of her and knocking her away. She fell on her back, Hall's gun under her, as Erin stood over her in a sudden rage. "I've almost had it with you," Erin stated, monotone flat, then stepped back.

Kerry sat up painfully, and crawled to Karen's side. "Why did you do that?!" she cried. "She wasn't doing anything! She was just helping me!"

Erin didn't answer. Her mind seemed to be wandering, and she resumed pacing the store, occasionally muttering to herself, or to whatever voices she was hearing.

Kerry stared hatefully at her, and very nearly reached for the gun hidden at her belt. But she didn't know if she could draw and aim before Erin spotted her, and she now had two patients to attend to.

She held Karen in her arms, shaking from anger. The only thing keeping her from charging that bitch was the woman in her arms. Karen's wound, like David's, was serious but not immediately critical. She was still alive, she still had a chance, but only if Kerry moved fast.

Carefully, she laid the woman down, tied the sleeve of an overpriced blouse for a bandage, and draped a nearby jacket over her.



Randi yawned loudly as she leaned against the wall, glancing at her watch. Five... four...three...two...one...

She looked over with a raised eyebrow as two panting residents collapsed at the top of the stairs, looking disgruntled and yucky.

She rolled her eyes and jumped onto Carter, driving him to the floor and sitting on his back. Malucci immediately tried to come to Carter's aid. Randi just grabbed him between his legs, making him whimper. Carter stopped moving as he caught what was happening out of the corner of his eyes.

"All right. Spill."

Malucci whimpered, unable to hold the tears in his eyes back. "I...don't..."

Randi squeezed letting her perfectly-manicured, inch-long nail dig in.

"Okay, I'll...talk...let...go...!"

She grinned at the high pitched strangled voice, easing up on her grip. "Spill first, spy boy."

"Wanted to know...Why...you...Romano..." He trailed off, whimpering again.

Randi let go and sighed. "Is that all? Why didn't you morons just ask me?"

Malucci stopped rolling around long enough to glare over at Carter. Carter gulped, too afraid of what Randi might do to him to think about that.

Randi stood up, grabbing Carter by the collar of his shirt, and pulling him up. She got right in the shaking man's face and glared. "Romano will make an announcement when he's ready. In the meantime, take Beavis here and get back to work..."

Malucci whimpered once more, crying harder now that the pain was setting in. "Did you...hear that? Announcement...they're getting... married."

Carter dropped his head into his hands. Why him?



Why her? Why Karen? In her own words, why her and not somebody else?

Kerry had had the same thoughts as she helped Romano clean up Lucy's body. Why did someone so young, who meant no harm to anyone, have to be murdered for nothing?

She checked Karen's breathing with her stethoscope, and didn't like what she heard. David was no better, but she couldn't muster the same compassion for him as for his wife's innocent victim.

Not this one, she vowed. I won't lose you too, Karen. Not like Lucy.

She looked up at Erin, who seemed to be entering a downward phase. She was worse by far than Paul Sobriki, who'd been irrational, but acting out of fear more than anything else. He hadn't been evil, just crazed and frightened. He didn't hurt people for profit or pleasure. Not like this monster in front of her. "You must really love to kill," she muttered.

Erin sat back in the chair she'd pulled up. "Get back to work," she said without looking up. She looked less energetic now, less sharp and alert.

Kerry kneeled next to David and checked his pulse again. "I don't see what the point is. You're going to kill me anyway."

"Maybe, you never know." Erin waved the gun vaguely.

"Do you honestly think they're going to just let you walk out of here?"

Erin laughed openly, but it sounded dead to her ears. She wanted to make the laughter stop, to make those...voices... stop. "Let's just say I have insurance." She placed her hand in her coat, and pulled out her cell phone.

Kerry stared at it hard. Why would a cell phone be insurance? What did that have to do with the bomb? "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't. Why would you? You're nothing but a burnt-out doctor, struggling to get through the day to day bore of life." Erin seemed to glaze over. "I'll get revenge for what they did to David. I don't care if they pay the money or not. In an hour, that run-down hospital will blow, and so will everyone within a mile of it. All I have to do is dial two sets of numbers and...boom. Those arrogant bastards that hurt my David..."

It was a hospital. It was a hospital. Oh god, it was a hospital.

Which one? What if it was Mercy? What if it was County? All those people, all those people that put their trust in her. Every day, every hour, every minute. Carter... Abby...

Kim...

Kerry picked up the syringe in her hand, the bottle in the other. There were no more thoughts, nothing left for her to feel. She inserted the needle into the bottle, and filled it. Not bothering with an alcohol wipe, not bothering with sanitation. She stabbed the needle into his arm, and injected it.

"What are you doing? What is that?"

Kerry glanced up coldly at Erin. "Just a little something for the pain."

David's breathing became audibly slower, causing Erin to walk over and kneel down. "David...?" There was a different tone in her voice, that of a concerned wife. Ignoring Kerry, she knelt by her husband's side and set her Beretta down, shaking him by his shoulders. "David, wake up!"

Make your move now or never, Kerry thought to herself.

She reached under her jacket clasping the cold metal. In one uncertain movement, she'd drawn it; at the same time, her left hand flashed out, sending the Beretta skidding away across the floor. Erin yelled and grabbed for it, too late.

Kerry seized Erin's right wrist and pressed the gun into her chest, her finger tightening. "Don't you move!"

Erin glanced down in shocked humor, then back up at her. "You wouldn't..."

"Not if you don't make me!" Kerry swallowed against the shaking of her hands.

Far from being scared, Erin actually seemed pleased. "You want to kill me, Doc? I bet you do. But you're not up to it. You're not strong enough." Her eyes hardened.

Erin was right, she couldn't. She wasn't a killer, she... "...no..."

Then Erin's hand was moving like lightning, the dead cop's .38 appearing in it like magic, coming around toward Kerry, and she was...

Two gunshots blasted through the store, then there was only darkness...

Aeris Jade Orion
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade
Pow-Wow Community: Orion

Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/aeris3996

 " This act hasn't been seen in 20 years, and if i'm any judge of talent it will never be seen again."
- Theres no business, like show business