From: sawnotes@aol.com (Sawnotes) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Dragonslayers (1/3) PG-13 (violence, no sex) Date: 26 Nov 1995 23:52:30 -0500 DISCLAIMER: The X-Files belong to Chris Carter, et al. No copyright infringement intended. "Dragonslayers" by Vicky Hendley 1am Baltimore, MD "The Bank" Nightclub A well-dressed young couple is standing in the doorway of the club, arguing. They are being watched from the street. Sobbing, the girl pushes the boy away and runs out of the club, into the street and down an alley. A young street kid watching from across the street, dressed in cold-weather grunge, follows the girl into the alley. Still crying, she doesn't hear his footsteps behind her. He reaches out to grab her -- But before he actually touches her, he is jumped on from above and himself grabbed from behind. As she looks on and smiles, seven or eight clean-cut looking teens beat the kid, hitting him with baseball bats and kicking him while he snarls and howls, until he is sprawled on the ground. They hold him down as two young men, one with a jeweled sword, the other with a wooden stake, approaches and stands in front of the terrified, bloody boy. "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;" the new sword-wielding young man says as the other boy places the wooden stake on the chest of prone victim. The boy screams as the stake is plunged into his heart. "And the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not!" the leader says as he raises the sword, then removes the kid's head with one practiced slice. -------------------------------------------------------------- 10am Baltimore, MD Alley behind "The Bank" FBI Agent Scully and Mulder assess the chaotic scene as they pull up in their government-issue sedan. Photographers, television news crews and other human parasites and lookers-on crowd around the mouth of the alley, and the team has to flash their badges repeatedly to get people to move out of the way so they can make it through the crowd. Seeing their badges, the cop at the yellow police tape ok's them to cross under and down the alley to approach the white sheet covering a small body on the filthy ground. A Baltimore Police Department officer comes over to meet them. "You must be the FBI they say I need to cooperate with?" he asks, putting his hands on his hips instead of extending a hand in greeting. "Stan Broker, chief of detectives." Mulder introduces himself and his partner, and Broker leads them to the body. Lifting the sheet for their inspection, he tells them, "This is the fourth in three weeks. Homeless guy came across this one about 5 a.m. What's left of the head is in the dumpster," the cop explains, motioning toward the huge trash receptacle a few feet away. Scully and Mulder watch as a technician standing in the dumpster pours a container of something lumpy and red into a plastic bag. "How'd you make the I.D?" she asks, trying not to grimace. "Kid was wearing his old man's dog tags, and the prints checked out. He's junior, all right. We definitely found Lt. Col. Mark Turner's lost boy. He disappeared from home near Quantico eight months ago, according to the missing person's report." "And the FBI has been called in to figure out how he got from Quantico to Baltimore ..." Mulder says. "I-95, most likely," Scully says. "But why were we called in?" she asks Mulder. Broker answers the question: "Did I mention that besides being decapitated, he had a stake through his heart?" He turns around and picks up a plastic-covered piece of wood. "All four bodies, same m.o. I guess they sent you two 'cause they think we got a vampire hunter," he explains, saying the last part of the sentence loud enough for the surrounding officers to take notice and listen in. They respond with laughter and snickers. "You two are the FBI's 'Spook Squad,' right?" More laughter and snickers. "I see our reputation has preceded us," Mulder says to his partner, who shoots him an annoyed look. "Who removed the stake?" Scully asks, trying to bring some professionalism back to the crime scene. "Well, he was obviously already dead, and besides," Broker says with a smirk, "he wouldn't fit into the body bag," he adds with a chuckle. "I'm sure Lt. Col. Turner, and his good friend the mayor of this fine city, will be pleased that you and your officers are so enjoying your work on this case," Scully lectures, her professional tone only slightly sarcastic. "They'll probably also get a real kick out of your corrupting the crime scene and altering the body before an autopsy could be performed," Mulder adds. -------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset, Baltimore, MD Children of the Night Shelter Dana Scully tries to ignore the chill that runs down her spine as they pull into the long driveway of the old mansion that has been transformed into a shelter. Det. Broker told them that many of the cities runaways pass through the place, but the shelter wasn't cooperating. Maybe they would have better luck. Having just finished the young man's autopsy with no significant results, they decided to try the shelter for information on the victim's last hours. Passing through the mansion's huge oak doors, Scully again has to stifle her physical reaction to the place. She jumps when from the far living room she hears, "May I help you?" Stepping from the shadows, a beautiful vision of a woman in a black tank top and jeans approaches them. Her dark curls cascade past her shoulders and her green eyes and red lips take Mulder's breath away. Looking straight at him, she repeats, "May I help you?" Mulder doesn't say a word. Scully stares at her dumb-struck partner, then turns to the woman and asks, "Are you the shelter director?" "I'm Nina Morgan, yes," she says, still looking straight at Mulder. After Scully introduces herself and her still-quiet partner, she takes the photo Mulder is holding in his hand and shows it to Nina, asking,"Do you know this boy?" Nina doesn't look at the photo. "All the kids who come here are given complete confidentiality," she says, finally breaking her gaze from Mulder, who takes a small step backward, as if he has just been released from a grasp. "Well, this kid doesn't need your confidentiality anymore -- he's dead. We're just trying to find out who killed him. Or is that against your rules, too?" Scully snaps at the woman who is getting Mulder's undivided attention. Mulder takes the picture back from Scully. "We need to find out where he's been, so we can figure out how he got to where he ended up. And maybe make sure no other kid ends up there," Mulder soothes. Nina hesitates, then takes the photo from Mulder. "Oh, no," she whispers as she looks at the photo. "Mark." She looks at Mulder, grief masking her beautiful features. "His name was Mark." -------------------------------------------------------------- Nina is showing the agents to the sleeping area, pointing out the different rooms as they pass. "We have showers through there, that hall leads to the kitchen, and this is the medical facility. We patch up cuts and scrapes, hand out condoms and vitamins. A nurse comes in twice a week for things like stitches and the occasional infected pierced nipple, things like that." On that statement, Nina catches Mulder looking down at her breasts. She smiles as she catches his eye when he quickly looks up, embarrassed because he realizes she caught him. Scully pretends to ignore the encounter. "So where is everyone?" she asks, motioning her arm across the almost empty room. "No one needs shelter tonight?" "These kids don't sleep at night, Agent Scully. They're teenagers. Sleep all day, party all night. You were once a teenagers, weren't you Agent Scully?" she asks with a chuckle. Without missing a beat, Scully says, "Can you show us were Mark Tucker used to sleep?" Her question ends the light mood that had momentarily set in, and Nina shows them to a room with a row of lockers against the back wall. With a master key, she unlocks one, letting them go through the contents: Jeans, a few T-shirts, some letters. Nina sits on one of the cots that make up the room's only other furnishings. "He was a good kid," she tells them. "I do everything I can to protect them," she says softly, "And still they die so young." "So Mark Tucker wasn't the only one of the kids here who have died recently?" Mulder asks, returning his attention to Nina. "Some disappear, some go home, some I hear about when the police come and show me pictures of dead bodies, or what's left of the bodies. In the five years I've been here, I don't know how many I've lost," she tells him. "How many have died recently, or disappeared?" Scully asks. Nina bites her lip and looks away, her head down. "How many," Scully insists. "At least four regulars have disappeared in the last month," Nina admits after a long pause. She stands and looks directly at Scully. "I didn't want to believe it was tied to the shelter, but I can't ignore it anymore." "Ignore what?" What asks. "They're going after my kids. They tried to shut us down and because that didn't work, they're going after us one at a time." "Who?" the agents ask. "The good people of St. George's." ----------------------------------------------------------------- end of part 1 =========================================================================== From: sawnotes@aol.com (Sawnotes) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Dragonslayers (2/3) PG-13 (Violence, no sex) Date: 26 Nov 1995 23:52:36 -0500 DISCLAIMER: The X-Files belong to Chris Carter, et al. No copyright infringement intended. "Dragonslayers" by Vicky Hendley part 2 0f 3 10am Washington, DC FBI Headquarters Dana Scully is pouring over the autopsy files on the four slain teens. Working on a report on the events thus far, she writes: "All four victims were residents of the Children of the Night Shelter, according to Shelter Director Nina Morgan. Information on her is pending. Autopsy reports indicate the victims were anemic, probably from living on the streets, but reasonably healthy beyond that." She stops writing as something on the autopsy report catches her eye. She then looks at the other reports, and returns to her writing: "The victims all tested positive for HIV." ----------------------------------------------------------------- 10am Baltimore, MD St. George's Church Fox Mulder parks his car in front of the beautiful old cathedral, pausing to look at the marque of the school located next to the church. "Home of the Dragonslayers," it states. "Next home game Friday night." Walking slowly to the church, he is dreading going inside, He has managed to avoid the inside of churches for quite a while, having lost any faith in God a long time ago. But he is still haunted by childhood Sunday School lessons on sin and punishment in a fiery hell. Inside, he quietly calls the name of the priest he has an appointment to meet. "Father Lawrence?" he whispers. Walking down the aisle to the front of the church, he looks at the alter, then up to the far window and its giant stained glass rendition of a knight decapitating a dragon, a spear through the creature's chest. "Agent Mulder?" Mulder jumps, startled by the priest's voice from behind him. The smiling father introduces himself and then motions for Mulder to follow him through a side doorway. They go down a long hallway to a large office. It is filled with books -- and dragons. "A little joke among my parishioners," Fr. Lawrence says when he notices Mulder staring at the stuffed, ceramic, glass and paper menagerie. "They like to think I help them slay their dragons, just like St. George. That's who you were looking at in the stained glass." Fr. Lawrence sits down, and Mulder notices an antique sword in a case behind the priest's desk. "Do you -- slay dragons?" Mulder asks, sitting in the chair on the other side of the priest's big mahogoney desk. Fr. Lawrence chuckles. "I like to think I do my part to slay the devil's dragons of sin, yes." "Nina Morgan believes you're trying to slay her shelter. Close it down, I mean." "Ah, Nina Morgan. I know her well. A dragon on this earth if ever there was one," the priest says with disdain. "Excuse me?" Mulder asks, shocked by the father's tone. "She is evil, Agent Mulder. And she has brought evil into this good community. She claims to shelter children, but I believe she turns them to evil." "Someone is murdering those children. Would you know who is responsible?" "If someone is killing those children, I believe you need look no farther than her for the killer. Her or her disciples. I only do God's work." "Slaying dragons?" "Only figuratively, Agent Mulder. And spiritually. Be wary of that creature," the priest warns. "She does the devil's work." ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2pm Washington, DC FBI Headquarters "So what's your theory?" Mulder asks when he returns to the basement offices of The X-Files. "All the victims were HIV-positive," Scully reports. "And?" Mulder asks, unimpressed. "All the victims were street kids, probably hustling for money and drugs. That's not unusual." "And the letters we found in Mark's locker, they were all from the same girl. Expensive monogrammed stationery. I think Mark was seeing a girl from the other side of the tracks. Maybe that's what's behind these murders. It would tie in with the brutal execution style of the crimes. Maybe someone is killing off these kids to protect their girlfriends and sisters from HIV?" Mulder's disbelieving look prompts Scully to continue. "It's more likely than thinking someone is hunting down real vampires." "Well," Mulder begins, then stops himself. He doesn't want to bring up his last vampire encounter, at least not right now. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset, Baltimore, MD Baseball field, St. George's School The baseball game has just broken up and Fr. Lawrence, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, is gathering the last of the equipment from the field. He puts the last glove and bat away in the field house, then leaves and locks the door behind him. Walking past the bleachers, he bends over to pick up an empty soft drink can. When he stands, he sees a person in front of him. Before he can scream, he is knocked to the ground by a blow to his midsection. Sprawled beneath the bleachers, he flails at the person. Trying to cover his face with his arms is useless as powerful hands pull them back. He again tries to scream, but the sound, and his throat, are ripped away. His body is found a few minutes later by a group of teens on their way to meet with him. -------------------------------------------------------- 1am, Baltimore, MD A Downtown Alley A gang wielding bats and other weapons is pursuing two teens through a dark, dirty alley. One of the teens jumps up on a dumpster, trying to reach a fire escape, but misses the bottom rung and falls backward into the crowd, which jumps on him. He screams in terror as a blade catches a flash of moonlight. The other teen keeps going, running out at the end of the alley, in the street and into the path of an on-coming car. She is thrown through the air on impact and the gang pursuing her stops. But before the driver can get out of the car and reach her, the girl jumps up and runs, with the gang again in pursuit. She crosses a grassy courtyard and goes over a fence, then hides behind a bush. Her breathing is heavy, her face sweat-covered, and her white teeth are bared, glistening in the light as the moon goes behind a cloud. The gang comes over the fence and keeps running, down the street toward the row houses with the little backyards. "It's all right, Jenny. They're gone, for now." Jenny looks up from her hiding place to find Nina holding out her hand. She takes it, then embraces the woman. "They killed Kyle," the frightened girl weeps. "They killed Kyle." "I'll take care of them. You go back to the other place. It's no longer safe at the shelter. Tell the others. Now go," Nina instructs. "But they killed Kyle!" the girls insists. "Go!" Nina commands. "I will take care of the dragonslayers." After not finding their prey, the gang breaks up into pairs in hopes of covering more ground. Cocky from their recent successes, they have no idea what is in store for them. One pair at a time, they are stalked and slaughtered, the last ones only saved by the onset of dawn forcing the hunter to retreat. Having been awakened at dawn a hysterical call from Det. Broker, screaming about a half dozen murdered kids and a mutilated priest, Mulder and Scully make it to the Children of the Night Shelter by 10 a.m. Teens are being led into a police van, and workers are boarding up the windows. "What is going on?" Mulder asks as he rushes up to Det. Broker. "We got a court order to close this place down as a nuisance and a health hazard. If you asks me, we should burn it to the ground!" Broker says, then goes back to barking orders at the workers and officers. "Where is Nina Morgan?" Mulder asks. "That is the question of the day, isn't it?" Broker asks. Scully gets the latest details of the night's incidents from the command officer, then fills in Mulder. "Two street kids killed, the same m.o. But four St. George's kids were also killed last night. Their throats ripped out. And Fr. Lawrence, that's the strangest of all," Scully tells him. "Why?" "He apparently was killed outside the church sometime last night. But he was found this morning, inside his office," Scully reports. "Someone didn't want his body found until morning. Perhaps so they could go after his killer before the police got involved?" Mulder theorizes. "And there's something else," Scully adds. "It seems an antique sword is also missing from his office." ----------------------------------------------------- end of part 2 =========================================================================== From: sawnotes@aol.com (Sawnotes) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Dragonslayers (3/3) PG-13 (Violence, no sex) Date: 26 Nov 1995 23:52:47 -0500 DISCLAIMER: The X-Files belong to Chris Carter, et al. No copyright infringement intended. "Dragonslayers" by Vicky Hendley part 3 of 3 2 p.m., St. George's School Mulder and Scully are sitting in the principal's office when a young woman wearing a school uniform, her face wet with tears, comes in. Her teacher-escort instructs her to sit down. "Moira Montgomery, it's Moira Anne Montgomery, isn't it?" Scully asks gently. The girl sniffs, wipes her nose on a handkerchief and nods her head. "Mrs. Avery said you're investigating Fr. Lawrence's death? But what does that have to do with me?" the upset girl asks, her small body shaking. She doesn't meet their eyes. Scully pulls out the monogrammed letters from Mark Tucker's locker. "Did you write these?" she asks. Moira gasps when she sees the letters, and reaches out to grab them. As she does, the door flies open a male student bursts into the room. "What are you doing with my sister?!" Moira's brother Michael demands, taking the girl by the arm and pulling her up and next to him. "We're with the FBI, We're just asking her a few questions," Mulder says, standing so as to put himself between Scully and the large and angry young man. "You want to talk to us, you talk to our father, and our father's lawyer, first," he says, dragging the girl out of the room. Moira tries to talk, but he shuts her up: "Don't say anything to them, do you hear me!" The teacher apologizes and leaves the room to call the parents. 6pm, Baltimore Police Headquarters Scully hangs up the phone. "Well, we finally got the parents to agree to the questioning. We can head over now," she tells Mulder and Broker. "You go ahead. There's one place I want to check first," Mulder says. Scully leaves with Det. Broker, and Mulder drives back to the closed shelter. Watching the sunset over Baltimore Harbor as he drives, Mulder feels cold despite the late June warmth in the air. Once at the shelter, he pulls down the boards on a side window and climbs into the darkness of the front hall. He's not startled when he sees Nina across the room. "What took you so long?" she asks, crossing the room to sit on a couch near him. He remains standing. "I assumed I had to wait for sundown," he answers. "Oh, I've been here all day. I heard them kick in the doors, round up my children, board up the windows. I was here the whole time." "Where are the rest of them?" "My special ones? They're safe, away from here." Nina stands and Mulder steps back. She smiles. "If I wanted to hurt you, you'd already be dead. I know you know that. I know you believe. I could tell the minute you walked in here. And you knew as soon as you saw me. But you didn't say anything to your high-strung partner. Why?" "You fooled me. I thought you were taking care of these children. But you were just feeding off of them," he says with disgust. "Turning them into monsters!" "NO!" she screams at him. "No! I do help these children. They would be dead if not for me. They were living on the streets, selling their bodies for food, counting the days until AIDS took their lives. I took that disease away from them." "And turned them into creatures that prey on society," Mulder adds. "Why not? What has society ever given them? How do you think these kids got AIDS? Why do you think they were on the street in the first place? Because society tossed them away. They were society's victims, and I turned them into survivors. No more pain, just teenagers forever. How many people would pass that up?" She moves closer to Mulder, who tries to move away but can't. "Would you pass it up, Fox Mulder? Is that why you came here? Alone. Helpless. You want me to bring you over -- I can tell." Nina reaches out and caresses his cheek, then trails her fingers down his neck. "No more pain. No more nightmares," she whispers as she notices his breathing becoming slow and deep. "You exist for pleasure. Our pleasure," she continues, moving beside him and standing on her toes until she can feel his breath on her face. "Is that why you came to me?" she whispers, pulling at his collar and moving her lips to his throat. "She's here!" Michael screams from the open window, "There are two of them. Come on!" he instructs his church vigilantes, who come pouring through the unboarded window. Mulder is jolted from his stupor and pushes Nina away. Seeing the sword she knows was used to kill the children, she leaps toward the young man holding it, knocking him to the ground. But she is jumped upon by several young men, who pull her off the boy and hold her down. When Mulder tries to intervene, he too, is held. Michael picks up his weapon and raises it over Nina's head. "The great dragon was cast out! That old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceivith the whole world!" "Federal agent, drop your weapon!" Dana Scully orders as she and Det. Broker burst into the room, guns drawn. Nina takes advantage of the diversion and jumps up, bolting for Michael. Lowering the sword, he impales her. "No!" Mulder screams, watching her slump to her knees as Michael drops the sword. Mulder runs to her and pulls out the sword, then lies her on the floor. Blood pours from her mouth. "The children. I did it for my children," she says with her last breath. Michael goes for the sword again, but Scully warns him off. "Stay where you are!" she demands. "You have to take her head or she'll come back! She'll come back!" Michael screams as he is being handcuffed by the just-arrived police back-up. "She'll come back! She'll come back!" "Well I guess we can call that a confession," Det. Broker says as Michael is dragged from the room, his fellow vigilantes in tow. "A kid trying to keep the trash away from his sister and schoolmates, convinces himself he's killing vampires." "And slaying dragons." Mulder adds, still kneeling over Nina's body. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Standing in front of the shelter as they coroner takes away Nina's body, Scully explains to Mulder that when they reached Moira and Michael's house, Michael had disappeared. It wasn't difficult to know where they boy had gone, thinking that the police would be at his house, it left the shelter open for him and his friends to finish their work. The gasoline cans now sitting in front of the building made their plan clear. "Nina came back to make sure all the kids were out. She knew that they were going to torch the place," Mulder says, looking around. "We finally got a confirmed I.D. on Nina Morgan, by the way," Scully tells him, trying to get him to move toward the car. "She was just what she said she was: A school teacher from Miami who came back to her hometown of Baltimore to open this shelter. Seems she was HIV- positive herself, and she just wanted to help kids who where in the same boat." ------------------------------------------------------------------ FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC Four days later The typical quiet of the dark office shared by Agents Scully and Mulder is broken by the phone ringing on Dana Scully's desk. She answers with her name, and looks at her partner as she listens. After thanking the caller and saying goodbye, she moves over to her curious partner. "That was Det. Broker. He said Michael Whitney is still claiming that his group had nothing to do with the priest's death, or the deaths of the four group members. He admits to moving Fr. Lawrence's body into the office, but claims 'the vampires' killed the man. The psychiatrists will be working on that one for a long time." Mulder looks away, knowing that Michael is right. "And one more thing," Scully adds, hesitantly. "Someone dug up Nina Morgan's grave last night. A witness saw a group of teenagers in the cemetery just after sunset." "Then I guess the question is, was it the rest of the kids from St. George's looking to finish their dragonslaying," he asks aloud. "Or was it some of the kids from the shelter wanting to protect Nina's body from the dragonslayers?" "Or maybe?" he thinks to himself. "Or just maybe...." THE END E-mailed comments are appreciated, but this is the first fan faction I've attempted since I wrote Hardy Boys stories for my friends in junior high, so please be kind.