From: Duanderson@aol.com Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 20:14:06 EDT Subject: "The Genesis Series -- #1: Genesis" by Lyndsey Anderson Source: direct The Genesis Series #1: "Genesis" Author: Lyndsey Anderson Email: duanderson@aol.com Rating: PG (some language) Category: X Summary: Mulder and Scully's early case files are mysteriously deleted, and it's up to an equally mysterious stranger to recover what they've lost. Disclaimer: The ones you recognize aren't mine. The ones you don't are. Don't sue me, Chris. I've got a temper. ;) Shoutouts: Joey R. & Susan G.! It's my first story posted in the Big Archive and I'm grateful always for their support. _________________________________________________________________ 1983 Rain drops splattered on the apartment roof, and trickled their way down the glass windows. She sat staring at their activity, creating floods of tears from the built-up emotion she tucked away inside her heart. Nothing was the same. Nothing was right, nor would it ever be right. He said it would be over in a short amount of time, but it felt like an eternity. Such a long time. She couldn't bear to wait any more. But she depended on it, as did other lives. This was her chance, as he said, to be meaningful. To really be part of something, to have respect. He had sold her that lie too many times. She cried more and more, wishing the remaining days would sweep by faster than she knew they would. It was a long wait, and to her, with each day it only got longer. ____________ "How are you?" "Fine." "How do you feel?" "Fine." "Dammit, I need to know everything that's going on!" "Well, I've already told you. I'm fine." "You'd better be. A lot is at stake. We're counting on you." "You deceived me!" "I never deceived you. I've always shown you all the fine print. It's not my problem you don't take the time out to read it." "All of you are bastards, and you can burn in hell!" "I know it's a difficult thing to adjust to, but you WILL adjust to it." A wince as pain overcame her, inflicted by a strong hand on her arm that twisted it in a way it refused to fully go. "Won't you, darling?" "...Yes." "Good. Once the time is up, there won't be any else for you to do." "Anything?" "Anything. You'll get your life back, and you can forget it all." "I can?" "I give you my word." _________________________________________________________________ Present Day J. Edgar Hoover Building 6:23 AM No one had noticed his early arrival. And if they had, they didn't bother to question. Who were they to question him? No matter his business, he still held authority. He was in and out faster than he expected. But not without leaving them a thank-you gift. _________________________________________________________________ 11:56 AM "...And what is, exactly, is the connection of a man with two noses to our current case, Mulder?" Dana Scully rolled her eyes as Fox Mulder shrugged lazily. "See what I mean? Your mind is somewhere else when you accept in investigating these ridiculous 'cases'." "Well, Scully, if they're so 'ridiculous', how come they can be proved, by science, into plausibility?" Mulder threw back, waiting for her response. But when she didn't give him one, he smiled wide and cracked a sunflower between his teeth. "See what I mean?" "Mulder, it's---" As Mulder was fixing a stack of files on his desk, he came across a floppy disk he had never seen before. "Scully, this yours?" he asked, holding up the disk and unintentionally cutting her sentence short. She took it from him, gazing at it for a moment, then she shook her head. "No, Mulder. You know I label all my files and disks." "Me too. If my computer wasn't broke, I'd check it out and see what's on it." "Well, who do we know that has a working computer?" "Your lap top works." "My lap top is at home." "Which is closer, Scully? Lone Gunmen or your place?" "Unfortunately, the Lone Gunmen's place." "Then let's go see what's on this disk with our lunch hour." "You know, Mulder, normal agents would get *lunch* on their lunch hour." "We aren't normal, Scully." ____________ Buzz, buzz, buzz! Bang, bang, bang! BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ! "Will somebody get the door, please?! I need QUIET for the tenth time!" "All right, already! I'm getting it!" Frohike groaned as he walked to the door, viewing who was visiting them through the surveillance camera. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Agent Mulder and the delicious Agent Scully." Unbolting, unlocking, unclamping the door, he let the two agents inside the Lone Gunmen Hideout and bolted, locked and clamped the door back up. "What took you so long?" Mulder asked Frohike. "I was actually doing something." "What, reading Playboy on the can?" Frohike clapped his hands together. "You nailed it." He turned to Scully with a flirting smile, and she gave him her "evil eye" look that over the last six years she had perfected. He held his hands up in surrender, then turned back to Mulder. "So, what's up?" "Found a floppy on my desk this morning that isn't either of ours," Mulder explained. "Since my computer's in the shop for the day, we need yours." "To see what's on it?" "Yeah." "Frohike, where's your bathroom?" Scully asked. Frohike's brows raised, then he jabbed his thumb in a direction over his shoulder. "Second door on the left." When Scully left, Frohike shook his head and said to Mulder, "That toilet is sacred now." "You're a disgusting man," Mulder commented. He then frowned when he heard a quiet noise coming from the back room. "Is that coming from the bathroom?" "Uh, no, but don't worry about that," Frohike said in a rush, blocking Mulder's view. "Let's look at this disk, shall we?" "Yeah, I guess." Mulder turned back to Frohike's computer and watched as the little man in front of him opened up the disk and displayed its contents. Langly, who had joined them, peered over Frohike's shoulder. Byers brought a cup of coffee in for himself, and Scully returned from the bathroom, looking confused. But she didn't have time to say anything when Frohike pointed out that there was an executive file on the disk. "It's an EXE," he said. "A PG," Langly chimed in. "A program," Byers translated. "So download it," Mulder said, unaffected by their statements. "You have to be very careful with things like this, Mulder," Byers agreed. "Why?" Mulder questioned with a shrug. "What if it has a virus on it?" Langly said, shuddering. "Is that why your computer's in the shop?" Frohike asked, snickering. Scully couldn't help but smile as Mulder glared at his friend. But then she remembered what she couldn't figure out before. "How is it that everyone's in here, but I clearly heard typing in that back room?" she asked. Pretending not to notice, the Lone Gunmen each shrugged. Langly suggested, "Maybe you're hearing things." "Then I am, too," Mulder said, standing. "Who is that back there?" "Oh, hell." Frohike sounded defeated. "May as well show you. Besides, we need to run the protection program she created for us, and only she can work it." "She?" Scully asked. "Yo, sweetheart! Come here!" Frohike yelled. No reply. "Look, it's all right. They heard you typing." "They're friends of ours. It's safe," Byers added. "Yeah, just agents from the FBI," Langly said. Both Frohike and Byers elbowed him. "What?" he asked. "Gen, come on. These agents won't harm you, remember?" Byers assured. "We would never do that to you." Mulder and Scully, all the while, were exchanging glances of curiosity as the three Lone Gunmen talked to this mysterious woman in their back room. The door creaked open and out stepped a young girl with straight brown- blonde hair that reached down a little past her shoulders. It was tied into a ponytail, wisps of it framing her face. She had a pair of flare bottom jeans on with a baby doll t-shirt that read, "Carpe Diem" in small, lower-case white letters against the black material of the shirt. She had big, beautiful green eyes, and a small, silver hoop nosering in her left nostril. She was about an inch taller than Scully. Byers smiled as she neared the three men, hesitant because of the two unknown people in front of her. "Mulder, Scully, this is Genesis Lucret. Genesis, meet Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully." Genesis stared at them, her face expressionless. Scully and Mulder were both confused. "Is Genesis...one of you guy's daughter?" Mulder asked. "Hell, no," Frohike laughed. "Genesis is the Lone Gunwoman." "Lone Gunwoman?" Scully asked. "Long story," Langly replied. "Anyway, Genesis," Frohike turned to the young woman beside him, "we need you to run Xara for an executive file." "Sure," she said softly, seating herself at Frohike's desk. Mulder was shocked to see her small, thin fingers move across the keyboard at approximately ninety words per minute. She opened the program, typed a code number, inserted the disk and a few seconds later popped it back out. She then tossed the disk into a trash can nearby. Mulder was confused. "Why'd you do that?" he asked Genesis, who turned around and shook her head as he retrieved the disk. "My virus scanner Xara detected the ultimate virus on it. DH422G dash 18BV22L. Know it?" "Um, never heard of it." "It's commonly referred to as the Destroyer. Wipe your hard drive clean. Ruin your motherboard. That disk should be burnt. Lucky I designed Xara to be unaffected by viruses such as the Destroyer." "Gen," Byers said, "anything else on there?" "As far as I can tell just the Destroyer." "Mulder, maybe that's what happened to your computer," Scully suggested. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well, I mean, you couldn't access stuff." "Would this virus attack everything?" Mulder asked Genesis. "Not necessarily," she replied. "The Destroyer is a system that once attached to a program destroys that program and only that program. If it was, however, attached to your main system, then it'd clean you out." "That's why I couldn't access all the research files I had saved for over six years," Mulder said. "Somebody attached it to my file! Dammit!" "Calm down, Mulder," Scully said. "Scully, somebody attached that Destroyer virus on to our files. Then left the disk behind, waiting to be found. How am I suppose to calm down?" "Easily, Mulder. Think of how to get the person who did it." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Well, where the hell do we even start to find out who's responsible?" All three of the Lone Gunmen looked slowly over to Genesis. She glanced up at them and shook her head. "No way, guys. I'm not getting in the middle of Government crap." Mulder looked at his friends, then at Genesis. "She knows something we don't?" "She has ways of finding out connections," Byers said softly. "Look, Byers, I've got a whole lot to do myself. I don't need to be running checks for two agents I don't even know if I can trust," Genesis said, standing abruptly. "If you'll excuse me..." "Come on, Gen, what do ya got to do?" Frohike asked. "I've got a whole bunch of tests and homework and other things to do--- " "You're almost done all that stuff anyway," Langly said, shrugging. Genesis eyed all three of them, sighing in the end. She was defeated. "If it takes more than an hour, I quit," she warned, sitting at the desk once more. Mulder moved behind her left shoulder and watched as small screens flashed on to the monitor. Genesis paused, looking over her shoulder at him. "I'd appreciate it if you don't hover behind me like that," she said, turning back to her work. Mulder stepped away, keeping his distance. Looking down at Scully, he said, "I'm gonna call Skinner and tell him we're in the middle of our two-nosed man case." "Okay." He left her to call the building, and she went to Genesis' right side, watching as she viewed a whole bunch of symbols, numbers and letters on the screen with intense concentration. "So, you're in high school?" "Nope," Genesis replied, still scrolling through the text. "College?" "Nope." "But you said you had homework to do." "I have things to do. I have homework to write." "...To write?" She nodded. "For the high school." "But you just said--" "I teach computer science." Scully was taken back. She turned and looked at Byers, not believing what she had heard. He nodded, as if telling her what Genesis said was the truth. She moved away from Genesis and over in a corner with Byers. "She can't be more than eighteen!" "She's sixteen," Byers said. "How the hell does she teach computer science for high school when she should still be IN high school?" Byers smiled, looking at Genesis, who was still busying reading and typing. "She's a child prodigy." Scully's lips parted. "You're kidding!" "Nope. Finished the most advanced college education known to man at fourteen." "Phenomenal..." "Yep. She's a computer wizard. Makes Bill Gates look like a struggling high-schooler." "How did she come to stay with you guys?" "I found her at a high school. I heard so much about her that I had to see her for myself. Sure enough, she was everything everyone said. I came on a regular basis after classes to speak with her about her work, and eventually she just trusted me so much that she asked if she could stay with me." "Where had she been living before?" "At all the boarding schools she went to, the facilities that they did research on her in." "Why'd she leave them?" "She got so tired of being used for her mind that she wanted to just get away. I agreed and we kept her here." "How long has she been with you?" "A little over a year, now." "Why didn't you tell us?" "Genesis was being tested for what makes her so smart. When she left their research program, which was purely optional, and she took it because she's an orphan with nowhere to live but there, people began to look for her, wanting her back to test again. She refused. Then she began teaching, and lived with a new student every week. The parents of the students were eager to help her out. After I came along, she stayed with us. "We told her about you and Mulder. She told us to keep her hush-hush. But it finally became too difficult to do, and I guess she's all right with it." "Do the research facilities still look for her?" "We hope not. She's at a new high school, and keeps a low profile. A little makeup, glasses, no nosering, and formal clothes and she looks twenty-two." "She has no existing relatives?" "None." Scully was dumbfounded by Genesis, who stared at a chunk of text on the screen. "Langly, could you get me the RDD off the main system?" Genesis asked and Langly obeyed as Scully and Byers watched. "What's the RDD?" Scully asked. "RDD would stand for Research Decode Discover, another program she created." "What does it do?" "It's her decoding program." "So she's decoding the file on our disk?" Byers nodded. "Genesis explained to us that each file, buried somewhere in there, has an ID number every time it's opened. For example, whoever put that copy of the Destroyer on the disk must have a computer system of their own. And there's always a registration number, AKA their ID. Once she finds that, and makes a search on whose it is, then we've got your smoking gun." "Amazing..." "What's amazing, Scully?" Mulder asked, rejoining his partner. "Th--that girl, Genesis," Scully replied, pointing to the sixteen year- old. "Byers said she was a prodigy." "You're kidding!" "That's what I said." "How old is she?" Mulder asked Byers. "Sixteen." Byers smiled. "Scully can tell you all about her on your ride back to the J. Edgar Hoover Building." "Got it," Genesis anounced triumphantly, and everybody crowded around to see her discovery. "Turns out the file was loaded by a...huh. That's weird." "What is it?" Mulder asked. "It's listed under the name Assistant Director Walter Skinner. Government Issue computer." She turned and looked straight into Mulder's eyes. "Looks like one of your own." She turned back to the computer. "You're sure it's that?" Scully asked. "Positive. RDD has never failed me." "Would your RDD ever fail you?" Mulder questioned, and Genesis eyed him. "It's never happened, but anything can fail. Look at the Titanic. But it's a trust-worthy system." Genesis stood, dropping the floppy into Mulder's palm. "I suggest as soon as you have a spare moment, you bring your computer to the guys here and have them check the rest of it. If the same person who gave you the Destroyer attached it to any of your other programs, and the computer people open it up, you're done. And you can't recover whatever you've lost." "Wait," Mulder said, grabbing Genesis' arm before she left. She looked down at his hand, then up at his face. "I might need you." "Frohike, Langly and Byers are more than capable. They're just getting lazy with me around." "Gen, you know we don't have your computer smarts," Frohike said. "That's for sure," Langly agreed. "Well I can't be running errands for some Government Agents," Genesis replied sharply. "I've got my own work to do." With that, Genesis walked into her room and shut her door. They all heard the privacy lock click seconds afterwards. Mulder sighed. "Do you think you guys can salvage what little is left of my system?" "Depends," Byers replied. "I mean, do you think the guys at the shop haven't opened it up yet?" "They said they'd look at it after lunch." Everyone checked their watches. "Mulder, it's already 12:45," Scully said. "We should get it before it's too late." "All right. We'll be back with the computer and leave you guys to fix it. Then you and I, Scully, will have a talk with Skinner," Mulder planned. "Do you think that's wise? We might get ourselves in the middle of something we shouldn't without proper evidence." "Genesis got Skinner's ID number, we have it here in black and white, Scully." "Mulder, have you stopped to think that anybody in that branch can access Skinner's office in before work hours? Quite possibly, somebody other than Skinner used his computer as a cover-up for themselves." "Then we have to see who else is in his branch of command." ____________ "I've got a list, Mulder, and it ain't short." Scully dropped a few stapled papers on Mulder's desk. He looked down, then up into her eyes. "We've got about 50 suspects, all with possible motives." "I'll read a name off and you tell me if their motive is either possible or definite." "Okay." "AD Robert Matthew Connor, Jr." "Possible." "Um...Second AD Rebecca London." "Possible." "Second AD Carlton Brinks." "Possible." Mulder rolled his eyes. "Are we getting somewhere or what?" he said sarcastically. "Well, Mulder, basically everybody on the list is everybody here in this building. So I guess they'd be suspects..." "Yeah, but Scully, who's really out to hurt us?" "The last four people on the list." Mulder flipped the pages and saw the four names: Skinner, Walter, AD; Spender, CGB; Fowley, Diana; Krycek, Alex. "Yep, I think that narrows it down. So who do you think did it?" "I doubt Krycek." "So do I." "I really don't think Skinner would have." "Me either. So that leaves Diana and ol' Smoky, huh?" "Basically." Mulder shifted in his seat with a sigh and held up two fingers. "The shorter one's for Diana, the taller one for the Smoking Man. Eeenie, meenie, minie, mo..." "I thought it went 'Eeenie weenie chillie beanie'..." Scully said with a shrug. He laughed. "Ah, now that's only for the spirits, Scully." "So," Scully said, turning serious, "how do we know who it is?" "Well, we'd better start being more observant. And I'll take Diana to lunch." Jealousy filled Scully as she gazed at her partner, whose carefree attitude ticked her off. "I trust nothing more than an indirect interrogation will go on." "Why would you think otherwise, Scully?" Mulder asked, seeing her green-eyed monster. "I was just checking, Mulder." ____________ Lone Gunmen place 5:56 PM "Ugh!" Bang! "Here's the computer." "Geez, Mulder, be careful, will ya?" "Sorry." Frohike gently picked up the computer tower and carried it to another desk where a connector cord laid. "All right, let's plug this baby in and let her rip." Mulder watched Frohike, but a quiet conversation in the back room distracted him and he listened. It sounded like Byers and the girl, Genesis. "Byers..." "Gen, I'm just concerned. It's the first time I'm not going with you, that's all." "There's nothing to be concerned about. I can handle myself." Genesis stepped out of the room she and Byers were in and adjusted her short, form-fitting gray sweater. A matching straight, ankle-length gray knit skirt and a pair of three inch heel boots were also checked over once before her hair, which was curled and pinned up, was adjusted everso slightly while she gazed in a mirror. Mulder saw without the nosering and the Generation X wear, she did look twenty-two. As she applied a dark berry-coloured lipstick, Byers sighed. "It's just a teacher meeting, that's all, Byers." "I know, but still---" "I'm fine." She gazed at him quickly before she grabbed her purse and walked passed Mulder, not even noticing him. At least, that's what he assumed. "Pandora's on the shelf, Frohike, if you and your FBI friend need her. And Exselsius is also there. But I'd use Pandora." "Thanks," Frohike called as Genesis shut the front door behind her and Langly relocked it up. Byers joined Frohike and Mulder as they removed the virus from folders on Mulder's hard drive. "She doesn't listen to me," he muttered defeatedly. "I'm sure she does, but she just doesn't need a bodyguard." "I just feel like something will happen to her if someone isn't there with her." "Like what?" "The people who tested her are still looking for her," Byers explained. "If they find her, they'll take her -- whether she wants to go or not." "...For testing." "Yes." ____________ Genesis hailed a cab on the curb around the block from the Gunmen's place. "Georgetown High, please," she instructed the cabby, who nodded and drove her there. Once she arrived, she paid him and walked up to the building. But another teacher met up with her before she could slip in the entrance. "Miss Lucret!" Fredrick Middleton, who taught Biology, said with a smile. She smiled back and he opened the door for her. "I saw the cab...why didn't you take your car?" Genesis frowned. "Oh, it's in the shop." "Oh..." The teacher meeting went longer than Genesis had really wanted it to, but she was grateful for the coffee that was available to keep her awake. She had spent most of the night writing documents and homework for the school and it was hard to concentrate when she only had four hours of sleep. But all the while, she kept notes like everybody else, although her mind was on the FBI agents' situation. *They're not your problem,* her mind told her. *Just think about you and your work.* But she couldn't help it. She knew in some odd way that those two agents needed her. *Dammit,* she swore mentally. *Why am I being soft with them?* She knew she would help them. She knew, deep inside, she had to. *If they're friends of Byers...then they're friends of mine. Or at least acquaintances.* It was 7:30 when the teacher meeting ended, and Genesis left to walk a few blocks and hunt for another cab to talk her home. She had to past Redmond Ave., the "bad ass" corner, as all her students put it. Usually if she was working a late day, her biggest and toughest, but sweetest, male student named Robby, who was a year older than she, would walk her to a cab to prevent any trouble from coming her way. None of her students or fellow teachers knew she was a teenager, and she didn't tell them. If people started catching on, then she'd move on. But Robby wasn't there tonight. Nobody was. A pair of hands grabbed Genesis as she passed by the alley, and pulled her into the darkness. She tried to scream, but it was muffled by a large hand. "Shhh," the man said, "I'm not going to hurt you." He uncovered her mouth and she spat, "Let go of me!" "Shush! I want to warn you that you are dealing with dangerous people." "Who the hell are you?" "That is not important. But the people who put that computer virus in Agent Mulder's system will stop at nothing to make sure its true idenity is protected." Genesis paused. "You mean it's not a virus?" "Yes, it is the virus, but another program is installed underneath it. You need to get the disk and return it to me immediately." "I don't even know you. I won't give up that disk to a stranger." "You must!" "I won't!" "Young lady, you are making a serious mistake." "It's my mistake to make." Genesis headed for the road, but the man grabbed her arm and stopped her once more. "Lives are at stake! Have the disk for me in 48 hours, right here, at this time, and no one will get hurt." "Don't threaten me," she said with a glare, running out of the alley. The man watched silently, shaking his head at her foolishness. Genesis hailed a cab and nearly jumped in the back seat. The cabby stared at her questioningly. "56th and Yardley," she said. As the cabby pulled away from the curb, she saw a faint image of the man in the alley disappear into the shadows. ____________ A puff of gray smoke clouded his vision for a short moment. But despite it, another drag was taken from the cigarette that was held between his thumb and forefinger. "Dispose of the body," he said quietly to a tall man behind him. "How, sir?" "I don't care how, just do it." "Yes, sir." He watched as the man and another dragged the corpse out of the room, exhaling more smoke. "He was a foolish man for copying the virus on the wrong disk." "That he was," another member of the syndicate agreed. "So what is our progress on the girl?" "She won't make the deal." "We wait 48 hours to see if she follows through. She won't be able to open up the program without our technology." "She creates programs that surpass our technology." He turned to the syndicate member. "She can't create another as powerful as ours." "She could." His gaze was drawn from the man in the chair to the man behind him. Well Manicured Man sighed as he passed the Smoking Man. "What do you mean?" "She's a prodigy," Well Manicured Man replied. "A girl with a brain beyond our comprehension." "If she's that smart, she'll know to return the diskette." "Or contact authorities." "She's a young girl, too afraid for her friends and herself to tell anyone. You'll see. No matter how much a prodigy she is, she won't involve any of the authorities." "Hah. That's what you think." "I trust there were no witnesses?" "None." "Good." The Smoking Man took another drag and added, "I'll make sure we get the disk back." ____________ Byers was worried before But he was even more worried when he saw the look in Genesis' eyes as she entered the hideout. "Gen...? You okay?" "Fine," she said, dropping her purse on the chair, expelling a soft sigh. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm okay. What's the status on Mulder's system?" "Apparently, only one other file had the virus attached to it. We told Mulder to leave his computer here for the night and to pick it up tomorrow." "I want to look at it." "You do? But I thought---" "I changed my mind. I want to look over the computer--and see what I can see." "Well, all right. I'm afraid only Langly will be here, though. Frohike and I are going to check out Bart's new discoveries on Area 51." "Why isn't Langly going?" "I--I told him to stay here with you." "Byers, let the guy go and indulge on little green men. I'm cool." "I'm just not--" "Byers, please. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Now let him go." "All right." Genesis gave him a smile as she watched her three friends leave the apartment. "We might be back late," Frohike warned, "so don't wait up." "Yeah, and if you do, tape Leno, would you?" Langly said as Frohike shoved him out the door. "Yeah, yeah..." Genesis bolted the door shut and sighed, rushing into her bedroom to change. A million thoughts flowed through her head. *How did that old man know I was involved with Mulder? And how did he even know Mulder? Is there a bug in the apartment? Not possible, Frohike checks daily for them. It came up clean today. So then how the hell did he know?* After Genesis was changed, she sat in front of Mulder's computer and turned it on. Here goes nothing, she thought, opening the system files. ____________ 9:26 PM "Scully, what a pleasant surprise." Scully stood in Mulder's apartment doorway, holding a video tape in her right hand with a rain soaked umbrella in the left one. Her eyebrow raised and she slipped inside the apartment, ignoring his, "Don't drip water on the floor," comment. "I've got the building surveillance tape here. I thought maybe we could see who checked in before everybody else." "Good thinking, Scully. But I was hoping for a tape something more of the triple X kind." "Fat chance." She hung her coat up on his rack and tossed her umbrella on the floor underneath it. Mulder watched from his seat on the couch. Scully sank in beside him, unusually close and relaxed. Mulder enjoyed it. "Here," she said, handing him the tape. He groaned and stood, popping the tape in the VCR and snatching the controller from off the coffee table in front of them. With the quick punch of a button, the tape was played and the agents studied the TV screen intently for what seemed to be hours. "...Well, Mulder," Scully said later with a soft yawn, "all we found was this guy named Christopher Terrance." Her lap top sat on her thighs as she pulled up the Federal Records. "How do you know his name?" Mulder asked. "Well, his ID card was scanned in to the main branch records and I was able to access them with my own badge number." "Huh." "Jealous that you didn't think of it?" she asked with a small smile playing on her lips. "No," he quickly replied. "Sure you aren't." Scully turned back to the screen. "What does he do for the FBI?" "He's in computer tech." "Computer tech, huh?" Mulder said sarcastically, remembering his computer. Scully nodded. "Anyway, he lives at 221 45th NE." "So we go there tomorrow." "Wait a minute, Mulder," Scully said, still staring at the screen. "What?" "I heard some of the other agents talking about a meeting at 12:45. This Terrance guy was suppose to show, but never did. In fact, he disappeared after 9 AM." "So it's a good chance he never made it home either." Mulder leaned over to view the screen. "Is he married?" "Apparently so, there's a Mrs. Jeannie Terrance listed." "Then we'll have to talk with her and see what she knows." ____________ J. Edgar Hoover Building 8:32 AM "How are we gonna do this, Mulder?" "You go and ask the people in Computer Tech if anybody knows where Terrance is because your computer isn't working and you want him to fix it because he made a guarantee on it." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to see what they've got in their offices while you keep them out." Scully rolled her eyes and Mulder disappeared from sight. Knocking on the Computer Tech Office door, a scientist named Greg McGrath answered. "Yes, Agent---Scully? What can I do for you?" "My computer's broken and I was wondering if Christopher Terrance was here. He made me a guarantee on it, and now he's gonna fix it." "Well, Agent Scully, I personally haven't seen Terrance since yesterday morning. But," He smiled down at her flirtingly, "I can see what's going on for you." "Oh, would you? That would be wonderful..." Scully said, taking him to the basement office where her lap top was. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mulder slip inside McGrath's office. "Scully, I didn't find a thing in the office. Did you get anything out of McGrath?" "Only that he saw Terrance and Skinner talking yesterday morning." "Alone?" "Yeah." "And it was his ID that Genesis pulled up." "Mulder, why would Skinner want to delete our case files?" "I don't know, Scully. But why would anyone? The ones we've lost are some of the oldest we have." "What were they?" "Tooms, Duane Barry, your abduction..." Both agents looked into each other's eyes. "Your abduction, Scully." "But...they wanted information on that?" "I don't know." "We should try and think of every file we had in there. Then we'll have to see Mrs. Terrance." ____________ *Amazing...* "Gen, what're you doing?" Genesis quickly closed out the file and spun around to meet Byers. "Nothing, just looking at Mulder's computer." "Still?" Frohike asked. "Yeah...hey, you guys were out late." "Well, we said not to wait up. We stayed over Bart's house. We woulda called, but the line was busy all night." "I was on the Net researching some things." "Let's hope you got enough sleep to keep you awake for school today," Byers said. "Believe me, I'm the Energizer Bunny," Genesis replied. "Hey, did you tape Leno?" Langly asked. Genesis rolled her eyes and slipped out of the room into her bedroom, with Mulder's disk and one of her own. A copy of the program the old man talked of was on there. Genesis had discovered that what he was so concerned over were documents in Japanese. She wasn't going to let the disks out of her sight. Genesis left early for the high school that day. She had a stop to make before making her class time at 2:30 PM. Her backpack over her shoulder, she walked the few blocks to her friend, Jin Hao's house. Jin Hao was a translator for various languages, including his native language, Japanese. He, too, was a prodigy and he and Genesis met at the research facilities, since then becoming friends. She knocked on the front door of his small house and smiled when he answered. "Hi, Jin." "Gen!" He hugged her and ushered her inside. "What a wonderful surprise. What brings you here?" "Well, actually a favour." "Anything. You know that." Genesis retrieved her disk with the copy of the Japanese documents and handed it to him. "Don't ask where I got them, but there's a long Japanese written document on here. I think it's Japanese. From what you've taught me, I believe it is, but I can't be sure. Anyway, if you could translate these into English..." "Of course I could," Jin replied, taking the disk. "All I need is a couple of hours." "Well, I get out of the school at around 3:30, by the time I'm done everything, usually 4:30. So I'll pick it then...?" "Sure, that's great." "Thanks so much, Jin." "You're welcome, Genesis." Knock, knock! "Genesis, you won't believe---oh, I apologize. I thought it was someone else. Yes, can I help you?" The only response Jin received was three shots from a silencer. ____________ 4:38 PM "Jin?" Genesis knocked for the third time on his door. "Jin, it's me, Genesis." Twisting the doorknob, it was unlocked, much to her surprise. "Jin...?" She stepped inside, peering around in the hall. She reached the front room and gasped. "Shit!" She dropped to her knees at Jin's body and took his pulse. He was dead. And the disk was gone from his computer. So were the English version documents he promised her. Through her tears, she retreated from the house, racing down the street in terror. *God! What the hell have I done? They killed Jin for these documents, and it's all my fault!* By the time Genesis slowed down and collected her thoughts, it was an half hour later and she saw she was far away from her end of the town. Glancing over her shoulder for a moment, she sighed and continued to walk straight, knowing she was in Agent Scully's section of town. She couldn't keep this away from the authorities any longer. A man was dead because of her. And she knew the agents would have to help her. Having researched the night before on both Agent Mulder and Agent Scully, she knew that Scully lived here in this very apartment building that stood in front of her. She entered, taking the elevator up to Scully's floor. She was shaking violently. *I can't tell Scully. I'll get her killed too. I can't...I can't...* *But I'm already here.* Ding! *Shit.* Genesis stepped out of the elevator with a long sigh, almost a drawn breath of courage. *I can tell her. I can, she's a Federal Agent. She and Mulder can deal with this.* Stepping to her apartment door, Genesis knocked and froze when she saw Scully. A white terry cloth towel in hair, she was drying her hair from the shower she had just taken. "Genesis!" "...Hi." "This is a surprise. I thought you were Mulder. Come in." Scully stepped aside and let Genesis slip halfway in. Genesis was battling her thoughts as she stood with her. *Don't tell her, you'll kill her too. You can't let another person die because you didn't listen to the old man. Don't do it to her. Don't.* "Actually, I have to confess something..." "Yes?" Scully said, still standing in the doorway. "Well, you see, I, um....I'm a little drunk from a party I went to with my friend Rhonda. At the Firefly, the place a block or so away. I don't have any more money, and I need a cab, and I'd pay you back..." Scully was entirely confused, but willing to help her. "Um, sure, Genesis. No problem, just let me get my coat and I'll get you some money." Scully went and dug inside her pocket for some extra money she had collected during the day. "Here, that should be enough to get to your place. I'll come with you to hail one." "Um, okay." Once Scully hailed Genesis a cab, she left and headed back for her apartment. *That was strange,* she thought, ignoring the abnormality of it. Genesis sighed inside the cab. "Was that your sister, kid?" the cabby asked. "Um, no, a friend." "Oh..." Just then, a white sedan drove in front of them, causing the cab to come to an unexpected halt. "Whoa, Jesus!" the cabby swore. A man in a black suit exited the cab and opened the back door where Genesis was. "Sir, this criminal is coming with us. We're with the police," the man said, grabbing Genesis' arm. "She's a criminal?" the cabby asked, astonished. "Yes, she stole jewelry. We were tipped off by a witness that she was in this cab." "Uh, okay..." "Let me go!" Genesis yelled, trying to tear the man's hand off her arm. But his grip was much too strong, and he yanked her out of the car. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the Court of Law. You have the right to an attorney..." The cabby shrugged and drove away as the man threw Genesis in the back of the sedan. Another man, who was already inside, tied, gagged and blindfolded her, knocking her unconscious. The tinted windows didn't allow anyone to witness the kidnapping of Genesis Lucret. ____________ "Hi, Mulder." "Hi, Scully. I figured we could go over the info we have on our disk people..." "Sure, just let me call Byers." "For what?" "Well, I want to let him know that Genesis is on her way home." "How do you...?" "She stopped by here. She said she was a little drunk and needed to borrow money for a cab." "Oh. Okay." Scully dialed Byers' number, and after checking the ID box, Langly answered. "Hi, Agent Scully." "Hi, Langly. Could you put Byers on?" "Sure." Moments later, Byers picked up. "Hello?" "Hi, it's Scully. I just wanted to let you know that Genesis is on her way over to your place." "You know where she was at?!" "Yeah, she said she was at a party with a friend named...Rhonda at the Firefly. She borrowed money from me for a cab, since she was a little drunk." "She doesn't have a friend named Rhonda. Are you sure that's the name she told you?" "Very sure." "This is weird..." "Yeah. Why would she lie?" "Hey, Byers," Frohike said. "The disk's gone." "It is?" he asked. Frohike nodded. "It is what?" Scully asked. "The disk. Your disk. It's gone." Both were silent for a moment, until they replied in unison, "Genesis." "How do we know where she is?" Byers asked. Both Scully and Byers had switched their phones to speaker phones for everybody to hear. "You three wait there in case she does come back and didn't direct the cab driver elsewhere. Mulder and I will search the area between my apartment and your place for the cab. I remember the number on it, it was 387." "All right." ____________ Genesis blinked a few times as she regained consciousness, trying to focus on the image of the darken room. Her green eyes, soon, were able to focus on an old man sitting across the room. Between his thumb and forefinger rested a cigarette. A cloud of smoke escaped his lips as he stood, nearing her. Genesis looked downward and realized she wasn't bound, or gagged and definitely not blindfolded anymore. She was just sitting in a chair, able to run away whenever she wanted. *I don't know the building. I can't get out without that knowledge.* "Sleep well?" The Cigarette Smoking Man asked, staring down at her. A strand of hair fell on to Genesis' face, and she tucked it behind her ear. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" she demanded, but the man in front of her remained calm. "You don't need to know who I am, but what you're doing here is returning that disk to me." "You jipped me out of 24 hours," Genesis said smartly. "Well, we didn't like the way you were acting with the hidden documents on there," Cigarette Smoking Man replied, taking a drag from the cigarette he held. "You killed Jin, you bastard," Genesis nearly yelled. "We had to. He knew things that he shouldn't have." "So you're going to kill me now, right?" "No, we're not. Unless you know of what was on that disk. Do you?" "Maybe I do. Maybe I don't." "Tell me," he said, obviously getting riled. "I don't need games!" "You started the game. So it's your job to end it." "This wouldn't have been started if the mistake wasn't made." "I always thought syndicates of men like you never made mistakes." The Smoking Man stepped away from Genesis, then turned back to gaze at her face. "Look at me," said the puzzled and curious old man. Genesis refused and looked downward. "Look up," he said, tilting her chin up with his hand. She fought, but then decided she didn't want to die. Who knew what he'd do if she didn't listen. Scanning her eyes with his own, he gasped softly. "Jesus..." He continued to stare at her face, then asked, "How old are you?" "What's it to you?" "How old are you?" he said, slightly annoyed and angered. "Twenty-seven." "How old!" "...Sixteen." Stepping behind her chair into the shadows of the room, she heard him muttering things to himself and pacing. He then rejoined her at the chair and made her stand. "Take her," he instructed two men, who were also in the room. When they held her, Genesis fought them. But they managed to drag her into the next room, shutting the door on the girl's cries and pleas. ____________ "Scully, number 387!" Mulder led Scully to the cab, whose driver rolled down the window. Mulder flashed his Federal badge at the cabby, who didn't look too surprised. "The police already took her," he said. "Headed North, to the station, I guess." "Took who?" "The girl." "What'd she look like?" "Um...blondish brown hair, green eyes---had a backpack. Was wearing black pants and a green sweater." "That's her," Scully whispered. "You say she went North?" Mulder asked the cabby. He nodded. "Uh-huh. Yep, the police took her to the station. Had a white sedan. Said she was a thief..." The agents disappeared from the side of the parked cab and the cabby yelled out the window, "Hey, don't I get a reward?" "Byers, we're heading North on....17th and Windham. The cabby said she was taken by 'police' and they went this way in a white sedan." "Did he get a plate?" "No." "All right, thanks." Scully hung up her phone as Mulder and Scully drove in the direction the cabby had told them Genesis was taken. "You think we'll find her?" Scully asked Mulder. "That's not the question. It's a matter of will we find her in time." They got their answer as Scully caught sight of a young girl standing on the sidewalk a couple miles later. "Mulder, it's her! On the sidewalk!" Mulder pulled over and they exited the car, rushing to Genesis. Her hair was slightly tousled and her expression was one of blankness. "Genesis! Are you okay?" "Yeah..." "Genesis, what happened?" Mulder asked. "I don't know..." "Do you have the disk?" Genesis' eyes met Mulder's. "What disk?" she asked, bewildered. fin.