From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!Germany.EU.net!Dortmund.Germany.EU.net!main.Germany.EU.net!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!not-for-mail Mon Jul 15 10:10:47 1996 Article: 21282 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!Germany.EU.net!Dortmund.Germany.EU.net!main.Germany.EU.net!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!not-for-mail From: trevizo@utep.edu (Gil Trevizo) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: Measure of a Man (1/3) NC17 (fwd) Message-ID: Date: 13 Jul 96 06:00:14 GMT Sender: trevizo@utep.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Lines: 454 Status: RO I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on subscribing to the x-files-fanfic mailing list, go to . Please send all comments to the author at . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "The Measure of a Man" 1/3 by E. Ocon (eocon@ix.netcom.com) Rating: NC17 to be safe--there is violence, language, and attempted rape. No relationship elements. Summary: This story was inspired by the episode "Ice" from the first season. Mulder and Scully go off to an isolated area where a strange illness has caused the men to attack the women of the party. M & S are there to l ook into the murder of these men. Writer's Comments: On an obscure note, my story reminded me of an episode of "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" (I think that was the title of the show -- the one with Gil Gerard and Erin Gray) where Buck was on this planet where all the men turned into satyrs. I don't turn Mulder into a mythological being in this story (although that has some possibilities!). I wrote this story because I really wanted Mulder to be the one with the parasite in "Ice" ;-) Caveat: the science I use in this story to explain what happens is all BUNK! I made it all up! It was purely for the convenience of the plot. This my first attempt at writing anything. I have been an X-files fan for only a few months, but my obsession is growing! Please e-mail constructive comments only. Standard Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This work is not to be forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without the permission of the author. The Measure of a Man Part 1 "Scully, here's the fax," Mulder said. We got it about 6 hours ago from the mining company's research station. It doesn't look like they were able to finish writing it before it was sent". Scully took the paper from Mulder, reading it. "6 DEAD...HELP US....SEND NOMEN..." "Nomen? Who's that? Is that their main contact or something?" "I don't know. They've done a search of the employee database, as well as lists of mining experts, but there's no person with that name. They're so isolated that local law enforcement is over 100 miles away. They're no t used to murder investigations, so we've been asked to go up there. We're going to fly there to begin the work. About a week later, a back-up crew will come up to close the place down. Looks like we're headed for Colo rado!" Mulder studied the docket in his hand. There had been 10 people on the mining project, 6 of whom were now dead. It was unknown at this time which 6 were dead. The little plane they were in lurched sideways, spilling Sc ully's bags over onto his side of the aisle. "Damn! I'm getting airsick...why couldn't we drive up to this site?" moaned Scully as she retrieved her stuff. "The roads aren't passable yet. With all the melting snow from the mountains, most are covered in mud. This is the only way to get there quickly!" "Great." Another jog to the left, and the plane started descending. Mulder could see the small ring of buildings in the clearing. He couldn't see the mine opening from the air, but from the well-worn path into the woods, he coul d guess. The plane suddenly dropped onto the ground and skidded to a halt. Even at this higher elevation the ground was soggy. "You're here folks. Sorry about the bumpy ride--it's tough this time of year." said the pilot as he made his way to the back of the plane to open the door. Looking out the windows of the main building, four faces looked expectantly at the plane. They had heard it coming long before it showed up. They watched as the pilot jumped to the ground and pulled the steps down. "I think we'll be OK. The pilot isn't going to stay, and they sent a woman." Said Monica Gerard the geologist at the station. "You spoke too soon--look!" yelled Samantha Green, mining engineer. She pointed to the plane where Scully was standing. As she stepped away, Mulder jumped to the ground and picked up his bags. "I thought you sent the f ax!" "I did! It finished right before Alex threw the machine against the wall. I don't know why they sent him!" she pointed at Mulder, who with Scully was approaching the building. The pilot was getting back in the plane. Alice Green, sister of Samantha Green, also a mining engineer, ran out the door screaming. "Don't let the pilot take off! You can't stay!" she yelled excitedly, pointing at Mulder. She ran after the plane which was accelerating over the grass. "Stop! Stop! Come back!" she cried fruitlessly, as the plane hurled itself into the air. She slowed to a halt, bending over with her hands on her knees, panting. "Damn." Mulder and Scully looked perplexed, watching Alice as she came back to them. "What the fuck are YOU doing here?" she said accusingly, jabbing her finger into Mulder's chest. "I'm sorry, but you asked for help. I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI. This is Special Agent Dana Scully." "Didn't you get our fax?" "Yes, we did. We attempted to locate Nomen, but we weren't successful. Is Nomen a co-worker?" asked Mulder. He backed away as she bristled at him. "You fuckin' idiots!! The government WOULD screw this up. The fax said to send NO MEN, meaning only women. Great!" she exclaimed as she stormed back toward the others. "Why is that a problem?" asked Scully, looking sideways at Mulder. "You'll know soon enough," Samantha sighed. "Miss Green, we..." he started, but Samantha cut him off. "How did you know my name?" she asked suspiciously. "We were sent a file by your company, with your pictures, qualifications, etc. I'm very good at remembering things. As I was saying, we are here to investigate the deaths of your co-workers. From the tone of your fax y our company was worried that there was foul play involved. I presume from seeing the four of you here that the 6 dead are John Muller, Bob Smith, John Hanson, Bill Hammer, Randy Armstrong, and Alex Taylor. Can we see th e bodies, please? My partner is a doctor, and an expert forensic examiner." Mary Monell, chemist, who had been standing by the door, screamed loudly. "Don't' let him come in here! Go away! Go away! It will happen again!" she sank to her knees, sobbing, with her face in her hands. "Please, go away," she whispered. Dana walked up to Mary and squatted down beside her. "It'll be OK, Miss Monell. My partner won't do anything to harm you. I trust him completely. It'll be OK," Scully said. Monica went up to Mulder, standing boldly in front of him. "Well, if you must come in, I want you to give your gun to your partner. There's no use tempting fate here. None of us will be safe as it is, but at least without your gun we have a chance." Scully stood up to talk to Monica. "Excuse me, but would you explain yourself? I will not have my partner treated like a criminal." "Honey, you just don't know," Monica sneered. "That's enough!" Mulder exclaimed. "Stop talking about me as if I can't understand what you're saying. Scully and I are here to look into these deaths, and I'd REALLY appreciate it if you would just show us the bodies a nd let us do our work. A back-up team will be here in about a week to remove the bodies and shut this place down. We're here for the duration, so you'll just have to put up with us." He brusquely walked by the women an d went into the hut. Monica turned to Scully. "Well, you may trust him, but can you control him?" Scully stared dumbfounded after her as Monica followed Mulder into the building. 'What a weeks this is going to be' she thought. She picked up her bags and followed the others in. Samantha pulled Scully aside as soon as she walked into the building. "Agent Scully, could you do what Monica said? Could you keep Agent Mulder's gun for him? I can't explain right now, but it would be best for all of us." Scully looked at the woman in front of her, and realized how serious she was. "I'll do it on one condition. As soon as you are able, I want you to explain to me AND Mulder what is going on. I don't want any secrets." "Fair enough. We'll tell you as soon as you've finished looking at the bodies." Scully walked up to Mulder in the infirmary. He had started unpacking the medical equipment, and pulled out the camera to begin taking photos. "Mulder, I know this sounds irrational, but could you humor me and let me keep your gun? These women seem quite serious, and are afraid of you. Samantha Green promised to explain their objections if I keep it." Mulder looked at her gravely. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. All of the dead here are men, and all but one was shot in the head. The only logical explanation is that one or more of these women shot them. I'd feel safer with my gun." "I know you would. But, if they see you as a threat, especially a threat with a gun, you might be in even more danger. Let me keep it." Mulder looked at her for a few moments, then reached into his jacket. He handed her his gun. "Well, I guess you'll have to protect me now," he chuckled. He turned back to the bodies to continue with the photos. Surprised at how quickly he acquiesced, she put his gun into next to hers, tucked in the back of her jeans. She pulled out her tape recorder and instruments to autopsy the men. "Well, it's pretty obvious. Except for Hanson, they all died of gunshot wounds to the head. What I don't understand is, if one of these women killed them, why are they so unconcerned about having the FBI investigate? I f I had just murdered 5 people, I sure wouldn't be hanging around here waiting for someone to arrest me. I wonder what's going on," Scully said as she washed her hands. Mulder was sitting on a stool next to the counter, reading from some records. "According to this, the men got sick one by one, starting with Hanson. The women didn't get ill, though." "Well, how do you move from being ill to getting shot?" Scully said. "I'll tell you." Mulder and Scully both jumped at the sound of Monica's voice in the doorway. "We shot them." "You shot them? Why?" asked Mulder. "Because they were attacking us, trying to rape us. There was no stopping them except to kill them," she started sobbing, words tumbling out. "It started when we got deeper into the mine. We found, well, some weird th ing that we couldn't identify. It was like a, well, a UFO or something." She grinned sheepishly through her tears. "I know that sounds crazy." "Not to me it doesn't, " said Mulder. "Go on." "Well, we tried to get in, but there was no obvious door. We had finally given up and gone back to the surface, but Hanson was too fascinated to leave. He stayed behind, to look around some more. A few hours later he c ame stumbling back up the path. He looked dazed and very pale. We checked him over, but could find nothing wrong. He seemed fine until a few days later. He started acting strange. He was restless, testy, and, uh, a b it amorous," she blushed as she said that. "What do you mean, amorous?" asked Scully. "Well, to be blunt, he started coming on to all of us. He really didn't seem to care which of us he was talking to, just as long as he was with somebody. At first, it was kind of cute--he'd always been so shy. But, the n, he started getting a lot more aggressive, especially with Mary. She had a hard time rebuffing him. Well, he got really physical with her--this was about a week and a half after he came back from the mine. I think he would have raped her if Hammer and Armstrong hadn't pulled him off of her. It was a real struggle. We locked him in the storage room, and he just pounded on the door for hours, calling her name. It was really scary. By that time, though, Muller and Smith had also started the same behavior. It was starting to get really dangerous. We had five guns here, mostly for protection against animals; I took them all and hid them in the stora ge hut across the compound. Things started to happen so fast. They were trying to attack and rape us and we were running around in a panic. I managed to get over to the storage hut to grab some guns. I met up with Ali ce, and we killed them. Armstrong had been on top of Mary, ripping her clothes. Hammer had Samantha cornered. What else could we do? What else could we do?" her voice trailed off as the tears overtook her again. "It's OK, Monica. We're here now. There will be truckloads of people here next week to take the bodies and you back to civilization. Nothing more will happen," whispered Scully, holding the woman. She looked at Mulde r with an inquisitive look. He just shrugged his shoulders. "How come you didn't shoot Hanson?" asked Mulder. "After killing the others, we were prepared to do him in. However, when we opened the door, he was lying on the ground. He had died, apparently from cardiac arrest. We didn't expect that, but we were relieved. You kno w, they were our *friends*. We didn't want to kill them." "I'd really like to take a look at that thing in your mine. Can you show me where it is?" Mulder asked with anticipation. "I can't do that." "Why not?" "Because we figured that whatever happened to Hanson was caused by that thing, so I had Alice and Sam blow up the tunnel. It's buried under tons of rock." "Wonderful," he said sarcastically. "Where are our rooms? I feel like washing up after hanging around these bodies." "They're in the next building, to the left. Take any of the men's rooms you want. We cleaned them really well." "Thanks," he blurted, walking out the door. Monica's eyes followed his retreating form. " "Agent Scully, we never figured out how this condition was passed along. Mulder may get it too." "Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on him." Mulder mumbled to himself as he crossed over to the dormitory building. "Great, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with 5 beautiful women and I can't enjoy myself. What is this world coming to?" Mulder picked a room, threw his stuff down, pulled out a change of clothes, and headed for the shower. It was small and smacked of summer camp, but it would do. As he was showering, he started to feel a little dizzy. *I must be really hungry,* he thought as he leaned against the wall. *First order of business is to find something to eat.* His head stopped spinning and he finished his shower. Two days before the back-up team was scheduled to arrive, the six of them were sitting in the mess hall eating dinner. In honor of the guests, Alice cooked a special meal. "Since we'll be leaving here day after tomorrow, I guess we can splurge on all the good stuff. We'll be having a cheesecake for desert." "Sounds wonderful," mumbled Mulder as he gobbled his food. "I can't believe how hungry I am. It's been a long week." Scully laughed to herself. He always seemed to be surprised at the amount of food he could put away. They continued talking and joking for several hours, even pulling out what was left of the beer. Scully decided to take another look at the corpses before she went to bed. An idea had come to her and she wanted to check it out before she forgot. As Scully leaned over the microscope, she felt two hands on her shoulders. She jumped up out of her seat and whirled around with her gun. "Mulder! You scared me. I almost shot you," she said, putting her gun back in her pants. "Sorry, Scully. I was just comin' to see how you were doin', if you needed help. Didn' mean to scare ya," he said, laughing and staggering around a bit. "How much did you drink, Mulder? You're drunk!" "Only had eight or nine beers. But good news, though--we found Alex Taylor's tequila stash. Don't worry, I didn' have more than I can handle," he said as he tripped over the garbage can behind him, landing on his ass. "Well, maybe I did," he said sheepishly, as Scully helped him up. "Tequila! Mulder, when will you grow up? Let's get you back to the dorm. You'll have one hell of a hangover when you wake up. Better take some aspirin before you go to sleep." "I don't need any. I feel great!" Mulder leaned heavily on Scully as they walked toward the dorm building. His arm was around her shoulders and his hand was almost on top of her breast. She looked up at his face but h e seemed oblivious to what he was doing. *Stop being so paranoid, Scully. Those women have you spooked. He's just plastered,* she said to herself. Once she got him to his room, she dumped him into the bed. He was laughing as he lay there. "Woo, the room is spinning. Let me off," he chuckled, trying to pull his shoes off. Seeing that he wasn't making much progress, Scully knelt down to help him remove his shoes and socks. "Hey Scully, you want to take my pants off for me?" Mulder couldn't stop laughing. "Damn, I haven't been this wasted in ages." "You mean, since last week!" "Hey, that doesn' count. I was just helpin' an old friend cope with his problems." "Call it what you want, Mulder." He had managed to get his pants and shirt off, and was climbing under the covers. "Good night, Scully." "Good night, Mulder. I'll see you in the morning." Scully was sitting in the mess hall finishing a cup of coffee. She was going over the last of the paperwork, and had helped Mary and Monica pack up some of their equipment. The Green sisters had been the ones doing tequ ila shooters with Mulder last night, so she didn't expect to see any of them until after 12:00. In fact, Alice and Mulder probably ended up in bed together. All week the two of them had been flirting outrageously, insep arable. Alice even called him Fox! She had never seen him so openly affectionate with a woman. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember ever seeing him with a woman at all. He was so dedicated to his work that he di dn't have time for any relationships. *I guess I can't begrudge him a little enjoyment,* she thought. Moments later, Alice came trudging into the mess; she very carefully poured herself some coffee and sat down across from Scully. "Good morning," she rasped, wincing at the effort. "Good morning. I see you enjoyed yourself last night." "Huh, if you can call it that..." "Well, when Mulder came to the lab last night, he was pretty tanked." "He went to the lab? He said he was going back to the dorm." "He must have seen the light on. I was doing some lab work to test some theories." "Oh, OK. I guess that makes sense," she said skeptically. Before Scully could respond, Sam came in, in better shape then Alice. In fact, she seemed almost perky. "Hey, girls! I feel pretty good today. How about you?" Alice balled up a napkin and threw it at her. Sam dodged it playfully, then gave her sister a hug. "I warned you about the tequila. But no, you insisted on challenging Fox to a contest. He's such a big guy, there's no way you could win!" Scully started a little at hearing Sam use Mulder's first name--he never let anyone call him that. He must have been more drunk than she realized. As if on cue Mulder appeared in the doorway. He looked much paler than usual, and was wearing his sunglasses. He walked to the table, sat down, and put his head on his arms. "Would you like some coffee, Mulder?" Scully politely inquired, trying to stifle her laughter. "Want tea," he said, his voice muffled in his sleeve. Alice chuckled and rubbed his hair. He swatted her hand away and moaned. "Don't touch. Hurts." Alice laughed even louder despite her own headache. She felt like she had gotten her revenge for losing the drinking contest last night. Seeing him like this perked her up. "Mulder, drink this. Here are some aspirin," said Scully as she placed a steaming cup of tea and some pills by his hand. He slowly lifted his head to take the pills. "Should've listened to you last night. Feel terrible." "Well, hopefully you'll be speaking in complete sentences by this evening," she said. "We still have to do final prep the bodies, and organize the paperwork. Monica also asked if we could help her and the others finish packing the equipment they need to take back." "Uh huh." "Go take a shower, Mulder. You'll feel better." "Uh huh." Scully laughed as she walked back toward the lab. She had seen him like this before. It was best to just stay out of his way until he recovered. Scully was getting worried. Mulder hadn't come to help her and it was already 5 in the afternoon; she'd never known him to shirk his duties. *I guess I'll have to go get him,* she thought as she left the lab. He wasn't in the main building, so Scully decided to check the dorm, since he may have gone there to sleep off the hangover. As she walked through the door, she heard a woman giggle and then let out a little scream of la ughter. She then heard the unmistakable laugh of her partner. Scully walked down to Mulder's room and looked in the open door. They were both naked in his bed; Alice was sitting on top of Mulder. They were both laughi ng as Mulder rubbed his hands up and down Alice's sides. "Mulder!" exclaimed Scully she stared, shocked. At the sound of her voice, Alice leapt off of Mulder and slid down next to him. She grabbed the blanket around her. They both looked at Scully, and erupted into more gale s of laughter. Mulder was grinning. "Hi Scully," he said in his most seductive voice. "Alice and I were just having a little fun." More giggles poured out of Alice as she lay next to him; when she saw her Scully's expression, she roa red with laughter. "Mulder! Get dressed! I need to talk to you now!" said Scully as she stormed out of the dorm building. Hearing the tone of her voice, Mulder sobered up. "Alice, I have to get going. When Scully sounds like that she means business. Maybe I can see you later on?" he stroked her face as she smiled. "Of course," she replied. end of part 1 From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!Germany.EU.net!Dortmund.Germany.EU.net!main.Germany.EU.net!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!not-for-mail Mon Jul 15 10:10:48 1996 Article: 21283 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!Germany.EU.net!Dortmund.Germany.EU.net!main.Germany.EU.net!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!not-for-mail From: trevizo@utep.edu (Gil Trevizo) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: Measure of a Man (2/3) NC17 (fwd) Message-ID: Date: 13 Jul 96 06:00:39 GMT Sender: trevizo@utep.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Lines: 428 Status: RO I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on subscribing to the x-files-fanfic mailing list, go to . Please send all comments to the author at . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "The Measure of a Man" 3/3 by E. Ocon (eocon@ix.netcom.com) Rating: NC17 to be safe--there is violence, language, and attempted rape. No relationship elements. Summary: This story was inspired by the episode "Ice" from the first season. Mulder and Scully go off to an isolated area where a strange illness has caused the men to attack the women of the party. M & S are there to l ook into the murder of these men. Writer's Comments: On an obscure note, my story reminded me of an episode of "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" (I think that was the title of the show -- the one with Gil Gerard and Erin Gray and the little robot who went "beedee beedee" or something like that) where Buck was on this planet where all the men turned into satyrs. I don't turn Mulder into a mythological being in this story (although that has some possibilities!). I wrote this story because I really wanted Mulder to be the one with the parasite in "Ice" ;-) Caveat: the science I use in this story to explain what happens is all BUNK! I made it all up! It was purely for the convenience of the plot. This my first attempt at writing anything. I have been an X-files fan for only a few months, but my obsession is growing! Please e-mail constructive comments only. Standard Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This work is not to be forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without the permission of the author. The Measure of a Man Part 2 "Mulder, we're on a case. This case involves these women MURDERING the men in their party. Didn't this cross your mind as you were lying in bed with her?" Scully was standing in front of Mulder, hands on her hips. "H ave you lost all sense of professionalism? We're supposed to be helping these women, solving this case--not having sex with them!" "It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time," he countered. "She's pretty, funny, smart, and laughs at my jokes. Besides, this case is clear-cut. The men got sick, threatened the women, were killed in self-defe nse, case closed. What more is there to do while we wait for the cavalry?" "Mulder, is this really you? They said that a UFO caused this problem. Are you not even the slightest bit interested in that? Or my findings?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing from him. Was this "Spooky" Mu lder, willing to give anything to get his hands on UFO evidence? Was this her tenacious partner who wouldn't settle for the "obvious, clear-cut" answer? "OK, OK. What are these 'findings' of yours?" he asked, exasperated. He thought she was being a little too serious about this. Maybe she should join them doing the shooters again tonight. "Don't talk to me that way. I did a further analysis of the bodies. I checked various glands in their bodies..." "which glands?" "well, the adrenal glands and the testicles." Mulder winced. "You mean you cut their balls open? OUCH!" "Don't be so dramatic. Considering the symptoms of the problem it was the most logical thing to do. It turns out that they all had this parasite that attached itself to the adrenals and testicles. Now, because they are all dead I am only speculating, but I believe that this parasite stimulated the production of the hormones of the body--especially adrenaline and testosterone. When I did an analysis of their blood chemistry, the amount s of these hormones were extremely high. I also found some other chemicals I couldn't identify. That might account for their aggressive sexual behavior." "Yeah, so?" "So, I'd like to give you a blood test. The others never figured out how this thing was passed from man to man, so the only way to be safe is to check you out. It will only take a few minutes." She approached him with a syringe and a swab. "Stop right there. You are NOT going to stick me with that thing." Mulder got up and backed away from her. "Mulder, don't be silly. It's just to be safe." "Stay away from me," he growled. "I'm not going to put up with this, being treated like an animal in a science experiment." "Mulder, stop this right now! Let me help you." "Oh, now the truth comes out. You already think I'm sick. I'm getting out of here." Mulder stormed out of the lab, down the hall. Scully put the syringe down and hurried after him. "Mulder, wait. I don't think there is anything wrong with you. I just want to be safe." "Leave me alone!" he yelled. "I'm not letting you get near me!" As he said those words, Alice came around the corner. Mulder grabbed her and started kissing her roughly. "Hey, babe. Why don't we continue our fun back in my bunk?" he held her tight and started stroking her buttocks. "Fox, let me go. We have work to do. There'll be plenty of time for that later," she laughed as she tried to squirm out of his embrace. The more she struggled, the tighter he held on. He was kissing her roughly on the neck. "Fox, I said stop that," said Alice as her laughter died away. She began to seriously struggle. "Let me go!" When Scully saw what was happening, she approached Mulder and grabbed him by the belt. She jerked backwards and he lost his balance. He sat on the floor looking at Scully with menacing eyes. "You shouldn't have done that, babe." "Mulder, listen to yourself. You're definitely infected with the parasite. You need help." "I don't need anything but a good fuck. Alice and I are going to continue where we left off." He got up and started toward Alice, who was trembling by the counter. "Mulder, stop," Scully said with authority. He heard the metallic click of a gun being cocked, and he slowly turned to look at her. "What are you doing, Scully?" he asked in a low, threatening voice. "Mulder, stop right there. You are ill and need to be helped. If you continue to threaten Alice, I'll be forced to defend her." She dropped her voice. "Mulder, don't force my hand." "You won't shoot me," he said as he slowly approached her. "You like me too much. In fact, I bet you were jealous of Alice back there in the dorm. I bet you wish it had been you back there sitting on top of me, my cock buried in your cunt. I know you've wanted me for a long time--I could see it in your eyes. Well, here's your chance, babe. I'll do you right here on the floor." He was reaching for Scully's gun and she stood horrifie d, listening to his words. Before he could take the gun, though, Alice took a metal can that was lying on the floor and whacked him in the back of the head. He collapsed limply to the ground. She stood staring at him f or a moment. "I can't believe it's happening again. He seemed so nice and sweet. How could I have been so stupid?" she sobbed as she dropped the bucket. "It's not your fault, Alice. This isn't the true Mulder--he would never treat anyone like this. I know." "Thanks," whispered Alice. "We should probably lock him up before he comes to. Let's get the others." It took three of them to drag his limp body to the storage room where they had locked Hanson. As he lay there, Scully quickly examined him to see if he was really hurt by the blow. She also took the blood sample she wan ted. As she finished up, he began to stir, moaning. "Scully, is that you? What happened?" "there was a little accident. You slipped and bumped your head. You'll be OK." As Scully was saying those words, she got up and slowly made her way toward the door. Before she got out, sudden comprehension lit up his e yes and he roared up. "You lying bitch! You attacked me!" as he lunged for the door, Scully slipped out just as the other women slammed the door shut. Before they could lock it Mulder shoved it partially open. However, their combined effor t finally succeeded in getting the door shut. Scully was barely able to get the pin into the lock because her hands were shaking so bad. They could see Mulder's face plastered against the glass in the door. "I'll get you for this you pack of bitches! I'll get out of here and fuck each one of you before I kill you!" he screamed in rage. "Let's get out of here. We have to figure out what we're going to do," said Scully. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. She *should* have quarantined him when she first found out there was a problem. *Oh, Mu lder. I hope I haven't made a fatal mistake,* she said to herself as she hurried back to the mess hall. In the mess hall, the women sat at the table; a somber mood had settled over the room. "He seemed so fun last night," whispered Alice, who was still shaken by the change in him. "I could have told you that was how it started. But no, no one listens to me." "Shut up, Mary! It was different with you and Hanson," Alice said, embarrassed. "Fox and I seemed to really have something." "Ladies, please," said Scully, trying to think. "Let's not worry about that now. We have to find a way to help Mulder. He's sick and needs our help." "What he needs is a bullet in the head," threatened Mary. Scully stood up and faced the women squarely. "That is not going to happen. Despite his obnoxious behavior he is still my partner and I won't let any of you hurt him. All I have to do is figure out a way to counteract the parasite; then he'll be back to normal." "Great, but he WILL break out of there. That room could hold Hanson because he was a 98-pound weakling, but your partner is too big and strong to be caged there for long. We need a person to watch over that room to warn the others if he starts working his way out. And he will NOT stop trying until he succeeds," said Monica in a dry tone. "I'll take the first watch." "Good. We'll each do 3 hour shifts. I'll go to the lab and take another look at that parasite. Samantha, you'll spell Monica first, then Alice and Mary. I'll take the last shift." "Come on, Mary. Let's go finish packing up our equipment. Alice, why don't you consolidate our supplies so we know what we have." Monica sat in a chair across from the door. She saw Mulder pace back and forth, occasionally looking at her through the window in the door. The angry gaze of those eyes shook her up every time. *Damn, has he got me spooked,* she thought. *It's like he's waiting for me to look away, or fall asleep.* As she bent down to pick up her drink, she heard a loud crashing noise. Mulder had punched his arm through the window and was trying to reach the lock. "Dana! Sam! Anybody! Come help me!" she screamed frantically as she began whacking at his arm with a shovel. "Stop that, bitch! Let me out of here!" He tried to grab the shovel away from her, but the awkward position of his body made it difficult. Scully and the others ran into the room, seeing Monica struggle to keep his hand away from the lock. "Sam, is there any wood here? Something we can hammer across that window?" "yeah, outside. I'll be right back." "Mulder, stop this! We only want to help you! If you continue doing this, we'll have to take drastic measures," grunted Scully as she blocked the lock with her body. "Shut up, Scully! I'm sick and tired of taking orders from you! I'm the senior agent here and you're supposed to obey me! I order you to let me out of here!" Scully hated continuing this conversation, but it had stoppe d him from trying to reach the lock. She kept it up. "Fat chance, bozo. I'm relieving you of duty. If you would stop this behavior I could get back to the lab and find a cure for you." "I don't need your fuckin' help! I'm just fine. All I need is to fuck some red-haired pussy," he said in a husky voice. "Just come in here and spread those legs and I'll be good as new." He laughed. "Damn you, Mulder. I'm not doing anything like that. You're just going to have to be a big boy and take a shot instead." Scully was visibly relieved when Sam came back with the wood and tools. They quickly nailed seve ral boards across the window. "That should keep him out of trouble for a while. Hey, Dana, what's wrong?" Monica asked gently as Scully slid to the ground. She buried her head in her hands and started crying. "I can't believe all those things he said to me. He's never been this way before," she stammered out between sobs. "I know, Dana. It's hard. Alex Taylor and I were engaged to be married. He talked to me the same way near the end. When he attacked Alice, I wouldn't let anyone else shoot him--I did it myself. It was the hardest thi ng I've ever done," said Monica, hugging Scully. "I should get back to the lab," said Scully. "Sam, can you spell me now? I'd like to help Dana in the lab." "Sure." Scully and Monica made their way to the lab. Suddenly, Scully had an idea. "I think I've got it! Let's hurry." "This is the blood sample I took from Mulder. I have some tests I want to run. Can you take a little of and put it on a slide so we can look under the microscope." "Sure. Dana, what are you thinking?" asked Monica as she prepared the slide. "Well, I was thinking about why the parasite would not affect women. Most of the hormones secreted by the body are in roughly the same proportions in men and women, except for the male and female hormones. Both sexes pr oduce both, but in men the amounts of estrogen and other hormones are small in comparison to the testosterone; in women, it's the opposite. What if the reason women aren't infected is because we produce very little testo sterone and a lot of estrogen? The parasites seem to even increase the production of the testosterone in the body of the men, so they must thrive in that." "So, what do we do for Fox? It's not like we can tell him to just stop making testosterone." "Well, that's true. But, what if we injected him with a large amount of estrogen? If we increase the amount, it might be enough to kill the parasite." "Will that affect him permanently?" "I don't think so." "The slide's ready. Hey, Scully, where are you going to get the estrogen you need?" "How do you feel about needles?" Scully chuckled as she extracted some of her own blood. She took some of the blood and added it to Mulder's blood under the microscope. "Something's happening. The parasites are showing increased activity. Let's let them...no, they're settling down. I'll try adding a bigger dose," she said as she put more of her blood on the slide. "They're at it again. Some of them are actually dying," Scully said, looking into the microscope. "Not all of them, though. Let me add a little more. Yes! That did the trick. So, if it's about 3 times as much, that would mean..." Scully's voice trailed away as she tried to figure out how much they would have to inject into Mulder to kill the parasite. "I'm going to have to take blood from all five of us to get enough hormones for Mulder. I'll start with you and me, Monica. When you're done, go get the others and have them come here." "Dana! Monica! He's getting through the door! I think he's trying to just bash his way out!" shouted Samantha as she burst into the lab. "We have to get back there!" "Sam, stay here with Dana--she needs a blood sample. I'll get the others and stop him," cried Monica as she went out the door. "You need my blood? Why?" Sam panted as she sat down in the chair. "I figured out a way to help Mulder. We're going to inject him with a massive dose of female hormones. That should kill the parasite. Now, it won't solve our more immediate problem of his violence, but at least it's a start." "What about after? If we stay here, he'll just get it again." "Well, the clean-up crew is due here early tomorrow. If we can keep him locked up all night, then we can inject him first thing in the morning. It takes the body some time to equalize hormone levels, so he should be imm une until we can get him out of here." "Dana, I hope you're right." "Yeah, me too. Let's go help the others." "No, Dana, you stay here and do your work. I'll send the others back when we've contained the situation." "Good luck!" Scully said as she turned to her equipment. BAM! BAM! Sam heard Mulder throwing himself up against the door as he tried to force his way out. Monica and Alice were holding the door closed with their bodies as Mary attempted to nail boards across the doorway. Sam quickly gr abbed the other end of the boards to help her. Together they were able to nail them down. "Whew! That should hold him a while," sighed Monica as she sat on the ground. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. He had almost made it out that time. "We're never going to make it," moaned Mary as she slumped in a chair. "Yeah we will, kid," Sam said. "Dana thinks she has a cure. Which reminds me--Mary, Alice, you have to go give Dana some of your blood." "What!" cried Mary. "She's going to shoot him up with female hormones. She thinks it will kill the parasite. It won't stop his behavior, though." "Great. Sounds like a winner," Mary spat sarcastically. "Well, it's better than shooting him!" cried Alice. "You only say that because 'til he came around you hadn't been fucked since we've been out here." "Stop that! It's not his fault he's sick," said Alice, bristling up to defend him. "And besides, Hammer and I were *very* close." "Stop this now!" yelled Monica. "Listen to yourselves! Can we get anymore catty? We're scientists, for God's sake! Let's start using a little more brain power here. Does Dana have to think of everything?" "Sorry Monica. Come on, Alice, let's go to the lab so Dana can play around with her chemicals. Fat lot of good it'll do us, but it'll pass the time," said Mary. "I'm starting to really hate her," mumbled Alice as she followed Mary out the door. Scully worked through the night extracting the female hormones from the blood she'd taken. It was slow work, but she was nearly complete when she heard a crash. Monica came tearing into the lab. "He broke through! We've got to get out of here!" Monica grabbed Dana. "Wait! I have to get the extract into the syringe. We've got to inject him," she said breathlessly as she shakily filled the plunger. "Got it!" "Let's move!" cried Monica. "Hold it, bitch," growled Mulder as he stalked into the lab. "I've got some business to take care of with my partner." "No, you hold it, Buster. You're not getting near Dana," said Monica as she placed herself between Mulder and Scully. She kept her eyes on Mulder as she tried to figure out a way to get around him. "I don't take orders from a cunt like you. I'll break you're neck," he threatened as he slowly moved closer to them. "Stop! I don't want to hurt you," she stammered, looking around frantically for a diversion. Before he took a step further, Mary appeared behind him and hit him in the back with a stick. "Take that you brute! Leave them alone," she said as she backed away. He turned to glare at her. This gave Monica and Scully a chance to move near the door; they stood behind a counter. "You'll regret that. I'm going to break your arms," he said as he lunged for Mary. He landed on top of her and brought her to the ground. Mulder grabbed her arm and twisted it. Before he could do anything, Scully grab bed the stick Mary had dropped and hit him against the chest. He fell backwards, wheezing for air. "Cone on, Mary!" cried Scully as she led Monica and Mary out the door. "We've got to get out of here." She met up with the others and they ran out of the building into the woods. "He's going to find us," moaned Mary. "You're probably right. But, if we can avoid him for a few more hours, the back-up team will be here and they can help us subdue him," said Scully, trying to form a plan in her mind. "If we could at least catch him long enough to inject him, we could get rid of the parasite. I don't want what happened to Hanson happening to Mulder." "Catch him? How are we supposed to do that?" asked Alice. She remembered how he charged through the door like a rhino. "That door couldn't even hold him for long." "I have a plan that just might work. We need to lure him into a tight space that we can block off. Monica, are those walkie-talkies I saw in the storage shed charged?" "yes, they always are. Why?" "Well, we're going to have to communicate with each other if this is going to work. Let's you and I go get them." "No, let's all go together. There's safety in numbers," said Alice with a determined voice. "You're probably right. Let's go." The women returned to their hiding place without incident. They almost ran into Mulder on there way back, but luckily he was too focused on where he was going to here their anxious breathing. "Now, here's the plan. Mary, I need you to..." dictated Scully as she filled them in on the details of the plan. Some time later, Monica asked, "Scully, what are we going to use as bait?" Scully looked at her with an unreadable expression. "Me." (to be continued...) From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon Mon Jul 15 10:11:05 1996 Article: 21304 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Gil Trevizo Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: REPOST: Measure of a Man (3/3) (fwd) Date: 13 Jul 1996 22:16:28 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 342 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960713221626.aaaa001LI@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu Status: RO I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on subscribing to the x-files-fanfic mailing list, go to . Please send all comments to the author at . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sorry about the screw up with part 3--I hope it gets through this time. There is a "the end" at the end of it. "The Measure of a Man" 3/3 by E. Ocon (eocon@ix.netcom.com) Rating: NC17 to be safe--there is violence, language, and attempted rape. No relationship elements. Summary: This story was inspired by the episode "Ice" from the first season. Mulder and Scully go off to an isolated area where a strange illness has caused the men to attack the women of the party. M & S are there to l ook into the murder of these men. Writer's Comments: On an obscure note, my story reminded me of an episode of "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" (I think that was the title of the show -- the one with Gil Gerard and Erin Gray) where Buck was on this planet where all the men turned into satyrs. I don't turn Mulder into a mythological being in this story (although that has some possibilities!). I wrote this story because I really wanted Mulder to be the one with the parasite in "Ice" ;-) Caveat: the science I use in this story to explain what happens is all BUNK! I made it all up! It was purely for the convenience of the plot. This my first attempt at writing anything. I have been an X-files fan for only a few months, but my obsession is growing! Please e-mail constructive comments only. Standard Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This work is not to be forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without the permission of the author. The Measure of a Man Part 3 Mulder was stalking around the woods looking for Scully. He found it very hard to concentrate because of the red haze in his brain--he couldn't seem to control himself at all. If he could just get his hands on her he kn ew he'd feel a lot better. Alice had been a fun diversion, but when he really thought about it Scully was who he really wanted. Damn her! He stopped suddenly. Could it be? He'd seen a flash of red hair by the river. He snuck up very quietly. He gently pushed the bushes aside and saw Scully stooping by the river filling a canteen. Mulder could barely co ntain his impulses. It wouldn't do to just run at her--she'd hear him coming and get away. So, he started crawling toward her on his hands and feet. "Dana, he's coming up behind you," Monica said through the walkie-talkie. Luckily, Dana had it on the very lowest volume so Mulder wouldn't be able to hear. "He's about 100 yards away. You better make your run for it." "Hold on -- I want him to feel like he's really going to make it. I don't think he has enough energy for a sustained run." "Oh, Dana, he's getting closer. I'm really glad you can't see his face--he looks like a demon." "It's OK. I'm going to make a break for it soon. Are the others ready?" "Yeah, they're ready." "Here I go!" cried Scully as she ran across the stones in the river. She and the others had mapped this route out and Scully had given it a few test runs--but during practice she didn't have her sex-crazed partner chasin g her. She managed to get to the other side, and turned to look. "Damn it!" screamed Mulder when he saw her take off. He had heard the crackle of a walkie-talkie right before she ran. He followed her across the river, but he couldn't keep his balance. He slipped off a stone in the m iddle of the river, but managed to grab hold of it before he was swept away. "You're going to pay for this, Scully," he said as he struggled back onto the rock. "You wish! You couldn't fuck your way out of a harem full of sex-starved nymphomaniacs," taunted Scully. "Shut up bitch! You wait right there and take what's coming to you," he said as he finally established his footing. He slowly made his way across. "Just try and catch me you bastard!" yelled Scully as she ran down into the woods. Mulder had finally made it to the riverbank when Scully ran off. "Come back here," he responded as he ran after her. Scully ran at top speed toward the trap they set for Mulder. She didn't waste any more breath teasing him, knowing that he was now too focused on catching her to give up. She could here his heavy panting behind her; it sounded like he was getting closer. His height advantage was allowing him to catch up with her. She wasn't too worried, though, because the first obstacle was coming up. Scully ran past a tree where Mary was hiding. As Mulder came up behind her, Mary pulled with all her strength on the rope they had going across the path. Mulder caught his foot on the rope and went sprawling to the grou nd; the force of the impact knocked the wind out of him. "That's the oldest trick in the book," he wheezed as Mary walked by him. "You fell for it though, asshole," she spat back as she ran down the path after Scully. *Oh, they're going to pay,* thought Mulder as he staggered back up. He slowly started racing down after the two women. Scully knew that she only had a few moments to catch her breath when she heard Mulder fall, but is was enough to keep going. "One down!" Mary said as she went past Scully. "He's up again." "I know. I'm going." She delayed a little until Mulder could see her, then took off again. When he saw Scully he picked up speed. He was not going to let his prey get away that easily. Mary's rope had only momentarily set him back. He'd get that red-haired little vixen if it was the last thing he would do. He decided to try something a little sweeter. "Scully, please stop," he pleaded, "I only want to tell you how much I love you. Is that so wrong? Please stop." Scully stumbled a little when she heard this. He was going for the heavy artillery. "Not a chance, Mulder," she yelled over her shoulder. "Bitch!" he screamed, dropping all pretense. "You got it big guy," she said as she neared the second trap they set for him. Alice was watching from her post up in a tree. She saw Mulder slowly gaining on Scully. Suddenly Scully veered to the edge of the path; Mulder didn't seem to notice as he continued down the middle. He was getting close to Scully. Before he could grab her, though, he dropped into the shallow pit they had dug and covered with leaves. Alice leapt to the ground and quickly ran over to him with a syringe filled with tranquilizers; she sta bbed him in the back with it then swerved to run. Mulder was able to grab her ankle before she got away. She slammed to the ground as he dragged her to the pit. "Dana!" she screamed as she struggled to get out of his grip. Scully stopped running and came back to see Alice fall into the pit with Mulder. He punched her in the face and she crumpled to the ground. He turned to wat ch Scully come back down the path. She had to think quickly. "Mulder, it's not her you want. You've already had sex with her. You want me, remember? I thought you were interested in me. You know," she said coyly, "I've always thought you were quite sexy. Why don't you climb ou t of that pit and come over here? I've got something I want to tell you." She smiled sweetly at him and batted her eyes. Mulder stood transfixed for a moment, then climbed out of the pit. He slowly approached Scully. "You really mean that?" he asked. "Of course. Come here," she gestured. "OK." Mulder walked over to her, reaching out to grab her arm. Scully swiftly kicked him in the groin and took off down the path. "Sucker!" she cried as she ran off laughing. Mulder had doubled over with pain, eyes squeezed shut. He couldn't believe he'd fallen for that. How could he have been so stupid? He pulled himself up, staggering a little as the drugs started affecting his system. He 'd have to hurry or he'd lose her again. He could still see her red hair bobbing up and down the path in front of him. *One more chance, * he thought to himself as he started following her. *Better get her before you p ass out.* he very slowly picked up speed. "Dana! He's still coming," said Monica from her post. "He's a lot slower, though." "I didn't think the drugs would knock him out completely," panted Scully into the walkie-talkie. "We just needed to slow him down some." She wasn't running anymore; Mulder wasn't moving very fast so she slowed down to a jog. Mulder followed behind her. His lack of sleep and food, the several times the women had assaulted him, *plus* the drugs were really wearing him down. He was too determined, however, to stop now. He saw Scully disappear into a small cave. *This is my big chance,* he thought as he followed her in there. Monica came down from her perch higher on the hill. Mary and Sam came out of their hiding places to join her. "We're going to have to go back to get Alice when we're done here. He knocked her out in the pit," she relayed to them. "Is he going to pass out from the drugs?" asked Mary. "Dana said he wouldn't, but he's definitely slowing down. We should be able to overpower him. Let's go," she answered as the three went into the cave. Mulder slowly felt his way through the cave. There was some light coming in from above, but not enough to see very clearly. He did notice a bobbing light in front of him. *Must be Scully. This must be where they're hi ding out.* He stopped when he came around the corner and saw her kneeling down by some backpacks. He quickly surveyed the lay of the cave and noticed there were no other openings. He had her! He decided to go with a direct approa ch. "Well, Scully, it seems that I've finally got you where I want you," he leered. Scully whirled around at the sound of his voice. "Mulder! I thought I'd lost you." "I'm not that easy to get rid of--you know that. That's why I'm such a good FBI agent," he replied as he walked toward her. Halfway across the room he suddenly staggered and sank to his knees. He stayed down for only a moment. "You girls shot me up with somethin' powerful. But it still won' save ya'," he said, slurring his words; the drugs were finally taking over. He swayed in his tracks. Scully approached him cautiously. "You don't look so good, Mulder. Why don't you let me help you." "Don' need your help. I'm jus fine," he muttered. He could still feel the rage and desire inside, but the urgency was receding. "It's OK, big guy. I won't hurt you. You're very sick and I've got some medicine that'll cure you. Why don't you lie down?" she said quietly, putting her hand on his arm. He flung her hand away. "I don' trus' you--you hur' me," he mumbled. Scully put her hand back on his arm and pulled him down to the ground with her. "Mulder, you *can* trust me. It's me, Scully, your partner." He looked at her with glazed eyes for a moment. Before she could stop him, he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her toward him. He captured both her lips with his and kissed her, wrapping his arm around her. "I really do love you, Dana," he whispered as he pulled back from the kiss. She was too shocked to respond. He leaned over and kissed her again. She could feel his warm tongue exploring her mouth. She couldn't believ e how wonderful it felt, how she didn't want it to end. "Mulder, stop," she stammered, pulling away from him. He didn't try to grab her again; he just sat there, looking at her with those warm hazel eyes. "Dana, you ready to shoot him up with those hormones?" Monica said as she and the others walked in. Scully leapt up to her feet, startled. "Yeah, I guess so," she stuttered, fumbling in her pockets. She found the syringe full of hormone extract. She looked at Mulder sitting on the floor, her hands shaking. As Mulder realized what they were going to do, he struggled back up to his feet. "Monica, you and the others are going to have to hold him down." "Don' touch me," he said, backing away from the others. His reactions were too slow, however, and the three women grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Monica, the largest and strongest, sat on his legs. Mary and Sa m each held one of his arms down. "Stop it! Get off of me!" he yelled, squirming in their grasp. He struggled in vain-- he didn't have enough strength left to free himself. Scully approached him with the syringe. She ripped the sleeve off his shirt to get to his arm. "Scully, don' do this! Nothin's wrong with me!" he bellowed. "Mulder, be quiet. It'll be over soon?" she said as she injected him with the hormones. The reaction was immediate. He let out a scream and began to convulse, his eyes rolling back into his head. He started making gargling sounds in his throat. "Hold him down!" yelled Scully, trying to hold down his torso as his body heaved and twisted. "What's going on?" cried Alice as she staggered into the cave. "Did you inject him?" "Yes! He started to convulse! I guess the parasite isn't going to die without a fight!" responded Scully. The four women were desperately trying to hold on to his limbs. "At this rate, the bug will either die very soo n, or Mulder will." Scully pushed the last thought out of her mind. Mulder heaved up a few more times, let out an inarticulate cry, then went completely limp. The women slowly let go of him. "Is he...is he...dead?" whispered Alice, approaching him. Scully put her hand on his neck, feeling for a pulse. Relief flooded her face when she felt the steady but weak heartbeat. "He's alive," she sighed, as she sat back, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "What do we do now?" asked Monica, putting her hand on Scully's shoulder. "Well, we should probably get him back to the dorm. I'll need to run more tests on him to make sure all the parasite is dead. I should probably take some more blood from us, as well, to extract more hormone. He may nee d another dose." "You know, we're not safe yet. He may have no more parasite, but he's still going to be violent." "I know. But if we can get him back to a bed we could tie him down until the back-up crew arrives." Back in the infirmary, Scully finished bandaging Alice's face where Mulder had punched her. "Alice, I'm so sorry about what happened. I should have been the one to inject him." "Dana, don't worry. I knew the risk when I volunteered to be the one to do it." "Well, I still am sorry." "Believe me, I am too," chuckled Alice as she got up. "I've got to go relieve Mary. It's my turn to watch over him." "OK. Tell the others I'll be in the lab. The back-up team should be here in a couple of hours." "Great! I can't wait to get back home. It's been a long year." Scully had been in the lab for a while. Mulder's blood sample had shown no live parasites in his blood; however, the hormone levels were still very high, as were the levels of the other substances she couldn't identify. It would be a few weeks before his blood chemistry would normalize. When they got back, he'd probably be put under quarantine until he was better. He wouldn't like that one bit. He'd been her patient before, and he wa s obnoxious when confined. Maybe she would take a few weeks off and take a nice, quiet vacation somewhere far away from him. Scully failed to here the lab door open as she was musing about possible vacation spots. She jumped when she heard Mulder's voice. "So, Scully, working late again? Why don't you get some rest." His voice was hard and cruel. "Mulder! How did you get in here? How did you get out of bed?" she asked, making her way toward the door. "Oh, there's nothing a little sweet talk won't get you. Alice is such a nice girl. It's too bad I had to hit her again. Now I guess she'll have matching bandages," he smirked. He lunged at Scully and grabbed her two a rms. "You won't get away this time." "That's where you're wrong!" she yelled, pulling herself away. He seemed surprised at his inability to hold her. "You're very weak, Mulder. You're no match for me right now," she said with a strong, authoritative voice From math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon Mon Jul 15 10:11:05 1996 Article: 21305 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.ycc.yale.edu!yale!news-mail-gateway!daemon From: Gil Trevizo Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: Measure of a Man (3b/3) -- 2nd half of part 3 (fwd) Date: 13 Jul 1996 22:16:46 -0400 Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 232 Sender: daemon@cs.yale.edu Message-ID: <19960713221645.aaaa001LP@babyblue.cs.yale.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: babyblue.cs.yale.edu Status: RO I DID NOT WRITE THIS - I am the administrator for the x-files-fanfic mailing list and am posting this story for a subscriber. For information on subscribing to the x-files-fanfic mailing list, go to . Please send all comments to the author at . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Well, my repost didn't work. I guess part 3 was too big. So, here is the second half of part 3. Enjoy! "The Measure of a Man" 3b/3 by E. Ocon (eocon@ix.netcom.com) Rating: NC17 to be safe--there is violence, language, and attempted rape. No relationship elements. Summary: This story was inspired by the episode "Ice" from the first season. Mulder and Scully go off to an isolated area where a strange illness has caused the men to attack the women of the party. M & S are there to l ook into the murder of these men. Writer's Comments: On an obscure note, my story reminded me of an episode of "Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century" (I think that was the title of the show -- the one with Gil Gerard and Erin Gray and the little robot who went "beedee beedee" or something like that) where Buck was on this planet where all the men turned into satyrs. I don't turn Mulder into a mythological being in this story (although that has some possibilities!). I wrote this story because I really wanted Mulder to be the one with the parasite in "Ice" ;-) Caveat: the science I use in this story to explain what happens is all BUNK! I made it all up! It was purely for the convenience of the plot. This my first attempt at writing anything. I have been an X-files fan for only a few months, but my obsession is growing! Please e-mail constructive comments only. Standard Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended. This work is not to be forwarded or distributed to any newsgroup, FTP, or WWW site without the permission of the author. The Measure of a Man Part 3b "Well, I *would* agree with you, Scully, except for one thing..." "what's that?" "This," he said as he cocked his gun and pointed it at her. "I realized that I couldn't outfight you. So, I figured I'd outsmart you." He chuckled as he came toward her again. "Come on, Scully. All I want to do is fu ck you. Is that really worth losing your life over?" "Yes!" she screamed as she ran out the door. He fired at her but she was too fast. He tucked the gun in his pants and loped after her. He followed her outside into the woods again. "Are you getting a sense of deja vu, Scully?" Mulder yelled after her. She was tired herself, so he didn't need to run at full speed. Scully was getting scared. This time she didn't have reinforcements. He had said he'd taken out Alice, but where were the others? She swerved off onto the path they had taken earlier to catch Mulder. She knew that are a and felt she had a chance to beat him. She noticed he was following her at a jog, not full speed. He must know that she's tired herself. She became so preoccupied with keeping her eye on him that she failed to notice the pit in front of her. With a surprised yell she fell into the hole; something in her ankle snapped. *Oh my God,* she thought as she scrambled out of the hole. She tried to stand up but she could barely put any weight on her foot. She started limping away as Mulder rushed up to her. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her on her back. He straddled her body and held her wrists above her head. "Finally!" he exclaimed, panting. "Well, Scully, it looks like I won. Or, maybe *you* won since now you're going to get the fuck of your life. Now, if you try anything, I'll blow your brains out," he growled as he cocke d his gun and held it to her temple for a moment. He then grabbed her shirt at the neck and ripped it down the middle; he tore her bra, exposing her breasts. He moaned as he lowered his head to her nipples, moving the gu n back to her head. "You taste delicious," he murmured. He held both her hands in one of his and reached down to undo her jeans. She couldn't figure out where the gun was, so she just prayed that one of the others would get here in time to stop him. He continued to mouth her breasts as he managed to pull her jeans midway down her thighs. "That should be far enough," he said as he sat up. He reached to undo his jeans, but couldn't quite manage with one hand. "Damn button-fly jeans," he muttered as he got a couple of them undone. Before he could continue, though, he heard a loud voice behind him. "Agent Mulder, stop! Move away from agent Scully!" Mulder spun his head to look, grabbing his gun. A ring of federal agents surrounded them, pointing guns at him. He didn't move. "Agent Mulder, I said to move away from agent Scully. Put your gun down. If you don't comply, we'll be forced to shoot." Scully had frozen when she heard the voices. As she felt Mulder loosen his grip on her wrists, she punched him in the jaw. He fell back and she scurried away on her hands and knees. He sat up and started after her, but the other agents closed in around him. "Agent Mulder, lie face down with your hands over your head!" said the leader of the group. "Don't shoot, him! He's sick! He's not in control of himself!" cried Scully from behind the line. Two female agents were trying to help her, but she pushed them away. Grasping her shirt around herself, she limped over to the other agents. "Let me talk to him," she said to the leader. "He'll listen to me." "Go ahead." Scully approached Mulder, who was squatting down ready to pounce on anyone who would approach him. She slumped down next to him. "Mulder, it's me, Scully. I know you're feeling scared and threatened right now, but these people are here to help you. Please do what they say and lie down on the ground." Mulder turned to look at her. She could see the desperate look in his eyes. "Scully, all I wanted to do was show you how much I care. Why did you have to hurt me so much?" he whispered. "Mulder, I know that's what you thought you were doing. But you hurt me, and you hurt Alice. I know that's not the real you. Come back to me, Mulder," she pleaded. She moved close enough to reach for the gun; he made no move to stop her. She threw it outside the circle of people surrounding him. Immediately the federal agents ran up to Mulder and forcefully shoved him face down, pulling his hands behind him to cuff them. "Wait! I said he is ill! He should be quarantined. He's not a criminal!" she cried as they roughly dragged him away. "Agent Scully, Alice Green is pressing charges against agent Mulder for assault, battery, and rape." "Rape? He didn't rape her!" "Well, those are the charges. We have to bring him in." "Don't worry, Mulder. I'll help you," she called after her partner. "Agent Scully, how can you defend him? He was going to rape you if we hadn't stopped him!" "You don't understand. He's ill--he doesn't know what he's doing. How can I blame him for that?" "Well, you have more tolerance than I." Scully shrugged as she hobbled after the agents pulling Mulder along. Back in Washington, DC, Scully was walking toward the quarantine room at the hospital. Mulder had been there for three weeks so far. He was probably climbing up the wall since he wasn't even allowed visitors. This had been her first chance to come see him. As she walked into the room, she saw Mulder sitting up in bed surrounded by the quarantine barrier. He looked up when she walked in; when he saw who it was, he quickly dropped his gaze to the book he was reading. "Hi Scully," he mumbled. "Hi, Mulder. How are you feeling?" "Fine, I guess. I can leave here in another week." He continued to stare at his book. "Mulder, look at me." She saw him finger the page in the book for a moment before answering. "How is Alice doing?" he asked, evading her question. "She's good. I'm glad she dropped the charges against you. She wants to come see you, if you don't mind." "No," he said abruptly. "Why not?" "I just can't," he said as he put his book down. "I'm really tired. Would you please leave?". He lay back down in the bed and turned his back on Scully. "Mulder, I'm not going to leave until you talk to me." "What do you want to talk about? The weather? Sports?" he spat at her, sitting back up. "I want to talk about us." "There's nothing to say. I gave Skinner my resignation yesterday, so you'll be free of me soon enough." He fixed his stare on his hands, twisting a bit of the sheet. "I know. That's why I'm here. Skinner wanted me to come by and convince you not to resign." "I have to resign. If I can't work on the X-files, I can't stay. If I can't work with you, I can't stay. Why don't you leave me alone?" he moaned, working the sheet more fiercely. Scully pulled up a chair. "What makes you think you have to give up those things?" "Won't I?" he whispered, finally looking into her eyes. She could see the despair in his face. "Mulder, I know that wasn't you attacking us. It was that damnable parasite in your blood." "You mean, you still want to work with me? Even after I hit you, and said horrible things to you, and..." he gulped, barely able to get the words out. "Tried to rape you?" "Don't get me wrong, Mulder. I was *very* angry back there. While we were trying to subdue you, I didn't stop to think about what you were really doing. After you were taken away, though, it hit me all of sudden. I wa s upset, and scared, and lots of other things. Frankly, I still am. But I've had a few weeks to sort things out too, and I think we can salvage this relationship. I truly and honestly believe in the work we're doing. O ur relationship won't be the same; I now it'll take some time before I feel safe around you again. We'll work it out." He looked at her for a long time, trying to read the truth of her words. "I'd like to start over again, too," he said, his voice full of emotion. "I can't ever apologize enough, or make it up to you. I know that." She pushed the barrier toward Mulder so she could get closer. Through the plastic, she took his hand. "We'll get through this together. We're partners, remember?" "Yeah. Partners." Mulder took another look at Scully, and allowed himself to hope. The End.