************************************************************************** Trustyone's e-mail address has changed to: trustyonefanfic@hotmail.co.uk ************************************************************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities V: One Step Closer by Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X Willis residence Prescott, Arizona August 13 3:07am Dane Scully, doctor and FBI agent, walked back into the sitting room to see the three agents lying on the floor. Their eyes were closed. Fox Mulder stopped in his tracks as he was greeted with the equally strange sight. Mulder turned to Scully, "Think there's any caffeine in here?" Scully nodded and they both walked t the kitchen. Scully found the things she needed to make the brew and began to boil the water. "Black?" she asked. "Black" Mulder echoed in agreement. "So, did ya find anything?" he stupidly asked, trying to make conversation with his pissed off partner. "Nope. You?" Her attempts at chat were equally pathetic. "Nope" Silence clouded the modern appliance filled kitchen. Scully made three cups off black coffee for the sleeping agents and two white coffees for her and Mulder. The silence was briefly broken with the click of the kettle. The water had boiled. Scully poured the water, filling the mugs. Mulder grabbed a tray, placing the mugs on it and brought them through to the sitting room. Scully shook Agent Charlotte Taylor who woke up startled. She graciously accepted the mug of black coffee and downed it in one long gulp. Scully woke up Agents Andrew Webster and Matthew Roberts, who then both drank the coffee. After a while everyone had resumed their searching and still had found nothing. -----X Twenty minutes crept by. By now they had all given up. Every room, cupboard and drawer looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off in it. The agents sat in the living room, discussing the case. "Well what did ya find then?" Mulder said with fake enthusiasm. "Nada" "Zip" "Nothing" "A dead rat" Roberts said. Everyone stared at him as if he had grown a third ear in the middle of his fore head. He sheepishly looked down at the suddenly interesting carpet. But, he had been looking in the basement. he mentally screamed to himself. "So, what do we do now, chosen one" Scully said to Mulder in a snide tone. She was not impressed at all. It was only 4:25 in the morning and already they had been searching for over an hour. "Well, we should look over the other houses" Everybody groaned. "Why?" Taylor said like a sulking child. "Because the *evidence* might be there" Mulder finished in an authoritative yet over the top 'believer' tone. "Note the word *might*" Scully said to the others while giving Mulder a your-wasting-our-time-on-this-wild-goose-chase crossed with a you-are-gonna-regret-making-me-mad look. He ignored Scully and went to make his way out of the room. Taylor, Scully and Webster reluctantly followed. As they neared the door, they realised someone was missing. They ran back into the room to find Roberts asleep on the sofa. They all sighed deeply as a loud snore echoed around them. ----------------X Blyth residence Prescott, Arizona August 13 5:30am Scully downed her seventh cup of coffee of the morning and resumed searching. She once again had the pleasure of searching downstairs while Mulder and Taylor searched upstairs, Webster searched the attic and Roberts slept on the sofa. His snoring was making Scully tear her hair out because it was so loud! She wanted to scream. Mulder had promised to let her know if he planned on snooping around outside. But only because he knew when she was pissed off, she was a very good aim when it came to her firing her gun. And, he didn't feel like losing anything of value to him like his male appendages he thought as he searched yet another closet of navy suits and black shoes. Mulder wished he hadn't started this, bringing Scully, Taylor, Webster and Roberts out like this. Although he knew that Scully would follow him, they would be put in mortal danger and they would have to give back all evidence or be killed. he chided himself. -----X Forty five minutes, and twenty-three cups of coffee later Mulder met with Scully in the garden. Webster and Taylor were discussing something in the rental car. Scully hung up the phone. "So...who ya chatting to?" he said as he strolled over. "Crime lab. The fluid from the first body is still unidentified as any natural occurring substance, but the components are still the same as in the body" she said flustered. There was nothing new to be said. "But, how did the concentration of the substance become so high as to kill her?" Mulder asked, equally exhausted. "Injection, ingestion or any other means of getting into the body. An enzyme may have acted as a catalyst of some sort although I don't know of any..." she was abruptly cut off. "Alien?" his eyes lit up. New energy reserves suddenly appearing. He practically skipped back to the rental car with utter excitement. Scully started to produce smoke from her ears. "Come on Scully!" he shouted getting into the car. "What about Roberts?" she shouted back, gesturing to the house. "Leave him. He'll wake up and get a cab" "You sure?" she said walking towards the car. "Yeah. Even someone as stupid as that guy could figure out how to get to his temporary accommodation" Mulder said, turning on the engine. Scully remained unconvinced. The sound of a car engine revving up woke Roberts with a start. He ran to the window to see his fellow investigators driving away. He bolted out of the house, down the drive and onto the road chasing the car and flapping his arms about like a demented chicken. He came to a halt as he knew he would catch them. He stood there in the middle of the road, trying to think of what to do. He walked over to the grass verge of the road, sat down and began to wail loudly. "I'm lost and I don't know what to do" he cried aloud to himself. A few pedestrians walking by gave him funny looks and the FBI agents bawled his eyes out like a lost kid. ---------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 13 2:37pm Scully slumped onto the comfy bed as curled her toes in relaxation. She stretched out as she enjoyed the comfy furniture. She had been up for nearly 12 hours. She lay there staring at the ceiling wondering what the hell she had been doing. She had just woken up properly, she couldn't really remember a lot about searching those houses probably because they hadn't found anything. But, she certainly remembered the argument on the way back from the third house the motel... ************ "Jesus Scully! It wasn't my fault!" Mulder practically screamed into her left ear. She stared straight ahead as he drove. The other three sat in silence, slightly afraid of Mulder and Scully. "Mulder I'm *NOT* deaf, but I soon will be if you keep screaming into my left eardrum!" she fumed. "Jesus Scully! It wasn't my fault!!!!" he said again. "Mulder, you got us all up at *three* in the morning for some wild goose chase, which you very well knew would not help us one little bit, and you are still not admitting it was *your* idea!!!" she barked bark. "Scully! We just need patience" he said calmly. "Mulder what we *need* in sleep!" she shot back. "Scully, I don't do this all the time! This is just a one off situation!!" Mulder begged. Scully rolled her eyes and turned to the passenger seat window. "Stop being so childish. It's not like I take up *every* minute of your time!!" "Pardon? Did you just say what I think you just said? Obviously you are forgetting that I spend every work day 5 'til 9 at FBI HQ with you if we aren't on a field 'trip' and every other hour before work, after work, during work, holidays, weekends, and God know's when else cleaning up after your sorry ass!!!!" Mudler silenced. he thought. "For God's sake Scully stop moaning!" he said finally. He was getting slightly impatient with his partner. "Mulder...stop using God's name in vain in front of a Catholic!" she snapped back snidely. She was getting very impatient with her partner. "Scully will you just.....just.....shut the Hell up! You sound like God's advocate!" he yelled. "And you sound like the devil's advocate!" she snapped back. "Hmm....that was an OK film, didn't you think?" he said calmly. "Yes it was OK I guess but it........Mulder! Stop changing the subject and *drive*!!!!" she yelled putting a finality to the conversation. ************ Mulder sat staring at the fuzzy picture on the television screen. He wasn't really paying attention to the game for a change, but was thinking about the evidence he thought angrily. His tie was off and his shirtsleeves were rolled up and his holster and gun lay clumsily on the bed. Scully hated him for getting everyone up so early, the others hated him. God! Even *he* hated him. He was so tired. The coffee definitely was not a substitute for lack of sleep. He had had gallons of the stuff, enough to put him off for a while, and he had needed to pee every twenty minutes or so. As did everyone. Well almost everyone, Roberts was still missing. His thoughts were interrupted with the harsh ringing of the really old phone. He stretched out his long arm and grabbed the receiver hauling it up to his ear. "Hello?" he said puzzled. "Mister Mulder?" said the low, mysterious voice. Although, Mulder knew who it was. No one else called him *Mister* Mulder. "Yeah, X what is it" he sighed drowsily. "Don't use my real name!" X snapped, "The line could be wired!" "You're as paranoid as Frohicke!" Mulder tried to choke down a chuckle. "Mister Mulder......." the comment brought Mulder back to the conversation at hand. "Go on" he droned. "Meet me at the warehouse at eleven tonight" X instructed. "Warehouse? Which one. There are hundreds!" Mulder pointed out. "You will know" X said wisely. "Huh? How?" Mulder asked puzzled. "It's in the script Mister Mulder!" X told him frustrated. "Oohhh!" Mulder sighed in awe. "Mister Mulder..be there" he said. "Yep....eleven..at the warehouse.....alone. Got ya!" "Remember Mister Mulder, it's very important" X said cryptically. "As always........and X......don't call me Mister Mulder!" With that the phone line was cut and Mulder stared at the second handed clock, waiting for the stroke of eleven. ----------------X A warehouse Prescott, Arizona August 13 11:02pm Mulder opened the large, rotting wooden door and entered the gloomy, damp filled structure that, many years ago would have been useful. Many shadows were cast all over the rusting tractors and pre- 20th century farmers tools. Mulder thought as he cautiously walked straight ahead. He didn't want a repeat performance of being knocked out by his secret informant. "Mister Mulder" "Where are you?" "Everywhere?" "Stop with the crap already! You choose the venue! I choose the questions!" "OK..." X walked out from behind a large wooden beam that had fallen many years ago, by the looks of it. "Now, what do you have to tell me?" Mulder said impatiently. "What? In a rush are we?" "For God's sake! Just give me the damn info! Okay?" "Touchy!" "Yeah, I haven't had much sleep..now talk!" "Okay, these deaths are not accidental..." "Tell me something I *don't* know!" "The first death was inevitable...she had an accident which lead to her demise..." "You make it sound so interesting" Mulder drolled. "Thank you. Anyhow, the other two deaths, Mr Blyth and Mz Smithson only came about because of nessesicity. They knew too much, they could expose the project" "What project" "That I connot tell you Mister M...I mean Mulder. But, I do have the means of how you can find out for yourself". X took out a plastic key card from his pocket and held it up for Mulder to see. He walked towards him and he continued to speak. "This card gives you clearance to a military building in Idaho, any answers you want will be there. But, I must warn you, they security there is extremely tight. You will have a limited time space in which to obtain the information you want" "Thanks for the warning" "You need all the help you can get Mister Mulder" "Don't call me that!" Mulder fumed as he walked back outside to the car. he thought as he headed back to the motel. He was still contemplating wether or not he should tell Scully or not. Or wether he should sleep then whether or not to tell Scully. ---------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 14 2:14am Scully couldn't sleep, she was worried. Worried because they were getting no where with this case, worried because she knew Mulder would probably risk is life to get some information about the case, and worried because Mulder had disappeared and was risking his life. She had gone to speak to him at about mid-night (he never sleeps so she knew she wouldn't need to wake him). She had remembered an article she had read in a medical journal about cloning. Scully rolled her eyes at the thought of her reading about cloning. She needed to speak to Mulder. Suddenly, she heard faint sounds coming from Mulder's room. Someone was creeping about, she heard the sounds of drawers opening and closing. Was someone from a secret governmetal angency braking in and stealing evidence, proof of aliens? but she decided to check it out anyway. She jumped up, put her bath robe on, picked up her gun, opened the connecting door, and ran into Mulder's room. "Mulder!" Scully said in suprise. He was a sight, "Do you take your 'ready-to-break-in-to-governmental-buildings' black clothing with you everywhere?" she asked in an exhausted tone. Mulder was also suprise because she was a sight. Her hair was everywhere, her bathrobe was loosly tied and she looked extremely tired. Mulder smiled at the sight of his non-professional looking partner. "Scully!" he returned in over the top enthusiasm. He was dressed in black jeans, a black top and black jacket. And, he was packing up his things. "What are you doing?" Scully asked, puzzelment clearly evident in her tone of voice. Although ashe knew along the lines which his mind was working at the present. "I decided not to go with the idea of sleep" he deadpanned. "Seriously" "Going on vacation?" Mulder half joked. "No...seriously!" She was getting tired of this 'game'. "I'm going...somewhere" he said, hoping she would give up on the subject. "Where?" she pressed on. "Nowhere important" "Well I'm going with you! I'm not being ditched *again*!!" "No...and what gives you the idea I'm ditching you as you so tactfully put it!" he said sharply, closing his overnight bag and walking over to her. he told himself. "Because you've done it numerous times in that past!!!" she screamed, echoing his thoughts. he asked. "I don't want you to get hurt. I couldn't live with the guilt that it was me putting you in unnessicary danger" he pleaded. "Oh, please! You sound just like my brother! I'm going and that's that!" "But....", he was trying to think of a reason that would deter her from going, "wouldn't it look a little bit suspisious if both you and *I* 'disappear', without informing the other agents on the case?" "Yes...yes you're right, Mulder. But I'm still coming!" Mulder decided to give up, he realisd he wasn't going to win this. "Well, hurry up. Time's a' wasting, Scully" ---------------X Viva-Viva Motel Prescott, Arizona August 14 2:54am Scully walked out of the motel, night bag in hand. She was dressed in dark brown trousers and navy sweatshirt, still non-the- wiser about what she had just gotten herself into. She loaded her bag into the grey car and climbed into the passenger seat. Mulder started the engine and they drove off out of the deserted parking lot. "What no balck clothing Scully?" "Why are we going to a funeral?" she deadpanned back to him, not missing a beat. "Only if you are considering your own" he said way too seriously. "Please tell me there is an element of humor in that remark" she ordered. Mulder turned to her and grinned. She felt slightly better but still apprehensive at the fact that it would be *him* that would get them killed. "So...what are we doing again?" Scully asked. "Oh, we are braking into a governmental building" Mulder said matter-of-fact-ly. Scully nodded. "And *how* do we go about this?" Mulder produced a key card and handed it to Scully. She studied it as Mulder spoke. "I was given this and told to go to a military base near here. That's where the anwers to all this lie" "Anything else? Like...oh, I don't know...are we gonna get killed? Caught?" Mulder smiled. "Not if I can help it. We'll only have a limited time in there...so, it'll be in, looked around, get some souveniors and out again" Scully nodded again. "So where is the base?" "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, as usual" Scully nodded a third time. It was getting irritating. "Scully, quit it!" "What?" "Nodding!" "Sorry!" "Thank you!" "Well, you'll be thanking me after this, 'cos I just *know* you are gonna get yourself killed and I'll end being the one who gets you out of it, as usual!" "I'll hold you to that Scully" Scully smiled and they drove the rest of the way in silence. Mulder was figuring out a strategy plan as he munched on some sunflower seeds. Scully looked out the window into the darkness. There were no lights, no signs of civilisation nearby she thought. ---------------X Arizona Military Base Somewhere in the Gila Desert Arizona August 14 4:58am Scully killed the lights and cut the engine of the car as they neared the perimeter fence of the base. Mulder looked at her quizzically. "Aliens at work?" he said, gesturing to the dead engine and lights. "Mulder...have you ever successfully broken into governmental property?" He shook his head. "Well, everyone knows that you DON'T have your car lights and a noisy engine on when you are nearing your destination!" Mulder nodded in acknowledgement of this comment. It made perfect sense. He would probably be dead now if it wasn't for his partner. "You'd probably be dead if I hadn't tagged along!" Scully said, echoing his thoughts. "How do you do that?!" He asked astonished. Scully shot him a serious, but puzzeled expression at him reguarding his last comment as the both quietly got out of the car. He shrugged as he jogged round to her side and whispered "Never mind" as he took her arm and led her to the four metre high perimeter fence. They crouched down to survey the surroundings. "OK Einstein. How do we get over this" she whispered sternly, indicating towards the top of the fence. "How should I know. *You* were the one who re-wrote Einstein! Why should I have to be the prepared one." "You are never prepared for ANYTHING!" she whisperd harshly. "Well, I'm sorry but my retractable pocket ladder is being repaired at the moment!" "Sarcasm will get us no where" Scully ran off, while Mulder was still crouched down. "Scully!" No answer. "Scully!" he whispered louder. Still no reply. He ran after her not knowing how far ahead she was. He came towards the building and slowed considerably, calling out his partners name. "Women" he muttered in disgust. Suddenly, someone grabbed his forcifully by the arm and pulled him into a sheltered doorway. "What was that about women?" Scully asked in a quiet, harsh tone. "N..no...nothing" he managed, very scared of the angry look he was getting from his petite partner. "Why the Hell did you run off!" "To look for a way in" "Well, we are gonna have to jump over the fence" He grabbed Scully's arm and went to drag her back to where they had been. "Well that would be a waste of precious time. Considering" "Well, what other choice do we have" Scully indicated to the door. "I don't think a top security base are gonna have the back door unlocked!" "Just try it" Scully said impatiently. Mulder pushed the door with all the strength he could muster. He tried the handle and continued to push. The door didn't budge an inch. "See. Now come on" he said triumphantly. Scully walked over to the door, turned the handle and pulled it. Scully gave a smug grin and pulled Mulder into the building. "Just as well that you don't have your ladder" she said. ---------------X Arizona Military Base Somewhere in the Gila Desert Arizona August 14 5:01am Mulder and Scully ran down hundreds of flights of stairs, going further and futher underground. They came to a corridor and proceeded down it, looking through the small windows of each heavy, metal door that lined the walls. All had swipe-card locks. Dim lights were positioned every few metres along the way but, it was still hard to see. and there was nothing to see. Nothing. They turned a corner and were confronted with more doors. The corridor seemed to stretch on for miles. Mulder pulled out the keycard and swiped it through the slot. The door clicked open and the agents walked inside, closing the door behind them. They were confronted with a floor-to-ceiling filing cabinet system, similar to the system in the mining building they saw a few years ago. Mulder ran to the drawer labeled WIC-WIL. He pulled it open to reveal extensive medical records. He flicked through them, Scully knew what he was looking for. "Wicks...Williams...Willis. Willis...Kathryn Amanda" "Give me that" Mulder pulled the folder from its place and handed it to Scully. She flicked through it. "So...what's in it" "Same as the others. Smallpox record, tissue sample, medical records" "Anything to do with the baby?" "Umm...yes" she said in amazement. "She had an abortion, an emergency. There are D.N.A. records of it...but, they...Mulder look at this" He looked over her shoulder to see a print out. At first, it looked like a ramdom pattern, but he recognised it. And so did Scully. "It looks like..." "The foriegn molecular structure in my D.N.A." she finished for him. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she tucked the file into her coat and continued down the filing cabinets in search for her name. A drawer labeled SCH-SCU caught Mulder's eye. He pulled it open and called Scully over. She pushed in front of him and flicked through the folders. she thought in horror, although she was half expecting it and she didn't want Mulder to see she was finding it difficult to take all of this information in. She pulled out the folder with her name and immediately tucked it away with the other. "Let's go" Mulder warned. Scully nodded and they ran for the door. They ran out of the elongated room, into the dark corridor to the stairs. They heard heavy footsteps and Mulder quickly made them duck into a dark broom closet. "You always choose the crumbiest places!" Scully said in the darkness. They couldn't see a thing. "It's a gift" Mulder dead-panned. Mulder removed a small pocket torch from his coat pocket and turned it on. "Taa-daa!" he said gleefully. Scully rolled her eyes, and reluctantly pulled the files from underneath her own jacket. Mulder shuffled in the small space so they were sat next to one another, so they could both see the contents of the folders. "What do you think these are for?" Mulder asked, bringing the folders closer to his straining eyes. "Well, they *are* medical files......maybe records of over due library books?" Scully said mockingly. Mulder mouthed a "Ha ha" at her then turned his attention back to the files. "Well well, Dana Scully. I wouldn't have thought you of all people to return library books late" he said disapprovingly. His arm came into contact with her fist. "Oww!" he moaned. Scully grinned at him smuggly. "What are we gonna do? I can't stay here forever!" she quietly whispered as they heard heavy foot falls pass the door. Mulder put a finger to his mouth to shush her. She obeyed and they sat, holding their breath until the footsteps faded. He stood and helped Scully to her feet. The crept out of the broom closet and heared the heavy stampede coming back towards them. "What do we?" Mulder asked, dumbfounded. "Run?" "Good enough for me!" Mulder replied. The two agents sprinted off in the direction they had come from and found themselves at the room they had previously occupied. -----X Mulder turned the handle and opened the door when alarms sounded. Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a doze or so military soldiers, holding rifles. Scully was forced back onto a cabinet by two soldiers and Mulder was grabbed and pinned down on the ground by another two after attempting to struggle. The rest held their weapons at the ready to shot them. "Don't move" screamed one officer, as another two removed Mulder and Scully's weapons. The agents looked at one another in mild shock. "I'm *never* accompanying you on a break in again!" "Why Scully? Didn't you think we'd get caught?" "No, not that. You *always* get caught. But...I broke a nail!!!!" She emphasised the *always* which sent a quiet chuckle wave around through the group of military officers. Mulder sent her an angry look as they were escorted away. ----------------X Arizona Military Base Somewhere in the Gila Desert Arizona August 14 5:03am The two FBI agents were dragged down the dimly lit corridor and into an office. Two men were positioned behind a large oak desk, one was puffing on a cigarette. The two agents knew immediately who it was. The soldiers released their grip on Mulder and Scully and walked out the room, at the orders of the other, still unknown, man. "What do you think you were doing Mister Mulder, braking in to this high security building" drolled the Cancerman. "Searching to find the truth" enthused Mulder. "What are those files about? What are you doing to those women?" Scully suddenly interupted in a frustrated outburst. "Why Miss Scully, I believe you have a personal connection with this...investigation" continued Cancerman, taking a drag from his cigarette. "*You* believe!?!?!?! No, no, no, *Mulder* is the believer!!!" Scully corrected, rolling her eyes. "Hand over the files" The until now silent man spoke up, his voice wasn't recognisable. "Why?" challenged Mulder. "Because...exposing the truth would have very serious consequences" answered Unknown Man, turning to Cancerman, who gulped nervously. "What consequences" Scully asked. "Nothing for you to know Miss. Now, hand over the files" "No" "What?" "I said no" Scully returned, standing up to emphasise the determination in her voice. "Scully..." Mulder tried to warn her that she was pushing it. "Mulder, just *shut up*!!! You are a complete whining, sniffling, weak man. Who can't stand up for himself against these *supposedly* big men!!! If you had let me help you, we would have actually got somewhere in finding the Truth, instead of wasting 5 years of meeting with killer freaks, liver eating mutants, body fluid draining bugs, various annoying female agents, man eating fungus, reincarnated police officers, and a whole life times worth of wierd things, which may I add, I still don't believe because I'm the sceptic!!!!!" She said (well screamed) at Mulder. As she did this, she was edging further towards the door, the two Consortium men were too intimidated by the woman to stop her, and Mulder was sinking in his chair and lowering his head in embarrassment as his small partner mock his life work. "Oh, and by the way...if you want these files...you'll have to come and get them!" With that, she ran out of the office and down the corridor, turning the corners and headed for the stairs. She reached the car and drove off. -----X The two Consortium men were sat in stunned silence. Cancerman's cigarette had burned out down to the filter long ago, and was now burning his fingers. He broke the silence with a loud, girly scream and ran out the room, blowing at his fingers as he went. "Well...Mister Mulder. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you like this" said the second man, getting up from his chair and walking around the desk. Mulder was taken aback by this 'nice' acting man and the fact that Scully had ditched *him*. "Umm...it's fine" he managed, getting up himself. "I'm sorry for what we've put you through" "It's OK, being wrestled to the ground by four miltary officers is kinda painful, but it goes" "I'm not talking about that" "Excuse me?" "I'm sorry that we had to pair you with that...women! She's the crazy one, how do you...survive?" "Five years of encounters with freaks, mutants...and everything else she mentioned. May I go now?" The unknown man nodded, still slightly in shock. Mulder turned to the door, but his head was immediately met with the butt of a heavy gun. "Mister Mulder, you will never learn" X said. ---------------X Arizona Military Base Somewhere in the Gila Desert Arizona Time: Unknown Mulder came to slowly, but eventually. He found himself tied to an uncomfortable chair, in a darkened room. The only light source came from a tiny square of glass at the door. He remembered Scully running away, him being clobbered over the head, and filing cabinets. His head felt light a dizzy. He realised that he had been drugged. His arm ached where a needle may have punctured his upper arm. "Ah Mulder" said a familiar, yet sinister voice, accompanied by a thick cloud of smoke. "Is this hell?" Mulder asked seriously "Mulder you humour me. But, I'm here to explain" Cancerman stated, contemplating his cigarette. "Yeah! And I'm here to tell you that I found Santa Claus!" Mulder joked at him with a vengeful tone. "Agent Mulder, I'm here tonight as a friend. To tell you the things you want to know about this case" he said, taking a long deep drag from his Morley's cigarette. "What's the catch? You can't be totally serious!" Mulder exclaimed, not trusting the wrinkly old enemy as far as he could throw him. "Not a catch I can see. We will both be getting what we want" "*We*?" Mulder asked. "Yes. You want the truth about this case for the time being and I don't want you to know!" Cancerman stated. Mulder looked confused. "You definately need to quit smoking! The nicotine is confusing your mind. How can you tell me and make sure I don't know. Lie?" "No Mulder, you will get the truth" Cancerman said, striding slowly over to a chair in the far corner of the room. He sat down. The shadows which were casted down on him made him invisible to Mulder. "Talk" Mulder ordered. Although he couldn't move as he was securely fastened to the chair, his voice had authority. "Well Mister Mulder, I'll begin at the beginning" "May be helpful" Mulder muttered. "Kathryn Willis is...was...one of many woman who have been abducted. Except the 'experiments' have been altered slightly" "Not like Scully's disappearance then?" Mulder asked, concerned for his partner's welfare. "Not at the moment. These women in this 'vicinity' have been impregnated" "Alien eggs and sperm? Eww" "No. Their own eggs. We supply the male element" "You mean this is just a case of artificial incemination?" Mulder asked. "Not exactly. We don't use *human* male element" "You want to create alein-human hybrids. You BASTARD!!! If Scully dies from these experiments, I swear to God I'll kill you!!!" Mulder threatened Cancerman, inducing fear in the old man. But, the chain-smoker showed an unphased expression. Mulder knew it. Even if he couldn't see his enemy. "Agent Scully is not in any immediate danger. She isn't pregnant I can assure you of that. And, I'm sure, she will be able to do the same" "What did you do to her!!!" "Nothing that can be rectified" "What did you DO!!!!" "She will not die yet" Cancerman assured the young FBI agent. He admired the young agent. So sure and head strong. Mulder almost reminded Cancerman of himself as a young man. "When will she die!" Mulder asked, suddenly afraid for her, although he didn't show it on the outside. "You will know" "WHEN!!!" "I've told you everything you need to know" Cancerman said calmly, rising from his seat. "You haven't told me squat. Like, why did Blyth and Smithson die?" "They got in the way" "That's it?" "Yes. You seemed suprised Agent Mulder" "No. Shocked. Although I should have expected it from a black- lunged genetic rapist like youself. I just don't know why you haven't blown away Scully and me. I mean, *I* get in your way often enough" "Too often, but you and your partner are valuable" "Huh?" Mulder didn't understand. Mulder thought horrified. "No more answers agent Mulder" Cancerman left the room. Mulder suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left upper arm. He turned to see a shadowy figure inject a fluid into him. His head became light and he drifted into an artifical yet dreamless sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 5/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities VI: Too Close for Comfort by Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 15 9:03am Dana Scully slept restlessly in the large black chair which was positioned next to the unconcious Fox Mulder's bed. He had been found in the middle of a field just outside Prescott late last night. He had been badly beaten up and had been found bound and gagged and drugged to the eyeballs. Mulder grunted as he tossed and turned in his uncomfortable wire-frame hospital bed, disturbing Scully from her sleep. Really she had just dozed off...again for the twentysomethingth time. She sat up and pushed a hand through her red hair. She straightened her cream sweater and smoothed out her charcoal trousers. She grabbed her matching suit jacket and went in search of a coffee machine. She knew Mulder wouldn't be waking for another few hours. -----X Mulder tossed and turned, he was helpless. He tried to open his eyes, he couldn't. He tried to sit up, he couldn't. He tried to call Scully, he couldn't do that either. He couldn't see anything but he could feel a blistering heat on his body which was steadily increasing. He could feel his skin begin to blister, his blood boil beneath his thin, fragile skin. He began to smell a faint whif of smoke. He began to breathe in the thick fog. He tried to sense where this fumes were coming from. He moved his hands around to see if he could get hold of something, anything. Nothing was there, he couldn't even feel the ground beneath him. The was nothing around him, with him. The heat was now unbearable, ripping and spreading through his body. His was in a barbeque he thought sickeningly through the pain which fogged and registered in his memory. He knew his end was near. There was no one to help him, nothing to stop the raging fire engulfing his whole. -----X----- Scully calmly walked down the white, clean corridor, back to Mulder's temporary accomodation, he still wouldn't have woken up yet. The doctor's had put him on a drip as he was comatose when they had found him, he been drugged up so badly as if intending to kill him. Scully knew, however, that 'they' wouldn't kill him. They needed him, and her. That's why everyone else around them died and not them. She took a sip of the watery coffee. It wasn't even hot. She doubted it was even coffee. She walked through the foor of Mulder's room into the dim light. The lamp next to his bed had been turned off. She heard the rocking and writhing of Mulder in his sleep. She absent mindedly dropped the styrofoam cup and raced to the bed. She switched on the light to see Mulder's face in an expression of pain she had never seem. "Mulder?" she said, hoping it would wake him. No luck. "Mulder!" Scully shouted in vain. His brow was covered with a thick film of sweat and he was gasping for air. Scully pressed the button next to his bed which called for the nurse. The blonde nurse ran in followed by the small, dumpy doctor. The doctor surveyed the machines which showed Mulder's vitals and called down the hall for another doctor. A Doctor Holmes. The nurse grabbed Mulder's left arm while Scully had hold of his right. Doctor Holmes appeared, holding a small medical case. He took out a smll syringe and filled it wih a liquid. Scully looked at him questioningly. "A tranquiliser" he said. "Is that wise? Considering he is already under the influence of some other drug plus the tranquilser you gave him when he arrived" Scully questioned. "I'm sure. It will help him to sleep of the other drugs" the doctor stated. Scully couldn't argue, although she had dobts as to the reason. She was a medical doctor and knew that mixing drugs was leathal. Before she could question the doctor, he injected the liquid into her partner's upper left arm and a few seconds later Mulder's erratic actions subsided. -----X Mulder's arms and legs were literally on fire. He could feel the flames licking at his flesh and bone. Through the pain which had clouded in terrified mind he could hear Scully's worried voice in the distance. He tried to answer but his throat and voice box were not functioning. The flames had started to attack his neck and chest. His breathing was becoming difficult. He gasped weakly, trying to intake as much air as he could. His throat felt like it was going to collapse into itself, cutting off any air to his burning lungs. He writhed in pain, his eyes still unable to open. The flames caressed his already too hot cheeks and lips. His eyes began to burn from the pure heat. He could hear his blood rushing through his ears, feel his heart pumping erratically in his chest. His body was an inferno of heat, flames and fumes. Suddenle a piercing pain hit his upper arm, making him suddenly feel dizzy, the pain subsiding but he could still sense the heat around him. -----X Scully sat next to the bed, worry written across her forehead. It had been only three minutes since he had been injected. She clasped her hands, rested her elbows on the bed and silently begged God to help Mulder. She didn't close her eyes, watching Mulder, making sure he was alright. His eyelids flinched now and again, he was dreaming. Dreaming a nightmare. His breathing was erratic at times, his forehead covered now in a thin layer of sweat. She couldn't wake him as he had been put under a heavy tranquiliser to help him sleep off the drugs that he had been injected with first. Mulder suddenly moved about, an expression of fear crossing his face. "Mulder?" Scully said sternly grasping his right arm. He began to turn his hed from either side, trying to shake the bad images from his closed eyes. "MULDER!?" Scully called again, now standing over him. She placed her cool hand on his head and realised he was burning up again she thought, worry evident in her thoughts, actions and facial expression. Scully ran to the door to call the nurse when suddenly a loud gasp escaped from Mulder's lips which startled her. She turned to see Mulder suddenly propell himself into a seating position and scream "YYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!...Huh?" "Mulder!" she screamed again, going back to his side. He slowly opened his eyes, still under the influence of the drugs and tranquiliser. He saw he look Scully was giving him and turned away from her again. He knew it was her, but his mind didn't register it. His thoughts clouded by the heavy drugs flowing through his blood- stream. "Mulder?" she asked again softly "You need rest, now go back to sleep" She hated saying those words as he had obviously fought hard to wake up. It amazed her that he had considering how drugged up he was. Mulder moaned an undesipherable sentence, that seemed to be best left undesipherable, and reluctantly layed down against the itchy sheets. "It's okay" she said, pulling up the top sheet over him. She sat down next to him while he dozed off again. After she was sure he had fallen into a restful sleep she got up and went in search of Doctor Holmes. She reached the elevators, deciding to go to the main desk, but was stopped as the elevator doors opened to reveal Agent Charlotte Taylor and Andrew Webster. Scully stopped in her tracks to acknowledge the young agents. "Agent Scully" Webster said loosening his tie. Taylor smiled at her as she nodded her head and went to show them to Mulder's room. "How is he?" Taylor asked. "Fine at the moment. I was just going to find Doctor Holmes" "Who?" Taylor asked "Doctor Holmes. He's in charge of Mulder" "I thought it was Doctor Collins? At least that is the man we talked to" Webster cut in. "Well it was Doctor Collins but he has asked another Doctor, Holmes, to check up on him instead" Scully informed, although she knew she was lying, to them at least. And someone else was lying to her. They reached Mulder's room to see the nurse tending to Mulder, checking his status. "Can I help you?" Scully asked "No I'm just doing the rounds" the nurse informed. She noted down the nessicary information on Mulder's vitals sheets at the end of the bed and left the room. "Scully you really need to get some sleep" Taylor informed her "You're biting off everyone's head who talks to you. Worrying like this won't help. At least Mulder's in hospital. He'll be fine" "I don't bite everyone's head off!!!" Scully scolded at her, realising that she was now having a go at Taylor. She smiled at the young female in apology. "Listen, could you two stay here and keep an eye on Mulder? I need to check something out" Scully informed. "I need to track down Roberts" Webster told her. Taylor nodded in agreement "He is STILL missing?" Scully asked, amazed that an FBI agent could be lost in a small middle-american town. But it wasn't that suprising that it was Matthew Roberts they were talking. Taylor nodded again. Webster smiled at the Scully's suprise. "He does this a lot, especially in the field. He was never good at orienteering, even WITH a map" "Why doesn't he just use his cell phone?" Scully asked. She was amazed any FBI agent could be so dense. "Well he usually does but he left his cell and his wallet in the car" Webster told her. Scully sighed shaking her head. "Well happy hunting" she said "Taylor? Could you stay? I really won't be that long" "Sure. Beats going around after Roberts, not knowing where the Hell he is" Taylor spoke softly "I know the feeling" Scully stated. Webster nodded leaving the room and made his way to the elevators, followed by Scully. Taylor sat herself down in the black chair and flicked through the hundreds of cheesy TV channels that were available. ----------------X Prescott General Hospital Reception 9:57am Scully sat down in reception flicking through a very old fishing magazine dating back to an october three years ago. In actality she had been 'staring' at the same page for half an hour. She was actually keeping an eye out for 'Doctor Holmes'. Her suspisions about him actually not being a registered doctor at the hospital had been comfirmed when Doctor Collins said that there was no Doctor Holmes in this hospital. And Collins should have known because he was in charge of sorting out pay cheques to the staff. Scully now sat, inconspicuously, in the midst of visitors to see other sick patients searching to see if 'Holmes' would come back. Webster suddenly came busting through the door like a man on a mission and made everyone notice his entrance. He nodded as if to acknowledge their noticing of him and that he had just made a fool of himself. He straightened out his over coat and started towards the ward where Mulder was. He then spotted Scully and made his way over to her. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, crouching down beside her chair. She rested the magazine on her lap and faced him. "Waiting for Barney to come visit Mulder" she said dryly. He sensed her impatient mood and decided not to push it. "Had any luck finding that Holmes guy" "If I had, do you think I'd be sat here?" she pointed out, looking around to make sure 'Holmes' hadn't entered. "Well if I spot him I'll send him in your direction" he said getting up again. "Thanks, but you find it helpful to know what he looks like" she continued. "You really need some sleep, or some coffee" Webster said. "Well, I did try the sleep idea, but that failed 'cos the seats in this place are just *so* uncomfortable. And, I really did try the caffine idea but here the 'coffee' is just hot water with milk, sugar and something to make it brown in colour" she moaned. She felt guilty that she was having a go at Webster, but she couldn't help it. Exhaustion due to lack of sleep, worry about Mulder, and the added fact of wanting to kick the ass of the 'Doctor' was getting to Mulder's physical health and to her mental health. She tilted her head back, rubbed her eyes and stood up too. She looked at Webster who was looking at someone on the other side of the reception area. Scully turned to see a small group of people, all men, all in dark suits, all with dark hair and all tall apart from one man. "You think they're MIB's come looking for Holmes to take him back to his planet?" Webster asked, not making his eyes off the men who were now talking with a male nurse. And the talk was growing into an arguement. "You sound just like Mulder!" Scully said, staring at the men. "Is that a good thing?" "Well, I was kinda hoping to get away from the aliens and conspiricies for a few hours" Scully replied. "Well, I was just thinking that seeing as though you two are on this case and you deal with the X files and the doctor is fake, and there are those men in dark suits here as well, I just thought..." "Yeah, yeah, you made that point very clear. Now cut the sarcasm" Webster shrugged as they both watched the men. The suited men were beginning to get rather hostile and one man grabbed the arm of the nurse. Another of the men broke the first man from the nurse and seemed to apologise. Scully discretly moved closer, taking Webster with her. She stopped him and turned to him as the got a few metres closer, within hearing range. She gestured for him to not talk to her so she could here. "Well where is he?" asked the second man. "I don't know who you are talking about! If you talk to Doctor..." "Where is HE!?" demanded the first suited man. He had short hair, similar to Mulder's only it was jet black. "Look if he doesn't know..." said the third man to the first man, "Just leave it. We'll find him" continued the small, equally dark haired man. The nurse piped up again, "If you talk to Doctor Collins, he'll be able to tell you where to find him. I'm just a nurse, I don't know who is in which ward" he pleaded. "Never mind, you've been more than helpful" said the third man. He gestured for the other men to follow them and they headed out of the building. Scully looked at Webster. "Follow them, if you can get close enough, try to find out who they are looking for and then call me. Don't leave the hospital though" she ordered. Webster nodded and made his own departure. Scully sighed, made sure her cell phone was switched on and then made her way back to Mulder's room. ----------------X Prescott General Hospital Car Park 10:07am Webster walked a safe distance behind the three men, following them trying to listen to their words. He couldn't hear a thing but he was trying. he thought excitedly and he had to get it right. Get the nessicary information for Scully. The three mysterious men walked into a nearby diner. Webster stopped at a newspaper stand and bought the 'Prescott Daily' he was killing time so it didn't look like he was following anybody. He took the tissue thin paper and made his own way into the diner. He was greeted with the strong stench of cigarette smoke and fading paisley decor. He sat at a booth on the opposite side of the aisle where the three men sat. He couldn't really see the men clearly as a smog of cigar fumes hovered between the tables. The smallest man had a briefcase and from it he produced a folder. Webster couldn't see the contents and he strained to hear their conversation due to a man in the next booth behind Webster who was choking due to too many years of smoking. "Well he will be easy to find" said one man "Yes but when. We need it to be sooner rather than later" said another man in a very stern tone. "Well we have to be descrete, you know wht 'they' are like. They are here, we are here. They are bound to get suspisious soon enough. It's a small town. Too small for my liking" moaned another voice, much deeper than the other two. "Well as long as we can keep her occupied with him being ill, we'll have no trouble with Holmes" Webster perked up at the name mentioned. he thought quickly. He was about to get his cell phone when one of the men came over to him. thought Webster he scolded himself. He was worried the men recognised him from talking with Scully, if she was the person they were referring to. "Excuse me, do you have a light?" asked the tall man. He had been the man in the hospital who had grabbed the nurse's arm. "Umm...sorry, no I don't" said Webster in a calm, controlled voice. The suited man nodded and went back to his table. Then a small, plump waitress with short, curly, bright pinkish-red hair and lipstick waddled over to him. He ordered a coffee and the waitress left, not before winking at him he asked as he resumed his pose of reading while listening. It was pointless though as the men started to talk about the lastest Lakers game. After five minutes of how badly the Lakers had played Webster decided to leave. He drained the last of the strong black coffee, left the cash on the scratched counter and left the fume-infested diner. ---------------X Prescott General Hospital Mulder's room 10:48am Taylor and Scully sat opposite one another, across a little table. They were playing a game of snap. They didn't know any others. "SNAP!!! I win!!!" Scully shouted uproarously, bringing her arms up into the air in victory. Taylor threw her cards onto the tabletop in defeat. Mulder stirred from his drug-induced sleep. "Hey Scully, there are sick men sleeping here!" he said groggily, trying to sit up. "Hey sorry, but we have to do *something* while waiting for you to wake up!" Scully said, placing some pillows behind his to help prop him up. "Well sorry for doing my job!" Mulder moaned. His head felt foggy and muddled up. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and his eyes to help him wake up. "Well?" Scully asked sitting back down. Taylor put on her jacket and headed out the room, not before telling them she was getting some coffee. "What Scully! Stop looking at me like that!" Mulder demanded. "What? I just wanna know what happened" Scully said calmly "Are you going to tell me?" she said. "You should just like my mom did when she found out I'd been smoking" Mulder sulked, pulling at the corner of the wafer-thin bed sheet. "Well, I just wanna know what the Hell you've got us into. I mean you've been drug with some drug and I'm being given a load of crap by your 'doctor'" Scully informed him. "Huh? What's been going on? Where am I?" Mulder asked. "You're in the hospital! You got your ass kicked *again*!" "You don't have to rub it in Scully" Mulder said annoyed. "It's just ironic. You go looking for trouble *all* the time and end up with getting your ass kicked. And whenever *I* get into some trouble, I always come out the winner" Scully said smugly, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest. "Name one person you've beaten" Mulder challenged. "Umm...people who I've beaten? Or people who've beaten you?" she asked. "Both" Mulder shrugged, a challenging tone evident. "Well I've beaten up Leonard Betts, Nurse Innes, fought with that *bastard* Donny Pfaster, that Incanto guy..." "Hey, that women shot him! Not you!" "Hey I beat the freak up! Oh...and I shot you!" she said, a grin forming on her face. "That situation will never, and I mean *never* present itself to you again!" Mulder said regretfully. "Oh, I'll hold you to that!" "Fine, whatever!" "Now, what happened after I ran off!" Scully demanded. She was sick to the back teeth of *asking* for the information. "I..uh...don't really...remember...much" Mulder managed, struggling to remember a scrap of the incident the previous night. "What? You? You and your *photographic* memory DON'T remember much?!?!" Scully asked totally amazed. "Hey I don't have to remember everything!" "You usually do!" Scully retorted "What do you remember then?" she asked gently. "Umm...you running...a couple of men including the chain smoker...military soldiers...smoke...heat...screams...pain" he finished looking at his clasped hands. Scully couldn't answer in any way. They had definately screwed with his mind. Scully's mind reeled with ways in which Mulder's memory could so badly have been messed with. Suddenly her cell phone rang, bringing her from her thoughts. "Scully" "They're here!" spoke a breathless voice. "Who? Who is this?" Scully asked. "Webster. They're at the motel" "What!?" "Shall I get rid of them?" "Yes, don't let them enter the building. I'll be right there" "Yeah, whatever" said the exhausted voice of Webster, followed by the disconnection from his end. Scully got up quickly, grabbed her coat and went to the door. "Mulder? I have to go, I'll be back...when I get back. Just sleep, okay?" "Yeah, sure. My Mom always told me to do what the doctor says" he said childishly. Scully smiled and hurridly left the room and went in the direction of the elevators. She bumped into Taylor, told her not to leave Mulder's room, and she'd be back. "You sound like a bad Arnie film" Taylor retorted playfully. "What! You didn't like 'Terminator'?" Scully replied, getting into the elevator. Taylor smiled to Scully as the elevator doors closed then she made her way back to Mulder's room. ----------------X Viva-Viva Motel 11:34am Scully ran out of the grey car, towards Webster who was waiting in the lobby. He looked a shattered, battered, exhausted man. A small trickle of blood had caked itself on his lip, his shirt was speckled with blood, his right cheekbone was showing the starting signs of a horrible bruise. She also didn't fail to notice that three police cars were in the car park, along with an ambulance and paramedics. Scully came up to Webster who was now talking to a police officer. "Excuse me ma'am, you can't come in. Crime scene" stated the flustered officer as he tried to obstruct her from entering. She sighed, got out her badge and gave the officer a very icy look. He suddenly backed off. "You know this man? He claims to work for you people, or are you an imposter too?" he asked Scully. "No, I'm *not* an 'imposter' of a federal employee and, yes, I do know this man, and he *does* work for the FBI also" she said politely through clenched teeth. The officer took in the information quickly and left before he lost his life. Scully was very intimidating when she needed to be. "So what happened?" Scully asked a rough Webster. "The men, they...came in. I heard a scream for help and then saw someone being...I don't know...killed" "Where did you see them?" "Through the window. I stayed outside, waiting for you. But when the police went in there was no bady. I swear there were four men in the room, but only three came out and no one was left in there!" Scully didn't looked shocked or in disbelief of what the crazy- sounding man was saying. She had seen thngs strange and unnatural so she wasn't going to question it outright, but there would be an explanation behind it. "You didn't see how they killed the man?" she asked. "No, it looked like they injected him with something, but I was too far away. Something in his back, but like I said, I'm not sure" "It doesn't matter. I'll go check out the crime scene, you get changed and clean yourself up a bit" she ordered him. He nodded and went to his room. Scully went to find the investigator in charge. -----X Webster's room 11:41am Webster opened his room door to find the place had been ran- sacked. Everything was broken, upside-down, messed with, or spilt. He heard a scuffle come from the closet. He took hold of his gun, braced himself and cautiously opened the door. He faced the barrel of the gun right in the face of Roberts. "Roberts?" "Yeah, yeah, put the gun down!" "Wha...how...where...what the Hell's goin' on?" Webster finally asked, reholstering his weapon. "I was...umm...I mean that I kinda woke up in the back seat of a car. I realised the car was in the parking lot here. I got out, came to our room. Then I heard voices, ran for cover" he gestured to the closet, "and that's it I guess" "Why didn't they find you? They must have looked through the closet" "I gripped the handle and stopped them from opening the door. They must have took it as jammed" he shrugged off. Webster nodded and went to the bathroom. "Webster...Roberts, you return!" Scully said in astonishment as she entered the room. She looked around without much suprise. "Your room any better? My guess is that housekeeping has gone on strike" "Yeah, they got to mine and Mulder's. They've taken those files and-" "What files?" "Umm...just some files related to the case" Scully shrugged off, telling them a half-truth. She couldn't tell the them that she and Mulder had doen a 'G-man thang' as Webster would put tit, because they would get pissed of because they hadn't been invited to join the trip. "You spoken to any of the officers?" Roberts asked. "No, I was just going to" Scully told them, then left the room in search of more information as to why, who and what had happened. -----X Viva-Viva Motel lobby 12:03pm Scully walked round the lobby, asking every officer for information. She had asked five officers (there was a total of six) and for the past half hour she had been getting no hard info and a lot of leers. She was at the edge of her patience. She made her way over to the last officer, Officer Bernard Matson. He was small, fat, had grey and receding hair and wasn't the most curtious of the police men here. "Excuse me" Scully said. "Yeah, what d'ya want missy" he said, not looking up at her. "I was hoping you could give me some indight to what happened here" she told him. "Nothin' to tell ya Miss" he said, still not paying her any attention. Her fuse was deminishing by the second. "Look I only want to know the prelim exam results of the crime scene" she said through gritted teeth. "Sorry no can do. Only if you're involved with the case then I'd be glad to but you aren't law inforcement" he said, finally closing the damn notebook he'd been paying vital attention to. "I'm FBI" she told him. "Thats what all hooker's say when we bring 'em in. Sayin' they're undercover" he said, giving her a leer of his own. Her fuse had just burnt out. "LOOK!!! I'M FROM THE DAMN FBI!!!!! I'M INVESTIGATING A CASE RELATED TO THIS!!!! NOW GIVE ME INFORMATION OR I'LL HAVE TO ARREST YOU FOR THE INTERFERENCE OF JUSTICE" Scully bellowed at him. He looked at her in disbelief. "Well, 'Miss FBI' I need some identification" he said in a sarcastic tone, "I'll have to 'interogate' you, this way please" he said in a sleazy voice, pointing to a vacant room. Scully smiled sweetly and followed him she thought sweetly. They went into the clean, unoccupied room. She realised that he didn't know she was actually FBI because they hadn't met and she hadn't told him who she was yet. "Well 'Miss FBI' what do you 'want to know'?" he asked in a smarmy voice, edging closer to her. He came up behind her and placed his hands on her hips. "Oh, you know..." she started then gave him a a powerful elbow in the rib cage. This made him double over in pain, so she knocked his legs from under him so he fell on his front. Then she grabbed his shirt collar, forced him up onto his feet and looked really pissed of at him. "Now, you son-of-a-perverted-bitch, I want the info on the crime scene, and if I have to kick the shit out of you, I will" He looked very frightened, a questioning look on his face. She took out her ID, still clutching his shirt and forced it into his face "Read it, understand it, and give me the damn information" She released the hapless officer from her iron grip and pushed a hand through her hair. He coughed a little and told her that he didn't have to infomation. Officer O'Neil did. This made her slightly more pissed off, but she tried to conceal it. But, as she turned to leave, the officer hadn't got the message and lunged for her again. She turned to him, punched him in the nose and watched him stuble back onto his butt. He looked at her with raw fear in his eyes. "I'm very sorry officer, but you caught me on a bad day" she said sarcastically. She sighed satisfactorally, she had needed to beat someone up. She checked her appearance in the full length mirror and exited the room leaving the bleeding officer on the floor. ----------------X Mulder's hospital room 2:23pm Scully walked into Mulder's room, folder in hand. As she walked in all four agents (Mulder, Taylor, Webster and Roberts) suddenly shut up and stared around the room looking as innocent as possible. "Do you ever get the feeling that when you walk into a room which goes silent, the people in before you have been talking about you?" Scully asked, hypothetically to Mulder. "Nope" he said flatly, starting to fumble with the thin bedspread which was his cover. Scully glared at him. The other agents looked at the folder in her hand. She realised that she did in fact have a folder, and tossed it onto Mulder's bed. When she did so, Mulder noticed blood onh her hand. "Scully?" he asked. "Hmm" she said, picking up a photo out of the file. "Is that...blood?" he said gesturing to her hand. She studied her hand herself. "It seems to be so. Yes, very perceptive of you Mulder" she said sarcastically. "I don't want to seem nosy but, why is it on your hand?" "Oh, umm..." she thought for a second, then decided that she wanted to get back at the others for talking about her "Well, there was this smarmy police officer, with more arms than an octopus. And I heard him talking about me in an unprofessional way, so I...'dealt' with him" she stated, studying the photo, as if her explanation was a normal, everyday comment. There was quite a bit of silence so she looked up. All the agents had gone slightly pale, fear in their eyes. "What?" she asked "Hey, I'm thirsty. Anyone want a coffee?" she offered. The three agents, Taylor, Webster and Roberts jumped up and all said things along the lines of "I'll get it!", "I'll go", and "How many sugars d'you want?". All three agents ran out for their lives. Scully turned her attention towards Mulder, who was now cowering beneath the bedspread. "Scully?" he asked. He was 'testing the waters' to see if her mood was calm or stormy. "Yes Mulder?" she said, in an ice cool one, sitting in the seat nearest the defenceless Mulder, "Now, what exactly were you saying about me?" she asked, sitting back looking very interested to hear the story he was about to tell. "Aww, come on Scully, you don't really want to know wha..." "Oh, yes I do" she interupted. "Well...Scully do you have your gun?" she shook her head, he sighed with relief. "Why? Does this tale end up with me shooting you again?" she asked, venom in her voice. He shook his head quickly. he thought. "Well, I was just telling the guys...that...you and me are...I mean were...kinda..." "'An item'" she finished for him. "Yeah. You know, we *do* have an unspoken communication" he said, trying to steer clear of the original topic. "Well if we do, read this thought" she told him, deadly serious. "You...wanna...do something to me?" he said, slowly. She nodded, grinning. "You wanna...do something 'naughty'" he said, in a low seductive voice. She shook her head, but still with the grin on her face. "You wanna...cut of my reproductive organs?" he asked, wincing. She nodded, an evil look in her eye. "Your right Mulder, we *do* have an unspoken communication" she said sarcastically. He smirked at her. She got up and moved closer to him, he backed away in fright, cowering beneath the thin barrier which was the bed sheet.. "Don't worry Mulder, I don't have a scalpel at the moment" she said, touching his forehead to see if he was burning up. "How long has it been since you had an injection?" "I dunno...since before Webster left I guess" Scully nodded in acknowledgement. She now had proof that Holmes had been involved with Mulder's delusions, but why? "Mulder, do you feel well enough to be checked out?" "Huh? By you?" he asked, wondering in what sense she meant 'checked out'. "Mulder, you have to stop watching 'those' videos of yours. And, no. I meant, are you well enough to check out of the hospital!" she explained. "I dunno, you're the doctor" he said sarcastically. "Well, I'm not the one who is sick" she replied in an equally sarcy tone. "Fine. Yes, I'm fine. Just take me to a decent food joint and I'll be a hundred percent in no time" he said, climbing out of bed. "I'll go while you get changed" she said. Although she wouldn't have minded to stay. And he wouldn't have minded either. they both scolded themselves. ----------------X Accoday Diner 4:57pm Mulder shoved down two burgers, three portions of fries, two giant colas and a plate piled high with pancakes covered in maple syrup. The other agents looked at him with disgust. Their food finally arrived, but they had lost their appetite. They just sat and watched Mulder. He then grabbed Roberts burger and started munching on it. Then he looked up as the other just stared back. "Did you want this?" he said, with his mouth full, which made Scully want to throw up. Roberts shook his head. "No, you go...enjoy" he said, standing up and going to the bathroom. "So" Mulder said between mouthfuls, directed at Scully, "what actually happened?" "Umm, someone ran-sacked our rooms, obviously after the files we took. Also the small survalence cameras *did* catch four men going into Roberts and Webster's room. One of those men was Holmes. And only three men came out. The next people to enter were the officers. They said that all windows were locked from the inside. And the air vents were not tampered with" she said, professionally, trying not to wrinkle her nose at the sight of Mulder's full mouth. "So, what you're saying is that we are back to square one" Mulder answered. Mulder was now munching away at Webster's bacon and eggs. "Well done, Sherlock" she said. He grinned at her, knowing that she was refering to his private joke with Pheobe Greene. And he knew that Scully had been jealous of her. Mulder continued to eat. Roberts returned to the booth the agents were sat at. Scully's cell phone rang. "Scully" she said, "Yes". "Who is this?". "Who..". "Yes". "When?". "We'll be there". She hung up. "Who was that?" Mulder said between mouthfuls. "I don't know, but he wants to meet us all in two hours. I suggest we go" she said. The agents rose from the table, except Mulder who continued eating. Scully grew impatient. "Mulder!" she barked. He looked up in suprise. She gestured to the door. He nodded. He took another bite of food, put a twenty dollar note on the table and started to walk to the door. Scully followed. As Mulder opened the door Scully turned to him "You know Mulder, you are the *biggest* pig I have ever had to eat with" "But you didn't eat anything" he said. "Exactly" she said walking out to the car. "Oh" he said, realising it was his fault that o one else ate. He followed behind. They all got into their cars and drove off. "So where are we going Scully?" Mulder asked. He was sat in the passenger seat, which was rare. "A warehouse" she stated. "Which one?" "I don't know, but I know we'll get there" she said. Mulder looked at her strangly, asking with his eyes 'How?'. "Mulder, it's in the script!" "Oh" he said for the second time. They continued down the road, out of the small town. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 6/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Well? What do you think so far? Good? Bad? Boring? Not funny? Too long? Anything? Well...mail me! (even if you have nothing to do and your bored! - hopefully not from this fanfic!) My addy is...Trustyone@thewebbs.demon.co.uk Look out for Para-abnormalities: The Showdown!!!!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities VII: The Showdown by Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X The warehouse Out-skirts of Prescott, Arizona August 14 10:12pm Agent Dana Scully got out of the grey car she and her partner, Fox Mulder, had been in. She looked up at the tall, forbodding wooden box, that could previously have been an old barn. Mulder got out and shut the door. He walked a few steps towards the structure and turned to Scully. They had taken a few wrong turns, due to Mulder's passenger seat navigation. They had wound up being hours late. ************ "Okay, Scully, take this left here" Mulder said, pointing to the left, his arm blocking her vision. "Mulder! Get your arm out of my line of sight, or I swear to God, I'll pull over and you can walk. Either that or I shoot you!" she was getting slightly peeved with her partner. They had been driving for hours. Mulder had insisted that he knew his way by heart and an argument had erupted. A result of this had been Mulder throwing the map out of the car window. "Well Scully, if you had let me drive then we would be there already!" Mulder moaned at her in a childish tone. "Driving to a destination is so much different when you actually drive. Everything looks different from the passenger seat" he continued, munching on some seeds. "If you dare say anything, or even suggest something to do with height difference, I *will* resort to shooting you" she muttered sternly. "Ooh, Scully. A little tense aren't we. Is it that time of the month again?" he asked matter-of-factly. He soon found Scully's fist hurtling towards his jawline. Then he *felt* Scully's fist on his jaw line. He was really not helping her mood. How dare he say that? He's her partner. It really pissed her off when he was like this: patronising, cocky, and (above all else) when he was right. "Shut up Mulder!" she warned. "I wathn't going thoo thay a thing. Onsethly thScully" he mumbled, his jaw pulsating with pain. She looked at him with fiery eyes and he liked that his conscience shouted at him. "Thake the letht here thScully" he said, keeping all of him limbs on his side of the car. *********** "There's a door round the back, on the left side" Mulder stated, pointing round the corner of the warehouse. "How the Hell do you know?" Scully asked, walking to his side. He acknowledged her question for a minute, decided whether he should tell her this was the warehouse where he had met X, before being put in hospital. He decided that the explaination would take too long. "It's in the script" he said, repeating her earlier words. She gave him a look that could freeze water. his common sense warned him. Mulder decided to stop being a jack-ass or he could wind up been hurt by this petite woman. Badly hurt. The other agents pulled up in their rental car and joined Mulder and Scully. They all stood, hands on hips, staring at the warehouse as if expecting an answer to jump out at them and slap them in the face. "So, what do we do again?" Andrew Webster asked, getting out a pocket flash light. "I don't know. But, hey, put that thing out. Bad guys are allergic to light. Why do you think they always organise to meet their enemies at night?" Mulder said. "So they aren't noticed by the general public? The law enforcement in the area?" Webster supplied, taking Mulder's question seriously. "No. That's what they *want* you to think!" Mulder replied "I suggest that we split up. Obviously 'they' want us to look for them" he ordered. Scully nodded. "But, no going off on your own" she said, looking at Matthew Roberts. "What?" he asked, surrendering to Scully's stern glare. "Roberts, in the little time we have know each other, you have gone off by yourself and gotten lost more times than Mulder has been put in hospital in the last five years I've known him!" Scully informed the agent. "Hey, Scully. That hurt" Mulder said. Scully smiled sweetly at him and shrugged. "Okay, so who goes with who?" Charlotte Taylor cut in. She hated being left out. "Scully, Roberts and I go inside from the front" Mulder said "You and Webster take the back" he continued, unholstering his gun. The others did the same. Scully hushed everyone when she heard a cracking noise come from within the building. Mulder nodded to signal everyone to make their ways to their designated areas. They split up. -----X Inside the warehouse 10:15pm A shadowy figure ran along on of the beams of the building, he stopped mid-way to look down. Although it was dark he knew it was a *long* way down. he thought glumly, continuing his trek along the beam, carrying the heavy case. He reached his destination, hidden between two large crates, and waited patiently. He knew his 'company' was outside. -----X Inside the warehouse 10:17pm Scully carefully pushed open the heavy wooden door. It creaked and groaned with old age. Mulder swung round, expecting someone to lunge out, firing at will. There was nothing but darkness, crates and dust. The three agents made their way into the warehouse, guns poised. They heard more movement and ducked behind three crates that were stacked on top of one another. "Could it have been the others?" Scully whispered, close to Mulder ear. He shrugged a 'maybe' at her. She nodded. They both looked round the corner of the bottom crate. No one seemed to be there. The sat back down, the stack in front of them, acting as a sheild. Scully noticed Roberts wasn't there. "Where's..." "Roberts" Mulder finished for her. They looked either side of the crates. No sign of him. "That man will never change" Scully moaned angrily. She took the security catch off the gun and checked the clip. Then she stood up. "What are you doing?" Mulder whispered harshly, pulling her arm to try and make her sit. "Going to look for trouble. You can walk off, Roberts can walk off, Webster could walk off. I may have my reproductive organs on the inside of my body, but I can do what you can. And I can do it better, if past history serves as a reliable source" she said. "Hey! It's not my fault I always get beaten up! It's a guy thing" he said. "Yeah, right. And I suppose its a 'Mulder' thing to get shot by your own partner" she said sarcastically. "You really are in a foul mood aren't you!" Mulder said, getting up and reluctantly following his pissed off partner. -----X Other side of the warehouse 10:23pm Taylor walked cautiously through the maze of crates, boxes and containers. Webster followed covering her back. They heard a noise abouve them. They pointed their guns upwards. Waited. There was no sound. The agents didn't flinch. Still waiting. Suddenly, a pigeon flew down. Webster screamed in fright. Taylor looked at him with an expression which showed her disapprovement. "Why don't you just broadcast our presence on national TV!" she whispered harshly at him. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting a pigeon to fly out" he shrugged. "What?! In all the cop tv shows I've seen where the officers go into a warehouse to find a drug baron, there are always pigeons, or bats, or a creature with wings. It's a cliche!" she explained. She sighed as Webster shrugged again and they continued their search. -----X Up in the rafters of the warehouse 10:24pm The shadowy figure fiddled with his loaded weapon, waiting for something, anything to happen. He heard footsteps, heavy footsteps. He made sure his gun was loaded, and held it out-stretched in front of him. "Put it down" ordered the other mysterious man. "Jesus! Don't do that!" said the first man, lowering his weapon. "Did you bring it?" asked the second man. "Yes" he said, producing the jet black case from behind the crate. "Is it set up?" "Yep. When do I get to use it?" he asked sternly "I don't like to be taken for a ride. I've been taken on many rides and either I got travel sick, or the food was bad" he quipped, holding his gun up again. "You can't threaten me. You will be able to use it when they find you" said the second man mysteriously "I'll help to guide them in your direction" he continued, walking away. -----X On the ground floor of the warehouse 10:29pm Mulder heard another scuffle and so did Scully. He looked at her and she nodded. They both walked throught the towers of boxes, following the noise. Scully was in pure concentration mode, all her FBI training coming into practice. Mulder was also thinking about the task at hand, but not to the degree that Scully was. she thought. They suddenly stopped at the sound of footsteps. "There's more than one person" Scully warned. Mulder nodded in agreement. He walked round one side of a stack of crates, Scully, the other side. No one there, but more shuffling. Scully walked back round. And now there was no Mulder. She circled the entire stack. No Mulder. She felt like ripping her hair out. <*That* man will never change *either*!!> she thought, storming off in the direction of the footsteps, knowing he would have gone that way she thought with an exhausted sigh. She went off, starting her treck through the dimly lit maze, searching for Mulder, Roberts, or anyone else who was lost, including herself she mentally screamed. -----X Somewhere else in the warehouse 10:32pm Taylor and Webster, who was still shaken by the pigeon incident, had heard a scuffling noise and were heading to it. Suddenly, they heard footsteps on either side of them. "We're surrounded" Webster noticed, making sure his gun was loaded. "Well done, Sherlock" she said. They stood back to back, covering each other. The footsteps drew closer, and closer and closer. Suddenly two dark figures ran to then, gun barrels forced at the agents heads. "Freeze!" demanded on voice. "FBI!" said another. "Woah!!! Mulder, Scully. It's Taylor and me!" Webster said, his heart racing. "Huh?" muttered a blind Mulder. "What!? Where's Roberts?" Scully asked, coming too close for Webster's own self contol to make sure it was him. "You mean he's not with you?" said Taylor, relaxing and turning to Scully. "Nope" muttered Mulder, who was now equally close to them all. "I hate the dark" he said. "What? Scared that the Boogey monster wil come and get you?" Scully said sarcastically. "Nope, I got him. There's a file on him" he retorted. "What? Filed next to those horrid green *bugs*?" she continued to chide. "Yes. You've read it then?" Mulder said in a serious yet totally sarcastic tone. The two agents stood very close facing one another. Scully was looking directly up and Mulder and he was looking straight down. "Ahem" Taylor broke in, "but we have *work* to do!" she said. Mulder and Scully looked at her, then each other, then walked towards the other two agents. "Right, from now on, we don't split up. I don't wanna be responsible for shooting a fellow agent under fals pretenses" Mulder said. "What. You mean like when I shoot you when you were..." "Yes Scully. Now we don't need to persue that any further" he said, cutting Scully off abruptly. Suddenly their was a loud crashing sound, located at the other end of the warehouse. Mulder mused, starting off to the other end of the building. "Why can't the trouble be closer!" Scully muttered. Mulder stopped in his tracks. "STOP DOING THAT!!!!" he yelled at her. He ran off and left Scully standing there, wondering what the hell he was on about. -----X Other side of the warehouse 10:38pm Mulder slowed down considerably as he neared the site where the noise had eminated from. Webster, Taylor, and Scully followed behind. He signaled for them to stay quiet. Another crashing sound, a crate came hurtling towards the floor. The agents looked up to a dark figure run along the high-rise beam. "FBI!" shouted Mulder, shooting his gun. The bullet hit the beam, the intended target to scare the intruder. "What if it's Roberts?" Taylor asked. "Nah, can't be him. That man know's where he's going!" Mulder said, keeping his weapon trained on the intruder. The person disappeared again into the shadows above and suddenly, a bullet hit the crate directly to the left side of Scully. She turned round quickly, her weapon pointing at nothing in particular. The others agents did the same. A man came our from the shadows. "Roberts?" asked Taylor, lowering her gun. Scully sighed in exasperation. Mulder prayed to God for this man to just leave him alone and Webster stood there in shock. "Yeah, who else?" Roberts said, casually walking up to the others. "What were you thinking?" Taylor continued. "Umm, that I needed to get your attention?" he offered. The rest stared blankly at him. "No, seriously" he said. "Okay, what is so important?" Mulder droned. "The intruder went that way" he said, pointing to the other end of the warehouse. The others sighed and trudged over. -----X Back at the other end of the warehouse 10:42pm The agents reached the dim corner of the warehouse as three heavy crates fell to the floor, barely missing Roberts head. They heard footsteps overhead to see the unknown presence again. "Hey! You can come down. The ground is safe you know!" Mulder shouted impatiently. he thought angryily. "I hate playing cat and mouse games" Scully sighed, checking her gun. "For God's sake Scully! Stop it!" Mulder turned to her again. "Stop what?!?" she demanded, non the wiser at why he kept turning on her. "Repeating me!" he screamed at her. "What the hell did they inject you with Mulder? It's screwed with your already messed up, warped, paranoid mind!" she screamed back. They were again facing each other, ready to battle with words. The other agents stood near by, in case an umpire was needed. "Yeah, maybe it has! I'm thinking something, and then you say it out loud! It's bloody annoying!" "Well, maybe if you weren't so *predicatable* I would be repeating you!" she scolded. "I'm not predicatable!" he shouted back in her face. "You are! How the Hell do you think I find you, every time you walk off. I know where you've gone. Even if you don't tell me, I know where you are!" she said smugly. "Well maybe cos your reading my bloody mind!" he yelled back again. "So, what? I'm an X File? Telepathy? We are mentally connected? Jesus, Mulder, you *are* warp-minded!" she said, not looking at him. She knew it pissed him off. "No. Maybe you've just been around me too long. I wasn't going to suggest that at all! It's all in *your* mind now!" "No it isn't!" she screamed at him. "I'm gonna speak with Skinner when we get back to DC and ask for a new Sceptic" he said coldy, an evil smirk on his face. He knew that would get to him. "Mulder, no one in their right mind would want to work with *you*!!!! Everyone at the bureau thinks your wired, and freaky, and strange, and...come on, I don't think we need a fourth!" she said. "Not *everyone* thinks that!" he defended himself. Scully looked at the others, asking them with her eyes if they agreed with her. "Well...we were...kinda apprehensive...about working with...you" Webster stammered. Mulder blew a fuse. "What?! Is this 'gang up on Mulder Day'?" he asked. The others shook their heads quickly. "And you *weren't* 'apprehensive' about woring with Miss Ice Queen here!?" he pointed at Scully, who gave him 'The Look'. "Well, we were kinda..." Webster trailed off, seeing the angry boil in Scully's water-blue eyes. "Why you bast..." she started and lunged for Mulder who ducked effectively. As she ran towards him and grabbed her around the ankles and send her flying over his shoulder. She fell to the floor in a heap. She groaned then stood up, breath raspy. "So, I always lose the fights?" he asked, the gleam of victory in his hazel eyes. His comment made Scully very angry. Very angry indeed. Scully got to her feet, smoothed out her coat and put her hand through her disheveled hair. She looked at Mulder and smiled sweetly. Mulder became very scared he warned himself. Scully walked towards him and stopped right infront of him. Mulder looked down, down at Scully as she looked far up at him. "Mulder, you couldn't win a fight if your life depended on it!" she stated simply. "And you know that's true, cos I could just totally kick your ass, if I wanted to. Remember, I've already beaten up Leonard Betts, Tooms, well sorta, umm...Nurse Owens. Oh, yeah, and I really kicked those blonde bimbo nurses too!" she said triumphantly. "That wasn't you" Mulder corrected her. "Ah, yes, but you told me I kicked their ass, and at first you thought it was me, so I guess it was! And, I've shot you-" she simply stated. "You *always* have to bring that up" Mulder droned "That was low Scully" he said. Yep, that comment really had hurt him, but not as much as *Scully* was going to hurt him. "Was that a height pun, Mulder?" she asked, innocence written across her porcelian features. Before he could realise or correct what he had just said, his stomach came into contact with the fist from Scully. He doubled over in pain, letting out a wounded animal moan. Scully stood back to look at the winded Mulder. He looked up and had a regretful look in his eye. "Scully? Are you usually in bitch mode before a period?" he asked, looking back at the ground, trying to find a way to breathe regularly without his diaphragm or stomach giving off volts of pain. "No, just when you piss me off" she replied matter-of-factly. Mulder nodded and Scully stepped closer to him. "Scully! I'm sorry! I didn't mean that!" he screamed hysterically, curling up into a ball on the dirt floor. "Mulder, what are you talking about?" she asked, she thought, with sadness. "I...I...thought you...could...read..." he stuttered, looking at the sincere bemusement on his partner's face. "Your mind?" she finished for him. She sighed inwardly she thought with relief. "Yeah" he managed, getting to his feet. "So, what were you thinking?" she asked, helping him stand up with collapsing again. "Um...nothing. If you could read my mind, you would know. But luckily - for you and me - you can't. So lets drop it and find our guy" he said, standing straight. The sea of pain had finally ebbed. "All right" she said, walking in the direction they had been heading in previously. "Right" Mulder decided to agree before he lost something other than an arm or a leg he thought, following behind the others. "Sorry Mulder. I didn't realise I'd hit you that hard" she said sincerely. "No problem" he managed he reminded himself. "But, remember Mulder, I could kick your ass just as easily as that Beastwoman, X-" "How did you know about X" refering to hen Scully had been in a coma after being returned. "I just...do" she said, smiling, knowing it would get his mind reeling insanely. "Scully? When you were in the hospital, did you have any out- of-body experiences, or astral-projection..." he trailed off. "Just drop it Mulder" she said, wishing to herself that she hadn't said anything to get his conspiracy-driven mind in gear. "But Scully, do you understand that..." "Don't even say it Mulder" "But-" "I'll shoot you!" There was instant silence as they continued to walk. -----X Up in the rafters of the warehouse 10:47pm The shadowy man sat still, listening intently on the goings-on below him. Suddenly he heard footsteps running towards him. he asked himself as he got his weapon ready. The other unknown figure hit him over the back of the head, but not hard eoguh. The fisrt man slugged him twice with the butt of his gun, sending the heavy built guy backwards. The man fell over, and lay there, not wanting a struggle. The first man, walking cautiously towards the beaten up man, gun held in front, studied the man in front of him. he thought, amazed and shocked. The man on the ground suddenly gained strength, grabbed the black obeject the first man had hidden, and ran into the first man knocking him to the ground. The second dark, muscular figure then jumped down to the ground from the high beam. -----X Ground floor of the warehouse 10:51pm Suddenly another crash resounded through the old structure, making the agents turn back round. The man had fallen and they could see him struggling to stand among the wreckage of broken wood. He coughed and choked, gasping for air. Roberts ran over and began to talk to the man. The others stood there, watching. Roberts put the handcuffs on one wrist. Then, the man elbowed him in the ribs, sending the rookie agent flying backwards. The others held their guns at the ready, aim trained on the man. The figure began to walk towards them, he picked something up, not a gun, then spoke. "I don't think you want to do that" he said. "What the fuck!?" Mulder said. "Don't even bother Mulder!" said the man. "Skinner?" Scully asked. "Who else" he said. He walked towards them, holding a small black box and handed it to Scully. The agents could now make out the strong, broad build of their superior. Scully examined the small jet- black box, wondering what conspirital suprise laid beneath the polished, strong case. She opened it and Skinner sighed at the sight of the contents. "Empty" he said glumly. "You still have't explained what you are doing here" Mulder threatened. He suddenly felt suspision he thought, counting up the reasons as to why the balding, middle- aged man was here. "I got an email from someone you know. It warned me that something would happen to you, and you" he said gesturing to the three confused agents. "And I can tell you, I don't want five agents written off because Mulder screwed up again" he said in a harsh tone. Mulder dropped his gun, sighed and sat on a crate, beginning to feel sorry for himself. Suddenly another crash startled them. The three rookie agents went off. "You aren't the..." Scully started. "Only one..." Taylor continued. "Up there" Mulder finished. Skinner shook his head in exasperation. The other agents all understood his exasperation and sighed as they went about their work of bringing in the bad guy. "I couldn't find anyone" he said "Now, get back to work" he ordered, walking towards the nearest exit. "Where are you going, Sir?" Scully asked. "DC, I can't stay sane with you two around" he said, his presence becoming fainter. "Thanks for the moral booster" Mulder said. The two agents walked towards the sound. -----X Metres from where they were speaking with Skinner 10:49pm Taylor, Roberts and Webster were ahead of the others. Their guns aloft, aiming upwards into the shadows above, trained on anything that moved. Taylor made her way cautiously round another stack of crates. She heard a crash, a groan, then nothing. She moved back to see Webster out cold. Roberts stood there, opened mouthed. "It came from nowhere" he gasped, looking down at Webster. A large heavy beam had collapsed on Webster. She crouched down beside him checked his pulse. It was weak and becoming weaker. she thought. She reached into her overcoat and pulled out her cell phone. She began to dial for the emergencies but her thought processes were cut short by the dull, yet hard blow to the back of her skull. She heard footsteps run off. she realised, running to get the others. A dark, confused fog filled her mind. Reddening pain clouded her eyes. She saw a blurred tall, domanant figure stand over her, watching her. She gasped out a help, but it didn't move. Her eyelids crashed shut and her brain pulsed a thousand responses of pain. The phone slipped out of her hand and fell to the cold, soft earth with a clatter. Her limp, weak form soon followed, landing next to Webster. Her limbs, body, thoughts, and senses came to a grinding halt as the blackness devoured her whole. The two figures lay motionless. Still. The only sound was the answer of the operator on the cell phone. The agents were alone. The unknown form ran back into the shadows. -----X 10:49pm Scully and Mulder arrived too late. Roberts behind them. They saw the agents on the floor. Mulder noticed the cell phone, noticed the number one of them had dialed. Roberts and the other two heard another creaking sound. "I'll go" Roberts offered, then ran towards the sound, leaving the others. "They need medical attention" Scully informed, checking the pulse points on their necks. They had a beat. Faint, but still there. "I thought that was what you were for" Mulder quipped, turning off the cell phone. Scully sighed. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up" Scully ordered. "No. They were both together and look what happened" he said, pointing towards the two people, life slowly ebbing away from them. Scully nodded in acceptance of this fact and stood. "Well, we better find the son-of-a-bitch soon. Or Skinner will have our asses for A) either not catching the guy, or B) for not helping these in time" she explained quickly. "Lets go" Mulder replied, dropping the cell phone back to the ground. They continued into the darkness, the looming fear of danger ahead constantly in their minds. Off they went to seek out the unidentified man and Roberts Scully thought. -----X 10:52pm Scully followed Mulder, covering his back as he searched in front. She heard footsteps behind her and swung round to see the unidentified man running towards her. Her gun was knocked away and she was pinned to the ground. Mulder kicked the man in the stomach and sent him falling to the ground in a heap, coughing. Scully got back to her feet and aimed her gun at the figure in a split second. Mulder was amazed at her speed. The figure raised slowly, a hand rubbing his stomach where Mulder had paid a few blows. He looked at them, they couldn't make him out. He turned back around and darted away. Mulder and Scully were close behind. They swervd and wound through the stacks and piles, of various crates and boxes and fallen beams and piles of wood. The man ran up some shaky, wood rotten stairs and Mulder followed. "MULDER!!" Scully shouted, warning him to be careful. She stayed on the ground, her gun trained on the swift and agile man. Mulder ran across the beams, telling himself not to look down. He made it across to be faced with more crates. He heard a click, then a slow humming sound. He began to back away. The figure appeared close, too close, to Mulder. The agent continued to back away. The man held up a long, black, thin tube he realised. He turned on his heel and made a run for it back across the narrow, rotting wooden beam. He lost his footing and descended to the soft earth below. -----X The ground floor of the warehouse 11:03pm "Just dropping by" Mulder wheezed as Scully crouched beside him, helping him to a sitting position. He had had the wind knocked out of him. "Real droll Mulder. Now sit still" she told him. She checked his arms and legs, his back, neck and ribs. "Feel any pain?" she said. He shook his head. "Nope" he said, regaining his lung capacity. "Sure?" she asked again. "Yep Scully, stop fussing. We got a bad guy to catch!" he said jumping to his feet. "You've got to be careful, you just fell-" she looked up, "you just fell...a long way" she said, she couldn't see much, it was getting darker. He gave her her gun and they went off in search again of the ever elusive man. -----X Somewhere near the middle of the warehouse 11:07pm The man, dressed in black, with a very sore chest, crouched down, weapon loaded, ready to do his job he thought, looking down at what he had just stepped in. He sighed, shook his head to keep himself awake and kept waiting. He hated this part of the job description: hide in shadows, stay unseen. -----X Somewhere near the middle of the warehouse 11:09pm Mulder and Scully, still covering one another, cautiously walked around, searching. Searching for... "What are we actually looking for?" Scully blurted out. "Ssh. Scully! Wanna blow our cover?" Mulde whispered harshly back. Scully mouthed a 'sorry' and shrugged. "Well?" she whispered again. "What? I don't...really...know" he explained. Scully rolled her eyes, let her arms drop to her sides and walked away from him. "Scully! What are you...SCULLY!" he whispered. She continued to walk away. "SCULLY!" Mulder called running after her. He followed in the direction she had taken. She had disappeared. "Women!" Mulder fumed, ready to pull his hair out. He heard a scuffle not far away. He turned 360 degrees but couldn't see much. Another scuffle, slightly closer. Still, he couldn't see anything. It was way too dark for his eyes. "Ahem.." Scully's soft tones broke the eery silence of the night, guiding Mulder in the right direction. "Scully?" Mulder finally said, squinting hard against the jet- black night to see her. And the person who had a gun to her head. "SCULLY!" he said, training his own weapon on the dark clothed man. "Well done G-Man. A full thumbs up for correctly identifying the hostage" Scully said dryly. "Shut up" the dark clothed man ordered. "My stomach is reminding me of when you 'visited' it, and now my mind is saying to me that I should kill *her*, cos I'm allergic to pain" the man explained to a shocked Mulder. "Most people are" she commented dryly. "Krycek?" Mulder gasped. "Again, you're recognition skills do you well Mulder" Scully continued. "Shut UP!" Krycek ordered, pressing the cold, metal barrel of the automatic weapon against the temple of her head, just below the hairline. "Krycek! Long time no see. How's the arm?" Mulder commented, keeping his weapon aimed. "You know. Been here, there. You know how it is. The arm? Why I never knew you cared" he replied. "You don't know much do you" Mulder said, playing along, edging closer, trying to reach Scully. "You know, you can keep up the chit-chat all you want. You ain't going. Non of you are" Krycek explained, pulling himself back, using Scully as the human sheild if Mulder should send any bullets hurtling towards the Russian spy. "There are only me and Scully here" Mulder pointed out. Tayor and Webster were out cold, and slowly drifting towards the abyss of death and Roberts was Mulder thought, momentaryily, his thoughts drifted until Scully brought him back she thought angrily. "Hey, Alien-Boy, we are, at the moment, in a hostage negotiation situation, so get your mind of 'Where the Hell is Roberts' and back onto the task at hand!" she demanded. "How did you..." "Do that? It's a gift" she finished sarcastically as the pressure of the gun on her head increased, so she wouldn't forget it was there. "By the way, Fox, Roberts is here" Krycek stated, keeping a firm grip on the fair agent Scully. She gasped. Mulder thought Krycek was hurting her. But, suddenly a well built, very strong figure wrestled an unsuspecting Mulder to the ground, and took his gun away. The figure stood up and peered down on Mulder, holding his own weapon at him. "How's the search going Mulder" Roberts said. It was Mulder's turn to gasp in suprise. "Well, the Rookie did have a secret" he said. Roberts ignored the comment. "Make fun of me all you want Agent *Fox* Mulder, but you won't be saying much after this..." he trailed off. He turned the cold metal gun in his hands, and brought the butt of it crashing down on Mulder. Mulder blacked out and the last thing he heard was Scully calling out his name. He tried to respond, but his brain wouldn't allow it. He then lost consciousness. "MULDER!" Scully shouted in vain, trying to rouse Mulder from his untimely sleep. She kept on calling out the same thing over and over as she too, fell to the ground, as a heavy force of the gun smashed against her head. She felt her hair stick to her scalp as the warm blood seeped out through the gash. Her head felt heavy, her eyelids became limp, like the rest of her body. Krycek let go of her and sent her falling to the floor so she landed next to Mulder. She heard footsteps surround her, they were everywhere. She let herself slip into an unconscious sleep, hoping that when ,or if, she woke, it would all have been a nightmare she thought before her mind gave up on the pounding pain which made her mind scream. -----X Unknown place August 15 1:42am Scully slowly came round, her head pounding against itself, trying to relieve the pressure of the blow she had been on the recieving end of. She opened her eyes, to find Mulder's big nose looming in her face. "Scully? Scully, are you awake? Can you hear me? Scully?" his gentle voice coaxed her to full conscience. She sat up, her head spinning and her eyes still foggy. She dazily looked about her. They were in another warehouse, well a large room, but this one had lighting and had corrogated iron walls, and seemingly heavy doors, that had chains on them to stop people getting in she managed to think. She looked at Mulder who was giving her a lop-sided grin. He had a big lump on his forehead, she touched it to see the extent of the damage and he winced. That was enough to see it was sore. She touched the back of her head, it was still emmitting a dull throbbing ache. She looked at her fingers, they had blood on them, and she could feel the caked blood in her hair. Her vision became clear again, and she saw Taylor and Webster talking to each other in the far corner of the room. "How's the head" Mulder said, moving himself, so they were sat next to each other, leaning against one of the corrogated iron walls. "Sore" she said mutely. "Same here. Krycek really packs a punch when he has to" Mulder pointed out. "Considering he's only got one arm, it's not bad really, is it?" she said to him. "That was low...but no offence to you or anything" he added quickly. Scully smiled. "Mulder, just calm yourself. So have any idea where we are?" she asked, FBI-agent-mode in motion. "Not on your life" he spoke, defeat in his tone. "Do you have your weapon?" she asked him, checking her holster. It was empty. "No. Krycek isn't that stupid" Mulder scoffed. "Thanks Mulder!" sounded the voice, which echoed around them, bouncing off the walls. "Well, good morning Krycek" Mulder forced out. "Sleep well?" he asked, putting hand-cuffs on the agents, Taylor and Webster included. "Never better, considering you could have fractured the my skull in the process" Mulder said through gritted teeth. "Well, at least you're still alive" he said, pulling Mulder up by the collar. "Oh, and here's a tip. Next time you play host to a suprise sleep-over, serving breakfast or snacks may be nice" Mulder quipped. Krycek rolled his eyes and pulled Scully up too. Mulder, Scully and the other agents were led to another room, but it looked exactly the same as the one they had just woken up in. Roberts was there, filling up what looked like syringes. The liquid inside was a greenish yellow Scully remembered. She looked at Taylor who had also reached the same conclusion, judging by the look in her eyes, and all over her face. The agents were sat down and tied to chairs. Roberts stood next to the medical tray which the syringes were laid on. He was puffing away at a cigarette Mulder thought. Krycek, after securing Webster to his chair, went to stand next to Roberts who gave him one of the five syringes Mulder asked himself. "You won't get away with this" Taylor said "Oh, really. Shut up Charlotte" Roberts spit out with venom and hate. "We always get away with it" Krycek said, smiling. He brought the needle to the neck of Taylor. He punctured her skin and pressed down the plunger of the syringe, sending the unknown substance into her blood stream. "Mulder..." Scully whispered "Huh?" he turned to her. "That substance, it's what came *out* of the dead body, Kathryn Willis" she warned him. "What...what was it?" he asked, fear shining through his hazel eyes. "I don't know, the substance is made up of the dissolved minerals in human blood. But, in lethal doses. I think if the body had been found later, the substances would have metabolised into the body, so it wouldn't look like a murder. An unexplainable death" she explained, watching the two evil men, as they injected the second syringe into Webster. "How much would it take to kill?" Mulder asked. "I don't know, but not as much as they are injecting into us. Don't you understand, they are using these people including us, as guinea-pigs" she whispered harshly. "Ssh" he said, as Krycek came up to him. "What's all this about?" he asked. "Oh, you know, last wishes, yadda, yadda, yadda" Mulder answered. "Don't worry, you are going last" Krycek said, smiling at him. "Hey, Alex, don't ya want this?" Roberts called. "Be right with ya" he said, still giving the icy smile to Mulder. He turned round suddenly, pulled out is shot gun and shot Roberts in the shoulder. He then, picked up the syringe Roberts had been holding and injected the double-crossing agent with the liquid. Roberts went into spasms then was still, his eyes glazed and rolled back into his head. Like Webster and Taylor, who now, were as equally still. "You've killed them?" Mulder asked. "No, just drugged them. The dosage on Kathryn Willis *was* too strong we realised, and we needed guinea-pigs, and you lot just happened to come on by" Krycek explained. He picked up the last two syringes and walked towards Mulder and Scully. "Why us two last? That's so cliche" Scully pointed out. "You two...I hate you two. Always getting in the way. Not just of Cancerman, but me, Skinner, everyone" he said. "You know, I didn't think you would be that heartless to kill one of your own" Mulder said, gesturing (to the best of his restricted ability) to Roberts. "He always called me Alex. I hate my first name" "Wow, that's 'Spooky'. You two have something in common" Scully said, trying to buy her and Mulder some time. "Funny, Scully" Mulder said, helping her out. "Okay, enough" Krycek said. He plunged the long, sharp needle into the agents necks, one by one. Each of them started to have spasms, shaking in their chairs. Their eyes glazed over, and rolled back in their sockets. -----X Krycek smiled, to himself, as no one else was conscious. He walked towards the door, swiped a silver card through a swipe-lock and walked out the room. He took out a cell phone, which he had borrowed from one of the agents, and dialled the number he was supposed to. He got into the passenger seat of the dark blue car. As he opened the door, he was bombarded with a smoke cloud which rolled out of the vehicle. "Good work" said the wrinkly Russian scientist. "As always" Krycek replied. Krycek spoke the words he had memorised into the phone, then hung up, hurtling the phone back to the old government building. Krycek shut the door. The car started up and drove off, into the night which was quickly turning into day. --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 7/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Para-abnormalities VIII: Consequences by Trustyone --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X FBI Agent Dana Scully's nerve endings burned, twisted and turned with the pure heat and hot sensation which assaulted her body. She writhed and tossed in her dark sleep, the heat waving over her defenceless form. Her eyes were stabbed with blistering air, lava-hot liquid coursed through her veins. Her flesh felt the searing heat, it burned and scorched her skin, sending painful pulses to her brain. Her head throbbd with the pain it was registering. Sweat made her melting hair soak onto her scalp, her lips burning. Her throat was dry, quickly becoming like an arid desert. Her voice was nothing but a course whisper, she couldn't scream out for help. Her hands and feet became numb, the sensation quickly going up her limbs, engulfing the pain and sending relief to her brain. Eventually her whole body was nothing. She couldn't feel movement, pain, heat, coldness, anything. Her medical knowledge decided that her nerve endings had burned away, her head quickly becoming numb as well. In the last split second, her closed eyes were suddenly glaring at brilliant white light. It cascaded down her weak, fragile body. The pain seared back in to her memory, her mind blurred with the pain. She tried to open her eyes, but the heat, and the light restricted her. Her body wasn't hers. It wouldn't respond. The light died, and so did she. ---------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 2:37am Fox Mulder had been sat in the sterile, dis-infectant smelling white hospitl room for over 24 hours, watching Scully go through fits in her comatose sleep. His hair was disarray and his suit was an equally creased mess. He looked on with an anxiety to see her wake up. He hated to watch her struggle against the drugs which she had been injected with, making her twist about and contort her body, her mind feeling, believing the pain. It actually hurt him to see her like this. At the moment she was peaceful at the moment, she had stopped going into spasms for the time being. He watched her, he was her bed-side vigil. He hadn't slept at all after he had come to himself. They had been found two days ago, in the warehouse where they had been injected. 'Agent' Matthew Roberts had died Mulder thought spitefully. He had suffered from extreme blood loss and the drug had just helped his death along. Agents Charlotte Taylor and Andrew Webster were also still comatose like Scully, but Taylor had taken a turn for the worse. Her heart had stopped three times in the last 12 hours. It didn't look good, but if her heart flatlined again the doctors would be forced to switch her life support machine off as she had stopped breathing when the paramedics had arrived at the warehouse. It was clearly written out in her living will that she didn't want to live in this condition he thought with a certain level of uneasiness as he remembered when Scully had been returned. Mulder was feeling guilty. Guilty for Scully. For Webster. For Taylor. For Krycek having to work with Roberts , and for himself for watching Scully in pain. Scully turned in her bed, a pain-filled gasp escaping her throat. She had been taken off life support, but was still critical. She began to have another fit, and Mulder screamed for the doctor. The plump doctor came in and gave Scully some strong relaxant drug. Scully sighed again, then became still. The only signs of life were the rythmic rise and fall of her chest. Mulder was relieved, at least, that she couldn't live a fit of virtual pain for some hours to come. The doctors had been treating all the agents with continous blood transfusions, to rid their bodies of the unknown drug which contaminated their bloodstream. Mulder had only needed it for a short while, as, according to the doctors, he had an immunity against it. Mulder realised that when he had been exposed to it earlier, his immune system had built up a defense. he had realised. Krycek had said, he thought at least, that Krycek had been injecting different strengths of the 'vaccine'. ----------------X Scully's body now felt like ice. Her body was stiff, cold, lifeless. Her eyes were still closed, restricted of sight, light. Her body was numb, the coldness biting at her fragile flesh. Icy needles pricked her skin, shivers were sent up and down her body. The icy fingers caressed her helpless form until the pain was too much. Suddenly she heard screams in her head, felt pain in her body, but the pain wasn't directed onto her. her semi concious mind managed to figure out. She heard the screams, except they were close to her now, not in her mind. Or were they? Scully managed to open her eyes. All around there was bleakness, blackness, nothing. She saw, to her left, Taylor, stood up, eyes closed. Her body seemed limp and lifeless as well. Webster was to her right, the same as Taylor. They seemed to be burning. The redness spreading quickly from their feet and hands to the thorax of the body. Scully needed to get to them, but she couldn't move. She didn't feel like she was in her own body, but light as a feather. The burns quickly devoured the others. Their skin becoming black, their faces becoming disfigured. They twitched every, every now and then. Their nerves and muscles were contracting with the heat Scully realised. The residual energy in the muscle tissues, that was all. She watched as their body's deteriorated into nothing but ash. Scully closed her eyes as pain infiltrated her own senses. She was back in her own heavy, cold body. But her temperature was rising. She opened her eyes to see, to her horror, the reddenng of her hands, the feeling of pins and needles spread up her limbs with the redness. As the pain continued to increase she closed her eyes again, tying to block it out, and the images of the other two's bodies, knowing that that was what her own body would end up like. The pain continued to climax, she tried to scream. Her nerve endings sparked with pain, her brain became a cloud of nerve impulses and blinding hot torture. Her head wanted to explode, her body felt like it was burning out. But Scully wouldn't know, because her mind blacked out. Her conscious died again. ---------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 4:56am The bleeping of the heart monitor suddenly became one long deafening sound. Mulder's heart began to race faster and faster, the guilt quickly building. Two nurses and a doctor came into the hospital room. They set up the defribulator pads, getting ready to charge the body with hundreds of watts of life giving electricity. Mulder was pushed away, forced to watch from a distance, not being able to help. The doctor gave her one shot of electricity. Nothing. The sound ensued, ringing in Mulder's ears. He closed his eyes, and a tear of regret ran down his cheek. Another charge of volts were sent into her body, to her heart. Still no sign of life. Mulder's head began to spin and he fell back into the chair, watching helplessly as the doctors worked on, trying to reviving her. They tried a few more times. Still no life signs. "I'm sorry Agent Mulder" said the doctor as he disconnected the deafening machine. The sound died instantly. The medical staff left the still room. Mulder sat, staring in disbelief at the lifeless body lying on the white bed. Mulder thought, guilt coursing through him. It had been particially his fault, and the X files. he thought coldly. He and Scully were always taken for rides, to dead ends, through blind alleys and down wrong paths. He sat there for a long time, the shrill sound of the heart monitor still ringing in his head. He stared in the direction of the body, but not at it. Past it. Out through the window. "Agent Mulder?" The gentle voice broke into his thoughts. "Yes" he managed weakly. He turned to see a short, blonde haired nurse. Her head was poked through the doorway, hiding her uniform from Mulder's sight. "Agent Scully has regained consciousness" she informed him. Mulder stood up and ran to her room. ---------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 5:27am Mulder sat down in the uncomfortable black chair to speak with Scully. She turned on her side to talk to him. Her hair was a mess, nothing like it usually was. Her eyes looked tired, as did the rest of her, and she looked guant and pale too. "Hey there" Mulder said, smiling. "Why aren't *you* in the hospital bed?" she asked. "I mean, you usually wind up here!" she said. "Gee, it's nice to see your back to your normal self, too" he dead-panned. Scully smiled then grimaced as she tried to shift into a seating position. "So, give me the usual case details which have resulted from this visit to the doctors" she droned, lying down, knowing it would be a long story and knowing it wouldn't be as painful. "Well, I'm immune to the toxin because I was already exposed to it, so my immune system built up a defense. Agent Webster is still critical. You weren't as bad because, so the doc's say, you weren't exposed to it as long as the others. Roberts was dead on arrival, Krycek was no where in sight. I came to in the ambulance, and now your concious. Thats a good sign" "Will Webster be alright?" "Should be. He's still hanging in there" "And Taylor?" Scully asked, afraid of what she was going to hear. "She um...she died about an hour ago" "Well, someone dies everyday" she stated. But, her thoughts wandered back to that 'dream' she had. Herself, Webster and Taylor in pain, burning. But, it seemed so real. "I'm sorry Scully, if I knew this would happen I wouldn't have pursued that lead" "You say that *every* time, Mulder. But, will you change? No" Scully said. "Well, I've gotta go speak to the police. They want to talk to all of us. I'll let you get your rest" "You are *so* considerate Mulder. It's your hunches and paths of investigation which make us all wind up in hospital and there you *finally* let us get some rest. Some of us rest permanently" Scully said coldly. "That was not called for Scully" "Well, I'm sorry. But, I hate to see innocent people get dragged into this Hell and have to pay for 'playing' with their lives" she suddenly screamed. "It's what 'They' want to happen. They are trying to make a reason, a valid one, to end the X Files, and to end our partnership because of what we know and have seen" Mulder defended. "'They'? It's always 'Them' or 'They'. Why can't you just look at yourself once in a while and try not to look for a scapegoat!!" Scully said fiercly. Mulder looked at her, then without thinking of anything to say which would make her angry even more, he left her to feud in peace. Scully instantly regretted what she had just let escape from her mouth. But, she knew things would smooth over soon, they both just had to take a time out to think over the events of the past few days. ---------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 9:56am "Agent Scully? Is it alright for the police to talk to you?" the young nurse asked her. "Yes. Give me a second though" she said, slowly sitting herself up, so she looked like she was totally ok. She knew that what the police said was particially to do with her discharge from the hosptial. The nurse nodded and disappeared again. Then, two burly, middle-aged policemen appeared in the doorway of her room, and a younger female officer followed. And, unfortunately for her, one of them was the policeman who she 'dealt with' earlier on. She smiled nervously and nodded for them to come in. "Miss Scully" said Officer Matson. "Officer Matson" she replied. "Right. Down to business. I'm Officer Gregory and this is...well you know him as I've heard" said the other officer. Scully suddenly felt her face burn up. She had never acted on the impulsive of anger before while working at the FBI. It hadn't been her week. "Yes" she said. "What do you want to know" "Well, what happened...briefly" he added. She could tell he had just talked to Mulder. In great detail. Mulder always gave long winded explainations and statements, and both officers looked extremely tired and in need of a strong drink. "You've already seen ,my partner?" she asked. "Yes" the officer sighed with a pained expression on his worn features. "Well, we were investigating a lead. We believed our suspect could be found at a warehouse as we were tipped of by-" "Who told you this?" interupted Matson "As I was just about to say, I believe it was someone called...umm...well, we call him-" Scully tried to answer. "'X, a guy who lives in the shadows, works in the shadows, and informs us on conspirotal goings on', so your partner said. But I wasn't sure if he was your partner, or a wack from the secure ward down the hall" interupted Gregory. Scully smiled weakly, trying to apologise for her partner. She resumed her explanation anf Gregory went back to his notes. "Yes, he's called...X" she said, rolling her eyes, "anyway, we arrived at the warehouse where-" "You were met by your superior?" interupted Gregory. "Yes. Then, one of the agents we were working with turned on us-" Scully tried to continue. "Agent...Roberts" Gregory said, checking his notes. Scully sighed in exasperation. She hated being interupted. "*Yes*. Anyway, then we were ambushed, taken to an unknown location against our will. Injected with-" she tried to finish quickly. "Alien DNA!?!?" screamed Gregory. Obviously he hadn't been listening to Scully, but reading through his notes again. Scully rolled her eyes again, then looked at Matson, who again, was drooling at her. She felt sick. And she wanted to beat him up again, or shoot Mulder, which ever was easier. "YES!!!! Then parimedics came to our location, tipped off by Krycek-" "The guy with the prostectic arm" Matson said. "*YES*!!!! Then we ended up here" she finished hoping that she didn't sound crazy like Mulder so often did. "Well...umm...thank you" Gregory said. "Is there anything you want to ask me?" Scully offered in an over the top, cheery way, while trying to calm herself. "Umm...no..." Matson said. "Actually yes" Gregory said, "Why did you beat up Matson?" he asked, a grin on his face. Scully suddenly felt very embarrassed. "Umm...because he was a perverted, dirty old man, who didn't think I was an FBI agent and thought I was a hooker instead" she explained. Matson was going red with embarrassment, and Scully suddenly felt very good about herself, making that fat prat squirm. "Exactly what did you do to him?" Gregory asked, still wanting to know every detail. "Well, I taught him a lesson" she said smugly, "And if you don't leave me alone, I'll 'teach' you too" she warned. "Trust me, she will" Matson muttered and both men ran for their lives. The female officer who had kept quiet through the entire meeting stepped forward to Scully. "You do not know how thankful I and my collegues are" she whispered. "What?" "You kicking Matson's ass! He's the smarmiest officer at the PD" she said in her hushed voice. "Why don't you report him to the superior at the PD?" "He *is* the superior" "Oh, well why don't you just report him to another federal agency?" "We were considering it, but after what you did, we don't need to. Thanks again, now I better go before I lose my job" she said hastily. "Why will you lose-" "I'm driving them. They want dropping off at the bakery before all the donuts go" she shrugged, knowing how pathetic her superiors seemed. Scully nodded and let the woman leave. ----------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 11:57am Mulder saunted back into Scully's room, trying not to disturb her. He tip-toed across the room, but knocked a chair which fell into the leg of on the bed with a hugh clattering noise and woke Scully. "Mulder, next time, just don't bother trying to be quiet and just wake me up. It saves time you know" she mumbled, sitting herself up. "Sorry" he simply said, flopping into the chair. "But I just thought you should know that you've been discharged from here, or you will be, once you sign out" he continued. "Well thank you for the advice" "Did you talk to the police?" "Yes, unfortunately" she stated. "I met Officer Matson. He said he had an 'encounter of a close kind' with you earlier on. And it's obvious that you scared him" "Mulder, if you don't shut up, I'll 'encounter' you" "Oh, Scully, I never knew you felt that way about me" he chided her. "Oh, Mulder, you didn't? Well I'll gladly show you how I feel" she said in a hushed voice. Mulder liked it, but tried not to show it. Scully smiled at him seductively and waved her hand for him to come closer. He stood up and walked towards her. She put her hand on his chin and pulled his face down to her level, he felt her cool breath on his face. Then he felt her other fist on his stomach. Then he felt pain. He stood up, as best he could to see Scully grinning at him. "See Mulder? Thats how I feel about you. Do you feel it too?" she asked innocently. Mulder nodded and staggered out the room. Scully saw him struggle to maintain composure. She chuckled to herself, then got ready to leave the hospital. ----------------X Prescott General Hospital Prescott, Arizona August 18 2:42pm Scully walked confidently out of the hospital as if she had never been injured, and into the car park. Mulder suddenly saw his red-headed partner coming towards the cramped vehicle . Mulder quickly grabbed the packet of seeds he was snacking on and shoved all the seed cases which were scattered all over the place into it. He threw the packet out the window as Scully got inot the passenger side. Scully sat back waiting for Mulder to start the engine, but she turned to see him sat there, trying to look innocent. "Mulder?" "Hmm" he said, looking at her. "The engine?" "Ah..." he said, realising she was ready to leave. He pulled the rental car out of the parking lot and onto the road. They drove for a while in silence, the whirring of the engine filling the void of silence which had descended onto the car. They sat, staring out of the windows. Mulder's eyes on the road, Scully's eyes on the sparsely spaced scenery which went by. Scully looked about the car interior, it seemed different somehow. Mulder began to sweat his mind chanted. Scully studied Mulder carefully she asked herself. It obviously hadn't dawned on him. She shook the thought away and returned to staring blankly out of the window at the darkening scenery. They had been driving for about two hours and now it looked like the heavens were going to open and rain very heavily. "Looks like rain" Mulder stated. "Hmm" Scully murmured in reply. Her mind was still nagging on something, but she couldn't quite pin-point what it was. she told herself. ----------------X An unknown gas station Somewhere near Prescott, Arizona August 18 5:02pm Scully clambered back into the car, carrying a paper bag full of snacks and drinks. Mulder just sat back and watched as his partner fumbled with difficulty as she tried to do a balancing act with holding the bag while trying to get in the car. When she finally seated herself down, she threw the bag onto the back seat and looked, very angrily, at Mulder. "Thanks for offereing to help, but no, I'll be fine" she said sarcastically. "Huh?" Mulder said, not clicking as to what she was getting at. Scully rolled her eyes. Mulder knew that wasn't a good sign. "Never mind...Drive, then!" she ordered, and Mulder stepped on the gas. They were having to drive back to DC as their flight tickets were cancelled, and Mulder had forgotten to reserve some more for another flight. Scully thought. "Scully, is there something wrong?" Mulder asked, breaking the silence. He was sick of listening to wind resistance on the car. "No...well, it's just...I can't really explain it-" "Unexplainable events, my favourite topic" Mulder muttered. "Are you going to let me finish?" she asked him annoyed. "Yeah...sorry" "Okay. Well, when I was in hospital, well when you were in hospital you had a few 'fits' due to that drug. Well, when I was drugged, before I went through one of those hallucinations I had a dream, I think-" "You think?" "Well, I don't know whether it was becasue of the drugs, or it was just my mind playing tricks on me. But I thought I saw Webster and Taylor...*burning*...I saw them burning and it looked like what I felt, the way in which their bodies were injured. And, when you told me about Taylor and Webster's conditions, I already knew about them. But I don't know why" she said, staring off out the window as she spoke. "You think you actaully *saw* them die?" Mulder asked, contemplating what he had just been told. "I don't know. I felt what they felt after they had...died" she said, unable to grasp what she was saying. "Scully, bear with me for a minute...what if this drug somehow managed to make you 'telepathic' with Taylor and Webster. That drug was alien, who knows what its properties are? Maybe, your 'connection' with them was a result from the drug. Maybe thats what they were testing. Some form of telepathic connection" Mulder blurted out. "Mulder, since when have aliens had an extra-sensory perception" Scully chided him. "Umm...Independance Day suggested it" Mulder answered. Scully rolled her eyes again. "Mulder...you're...really twisted" she said. "But what if it is true? That Black Cancer is a form of alien entity which is being used on humans. Who knows whether 'They' have yet another form of alien test?" Mulder asked. "You really have been hanging around with the Lone Gunmen too long" she said. "But-" "Mulder, drop it!" she told him. "Okay" "Thank you" she said. "Scully...did you buy some seeds?" "Mulder, you know I hate it when you eat seeds in the car. You make such a mess!" she said. Mulder smiled as he liked winding her up. "Then pass me a drink will ya partner!" he said cheerfully. Scully sighed and reached into the bag on the back seat to grab a can. "Root beer!" Mulder said in a cheery tone. "I told you it was fate" she replied, getting a drink for herself. They drove the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. It was going to be a long drive to DC, and they only had each other's company for the next 24 hours. Scully thought, taking a sip of her drink. Mulder did the same but suddenly emitted a shriek as the cold liquid spilled all over his trousers. "Great!" he exclaimed. Scully laughed at the sight of her partner. "Mulder, I thought grown men didn't need nappies? Especially FBI agents" she chided him playfully. "Oh...har-dee har har Scully" Mulder replied. He felt very uncomfortable in wet trousers. Scully took another sip and leaned back to watch the quickly darkening scenery and listened to the mumblings and murmers coming from her pissed off partner. she thought. ----------------X J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia A.D. Skinner's Office August 22 10:26am Special Agent Fox Mulder barged his way into the Assistant Director's office late, again. Scully was already sat opposite their superior and gave Mulder a sympathetic, yet annoyed look. Mulder smoothed out his suit and nodded to the AD. Skinner looked annoyed as well, but decided not to chew Mulder out yet and nodded to Mulder to take a seat. When Mulder had stopped fidgeting Skinner decided to let Mulder have it. Skinner hadn't been having a very good day, and when he had a meeting with the Spooky duo from the basement, he knew he day was about to get a lot worse. "So, Agent Scully...Mulder" he said with distaste. Mulder gave Skinner a half smile, in politeness only. He was actually thinking how the Hell his superior managed to keep his head from shining in the light Mulder thought. "Mulder..MULDER!" Scully whispered harshly to him, bringing him from his thoughts, again. "Hmm...what?!" he said, suddenly remembering where he was. "You were going to tell me what happened after I left you?" Skinner prompted him. "Ahh...yes. Well, after you left the warehouse...by the way, who told you where we were?" Mulder asked, suddenly remembering about the suprise visit from Skinner. "Well, someone e-mailed me" he quickly explained. "Who?" Scully asked. "Umm...Mulder, you know her" he stated. "Mulder?" Scully asked, suddenly feeling hurt that he would know another female without her knowledge. Then she mentally slapped herself her mind reminded her. "Umm...she works for the UN" he said. "Who?" Scully continued to push her partner for information. "She's called Marita Cavorrubias. She's assistant to the Secretary General at the UN headquarters and she gives me information now and then about...cases. But, I don't see why she would inform you of anything" he blurted out. He didn't want to face a thrid degree from his partner today, he just couldn't be bothered with anything. he thought miserably. "She mailed me concerning the welfare of you, your partner and those other agents" he explained, "So, what did your investigation turn up?" he asked. "Well, we were captured by Krycek, taken to an unknown warehouse, injected with some alien shit and put in hospital, then we drove home and now we're here" Mulder said matter-of-factly. "That's it?" Skinner asked. "You sound suprised sir" Scully pointed out. "Well...you, Mulder, seem to always have over complicated, long winded, unbelievable explainations. And this investigation, according to what I just heard, found no evidence, apart from your visit into hospital, about the case" "Yeah...your point being...?" Mulder asked "My point being that I expect more from you Mulder. I'm used to your paranoid theories, not your sceptical viewpoints" Skinner bellowed. Mulder suddenly shrugged back into his seat. "Sir? I believe there is some evidence to the case" Scully bravely spoke up. Skinner's gleaming eyes focused on Scully, and she suddenly regretted opening her big mouth. "What?" Skinner's low, harsh voice asked. "Umm...the...urr...autopsy reports I did?" she asked him, reminded him, hoping she hadn't suddenly sentenced herself to a months worth of 24-hour surveillance. "Ahh...yes. Thank you agent Scully" he said, suddenly calm. "Your both dismissed" he said, leafing through the file. Mulder and Scully looked at each other, and then literally ran to the door before they were grilled any further. As the door to his office closed shut, Skinner dialed his phone. He waited for someone to pick up. "Yes, Walter Skinner. Can I book another appointment please?" "Umm...which doctor do you have?" asked the polite female voice. "Doctor Robson" "Ahh...he will be free for your therapy session on...tuesday. Is that alright?" "Tuesday?", "Umm...yes, but please if there are any cancellations, please inform me. You don't know what it's like. They drive me crazy!" Skinner confessed down the phone, sounding like a crazed loon. "It's alright Mister Skinner, doctor Robson will make it all better" the secretary cooed down the phone. Skinner was calmed by those words. he thought, making a note of his therapy session appointment. ----------------X J.Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia Unknown office August 22 10:57am "Why did this happen?" the Well Manicured Man asked his fellow 'workers'. He sat down and stared angrily at the Cancerman. "I don't know, but this wasn't our doing" Cancerman answered. "Then who?" the Well Manicured man challenged, growing more impatient each minute. "What we can be sure of is that the Russians are developing quicker than we anticipated" the plump, dark haired man said with his gravely, quiet voice. "This is not supposed occur. Thet are way ahead of us. This shouldn't have happened for another four years at least!" another man piped up, making the Cancerman and Well Manicured Man even more furious. "We don't need you to remind us!" Cancerman chocked out. "You really should give up the cigarettes" the Well Manicured Man said "You've tried everything. You know we all hate you smoking in here!" he continued. "I can't. If I did, what would I be called then?" "Umm...Nicotine patch man? Nicotine Gum Man?" another stupid man burst out. "Shut up" Cancerman said. "Well it beats you're *real* name!" the Well Manicured Man stated. "Don't say...*it*!" Cancerman begged. "What's wrong with Gerald? I think it's...you" the Well Manicured Man chided him. It made him feel better when he pissed off his co-workers. "Yeah, it's suits you down to the ground sir!" another young fool shouted out. "I don't like being patronised!" Cancerman coughed in the younger man's face. The young man passed out from inhaling the passive smoking fumes. Cancerman shook his head in disappointment. "Getting back to our first problem...we have some Soviet nutters to deal with" the First Elder interputed. "Well, this couldn't have been presidented. At least we know the affects, a few more years and we'll be able to go ahead without a hitch. It's just a shame that they were federal agents" Cancerman said. "And that Mulder and Scully were involved" the Well Manicured Man added. Everyone sighed into a depression at the mention of 'those' names "I don't see why we can't just shoot them. It works all the time for all the others" he continued. Cancerman glared at him. Mulder and Scully were trouble. And they always got in the way. The Well Manicured Man would have gotten rid of them years ago but Cancerman likes his 'toys' and enjoys playing with them. And Mulder and Scully are his puppets. The only problem was that they sometimes untied their strings, did what they wanted, and ruined the show for the others. "Was Krycek one of the 'Soviet nutters'?" the dark haired man asked. "We believe so" Cancerman said. "But why would they test their vaccine in the US?" "To show off. To prove they are advancing beyond our expectations. Bt, from their results, we know that they haven't succeeded yet" "We have to deal with him" "I don't see why we can't shoot him either" Cancerman muttered again. "What is it with you and guns?" the Well Manicured Man suddenly burst out. "Nothing it's just that, I don't think we need all the interference we get from these people" he argued back. "They don't interfere, they 'challenge' us" Cancerman corrected. "Whatever. I don't believe we need it. This project has to be launched without a hitch, or a Mulder, or a Scully, or a Krycek, or a cigarette in sight!" the Well Manicured man shouted. "Hey!" Cancerman defended himself. "Sorry, but I hate to-" the Well Manicured man's speech was cut very short by the ringing of a cell phone. "Hello?" said about twelve different voices as they all reached for their phones. "Yes, I'll be there" said the Well Manicured man. He replaced his phone shortly after everyone else then left the room. Cancerman was angry that he couldn't continue his argument and so satisfied his annoyance by lighting up three cigarettes at once. Everyone else present, who were against smoking indoors, ran from the room knowing what fate would befall the aged man. Suddenly there was a beeping sound then water sprayed down onto the Cancerman. "Damn sprinklers!" he cursed, not budging from his seat. ----------------X J. Edgar Hoover Building Washington DC, Virginia Basement office August 22 11:02pm Mulder unlocked the X Files office and Scully waked passed him into the room, depositing her coat on the coat stand and sitting down in the only decent seat in the office. For some reason the X Files division got stuck with the second hand, junk-for-furniture because of all the expenses their 'department' ran up. On every feild case they went on, they, or at least Mulder, was guaranteed to break, damage or trespass on property and get caught. Mulder followed her in, dropping his coat on a stack of files (which was nearly as tall as the coat stand) and opted to sit on his desk than risk sittingin n of the about-to-collapse chairs the office had. Scully switched on her computer, and waiting for it to load up so she could check her e-mail. Mulder decided to flick through a book on crop circles. Scully typed away at her computer and Mulder was still flicking away through the book, not budging from the desk. After a while, he couldn't take the silence any longer and spoke up. "Scully, why do you think Skinner was so suprised about what I said?" Mulder asked his sceptical partner, deciding to risk it and seat himself behind his desk. "Because...he's used to you going on...and on and on and on and on and-" she said not looking at him. "I get the point" Mulder interupted. "And on about aliens and dark forces and shit. And, when you give him a subdued, plain explaination for something, he freaks out" Scully explained, still not paying him her full attention. "But why doesn't he do that with you?" Mulder asked, suddenly feeling very sorry for himself. "Because it's *you* Mulder" she answered. She finally looked at his expression, knowing from the way he looked that hthis was going to be a long conversation so she turned her coputer off after saving her work. "But what exactly is it about me?" he asked her. "Mulder, only women get insecurties about their personalities. I should know, in high school all my friends kept running to me with their problems. But did any of them have time to hear me out? Noooo. They just kept going on and on and-" "Scully? Are you...feeling alright?" Mulder interjected. "Huh? Oh...sorry. What were you saying?" "Never mind" "Okay" she relpied. Another minute of silence slowly ticked by. They resumed their work, Scully at the computer, Mulder leading through yet another book on UFO related topics searching for an answer to the case. Scully reread what she had typed, then, in mid-sentence of reading, she screamed, shut off the computer and cursed...a lot. Mulder noticed her tantrum. "Something wrong Scully?" he asked her. "Only slightly" she relied icily. "Umm...do I dare ask what?" he asked. "Well...it these...cases, Mulder. They never give me a full answer. There are questions left unanswered like, what's Krycek up to? What was the origin of the 'substance'? What was its proposed purpose? Who the Hell is behind it all? How did this entire case begin with someone called Kathryn Willis, because we've been totally side-tracked. And, if you say anything droll I will shoot you" she warned. "Umm...I don't...know" he answered. "Okay then. Just trying to clear up a few things" she muttered, trying to calm herself. "Scully, can I ask you a question?" "Shoot" "After nearly five years in the X Files, full of cases of unexplainable phenomenon and unanswerable questions, why bring it up...*now*?" he asked. "Because after so many cases where my reasonable, scientific explainations just aren't correct and are there just to make your theories even more believeable, I kinda now feel slightly pissed off about it, thats all" she said. Mulder nodded, not wanting to persue the line of thought he was having "Mind you, after five years of cases like this with another dead end, why am I not suprised?" Scully said. "Well, I'm not either" Mulder said, sounding defeated. "Well, it happens *every* time. I'm beginning to think it was part of the job description" Scully said, slumping further into her chair. "By the way, there have been sightings of UFO's in up state Ohio" Mulder said handing her a folder. "Mulder, when are you going to face it that 'They' may just be playing us for fools" she said, not seeming to hear what he had just said to her. "Umm...never. Read the file Scully, we leave in two hours" he tried again to make her realise they had another pressing investiagtion. "Two Hours!! Can't we rest first?" she shreiked. She'd heard. "No time like the present Scully" he tried to sound cheerful. "Mulder, remind me to take a weeks leave when we get back" she sighed, throwing the folder into her briefcase. "Ouch Scully" he mocked. "You have no idea" she said walking out of the office. "Scully?" he called. "What?" she said, reappearing in the doorway. "Read the file" he remined her, packing up his own things. "Yes, I know! I will" "Great, the quicker we know everything, the better" he said enthusiastically. "Mulder, don't you ever feel like giving up?" she asked, contemplating the determination of her partner as she watched him. "Nope" he said, getting a load of sunflower seeds. "Really?" she asked in suprise. Well it wasn't really suprise, it was a way to sustain a decent conversation that didn't directly involve using UFO-related words. "Yeah" he relied. He was too busy with gathering the correct things for their next case. "How? Why?" she asked, suddenly wondering how the Hell he managed to be determined *all* the time. "Why?..Cos the truth is out there, Scully" he replied deadly serious. "You are insane" she said, rolling her eyes and leaving the office. "Scully...what? WHAT!?" he called after her. "See ya later Mulder" she called back. Mulder thought about how insane he might of sounded a minute ago, but he couldn't pin-point where about's he had. As far as he was concerned, he was the sane one and everyone around him were mad. He packed his things up, locked up the door and ran after Scully, already thinking about his theory for their next case, and wondering whether he would ever find the 'Truth', his sister, a name for his mother (other than Mom), Scully's younger brother, or whether Scully actully liked him. he reminded himself --------------------------------------------------------------------X ----------X End 8/8 ----------X --------------------------------------------------------------------X Well? What do you think so far? Good? Bad? Boring? Not funny? Too long? Anything? Well...mail me! (even if you have nothing to do and your bored! - hopefully not from this fanfic!) My addy is...Trustyone@thewebbs.demon.co.uk -----X----- Part one - Para-abnormalities I: Touch and Go Part two - Para-abnormalities II: Raring to Go Part three - Para-abnormalities III: One Long Day Part four - Para-abnormalities IV: Mistakes and Solutions Part five - Para-abnormalities V: One Step Closer Part six - Para-abnormalities VI: Too Close for Comfort Part seven - Para-abnormalities VII: The Showdown