From: EnyaJo@aol.com
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 23:11:54 EDT
Subject: Story Submission
Source: direct

RONALD AND MALCOLM
by The Lonely Buddha

EnyaJo@aol.com

15 KB
CHARACTERS: Mr. X, Deep Throat, Cigarette Smoking Man, Fox Mulder,
Dana Scully
CLASSIFICATION: X File
EPISODES: The Erlenmeyer Flask and The Host
SUMMARY: Ever wonder what Mr. X was doing during The Erlenmeyer 
Flask? Me neither, but it came to me one day. Here's my thoughts on
how he got involved with Mulder, the X Files and being an informant.

NOTE: I took liberties with the characters and situations, but just for fun. 
The characters used and the situations I'm dealing with belong to Chris 
Carter, Fox TV, and probably a whole bunch of others I can't even 
imagine. No harm done, this is just for fun. Or rather, it's to clear my
head from thinking too much about Mr. X lately. No profit is expected.

=====
1993
=====

Rice paddies. Bamboo trees. Humidity. Gun smoke dissipating. Insects.
Stench of burning wood, burning flesh. Screaming. 

Malcolm jerked up in bed on another morning after reliving another
event from his time in Nam. As he cleared his head, put his feet solidly
on the flooring of the cheap motel he'd checked into, he wondered if 20
years ago would ever truly fade away. The things he did in the name of
government, in the name of ridding the world of Communism... well, at
least he had a reason. Malcolm was still working for that very same
government. Only what they were trying to do was not what he or his
superior thought was feasible. They wanted to welcome the newest,
ultimate, outside force... not rid us of it. 

Aliens.

There truly were aliens. Malcolm still couldn't believe it, even though he
had laid eyes on them. Had killed a few. He rubbed his hands across the
short hair on his head and started to giggle with the absurdity of it all.
When he was a kid, laying in bed with the covers over him and a flash
light focused on Superman comic books so his mother wouldn't find out
he was up past his bedtime... he never dreamed aliens were actually real.
They weren't from Krypton. They weren't here to save the Earth. They
weren't going to be the guardian of truth, justice, and the American
Way, whatever that was. 

Malcolm had been working with a great man who was a visionary for
almost all the 20 years he'd been back from Nam. Ronald Carpenter. A
great man. One of the few who had contact with beings from another
world. Along with other visionary men, they formed an alliance to help
the visitors protect us, to bring the world further in areas of research,
technology and survival. Ronald's visions also showed him how wrong
they were. How the beings couldn't be trusted. How the research they'd
let us tinker with was nothing to them, they were far more superior than
we ever could be. And they would destroy us.

Ronald tried to tell the consortium that it was a lost cause. That they
should work to find a weakness in their colony, a trump card to use if it
became imperative. No one listened. That's when Ronald started to do
many things. First, he made Malcolm his number one protector. Then he
chose an identity to be covert, Deep Throat. Ronald loved "All the
President's Men" and enjoyed using the moniker. He then bestowed a
title on Malcolm. Mr. X. He made sure X's number one job was to make
sure nothing would happen to either of them, but to stay in the
background. Malcolm was to continue doing his job for the consortium,
be a good family man, but keep his eyes open, his mouth shut and his
gun cocked and ready.

Family.

When he was hired by Ronald right out of the military, Malcolm was
encouraged to get married and have kids. The consortium told all their
grunts to have a nice little wife and 2.5 kids like the rest of the world
who didn't know of the danger about to explode that went by the name
of Colonization. So, he did. He married his high school sweetheart,
Colleen. They had two children, twins, one boy, one girl. Malcolm, Jr. and
Cathy. A nice little family. He should have seen it coming, that they
would be used as pawns in a game... but he didn't.

The last year or so, Ronald had begun to use his moniker of Deep Throat
to make contact with a man who he truly believed could stop them. The
Prodigal Son. Fox Mulder could easily have taken his place in the
consortium, if Bill Mulder wished it. That coward. Malcolm hated that
man. He was part of the very beginning of it all, he saw it all, he made
things happen. When it came time for even him to see the writing on
the wall and what the aliens were up to, he didn't stand up like Ronald.
He cowered into retirement and swore he would never tell a soul what
was up. He didn't side with the consortium and bring his son into it. He
didn't side with Ronald and bring Fox to their side. He drank himself into
oblivion up in the Vineyard and did nothing.

It was Ronald who made Fox aware of the consortium, that there was
something going on that no one 'had the right' to know. When Ronald
starting giving Mulder pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, Malcolm was both
leery, and excited. Finally, after years of biding his time, Ronald found
someone who could possibly take over the quest.

Malcolm vividly remembered the covert meeting they had when Ronald
told him of his plan to bring in Mulder, the younger. He told his superior,
"You shouldn't stick your neck out that far. He's Bill's son for Christ's
sake!"

"I need to," Ronald quietly admitted. "I can no longer live with the guilt.
If not for me, Bill and Charlie, we would have been working on the cure,
not the hybrid all these years. Someone has to know. Fox wants the
truth and he's looking blindly. Matheson is on his side. He can do it. He
can uncover all the dirt that's been hiding us all for so many years. You
didn't have the connections, and that's also my fault. You could have
really shown yourself and been a true part of them. But, I wanted you for
myself."

"You're signing your death warrant talking to Fox Mulder," Malcolm told
his superior.

"By you?"

"Never by me, sir," Malcolm told him in no uncertain terms.

Ronald patted him on the shoulder and handed him something, then
walked away.

=====
1994
=====

Malcolm got the call too late. Ronald was even silly enough to leave a
message on his home answering machine that Colleen had heard first.
"It's tonight" was all he said, but Malcolm's heart fell into his stomach. It
was too risky! He had gathered too much information pointing at the
"Crew Cut Man" to know that it was a trap. They were going to execute
Ronald that evening. Maybe Fox Mulder's partner, Dana Scully too.
Maybe Fox himself. They were maybe going to wipe out all traces of
what was a thorn in their side. The only thing Malcolm couldn't uncover
was who leaked it all to the consortium.

If he ever found out who it was, they would die, whether Ronald bit it
that night or not. They would die and slow, lingering, painful death. Of
that, Malcolm was positive.

Colleen wanted answers after that cryptic phone message. Malcolm only
erased the machine, then pulled out the plug and crushed it in case
anyone had the thought to look at it. The twins cried with their father's
sudden destruction, with no explanation. He just kissed his wife and
children and left, not really knowing if he would be able to return.

Malcolm drove like a maniac to the bridge, which would be the drop off
point for "Purity Control" to Special Agent Dana Scully to get her partner
back from the ones who would execute his superior and best friend. He
just knew they would. As he drove along the highway, he saw a white
paneled van speeding from the bridge. Malcolm had to pull over and
collect himself. The Crew Cut Man was driving the van. He went back
and forth about following the van and going to see who all was dead. 

Ronald's words floated into his head, "Remember what's important.
Don't lose your head. Focus."

Malcolm got out of his sedan and started walking to the bridge. From a
distance, he saw a bent over woman, holding up the head of a prone
man, who Malcolm knew was Ronald. Those bastards actually did it!
There was another prone figure on the quiet road, that Malcolm could
only guess was Fox Mulder. Malcolm assumed he was also dead. At least
they didn't kill the woman. But it looked like she was talking to Ronald!
Maybe he was still alive! 

Malcolm started running to the bridge. When he reached the end of it,
Scully got up and focused her attention on her partner. Together, they
got up and walked away, after Fox gave his respects to Ronald. After
they Scully drove Mulder to safety, Malcolm finally walked on that
bridge. Ronald was dead. He wished he knew what his last words were.
But then, pulled a gift Ronald gave him after telling him he was bringing
in Fox Mulder... a silver lighter that read TRUST NO ONE.

Suddenly, the nerves on the back of Malcolm's neck radiated. Fear
gripped his heart, and every fiber of his being. Malcolm shot up off the
bridge and ran back to his car and drove like a maniac home. "They
wouldn't do it... they wouldn't dare do it..." he kept telling himself all the
way home.

The house was dark and unearthly quiet when he pulled into the
driveway. The lights should have been on in the bedroom as Colleen
read at least two chapters of a novel before going to sleep. And she
always fell asleep with the lights on.  Malcolm busted through the ajar
front door. It was too dark. They always left the hall light on for the twins
if they needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

Malcolm sunk to the floor and dreaded what he might see. Why did he
have a family!? It was too quiet. Only the sounds of Malcolm's sobs could
be heard. He slowly picked himself up and walked along the wall for
support as he made his way to the twins' rooms on the first floor. They
were empty. Their beds hadn't even been slept in. 

He went up the stairs three at a time and arrived at the door of his and
Colleen's bedroom in seconds. He couldn't see anything from the hall.
He flipped on the lights. The bed hadn't been slept in, but the
bedspread was pulled on the other side. "Colleen?" Nothing else was out
of place. He walked to the other side of the bed and fell to his knees in
horror. His wife was lying on her side, hand gripping the bedspread,
shot once in the back of the head. That's all it took. 

Malcolm fell forward to his hands and petted her foot in front of him. He
pulled her into his lap and howled in grief, mostly at himself. He should
have known. He should have gotten them out of there. She'd be alive if
he had just taken a second to figure it all out. Malcolm gently kissed her
forehead and told her, "I'm so sorry." A note was on the floor, dropped
there by whoever killed her. Probably the Crew Cut Man. 

Malcolm picked it up and knew the hand writing. All it said was, "You can
only trust me now. Charlie." 

Two men walked into his bedroom and Malcolm knew the drill. He
hugged Colleen for the last time, and they actually let him. "Where are
my kids?"

One gruff man answered, "They're on their way to Colleen's parents."

"Their bodies or them?"

The man only smiled, then pulled Malcolm's arm, hauling him into a
standing position while the other called the police to find her body. The
men brought Malcolm to the rendezvous spot. As soon as he left the
back seat of their car, they sped off. A black continental was parked on
the other side of the parking lot. Malcolm found it funny. They couldn't
have even dropped him off closer to the car. He would have to walk
across the parking lot to Charles George Benton Spender, and probably
get executed. Malcolm started walking, waiting for the bull's-eye on his
chest to be utilized. 

Surprisingly, he reached the passenger side of the car. He waited, and
nothing happened. The dark windows on the sedan didn't clue him into
who was inside, but he opened the door anyway. After a quick
surveillance, there was only Charlie sitting in the driver's seat. 

"I know you're armed," Spender said, after taking a long drag on his
cigarette. 

"Yes," Malcolm said. "I wondered why they didn't relieve me of it. So I
could kill you?"

"No one's stopping you," Spender replied, with a shrug of his shoulders.

The impulse was strong to do just that, but it would definitely be his
downfall. "Focus," Ronald's words spoke to him. He needed to focus on
keeping himself alive. 

"My kids..." 

"They will grow up to be moral, upstanding people thanks to your in
laws. Whether you see them again is up to you."

"Why Colleen?"

"We all have to sacrifice for the project. Your children are safe. You are
even safe. As long as you don't screw with me or the project. We heard
your conversations with Ronald. He was misguided. We still believe
you'll be loyal to us. And we know where your children are."

"Yes, sir."

"No hard feelings?"

"No, sir," Malcolm said, although it took ever ounce of strength he could
muster not to shove that cigarette down his throat, break his neck and
speed off to his kids. But they'd be dead before he even left the car. He
knew that. He would have to be the perfect little soldier for the
consortium. If only to make them believe it. 

MONTHS LATER

Since FBI phones aren't using catalogued from one office to another,
Malcolm figured it was safe. He had been being a good little soldier,
watching Mulder and Scully from the distance, checking up on their
progress. Sadly, since Ronald's death, they hadn't been making any. It
was time to steer them in the right direction before Mulder started to
like audio surveillance detail. 

He dialed the number to Fox Mulder's new office and sat back in his dark
office. "Scully, this is a bad time for me to talk," Mulder said as soon as he
answered.

"Mr. Mulder," Malcolm replied, "I think you should know... you have a
friend at the FBI."

Before he could be tempted to answer Mulder's questions, he hung up.
That should give him enough incentive to get the X Files reopened. If
not, he'd just have to make himself known a little at a time again until it's
done. Mulder was the only way he could get his kids back. Bringing
Colonization to the forefront was the only way his kids could stand a
chance to live without the threat of execution on a whim, even though
they didn't know it.

Malcolm knew that the road they were traveling was going to be a long
one. But, he can't change lanes anymore. Not when Malcolm saw the
end in sight.

THE END