From: Mice <just_us_mice@yahoo.com>
Date: 12 Dec 2003 04:16:06 -0800
Subject: [all-xf] LGM/XF Well Kept 3: Metal & Bone ch 3/4 pt 1/4,
Source: atxc

Metal and Bone, by Mice, chapter 3 of 4
~~~
LONE GUNMEN OFFICES
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND
NEXT MORNING

Byers yawned as he made his way down to the office. Neither
Jimmy nor Frohike were awake yet, but he wanted to check on the
search he'd left running overnight. He was sure there would be
something useful in the files. The statistical variations in the
notebook Scully had examined were enough to convince him of
that.

As he passed the monitors for the security camera on the office
door, he took a quick glance, more out of habit than anything
else.

There was a manila envelope sitting on the stairs.

Byers stared at the monitor, blinking. He moved to the system
controlling the security cameras and checked the alley and the
rest of the areas around the building. Nothing out of the
ordinary.

"Damn," Byers muttered. "I wonder what that is."

Cautiously, he opened the door. He approached the envelope
slowly. It was too thin to be a letter bomb, he thought. Not
enough space to pack any explosives. There was nothing on the
side of the envelope facing him.

Every now and then, some anonymous informant or other would
leave information at the doorstep like this, but it never hurt
to be cautious. They'd had an actual letter bomb delivered once,
about five years back. It had scared the crap out of all of
them, but they'd identified it as a threat before anyone had
actually touched it.

He picked the envelope up and turned it over. There were no
markings on the other side, either. It didn't feel like there
was much in it. Probably only a few sheets of heavy paper, or a
couple of photos. He wondered what kind of case it would lead
to. Sometimes random leads like this led them to some important
stories. He grinned, excitement rising, and brought the envelope
inside.

He dropped the envelope on his desk. Byers could smell the
coffee; it was done brewing, so he went to get himself a cup.
The scent would probably wake Frohike and Jimmy soon. It was
Frohike's turn to cook breakfast; he wondered if it would be
huevos rancheros. He could use something a little spicy today.

Coffee in hand, he returned to the office. He sat at his desk
and skimmed the information from his file search last night, not
bothering to check everything. Sure enough, there were some
significant results. He'd have to call Doggett shortly, and
Scully as well. He'd want her confirmation about some of what
the files seemed to be saying. The information startled him. He
knew the others would find it just as disturbing.

Taking a sip of coffee, he opened the envelope. As he suspected,
there were only a few photos inside. When he turned them face
up, though, his heart nearly stopped. The photo on top was of
Doggett kissing his neck. It had been taken in Central Park.

With trembling fingers, Byers flipped to the next photo. It
showed Doggett embracing him on the ferry from Liberty Island,
Doggett's mouth on his ear.

The last photo was of the two of them outside the building
housing the club they'd attended. Byers was rumpled and
obviously disoriented, Doggett supporting him with one arm.
Byers' head was on Doggett's shoulder. He was nibbling Doggett's
neck.

Byers dropped the photos, panting in near panic. They knew. 

Rohrer. He'd been at the airport. It must have been Rohrer, he
thought. He buried his face in his hands, trying to control his
fear. What was he going to do?

He had to call Doggett. Byers looked up at the clock. Doggett
was probably just arriving at the office. His head was spinning,
and he thought the tips of his fingers were going numb. This was
exactly what he'd been afraid of when Doggett had been so
overtly affectionate with him in public -- a blackmail attempt
had been inevitable.

His hand was shaking as he dialed the phone. Doggett answered on
the first ring.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation, X Files Division, Agent
Doggett speaking."

"A-agent Doggett --"

"Byers, did you --"

"-- got an envelope--"

"-- fuckin' photos --"

"Shit," both of them said.

Byers took a deep breath.

"I was gonna call you," Doggett said, "but something came up
with the case. Got another dead body, same M.O."

"Do you have an ID for this one?"

"Yeah. Kid's name was Gary Rosen. Somebody found him in a park
in Bridgeport."

"Oh, no," Byers said. His stomach tightened in nausea. "Wasn't
he --"

"Yeah. We shouldn't talk about any of this on the phone."

"When can you be here?" Byers asked.

Doggett paused. "About half an hour, forty-five minutes. Depends
on traffic."

"Will... will Agent Reyes be with you?" Byers wasn't sure he
wanted to hear the answer.

"No," Doggett replied. Byers relaxed a little. At least they
wouldn't have to discuss the photos in front of her. "She's
already in Bridgeport. We got called in really early today
because of the murder. I had to stay here to get what info you
guys had from last night. We'll call Scully in after you and I
talk."

"All right," Byers said. "I'll see you soon." 

"Yeah. Look, try not to freak on this, okay? We'll figure
something out."

"I'll talk to you when you get here," Byers said. He hung up the
phone and hurried to shower and dress.

By the time he was armored in his suit, Frohike and Jimmy were
awake. Frohike was working on a batch of huevos rancheros.

"Agent Doggett will be here in a few minutes," he said.

Frohike nodded. "I'll make another batch. You must have found
something good in the files last night, eh?"

"Yeah," Byers said, "but unfortunately, that's not all that's
happened."

Frohike turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Jimmy looked up as well. "You look awful upset, John."

Byers lay the envelope with the photos down on the kitchen
table. "I had a... special delivery this morning."

Frohike wiped his hands off and pulled the photos from the
envelope. He flipped through them quickly, Jimmy looking over
his shoulder, then looked back up at Byers. "I'd say you two are
about to be in a world of shit."

Byers started to reply, but the buzzer went off at the office
door. He ran down the stairs and checked the security camera. It
was Doggett.

He was breathless as he let Doggett in, then locked the door
behind him.

"Johnny, calm down some. You look frantic."

Byers looked up at him, surprised. "And you're not?"

Doggett shook his head. "I ain't happy, but I'm not frantic.
We'll figure this out. You told the guys yet?"

"Frohike and Jimmy know. Langly's not home yet." Byers worried
what this might mean for Langly and Skinner. If someone was
watching him and Doggett, would their secret be revealed as
well?

"Hey." Doggett cupped Byers' cheek in one hand. He looked into
Byers' eyes. "Take a deep breath here, cub."

"Yes, Sir," Byers whispered. He closed his eyes and took a slow,
deep breath. Letting it out, he could still feel his heart
hammering, but a spark of calm had started settling into him.
Doggett's touch let him focus on something other than his panic.

"That's right, keep breathing."

Byers nodded and complied. He focused on the feel of Doggett's
hand on his cheek, and the forced slowing of his breathing. A
few minutes later, he was much calmer. Opening his eyes, he
looked up at Doggett. "Thank you, Sir."

"You just needed to remember, that's all," Doggett said.

"What are we going to do?" Byers asked. He hoped that Doggett
had some suggestions.

"Let's go upstairs for a while."

Byers waved toward the stairs. "Frohike's making extra huevos
rancheros if you'd like some breakfast." His stomach was a
little calmer than it had been, but he wasn't sure if he could
eat.

Doggett moved ahead of him. When they got to the kitchen,
Frohike pointed to the table.

"Have a seat," he said. "You want some breakfast?"

"Sure," Doggett said. "Byers said you made huevos rancheros."

Frohike nodded. "Best you'll ever eat outside of Mexico." He
handed Doggett a plate. "Byers?"

"Give him a plate too," Doggett said.

Byers took the plate Frohike proffered and sat next to Doggett,
not sure he'd be able to so much as swallow anything.

"At least give it a try," Doggett told him.

Byers shook Tabasco sauce onto his eggs and stared at them.

"Mornin', Agent Doggett," Jimmy said. "Did Byers tell you about
the pictures he got?"

"Yeah, Jimmy," Doggett said. "I got some photos too. They're
probably the same ones."

Byers swallowed and took a tiny nibble at the eggs. They weren't
quite as nauseating as he'd expected. "What can we do?" he said
again.

"Nothing," Doggett said. "We're not doing anything about this."

"But what about your job?" Byers asked. "Aren't you worried that
Kersh will try something?"

Doggett shrugged. "It's none of Kersh's business, Johnny. You
know that. There's laws against discrimination, and if anyone
tries to jerk me around because of those pictures, I'll get the
Ombudsman's office and the ACLU on their ass so fast they won't
know what hit 'em."

"I don't suppose there are other options?" Byers said.

"None that'll do us any good. If we cave to this, they'll have
us where they want us. All they'd have to do is wave a picture
around and they could make us do whatever they wanted, right?"

Byers' lips twitched. That was what he'd figured as well, but
the idea of being out still made him extremely uneasy. The fact
that they'd both be outed only made things worse. "If people
know about this, they could use us against each other."

"You think they wouldn't do that, whether anyone else knew or
not?" Frohike asked. "You know what's happened to Mulder and
Scully. They could have done the same thing to us any time they
wanted to, but so far they haven't seemed to think we were
important enough to bother with. I'd like to keep it that way."

"We're easy enough to dismiss as lunatic fringe." Byers looked
over at Frohike. "But Agent Doggett's not. He's important enough
for them to take notice, and not so easily dismissible. That
makes me a target too now, or maybe just a tool to keep him in
line." 

Doggett laid a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get through this,
Johnny."

Byers shuddered, remembering all the things that had happened to
Mulder and Scully over the years -- the losses they'd suffered,
the tortures they'd endured. He wondered if he and Doggett would
be next. He looked at Doggett. "If they're following us around,
what about Langly and Skinner?"

"Skinner knows the risks, buddy." Frohike took his own plate and
sat at the table with them. "And Langly's a big boy, too. If
somebody tries to out them, they'll decide what they wanna do,
just like you guys."

"This could cause problems for everyone," Byers said. "What if
it brings trouble to the paper? What if Agent Doggett gets
fired?"

Doggett shook his head. "I'll take that risk, Johnny. Those
bastards aren't gonna make me back down. We have to be onto
somethin' if they reacted like this. And Rosen, he let slip
about the nanotech. I still think this project's got something
to do with the supersoldiers." 

"Rosen?" Frohike asked.

"Kid from the Bridgeport Zeus lab. The one who got killed last
night." Doggett took a few bites of his breakfast. "Good stuff,
Frohike."

"Last night? You'd think they'd need a coffee break or
something." Frohike shook his head, then gave him a brief smile.
"Thanks, though." He looked over at Byers. "Byers, you know the
guys and I will stand behind you, whatever happens. If some of
our readers get pissy and circulation takes a hit, we'll live.
Maybe some people will think it gives us more reason to get to
the bottom of the conspiracies -- we can work it to our
advantage somehow, if we have to."

Byers sighed. Doggett was right, and so was Frohike. They
couldn't let the conspirators blackmail them, couldn't let the
threat of outing stop them from investigating and exposing Zeus
and the supersoldiers project.

"Okay," Byers said. "If you're not backing down, neither am I."

"Isn't this an invasion of your privacy, guys?" Jimmy asked. "I
mean, it's not anybody's business who a guy sleeps with."

"Yeah, Jimmy," Doggett said, "But these people don't care about
that."

Jimmy tilted his head. "Well, of course, the bad guys don't, but
wouldn't our readers?"

Frohike and Byers turned to stare at Jimmy.

"You could be right," Doggett said, chuckling.

"We could run a piece about attempted blackmail on an FBI
investigation into a conspiracy regarding genetic engineering.
It would probably raise circulation, Byers," Frohike said.

Byers sighed. "We don't have any proof it was Zeus, and it's
ethically questionable for us to run that story, considering one
of our editorial staff is one of the attempted blackmail
victims." It was sure to cause more problems than it would ever
solve, he thought.

"No, but if they keep messing with you guys, we'll probably be
able to swap it to one of the other watchdog groups in exchange
for something similar they can't run." Frohike patted Byers'
hand. "We can hold onto these photos, check the envelope for
prints, see if we can chase down whoever delivered it."

"I've already touched the envelope and the photos," Byers said.

Frohike nodded. "Yeah, but we know enough to eliminate our
prints."

"If this is anything like the stuff we're working on with the
Zeus investigation, even if you do get prints, you probably
won't get an ID on 'em," Doggett said. "We're just gonna have to
do what we've been doing, act like we never got the photos."

Byers sighed and nodded.

"But I gotta admit," Doggett continued, "you really do look hot
in that picture from outside the club." He chuckled.

Byers sat and stared at him for a moment, his mouth opening and
closing. "This is serious!" He couldn't imagine why Doggett
would joke about it.

"Yeah." Doggett nodded. "And we're seriously gonna ignore it. I
have to keep a sense of humor about something." 

"I need to call Agent Scully," Byers said.

"About this?" Doggett asked.

Byers shook his head. "No, about the information in the files."

"What did you find?"

Frohike looked over at him. "Yeah, Byers, what *did* you find?"

"I haven't had much of a chance to look it over yet," Byers
said, "but what I did see was significant. We had quite a few
hits on the search strings I set up last night. It would be
easiest if we all just went over it once."

"Makes sense," Doggett said.

Frohike snorted. "I wanna know now."

"So go read the files," Byers said. "I need to do it as soon as
I'm done here, right after I call Agent Scully."

"Oh, I'll call her," Frohike said. He grinned.

"I should have figured you'd volunteer for that," Byers said,
allowing himself a smile. Frohike would go to the ends of the
earth for Scully, given half a chance.

Frohike got up to use a phone.

"Hey guys, how's the morning?" Langly wandered in, a huge grin
on his face. "Smells like breakfast!"

"Huevos rancheros," Jimmy said.

"Oh, the good stuff." Langly grabbed a plate and sat in
Frohike's vacated chair. He vacuumed up half a plate of eggs
before he looked up. "Byers? You look awful. What's up?"

Byers slipped the photos into his hand. 

Langly looked at them and paled. "Oh, shit."

"That's about the size of it," Doggett said. "You and Skinner
need to lay low for a while. If they're doin' this to me and
Johnny, you guys might be next."

"Oh, man." Langly shook his head. "This so sucks. I'm sorry,
guys. If we were layin' any lower, I'd need a shovel, but I
should tell Walter."

"You should," Byers agreed. "Be careful, Ree. I don't want to
see this happening to the two of you. You might want to stay
away from the Oasis for a while."

"We might. What are you guys gonna do about it?" Langly asked.

"Nothing," Doggett said.

Langly gave him a surprised look. "Really?"

"What else can we do?" Byers said. "If we react to this, they'll
know they can use it against us anytime they want to."

"Dude, like Kersh is so gonna be on your ass."

"I don't care," Doggett said. "The case is too important. I
can't let any of this scare me off."

Langly nodded, thoughtful. "Yeah, it is."

"I just wish it didn't have to be this way," Byers said. He
wondered if Doggett thought he was important at all. Then again,
he'd said himself that he had very little to lose, at least
compared to Doggett. It wasn't like the guys were going to fire
him for sleeping with the man. He didn't have a reputation or a
clearance to lose.

Jimmy looked up, fork near his mouth. "Why do people think this
is a bad thing, guys? I just don't get it."

"It's a really long story, Jimmy," Byers said. "A lot of it is
because most people aren't as tolerant or understanding as you
are."

"I just think people should be happy," Jimmy said.

"Scully's on her way," Frohike said. "You're in my seat,
blondie. Take a hike."

"You move it, you lose it," Langly said. He stuck his tongue out
at Frohike.

"I make enough breakfast for you, and this is the thanks I get."

"Guys." Byers looked at both of them. There were days when he
really thought he should be collecting child support from
somebody for keeping his three roommates in line.

"You find anything in the files, Johnny?" Langly asked.

"That's why I called Scully," Frohike said.

"Awesome." Langly shoveled some more eggs into his mouth.

"Get out of my seat, you hippy jerk."

Jimmy stood. "I'll get you another one." He wandered off to look
for a chair.

"At least somebody around here respects my station." Frohike
crossed his arms and glared at Langly.

"Just 'cuz you're a geezer doesn't mean I should have to get up
for you," Langly sneered.

Frohike snorted. "You'd get that skinny ass of yours up for
Skinner." 

"Last I looked, Doohickey," Langly said, "you weren't fuckin'
me."

Frohike opened his mouth but didn't get a chance to retort.

"Guys!" Byers stood, exasperated, and leaned over the table at
them. "Will you please stop this stupid sniping? We have better
things to do with our time."

"He's got a point," Doggett muttered to Byers. 

Byers looked at him, displeased. "Don't encourage them. The next
thing you know, they'll be throwing food at each other, and I'll
be the one who has to clean it up."

Doggett laughed. "Sit down and finish your breakfast, Johnny."

Byers sighed and shook his head. He sat again as Jimmy returned
with a chair.

"Here ya go, Frohike. A chair, just for you." Jimmy set it down
between Byers and Langly. Frohike sat, still glaring at Langly.

"Thanks Jimmy," Byers said. He hoped it would put an end to his
breakfast annoyance.

"How long is Scully gonna be?" Langly asked.

"Traffic," Frohike said. "Probably at least an hour."

"This is too important to sit on," Byers said. He rose from the
table again, restless, his stomach too upset to let him finish
eating. Grabbing the envelope with the photos in it, he headed
for the stairs. "I've got to get started looking through those
files."

Frohike nodded. "I'll be down in a few. Gonna finish breakfast
first."

"I'll go with you," Jimmy said. He carried his and Byers' plates
to the kitchen.

"I'm done," Doggett said. He got up and followed Byers down to
the office. "I'd like to get a head start on this before Scully
gets here, too."

~cont in pt 2/4~

=====

~cont fm 1/4~

"That's fine with me. The more eyes, the better." Byers gestured
at the computer as they approached his desk. "I'll show you the
list of search strings. You can use Langly's desk if you like."
He needed to focus on something other than the photos or his
twisted gut.

"Langly's not gonna have me skinned for messing with his
computer?"

Byers shook his head and sighed. "The likelihood of Langly
saying 'boo' to you is almost nil." He looked up at Doggett.
"Well, okay, so he'd call you names." He let himself show half a
grin. "But he'd be near the door when he did it."

Doggett chuckled. "I'd be more afraid of him messin' with my
checking account."

Byers shrugged. "Well yeah, that's a distinct possibility."

"So maybe I should just look over your shoulder instead."

Doggett settled in next to him as he scanned the screen quickly.
"Can you maybe read a little slower, here, Johnny? I'm having
trouble keeping up with you."

"Oh, sorry." Byers slowed his scroll, doing a little more
reading, and a little less scanning.

Frohike and Langly came down the stairs a few minutes later,
followed by Jimmy.

"So whatcha got, Byers?" Frohike asked.

Byers gestured at the other computers. "You can access it. I put
it on our net." The more people looking through the information,
the faster they'd figure out what was happening.

Frohike nodded and sat at his own desk. "Gotcha."

Langly sat as well, and turned his own monitor on. When the
files came up and he started going through them, he whistled.
"This is a hell of a lotta shit, Byers."

Byers nodded. "I know." He looked over at Langly. "And a lot of
it relates to some of the projects we've investigated over the
years." He took a deep breath. "This is significant, guys.
There's way too much here. I'm betting this is why we got those
photos."

"Looks like we did find some nanotech stuff," Frohike said.

"I knew it," Doggett said. "This has gotta be why Rosen was
killed. It's the only damned thing that makes sense."

"Oh, Jesus," Frohike muttered.

"What?" Byers turned to him, nerves on edge. The tone of
Frohike's voice knotted his stomach even harder. Langly got up
and looked over his shoulder.

Frohike looked up. "You don't wanna see this, Byers."

"What?" Byers asked again.

"Shit," Langly said. He looked over at Byers. "Serious, dude.
Don't ask."

Byers rose and pushed the shorter man out of the way. Looking at
the screen, he suddenly got lightheaded. "No, it can't be."
Byers shook his head. "Whitecorps. Again."

"You think Mata Hari's up to her old tricks?" Frohike asked,
eyeing Langly.

"Last we looked, she was still hidden," Langly said. "Why would
she go back to 'em?"

"Who's Mata Hari?" Doggett asked.

"This woman Byers knows," Jimmy said. "Her name's Susanne."

"Jimmy!" Byers spun and snapped at him, anger rising.

Langly answered Byers' sharp retort. "Hey, ease up, Byers. Just
'cuz your chickadee's --"

"We don't know who could be listening!" Byers glared at his
friends. If they were bugged, it would be impossible to keep
Susanne safe. It may have been a few years, but he doubted the
conspiracy had stopped looking for her.

Doggett shook his head. "Isn't she the one you said was dead?"

"Does the concept of witness protection mean anything to you?"
Byers growled.

Doggett's eyes widened, confusion filling them. "You mean --"

Byers clenched his fists. "I mean, everybody just shut up for a
minute!" He needed a moment's quiet before he lost it entirely.
The day had been far too stressful already, and it had barely
begun.

"Whoa, Johnny --" Doggett held up his hands.

Byers turned on the other Gunmen. "She can't be involved. The
failsafe would have let us know if they'd found her. Besides,
she wasn't doing nanotech, she --"

"Okay, okay," Frohike said, "you got a point. Ease up, Byers."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy said. "I didn't mean to get you upset."

Byers took a deep breath, deliberately loosening his hands. He
walked back to his desk and sat heavily in his chair, face held
in both hands. This was going to be a lousy day. He wasn't sure
how long he'd been sitting like that when he felt a warm hand on
his shoulder.

"Johnny, you gonna be okay?" Doggett's voice was soft,
concerned.

"Fine," Byers whispered. "I'm fine." He had to be fine. If he
wasn't, the planet would probably explode. It was just that kind
of day.

"I'm sorry," Doggett said. "I had no idea."

"Nobody's supposed to know." Byers sighed and looked up into
Doggett's crystal blue eyes. Byers' face was lined with worry.
"As far as we know, the only people who are aware of this are us
and Scully, and now you. I'd like to keep it that way." It
didn't help that he still missed her, still wished they could
have been together.

"Uh, Byers," Jimmy said, tentative.

"Yes?" Byers turned his head to look at the big man.

"You were talkin' about maybe the place bein' bugged." Jimmy
gestured toward the door. "Don't we keep tapes from the cameras
at the door? I mean, did you look at those yet to see who might
have left those pictures?"

Byers smacked himself on the forehead. God, he was stupid today.
"No, Jimmy. I hadn't thought of it. Thank you. Maybe that'll
show something."

"Might make the day a little easier to take," Doggett said. "I'd
rest a little easier if I knew who did it."

"It had to be Rohrer," Byers said. "Who else could it be?"

Langly was moving before Byers could rise. He got to the monitor
and started playing with the system. By the time Byers got
there, the tape was spinning in reverse, lines flickering as it
moved at high speed. They watched silently as Frohike, Doggett
and Jimmy joined them.

A while later, Byers' attention was caught by a flicker on the
screen. "Wait, wait! I think that was it!"

"Yeah, hang on," Langly said, hitting a few keys. "Gotta run it
forward again."

"Too small to be that Rohrer guy," Frohike said.

"I couldn't really tell," Byers said. "It was moving too fast."
He felt jittery, fearing the answer they were about to discover.

"Hang on --" Langly moved the tape forward again until a figure
appeared in the frame. There wasn't much to go by, as the person
leaned down the stairway and tossed the envelope.

"Frame by frame it, Langly," Byers said. His heart beat faster
as Langly manipulated the image.

"Wait -- there," Frohike said, a finger at the top right corner
of the screen.

"Can you zoom in on that?" Byers said. The angle was awkward,
but it was part of a face.

"Yeah, just a sec." Langly fiddled around a little more and the
image centered in the screen, growing larger, but grainier as it
moved.

"Oh shit, is that who I think it is?" Frohike asked.

Byers' body froze, his stomach knotting hard. It wasn't Rohrer.

Doggett watched as the conversation shot back and forth.

"Fuck," Langly said, his voice flat. "It's Krycek."

"I think we're in trouble, guys," Jimmy said. He had such a gift
for stating the obvious. 

"That guy who was always givin' Mulder a hard time?" Doggett
said. "The one who was in the FBI for a while?"

Byers just nodded, numb. Krycek. He wasn't dead. This was the
last thing he needed, but at least it was indisputable proof
that the consortium was involved. Whether or not their current
puzzle had anything to do with supersoldiers, Krycek's presence
was an almost certain proof that it had something to do with the
nanotech that had been injected into Skinner.

"Damn it," Langly said. "I knew that fucker wasn't dead. What do
you bet that cigarette suckin' geezer's behind this whole
fuckin' mess. Damn, damn, damn. I knew it all along." He slammed
his fist into the counter the monitor rested on. "Cancerman's
still runnin' around too. I can just feel it. Man, Mulder's
gonna have an embolism."

Byers wondered if he was going to have one of his own before
Mulder even heard about it. Krycek was a known danger, whereas
the supersoldiers were still more mystery to him than anything
else. He knew Krycek's contacts were deadly men, men with
incredible power. Even after the consortium flamb at the El
Rico Airbase, he'd held onto power and connection, rising even
higher in the structure that was left, until he'd allegedly been
killed.

"Shit," Langly continued. "Walter's gonna have a fuckin' heart
attack. He swears that bastard was dead."

"It might have been a clone," Byers said softly.

"Bled red," Langly said, shaking his head. "The clones, they
don't do that."

"We don't know what color this one bleeds," Byers replied.

"We'll figure it out later, if we have the chance," Frohike
said. "We've got a bunch of other stuff to go through in these
files. One mystery at a time, okay?"

"I wonder if those nanoos put him back together?" Jimmy said.

Frohike huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Jimmy. He was dead. You
can't put something dead back together again."

"Maybe they got clones now that bleed red," Langly said.

Byers sighed, feeling defeated. "Maybe we should just wait for
Agent Scully to get here and let us know what she's found.
That's more likely to get us answers than these speculations.

***

Doggett answered the Gunmen's office door when Scully arrived.
The guys had been sniping and arguing for the last half hour,
all of them tense. Byers was on edge, trying to hold on, but his
emotions had obviously gotten the better of him today. Doggett
couldn't really blame him, but he wasn't used to Byers being so
obviously angry and afraid.

"Morning, Agent Scully."

Scully looked up at him. "Good morning, Agent Doggett. Frohike
said the guys had found something."

"Lots of somethings, really," Doggett said. He stepped back to
let her enter the offices and locked the door behind her.

"Just as well," she said, heading for the Gunmen. "My own
reading turned up some very significant findings as well. I
would have come over after breakfast even if Frohike hadn't
called."

"What've you got?" Doggett asked.

Frohike looked up and beamed. "Ah, if it isn't the divine Agent
Scully. Thank you for coming over on such short notice." He rose
and offered her a seat.

"Thanks, Frohike." Scully sat, and the others turned to her.

"What do you have?" Byers asked, not bothering with formalities.

"I'd like to see what you've turned up first," Scully said. "We
may be able to avoid duplicating our efforts. We could save some
time."

Byers nodded. He leaned back and tapped his computer screen with
one thin finger. "TREYNOR definitely includes nanotech," he
said. "But it's apparently got fingers everywhere. I think this
is a big conspiracy project, Agent Scully, interwoven with who
knows how many other projects. I've seen mentions of PURITY and
some of their other major work in here. We don't have conclusive
proof that this is linked with the supersoldiers Agent Doggett
has been investigating lately, but we may be able to link it to
what happened with A.D. Skinner."

Scully's breath caught, but she spoke without emotion. "Yes, the
notebook is definitely recording a nanotech project. Did you get
any indications of locations in your file searches?"

Byers nodded as Langly picked up the conversation. "Yeah. We got
activity in Alameda, White Stone, and Queens. Can't really tell
from this who was doing what. I think that's what's in the stuff
you got." Langly sat back expectantly.

"Yes, Alameda and White Stone. Byers?" Scully looked over at
Byers, who turned his face away. Doggett could see him suppress
his reaction. "Queens appears to be the important one, though.
That's where the statistical spike is. Something anomalous is
happening there. The best guess I have is that they're using
nanotech to attempt to enhance human strength, endurance, and
sensory capacities. There were some notes about enhanced
self-healing as well."

"So this isn't like the Jeremiahs, healing other people, then,"
Frohike said.

Scully shook her head. "No, apparently the test subjects in the
Queens project have registered unusually fast healing
capabilities when injured."

Byers looked back at her. "That would explain a few things."

"Do we have a ping on what TREYNOR's really about, yet?" Frohike
asked.

"It would help to have samples of the nanotech they're working
on," Scully said. "We don't have any way of knowing if it
matches what was found in Skinner's bloodstream."

"They might be storing some at Zeus in Bridgeport, at the wet
lab facilities," Byers said. His voice was tentative, as though
he wasn't sure he could quite believe it. "But for all we know,
they've moved it since the first two murders. I don't think they
want to deal with a subpoena."

"First two?" Scully asked.

"There's been another one," Doggett said, "this morning. Gary
Rosen, the kid Reyes and I interviewed; the one who let slip
about the nanotech."

"Oh, dear." Scully shook her head. "Another autopsy then?"

Doggett nodded. "Same MO though. Head severed, probably the same
blunt trauma you noted before."

"So am I flying to Hartford this afternoon, or is the body being
brought here?" Scully looked up at him.

"Monica's gonna arrange to have Rosen's body transported,"
Doggett said. "She'll be back at Quantico by mid-afternoon,
provided nobody gives her any trouble."

"Too much to assume that, Dogbert," Langly said. "These guys
we're dealin' with, they're mean and they play for keeps." He
gestured at Scully. "She knows that. They'll probably make sure
the body gets lost in transport or something."

Byers looked over at Doggett, blue eyes guarded. "It's
possible," he said. "I don't like this. I don't like it at all."
He shifted nervously.

"Let's not assume the worst unless it happens, guys," Scully
said. "It's possible they don't know we have this information
yet, and we certainly don't have any evidence that points to a
logical conclusion about the murders."

The Gunmen all exchanged uneasy glances.

"Actually," Doggett said quietly, "we have reason to believe
they do know."

Scully looked up at him, an eyebrow tilted. "Oh? What happened?"

Byers looked down at the floor, blushing red. There really
wasn't any way they could hide it. It would come out whether or
not they wanted it to. 

Doggett didn't like talking about it any better than Byers did,
but the time had come when he was going to have to level with
her. Doggett leaned over and picked up the envelope with the
photos from Byers' desk.

"I got these this morning," Doggett said. He handed the envelope
to Scully. "Or, more accurately, Byers and I both got copies."

Scully gave him a puzzled look, then pulled the photos from the
manila packet. Her eyes widened and she stared up at Doggett,
then over at Byers, who was blushing furiously.

"Faked?" she asked. There was doubt in her voice.

Doggett shook his head. "I wish. No, they're real."

"You two..." She looked up at Doggett again. "I had no idea. I'm
sorry, guys." Scully reached out and took Byers' hand, squeezing
slightly. "I'm sorry."

Byers looked up at her, his face fixed and expressionless but
for the blush. "We were careless."

"You can't be on guard every moment," Scully said, quiet. "I
know. I've tried."

"Krycek delivered them," Byers said, pulling his hand away
slowly.

Doggett watched as Scully's whole body tightened. He moved over
closer to her. "Skinner said he was dead," she said.

"This might have been a clone," Frohike said.

"Couldn't tell if the other arm was real or not," Langly said,
nodding. "Video quality was pretty grainy by the time we could
ID him."

"Skinner *shot* him," Scully said. "He should know if he was
dead."

"Could have been one of the shapeshifters," Byers said, "if it
wasn't a clone."

"Or," Scully said, "Skinner was wrong." Her shoulders slumped
and she closed her eyes. 

Doggett hesitated a moment, then laid a gentle hand on her
shoulder. "Scully, we'll figure out what's goin' on here. We
have to."

"We need to get back to the files," Frohike said. "This is
obviously really important stuff. I'm guessing there are answers
here for miles. We need to start finding 'em." He looked over at
Byers. "I know this is rough, buddy, but we need to get with the
program and find out what these bastards are up to. If we manage
to figure out what the hell they're doing, we can publish. It's
not much compensation for the threat in those photos, but it's
something."

Byers nodded. His body was tight, his back stiff. He turned to
his monitor again and began skimming the files. Doggett watched
him as Byers focused on his work. "Anything I can do, guys?" he
asked.

"We're still lookin', Dogbert," Langly said. "Hey, Byers, you
seen anything yet that might give us any idea what TREYNOR
stands for?"

"Not yet," Byers said, brows wrinkling. "But maybe the N stands
for Nanotech."

"That would make sense," Scully agreed. She paged through the
notebook in her lap. "From what I've got here, guys, the Queens
project seems to be the key to this whole thing. It's where
they've been having their greatest successes. The work there is
orders of magnitude different from what's been happening in the
other facilities. If we can find the place, we might be able to
get some idea of their actual experiments and figure out what
they're trying to accomplish."

GREEN PEA SUPERMARKET
RESTON, VIRGINIA
LATER THAT EVENING

Doggett wandered the aisles, searching for something to bring to
Reyes' house. She'd asked him over for dinner so they could
catch up and compare notes about their work for the day. He'd
have to tell her about Byers and the photos at some point. He
wasn't looking forward to that. Rosen's body had been delivered
without incident though, contrary to the Gunmen's probably
justifiable paranoia.

She'd said they'd be having pasta. He'd bring a loaf of bread
and a bottle of wine, as usual. Maybe a decent Shiraz, he
thought. He wondered what kind of pasta she was making, but
didn't want to call her to ask. She liked to surprise him
sometimes. He stood in front of the wine racks, staring at
labels.

"Hey, Agent Doggett."

Doggett startled and his head snapped around toward the voice.
"Agent Crane?" Gene Crane was an agent he'd met during the
search for Mulder after the abduction. They'd worked together
briefly in Arizona, when Skinner and Scully had taken off
looking for Gibson Praise a few months earlier. Doggett held out
a hand. "What's up, Gene?"

"Grabbing something for dinner," Crane said, shaking Doggett's
outstretched hand. "On my way home in a few. Haven't seen you
here before."

"Headin' for Agent Reyes' place. We got some work to discuss.
Figured it would go easier over dinner. She's been in
Connecticut all day, ensuring the delivery of a body to
Quantico."

Crane made a face. "Great dinner conversation."

Doggett snorted. "Yeah, tell me about it. Better than that green
slime shit at the hospital, though."

Crane shivered, his weight shifting. "Jesus, John, don't remind
me. Disgusting stuff. Horrible smell. Almost ate through your
shoes."

"That was a bitch," Doggett agreed. He looked back at the wine
rack. "Got any ideas for a Shiraz?"

Crane shrugged. "I'm more a Merlot kind of guy myself." His
voice tightened subtly. "Uh, John, you got a minute?"

Doggett looked back at Crane. "Something wrong?"

Crane shuffled slightly, looking away. "Not sure. Could be."

"You're not sure? What is it?" Doggett asked.

Crane looked around uneasily. "I don't think we should talk
about it here. Come with me." He gestured toward the double
doors into the back of the store. Customers could enter the back
area to use the bathrooms, but Doggett rarely found himself back
there.

"What kinda thing is it we can't discuss here?" Doggett asked,
lowering his voice below the piped-in music.

"It's... look, it's work related. I don't feel comfortable
talking about it here." Crane gestured toward the door again
with his chin.

Doggett was starting to worry now. He wasn't in Crane's
division. Their work had nothing to do with each other since his
assignment to the X Files. Had photos been delivered to the
Hoover? Crane moved toward the doors, and Doggett followed,
drawn by nervousness and curiosity.

Behind the doors was a cluttered warehouse space. Crane kept
walking further back. Doggett looked around as they moved,
wondering where Crane was leading, and why. He had a strong
feeling that the situation was wrong, in a bad way.

His stomach froze when he noticed something weird about Crane's
collar. It lay strangely across the back of the man's neck, and
when Crane turned his head, an odd bump was revealed. Doggett's
gut seized. He'd seen that type of bump before -- on Knowle
Rohrer. On Billy Miles.

"Shit." The word escaped his lips before he realized he'd said
anything.

~cont in 3/4~

=====

~cont fm 2/4~

Crane turned, fast as a cobra. One hand shot out and grabbed
Doggett's wrist. A quick twist, and Doggett yelped in pain.
"Ahh! Fuck!" He jerked back, twisting his arm to get away from
Crane's iron grip. Only the suddenness of his movement broke the
handhold. He bolted away from Crane, knowing the man -- if
that's what he was anymore -- could easily kill him with his
frightening strength.

The supersoldier lunged at Doggett, and he dodged the grab,
running between the piled crates of produce. He had no idea if
he could evade Crane.

Doggett could hear Crane's feet pound on the cement slab floor,
getting closer. He slipped around a corner and hurried down
another aisle between the crates, head held low. The sound of
Crane's feet followed him. He tried to quiet his panicked
breathing, wondering if Crane could hear him pant.

"You should have been one of us, John."

Doggett grit his teeth, biting back a sharp gasp. One of them?
He didn't even know what had been done to them -- to Knowle,
who'd been an old friend, a service buddy. They'd fought side by
side. All he understood now was that Knowle wasn't the man he'd
known anymore. Something in him had changed, twisted, and Crane
was probably exactly like Rohrer now. There was something evil
lurking in them.

The thought of being... changed into whatever the hell these men
had become, of being the slave of some shadowy organization that
appeared bent on the destruction of humanity -- it was too much.
He ran blindly, almost slamming into the ladder as he turned the
last corner. He grabbed the thin metal with one hand and climbed
quickly, realizing it led up to a catwalk as he was about
halfway up. He wondered if he could climb up into the
ventilation system and get out that way before Crane found him.

Heart pounding in his panic, Doggett reached the catwalk. From
here, he could go two ways. He ran to the right, feet clanging
on the metal grating. A quick look back, and he saw Crane
ascending the ladder behind him.

"Fuck fuck fuck," he muttered. He kept running.

By the time Crane got to the top of the ladder, Doggett had come
to a dead end over a maintenance platform that served one of the
huge industrial fans ventilating the warehouse. He stopped,
gasping for breath. Crane was too close behind him. He'd never
make it back to where the catwalk had been crossed by another
walkway before Crane got to him. He took a brief look down.

The view was dizzying. He wasn't afraid of heights, but his fear
left him overwhelmed. There was another ladder down, but it was
back about fifteen feet. He ran for it, hoping he'd make it
before Crane got to him. 

The transformed agent slammed into him before he reached the
ladder, knocking him back against the metal safety railing. He
almost went over as he lost his balance. Doggett grabbed the
railing with both hands, holding on with all his strength.

Doggett yelped when Crane's fist slammed into his face. "Ow!
Shit!" His arm flew up to cover his face. When he blinked his
eyes open again, his vision was blurred. Blood streamed down his
face. Shaking his head, he grabbed Crane's arm just above the
elbow and jerked hard, hoping to toss him off balance. This
time, Crane was ready for him.

"You'd be good with us, John," Crane said, his voice low and far
too calm.

"Fuck you, Crane!" Doggett could hear his voice crack in his
terror. He lashed out with a foot, landing a sharp blow on
Crane's knee. The supersoldier's leg slipped back, but Crane
barely blinked. Doggett twisted away from him and ran back
toward the fan, knowing he wasn't going to get past him to the
ladder. Crane followed, right on his heels.

Panic rising, Doggett stopped, slamming into the chain between
the rails at the end of the catwalk. He wondered if he could
take the fall. There were produce crates below. If the fall
didn't kill him, the wood shattering under him might. He sure as
hell wasn't immune to slabs of broken wood thrust through his
body.

He looked back just in time to see Crane swing for him. Doggett
slipped to one side, Crane's fist creasing his ribcage without
making full impact. The blow stunned him, but he didn't feel
anything break; he gasped, doubling over from the pain. He could
feel his damaged eye swelling, blood still flowing down his
cheek as his ribs throbbed.

"You can't have me, damn it!" Doggett lurched upright, swinging
with both fists clenched together as Crane advanced. He caught
Crane under the chin and arced him back, flipping him over the
chain. Crane bounced off the work platform and rolled, falling
over the edge.

Doggett heard the scream as Crane's body hit the industrial fan.
Blood sprayed everywhere. He sat heavily, panting. "Fuckin'
asshole."

REYES RESIDENCE
RESTON, VIRGINIA
SEVERAL HOURS LATER

"John, you're late. Why didn't you --"

"Sorry, Monica. Things got a little... complicated." Doggett
watched Reyes' eyes widen when she saw him.

"Oh, my God, come in." She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him in
the door, closing it behind him. There was fearful concern on
her face. "What happened to you?"

Doggett followed her into the living room and dumped himself on
her couch. "Ran into a little trouble."

"That's obvious." She took his face in her hands and tilted his
head up. One gentle thumb brushed over the butterfly tape that
held the cut on his eyebrow closed. "What kind of trouble? "

Doggett sighed. He was still half-panicked but he didn't want
her to know. He took a slow, quiet breath. "We may be bugged
here."

She looked around. "You could be right. Come with me." Reyes led
him into the kitchen and turned on the stove fan. It rattled
enough to cover a quiet conversation. He sat at the table as she
stood over him. They kept their voices low.

"John?" She stroked his cheek with one warm hand. He closed his
eyes and leaned into the caress.

"Gene Crane, Monica. One of the agents I worked with on Mulder's
disappearance. He's one of them. I ran into him at the store on
my way over here. He... they..."

Reyes waited a moment, but Doggett couldn't say it. "Agent
Crane? One of whom, John?"

Doggett took Reyes' hand. "He's one of the supersoldiers."

She gasped. "How badly are you hurt?" Reyes examined his face
more closely. "When did this happen?"

"Just a couple hours ago. I had to file a police report while
the medics checked me over. This is the worst of it. I got some
sore ribs, but nothing's broken." He touched his chest where
he'd been struck.

Reyes' hand followed his. "Let me see," she said quietly. She
touched him where his hand rested, and he flinched, hissing. She
pulled his hand away and carefully unbuttoned his shirt so she
could look.

"Oh, John." He could see the purpling bruise on his ribs and
watched as Reyes touched it gingerly with the tips of her
fingers. She looked up at him.

"I'm okay, Monica. Really."

"Why did he attack you?"

Doggett suppressed a shudder. "He was talking like he wanted to
take me back to them. Said I shoulda been one of 'em. I think
they want to turn me into... one of them."

Her brown eyes snapped wide open. "No," she whispered. "No." She
slipped her arms around his waist and sat in his lap. He wrapped
his own arms around her and lay his head on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Mon. I'm okay."

He could see the distress in her face as she leaned down to kiss
him. Her lips were soft and warm, and he needed her gentleness.
The idea of being taken away and experimented on -- it shook him
to the core. He felt himself start to tremble and wondered if
Reyes could feel it too.

"I'm safe," he whispered against her lips. He wasn't sure he
believed his own words.

"Are you? Are any of us?" She pulled back and looked into his
eyes. "I knew this was going to go sour, John. Someone's going
to get hurt. I don't want it to be you."

Doggett tried to still the shudder that made its way up his
spine. He could feel the truth in her words. "I'll be careful.
We'll all be careful."

"What happened?"

"Crane's dead. Fell into an industrial fan. It was... ugly." He
closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory. He could still
smell the blood. It was spattered on his suit. "The cleanup crew
found one of those metal vertebrae. You remember the one we
found a few weeks ago, that we couldn't explain?"

"The one that went missing."

Doggett nodded. "I think all the supersoldiers have 'em. Crane,
he had this weird bump on the back of his neck. I think it's
from those metal vertebrae. Rohrer had a bump like that, and so
did Billy Miles."

Her eyes widened, one eyebrow rising. "You mean we have a way of
identifying them?"

"Only if we can get close enough and they don't know what we're
looking for. It's risky."

Reyes' weight shifted in his lap. She held him tighter. "It's
better than nothing."

"Yeah, it is. But not by much."

"I wonder if an x-ray or a metal detector would find them?"

"I dunno. Scully said nobody could identify the metal the first
vertebra was made of while they had it. It was really weird.
We're gonna have to test this one to see if it'll show up on
scans."

"Well, it has to be made of something. Maybe they had the wrong
people looking at it, or they weren't doing the proper tests."

"I'm not sure." Doggett shrugged. "I bet Frohike could figure it
out, if we could get the thing to him."

Reyes snorted. "Frohike? What would he know about analyzing an
unknown metal?"

"Hey, he's a pretty clever little guy, Mon. Did you know he
built an MRI machine out of an old TV and some spare parts?"

"You've got to be kidding." She rolled her eyes.

Doggett chuckled. "Nope. The guys have got a lot more going for
'em than you want to admit."

Reyes stared at him for a moment. "Okay, okay. I'll admit that
they're smarter than I tend to credit them for, but really.
They're... God, they're strange."

"They just take a little gettin' used to."

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to them." She leaned in and
kissed Doggett's forehead, touching her lips to the cut on his
eyebrow. "But you're right. They have been helping. They just
need to stay clear of this case. I don't like them much, but I
don't want to see them hurt any more than you or Dana do."

He sighed, relaxing into the touch. He needed peace right now.
Being in Reyes' arms felt good. It had been a long time since
they'd spent time together outside of work. He tried to set
aside the fear for a while. Crane was dead. There was nothing he
could pass on to the other supersoldiers at this point. He and
Reyes needed to get work out of the way and have some dinner.

"I'm sorry I didn't bring the bread and wine, like I was going
to."

Reyes kissed him. "John." She smiled. "You're here. Right now,
that's enough."

"Scully and the guys got quite a bit of information out of the
files and that notebook we recovered."

Reyes stood. "If we're going to keep talking about work, let me
make you some coffee while I fix dinner."

He nodded. "Sounds good. I could really use some." He rested his
face in his hands while she moved about. His eye hurt, and he
had a headache. The medic had said it would be a few days before
the swelling went down, but it hadn't damaged his sight at all.
He was grateful for that, at least.

It wasn't long before Reyes slipped a mug of coffee under his
nose. "Thanks," he said.

"So what did Dana and the Stooges come up with?"

Doggett bit back a comment and gave her the information instead.
"We got three locations with potential supersoldier activity:
Alameda, White Stone, and Queens. Looks like Queens is the place
where all the significant stuff is happening. Scully's pretty
sure the experimentation there has to do with the expansion of
human physical capabilities, probably somehow enhanced by all
this nanotech we've been findin'. Langly believes it's got
something to do with what happened to Skinner, and that what he
got injected with was some earlier version of this stuff. 

"Langly and Frohike say they got some numbers that are supposed
to be identifiers for individual test subjects. That means maybe
we can get some estimate of how many supersoldiers are out
there, at least for this phase of the project. I think this
started after Rohrer got... changed. Scully doesn't think Billy
Miles had anything to do with the supersoldier project at all.
She thinks he's the result of something else entirely. Mulder
swore the guy was some kinda 'replacement alien', but you know
how I feel about that."

Reyes nodded, stirring the spaghetti and the alfredo sauce. "No
evidence of extraterrestrial involvement. But how do we know for
sure there isn't any? Absence of evidence isn't necessarily
evidence of absence."

"Well, we don't, but I'm still not buyin' this whole alien
business. It stinks. It's just too weird." Byers had come close
to getting him to accept it, almost managing to make it sound
rational, but there were some lines he just couldn't bring
himself to cross.

Reyes sat at the table with him. "I need a smoke. Do you mind?"

Doggett shook his head. "It's your place." He waved a hand at
her.

She pulled out her pack of Morley Lights and lit one. He watched
as she leaned back, eyes closing as she inhaled. The smoke
stank, but the look on her face was sensual. He wished he had
something that relaxed him that much, but the idea of lung
cancer just didn't appeal.

"Scully says the stuff in the files is pretty scary," Doggett
said. "Lots of anomalies. Stuff indicating superhuman strength,
abnormally fast healing capacities, things like that. It would
fit with what we know about the supersoldiers right now. It's
looking like there's a definite relationship between Zeus and
the supersoldiers project, though we're not sure exactly where.
My guess is the Queens facility. It was in those TREYNOR files
the guys found for us a month or so back. The genetic
engineering stuff is just the surface level. I think a lot of it
is just cover. This nanotech project is like something out of
the movies, Mon. I can't believe this whole mess. If I hadn't
had the crap kicked out of me by Billy Miles and Crane, I'd
never believe in the damned things."

"You've always had a hard time believing in anything that you
didn't see for yourself, John. I hate saying this, especially
under these circumstances, but you've come a long way." Reyes
took another puff from her cigarette. "You're a little more able
to open your mind now, to accept extreme possibilities. Being
able to admit they exist means you might actually be able to
deal with them."

He wasn't sure how much he really wanted to accept or admit. Too
much, and he'd no longer be credible. His career was already
halfway into the toilet as it was. It was one thing to risk his
career to bring down a tangible conspiracy; risking it with wild
talk about space aliens was another. He was no Mulder -- thank
God. 

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway," Doggett continued, "Scully says that the
codes on the project aren't recognized NIH codes, so the
National Institute of Health is out of the loop with the
research that Zeus is doing. Nothing from the Department of
Defense or the Department of Energy, either, even though they
both got an interest in the Human Genome Project. No visible
funding. That creeps me out. It's gotta be some kinda real hush
hush stuff, something the military's burying. The normal
regulatory agencies haven't got a clue this is going on." He
took a deep breath. The day's discoveries had all been weird
ones, and his encounter with Crane hadn't helped him feel any
more secure about what was happening. All he knew was that he
didn't want to end up as some mad science project. "I need a
break from this for a few," he said. "What did you find?"

"Same M.O." Reyes gestured at Doggett with her cigarette.
"Rosen's head was severed, and it looked like the same kind of
damage McCrae and Sprague sustained. We found impressions of
military boots again, but from a forensic study of the
impressions so far, we apparently have three sets of boots, and
three different individuals responsible for the murders. They
were different sizes, with different wear patterns."

Doggett nodded. "God, we need to find out how many of these
bastards we're dealing with. Scully's guessing a few hundred at
least, just from the Queens facility."

Reyes shuddered. "I don't like it. It's not good odds."

"Gimme Vegas any day," Doggett said. "I'd rather take on the
mob." If Crane was a supersoldier, how many others had
infiltrated the FBI, or the military? How much did the Pentagon
know -- or did it? Mulder had insisted that aliens were
replacing key individuals -- politicians, men of power, agents
in important positions. Aliens or human conspirators, it didn't
matter. The fact was, something nasty and dangerous was
happening, and there didn't seem to be any cognizance of it in
the usual official channels. For all anyone knew, it was
happening under the government's nose. He'd have to talk to
Mulder again soon. 

"I delivered the body to Quantico myself, and checked on it
before I left for the day," Reyes said. "Dana had already been
in and at least briefly examined the body, but I haven't seen
her report yet. I'm not sure if she did the autopsy this
afternoon or not."

"I think she was gonna," Doggett said. "We'll probably get her
report tomorrow."

Reyes stubbed out her cigarette. "God, I hate this habit." She
stared at the butt in her fingers, then dropped it into the ash
tray. Doggett bit back a gleeful comment about it, knowing it
would only annoy her.

She stood to check the pasta. "Skinner didn't tell me anything
when I asked, John. He and Langly have got to have something
going on, with the way they were acting. Skinner doesn't just
casually stroke somebody's hair. And the way they looked at each
other? God, Langly, of all people. There's just something
cosmically wrong with the whole idea." She shook her head, mild
disgust on her face. "I thought Skinner would have better taste
than that. Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

He shook his head. "It's personal stuff on his part. I got no
right to talk about it, like I'd have no right to talk about
your personal stuff. I'm sorry."

She looked back at him, disappointment in her eyes. 

Doggett headed back for neutral waters, convinced that telling
her about the blackmail attempt right now was a bad idea. He
knew he had to tell her, but after dinner it might sit better.
Preferably after a few beers. "It's looking like we're gonna
need to get into the Queens facility to get to the bottom of
this, Monica. Probably soon. I'm getting a bad feeling about
this whole thing, like evidence is gonna disappear. I don't
think it's worth trying to go back to Bridgeport. Byers guesses
that any evidence that might have been there is gone now, and
it's probably at Queens, assuming it still exists. Scully thinks
he's right."

Reyes looked back from the boiling pasta. "So, are we heading
out there tomorrow? Should we get Skinner onto getting a search
warrant for us first thing in the morning?"

"No." Doggett frowned. "I don't like it much, but the guys have
a point. We're gonna have to do this covertly. Get in and get
out, outside the usual channels. If we try to get a warrant, and
there is some kind of conspiracy here, they'll have stuff moved
by the time we have the paper in hand. We gotta get in and out
quick, see if we can nab anything on the sly before they got
time to move stuff."

Reyes raised an eyebrow and grinned. "You? John Doggett?
Advocating breaking and entering? I think you've been hanging
around with those guys too much lately. Next thing you know,
you'll have us subverting the entire government."

"And we aren't now? Like I said, I don't like it. It stinks. But
I think the guys are right. We go by the book, and we won't find
a damned thing. Scully figures all we'll get is an empty
warehouse. She says these guys -- if they're part of the same
conspiracy -- they move fast, and they don't leave anything
behind." 

The idea ate at his gut. The evidence, if they turned any up,
would never be admissible in court. Not that aliens and
supersoldiers and green-blooded clones were likely to get a day
in court to begin with. It conflicted with everything he knew as
a good cop. The X Files and what he had to do to investigate
them were tearing down so much of what he'd considered his moral
center. He wondered if he'd end up hating himself before they
were done. Would he be the same man, in any sense?

He wasn't sure how Byers managed to live with it. They'd talked
about it a little when they were in New York. Byers seemed able
to come to some kind of compromise with himself. He didn't
resort to murder, wouldn't stoop to the worst of the
opposition's methods. There were lines he and the guys wouldn't
cross. Doggett certainly admired Byers' dedication and his
ability to cope. He wished he had a little of that right now.

He sighed and shook his head. Some questions were too hard to
answer. These weren't ordinary perps. Nothing like this was
provided for in the book -- the men in the conspiracy
manipulated the government and made the laws. With the X Files,
the book kept changing every Goddamn day. It didn't seem like
there were any rules but stay alive. He'd been trying to accept
that everything was different now, but sometimes it was hard.
What the hell did a guy do when his UNSUBs were most likely
science experiments gone wrong? Were Miles and Rohrer and the
others like them even still human? He just didn't know anymore.
He hated the moral dilemma. More than that, he hated the fear he
felt. 

He was terrified that they wanted him. How far would they go to
get him? What would they do with him if they caught him?
Obviously they weren't above using Byers as a pawn. He rose and
went to Reyes, slipping his arms around her from behind, resting
his chin on her shoulder. "I don't wanna be what they are," he
whispered to her. "I don't want 'em to turn me into some kind of
a monster."

"John." She turned in his arms to face him, and put her own arms
around him. "Stay tonight."

He nodded, burying his face in her shoulder. He wasn't sure he
wanted Byers to know what had happened today. At least not now,
not tonight. The photos had shaken his sub already, and this --
Doggett thought it might be too much. "Yeah. I'll stay. Thanks,
Mon."

She raised his face and kissed him. This time he answered her
kiss with need. It felt good, soft tongues brushing together;
the heated scent of her body making his heart pound. It had been
too long since they'd shared a bed and he wanted her, needed the
feel of her body on his. Her kindness and passion wrapped him
like a warm blanket, and he desperately needed that now. She'd
known him for years, and what he craved, Byers couldn't give
him. Not now, not yet. He needed the comfort of familiarity, and
the easy grace of long knowledge and acquaintance. With Reyes,
he wouldn't have to explain anything. She would know without his
asking.

Much as he was coming to care for Byers, the man couldn't
provide those things. No one else could. There were passions and
history that bound him to Reyes as surely as Luke's being had
bound him to Barbara. He knew it. Reyes knew it. They'd both
accepted it years ago. This intimate friendship and the nights
they spent together, they were a part of the rhythm of their
lives.

"Thanks for bein' here," he said.

She held his face in her hands, locking her deep brown eyes on
his. "Someday, John, you'll have to make up your mind. I won't
wait for you forever."

He nodded. "I know."

"I wish we were closer."

Doggett could hear the ache in her voice. He knew she wanted
them to be more than they were, but he just couldn't be what she
wanted. He couldn't give up what he found in being with other
men, and he doubted she'd be likely to accept his more unusual
desires if he ever asked her to play. He kissed her hard,
wanting her but regretting the chasm between them.

"I can only offer what we've already got, Mon," he said when he
came up for air. Their hearts were pounding, and he could feel
her heavy breath. "You know we can't be more than this. We've
known it for years. You keep asking me back anyway."

"I know." She traced a finger along his cheek to his chin. "But
I need someone to be with, not someone who's in and out of my
bed like this. I hope someday you'll stay." With a disappointed
sigh, she turned in his arms again and checked the pasta and
sauce. "It's ready. Would you get some plates and silverware
out?"

They ate in near-silence, side by side, thighs touching. Doggett
knew they'd share a bed tonight. He wanted it deeply, wanted
her. She was hot and sweet and incredibly sexy. He slipped a
hand onto her leg, caressing gently. She smiled up at him. The
look in her eyes was tender. 

For a moment, Doggett's chest ached. "I don't wanna be taking
advantage of you, Monica. We both know this isn't gonna change.
Maybe we shouldn't be doin' this. It's not fair to you."

~cont in 4/4~

=====

~cont fm 3/4~

She shook her head. "I still enjoy making love with you, John. I
don't want to give that up just yet. I need that from you
sometimes."

He took a deep breath. "Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah, I do too.
You're really something special to me."

Reyes lowered her eyes, smiling. "So are you." She covered his
hand in her lap. "I just wish things were different, that's all.
It would be so much easier for both of us."

Doggett leaned toward her, taking her in his arms and holding
her tight. Her softness and warmth were so necessary to him
sometimes. There was an intimacy between them that he'd rarely
felt with others. Sometimes he wondered what might have happened
if he'd met her instead of Barbara, how his life might have been
different. Would Luke have... He couldn't go there.

Reyes kissed him with passionate intensity, leaving him gasping,
mind dragged back into the moment. He stood and pulled her up
with him.

Body to body, they kissed again, heat rising between them. He'd
forgotten how good she felt. Her hands slipped down his sides to
his hips, caressing and arousing him. He moaned as her hands
moved, and she echoed his sound.

Pulling back, she caught her breath. "I have to do the dishes."

"Tomorrow." He pulled her back to him and took her mouth,
tongues slipping together, leaving him achingly hard. His own
hands roamed her body, exploring the slopes and curves of her
familiar form. There was something irresistible about the way
she felt in his arms, under his palms. 

When she took his hand and let him to her bedroom, he followed
without hesitation.

They undressed each other slowly. She showed herself off to him,
wanton, stroking his chest when he took off his shirt. His ribs
ached where Crane had struck him, but the touch of her hands
aroused him despite the pain; small and soft and slipping along
his ribs and over his nipples. Her fingers were slender, light
and agile.

He cupped the mounds of her breasts as she revealed them to him.
He could feel the nubs of her nipples rise into the center of
his palms as he stroked them, a sweet sensation that left him
hungry for her. 

This kiss was deeper than the ones that had come before. He felt
as though they were trying to consume one another, steal each
other's souls through their mouths. She was so familiar, so
comfortable. He pressed himself slowly against her body, his
hardness meeting her belly as they caressed one another. Their
mutual touch left a trail of gooseflesh where their skin met.

Doggett squeezed and kneaded her breasts, gentle but urgent, and
she moaned into his mouth, leaning into him with all her weight.
Her tongue burned against his.

She took one of his hands in hers and brought it to her lips,
kissing and licking his palm with sensual heat. He shuddered at
the soft, wet flame that bloomed in the center of his hand.

"Ohhh, Monica." He lowered his face near hers and sucked on her
fingers as she teased his palm. He wanted to be inside her hot,
wet core, sliding his rod between her slick lips, bodies tangled
and thrusting together. He craved her legs around him, holding
him tight, a willing prisoner to her embrace.

He kissed and nipped his way up her arm to the curve of her
neck, and she groaned, arching back to let him explore her more
fully. His hands took advantage, slipping her jeans down her
hips. He growled quietly, sucking at the tender flesh behind her
ear. Reyes moaned again in response.

He could feel the rumble of her moan through his body,
resonating in his chest and belly. It made him harder with want
and he pressed the length of his shaft against her.

"Mmmm... God, John. Want you." 

Her hands opened his belt and unbuttoned his trousers. They
slipped down along his ass, tracing the lines of muscle, pushing
his pants down from his hips. Her fingers found the crevice
between his cheeks and slipped softly along it. He shivered. His
naked cock met her bare flesh and the heat of their bodies
stoked the flames within him. 

She reached over toward her bedside table. He knew what she
wanted.

He kicked his shoes off. "Yes." He eased her down onto the bed,
pulling her jeans from her legs, and stepped out of his pants.
Reaching over, he pulled a condom from her drawer and slipped it
on.

She pulled at his shoulders. "C'mere, John." Her voice was deep
and sultry, like buttered rum. 

He lay atop her, kissing her fast and fierce, over and over
again. He wanted her too much to speak, his need expressed in
quiet, rumbling sounds as his mouth searched her body. With lips
and tongue he explored her arms, her breasts, her belly. She
moaned, then gasped as his teeth pinched her ripe, brown
nipples.

"Oh, yessss..." Reyes' fingers stroked through his short hair,
unable to get purchase as he followed the curve of her belly to
nuzzle in her pubic hair. "Please." She raised one knee, opening
her legs to him. The scent of her wet lips pulled him close and
he licked at her with the tip of his tongue.

Shuddering, she groaned and pressed his head between her thighs.
He plunged into her sweet cunt, licking and sucking at the soft
flesh, invading her deeply with his tongue. She was so hot. His
heart pounded as he pleasured her, slipping a finger inside to
give her more sensation.

"Aaaah..." She bucked into him, pressing his hand deeper into
her wetness. "Unh, oh, John..."

The burning reality of her body, the taste and scent of her, the
wetness surrounding his fingers as he slipped another within
her, it fired him with passion. He didn't think he could wait
longer, but he wanted her to come before he entered her. He
loved slipping into her as she bucked and her tight opening
spasmed around him. She always made the most incredible sounds
when he thrust into her like that.

"Mmmmm..." Doggett sucked at her clit, and she bucked, gasping.

"Unh, yeah! Oh God, more!" Her head thrashed back and forth on
her pillow. He smiled as he licked, and stroked his fingers into
her more deeply. With each thrust, she got slicker. He could
feel her clit swell under his tongue as she fell more deeply
into her pleasure. It wouldn't be long.

Reyes wrapped her thighs around him, forcing him closer, deeper.
He pulled at her clit with his lips, sucking hard, driving her
mercilessly toward the edge. His fingers slid over her sweet
spot, pressing into her again and again.

She bucked frantically against him. "Aaauh! aauh! aaaaaugh!" The
tight muscles within her clamped down on his fingers, and he
pulled them out of her as she rocked with her orgasm. 

Sliding up her body, he entered her quickly, the wet heat of her
throbbing passage drawing an explosive shout from him. "Unh,
aaah, oh God, Monica!" Thrusting hard, he pushed her past the
crest of the orgasm and she gasped, breathless and moaning.

Whimpering, she pulled at him, scratched at his shoulders and
ass, clenched his hips to her with her powerful legs. "More,"
she groaned.

He stroked into her deep, giving her what she wanted -- what he
needed. As she peaked into a second orgasm, he gasped and cried
out. It was good. It was hot. It was so sweet.

It wasn't Byers.

Doggett came hard, groaning, wishing she was Byers. He'd never
felt that way with Reyes before; never wanted her to be anyone
else. Why the hell did he want Byers? Why right now, like this?
Exhausted, he slumped onto Reyes' body as they moaned together.
He clutched her tight to him.

"Uh, uh, uh, John..." She was gasping with the slowing spasms of
her orgasm. God, she made him feel good. 

"Mon," he whispered, panting. He tried to put Byers' dark,
red-brown hair out of his mind. He was with Reyes. He wanted to
be here. He cared for her so much, loved her in his own way.

"God." He squeezed his eyes shut and held her even closer. He
could hear the distress in his own voice, and hoped she wouldn't
notice.

Reyes' breath steadied beneath him. "John? Are you okay?"

He shuddered, a brief, sharp movement. "Yeah. Yeah." He nodded.
"I just had a really rough day. I'm sorry."

"Roll over on your side." He complied, and her body followed
his, the two of them still joined as they lay face to face. She
brought one hand to his face and stroked his cheek. "It's okay
to look at me."

He opened his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mon. I'm just -- I feel like
half of me isn't here right now."

She kissed him softly. "You look a million miles away. Do you
want to talk about it?"

"I have to," he said. "It's... what happened, it effects both of
us. It could really make a mess of things at work." He pulled
out of her gently and kissed her neck.

"What is it, John?"

He took a deep breath, let it out. "You're not gonna like it."

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. "How bad is it?"

"Somebody's threatening to blackmail me, Mon."

"Oh, no. How? With what?"

Doggett braced himself. "You know I been seeing a guy again
lately."

"For the last month or so, yes." She looked at him, dark brown
eyes concerned.

"We... I got a little careless. Somebody got pictures. Nothing
graphic, just... a little bit indiscreet. It was enough." He
could feel himself start to blush, hoping she couldn't see it in
the dark.

Reyes ran a hand along his shoulder. "You don't usually see men
for long. Admittedly, it could be a problem at work, but if
you're not seeing the guy anymore --"

"I'm still seeing him, Mon."

"Well, maybe you should stop, then. Reduce the risks. "

Doggett shook his head. "No, it's not that simple. I really like
this guy. He's different than the others; I... I care about him.
And... well, it's just not that simple."

"Why not?" The question was cautious. "Walking away from them
has never been a problem before. Who is he? Someone the
blackmail could hurt?"

"Monica, it's --" he took a deep breath. "It's John Byers."

Her eyes opened wide in shock. "Byers?"

Doggett nodded. "Yeah. This whole thing is as much a threat to
him as it is to me. He got copies of the photos too. You know
what the guys do, and how they're involved in this case. They're
hoping to scare us off it. It's not gonna happen."

Anger settled into Reyes' face. "Get up. Get dressed. I'm not
talking with you about this in my bed."

Well, that didn't really surprise him. He rose and found his
clothing, put it on. Reyes did the same, fuming.

"I know you don't like him, but it's not like you know him that
well," Doggett said. "You don't know what he's really like.
Can't you give him a chance?"

Reyes' eyes hardened. "Living room. We'll talk there." She
pulled her t-shirt down over her head. "I can't believe you
could be that stupid," she muttered.

Doggett returned to her living room in silence. He didn't want
to make things worse, but she had to know. The blackmail attempt
was a problem that was leaking all over this case. They'd known
each other for years, and he'd been aware that she wouldn't like
the situation, but they had to find a way to work through this
-- to work together and solve the case. He didn't want to lose
her over this.

"First our boss and Langly, now you and Byers," Reyes grumbled.
"What's next? A fivesome with Frohike?"

That hurt. "Monica, please."

She came up behind him, zipping her jeans. "I can't believe you
two. At least Skinner isn't going to go after you for sleeping
with a man -- even if it is Byers. I assume he knows?"

Doggett nodded. He sat on the couch. "Yeah, he does. It's all
recent though."

"Do you understand what kind of a risk you're taking with your
career -- what kind of a risk Skinner is taking with his -- in
being with those guys? You could get seriously hurt here. You
could lose your security clearance -- your job. You could lose
everything, John. I just don't think Byers is worth it!"

"It's nobody's business who anybody sleeps with except the
people involved. You've never had a problem like this before, so
why now? Why about John? You act like the guys have a criminal
record, like they're the ones we should be putting in jail.
They've never been convicted of anything, Monica. And since you
don't really even know him, who are you to judge if he's worth
taking a risk for?"

"They may not have a record, but you can't tell me that what
they do isn't illegal. How can you want someone like that? How
can you *like* someone like that?" He could see the anger in her
eyes, hear it in her rising voice.

"Intent is important too. The guys, they're on the right side,
Monica. They're trying to do the same things we are, they're
just doing it differently. It seems like any other time, you'd
be on their side -- you fight for the underdogs, Mon. You're not
makin' sense here."

"What the hell do you see in him, John? He's paranoid. He lives
in a warehouse. He's... he's a *man* -- you've never been
interested in a man for anything more than a little messing
around before. He's not even your usual type! Why can't you just
let this go? Walk away from him, take the case out of their
hands?" 

She didn't know that he'd sometimes had feelings for other men
beyond just the sex before. He'd never told her -- how could she
know? "We need them right now. You know as well as I do that
nobody in the Bureau can do a better job at what they're doing.
And my reasons for liking him are my own. I don't think you
really even want to hear what I see in him; you wouldn't listen,
not when you're acting this way. You're not usually like this,
Mon, and I don't get it. You don't judge people like this. What
is it that you dislike about them so much?"

Reyes paced the living room, lighting up a cigarette. "How could
you, John? It sounds like you're... you're getting involved with
him. I can't believe this. It's like he means more to you than
they usually do."

The simple truth was, Byers did. Why should that be so awful?
Confusing, sure, but he was upset that it seemed to be causing
her such a problem. Doggett looked up at her, puzzled. "Monica,
are you jealous?" It was the only thing that made much sense to
him. She'd never been angry about him being with guys before. He
didn't think her general dislike of Byers and his friends would
make this much of a difference to her.

She looked at him, arms crossed tight over her chest. "No, John.
I am not jealous." The fury in her voice told him a different
story.

"It's not like you've never seen anyone else," he said. "We
don't have any kind of exclusive claim on each other. Never
have. But we've always been there for each other, ever since we
met. I don't understand why you're being this way. You've always
been the open-minded one, way more than me. Monica, I've got
trouble here -- we've got trouble. This whole blackmail thing,
it's not gonna stop me from working on this case, but you have
to know that it's dangerous. What are these guys gonna do next?
They're definitely trying to stop us -- not just me, us."

"John." Reyes sighed and her face softened. "I'm sorry. Yes,
some of what I've said was un-called for. I'm very concerned
about you. I think staying involved with Byers and keeping them
on the case is going to get you hurt -- and maybe other people
too." She looked away. "I think if you keep seeing Byers, you're
going to bring nothing but trouble to yourself, and to this
case."

"John hasn't got anything to do with why the supersoldiers might
want me, Monica. I think that started a long time ago, when
whoever it is got their hands on Knowle." He wrung his hands
together then rested them on his knees. "This whole mess, John
is really just incidental to it. It can hurt him too, but I
really don't believe he's their target. He doesn't think anybody
in the conspiracy takes him, or any of them, seriously. Just
like you don't."

Reyes looked back at him. "You know Kersh will use anything
against us now. He seems to have a particularly bad attitude
about you, and I think this could shoot your career down."

Doggett nodded. "Oh yeah, Kersh has a hard-on about it. But
let's be realistic here. There's anti-discrimination policies in
place. It has to go outside of his chain of command before they
can do much to me. It would have to go through legal and the
ombudsman's office. Kersh can't just arbitrarily toss me. And
I'll fight it every Goddamned step of the way."

"I know you will, John." Reyes sighed. "You're a stubborn man,
and I love you. But I think you're making a mistake."

"Then it's my mistake to make." He stood.

Reyes walked to the door with him. "Good night, John." He could
hear the resignation in her voice.

He was hesitant when he spoke. "Good night, Monica." Doggett
looked back at her one last time before he shut the door,
wishing it had been easier. He hoped she'd talk to him in the
morning.

~~ end chapter 3 of 4~~



=====

Metal and Bone, by Mice, part 4 of 4
~~~

MULDER RESIDENCE
2630 HEGEL PLACE, APARTMENT 42
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
EARLY AFTERNOON

"No way, boys. I don't think he's ready for it." Mulder leaned
back on his couch. 

Byers shook his head. Mulder had to help. "You're not giving him
enough credit, Mulder. He's come a long way since you retired."

"Besides," Frohike said, "he'll be here in a few minutes."

Langly folded his long, thin arms over his chest and nodded. He
leaned back against Mulder's desk and crossed his ankles as
well. "He's onto somethin' big, dude. This whole supersoldiers
thing could crack wide open. And the nanotech -- damn, we could
save Skinner's ass if this turns out to be the real shit."

Mulder nodded. "Yeah. It's not like we don't owe him."

Byers breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Maybe they could change
his mind. "If you could come with us --"

Mulder shook his head. "You know I can't. My leg's too mangled
for that kind of work anymore." He held up his cane. "This isn't
a job for Super-Gimp."

It was, unfortunately, the truth. Mulder had been limping around
on a cane since he'd gotten out of the hospital bed after his
return. If there was trouble, he'd never be able to run, and
he'd hardly be able to do a smooth break-in with a cane in one
hand. It was only luck that he'd avoided life in a wheelchair.

"You're right," Byers said. "I'm sorry. We've just worked
together for so many years. It never seems to feel quite right
without you. Not when the Bureau's involved."

"You think I don't wanna do this?" Mulder asked. "I'd give my
left nut to be in on this, guys."

"You still have a left nut?" Frohike asked, grinning madly.

"It's next to my right one," Mulder said. "Wanna see?"

Frohike snorted, while Byers and Langly chuckled. "Uh, I'll
pass."

"He's afraid of his love for you," Byers said, still laughing.

Frohike raised a hand, threatening, but did nothing. Byers just
grinned at him.

"Maybe you could be in the van with us," Langly said. "We could
always use an extra set of eyes for the monitors."

Mulder poked Langly's leg with his cane. "You guys want Doggett
and Byers to go into the facility?"

"Somebody's gotta crack the computer from the inside," Frohike
said. "And Langly and I have to deal with the security. It's
gonna be a mother."

"Yeah, it sure won't be Dogbert crackin' the system," Langly
said, flipping Mulder the bird.

"Byers, are you sure you can trust him to cover your ass?"
Mulder looked over at him.

Byers nodded. "As far as I can trust anyone, yes." It was far
more than that, but he wasn't about to say anything in front of
Mulder. Byers knew Doggett would do his best to get both of them
out of the facility in one piece, should anything happen. It was
more than he could say for Mulder, when they'd broken into the
Lombard fertility clinic all those years ago. Mulder had
abandoned him in a hallway, telling him to go to Scully in
Allentown -- and Byers had done it to save her life, narrowly
avoiding arrest, or worse. It was one of his earliest
experiences with serious breaking and entering. It had been one
of his more frightening ones.

He swore then and there he'd never enter a building alone with
Mulder like that again. He couldn't trust the man. Love him
dearly as a friend, certainly. Trust Mulder with his life? Not
for a million bucks.

Mulder gave him an odd look. "I never thought you trusted
anybody, Byers."

"I trust the guys."

Frohike and Langly nodded vigorously. "Yeah. We don't ditch each
other, dude," Langly said. He gave Mulder a pointed look.

There was a knock on the door.

"That's probably him," Mulder said. "One of you guys wanna get
that?"

"How do you know?" Frohike said.

Mulder grinned. "Krycek's dead, and anyway, he would have just
picked the lock and walked in with a gun pointed at us."

"Right," Langly said. "More like he'd shoot the lock off." He
looked over at Byers. 

Byers shuddered at the mention. He didn't want to think about
Krycek or the photos. He knew Langly was weighing whether they
should tell Mulder that Krycek was alive, but that would open up
an entirely new can of worms. Nothing else would get done. He'd
just as soon put it off until later.

He went to the door. It was Doggett -- and he had a nasty black
eye. "Agent Doggett, what happened?" Byers' heart skipped a
beat, and he fought with himself to keep from touching Doggett's
face in concern.

Doggett looked at him, giving a subtle shake of his head,
warning him away. "Hey Byers. Guys." He looked over at the
couch. "Mulder."

"'Bout time you made it," Langly said. He did a double take.
"Man, what happened to you?"

"Ran into some trouble last night," Doggett said. "I'm fine,
just a little dinged up. How's it goin'?" He walked into the
living room with Byers and stood next to him, laying a briefcase
on Mulder's desk. Byers was determined to grill him afterwards
and get the real story.

"Mulder's considering trading in his left nut for a seat in the
van when we do the Queens poach," Frohike said, winking.

Doggett grimaced. "I didn't need to know that."

"I could have lived without that revelation myself," Byers said.
He looked over at Mulder. "But with Mulder and Frohike in the
same room, it's inevitable."

Mulder grinned. "You're just jealous."

Byers snorted. "Of what? I'm not the one considering giving up
body parts to do this mission." 

"Frohike's love for me." Mulder's grin broadened as Byers
grimaced.

"He's really not my type," Byers deadpanned. That, at least, was
true. They might be the closest of friends, but he'd never had
so much as a twitch of interest in the man. Something about a
little too short and a little too furry just didn't do it for
him. He could hear Doggett chuckling next to him, and shot him a
glare intended to freeze nitrogen.

Doggett just grinned. He looked back at Mulder. "So there's a
funky poach planned."

Everyone nodded, making affirming noises.

"Do we know where yet?" Mulder asked.

Langly pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. "I've been
workin' on it. Narrowed it down to one of the buildings on the
drydock near the old Army base."

"And how many buildings are on the drydock?" Doggett gave Langly
a look.

"Seventeen," Byers answered. "I checked the maps. Only two of
them look like warehouses that would be suitable for the kind of
operation we're talking about, though."

Frohike nodded. "One of 'em's abandoned. The other, we traced to
a shell corporation called Proteus Holding Company. We don't
know yet who owns it."

"Proteus," Byers said, "was a shapeshifter in Greek mythology.
Zeus, Proteus." He shrugged. "I think we've got a good shot
there. If they're trying to transform humans into something
else..." He wasn't positive that it was the right place, but the
literary links seemed right. If other evidence backed it up, he
was willing to take the chance.

"We're gonna do some security camera poaching for a couple of
days first--" Langly said.

"--to see if we sight anybody we know from our 'Conspiracy's
Most Wanted List,'" Frohike finished.

"You mean, like Rohrer?" Doggett raised an eyebrow.

Byers smiled. "Yeah, like Rohrer." He was pleased that Doggett
had picked up on the agenda quickly. It would help quash some of
Mulder's objections.

"I'll recognize some of the players if they show up," Mulder
said. "I've run into quite a few of them over the years. Scully
will know some of them too. If we see anyone familiar --"

"--or anybody in military fatigues --" Langly added.

"-- then we'll know we're on target," Mulder said.

Doggett rubbed his chin as he stood. He looked thoughtful but
slightly agitated. "Rohrer was in my unit in Lebanon," he said.
"I wonder..."

"What?" Byers prompted. He touched a hand to Doggett's elbow
briefly.

Doggett looked at him. "I wonder if anybody else there was
involved in this mess. Like, maybe other guys from the unit
might have been grabbed by 'em?"

"Why would you have reason to suspect that?" Mulder asked. 

Byers looked at Mulder. "I think it's an excellent question."

Doggett hesitated. "Yesterday..." He looked around, then pulled
the chair from Mulder's desk and sat. His face paled slightly.
Byers and Frohike moved in toward him a bit. Mulder's eyes
narrowed with interest. Doggett looked up at them, a flash of
annoyance in his eyes. "Back off guys, you're crowding me."

They backed away slightly.

"What about yesterday?" Byers asked. He knew it couldn't have
been about the photos. Or could it? A cold knot tightened in his
gut. Were they going to be outed to Mulder now as well?

"These supersoldiers, they've infiltrated the Bureau." Doggett
looked at Mulder, blue eyes intense.

Mulder grimaced. "That figures. Who?"

"Gene Crane, for one." Doggett sighed.

"Crane? Who got assigned to VCU after the mess in Arizona with
the bounty hunter and Gibson Praise?" Mulder quirked an eyebrow.

Doggett nodded. "Yeah, him."

"How do you know that?" Byers asked. Suddenly the black eye was
making more sense.

Doggett turned to him. "Ran into him last night on the way to
Monica's place. He..." He swallowed uncomfortably. "He tried to
grab me. Did this." He tapped his cheek under the deep bruise.
"Got a bruise on my ribs too, but it's not serious. Nothin'
broken."

"What did he want?" Frohike asked, uneasy.

"Said I shoulda been one of them." Doggett shuddered.

Byers grit his teeth, biting back a hundred questions. This
wasn't the time for it, or the place. Fear was useless right
now. He had to focus on what they could learn from this. "Did he
say anything about the project, or TREYNOR?"

"No." Doggett paused and took a breath. "But he had this weird
assed bump on the back of his neck --"

"Where is he now?" Mulder asked, cutting in.

Doggett tapped his fingers nervously on his knee. "Dead. That
bump, it's caused by this metal vertebra in their necks. Rohrer
has one, and Billy Miles. It's how you can tell what they are."

"Miles isn't the same thing," Mulder said. "He's
alien-generated; a replacement. The others, I'm not sure how
they're created."

"Yeah, well," Doggett said, "whatever. They've both got the
bumps."

"Has Scully done the autopsy yet?" Mulder asked.

Doggett pulled a file from the briefcase he'd brought. "Right
here." He dropped it in Mulder's lap. "Not much to autopsy
though."

Mulder opened the file, then blinked. "Uh, no. Guess not."

Langly, standing over Mulder's shoulder, paled. 

"What?" Frohike asked.

Doggett sat back. "He fell into an industrial fan."

Langly swallowed and blinked. "Oh man. I don't wanna hear
anything else."

"The vertebra we found, though, it went missing," Doggett said,
frustration in his tone. "Just like the last one, damn it. I was
gonna bring it to you to check out, Frohike. Nobody's been able
to figure out what the hell the damned things are made of."

"Your confidence warms the cockles of my heart," Frohike said,
chuckling.

Doggett shook his head. "I don't want to be anywhere near your
cockles, Frohike."

"There's nothing on the security record from Quantico?" Byers
asked, astonished.

"Nothing," Doggett said. "Not just nobody seen breaking in, but
nothing at all. No record whatsoever."

Mulder snorted. "That figures."

Doggett continued. "Some really strange damage to the locker it
was stored in, too. It's like it sorta... dry rotted. But we're
talking metal here, not wood or anything. It wasn't rust, but
the metal was weakened. It was almost like it got kinda spongy
-- dry but spongy-textured and all brittle."

"That really is strange," Mulder said. "I want to get a look at
it. I'll have to talk to Scully."

"Weirdness," Frohike muttered.

"They must have hacked security and had someone pull the
remains," Byers said. "It could just as easily have been an
inside job, if Crane was one of them. There must be others in
the Bureau as well, like Agent Doggett said. There might be
somebody in Forensics in on it."

"We gotta find these guys," Langly said. He looked at Doggett.
"Like, we don't need anybody hauling you off like they took
Scully and Mulder."

Byers' gut froze. No, that was the last thing he wanted. He
could feel his short fingernails biting into his palms as his
hands tightened into fists. He put them in his pockets. "Can we
get blueprints for the Proteus warehouse?" he asked.

"Tonight," Frohike said.

Mulder looked up from the file. "I'm going with you guys, even
if it's just for a seat in the van. You may need an extra gun
along."

Frohike snickered. "Yeah, just make sure you don't lose it."

Byers gave him a sharp look. It was true that Mulder had the
world's worst history with losing guns and cell phones, but
having him along for backup certainly wouldn't hurt. It was, in
fact, part of the reason they'd come to see him.

Doggett nodded. "Good idea." He looked at Byers. "I don't want
you guys getting hurt. Monica's coming too."

"And who else will be along for our little circus act?" Mulder
asked.

"Just Jimmy," Langly said. "I wouldn't trust him with the actual
poach, but he can help drive."

DOGGETT'S TRUCK
EARLY EVENING

"Are you sure you're ready to do something like this?" Byers
asked. "It's not exactly by the book."

"Are you kidding?" Doggett asked. "One thing I'm learning
working on the X Files is that the book gets rewritten every
day. Of course I'm ready. I need to find out what the hell's
going on. There doesn't seem to be any other way to do it."

"And how does Agent Reyes feel about coming along for this?" He
wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. He knew she didn't like them.

Doggett stared out at the moving traffic. "She thinks it's
stupid taking you guys along. There's no way we can do this
without you, though. She wasn't thrilled about Mulder being
along either."

That figured. "Well, it's not like he's going to be able to help
out much with the actual infiltration." He settled back into the
seat. They'd been sent to give Scully the details of what they
were planning, and now they were going to Doggett's place so he
could pack up. They'd leave in the morning for New York. "But
Mulder's right. We'll need extra eyes for this, and another
person who's armed probably wouldn't hurt."

"It's gonna be dangerous, Johnny. I know you have to go in with
me for the hack, but I really want you to be careful." Doggett
glanced at Byers for a moment, and Byers could see the worry in
his eyes. 

"Dangerous? Of course it's dangerous! And what the hell happened
to you last night?" he snapped. He reached out and gently
touched the bruise around Doggett's bloodshot eye, his ginger
motion contrasting with his harsh tone of voice. Doggett
flinched. "Why didn't you tell us -- why didn't you tell me what
happened?"

"Because I figured you'd go off like this. I'm fine, Johnny.
It's just a black eye and some bruised ribs." He scowled over
the steering wheel. "You had a lousy day and I didn't want to
put anything more on top of it. I talked to Monica." He seemed
uneasy at that last statement.

Byers knew that Doggett sometimes saw Reyes. It hadn't been a
secret. "It's okay. I mean, I know you two have an... an
arrangement. I just... I just wish you'd called me, let me know
what happened."

Doggett shook his head. "What, and have you up worrying all
night? You would have. I know you that well at least."

Byers blushed. Doggett was right. He nodded. "Yes, I'd have
worried. But at least if you were with Agent Reyes, you were
with someone who could help." He wished Doggett had come to him
instead, but it wasn't that kind of a relationship. He knew it,
accepted it. He was glad for what time Doggett could give him,
and for the things they did together. Asking for more would be
stepping beyond the bounds of propriety. It might be pushing too
far, and he didn't care to drive Doggett away with a wish for a
little more emotional connection.

"It didn't exactly turn out that way," Doggett said, quiet. 

"Did you... tell her about the blackmail attempt?" Byers' gut
knotted. He hoped not, but he knew Doggett couldn't really keep
it a secret from her. It affected all of them.

"Yeah," Doggett said. "I did. She was, shall we say, less than
thrilled."

"Is it going to be all right between you?" Byers was genuinely
concerned. Right now, the last thing any of them needed was
Doggett and Reyes having a fight about it. Byers knew Reyes
didn't like him, but he hoped she'd be able to stay with the
case at hand, rather than allowing the situation to become too
personal.

"I don't know yet. I hope so." They pulled into Doggett's
driveway. "C'mon. Let's go in, get some of this stuff together."

Byers followed him in, watching him carefully. He wondered if
Doggett was genuinely all right, or if he was just brushing off
a more serious injury along with the problems he'd faced last
night with Agent Reyes. There was some hesitation to certain
movements, but no real sign that the rib injuries were anything
more than Doggett had claimed earlier. Still, he was concerned.
He followed Doggett around the house, helping out when asked.

"You wanna give me a hand with this, Johnny?" Doggett pointed to
a small pile of clothes he'd tossed on his kitchen table, and a
backpack. "I gotta grab some extra clips and load 'em."

"Sure." Byers walked over to the table. "But Jack..." He
hesitated.

"Yeah?"

"I..." Byers swallowed nervously. "I just want to be sure you're
okay." He reached out and touched Doggett's face gently,
brushing the tips of his fingers across the butterfly bandage
over his eye. Doggett stood still and let him. The black eye was
still a bit warm and definitely swollen, though the eye wasn't
completely shut. The white of it was red with broken blood
vessels. It probably looked worse than it was. He'd had a few
himself over the years. "Your eye is all right?"

Doggett nodded. "Yeah. Nothin' wrong with my vision." Doggett
reached out to him and pulled him close. The movement was slow
and tentative, and Byers took care not to squeeze Doggett's
ribs, but he did stroke his back slowly with both hands. Doggett
sighed quietly, relaxing a little.

"Feels good," he said.

"I do worry about you," Byers said softly.

Doggett nodded. "I know. Not like I never worry about you. I'm
not too crazy about taking you inside the facility, you know.
You and the guys, you do crazy shit."

"I have to go. You'd never be able to crack the system on your
own. I'm the only one that can do it -- Frohike and Langly need
to crack security for us. They're better at it than I am. Jimmy
can't do either of those jobs, and neither can Agent Reyes.
Mulder might be able to do a little bit, but he's no hacker, and
he can't do the physical stuff like he used to."

"They're all good reasons for you to go in with me," Doggett
said, "but I'm still worried about it. If we run into trouble, I
want you to run like hell and not look back. I'll cover you,
make sure you get out safe if I can." There was a look of
uncertainty on his face, as though he didn't think Byers would
accept it.

"I believe you," Byers said, "and I'll run if I have to. I just
don't want it to come to that. If everything goes well, we
should be in and out fairly quickly and security should be none
the wiser."

"If this really is a supersoldier project installation, Johnny,
it's not likely to be that easy."

Byers closed his eyes. He knew that. The truth was, he was
scared half to death, but the mission was necessary. They had to
know, to stop it if they could. "We'll do the job," he said,
trying to shove confidence into his heart by sheer repetition.
"It'll be fine. Nobody's going to get hurt." 

He looked back up at Doggett. The big man was looking down at
him, that odd expression back on his face. Doggett leaned in and
kissed him gently. It stirred Byers, leaving his heart beating
faster.

"Yeah, we will." Doggett slid a hand under Byers' chin and
tilted his face up. "Do you have to go home tonight?"

Byers thought. As far as he knew, he had everything he needed
already packed. The guys were taking care of the rest of the
equipment for the mission. "I think I can stay. I should call
the guys though, find out if they need me."

Doggett nodded. "Why don't you do that." He released Byers from
their embrace.

It took only a few minutes to resolve the situation. Frohike
told him to stay, that it was obvious he'd sleep better if he
was with Doggett instead of home worrying about him and fussing
at all of them. Byers thanked him, amused.

"Okay," Doggett said. "When we finish packing, I want some time
with you."

Byers tilted his head. "What do you have in mind? Did you want
to play? Are you sure you're all right for that?"

"Yeah. I don't have anything too strenuous in mind. I'd really
like it, and to be honest, I think we both need it. Yesterday
was pretty stressful for both of us."

Byers smiled a little, and Doggett returned the expression, one
side of his mouth quirking upward slightly. 

~cont in pt 2/4~

=====

~cont fm pt 1~

"Yes, Sir," Byers said, his heart beating just a little faster.
"It would be my pleasure to serve you."

"Good." 

Byers worked quickly, taking care to fit everything into
Doggett's backpack efficiently. He'd done this sort of thing for
too many years now. That he was doing it for Doggett pleased
him. If it saved his Dom a little pain from the bruised ribs, it
was all good. He wondered what Doggett had in mind for the
night. It was obvious anything vigorous was right out.

Slow and gentle sounded good. It would feel good. Or maybe
Doggett would just want to be sucked and stroked. That would be
fine too. He let his imagination carry him while he helped
Doggett finish the packing. By the time everything was done, he
was in a state of low but pleasant arousal, his skin slightly
sensitive and wanting touch.

"Sir?"

"Yeah?" Doggett looked up at Byers.

"What do you want tonight?"

Doggett set down the last clip he'd worked on, held out a hand
to him and gestured. "Come with me."

Byers took his hand and followed. Doggett's skin was warm and
dry, and he held Byers' hand tight. Doggett led him up the
stairs to his bedroom. He pointed to a place on the floor.
"Strip, boy, and come over here."

"Yes, Sir." Byers did as he was told, shivering with
anticipation. He lowered his eyes to the floor. Doggett spread a
sheet out on the floor near him.

"When you're here with me like this," Doggett said, seduction in
his voice, "you're mine. Your body is mine, for my pleasure.
You'll do as I desire. You'll obey me and follow my orders. If
you disobey, you'll be punished. If you're good, you'll be
rewarded, and I promise you, you'll enjoy the rewards."

Byers closed his eyes, cock getting harder, rising before him
now that it was free from his pants. His heart beat faster,
breath catching. He wanted this, wanted it badly. He needed --
was grateful for what Doggett gave him in a sharp, bone-deep way
he couldn't put in words.

"Look at me when I speak to you, boy." The tone was quiet. There
was no harshness in it, only a demand for attention.

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir." He looked up into Doggett's eyes.

"What were you thinking?" Doggett asked.

Byers hesitated.

"You're mine when you're here. You'll answer the questions I put
to you. Tell me."

Byers could feel himself blush. "I... how good that sounds, Sir.
How much I want that."

Doggett smiled. "I'm glad you feel that way." His voice lowered,
a sensual almost-growl. "What gives me pleasure is hearing you
beg, hearing you lose control when I fuck you. The heat of your
body under me pleases me. The way you look, kneeling in front of
me with your shaft and balls bound, your hands bound. Your mouth
--" Doggett's astonishingly blue eyes closed for a moment, his
mouth open slightly, "--God, your mouth."

Byers shuddered, thinking about that, seeing himself sucking
Doggett's thick shaft. "Yes," he whispered. He could feel his
own cock leap at the thought. When had he become so addicted to
this man? To what Doggett did to his body?

Doggett looked back down at him, locking eyes with him. One hand
reached out, stroking Byers' hair, following the line of his
cheek, whispering fingers across his lips. It was like a tidal
wave, overwhelming and electric. He couldn't help gasping.

"So hot," Doggett muttered. He pointed to a spot on the sheet.
"Kneel there, hands behind your back, knees spread."

Byers moved. "Yes, Sir." He knelt, spreading himself open in
display as he'd been ordered. One hand clasping the opposite
wrist, he sat up straight. The position kept his chest forward.
The blatant, erotic exposure excited him. He waited, eyes raised
to his Master. He was so hard he ached.

Doggett walked around him, just looking, chin in hand. The
evaluating gaze was fire on his skin. Waiting was difficult. He
wanted to be touched, wanted to suck his Master's hot, stiff
rod, to caress the silky skin with his tongue. He wished they
could play without condoms. He wanted to taste flesh, taste the
salt and bitterness of his Dom's come. He craved the intimacy of
the connection, the sensual depth of that contact. Byers wished
he could bring himself to ask, but paranoia and distrust still
held him.

Touch. He craved touch.

"Please, Sir," Byers said.

Doggett's hand in his hair, fisting. God, it felt good. "Please
what, boy?"

"T-touch me, Sir. Please."

Doggett chuckled. He tugged a little at Byers' hair. It sent an
erotic charge through Byers' body. "When I'm ready." 

Doggett stepped back for a few minutes, hand still in Byers'
hair. Eventually, slowly, he ran one fingertip down the center
of Byers' chest, from the hollow at the base of his throat to
the root of his cock. Byers shivered and moaned, gooseflesh
rising, his nipples hardening into tight peaks.

"Oh, yeah." Doggett grinned. "I like that sound."

Byers took a deep breath, wondering what would happen. He licked
his lips, nervous.

Doggett knelt before him and tilted Byers' head back. He could
feel the heat of Doggett's breath as he moved closer; Doggett's
hot, wet mouth fastened gently on his throat, teeth scraping
lightly along his skin, and he whimpered. He shook with the
effort of remaining still, wanting to reach out and touch, to
draw his Master closer, bring them body to body. 

"Yes," he moaned, closing his eyes to focus on the sensual
stroke of Doggett's tongue on his flesh. "Ohhhhhh..."

"Mmm." Doggett backed away and stood. "Touch yourself, Johnny."

"Sir?" Byers opened his eyes and looked up.

"Your cock," Doggett said, his voice low and husky. "I wanna see
you stroke yourself. Wanna see you make yourself come for me."

Byers swallowed, shivering. He could feel himself flush even
more with embarrassment. He'd never been asked to do that
before, and wouldn't have considered it without the request.
"Y-yes Sir."

"Are you nervous, boy?" Doggett's gaze on him narrowed and he
leaned forward, towering over Byers.

Byers nodded. "Yes, Sir," he whispered.

"Good." Doggett smiled. "Do it anyway." He reached down and
stroked his fingers through Byers' hair, then grabbed a handful
at the back of his head, arching his neck back.

Byers gasped and moaned, closing his eyes again. God, it felt
good. Even the nervousness felt good. His cock throbbed.

"Do it," Doggett insisted. "I want to see you."

Byers reached in front of him and ran his fingers slowly from
the ridge of his cock to his balls and back. "Yes, Sir." 

It twitched as he touched himself, getting harder, and he pushed
his embarrassment back. He watched as Doggett watched him, his
Dom's intense blue eyes fixed on his hand as it moved. Doggett
ran his fingers along the front of Byers' throat and Byers
shuddered at the soft, deft touch.

"You need it, don't you? Giving yourself up like this. You need
someone to take control of you before you can let go. Someone to
fill you. Someone to train you to pleasure."

"Yes." It was barely a whisper -- more like a hiss. He took his
shaft in hand and squeezed, stroking slowly. "Ohhhh."

"You need to be taken like a whore, don't you? Held down, bound,
taught to receive pleasure when it's given to you." Doggett's
sensual growl left him shuddering.

Byers writhed, groaning. 

"Oh, yeah." Doggett slipped around him then knelt behind him,
wrapping his arms around Byers' waist and pulling him close.
"You need to be fucked, don't you, little slut. Look at you,
your hot, fuckable body -- God, that sweet ass of  yours -- 
jackin' off where I can watch. So Goddamn sexy. You want cock,
don't you?"

Byers nodded, the ability to form coherent thought leaking out
his ears as his fist stroked and Doggett's hands moved over him.
He leaned back on his heels, knees still spread wide, sinking
into the firm embrace.

"You got a mouth like a whore, boy. You want to suck my rod,
don't you?" Doggett's hands slid up his chest, moving over
Byers' tight, peaked nipples. Byers nodded and moaned again, and
Doggett pinched them, pulling at them. Byers groaned, loud and
long, then squeezed his shaft harder, starting to pump in
earnest.

"Yeah, little cub, do it." One of Doggett's hands moved, sliding
down Byers' body. He pulled his other arm from around Byers'
waist and caressed his hip, running his fingers over the curve
of Byers' ass. A squeeze, and his fingers slipped into the cleft
between Byers' cheeks, spreading them, moving over his opening.
"I'm gonna fill you, slut, gonna take your ass and fill it until
you come."

"Ohhh, God. Aaaaannh." Byers was panting, and Doggett curled
around him, biting his neck and the top of his shoulder.
"Please, please, Sir."

"What do you want, boy?" Doggett's voice was right there, right
in his ear, a quiet, horny, amused rumble. He could feel the
man's body pressed hard against him, thrusting slowly at his
ass. His Master's rod was hard and hot enough to burn through
the clothes Doggett still wore.

"Please, Sir, take me." Byers could barely focus on anything but
the need in his body and his tightening balls as he stroked.
"Want you. Unnh, God. Need you. God, please, fuck me."

Doggett groaned behind him, then shoved him forward and down
until his cheek was on the ground, ass in the air. "Stay there,
just like that. Keep stroking yourself."

"Unnnnh. Yes, Sir." He could feel the chill of moving air on his
skin as Doggett rose and walked away. Was he going to get a
condom and lube? Byers wanted it desperately, with every fiber
of his being. He could almost feel the man enter him already,
imagining the heat and hardness and depth of it. He moaned
again, pulling mindlessly at his leaking cock.

He could hear a drawer open and the shuffle of things moving.
There was the distinctive crinkle of a condom being opened, and
Byers groaned, stroking himself harder and faster. He could feel
Doggett move closer again, looming over him. His heart pounded
wildly as he felt the heat of Doggett's body on his skin.

One broad hand caressed his cheeks and he moaned low and long.
"Unnnh, yeah. Oh God yeah. Please, Sir, please, fuck me." He was
begging again, mindless with need. Doggett made him helpless
with it. He was so good, felt so good, took him in all the ways
Byers needed most. He loved the way Doggett handled his body;
his power, his strength, the sheer mass of him as he surrounded
Byers' own slighter frame and dominated him.

Lubed fingers slid into his ass and Byers cried out, wordlessly.

"Oh, yeah, that's right, boy. Let me hear you. God, I love the
way you sound when you need it that much."

Byers shuddered as the fingers stroked and invaded him, and he
spread his legs wider, pumped his cock harder. "Ohhhhhh. Mmmm."

A quick thrust, and something cool and hard filled him. He
howled. Doggett slid his arms under Byers', pulling him up by
his shoulders until he knelt upright again, body arched back,
completely exposed.

"Take it, boy. Fuck yourself for me." Doggett's arms left Byers,
his body suddenly bare and unsupported. He kept stroking,
helpless as he moaned, eyes squeezed shut. When he opened his
eyes again to see his Dom's face, Doggett stood before him,
grinning broadly.

"Oh God oh God oh --"

Doggett toggled something in his hand and suddenly the big, cool
toy in Byers' ass took on a life of its own. 

"Aaah! Aaaaaaah!"  

He could hear the mechanical grind as it spun and moved inside
him. Gasping, he leaned forward onto one hand, squeezing his
cock tight. It drove him, squirming and groaning, to the edge.

"Back as you were," Doggett snapped. "Stroke yourself, little
cub. Come for me. I wanna see you come."

It was an effort to move with any control, but he leaned back on
his heels, pumping himself hard, hips thrusting. He shouted,
incoherent, as Doggett played with the controls, changing the
speed of the vibrator randomly. 

"Yeah, boy, that's it." Byers could hear the excitement in
Doggett's voice. "God, you're gorgeous like that. I can't wait
to watch Sergio fuck you in front of me. Wanna watch him take
you, make you scream."

What little control Byers still had snapped and he threw his
head back, bellowing as he shot. As his cock jerked and spat the
thick, viscous liquid, he collapsed on the floor. The vibrator
kept moving in him, left him writhing on the floor at Doggett's
feet, clutching his cock hard while the fingers of his other
hand dug into the sheet.

"Damn, you're so hot." Doggett's voice was breathless and close,
and when Byers opened his eyes, he was right there, kneeling
next to him.

"Unnh, Master, oh God, please, unh..."

Doggett's hands stroked his side and back as he bucked and
trembled. "Is that what you want, boy? To be my slave? To wear
my collar?" There was a tremor in his voice, and he traced the
line of a collar around Byers' throat with one finger.

Byers just moaned, unable to form coherent sound. All he wanted
was to keep feeling like this. He wanted anything that would
give this to him, loved the sound of Doggett's voice, the touch
of his skin. Calling the man his Master seemed to come as a
reflex sometimes. Maybe he did want to be Doggett's slave, but
if he did, he was too afraid to face that desire. He'd deny it
if forced to answer.

"It's not like this, Johnny, being a slave." Doggett's voice was
quiet, intimate, close in his ear. Hands on his chest, fingers
pinching his nipples, Doggett's hand on his own, squeezing his
shaft. "I'd love to take you like that, to own you, but you're
not ready. You may never be."

"Aaaaunh. Unh." He'd stopped spurting, but the movement inside
him kept him on edge, gasping.

"I love the sound of that word on your lips, little cub, my hot,
beautiful boy, but if you want me to collar you, you'll have to
earn it. You'll have to prove you understand it, that you really
want it."

Byers groaned. The motion inside him slowed, then finally
stopped, and Doggett's strong arms collected him, clutching him
to his broad, warm chest. He heard Doggett's heart thundering,
almost as swiftly as his own. Byers burrowed his face in
Doggett's chest, making small, incoherent sounds.

Doggett held him as he got his breathing under control again,
heart starting to slow to a more normal rate. He was floating.

"Oh, God, Sir," he finally whispered, voice hoarse.

Doggett reached a hand between Byers' legs and took the
vibrator, playing gently with it, slipping it slowly in and out
a few times before he pulled it carefully from Byers' body.

Byers went limp in Doggett's arms. Doggett held him close and
kissed him deep.

"God, Johnny, you're beautiful," Doggett whispered, lips moving
in Byers' hair. He caressed Byers, kissing him again. Byers
sucked at his tongue, wanting everything Doggett gave him, until
he pulled away. "So beautiful when you come."

"Thank you, Sir," Byers mumbled. He could barely move, and his
body sang with exhaustion and pleasure.

"We're not done yet," Doggett said. Byers looked up at him.
Doggett grinned.

Byers blinked and swallowed. "No, Sir. Of course not, Sir. Y-you
haven't had your pleasure yet."

"Oh, I'm very pleased, but you're right. That'll be a while. I'm
not done playing with you yet." 

Byers shivered, not knowing what was coming but wanting it
anyway.

Doggett let Byers lie back down on the floor. He reached into
the top drawer of his bedside stand and pulled out a short
length of chain. Nipple clips. Byers shivered in anticipation.
He wondered if he'd be able to tolerate the clips so soon after
coming. Everything tended to be hypersensitive for a while. He
shuddered and moaned as his Master tightened them down on his
nipples.

God, it felt good, stirring a wave of pleasure through his body
down to the base of his spine.

"Come sit here on the bed," Doggett said. 

Byers' legs felt like rubber as Doggett helped him to the edge
of the bed. They collapsed under him as soon as the backs of his
thighs touched it. He was trembling as he worked to keep himself
upright.

Doggett stripped and sat beside him, rolling a condom onto his
hard shaft. "Go ahead and lie on your side," he whispered in
Byers' ear. 

They lay together, bodies touching, while Byers closed his eyes.


Doggett stroked Byers' sweat-slick body slowly, tracing patterns
on his skin with the tips of his fingers. He lay on his good
side, enjoying the feel of Byers' flesh under his hands. He
licked and nipped at Byers' throat, listening to his sub's quiet
moans.

He wasn't sure when Byers had become so beautiful to him. Byers
himself hadn't changed, but the way Doggett saw him certainly
had. The flush of his skin when he was aroused left Doggett
breathless. The way his lashes lay dark on his cheeks drew 
Doggett in. The way he moved -- Doggett tugged gently at the
nipple clips and Byers groaned and clutched at him.

"Beautiful," he whispered. "So beautiful, Johnny."

Doggett was hard from watching Byers, from listening to the
sounds his sub made when he came. The salt in his glistening
sweat burned Doggett's tongue and left him wanting more. Byers
tasted of need and desire. He smelled of heat and sex and pure
ecstasy. 

Byers' hands slid along Doggett's body, exploring tentatively.
They moved softly over his side, up his chest. The touch left
him tingling, like current passing over him. He held back a
shudder and pulled Byers close, holding him tight. It felt so
right.

He could hear Byers' almost silent sigh. The emotion in it was
layered and complex -- need, relief, pleasure. He slipped one
hand between them, caressing Byers' half-hard cock.

"Mmmmmmm."

He nibbled at Byers' ear. "Sweet. So sweet." Byers hummed again
as Doggett sucked at his earlobe, stroking his sub's cock
gently. A shudder passed through Byers' body and Doggett rolled
onto him and kissed him. 

Byers responded, still shaking, opening to Doggett's moving
tongue. Doggett nipped at his lips and he moaned, panting. When
Doggett slipped his tongue into Byers' mouth again, Byers sucked
at it, eyes closed, his whole body surrendering to Doggett's
rough demand.

He backed off and whispered into Byers' ear. "Suck me, little
cub. I want to feel your hot mouth on my rod. Please me. Make me
come." His breath was ragged with want.

Byers groaned, loud, and opened his eyes. They were dilated, big
and dark, filled with lust and arousal. "Yes, Sir," he said,
lips moving against Doggett's. "Anything for you."

God, the look in his eyes -- Doggett's heart skipped a beat at
the words and their wild, decadent promise. *Anything.* Yes. He
wanted this so much, wanted Byers' touch and his attention.
Doggett rolled off his sub and lay on his back, one knee raised
in a languid, open posture. He ran a hand through Byers' soft
hair, caressing the back of his head as Byers lowered himself to
Doggett's throat.

"Yeah, Johnny. Ohhhhhh..."

Doggett let himself relax as Byers' lips and tongue played
softly on his neck, under his chin. Byers' beard was soft and
scratchy on his skin, and he arched his head back for more of
the complex, erotic sensation. God, he was so lucky. His hand
fisted in Byers' hair, pulling a moan from the man. Byers kissed
and bit at his skin with even more enthusiasm as he moved down
Doggett's body.

"That's your fantasy, isn't it boy?" Doggett's voice was rough
as he spoke, barely controlled. "To be a slave. To wear a
collar." He panted as Byers whimpered into his chest, biting at
Doggett's nipple. Doggett yipped and slapped Byers' hip. "Not so
hard, slut."

"I'm sorry, Sir." It was a quick gasp, then Byers' soothing
tongue slipping over the aroused flesh. A suck and a pull, and
Doggett groaned. Byers kept his mouth moving on Doggett's chest,
working his way lower.

Doggett grabbed Byers' thigh and pulled at him, making him move
so his hip was near Doggett's face. He stroked Byers' ass with
one hand, letting his hand slip around between his sub's legs to
caress his balls. Byers whimpered again.

"You want a Master, don't you?" Doggett asked. He scratched
gently from Byers' pucker down over his balls to his cock.

Byers moaned, head back, shaking.

"Don't you?" Doggett demanded. He thrust a finger into Byers'
ass, then pulled it out.

Byers was gasping now, shuddering. He spread his legs further
apart, his shaft hard and purple.

Doggett slapped his ass hard. "Answer me, slut!"

"S-sir, I --"

Doggett grabbed Byers' hair again. He shoved Byers' face into
his crotch. "Suck!" he ordered, voice sharp and harsh. 

Byers groaned and took him in, mouth wet and burning. Doggett
held his head down and thrust into his mouth.

"A slave obeys orders instantly, boy." God, Byers' tongue in his
slit was amazing. He tried to silence his own gasp, only
half-succeeding. "Disobedience brings punishment." He slapped
Byers' ass hard, several times, not letting him raise his head. 

His shaft muffled Byers' cries. He shuddered as the vibration of
it rang in his body.

"A slave has no safewords, John." He tugged at the chain that
joined Byers' nipples, and Byers moaned, sucking harder,
desperation in his movements. He could see Byers' cock jumping,
beginning to leak. The scent of his arousal was thick, and
Doggett barely managed to resist moving to suck Byers' dick,
dangling so close. Damn, he felt so hot. 

"Is that what you want? Can you really handle offering me
'anything'?" Byers only seemed to call him Master when he was on
the knife-edge of losing himself, when he was coming. Doggett
thought it had to be something buried deep in him, some desire
that scared him too much to accept when he was more in control.

Byers sucked deeper and his mouth was an inferno of bliss,
pushing Doggett to the edge. His tongue was committing acts of
pure torture on Doggett's shaft. "Unnnnngh. Fuck Johnny, oh
God."

Byers' hands were on his balls, caressing his ass, slipping
close to his opening -- too close. Doggett was about to explode.
He jerked the chain again, thrusting up into Byers' mouth. Byers
groaned deep, then swallowed him, head bobbing quickly.

Doggett pulled him off by his hair, and Byers moaned a wordless
objection. He tugged again at the nipple clips and shouted, "Off
the bed and on your knees,  slut!"

Byers, eyes squeezed shut, slipped off the edge of the bed to
his knees beside it. "Y-yes, Sir," he gasped.

Doggett stood, still holding the chain. He could barely control
his breathing, he was so hot. He wanted in Byers' ass so badly
he was shaking. "You were out of line, boy."

Byers bowed his head. "Yes, Sir," he whispered.

"Kiss my rod." Doggett tugged at the nipple clips again, and
Byers gave a loud groan, bending his head to kiss. Doggett
almost lost it at the touch of Byers' lips.

~cont in pt 3/4~

=====

~cont fm pt 2~


"Turn the covers down," Doggett said. He let go of the chain and
gestured at the bed.

"Yes, Sir." Byers, still on his knees, moved to comply. 

"On the bed." Doggett slapped Byers' ass hard. Byers hissed at
the blow and lay down on his back. Doggett could see Byers' dick
throb with his rapid pulse. "No, roll over. On your stomach,
boy. I'm gonna take you from behind."

Doggett stood, watching Byers. His sub had been riveting as he
stroked himself, as he sucked Doggett's cock. He stroked his
shaft, sliding a finger over the slit. His ribs hurt, but he
knew what he wanted tonight, what he needed. He knew it wouldn't
be what Byers was expecting.

Byers spread himself out on the bed, hands fisting into the
sheets, legs spread wide. He raised his ass into the air,
moaning quietly. Doggett could see he was resisting the urge to
rut into the bed.

"Good boy," he said softly. He knelt on the bed over Byers'
body, stroking his back. The caress turned to scratches as Byers
moaned louder, trembling beneath him. "You need it, don't you?
Need my rod in your ass." One hand slid down over the firm
roundness of Byers' cheek. "You need to be pushed, to be taken."

"Ohhhhh..."

His fingers slipped across Byers' opening. Byers hissed and
rocked back, trying to press against his hand. Doggett slapped
his ass with a sharp, stinging blow.

"Ahh!" Byers' body jerked and flattened to the bed.

"Not until I'm ready, little cub. You'll move when I let you
move."

"P-please, Sir..."

Doggett leaned into the small of Byers' back, pinning him to the
bed with his weight. Byers groaned and ground his hips into the
bed, fingers clutching the sheets in helpless spasms.

"Yeah, boy, like that." He leaned down and whispered into Byers'
ear. "Gonna take you so deep, nail you to the bed. I'm gonna
make you come so hard. You want a Master? I'll Master you,
little cub. I'll make you a slave to my desire."

Byers' whimper sent a shiver through him. He loved how the man
reacted. It was so easy to get turned on when he was with Byers.
Doggett was achingly hard. He couldn't take any more. He wanted
to be inside Byers, wanted to weigh him down and slip into his
tight ass, the root of his dick gripped hard. He wanted to feel
his balls against Byers, the length of their bodies together.

"Gonna put it in you so deep you're gonna taste it when I come."
He lay on Byers' back, feeling the man writhe under him,
groaning wordlessly. The body contact was delicious, comforting.
His shaft felt like it would explode if he didn't fuck Byers
right now. "So hot, boy. You burn; it feels so good." He reached
up and grabbed Byers' wrists, pinning him hard to the bed. "Love
it when you're like this. God, I wanna take you."

"Yes," Byers gasped, "please, Sir." His voice shook, barely
controlled. Doggett could feel how close he was to the edge.

He rose from Byers' body and moved toward the head of the bed,
still straddling Byers. Pulling a tube of lube from the bedside
drawer, he slicked himself.

"Unh, God, pl--" Byers' eyes were closed, his body flushed. He
looked so good. 

Doggett lay his body over Byers again, pinning his wrists,
bracing himself and thrusting the head of his rod against Byers'
ass. Byers bit into a pillow, muffling his howl. His body shook
as Doggett slid slowly into him.

"Mmm! Mmm! Mmmm!" Byers was sweating under him.

"Oh, God, sweet," Doggett panted. He kept moving slowly,
deliberately, pushing further and further into the tight heat of
Byers' ass. The searing pleasure of Byers' body grew as Doggett
moved. He groaned as Byers struggled under him, shouting into
the pillow.

With a rough, sharp thrust, he penetrated as far as his body
would let him, balls slapping against Byers' body. He growled
and bit down on Byers' shoulder, holding himself still, buried
to the root.

Byers turned his head to gasp for breath. "Aaaaangh! Aaaahhh!"
He tried to buck into Doggett's body, but Doggett held him down
with his greater weight, and his leverage.

"God damn, fuck, so hot." He struggled to hold himself still,
letting the sensations blow through him like a gale-force wind.
The heat of Byers' sweating body beneath him, the scent of his
arousal, and the salt taste of his skin pulled Doggett closer to
the edge. He needed this, needed to hold on, to keep still as
long as he could with his throbbing rod buried in Byers.

Byers' firm, slim body drove him into raw, pure lust. This was
what he'd missed so badly last night. He craved this sensation,
this closeness, this incredible heat. He needed the feeling of
control he had when he was with Byers, to make the man
surrender. His chest was full to bursting with the weight of his
desire for this man. He could barely fathom the depth of his
need and attraction. It was becoming a compulsion; one he didn't
understand, but couldn't give up.

"Unh, John, God." His own body was dripping with sweat from the
intensity of this nearly motionless joining. Byers kept crying
out under him, still struggling to move. 

"Aaaaaangh! Master -- unh, fu-fuck..."

Master. Hearing the word again snapped something in him, and he
couldn't hold out any longer. He wanted that -- wanted to own
this beautiful, sensual man. He wanted into the fantasy that
Byers' word betrayed, to take him as his slave. Doggett bucked
into him, pumping hard and fast, ribs aching, and Byers screamed
under him, coming hard.

"Yes, yes, yes, oh God, yes --" Doggett chanted the words into
Byers' ear, gasping for breath as he spiraled down into helpless
sensation. "Mine, John, you're mine." The world could end around
him, the house come tumbling down, and all he'd be able to do
was fuck senselessly. He could feel it build in his gut and his
tight balls, slamming through him like a bullet. He shot into
Byers, gasping for breath, unable to stop thrusting. Everything
intensified, and Doggett was sure time stood still as he pounded
into Byers even harder. His rod kept pulsing and he kept coming,
clinging to Byers mindlessly.

They moaned and howled together, lost in their orgasm, bodies
melded. He didn't know, didn't care if either of them said
anything that made sense. His mind and body blazed with the
intensity of his pleasure, not wanting to let go of it.

Slowly, the flood subsided. Doggett thought he might pass out
from the pleasure, and the pain in his ribs. He rolled onto his
good side, pulling Byers with him so they lay spooned together.
He slipped his hand gently down Byers' chest to his damp, sticky
stomach, trailing his fingers down into Byers' pubic hair and
tracing the root of his limp cock. 

Byers was gasping, chest heaving as he lay on his side in
Doggett's arms. Doggett's own breath was just as heavy. He
squeezed Byers carefully. The relief of their joining left him
floating, dizzy.

Water. He needed water.

He didn't want to let go of Byers. Didn't want to pull his cock
out of him. Byers was trembling in his arms, exhausted. There
was no way Byers would be able to walk. Doggett wasn't sure he
could either. Water would have to wait.

He squeezed Byers again and wriggled his hips against him,
half-hard shaft still tingling as it moved in Byers' body.

"Unnnnnh." 

"Oh, God, John." Doggett took another deep breath before he
tried to speak again. Byers tilted his head weakly, and Doggett
kissed him. It was soft but possessive. He wanted Byers, wanted
so much to keep him, to have him in his bed every night. It was
too much like desperation. He could hardly imagine having this
wish fulfilled, but it didn't prevent him from wanting.

"Jack." It was a bare whisper. Byers looked at him, eyes half
open. "That... amazing."

Doggett kissed him again, and Byers sighed into it, taking hold
of Doggett's hands and pulling them tighter around him.
Doggett's ribs ached, but he didn't care. He was still too
buzzed on the high of his orgasm. 

"You liked it?" His own voice was a whisper as well.

Byers groaned, then nodded. "God, yes... oh, God... so good."

Doggett grinned, then grimaced when the muscles pulled at the
bruise on his face.

"Hey." Byers turned slightly, pulling away. His breath was
coming more easily now. Doggett slipped out of him, his shaft
mostly limp. Byers lay on his back and ran one gentle, trembling
hand over the bruise. Doggett tried not to twitch. Byers looked
down at his body. "How're the ribs?"

Doggett snorted. "Sore. I don't care."

"You should."

"God, I'm tired."

Byers kissed his cheek. "We should sleep."

"Need some water first. Gotta clean up."

Byers groaned then nodded. "You're right. I'm in the wet spot."
He grimaced. "Ugh."

"Come on." Doggett pointed to the bathroom.

Byers rolled his eyes. "Do I have to?"

"You wanna lie in the wet spot all night?"

Doggett got up. Byers sighed and rose with him. They cleaned up
quickly, and Byers dried the sheet with a towel, then tossed a
clean one over the still-damp spot. Doggett got a big glass of
water and drank it down, thirstily. He offered one to Byers, who
also drank deep.

They slid into the bed together, barely managing to stay awake.
"Dinner later," Doggett said. "It's early yet."

Byers shifted his weight and snuggled up against Doggett. "I'm
not hungry yet. Maybe when we wake up, we can call out for
something." He yawned. "Right now, I just want to sleep."

Doggett nodded, putting his arms around Byers. "Mm-hmm." It
wasn't even quite dark yet, as the summer days were long, but he
was too tired to think. Holding Byers left him feeling content,
despite the deep ache in his ribs and the still-tender bruise on
his face.

"Thank you," Byers whispered. He kissed Doggett softly, his
beard scratching slightly.

"All you ever have to do is ask," Doggett said. He smiled when
Byers closed his eyes and snuggled closer. There was something
so right about this. One last caress, and he closed his own eyes
too, settling into their embrace.

LONE GUNMEN'S MICROBUS
ON THE DOCKS
QUEENS, NEW YORK
LATE NIGHT, TWO DAYS LATER

"Haven't we got enough surveillance yet?" Doggett asked. He was
cramped, and the steady diet of junk food and coffee wasn't
setting well with him. Byers, Jimmy and Reyes were all off in a
nearby motel, catching some sleep. They'd been on duty earlier
in the day. He was bored and half asleep himself. Stakeouts had
never been his favorite activity, and he much preferred the idea
of being curled up next to Byers right now. 

Frohike shook his head. "Haven't seen anybody we recognize going
into the building. I'm starting to think Blondie was wrong about
which one we're after."

Mulder, leaning back in one of the seats, sipped at his coffee.
"No, I'm sure Langly and Byers were right about this. It's gotta
be this one."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Langly said. "God, I hate
this. Fro, gimme another Jolt."

Frohike reached down into the cooler at his feet and flipped a
chilly can to Langly. 

"Hey, dude, watch it. You shake it up and we'll be cleanin' it
out of the equipment for days."

"Sorry."

Mulder straightened up in his seat. "Holy -- this can't be
real." He slammed his fist down on the tiny counter where he
watched the surveillance screen.

"What?" Doggett asked.

"Fuck," Mulder said. "It looks like Krycek. The bastard's dead.
It has to be a shapeshifter. He went into the warehouse."

Everyone stilled, and Doggett and the Gunmen exchanged uneasy
glances. 

Mulder looked over at them. "Okay, what aren't you guys telling
me?" he snapped. "What do you know about this, and how long have
you known it?" 

Doggett waited, watching the Gunmen sweat. He was nervous too,
though he didn't care to admit it. It had been his own
indiscretions that had brought Krycek out of the woodwork. He
shifted, and Mulder nailed him to the passenger seat with his
eyes.

"Spill it, Doggett."

Doggett cleared his throat. "He showed up a couple days ago at
the Gunmen's place. Left an envelope. They got him on
surveillance tape, but it was a quick flash. They --"

"We weren't sure it was even him, Mulder," Frohike said. "It
could have been a clone. A shapeshifter. Hell, it could have
been somebody in a mask. Who knows?"

"Well, at least now we got our confirmation," Langly said.

"He delivered an envelope?" Mulder wasn't going to be deterred.
"What was in it?

The Gunmen looked at Doggett. It was his responsibility. He'd
have to take this particular bull by the horns. "A blackmail
attempt."

Mulder looked over at Langly. "What did you do this time?"

Langly held his hands up in the air. "Hey, it wasn't me this
time, dude. It was Byers."

Mulder laughed, astonished. "Byers? Yeah, right. What the hell
does Byers ever do that's worthy of blackmail?"

Langly looked at Doggett, his eyes begging for help.

"I got the same envelope," Doggett said.

Mulder stared at Doggett. "The same?"

Doggett nodded. "We... uh... the information was somewhat
compromising. Nothing graphic. It wasn't enough to keep us off
the case."

Mulder's eyes widened. "You? And... and Byers?" He shook his
head, disbelief clearly written on his face. "I always kind of
wondered if Byers wasn't a closet case, but you?"

Doggett nodded again. "Yeah. Me. You got a problem with that?"

"No." Mulder shook his head. "I'm just surprised. I never
thought you had it in you."

"What?" Doggett said, "Tough ex-Marine, can't possibly like
guys?"

"It never even crossed my mind. And Byers -- well, let's just
say I'd never have guessed he was your type, or that you were
his."

"Leave Byers alone, Mulder," Frohike said. "He doesn't need your
shit. We give him enough on our own."

"Why am I always the last to know?" Mulder said, crossing his
arms over his chest.

"'Cuz nobody loves you," Langly said. "Get used to it."

"Look, Mulder," Doggett growled, "this really isn't germane to
the case. The envelopes were delivered. We ignored the threat.
Whatever happens, happens, and we'll deal with it. This is
between me and John, and it's none of your Goddamned business.
The fact is, now we know Krycek's involved with this, and we
know that this is the right building. I figured this was why the
blackmail attempt was made. They wanted to keep us away from
this."

Mulder looked like he wanted to hit him. "Anything having to do
with Krycek is my business. If you end up getting the guys hurt
because of this --"

"Oh, shut it, Mulder," Frohike snapped, sliding into the
driver's seat as Langly moved to shut down the surveillance
equipment. "You're not the center of the fuckin' universe, and
this fighting isn't gonna solve a damned thing. We have what we
need. Let's get back to the motel and catch some sleep. We can
figure out what the deal is with Krycek later, when we have some
breathing space. We'll plan the poach tomorrow and do the deed
tomorrow night."

"No!" Mulder shouted, "We have to go in now! We can find out --"

"Mulder," Langly said.

"What?"

"Shut up. Like, we're not goin' in without everybody here. You
know the drill."

Frohike started the engine.

PROTEUS HOLDING COMPANY WAREHOUSE
QUEENS, NEW YORK
NEXT NIGHT

"Okay," Frohike's voice hissed in Byers' earpiece, "you're in.
Go!"

"Check," Byers muttered. He nodded and gestured to Doggett, and
they hurried across the open space to one of the back doors of
the warehouse building. Frohike and Langly were in an
underground access tunnel several blocks away. Mulder was
monitoring the situation from the microbus near the entrance to
the tunnel, and Reyes and Jimmy were in Reyes' car, hidden
behind a nearby building on the dock. They were far enough away
to be concealed, but close enough to act as backup if needed.

When they got to the door, Byers scanned the area while Doggett
opened it, pistol in hand. They both slipped through quickly.
Byers closed the door securely behind them. "We're in."

"Check." It was Langly's voice this time. "You've got a hallway
going left and right. Go right."

Doggett nodded and led the way. Byers prayed that they'd be in
and out before their presence could be discovered.

They were both dressed in black, Doggett in jeans and a tight
turtleneck, Byers in the multi-pocketed jumper that he always
wore for these missions. Doggett wore a leather jacket that
concealed his shoulder holster. Byers' heart was pounding in
triple-time with fear. If he wasn't so scared, he knew he'd be
very distracted by Doggett in that outfit. 

"At the end of the hallway, turn left, and it looks like the
third door." Frohike again. "There's a card swipe at the door.
We'll try to open it from here."

"I've got the lockpick if you can't," Byers said. He patted one
of his cargo pockets, thankful for the high tech they dedicated
so much of their lives to cracking.

It wasn't long before they found the door Frohike indicated.
"This should lead to a complex of hallways and a bunch of
offices," Frohike said.

"Got the lock," Langly added.

Doggett raised his weapon and nodded to Byers.

Byers turned the handle and tugged with one gloved hand. The red
light went green and the door clicked open. Doggett whirled into
the doorway, weapon held in both hands before him, scanning the
corridor. Byers followed when he moved forward.

Doggett seemed calm and collected, moving like a tiger. Byers
envied his steadiness and grace. He looked around at the
corridors that moved out before them and to either side. 

"Which way?" Byers asked.

"We got no idea what's in there," Langly said. "Any windows on
the doors?"

"No," Byers whispered.

"Any of your data file numbers from the files you found marked
on the doors?" Mulder asked.

Byers glanced at the numbers on the doors. "Numerical strings
aren't long enough," he said quietly. "It looks like regular
room numbering."

"Try going left," Reyes said.

Doggett hurried along the left corridor, moving with almost
ghostly silence, gun at the ready. There was only one door
there. It was a heavy one. There was a card swipe there, along
with a numeric keypad.

"How about it, guys?" Byers whispered.

"Working on it," Langly said.

They stood for several too-long moments, waiting for Langly's
green light, but it didn't come.

"What's happening?" Byers was starting to sweat.

"Try the lockpick," Frohike said. "No joy here."

"Fuck," Doggett muttered. They looked at each other. Doggett's
outer calm was betrayed by the uneasiness in his eyes and the
tension in his shoulders. Byers could think of a million places
he'd rather be.

Byers pulled the device from a pocket. He put the card into the
slot and waited for the lockpick to find the code. In a moment,
it blinked green. He tried the door. It didn't open. "Guys."

Frohike's voice again. "Hang on Rover One. Try it again. We'll
go for the number pad from here."

"Too much of this and it might set off an alarm," Byers hissed.

"I know, I know," Langly muttered. "Go, dude, try it again."

Byers did the card swipe again, and this time two sets of green
lights came up. The door opened when he turned the handle. He
let out a sigh of relief. His stomach hurt.

Again, Doggett took the lead, weapon at the ready. The corridor
ahead of them led to an elevator.

"Looks like we're going up," Doggett said.

"Nothin' under you guys right now but dock and water," Langly
said, "so I sure as hell hope so."

There was a card swipe on the elevator as well. "Y'think they're
paranoid?" Doggett whispered.

Byers swiped the lockpick again. This time, the button next to
the door lit. Byers pushed it. He could hear the sound of the
elevator mechanism hum to life. 

"Second floor?" Byers asked. He heard the rustling of paper.

"There are several large open areas indicated on the second
floor plans," Reyes said. "They might be labs of some sort, or
file storage areas."

"Yeah," Langly said. "At least one of 'em's probably clean
storage. If you can, get a look into them. You might be able to
find some samples."

Doggett nodded. "Sounds good for a start."

They stepped into the elevator when the door opened. Byers
pressed the button for the second floor.

"Check for these number strings," Mulder added, and rattled off
a long series of numbers.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down here," Doggett muttered.

Byers shook his head. "It's okay, I got them." He laid a hand on
Doggett's arm.

"You two can get cute later," Frohike said. Byers looked up at
the surveillance camera, jerking his hand away. Frohike
chuckled. "Smile, you're on Candid Camera."

"I'll kick his ass later," Doggett said. "Cut the chatter,
boys."

They stood along the sides of the elevator as the doors opened
onto the second floor, Doggett scanning the hallway then nodding
to Byers and signaling him forward. There were four doors in the
hallway, spaced far apart. The security here was tight.

"Guards headed in your direction," Langly said. "Routine patrol.
Let's get you into one of those rooms, like now."

Byers hurried to the first door on the left. It was a massive
metal double door that looked extremely heavy. He guessed it was
several inches thick. "I wonder what they're trying to keep
out," he whispered. Looking around, he saw the other doors were
equally massive.

~cont in 4/4~

=====

~cont fm pt 3~


"Or what they're trying to keep in," Doggett said softly.

"Hurry up," Frohike snapped. "They're about to round the
corner."

Byers shuddered. He slipped the lockpick through the card swipe
as Frohike and Langly worked on the keypad. Two green lights,
and they were in. The double doors slid shut with a click behind
them.

"Just in time, boys," Mulder said.

Byers looked around. There were several large mainframes in the
room, with workstations on long tables in the center. Another
door opened into the room from the far side. Around the walls
were long rows of file drawers. The room was cold, intended to
accommodate electronics, not the humans that operated them.
 
He hurried around the perimeter of the room, scanning the labels
on the drawers. Recognizing several of the numbers Mulder had
recited to him, he pointed out a couple of drawers to Doggett.
Turning quickly, he ran to one of the workstations and powered
it up.

Frohike and Langly were on the security with him, cracking the
system. It didn't take long.

Doggett came over to him, holding several small glass vials.
They had tiny samples of... something in them. Each of the
numbered vials had a name on it. One of the names was Knowle
Rohrer.

"Shit," Doggett whispered. "Looks like this is connected to the
supersoldiers project."

"Keep checking the drawers," Byers said, turning quickly back to
the monitor. "I'll be a few minutes downloading information
here." His fingers flew over the keyboard as Doggett went back
to the walls of file drawers.

Byers slipped a CD into one of the burners and began copying
files, moving as fast as he could. "Status," he said.

"Guards are gone from the hall," Frohike replied. "You should be
safe for about another twenty minutes, if the patrol information
was correct."

Byers sighed with relief, focusing his entire attention back on
his work. The materials he found amazed him. "TREYNOR," he
whispered. "I found the acronym. You guys aren't going to
believe this."

"What?" Langly asked.

" TRansgenic-Extraterrestrial Yoked Nanotechnological ORganism,"
Byers replied.

Langly and Frohike both stifled laughs. "Oh God," Langly said.
"That is *so* lame!"

"Yeah," Byers muttered. "Your tax dollars at work."

"My three-year-old cousin could do better than that," Langly
snorted.

"Nobody ever accused the government of intelligence," Frohike
said.

"Extraterrestrials," Mulder said. "That's it! This is the
proof!"

"Now we just have to get out of here with it," Byers said
nervously.

"Still looks clear," Frohike said. "Keep downloading."

Byers nodded and focused on the monitor again.

"Holy shit," Doggett hissed, shock in his voice.

Byers spun and saw Doggett holding a paper file in his hand, his
eyes wide. He'd gone pale as milk. "What?"

Doggett looked up at him, fear on his face. "This." He hurried
over to Byers. The file had Doggett's name on it.

"Oh, no." Byers felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"Dudes, total alarm here! We've been made! Your door's been
locked down!" Langly's voice snapped in Byers' ear.

Byers turned to the keyboard. "I need to finish this up!"

"No," Mulder shouted, "you got a bogey coming for the back door
to that lab!"

Frohike's voice was loud in his ear. "Get out! Get out!"

Byers kept on the download, pushing for just another few
seconds.

Doggett looked down at him. "Come on, damn it!"

"Go! Go!" Frohike shouted. "We're hacking the door!"

The door in the opposite wall opened, and a tall, muscular man
stepped through. His hair was close-cropped, and he was dressed
in military fatigues.

Doggett and Byers both looked up. Doggett slipped the paper file
into his waistband and raised his gun.

"Shit. Run, Johnny!"

Byers slapped the eject button on the CD burner and jerked the
disc out of the drive. He ran for the door. Skidding to a halt,
he hit the button to open it. It didn't budge. "Damn it, do
something!"

"Stop right there," Doggett snapped at the soldier. 

Byers turned and saw him aiming at the man. The soldier kept on
coming. Byers' stomach leapt into his throat. "Open the door,
open the door!" He could hear his voice rising in panic. He kept
pushing the button. Nothing happened.

Byers heard a shot, and turned his head back to Doggett. There
was terror in Doggett's face. Another shot, and the soldier
jerked but didn't slow.

It was one of *them.*

Byers pounded on the door. "Open the door!" he screamed. The
door slid open, and he dashed through. He looked behind him, but
Doggett hadn't moved.

"Come on, damn it!"

Doggett shot again, and the soldier kept on coming, running now.
Doggett turned to follow Byers, but the soldier, moving like
lightning, caught up to him. He picked Doggett up with one hand
and threw him. Doggett sailed past Byers and slammed into the
wall across the hallway with a sickening crunch. The gun fell
from his hand and skittered to Byers' feet.

"Holy -- shut the door!"

"Working on it!" Langly shouted. "Shit! The fucker's locked down
again! Working on it!"

"More bogeys headed your way," Mulder said. "On your floor,
maybe a minute away from you."

Byers' heart was trying to crawl out his throat. He looked back
at Doggett, slumped on the floor, unmoving. He looked back at
the oncoming soldier, then down at the gun at his feet. Tucking
the disc in his pocket, he scooped the gun off the floor and
pointed it at the soldier, hands shaking. He backed up several
steps until he was standing over Doggett's fallen form. 

"S-stop!" The soldier kept coming and Byers pulled the trigger.
The first shot slammed him back up against the wall with the
sudden, unexpected recoil. With a yelp, he pulled the barrel
down again, hysterically muttering, "Center of mass, center of
mass--"

Byers fired again, closer this time, and again and again,
striking the soldier repeatedly in random locations. The man
didn't even flinch. Byers thought he was going to pass out.

The doors slid shut.

Byers took a quick breath and looked at the elevator but spun
back to the door when he heard pounding.

"Oh, my God."

"We're on backup!" Reyes shouted. "We'll be there in just a
minute! Get out of there!"

After the first two blows, he could see dents beginning to
appear in the door. Byers stood, frozen with terror.

"We got you, man! Get to the elevator!" Frohike shouted.

Frohike's voice snapped him out of it. The pounding got harder
as Byers stuffed Doggett's pistol in a pocket. He grabbed
Doggett's ankles and heaved, dragging the larger man toward the
elevator door. The pounding got louder, more dents appearing in
the lab door. Byers was close to blind panic, barely holding on.

When the elevator door opened, he heaved with all his strength,
dragging Doggett inside far enough for the door to close. He
leaned against the side wall of the elevator, panting, heart
pounding on his ribs as hard as the supersoldier had pounded on
the lab door.

"Shit, shit, shit," Byers muttered. The doors slid open on the
first floor. Byers got down near Doggett and shifted, pulling
him into a fireman's carry. He had no idea if he could do it,
but he had to try. He wasn't going to leave Doggett behind.
There would be no second chance.

With all his strength, he staggered to his feet. Doggett weighed
more than he did, was larger and bulkier, but his terror and the
adrenaline in his system forced one foot in front of the other.
He wobbled down the hallway as quickly as he could, Langly's
voice guiding him back along the turns, through the doors where
they'd entered.

He could feel muscles pulling and groaned, pushing the pain
away. He had to do this. He had no choice. If he left Doggett,
they'd kill him, or experiment on him. He would not let that
happen. He'd rather die.

Gasping for breath, he staggered the last few feet to the door
they'd come in through. Praying, he shoving against it, and it
opened. 

Reyes and Jimmy ran up to the door. Reyes' car was idling a few
yards away, doors open. Byers' knees buckled.

Jimmy dragged Doggett from his shoulders before Byers hit the
ground, and Reyes pulled him back to his feet. "Come on, in the
car, now!"

Jimmy shoved Doggett's unconscious form into the back seat, then
climbed in after him, and Byers nearly fell into the front
passenger seat. Every muscle in his body was screaming in
protest. He felt dizzy and light-headed, sure he'd vomit. Reyes
slammed her door and peeled out, tires squealing.

"We've got 'em! Go, guys! Get the hell out of here!" Reyes
shouted into her headset.

Byers passed out.

ASTORIA GENERAL HOSPITAL, ROOM 247
QUEENS, NEW YORK
TWO HOURS LATER

Byers sat, exhausted and miserable, in a chair next to Doggett's
bed. Doggett had been admitted for observation. The doctor said
he'd had a bad concussion. Doggett's vision had been blurred
when he'd become coherent enough to examine, and he'd been
vomiting, and now he was lying, asleep, next to him. There was
an IV in one hand, filling the man with saline and drugs.

It was a miracle he was in the room at all. Mulder had been
forced to offer the duty nurse a substantial bribe to let any of
them into Doggett's room, but he and Reyes had finally been let
in, and a blind eye turned to their movements. Mulder had made a
crack about the Gunmen becoming an expensive habit, but somebody
with a gun needed to be in there if one of the supersoldiers --
or Krycek -- came calling. Not that a gun would do any good.
Byers had seen that himself.

Reyes had seemed torn between anger at him for trying to stay on
the download, and admiration for saving Doggett's life. He was
still beating himself up over waiting, but Langly and Frohike
had taken issue with that behavior. They'd said several times
that the door controls were taken away from them and, even if he
had run when they first told him to, the door wouldn't have been
opened any faster. Reyes had said nothing, but her anger seemed
somewhat diminished by their insistence.

Reyes had gone a few minutes ago to phone Scully and Skinner and
let them know what had happened. He hoped she'd be away for a
while. He really just wanted to be alone with Doggett.

Byers had no idea how he'd carried Doggett out of the building.
Looking back on the whole thing, he couldn't believe he'd done
it. His body told him otherwise; it ached everywhere. He'd been
given some muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories for the
sprains, but the pain filled him like a dull fire. Byers
suspected he'd have a hard time walking for the next week or so.
His neck and shoulders throbbed and he had a terrible headache.
His lower back burned, and he wasn't sure he'd even be able to
stand when the time came to get out of his chair.

The room around him was dark, dawn still an hour or two away.
Frohike, Langly and Mulder were probably working on the files
he'd burned onto the CD, and going through the paper file
Doggett had found with his own name on it. The idea left Byers
with a cold numbness in the pit of his stomach.

Reaching out, he took Doggett's hand in his own. Doggett was
warm, but Byers felt like he was bearing a glacier inside. His
own hands were freezing. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so
sorry." Even though the guys couldn't have gotten the door open
any sooner, he still felt guilty. He'd had the habit so long,
sometimes it was hard not to feel that way.

The image of the supersoldier throwing Doggett through the air
like a toy kept replaying in his mind. Shutting his eyes didn't
make it stop; if anything, it only seemed to bring the picture
into sharper focus. He could still hear the crunch of Doggett
hitting the far wall. The doctor had said that, from the impact
Doggett sustained, he was lucky he hadn't suffered far more
serious injuries. They expected to release him late tomorrow if
his vision cleared.

Byers squeezed Doggett's hand. There was no response. Aching, he
shifted his weight carefully and slid an arm around Doggett's
chest. He laid his head on the sleeping man's shoulder and
closed his eyes, just listening to Doggett's heartbeat, and the
steadiness of his breathing.

He'd almost lost him. 

Shaking, Byers could feel a raw, burning tear slip down his
cheek. His hand clenched in the fabric of Doggett's hospital
gown. He held it tight.

ROOM 247
ONE HOUR LATER

Doggett's eyes fluttered open. He moaned softly. His head was
muzzy. For a brief moment, he wondered what had happened,
panicking with the thought that the supersoldiers might have
him. He remembered being picked up and thrown. The last thing
he'd felt was his back hitting the wall. His head was throbbing
with every beat of his heart.

After a moment, he remembered waking in the ER, and a doctor
testing his vision, asking him questions, but he didn't remember
most of his answers. At least, thank God, he wasn't a prisoner,
or a medical experiment.

It was dark. He turned his head slightly. It hurt and he hissed.
Then he saw Byers, his head resting on the bed next to his
shoulder. Byers' hand was in his. He was safe -- they'd both
gotten out, and Doggett suddenly realized just how much that
meant to him.

Byers looked all right, though there was pain in his face, even
asleep. Doggett raised his other hand slowly. There was an IV
attached to it. He moved carefully to avoid pulling at the line
and laid his hand on Byers' shoulder. He stroked his way softly
down Byers' arm, but Byers didn't stir.

That feeling was back -- the one that had left him so confused.
It was that fullness in his chest, and he tightened his grip on
Byers' hand. He knew what it was now, recognized the feeling. It
made sense of so many other things he'd been puzzling over
lately where Byers was concerned.

He'd fallen in love.

For a moment, he wanted to deny it, reject it. It was the drugs.
It was some kind of delusion. He'd never been in love with a man
before. He'd never even thought he could love a man. Byers
didn't love him, never would; he couldn't, it would never work.
Byers would leave, like all the others. He'd...

Doggett didn't care. Byers was here, now, asleep next to him.
Somehow, the man must have managed to get him out of the
building. He couldn't imagine how, but here they both were.

He swallowed and closed his eyes, trying to will the feeling
away, but it wouldn't leave. And then he didn't want it to. The
intensity of it stole his breath.

The door opened quietly, a shaft of light coming in from the
hallway. Doggett looked up.

Reyes entered the room. "John?" she whispered.

"M-Monica." His voice was harsh and rough, his throat sore. 

She smiled, the white of her teeth light in the darkened room.
"You're finally awake." She sat on the bed next to him, not far
from Byers' arm. Reyes looked down at Byers. "I can't believe
what he did."

"What happened?" 

Reyes shook her head. "He carried you out of there."

"No." Doggett blinked. "No way. He's not strong enough." He
coughed, trying to get past the soreness in his throat. 

Reyes picked up a cup from the bedside table and slipped an ice
chip into his mouth. Sucking on it helped the raw burn. She
nodded. "He did. I saw it. I thought he'd run, John. I thought
he'd leave you there and save his own skin."

"No," Doggett whispered, "don't even think that. I told him to
run. I made him promise he'd run if we got in trouble. He... he
didn't. He got me out." He looked back at Byers, touched his
cheek. "He didn't leave me there." He blinked, his eyes damp and
stinging. After a moment he looked back up at Reyes. "You're so
wrong about him, Mon."

Reyes looked at Doggett, silent for several minutes. She reached
out and took Doggett's cheek in her palm. "Maybe..." she said
softly, "maybe I should give him a chance."

Doggett took her hand. He squeezed and she squeezed back.

"For you," she said, "I'll try."

DOGGETT RESIDENCE
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
EVENING
THREE DAYS LATER

Doggett was putting the finishing touches on dinner when the
doorbell rang. That would be Byers. It was the first time they'd
seen each other since they'd arrived home from Queens. Doggett's
head had ached too much, and Byers had been too stiff and sore
to leave the Gunmen's warehouse.

When Doggett opened the door, Jimmy was standing there with
Byers. "Uh, hi, Jimmy." This wasn't exactly what they'd
arranged. He looked at Byers. "Johnny."

"Don't worry, Agent Doggett, I'm just dropping him off." Jimmy
grinned.

Byers blushed. "I'm not quite in shape to drive yet," he said. 

"Well," Jimmy said, turning away, "I'll be heading back. Byers,
when you need a ride home, let me know, okay? I'll come get
you."

"Thanks, Jimmy." Byers limped through the door. He really wasn't
moving very well yet, Doggett noted. He closed the door behind
Byers.

"How's the research been going?" he asked.

Byers gave him an uneasy glance. "Bits and pieces of several
dozen projects," he said, his voice low. "They're... they're
looking at attempting to breed supersoldiers. And the nanotech,
it does seem to be linked to what happened to Skinner. We --"
Byers took a breath. "This is dangerous stuff, Jack. Very
dangerous. We're going to have to move carefully on it."

Doggett nodded. He moved closer and put his arms around Byers,
pulling him into a gentle hug. Byers sighed and settled into the
embrace. It was warm, comforting. He didn't want to think about
the file with his name on it. All he really wanted right now was
dinner. Dinner and Byers.

It felt so good just to hold Byers. Mulder had told him what had
happened in the Proteus warehouse. Had shown him some captured
video. Doggett never once thought he'd see Byers with a gun in
his hands. It was obvious Byers had never fired one before, and
the terror on his face was stark. Yet he'd stood there, trying
to hold off the supersoldier until the doors closed.

The damned things looked almost indestructible. Doggett could
barely wrap his brain around how much damage that many shots
would have done to an ordinary human. It was hard to even
imagine how Byers must have felt, facing that thing alone. He
pulled Byers closer, until a quiet sound told him he'd squeezed
too hard.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to do that."

"I know, I'm okay," Byers said. "I just... if you could take it
easy for a week or so, I'd really appreciate it. Everything
still aches."

"Let's go eat." He caressed Byers' face and kissed him, soft.
"Then we can watch a movie or something."

"The Hunt for Red October?" Byers asked, a slight tone of
skepticism in his voice.

Doggett grinned. "Nah. I rented the original Mummy for you.
Figured I had to see it eventually."

The smile that bloomed on Byers' face lit Doggett's heart. Yeah.
He could so get used to this.

~~fin~~


=====
SpookySpookySpooky: Vote for Armani Weekend by Mice in the final round!
categories: LGM character, NC 17 slash, Doggett/Other slash 
http://vote.spookyawards.org/
It's Just Us Mice!
Mice's Hole in the Wall: http://www.squidge.org/mice
mirror: http://mice.inkpress.org