Disclaimer: The X Files, Mulder, Scully, Cancerman, etc. are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions and Fox. I have no legal rights to them and they are used here without permission. I am receiving no financial gain from this endeavour. This story is essentially my take on the way The X Files should end (not that I want it to end or anything ). It *is* occasionally romantic, but I've kept the hearts and flowers to an absolute minimum because it's not the aim of the story. There is some violence and some characters are going to die. There is also some angst, mostly for Scully, her mother and Mulder's mother. Apolgises to any persons or organizations who take offense at their mention within this text. No offense was intended towards anyone. The beliefs held by characters in this text do not neccessarily reflect my own beliefs. Apologises also to Egypt, firstly because I've never been there so I've formed my images of it from magazines & books. Secondly, because of the result of the climax of the story - you'll see what I mean! FOR ARCHIVING - PG-13. T. R. A. Summary: Mulder gets fed up with the constant false trails and makes a decision which sets up a series of events that leads to the closure of the X Files and his own death, but may just be the only way to find the truth. Enjoy, it's meant to be fun!! ******************************** The End (1/8): Mulder's Note by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ************* Sometime in the future Dana Scully rapped hard on the door of her partner Fox Mulder's apartment but received no answer. "Mulder, it's me." She called out, just loud enough to be heard beyond the door, but no one came to answer her. At length, she drew out her key and let herself in. Cautiously she advanced through the room, noting the masking tape cross on the bottom right corner of the window. Where on Earth had Mulder disappeared to this time? The note was propped up on the computer keyboard and her own last name screamed at her in red marker ink. Scully picked the sheet of paper up as if she were afraid that it might bite her, and opened out the folds. Mulder's strong handwriting screamed up at her. "Sorry. I have to do this alone. I know that I promised, but I really couldn't involve you this time. You deserve better than me as your future. Mulder." Scully frowned at the words. What did he mean that she deserved better than him as her future? Dropping the note back onto the desk, Scully pulled out her cell-phone and dialled his number. It rung only once. "Hi Scully." Mulder's mildly amused voice came from the other end of the line. "Where are you?" She asked without preamble. She could almost hear his shrug. "I'm in 'The Big Apple'." Scully began pacing, when she spoke her tone was resigned. "Why are you in New York?" "There's something I have to do." He replied cryptically. "And are you going to tell me what that is?" She retorted sarcastically. "No Scully, I don't think so. You'll find out soon anyway." "Damn right I will. I'm coming to find you and you know that I always do." His soft chuckle was warm in her ear. "Yeah, you always took care of me." Scully frowned , but Mulder hadn't finished. "Do you have any regrets Scully?" She was momentarily thrown. "I...um...regrets about what?" "Since you were assigned to the X files a lot of things have happened and I wondered if you had any regrets." Scully bit her lip. "Sure I do. Missy . . ." She said softly. "Yeah." Mulder echoed in the same tone. "But Mulder...if you're asking if I regret working with you, then I'd have to say no." She could hear the smile in his voice. "That's good Scully." "What about you?" She asked softly. "I regret a lot of things Scully," He sighed. "But when it comes down to it, the thing I regret most is never having kissed you." The words were spoken so softly that for a moment Scully couldn't believe that she'd really heard them. "Since I'm never going to see you again, I guess it's finally okay to tell you that I love you." "Mulder...." Scully began with a frown. "...what do you mean? Why will you never see me again?" His laugh was mocking. "What a woman! I tell her I love her and she ignores it." "Mulder, I didn't ignore it I just want to find out why you're saying it now." "Right now Scully I'm in a taxi cab on my way to a meeting and I'm fixing the result." "Mulder you're still *not* making sense." "Wait a second Scully - we're here." He spoke to the cab driver for a moment. "Okay," He said, finally returning to her. "I'm gonna leave the line open when I go in and I want you to listen." "What will I be listening to?" She demanded and heard him swallow. "The truth, I hope." He answered firmly. "I love you Dana." Scully bit her lip and said nothing. "Are you gonna add anything here?" The disembodied voice asked somewhere between humour and desperation. "What do you want me to say?" She covered, knowing exactly what he wanted her to say. He laughed bitterly. "That's a rejection!" "Oh no, it's not!" Scully inserted quickly. "Then what Scully? It's truth time, on all fronts." "Of course I love you." Scully blurted. "But what good does that do either of us?" "It justifies my reasons for doing what I'm about to. Keep listening." His voice was already drifting away and Scully realised that he had moved the phone away from his mouth. She spoke anyway. "Mulder! Mulder, what's going on?" "Just listen. Say nothing." His voice quickly hissed and the phone was taken away again. Scully stood alone in the green light of Mulder's fish tank in the quiet of his apartment and heard his steps as he ran lightly across concrete. She assumed that he was going up steps to a building. He knocked firmly on a door, which was swiftly opened. "Fox Mulder." His distant voice told the woman who had asked for his name. "You're expected." Her voice replied, then after a moment. "I can't let you inside with that phone like that!" The voice said sternly. "Oh, it's not an open line." Mulder's voice lied smoothly. "I fell and broke the phone." The woman must have bought the feeble lie, because Mulder was apparently admitted to the building. His and a second set of footsteps echoed as they walked down a corridor. They stopped and Mulder was shown into a room. "Mr Mulder." An elegant-spoken and familiar voice acknowledged. Scully recognised the man she'd first seen at Mulder's fathers funeral. "Hello Fox." A woman's voice spoke. "I didn't expect you to be here." Mulder said in a flat tone. "It seemed appropriate." The soft voice of Samantha Mulder replied smoothly. Scully scowled into the darkness as she remembered Mulder's pain when he'd found out about his sister. "Maybe you're right." He said in the same flat tone. "We've allowed you this meeting." Cancerman's voice came from a distant corner. "I assume you asked for it with a purpose." "Yes I did. I want to end it. I'm willing give up everything. The X Files, Scully, everything." "In return for?" Came the husky voice of yet another familiar face. Scully had a flashback to the man standing against the light at the end of a boxcar in a place that had been Hell on Earth. "The truth." Mulder said simply and there were several hushed laughs. "And why should we give you that?" Cancerman demanded. "Assuming that we could." "You can try to pretend that in continuing my work on the X Files I'm not a threat to you, but we're all well aware that I am." "The X Files are nothing." Came the elegant voice. "They're a pointless quest Fox." Samantha added. "No." Mulder said bitterly. "Spending most of my life looking for you was a *pointless* quest." Scully's heart was breaking as she heard the pain in his voice. He'd been hell to live with when he'd found out about Samantha, but he'd never broken down to her as she'd wanted him to. He'd kept the emotions to himself as he had always done. "Okay." Mulder's voice continued. "How about I narrow it down and just ask for the truth about what happened to Scully?" She heard his words and sank down onto the couch. She closed her eyes and listened as Cancerman laughed. "Would you truly be content with surveillance work for the rest of your life in return for that particular truth Mulder?" He asked. "The rest of my life." Mulder answered smoothly and Scully's flesh crawled at his tone. "Very well," The husky voice replied. "But from now on we'll take it that you work for us." "Agreed." Mulder stated. "And you have no further contact with Miss Scully." The elegant voice injected. "Agreed." He answered flatly without hesitation. Then Scully listened in horror as, between them, the people in the room recounted a story which made her flesh crawl and her blood chill in her veins. "Then she's going to die." Mulder's voice wavered only slightly, but the tremor *was* there. "Yes." The elegant voice stated. "Once the process is started the tumours are inevitable." The husky voice added. "Are you happy with the truth Fox?" His sister asked. "It's not me that you need to ask that." Mulder replied and his voice got louder. "Did you hear all that Scully?" He asked into the phone. Scully licked her lips and attempted to force back the moisture into her mouth. "I heard it." She managed to get out. "I'm sorry." He said softly. "This is the end for all of us." He said firmly to the room. Scully heard a scraping sound, which she only realised was a gun when she heard his next words. "My briefcase contains a bomb, which is on a timer . ." "No." Scully said into the phone in a reflex action. "Scully, I'm going to close the line so that you don't have to hear this." "No Mulder. Please don't do this! Mulder!" The line went dead. "Mulder!" She yelled down the line but he was gone. A clock ticked seconds off loudly inside Scully's head. She found herself counting them, but realised her foolishness. In an attempt to calm herself, she switched on the TV. ". . . no survivors. That news again, a bomb has gone off . . ." She heard no more as, for only the second time in her life, Dana Scully fainted. ***************************** The End (2/8): Mulder's Legacy by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ******************************* Sometime in the future. The Basement FBI Headquarters Washington DC Scully closed the file and stood up. She crossed to the filing cabinet and pulled out a drawer. It creaked and groaned as the rusty hinges gave with difficulty. Scully's mouth quirked into a half smile. Nothing in the office was new, Mulder had acquired equipment from anywhere that would let it go. She slipped the file into it's correct place and closed the drawer with a sense of finality. She'd just finished the paperwork on the last X File case she would ever investigate. Probably the last X File *anyone* would ever investigate. Mulder was dead and no one would listen to her. Skinner had tried to protest but it was no good. The X files were closed. Permanently. Regret and guilt had been her friends ever since her sister was killed, but the sensations she experienced now where such as she had never known. She'd always thought that she could understand how Mulder felt every day of his life, now she realised that she'd been wrong. At this moment she *knew* how Mulder had felt because she felt it too. Sleep did not play a big part in her life anymore. Funny, she'd hadn't known how much she needed him until he was gone. "Since I'm never going to see you again, I guess it's finally okay to tell you that I love you." The words echoed in her head, distorted by memory and the cell-phone he'd been speaking through. Scully pulled herself back to the task at hand. She was being reassigned to Quantico, so she was closing up the office. Scully picked up a cardboard box, which already contained her own belongings, and placed it on Mulder's desk. She'd been delaying this but she couldn't stay in this office forever and it had to be done. She sank down into Mulder's chair and realised for the first time that it smelt like him. His scent was all around her and every breath was saturated by it. Tears pricked at her eyes but she blinked them back violently. There was undoubtedly a camera hidden somewhere in the office and she did not want to give Them the satisfaction of seeing her crying. Reaching forward, Scully picked up the name plaque. Her fingers itched to trace over the carved letters of his name, but she fought the urge. She placed the plaque into the box. ***************** Elsewhere in the Hoover Building Two men sat watching Scully on a small monitor. The elder man touched a lighter to the tip of his cigarette and inhaled deeply. The younger man shifted uncomfortably as he watched Scully removing items from the desk drawers and placing them into the cardboard box. From her actions it was obvious that she knew she was being watched. "Do I have to be here?" The younger man demanded softly. "I thought you'd be interested." The elder man replied through a haze of smoke. The younger man stood up and turned away from the screen. "Is there a reason why I should be?" He feigned disinterest. The other man wasn't fooled, but didn't challenge the statement. The younger man turned back to the screen in time to see Scully stand up and cross to the wall. ******************* The Basement Scully gave in to the urge which had taken her to the wall. Her hands deftly removed the push-pins that held the poster in place. She intended to give the rest of Mulder's belongings to his mother, but this..*this* she would keep for herself. She rolled the poster into a neat cylinder and wrapped an elastic band around it, then she placed it into the box. That was it, no more excuses to stay here. Hanging her head, and covertly blinking back tears, Scully moved back to her desk and picked up her coat. Drawing out the actions for as long as she could, she put her coat on and surveyed the office. At least she didn't have to stay down here alone, with only his ghost for company. His ghost and the men watching on the `security' monitor, she added with a slight quirking of her lips. Of course, Dana Scully wasn't thinking about his ghost as a physical presence, but as a psychological apparition. Like her father's apparition had been . . . ******************** Elsewhere in the Hoover Building The younger man tried not to stare at the screen with too much interest. It was only this feigned indifference which had gotten him through the past few weeks. He watched as Scully picked up her bag and the cardboard box, surveyed the room one last time and left. "No more to see." He told the older man, who shrugged and took a puff off his cigarette. The younger man ignored him and went to the door. "I take it that I'm not a prisoner." He said sardonically. "Absolutely not." The elder man replied, not looking at him. The younger man put his hand on the door handle. "Of course," The elder man began, calling the younger man's attention back to him. "You do remember the consequences if she sees you." The ice cool expressions on their faces each rivalled the other for their level of detachment. The younger man's face remained impassive as he opened the door. "I remember." He answered as if it was nothing really important. In truth, there was *nothing* more important to him. He left the room. The man with the cigarette smiled to himself and stubbed the Morley out in the ashtray. ************************** Scully walked out of the elevator and pretended to be unaware of the blatant stares she received. She tucked the box more securely under her arm and walked steadily across the open plan office space. Let them think what they wanted to. It didn't matter to her what they thought. Scully dodged her way around tables and around people. Some offered condolences for losing her partner , some gave congratulations for her promotion , but most said nothing. ************************ Scully stepped up to the desk. "Agent Scully." The woman behind the desk acknowledged and Scully nodded with a blank expression. "The assistant director is expecting you." She indicated towards the door. Scully knocked lightly and entered the room at his call. Skinner stood up as she walked in. "You wanted to see me sir." Scully said flatly. "Please sit down Agent Scully." He said, indicating towards the chair in front of his desk. Scully sat down and placed the box on the floor beside her. "You've been clearing out your belongings." He said softly, sitting down and gesturing towards the box. "Yes sir and Agent Mulder's. I'm taking them to his mother." Scully spoke flatly. Skinner nodded at her statement and looked at her with concern. "I just wanted to repeat how sorry we are to lose you. You'll be missed." He spoke sincerely but Scully's lips twitched into a smile and she let out a breaking laugh. "With respect sir, I doubt that." He smiled at her blunt statement. "Of course, I can't speak for the rest of the building and this institution, but this office will miss you." Skinner caught her eye and Scully saw that he meant that he'd miss her. She smiled, he shouldn't be implying any such thing in his undoubtedly bugged office. "Thank you sir." Skinner looked uncomfortable. "..And Agent Mulder.." "Yes." She cut him off firmly, then spoke softly. "And Agent Mulder." ************************ Scully left Skinner's office in a better mood. Life had to go on and, in time, it wouldn't hurt so much. She *had* to believe that. The office was crowded and Scully had to weave her way back through, once more being polite when addressed with comments and ignoring people's stares. She raised her eyes and focused her sights on the area near the elevator, striding towards it with determination. Then she froze. A man was stepping into the elevator and, from the back, it looked like Mulder. Scully fought down the urge to call his name. She repeated to herself. It really did look like Mulder. She was galvanised into movement and hurried across the office. People kept getting in her way and she pushed them in her haste to reach the elevator. Her immediate surroundings melted away and it became imperative for her to find out for sure. It looked like Mulder. People protested as she shoved at them brutally but Scully didn't care what they thought. She *had* to check. The elevator doors closed as she reached them. Even the sight of the heavy metal doors inches from her face did not wake her up. She rushed instinctively to the stairs, with the intention of beating the elevator to the bottom. She almost flew down the stairs. One of her heels broke and she fell down a couple of steps, but she just kicked off her shoes and carried on. She grabbed the central rail and used it to keep her on track as she swung around the corner and down the next flight. Her nylon-clad feet slipped on the floor as she ran, but she clung to the rail and made it to the first floor without breaking any bones. She crashed out into the lobby of the building. Ignoring the stares which were suddenly directed at her, she ran across the tiles in time to see the elevator doors open and a man step out. From the side, he looked like Mulder. "Mulder!" She called out loudly as she flew towards him. People moved out of her way in horror. One man watched her with pained eyes from across the lobby. On the other side of the building, a lighter flared briefly and the man glanced up at the security monitor with cold eyes. He leaned closer with a sudden interest. The man turned around it shock as the petite figure hurtled towards him. Scully's vision cleared as she saw him head on. Her heart crashed into the floor. It wasn't him. She stopped mid-movement and clasped her hand to her mouth. In that instant she became aware of where she was and what she must look like. People all around her were regarding her with disbelief and open curiosity. Someone touched her shoulder and offered concerned words. She shook them off. "I'm fine." She said absently. They tried again. "Get your hands off me!" She said angrily. "I said, I'm fine." She glared at the person and their expression of false concern irritated her even more. She wasn't a basket case. Not yet. Scully noted, belatedly, that she had lost her shoes and her box. She walked towards the stairwell with as much pride as she could muster. "Poor thing." She heard someone mutter. "It's all become too much for her." Someone else said. "Well," A male voice began. "That was spooky!" This last statement was followed by a peel of laughter from a large group. Scully's hands curled into fists, but she forced herself to continue and ignore them. Across the lobby, a man stood in the shadow of a column. No one paid any attention to him and no one noticed the tears glistening in his eyes. On the other side of the building, the man with the cigarette smiled a thin smile. "Agent Scully could become an embarrassment." His companion told him. "She wont have a chance to." He told him and inhaled from the cigarette. "Agent Scully is about to be involved in a nasty accident." "But isn't that. . ." The other man protested, but the cigarette smoking man cut him off. "She's upset over Agent Mulder's death. She's not thinking straight." He drew deeply from the cigarette. "She may be suicidal." He stated flatly. *********************** The End (3/8): Mulder's Family by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) *********************** Sometime in the future Mulder Summer House Quonochontaug, Rhode island Scully shifted uncomfortably and re-adjusted her grip on the cardboard box. The veranda was dark except for a small porch light. Balancing the box on one knee, she reached up and rang the doorbell a second time. The box began to slip from her fingers and she grabbed at it, catching it just before it hit the ground. She wasn't in time to stop Mulder's poster - still neatly rolled into a cylinder - from falling out, rolling across the wooden floor and sliding over the edge, finally coming to rest under a bush. As it disappeared from her sight, Scully's throat closed up and she was gripped by a minor wave of panic. The poster was her piece of Mulder, the only thing that she had left. She let the box drop to the floor and crouched down to search in the darkness under the shrub. Her hands felt around blindly and finally closed over the stiff glossy paper. Taking a reassuring breath, she pulled the poster towards herself and began to stand up. The shadowy outline of a man was visible near the trees and, as Scully looked up, he stepped out of her line of sight. Her mind instantly cleared and her hand went instinctively to her gun in the holster at her waist. She partially withdrew it as she stood up, all the time glancing around warily. The early evening wasn't yet completely dark but the garden of the house was already a mass of shadows. A sound came from behind her and she spun around, the gun almost completely out of the holster now. The diminutive figure of Mulder's mother stood in the soft light of the doorway. Scully relaxed and let the gun slide back into the holster. "Miss Scully!" Mrs Mulder exclaimed in surprise and Scully smiled as reassuringly as she could. "How did you know I was here?" "I rang your home number, but the man that answered said you were here." Scully explained. Mrs Mulder frowned a little - just a small frown that disturbed Scully more than she could understand - and invited Scully to come inside the house. Scully replaced the poster in the box and followed her inside. *********************** "I thought that you might want Mulder's things from his office." Scully said, indicating the box. She placed it on the floor and looked up to find Mrs Mulder smiling sadly. "I never thought that my son would die before me, but I suppose that no mother ever does." Scully smiled back at her, as she took the poster out of the box. "I wondered if you would mind me keeping this." She unrolled it and showed it to the elder woman. Mrs Mulder reached out a tentative hand and touched the image of the hovering UFO. She wasn't smiling. "I want to believe." She read out quietly. "Poor Fox, I wish.." She licked her lips and took her hand back. She turned away with determination. "I'm sure that Fox would like for you to keep that Miss Scully." She drew in a slow deep breath. Scully re-rolled the poster and lowered her eyes to it with a sense of extreme loss. Her hand tightened on the cylinder of glossy paper which had so much embodied the man that she'd loved. Scully raised her eyes and found Mrs Mulder standing in the middle of the room staring into space. "Are you alright?" Scully asked her softly. "Maybe this is not the best place for you to be right now." Mrs Mulder sighed deeply. "I was just clearing everything out." She said, in a soft tone that was reminiscent of Mulder's hurt puppy tone, as she indicated the crates piled in the living room. Mrs Mulder sat down on the couch and indicated Scully into the chair across from her. "I thought that it was about time that someone did. Bill left the house to Fox, but no one has lived here for a long time." She sighed deeply. "I'm afraid that this house did not hold happy memories for any of us, Miss Scully." Scully was unsure what to say. For long minutes Mrs Mulder hung her head, apparently lost in the past. Scully looked around the room and saw that a lamp had been smashed on the floor. She remembered Mulder telling her about his finding the "weapon". What other secrets did this house hold - buried in the wall themselves and hanging in the ether? Scully smiled sadly, if she believed in that then it might have been a good way to find out the truth. The elder woman's head snapped up suddenly and her expression reminded Scully so much of Mulder that for a second she was stunned. The eyes met and held hers and Scully found herself unable to look away. "I've already had one scare on my life that I didn't deserve to live through, Miss Scully. I've done many bad things.." She paused to lick her lips. "You know something of my family already. I think that you should know it all." That woke Scully up. "That's none of my business.." She attempted to interrupt, but Mrs Mulder would not let her. "Did you love my son?" She asked suddenly and Scully shut her mouth with a sharp snap. Her throat dried up. <"I love you Dana..Are you gonna add anything here?"> <"Of course I love you"> "Yes." Scully answered softly, looking at her hands. Then more confidently she raised her head and looked steadily back at Mulder's mother. "Yes I did." Mrs Mulder smiled and nodded reassuringly. "Good." She said firmly. "That, at least, was as it should have been." Her face fell. "Now that I want to tell the truth I have no idea where to begin." Her eyes raised to Scully's again. "I guess that it really began with my brother Gerald. He worked for the State Department and he helped me to get a job on an assignment he was working on." She smiled fondly. "That's where I met Bill.." The smile faded. "..and the other men.." A wry laugh. "..that would shape my fate." Mrs Mulder stood up and crossed to one of the crates. After searching for a moment, she pulled out a photograph album. She sat down on the couch again and motioned for Scully to join her. With a sense of trepidation Scully moved to sit next to her. The pretty little album had an unassuming floral patterned cover that had been faded by time. Mrs Mulder opened the album confidently, as if she knew by heart where to find the photograph she was looking for. The picture she indicated sent Scully's heart into her mouth. "That photograph was taken at the Strughold Mining Company.." Mrs Mulder began, but Scully already knew that. She knew that fact only too well. "..my husband.." She indicated Bill Mulder on the left of the picture. "..my boss.." She indicated to a well manicured man on the right, that Scully was also familiar with. "..my brother.." Scully's eyes widened and she surpressed a gasp as Mrs Mulder indicated another familiar face, but Mrs Mulder had not yet finished. She drew in a deep and shaky breath. "..my - God help me - my lover." She gestured to the figure on the extreme left of the picture. It was confirmation, but not exactly a surprise to Scully. Scully watched as the elder woman firmly blinked back tears. "I was a fool." The tears fell despite her efforts, but her voice was firm. "I did love Bill. Honestly I did, but.." She cleared her throat. "I couldn't have children, Miss Scully and I so wanted a little boy and a little girl." She looked down at her hands. Scully watched her in shocked awe. "What do you mean? You couldn't have children?" "I..we..Bill and I..we so much wanted to have children, but we couldn't. I knew that Bill was upset, although he tried to pretend that he wasn't." She licked her lips. "We argued over it..so I went to him." "To him?" Scully asked pointing at the figure in the picture. "You know his name?" Mrs Mulder smiled ironically. "Yes, but I can't tell you that. I can't give you that much power over him." Scully frowned. "I'm bound by promises..and by old loyalties." "I don't understand." "You know more that you think you do, Miss Scully. You have more to do with all this than you realize." She gestured sweepingly towards her. "Your abduction. The implant. Your work. It's not without meaning." "What do you know about my abduction? And the implants?" Scully demanded. Mrs Mulder laughed sarcastically. "I was a part of the project Miss Scully. I was one of the group collating the information collected during the smallpox inoculations. I knew what they used the information for..and I was a willing volunteer." Scully's eyes widened as a thought struck her. "They..you..*were* trying to create hybrid humans using genetic information from the medical records. That long ago, you already had the technology." She said in an awestruck voice. The tears in Mrs Mulder's eyes had completely dried up and they were curiously dead as they stared into Scully's. "They were attempting to create an *alien*-human hybrid." She smiled suddenly, a smile that chilled Scully despite the warmth of the room. The smile approached pure evil. "I got the son that I wanted Miss Scully, then later on I got the daughter too." Mrs Mulder's face became twisted with pain and hatred. "Then that bastard gave her away, after everything I'd done. He gave her away." She shrieked. Scully put calming hands on her shoulders. "Mrs Mulder, please. Calm down. Your heart.." Scully managed to catch her eyes and they stared at each other for a long moment. "You're saying that Mulder and his sister were genetically engineered alien- human hybrids." She tried to make it sound skeptical but all it came out as was tired. She shook her head. "But that can't be." "It is the truth." Mrs Mulder insisted flatly. Scully broke away from her, stood up and began pacing the room. "But Mulder is..was..a normal human being. I've seen his medical records. There was no trace of any abnormality." "Of course there wasn't. I wanted a son, not a freak!" Mrs Mulder stated indignantly from the couch. Scully spun to face her. "You *are* serious!" She exclaimed. "I'm deadly serious." They glared at each other. "Whatever else Fox was he *was* my son and he was Bill's." Mrs Mulder broke the eye contact. "I know you must hate me now Miss Scully, but I need you to know. Please, sit down." Scully swallowed the sick feeling she had, and sat down in the chair opposite Mulder's mother. "I'm listening." ************************ "I never told Bill what I'd done, I only told him that I was pregnant. It seemed like a miracle. Then Fox was born and, at last, I had the family that I'd dreamt of. It was so good that I wanted more. I'll admit to being selfish, if I'd only let it be we might have stayed happy. I went to *him* like Oliver Twist, bowl outstretched, asking for more. He gave me Samantha. It was then that I started having a real relationship with him." "With the Cancerman?" Scully asked and Mrs Mulder looked up at her in shock. Then she gave a wry smile. "I suppose that *would* be an apt name for him." She focused firmly on her hands. "After Samantha was born it felt as if I had more of a connection to him than I did to Bill. I thought that I loved him. Bill was so focused on the project all the time and I was alone with the children, here in this house or on the Vineyard. Then he, your Cancer man, would come to see me. He was so wonderful with the children, you wouldn't believe it now." She smiled fondly. "He taught Fox to swim, all with Bill's knowledge of course. They were best friends." She sighed. "For a few years things were wonderful, but nothing ever stays that way. The project was advancing but not as well as it had been expected. I was worried about the children and I became convinced that they would suddenly develop two heads or at least show an adverse reaction from the process. I can't imagine now how I managed to keep it from Bill for as long as I did. Gerald knew, of course, but he didn't approve." Mrs Mulder picked the photo album up once again and turned it to another photograph. This time it was of a family group; Bill Mulder, Mrs Mulder, Gerald, Cancerman, a teenage Mulder and Samantha. Both of the parents looked tired and unhappy, Gerald appeared happy and relaxed, but it was the smiling image of Cancerman with his arms around both of the children which made the hairs on Scully's neck stand on end. It did not look like the man she had regularly seen standing in Skinner's office with a perpetually burning cigarette. There was also something strange about the children. They were smiling, but they only seemed to have eyes for each other. "You can see it, can't you?" Mrs Mulder asked her and Scully looked over at her. "It's right in that picture. The only complication in my own little plan." She sighed. "I knew that there might be side- effects, but I had wanted children so much and I was happy that they would be part of a new order of intelligence." Her sigh was heartfelt. "Samantha and Fox were incredible when they were together, they seemed to communicate without needing words. The connection between them was almost palpable. With a simple touch they said a thousand words, it was amazing to watch them. That was my downfall. It became obvious that they were not normal children and the secret could not be kept. Someone broke the silence - all for the greater good.." She spoke with sarcasm. "..and they told Bill about it..and about my relationship with your Cancerman. Bill closed himself off from me totally that day, from the project, from all his old friends. It destroyed him." She paused to clear her throat. "With all this out in the open, Fox and Samantha became the focal point of the project overnight, their relationship was unique among the test cases. Ironically, they turned out to be the breakthrough the Project had needed at that point. When they were together they possessed an unusual power and strength of will. It became an imperative that they be kept apart..and studied." She licked her lips. "Bill asked me to chose, since it was my fault, but I loved them both so much that I couldn't chose. I don't know why Bill chose Samantha, I just know that after she was gone he was cold to both me and Fox. I could understand him hating me but I tried to explain that Fox was his son, at the very least he contained his genes. Bill couldn't see past the experiments, although he stubbornly refused to let them conduct any tests on Fox. I think that was the deal he made - that they take Samantha and leave Fox alone." She closed her eyes momentarily. "My poor son. His connection to his sister was *so* strong that the separation was like removing a part of himself." She opened her eyes and looked up at Scully. "I wonder if they knew what they were doing when they sent you to him." Scully frowned, but wasn't given a chance to speak. "I think it's that connection that made him keep searching for her." "He didn't find anything good when he did find her." Scully finally cut in bitterly. Mrs Mulder curled her lip in something that might have meant to be a smile but didn't really work. "I'll admit that I am..was concerned about Samantha's behaviour when she did return to us, but I am not surprised. You have to understand that Samantha and Fox were the turning point in the project. They could have spent all eternity searching for the perfect pattern and, by pure chance, Samantha and Fox had the right one. Samantha was the genesis." There was silence for a moment as Scully contemplated this with a mixture of fear and disbelief. She didn't want to believe what Mrs Mulder was telling her. She fidgeted nervously with the poster. "You're saying that they've created a new race of beings, essentially descended from a single mother." Scully mused in a horrified tone. "A queen, Miss Scully." Mrs Mulder smiled. "Like bees." Scully said softly. "What do they intend to do with them?" "Colonization." She met Scully's eyes as she said the word. "Your Cancerman gave me the children I wanted, but his motives were not wholly altruistic. He loved me Miss Scully, but I was not the only one he helped. He knew what the plans were and he wanted a piece of them. However, he had his own plans and he gave me the tool with which to defend myself from them." "The object that Mulder found in the lamp." Scully interjected. "Yes. It will be the only way to kill them." "To kill who?" Scully asked and Mrs Mulder looked at her as if she were stupid. "The colonizers." "Then why did he want it back?" Scully asked, remembering Mulder's talk of them meeting at the summer house. Mrs Mulder seemed shocked. "He didn't, what made you think that he did?" "But.." She paused in confusion. "..before your stroke.." Mrs Mulder smiled in relief. "He wanted me to give it to Fox." She stated. "He was concerned that Mulder would encounter one of them. The one they sent after Jeremiah Smith. He - it - knew who Fox was. He was concerned that it might consider Mulder to be..er..dispensible and he wanted Fox to be able to defend himself." "Why?" "Because Fox is an important part of his plans. Do you think that Fox would have survived this long if it hadn't have been for him." Mrs Mulder looked at Scully gravely. "The time is soon, Miss Scully. You're not out of yet. I know that Fox was trying to get you out of it, but it didn't work. He didn't know then." She paused momentarily, then rushed on. "I have something that will help you. Follow me." Mrs Mulder stood up and walked determinedly out of the room. Scully followed her into another room. Mrs Mulder went straight to a bookcase and reached up to the top shelf. Pushing aside books, her hand closed around a small glass bottle with a blue lid. She brought it down and handed it to Scully. "What is this?" Scully asked as she contemplated the clear liquid. "Our only hope." There was a label on the base of the bottle and Scully tilted it a little. Her eyes widened as she read the acronym. "SEP?" She asked quickly. "You're aware of it?" Mrs Mulder returned. "Yes." Scully commented wryly. "Thanks to Fox's actions, you're the only one who can change things. You have stop them." "But what about the people in that building that Mulder blew up. Are they dead? Mulder, Samantha, Cancerman, the others..?" Scully asked, tearing her eyes away from the liquid. Mrs Mulder looked up at her expressionlessly. "Fox is dead." She replied flatly. ************************** Scully left the house without looking back at Mrs Mulder. In her right hand she was clutching the rolled up poster and in her left hand, she held the flask. Her eyes were filmed with tears, Mrs Mulder blank statement that her son was dead had affected Scully in a way she had never expected. Her mind was whirling in confusion. Things she'd never been willing to believe, not because she did not suspect them to be true but because she wanted to believe that they weren't. Now she had to face that, not only, were they true but that Mulder was not what he had seemed to be. Could she believe? Colonization? It sounded plausible, but..? What if it was true? She had given up the X Files too easily. She hadn't thought that before but now she was not so sure. Mulder wouldn't have given up, not ever. But then again, he *did* give up, didn't he? He let himself die. ************************* She didn't see Mrs Mulder standing in the doorway watching her with sad eyes. Inside the house, the telephone rang and Mrs Mulder stepped back inside. Mrs Mulder rubbed the bridge of her nose in a tired gesture that she was not aware was identical to one that her son had often used. She would have been pleased if she'd known. The ringing phone was insistent, a fact which added to her concern. She was in danger. Someone had informed Dana Scully of her presence here. In fact, someone had *insured* her presence here. What did he have planned for her? Was that him on the phone? Only one way to find out. "Hello?" She asked warily into the receiver. There was silence for a moment, then a female voice that she had not heard in a long time. "Hello Rebecca." There was a trace of a fond smile in the tone. "Maggie?!" Rebecca Mulder asked in shock. "How did you know I was here?" ************************* Scully took out her key and opened her car door, blinking tears out of her eyes as she did so. A laugh sounded behind her and she spun around, her hand going for her gun. She drew it and aimed it at the figure standing in the shadows. "Can you shoot a ghost?" The familiar female voice asked in amused tone. Scully's face betrayed her shock, but she didn't lower the gun. "Come on Dana, shoot me. I know you want to." The woman stepped into the light and Scully saw that she was grinning. Pulling herself together, Scully forced herself to think clearly. "Why aren't you dead Samantha?" She asked bitterly but the other woman just casually pulled a cigarette from her pocket and lit it. She took a deep drag before answering Scully's question. "Fox wasn't as smart as he thought he was." She took another drag and blew it out slowly. "You're next question is `Is Mulder dead'?" She said the words in a mocking tone. Scully's expression was a frozen mask and the gun's aim was rock-solid. Samantha laughed wryly. "Fox Mulder is very, *very* dead and making a fool of yourself in the lobby of the Hoover Building wont change that." She mocked. Scully's calm nearly cracked and her finger tightened fractionally on the trigger. "Does your mother know that you're alive?" Scully asked, fighting for calm. "Oh yes!" Samantha laughed and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Are we playing twenty questions Dana?" She straightened again. "How about you ask me when you're going to die. I can answer you better than that fool Bruckman did!" "What do you mean?" Scully demanded. "With Fox out of the way, you're the only loose end left. Your life is in very immediate danger." "Why tell me?" "Because.." Samantha began seriously. "..Fox loved you and, despite what you may think, I do love my brother." "Why do I have trouble believing you Samantha?" Scully asked ironically. "It's the truth." Her eyes met Scully's. "Fox is a fool, I told him this wouldn't work." She said reflectively. "Look Dana. Wherever you go they'll find you but that's not a reason to stop running. Get out - hide - while you still can." She was so serious that Scully believed her. ************************* Samantha stood still by the roadside watching Scully's tail-lights disappear. "What did you tell her?" A male voice demanded from behind her. Samantha didn't turn around. She knew who it was. "What? You can't read my mind?" She asked in return. "If you can read mine then you'll have realised that I'm not above ringing your neck. Especially right now." "I'm not your enemy." "But you're in it with them." He said bitterly and Samantha finally turned around to face him. "They're going to kill her!" She said flatly. "Your little arrangement was for nothing. They'll kill her and then no one will stand in their way." "What about you and me?" "You can't count on my help, I'm in it with them - remember?" She mocked. "I made a deal regarding Scully." "You *really* thought that they'd honour it?!" She exclaimed in genuine shock. "With what they're intending to do!" She laughed wryly. "Don't you see what you've done? You've let them win Fox." ************************ NOTE: Explanation of punctuation used for differentiation of forms of communication. Are you getting my meaning? ;) "Stuff written like this is regular speech." (easy so far, eh?) <"Stuff written like this is `remembered' dialogue"> < "Stuff written like this is telepathic communication, or attempts at it." > ************************* The End (4/8): Mulder's Deal by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ********************** Sometime in the future. Outside the Mulder Summer House Quonochontaug, Rhode Island "They're going to kill her!" Samantha said flatly. "Your little arrangement was for nothing. They'll kill her and then no one will stand in their way." "What about you and me?" "You can't count on my help, I'm in it with them - remember?" She mocked. "I made a deal regarding Scully." "You *really* thought that they'd honour it?!" She exclaimed in genuine shock. "With what they're intending to do!" She laughed wryly. "Don't you see what you've done? You've let them win Fox." ************************* Two Months Earlier. "Then she's going to die." Mulder said gravely, he had not wanted to accept that possibility before. It could all be for nothing if she has to die anyway. "Yes." The well manicured man sitting opposite him said flatly. "Once the process is started the tumours are inevitable." "Are you happy with the truth Fox?" Samantha stood against the window and he couldn't see her face, but he could see her thoughts from across the room and wondered if he was just as open to her. He still hadn't got used to this. "It's not me that you need to ask that." Mulder replied and brought the cell-phone up to his ear. "Did you hear all that Scully?" He asked into the phone. "I heard it." Her voice came to him from out of nowhere, as small a whispery as the breeze. He hadn't wanted her to hear what she just had but there was no way to call it back now. "I'm sorry." He said with genuine feeling. < "I love you. I'm doing this for you. It's for the best. Goodbye."> Setting his expression firmly, Mulder turned to face the room. "This is the end for all of us." He reached down and pulled his gun from the ankle holster, the woman at the door having taken his other gun away from him. "My briefcase contains a bomb, which is on a timer.." "No." Scully said firmly into his ear. He bit his lip and fought to maintain his icy veneer. Taking a deep breath, he spoke into the phone one last time. < "Please forgive me" > "Scully, I'm going to close the line so that you don't have to hear this." < "I love you" > He willed the words to her; through his phone, up to the receiver and back down to her phone. The words leaking out of the system into the vastness of space. "No Mulder. Please don't do this! Mulder!" He pushed the button with her desperate exclamation of his name still echoing in his ear. The line went dead. He lowered the gun. "Mr Mulder," The well manicured man began, with a thinly disguised note of humour into the silence that followed. "You do not appear to have a briefcase." Mulder hung his head and surreptitiously blinked back a tear. Then he raised his head and faced the men and his sister. "Agent Scully now believes me to be dead." Mulder caught his sister's eyes and saw her stunned expression. < "What are you doing? This is a mistake." > Her voice said urgently inside his head. < "As if you care." > He replied. "The deal I agreed to before still holds. If you'll agree." "Quite brilliant." Cancerman spoke suddenly. "Believing you dead and having the answers she needs regarding her abduction Agent Scully will not question the shutting down of the X Files." "Might I suggest reassigning her to Quantico, she's proved herself there." Mulder stated in an expressionless tone. < "You mean that it's safer for her there." > Samantha said to him and him alone. Mulder ignored her. "And you'll agree to having no further contact with her." The well manicured man asked with a trace of a smile. Mulder shrugged. "She thinks I'm dead. We'll have no contact, but from now on she is no longer a part of this." "Sounds fair." Samantha cut in, a little too sharply, drawing everyone's attention to her. "How about upping the stakes?" Cancerman suggested with a grim smile and Mulder turned to face him with an inquiring expression. "If Agent Scully learns that you're alive, then she'll die of something more immediate than cancerous tumours." He paused to take a drag from his Morley. "Agreed?" He asked smoothly, holding Mulder's eye. Mulder tried not to display any emotion. < "No. Don't Fox." > Samantha said suddenly and Mulder fought the urge to look at her. "Agreed." He said flatly. ********************** The present (relatively speaking) Just outside Philadelphia. Mulder eased his foot off the accelerator pedal and the car slowed back to a more reasonable speed. He'd be no good to anyone if he crashed before he got to Scully's apartment. With his new status he wasn't worried about getting stopped by the police. Fox William Mulder was dead - he even had a copy of the death certificate - but the person he now was would only need to show some ID to be able to get away from any policeman and any charge, even murder if necessary. He needed to get to Scully's apartment before she did, just about anything or anyone could be waiting for her. He tried to will his thoughts to her again, but could not be sure whether she was receiving or even understanding that he was sending them. Mulder was not worried about breaking the terms of the deal. Scully was already in immediate danger. That much was true, when they had finally met, Samantha had been sent to keep him away from finding the information that he'd needed. Still, something - maybe their much lauded `connection' - made him think that she was telling the truth about this. He *had* believed that he was doing the right thing. Having found Samantha, and been disillusioned by what he found, nothing had seemed important any more and nothing had changed. For so long his only purpose had been to find Samantha and he couldn't think what to do now. The relieved pressure of his own obsession had removed the blinders from his eyes and he had taken a good look at Scully. She was not the woman that he remembered strolling casually into his office on that day so long ago. His eidetic memory replaced it all too him clearly; the ill- fitting suit, her long hair brushing her shoulders, her mouth curving into a smile, her astonishingly astute blue eyes, even the smell of her perfume seemed to linger in the air. The thing which stuck in his mind the most though was her air of innocence. Not innocent in the sense that she was trustworthy but innocent because she had not been exposed the bad things of the world. Her family life had been so opposite to his own, she always been secure in the knowledge that she was loved and that there was good in the world. Over the years that innocence had drained out of her, till finally she had stood in a mountain vault filled with medical files and shattered ideals. Knowledge had replaced that innocence and that knowledge was not the truths that Mulder had sought but the knowledge of her sister lying in a hospital bed with a bullet in her head. She had never been the same wide-eyed innocent since. Sometimes he missed her and sometimes she made an appearance, just for an second or she would show up in a statement, like a teasing reminder of what he had destroyed. More guilt and self-loathing, till he had wanted nothing more than setting her free of him. How could he have *not* seen it? How could he have hurt someone he loved so much? Despite the way they were, he'd been too blinded to discover something so obvious. How could he tell her the truth? Maybe it wasn't his place. Should he leave it her mother? Or maybe it would be better for her never to know? Why had Margaret Scully chosen him as her confidante? Maybe it was the fact that a dead man had arrived on her doorstep? He'd taken her by surprise, but what other option had there been. Mulder sincerely doubted that Cancerman was acting with authorization, he seemed to believe that he was a law unto himself. Maybe, in some ways, he was. Mulder glanced up in his rear view and scanned the cars on the road around him. Not too many at this time of night, that was good. Gently he lowered his foot back onto the accelerator. He *had* to get there before Scully. ************************* At about the same time. Quonochontaug, Rhode Island Samantha sat in the shadows were Fox had left her. What'd she told Scully had been the truth. Despite the things that she had done in the past - everything that she was responsible for - she did love her brother. < "Please don't let Scully die." > Samantha willed, to anyone that would listen. Fox would be devastated and he would never forgive her. She chided herself harshly, but she could not help the way that she felt. A shadow moved on the edge of her vision and she turned to see a familiar man run lightly up the steps to the house. His intent was not clear to her but she knew that he appearances never boded well. The time was fast approaching. Soon there would be no going back. The full moon shone brightly in the sky above her like a mocking spectre. ********************** Sometime later that night. Scully's apartment building Alexandria Scully slid her car into the space and got out. She walked towards the building but, as she moved past a darkened alleyway, a hand shot out and dragged her into the shadows. Her breath was knocked out of her as she was pushed up against a wall. A strong male body barred her escape. Scully fought and tried to call out but a hand came down over her mouth, stifling her breath. Scully tried to scream past the man's hand. "Scully, it's me." He gasped urgently and Scully's eyes snapped up to his face. Her eyes widened. "You're not gonna scream?" He asked on a hushed whisper. Scully shook her head and he removed his hand. She looked up at him in amazement. "You're alive." She stated incredulously and he smiled, but before he could say anything, she threw herself into his arms. Mulder closed his eyes and returned the fierce hug. "You're alive." She repeated and Mulder could hear the tears in her voice and felt answering tears in his own eyes. Scully pulled back and their eyes locked. Their speeding breathing stopped altogether momentarily. All thought disappeared as their mouths met for the first time in a kiss that was blistering in its intensity. For long minutes they exchanged fierce, almost biting kisses. Scully tore herself away from his lips with difficulty and buried her face against his neck. A dozen wisecracks sprang to Mulder's lips but he forced them back. He didn't need them, not with this woman, not any more. He placed some distance between them and looked at her seriously. Her eyes were large and luminous in the dimly lit alleyway. "I want you to go up to your apartment and change clothes, then pack a bag. Pack only what you really can't live without." "Mulder, what's going on?" She asked desperately. "Do you trust me?" "You know I do." "Then just do as I say. I'll explain everything later. Don't make it obvious what you're doing. They can hear everything. Finish quickly, then get in your car and go to your mom's house." "Mom knows that you're alive?" Scully asked and Mulder nodded. "We don't have much time. You're in danger, so watch your back. I'll meet you at your mom's house." He smiled into her eyes. "I missed you." Their mouths met for a moment. "I love you." Scully told him on a fierce whisper and he grinned. "I should have known that you'd never say it softly." "I don't feel it softly." Their mouths met again. ****************************** Scully's apartment Scully walked as casually as she could up to her apartment door. Her spine was set so stiff that it was giving her pain. A grin threatened on her lips. Her half- smile faltered. <..He deliberately lied to me and made me think that he was dead! *His* decision. He ditched me again! This really beats every time he's done it in the past. This even beats the time he left me screaming after him. Dammit! He lied to me!> Scully was fuming as she stepped into her apartment. She was distracted by her train of thought. She didn't see the shooter in her apartment until a split second before the muzzle flash. Rational thought disappeared but instinct took over. Pain ripped through her as the bullet tore into her flesh. ************************ The End (5/8): Mulder's Truths by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ************************ Sometime in the future. Outside Scully's Apartment Building Alexandria Mulder held his gun loosely in his palm as he crept along the wall of Scully's building towards a suspicious looking black car. A man was seated in the drivers seat looking nervous. Keeping the gun out of sight, Mulder casually crossed to the car and knocked on the window. The man inside wound the window down and stuck his head out. "Look, fu..!" He said to the barrel of Mulder's gun. "Get out of the car!" Mulder ordered him. The man went for his gun but Mulder fired a shot into the car which shattered the rear view mirror and blasted out through the front windshield, sending a shower of fragments into the air. The man in the car froze and stared at Mulder in shock. "Get out of the car." Although his voice was calmer than the first time it held more authority and the man scrambled out of the car. Mulder grabbed his shoulder and dragged him towards the building, where he threw him against the wall. "What are your orders?" He demanded. The man just glared at him. Mulder hit him with his gun, then pressed him up against the wall and put the gun under his chin. "Your orders?" A trickle of blood ran out of the mans mouth as he tried to speak. "Tell me!" Mulder yelled. "You're Mulder!" The man exclaimed, with a rush of saliva and blood. "You have a problem with that?" Mulder demanded ironically. "You're dead." He gasped. "If I'm dead then I can't blow your head off can I?" He forced the gun more firmly under his chin. "What were you here to do?" "I'm just the driver man, my partner is up in the woman's apartment." "You mean Scully's?" Mulder demanded. "Yeah, Scully's." "Who sent you?" The man tried a laugh that didn't really work because of the blood coming out of his nose. Mulder's finger curled around the trigger, torn between the need to kill him and to go and see if Scully was okay. Scully won in his mind but he didn't get a chance to act on it. He was dragged bodily off the first man and thrown against the hood of the car. The first assassin recovered quickly and joined his partner in attacking Mulder with fierce kicks and punches. For them, *this* was too good an opportunity to miss. *********************** Scully's apartment Scully was amazed that she awoke at all. Her left arm was killing her and when she looked down all she saw was the blood. Her stomach lurched violently as a wave of shock hit her and she had to fight not to vomit. Her mind whirled as she recalled the series of events. She'd seen the flash from the gun and had swayed to the left, automatically acting to get out of the path of the bullet. Then all she recalled was pain as the bullet had cut a path across her left arm. She forced herself to examine the wound and found that the level of blood was giving a false impression. The bullet had passed through the soft tissue of her arm, ripping it to shreds on the way, but it should heal just fine. Three inches further right and she could have been dead. Standing up was not an easy task but Scully persevered and, after staggering around a little, she made to the bathroom. Once there she began the painful task of bandaging up her arm. ************************* Outside Mulder could scarcely see through the mist which seemed to be covering his eyes. Pain ripped through him again and again but he could no longer place the source. For a moment he did not seem to be in contact with anything solid, then a wave of heat seared along his spine and became too much for his mind to comprehend. Luckily his head must have connected with something, because consciousness began to slide away from him. ************************** Scully's apartment Scully bit her lip but could not contain the scream of pain as she tightened the bandage around her arm. Her mind swam again as the pain increased rather than receded and Scully began to lose consciousness. The black void began opening up welcomingly before her. ************************** < "Scully!" Mulder yelled. The blackness around her was unending and Scully could see nothing, not even herself. "Mulder, I'm over here!" She called in return. "Scully, are you okay?" "I've been shot but I'm okay. Where are we?" "Inside our minds." "I don't understand." "I can't explain now. I just wanted to make sure you were alive. You *are* okay, you're not lying to me?" "Honestly. My arm's a bit of a mess but I'll live." "Good, just get to your mother's and I'll meet you as soon as I can." "Are *you* okay Mulder?" "I'm fine." "You're lying." "It's not a problem. Just get to your mom's house." "But Mulder.." "Go quickly..before they realize you're not dead." > *************************** Scully's bathroom She drifted back to reality slowly, then the pain registered again and she sat up to find herself on the floor. Mulder..she'd been talking to Mulder, but how..? Simple enough answer, it hadn't been real. Still, she needed to get to her mom's house and she needed to hurry. Clambering to her feet, she went to the cabinet and took out some strong painkillers. Quickly she washed them down with some water, taking care to sip the water rather than gulp it all back in one go. As an after thought she took her small first aid kit from where she'd dropped it on the floor. Feeling slightly steadier, she went to her bedroom and pulled on some jeans and a tee-shirt, covered them with a loose jumper and put on some sturdy shoes. She securely fastened her holster at her waist and checked that her gun held it's full quota of rounds. Throwing some similar clothes into a bag took only a couple more minutes. The first aid kit joined the clothes, as did her second gun and plenty of ammunition. Moving into the kitchen; she grabbed her torch from under the sink and placed that in the bag too. Now she paused, unsure why she felt the need to get survival rations. Once before she and Mulder had nearly become fugitives, but then they had not planned it in advance. Was that what she was doing now? Was this really the only option left open to them? "I think it's about fate." Mulder had said to her when they got out of that situation safely. Had they cheated fate then, was this what fate had wanted all along? And was she, Dana Katherine Scully, really allowing herself to think along these lines? Scully shook her head, clearing it, and picked up the bag. Scully took a longing look around her apartment, God only knew if she would ever see this place again. She could see into the bathroom where they had caught Tooms, see the window where the face of Duane Barry had appeared like a spectre before her, the spot on the carpet where Melissa had been found bleeding from a bullet wound that had been meant for her and the patch of her own blood to show where they had nearly succeeded *this* time. Bad memories, but all were important in their own way. Good memories too; sitting and gently arguing with Mulder over countless pizzas, playing with Queequeg on the rug in front of the TV, laughing with her mom and Missy over something completely unimportant. She gave her bandage a hard pull to check it, and to cause herself enough pain to snap her out of the reminiscences and get her mind focused. She took a family picture - one taken before her father's death - from it's place on a shelf and grabbed her hold-all from the kitchen. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. Placing the hold-all on the floor, she turned and crossed to the window. It was painful to grab the chair and pull it underneath the window, but she accomplished it quickly. She climbed onto the seat and reached up to the curtain rail. The knob on the end took several tugs, and a lot of pain, before it came off. The chair swayed violently beneath her and she braced herself against the wall. She reached into the hollow space inside the rail and withdrew the object that had been hidden inside. Metal scraped against metal and caused a sound which was painful to her ears. Ignoring the object for now, she replaced the knob and climbed down. It was only then that she allowed herself to look at it. <"It will be the only way to kill them. The colonizers."> Mrs Mulder had said. She couldn't help herself. She pushed the button and jumped as the object revealed it's true intent. The sound as the point sprang up was horrible, the worst sound Scully had ever heard. The point itself glinted dangerously in the moonlight streaming through the window. Could she ever bring herself to use it? Did she really believe in what it was meant to do? It hadn't killed the man hunting Jeremiah Smith.. With determination, she reset the weapon and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans, where she would constantly be able to feel it's presence. It was oddly reassuring. Forcing herself not to look back, Scully left the apartment. The closing click of the lock sliding home was as decisive as the closure of a coffin lid. ************************** Outside When Mulder managed to open his eyes the assassins and their car were gone. Only a scattering of glass fragments remained to show that they had ever been there at all. The pain in his side was indescribable and he could barely move from the spot on the concrete were he found himself. His right eye was clouded with blood and the tissues of his face throbbed with a dull ache that was echoed through most of his body. Still, Scully was alive and that was the most important thing, even if it had been pure chance that had kept her that way. Maybe his own bad luck had been caused by him putting that bullet through the rear view mirror. He flopped over onto his front, a gasp of pain escaping him, and tried to push himself to his feet. It didn't work. His arms collapsed underneath him and the manoeuvre merely added to his pain. As he lay there he became aware of the sound of running feet and forced himself to look up. The diminutive figure of Scully ran lightly out of the building and across to her car. "Scul.." He managed to croak weakly but it was barely audible to his own ears let alone to hers on the other side of the road. < "Scully!" > He called inside his head, hoping against hope that she would understand. He saw the silhouette of her stop and look around, but he was hidden from her view by several cars. He saw her hand move under her jumper - towards her gun, he assumed - but she must have reassured herself that nothing was amiss because she returned her attention to the car door. After a few seconds she was inside and starting the engine. The car drove slowly off into the night. < "Good luck." > Mulder whispered and knew that she heard him but did not understand. With that avenue of help closed, Mulder set about standing up. It took many attempts and a of pain, but he made it back across to his car. Reaching into the glove compartment, he withdrew a blister pack of painkillers. "Be prepared." He murmured to himself and he dry-swallowed them. ************************ Margaret Scully's Residence Scully parked her car a long way away from her mother's house, for safety, but it meant that she had to walk some distance. The change of shoes was proving to be her best decision of the day. At the back of her mind there was a nagging suspicion that something was wrong with Mulder. Back at her apartment she'd been convinced that she heard him call her name, then when she was the car she'd heard his voice wish her good luck. Either it had finally all got too much for her and she had tipped over the line into insanity or she was going to have to start accepting other possibilities and if *she* was preparing to accept other possibilities then she had *definitely* lost her mind. Scully laughed out loud at her own stupidity. What she really needed right now was Mulder with a wisecrack that would make the world around her seem normal again. Scully knocked lightly on her mother's front door and waited, glancing around nervously. There was nothing obviously amiss, but the kind of people who might be here had succeeded for so long by being anything but obvious. Margaret Scully opened the door and took in the bloodless face of her youngest daughter. She corrected herself. All this time and she still hadn't gotten used to Missy not being around. "Dana, Thank God!" Maggie exclaimed and ushered her daughter inside. "Hi mom." Scully answered in a little girl lost voice as mother and daughter embraced. Maggie didn't want to let go of her daughter ever again. She didn't want her to ever have to face any more danger. Her hands found the bandage on her daughter's arm and a frown creased her brow. Maggie drew back a little, but still kept her arms around her daughter. "Dana what's wrong with your arm?" She asked. Scully faked a reassuring smile. "It's fine mom. I got shot, but I'm okay." She hurried to explain, as if she could gloss over it. "Dana!" She stepped back. "Come on, take this top off and let me take a look at it." She started fussing around in a motherly fashion and Scully's face took on the expression of a child who doesn't want to do what their parent tells them to. "Oh, mom.." She complained, but, reluctantly, the top was removed and the bandage examined. Blood was now saturating the bandage and it looked a ghastly sight. The wound had partially sealed by the time the original bandage had been put on but the seal had been ripped apart again during the car drive over here. Scully found herself pushed into the bathroom, where her mother cleaned and dressed the wound. Scully watched as her mother looked deep into the wound as if she would be able to see something important inside it. The expression on her face was worrying Scully, but she said nothing about it and joined in instead with her mother's meaningless small talk. ************************** The Offices of The Lone Gunman Mulder strolled casually up the stairs, secure in the knowledge that he was being watched. He could just imagine the reaction of the men in the office upstairs when they'd seen him on their little security monitor. An over the top security system for their offices perhaps, but anyone who knew these guys would not be surprised by it. They could set up their own chapter of Paranoiacs Anonymous. "You know, I cried for you." Frohike's voice sailed down to him. Mulder looked up to see Frohicke leaning casually on the rail above him. Mulder gave a lazy smile, as best he could past the bruises developing on his face. "Did you use it as an excuse to come on to Scully again Frohicke?" He continued his painful walk up the stairs. He reached the elder man and stepped into the light of the doorway. Frohicke opened his mouth to return a sardonic answer but his words got caught in his throat when he saw Mulder's face. "Jesus.." He exclaimed instead. "..Who've you been upsetting this time?" Mulder attempted another smile. "Oh, everyone, as usual." He replied lightly and they walked together into the office. Langley gave a low whistle when he saw the state that Mulder was in. Then he clapped him lightly on the shoulder and smiled fondly. "Been exercising your well-known tact Mulder?" Byers asked with a barely concealed grin. He was glad to see his friend alive, but found the emotion difficult to express. Frohicke had no such trouble, his arm was firmly around Mulder's shoulder and a broad grin was plastered across his face. "Did you think they couldn't hurt a ghost?" Langley asked with a genuine smile. Mulder managed to spread the smile a little wider without too much pain. "So how come you're not dead?" Frohicke asked jovially. "Just like the King." Mulder answered with a laugh. "I faked my own death." "Cool." Langley replied. "Unbelievable." Frohicke grinned. Byers just nodded with an approving smile. "So what is it you need from us?" Byers asked seriously after a moment. "Well," Mulder began. "I'm in need of your considerable talents in acquiring me and Scully some fake ID and a car." ************************** 11PM Margaret Scully's Residence Scully lay sleeping on her mom's couch, dressed in her pyjamas and wrapped in blanket. An Ester Williams movie was playing quietly on the TV and some actor was singing about how "..easy to love.." she was, as they sailed off into a picture-book sunset. Mulder smiled sadly, if only real life was like the movies. Mulder stood looking down at the woman *he* loved. He wanted to wrap her up and carry her off somewhere safe, but this was real life and there was no where safe. There was no walking off into sunsets and no happy ever afters. A sound in the doorway alerted him and he turned warily. Maggie Scully smiled and gestured him into the kitchen. He turned off the TV and followed her. Maggie handed him a steaming cup of coffee. "From the look of you, you could use more than just coffee." She told him. "What happened?" He took a sip from the cup, it was very hot. "Nothing to worry about." He said dismissively and Maggie laughed bitterly. "I've been expecting this for a long time Fox." They exchanged a look that spoke volumes. "How's her arm?" He asked, over the rim of the cup. "It was bad, but it's healing at an astonishing rate. Whatever they did to her was certainly incredible." Maggie said softly, in a tone that reminded him of Scully. "So you still think that they were wrong about the tumours?" He asked her gravely. She looked up at him and sighed. "I can't be sure, the accelerated tissue growth and regeneration could also apply to cancerous tissues. That might lead to a rapid spread of tumours or it could have an opposite effect and lead to perfect health, I suppose. If they weren't aware of all the facts - and I don't think they are even now - then they could be judging her from effects on the regular abductees. Just because He knows, doesn't mean that they all do. You know, this isn't really my area, Fox. I wish that it was." "Don't you have connections?" Mulder asked her. "Don't you?" She countered with a small smile, then her face became serious once again. "You're sister would.." "I'm not contacting Samantha." Mulder cut in, then deliberately changed the subject. "Have you told Scully the truth yet?" Maggie looked shamefaced. "I wanted to, but I can't do it to her Fox." "She *has* to know Mrs Scully. She's important and she has to know it." "What good would it do?" She asked softly "What good would it do?" He echoed incredulously, placing the cup on the counter top. Scully's mother looked up at him seriously. "Yes. How would it help her?" "She'd know that.." Mulder began. "..That I'd lied to her." Maggie interrupted. "Fox, she's going to need all her strength, just as you are. If I tell her now, that'll just confuse her when her mind most needs to be clear." She swallowed with difficulty. "You'll have to tell her, but not until you feel the time is right." She smiled reassuringly and touched his sleeve. "And no guilt, it's not your fault." He smiled back down at her. ************************ Mulder knelt down next to the sleeping figure and touched a finger to her cheek, pushing a strand of copper hair back behind her ear. She woke up gradually and opened her eyes to look straight into his. Her lips curved into a smile, then she registered the cuts and bruises. "Mulder!" She exclaimed, sitting up. "What's happened?" He shook his head gently. "I ran into some trouble outside your building. I didn't know that the other man was already inside." "The man that shot me." She said through gritted teeth and he nodded. "Mulder, why didn't you just come inside with me?" He shrugged and she put on a indignant expression. "You were trying to do everything without me again. Do you think that I'm completely incapable of taking care of myself?" "I *don't* think that Scul.." He tried to interject, but Scully was on a roll. All the pain of the past weeks was transferred into anger. "You make decisions about my life without even consulting me! Why do you assume that you know what's best for me? I'm not a child, I don't need to be `looked after' by you, or anyone else!" "Dana.." Mulder placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to placate her but she hadn't finished. "Dammit Mulder. How could you do that to me?" Her intensely blue eyes were locked firmly onto his. "In one go you deprived me of two of the most important things in my life. You and the X files. You didn't even leave me with my self-respect, when I think of how people must have been laughing at me." "No one was laughing Scully." He added softly. "No?!" She exclaimed. "Not even Them?" Mulder had to look away, he couldn't answer that honestly without hurting her more. "See." She said, trying to make him look at her. When he finally looked back she was smiling wistfully. "What am I going to do with you?" "I'm open to suggestions." He teased with a smile. She kissed him lightly. "I have something important that you need to know." Scully told him after long moments of intimacy. "I love you too." He said into her hair, but she drew back. "I do love you, but that's not it." She answered seriously and he frowned. "What then?" Scully moved away from him and went to her where her purse was lying on a table. She opened her purse and searched for something as she spoke. "Do you know anything about your uncle Gerald?" She asked flatly. Mulder relaxed against the couch but frowned at her question. "Not much. He was my mother's brother, but she never spoke about him. Not an unusual thing, she didn't say much about the family. Why, what do you know about him?" Scully found what she was looking for and sat down next to Mulder, letting her eyes meet his. "I went to see your mom." She said and he smiled sheepishly. "I know. I was following you." Scully shot him a disbelieving look and rolled her eyes. "What did she tell you?" "She told me a lot of things about you and Samantha and about..how you came to be born." She wasn't sure what he knew so she was tiptoeing around it. "I know about how she went to Cancerman because she couldn't have kids." Mulder answered flatly. "And I know how he helped her." "Then you know about the project, about you and Samantha. What your mother did." He nodded gravely, then frowned. "But what about my uncle?" He asked, confused. Scully held out a photograph of a young man and woman cuddling and smiling at each other. The woman was obviously Mulder's mother but Mulder's gaze fell onto the man. His eyes widened and he looked up at Scully in shock. "That's your uncle Gerald." She said, pointing at the picture. Mulder looked back at the picture disbelievingly. "Trust no one." Scully muttered. Mulder just stared at the smiling figure. "Deep Throat." He murmured, awe-struck. ************************************ The End (6/8): Scully's Mother by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ****************************** Sometime in the future. Mulder Summer House Quonochontaug, Rhode Island He stood silently watching the house burn and all the fragments of the past that went with it. A wave of regret washed over him, not for the past but for the people who had lived in this house. He'd loved them as if they had been his own family. "This wasn't necessary." A voice said angrily from beside him. "This was not my choice." He said flatly, dropping the cigarette to the floor and stubbing it out with his toe. "Damn you!" She said stepping closer to him. He turned to face her with his icy expression intact. "You above all people should know that the success of the project is more important than individual lives." "How can you say that after being responsible for the deaths of most of my family?" "Their role in the project was over long ago." "So kill me too then." She returned, just as icily. "You should have done it a long time ago." "The time is coming Samantha." He turned away from her and walked towards a waiting helicopter. Samantha closed her eyes and concentrated but after a moment she gave up. < "Dammit Fox, where are you?" > It was no use, whatever it was that caused them to be able to communicate was definitely off the air. Maybe he was blocking her out. Samantha watched impotently as the wind from the ascending helicopter added oxygen to the fire that was ripping the house apart. Tears sparkled in her eyes and she allowed herself to let out the pain that she had kept in for all these years. She would not have another chance to cry. The time was fast approaching when everyone's tears would be meaningless. *********************** The Living Room Margaret Scully's Residence Mulder and Scully lay curled against each other on the thin couch. With eyes closed, they both tried not to think about anything except how good it felt to be alive and to be together. "I love you." Mulder said softly into the silence and Scully smiled against his neck and pressed a kiss to the spot where her mouth rested. "Don't leave me ever again Mulder." She whispered and he swallowed convulsively. "I'll do my best," He turned so he could look at her, she craned her neck to see into his eyes. "but I can't promise Scully. I know you feel patronised by it, but I just want to protect you." Scully smiled a genuine, full smile. "You're arrogant, over bearing, borderline-psychotic and patronising Mulder, but I love you and wherever you go I'll be right beside you, probably attempting to cover your ass. Haven't you noticed Mulder that it's more like *me* protecting *you* most of the time?" "No, I just let you think that in order to make you feel useful." He commented, barely concealing a grin. Scully lunged for his throat and they struggled playfully, falling onto the floor but continuing the play fight. They stopped with them both lying on their sides, breathing heavily, and smiled into each others eyes. Mulder raised a hand and cupped her chin. His mouth was met halfway by hers and they exchanged a honey-sweet kiss. ************************ The Kitchen Margaret Scully's Residence Maggie Scully rinsed the cup out under the stream of warm water and bit her lip. Tears threatened in her eyes as the years rolled back in her mind and she saw the image of Rebecca Mulder waving at her from deck of the summer house as the speedboat zoomed past. She remembered laughing as the wind caught in her long dark hair and wrapped it in front of her eyes, blotting out her view of Rebecca. She remembered the bounce of the boat as it cut through the waves, the way she had stumbled with the motion. She could almost feel the small, strong hand that clasped on her arm and could clearly recall the concerned face of the young boy in the boat with her. Fox Mulder was a spoilt child in those years but he'd always had a good heart. She'd always liked Fox, but she hadn't been surprised when he hadn't recognised her. He'd been very young and she'd looked very different in those days. She'd been very different, all bristling youth full of ideas that she could have her job and her family and everything would be just fine. The world wouldn't end in *her* lifetime after all, but then she hadn't thought about life as continuing after the age of forty. The shrill call of the telephone cut off her reminiscences and she jumped to pick it up before it disturbed Fox and Dana. "Hello?" There was no answer and the knot of fear, which had been forming in her stomach since her conversation with Rebecca, increased it's pressure. "Hello?" She asked again, more warily. "Hello Maggie." A soft masculine voice answered at length. Maggie gasped. "Oh my God!" It was a day for revelations. The man's throaty chuckle aided Maggie in regaining her cool. "What do you want?" She demanded. "Your daughter's there, isn't she? Along with Fox Mulder." "No." Maggie answered a little too sharply and the man laughed again. "It's here Maggie. The time is here and now." "But.." Fear washed over in pulsating waves and she had to fight for words. "I told you that you couldn't outrun it." The soft voice which permeated her nightmares persisted and she wanted to slam down the receiver, but she couldn't. She needed information to help Fox and Dana get away from the danger this man posed for them. That is, if it wasn't already too late to get away from any of them. From out of nowhere she found her voice. "Listen to me, you bastard, you hurt either Fox or Dana and you'll answer to me." The man laughed again. "What will you do to me Maggie? What *can* you do?" It was Maggie's turn to laugh, then her face froze and the laughter stopped abruptly. "Base of the neck." She stated simply and she fancied that she heard the man at the end of the line gasp in shock. ************************ Margaret Scully's Residence Mulder and Scully came down the stairs, still adjusting their clothes, and sneaking like naughty teenagers who didn't want their parents to catch them. They stopped mid-way to indulge a long deep kiss that neither wanted to end, before working their way into the kitchen. Maggie Scully wasn't there and the house was unnaturally silent. They exchanged a wary look and their hands automatically went for the guns that weren't there. Mulder took the lead as they crept down the corridor and peered into the living room. Maggie Scully was sitting on the couch staring fixedly into space. Tactfully Mulder made a heavy footfall but, instead of informing her of their presence, it alarmed her and she jumped. Her expression as she turned in the direction of the doorway was one of extreme fear, quickly it was replaced by relief but Scully felt her stomach knot painfully. Maggie stood up and rushed over to them with a wide, fake, smile. "I didn't want to disturb you, but I think it's time for you to leave." She said firmly. Mulder attempted a smile. "Are you trying to get rid of us Mrs. Scully?" He asked with a stab at humour. Maggie lowered her head and sighed lightly, then raised it sharply to pin Mulder with a burning look. "What's happened?" Mulder asked. "I think that I saw some men moving around outside." She said, but Mulder realised that she was lying. Something else had happened. He physically and mentally blocked off his concerns from Scully. < "Fox!" > Samantha screamed suddenly in his head, penetrating the block. < "He's after you. You're not safe where you are." > "Your mom's right." He said to Scully. "We've stayed here too long. We should go." "Where to?" Scully asked. "Byers has arranged a car and some ID for us. They've left them in a car park about a mile from here." Mulder informed her, then smiled. "By the way, Frohike sends his love." They set about preparing to leave. Maggie went into the kitchen and was preparing a thermos when Fox joined her. She smiled limply at him but he didn't return it. "Where's Dana?" Maggie asked. "She's checking her arm." Mulder said flatly. "What happened?" Maggie swallowed and looked up at him. "I got a phone call from someone I'd rather you and Dana didn't meet." "Who?" "Someone I used to work with. He knows that you're here and that means he's coming to get you." "Who is he?" Mulder was getting impatient. "I can't tell you his name. I can't give you that much power over him. I'm bound by old promises and loyalties." She clamped her hand over her mouth. "Shit!" She said vehemently between her fingers and Mulder was shocked that she had actually sworn. "I had hoped.." She took her hand away. "I literally can't tell you his name Fox, not because I don't know it, but because I can't say it." Mulder was about to ask her to explain but Scully entered the kitchen and dumped her bag onto the countertop. "How's your arm?" Maggie asked and Scully frowned. "The wound's already sealed up. I'm..It's *not* supposed to heal that fast." She shook her head. "You've always been a fast healer." Maggie Scully lied reassuringly to her daughter, whilst exchanging a wary look with Mulder behind her back. They headed for the door. Scully turned to her mother with a sad smile. "I don't know when we'll be back.." She tailed off but Maggie smiled through her tears and enfolded her daughter into her arms. "You and Melissa were my special little ones. My little girls. Now I'm going to have lost both of you." She sobbed into Scully's neck. Mulder bit his lip at the word `special' and at the word `girls'. Mulder thought painfully. "You haven't lost me." Scully told her mother. "I'll be back. I love you mom." "I love you sweetheart." The hug became fierce and Mulder had to finally gesture them apart. "Come on Dana, it's time to go." He spoke gently. Scully nodded and broke the contact, but her mother clasped onto her hands and looked directly into her eyes. "I'm sorry Dana. I didn't have to..I wish I could change..don't forget how I much I love you." She hugged her again, but she pulled back this time. "Mom?" Scully questioned puzzled by her words. "Just go." Maggie said softly, through her tears. She turned to Mulder and hugged him, he reciprocated the contact and kissed her forehead. "Take care Fox." She said seriously. "Nobody is ever who they appear to be. Remember that." Mulder nodded and smiled sadly. "I will Mrs. Scully." "You called me Maggie once." She told him. "I remember." He said with a smile. Maggie looked over at Scully, who was curious at the exchange. "You take care of this one Dana. He needs you more than he'll ever admit." "I need him too mom." Dana said with a half-smile playing at the edges of her lips. "Okay. You better go." Maggie insisted. Mulder lowered his head near to her ear. "Bye Aunt Mags." He said quietly, so that Scully didn't hear and kissed her cheek. Then they left the house, sneaking away towards the tree line several metres from the kitchen door. They waved and disappeared into the foliage. Maggie stood in the frame of the kitchen door for a moment and recalled the young boy she'd said goodbye to early in the morning - ironically - on New Years Day 1964, 36 years earlier. He'd only been a little over two years old. They were on the deck of the Vineyard house, she had sat down to be on a level with him and because her stomach had been so large by then that she couldn't stand for long. Also heavily pregnant Rebecca had stood inside by the window, smiling sadly as she watched them. Bill Mulder, always forceful but now looking at Maggie in a different light, was in the doorway with his brother Gerald standing behind him. And Robert too, smiling but still looking like a ghost in the pale moonlight. Threats were disguised with warm smiles and the truth was hidden by the thin spectre of endlessly talking voices. The house had looked so lovely and warm decorated by garlands of lights and candles. William Scully had stood waiting for his wife to leave the place for the last time, but he only saw the lights and didn't know why Maggie didn't want to come back here. The lights disguised the rotting, maggot-ridden and infected core of the gathering. The dark secrets at the centre of the Mulder family which, Maggie had suspected even then, would tear the family apart. She had touched the child's face and told him that she wouldn't be coming back. She'd suspected that he didn't understand what she meant, but she had kissed his cheek and he had smiled sweetly at her. Then he'd said the words. "Bye Aunt Mags." Maggie closed the kitchen, wishing that it was that easy to close the door on her memories. ************************ Outside Margaret Scully's Residence He smiled as he saw the two figures leave the house. They were an unmistakable couple, even at this distance. "Should we follow them sir?" The black clothed man standing next to him asked. He placed the end of his cigarette into his mouth and slowly inhaled. The young man appeared to become impatient. "Sir?" He blew the smoke out slowly. "No." ************************ The Living Room Margaret Scully's Residence Maggie watched from the window as Fox and Dana disappeared into the darkness of the woodland. She turned back sharply as the door of the house was broken open. The black clothed men that burst into the living room levelled rifles at her but she stood there as defiantly as her daughter would have. The cigarette smoking man walked past the other men towards her and she set her spine even straighter. "Where are they?" He demanded. "I don't know what you mean." She told him firmly. He regarded her steadily, betraying no emotion. "Where have they gone?" He asked flatly. "You have no power over me anymore Robert." She said softly. The man's eyes snapped to hers. The world narrowed to the two of them The man turned away and ordered the soldiers out of the room angrily. "Nothing more than a bully!" She said when they were gone. "I always knew that this is what you would become." Maggie spat at him. He lit a cigarette with slightly shaking fingers and drew sharply off it. "Did you now?" He asked with a calm that did not match the nervous play of his fingers on the cigarette. "Where are they?" "Where you'll never find them." Her voice was firm. The man laughed. "There's no such place." He said quietly, turning back to face her. "The years haven't changed you at all Maggie." "You're wrong Robert. The quiet little mouse who thought you were a god disappeared a long time ago." "Yes, she left us for a husband who was never there and a horde of children who would desert her too." "I have a loving family, what do you have?" "This isn't about me." He paused to place the cigarette in his mouth. "Where are they?" He asked again. "So that you can kill them?" "You're stalling because you think that it will give them time to get away." He said softly, crossing to her. Maggie laughed. "Is that what I'm doing?" She asked silkily. He placed his right hand around her neck, under her hair, gently pressing, searching, over the base of her neck. Maggie repressed a shiver and swallowed with difficulty. She hated him, at least that's what she kept repeating to herself. "Why did you leave Maggie? I gave you everything that you wanted. I was offering you the Earth." His fingers continued their search. "And what about your price! You would have destroyed *me* the way you destroyed Bill and Rebecca!" She stated sarcastically. His fingers brushed over a rough spot on her neck and pressed painfully. "You know what that is don't you Maggie?" He asked maliciously. Maggie set her expression. "I know what it is. I'm an abductee." She swallowed what felt like a golf ball. "Why didn't you just kill me? Why didn't you just kill Dana?" "It wasn't the right time." "Was it Melissa's time?" She asked angrily. "Individual lives are not important Maggie, you know that. The project is all that matters. Dana will have her moment. She has an important part to play." He said softly. "This is all *your* doing!" Maggie spat viscously and turned angrily out of his grasp. "I *begged* Dana not to join the FBI. I knew it was your hand behind it." She glared at him. "Why her?" She demanded and he smiled thinly. "Because I need her." "And Fox?" Maggie asked with wide-eyes. "I need him too." He stated, with a trace of a smile. "Together they will help me to decide the new order." ************************** Mulder and Scully ran through the trees and the darkness, occasionally tripping but scrambling to their feet and carrying on. "They're not following us." Scully gasped out. Her jeans were ripped in places and her hair hung in limp strands against her face, which was smeared with mud. "They must have seen us leave." Mulder said between gasping breaths. His hair fell onto his forehead in damp bunches and he brushed it back firmly, but it insisted on falling forwards. His clothes and shoes were all caked in mud. "They weren't looking for us!" He said suddenly and turned to Scully in horror. Her brow creased, which caused the mud caked there to crack. "What then? Why would they come to my mother's house? She's of no interest to them." < "To kill her." > Mulder thought in shock, forgetting to mask it from her. Scully heard it and assumed it was her own thought. It seemed to her that comprehension dawned. "Mom!" She exclaimed and made as if to head back in the direction of the house. Mulder grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. "It's my fault. If it wasn't for me.." She sobbed into his chest. "No." He said, shaking his head. Mulder set her away from him and looked at her seriously. "Scully." He began nervously. "Your mother was involved in the project." The tears dried up and Scully's expression set into a cold mask. "No." She said with determination. "Before you were born she helped collect the data in the medical files." "She was a secretary for a law firm! She told me she was!" Scully insisted and Mulder spoke softly, calmly to her. "She was my father's assistant." Unbelievably, Scully's eyes grew wider. "She left when she was pregnant with you." A light suddenly switched on beyond the woods and a helicopter flew above them. Mulder and Scully dived for cover behind a bush. The helicopter circled overhead but the search light never touched them. "Why does it keep circling this spot? Heat sensing equipment?" Mulder whispered directly into Scully's ear. Scully froze. Her hands went to the base of his neck and traced over the skin. She couldn't see anything but she did come across a small patch of rough skin, with a hard lump underneath it. Mulder turned to face her and took in her stunned expression. She swallowed. "*That's* how they found us." She said flatly and Mulder's hand went to his own neck. He could feel it. The implant attaching directly into his mind. Mapping his every thought and transmitting it to his enemies. "Dammit! They set us up!" He exclaimed roughly and stood up. He went out from behind the bush to stand in the open. "Mulder!" Scully hissed as he stepped out into the bright glow of the helicopter's searchlight. Scully swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. Why couldn't she have just been a normal person living in blissful ignorance of all this? Why did she have to be involved? Scully frowned and the pieces began to fall together in her mind. <"She left when she was pregnant with you."> <"I couldn't have children..so I went to him."> <"My special little ones. My little girls."> <"They were attempting to create an alien-human hybrid."> <"Your mother was involved in the project."> <"You have more to do with all this than you realize."> <"I didn't need to...I wish that I could change.."> "My god." Scully whispered, this time it was truly comprehension dawning. She looked up and found Mulder's eyes turned in her direction. She stood up so that she was visible to him. < "I'm sorry Scully. I wanted to tell you." > Mulder's voice inside her head. < "That's how we could seem to talk without words." > She amazed herself as she thought the words to him. < "Just like you and Samantha." > She smiled sadly. < "Do you believe yet?" > His hair was being blown about violently as the helicopter got nearer and, even rain splattered, covered in mud and blown by the harsh wind, he was still the most attractive man that she had ever seen. < "Doctor Blockhead was right. The future is just like you. Just like us. Whatever we are." > Her tone was resigned. < "Unless we can do something to stop it." > Mulder insisted and Scully smiled. < "Come on..Dana, we can't give up." > < "Alright." > She answered with a wider smile. She ran out to stand with him and face whatever fate held for them. Mulder looked down at her. Saw the tears on her face. Felt the tears on his own face. "It was rigged from the start." He told her as the helicopter came nearer to landing. "I know." She said softly. Their lips met in a gentle kiss. Scully smiled. "I still can't say it softly. I love you." Her tone was fierce and proud and angry. He smiled sadly. "I love you too." The helicopter landed and the man with the cigarette jumped out. He came over to them. Mulder and Scully stepped closer to each other and linked hands firmly. "Well, I'm glad you see that it's easier to just give in." "Actually, I thought that I'd tried that." Mulder drawled sardonically. "Never deal with the devil, Fox." The cigarette smoking man smiled ironically. All three of them jumped as a loud buzzing noise sounded behind them. Even as the noise stopped, the night was filled with the sound of a loud explosion. Mulder and Scully stared into the sky as it lit up, almost as bright as day. Cancerman smiled thinly. ************************ Quonochontaug, Rhode Island Sitting on the grass watching the house burn itself out to embers, Samantha felt unusual vibrations permeate her mind. Communications danced at the edges of her consciousness. Her lips twisted bitterly as she checked her watch. "I guess it's time." She murmured she watched the unnatural light descend towards her. ************************************* The End (7/8): Mulder and Scully's Last Stand by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ********************************* Sometime in the future. The helicopter landed and the man with the cigarette jumped out. He came over to them. Mulder and Scully stepped closer to each other and linked hands firmly. "Well, I'm glad you see that it's easier to just give in." "Actually, I thought that I'd tried that." Mulder drawled sardonically. "Never deal with the devil, Fox." The cigarette smoking man smiled ironically. All three of them jumped as a loud buzzing noise sounded behind them. Even as the noise stopped, the night was filled with the sound of a loud explosion. Mulder and Scully stared into the sky as it lit up, almost as bright as day. Cancerman smiled thinly. The firework broke into a blistering display of light and colour, then crackled it's way back down to earth. Another rocket zoomed up into the sky and exploded. Somewhere in the distance a bell began to ring. Scully looked down at her watch. "It's midnight." She said softly. "Happy new year." Mulder said wryly, then turned to Cancerman in shock. He just smiled a little wider. Their eyes met and held for a long moment. Mulder abruptly started laughing. It was almost an hysterical laugh. "Today!?" He exclaimed. "It may seem clich‚d, but it had to be today." Cancerman confirmed and Mulder's laughter died as abruptly as it had started. "*What's* today?" Scully demanded from the two men. Mulder turned to her seriously. "The beginning of the end of our world." He swallowed with difficulty. "Mulder..!" Scully sighed skeptically. He grasped her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. His were deadly serious. "It's *all* true Scully. *We're* proof of the existence of extra- terrestrials." Scully opened her mouth to disagree, but changed her mind. "They're colonising our planet Dana and today is the day that whatever they have planned begins." "An invasion?" Scully asked with a frown, her hand moving unconsciously to the pocket of her jeans where she could feel the weapon. "No." Cancerman said firmly from behind Mulder. "I'll explain everything but we have very little time." Mulder spun to face him with a scowl. "*You'll* explain?" Their eyes locked in a challenge. "The time for the truth has arrived." He broke the eye contact and gestured them to the helicopter. "But now, we must hurry." "Where are we going?" Scully asked as they began to walk. "Somewhere that They can't hear us." Cancerman replied blandly. *********************** January 1st 2000 00:40 EST. Surface - nuclear bunker, Somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains The uniformed man saluted as Mulder, Scully and Cancerman walked up to the open elevator doors. "Have all the helicopters arrived?" Cancerman demanded as the four of them stepped into the elevator. The doors closed. Scully staggered sideways as the downward motion began. Her hold-all fell from her grasp onto the floor. Mulder placed his arm around her waist to steady her and smiled into her eyes. "Two have returned so far sir and we're expecting the third any moment." The uniformed man informed his superior. "And the passengers have been settled in?" "Yes sir. They've been made aware of your arrival. They should be waiting at the base of the shaft." Cancerman's lips compressed a little, as if this didn't please him much. The rest of the long journey was continued in silence. Mulder and Scully exchanged looks every so often as the elevator continued it's downwards descent. They didn't need to vocalise words in order to speak. < "Are you okay Scully?" > Mulder asked, after a particularly long silence. < "I'm.." > She began. < "..fine Mulder." > They finished together. < "Come on Scully..I *know* you're not fine. Talk to me." > His eyes met hers and she smiled sadly. < "What am I Mulder? Everything I didn't believe in? Nothing is what I thought it to be and I don't know how I'm supposed to react." > < "How do you *feel*? Do you feel different to the way you felt this morning?" > < "That's the weirdest thing. I feel..I feel calmer." > < "As if something was taken off your shoulders?" > Mulder asked softly and Scully shrugged a little. Cancerman turned slightly and looked at them. They didn't notice. < "It's like everything makes sense, although my rational mind keeps telling me that it shouldn't." > < "I feel the same way. It should be impossible but.." > "You two can communicate telepathically!" Cancerman commented in as close to an exclamation as he could get. The couple snapped their attention to him. "That shouldn't be possible." His tone became thoughtful. "Although that could prove useful.." The elevator finally reached the bottom of the shaft. ************************ Surface - nuclear bunker 00:57 EST. The helicopter landed on the small square of concrete cut into the mountain side. The single passenger climbed out and ducked under the whirring blades on her way towards the concealed entrance. Once inside she headed immediately in the direction of the elevator shaft with the confidence of someone who had been here many times before. "Is *he* here yet?" She demanded from the uniformed man who rushed after her. "Everyone has now arrived." He replied. She stopped suddenly and faced him. "Who's *everyone*?" She asked and the man swallowed in fear, although he wasn't sure why. At first glance she didn't appear dangerous, but she was. "Agent's Mulder and Scully were with him." The man answered warily. Her lips compressed and she spun on her heal back in the direction of the elevator. ************************* Deep in the mountain 00:58 EST. The elevator doors opened. Cancerman strode out immediately but Mulder and Scully followed with some trepidation. The sight which met their eyes was like nothing they had ever seen before. The giant chamber which opened up before them had at least a dozen small corridors leading off it. The entire structure was incredible because of it's shear scale and because of the way in which it was cut into the rock itself. < "It must have taken an army of workers *years* to build this." > Scully thought across to Mulder. He glanced back over at her with a grim expression. "You bastard!" A female voice said from the left and the small party turned. The gentle-seeming white haired woman stepped up to Cancerman with anger oozing from her. "I'm lucky that I'm still alive. You promised.." "Rebecca.." Cancerman began in a calming tone. "Mom!" Mulder exclaimed. The anger drained out of Rebecca Mulder as she turned to her son. Her expression softened and she smiled as she walked over to him and placed her arms around him. Mulder looked shocked, as if the gesture was unfamiliar to him. It was a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around her in return. "Fox, I was worried that they would kill you." She said into Mulder's shirt front. Her arms tightened around him and he closed his eyes to stop the tears from falling. "Dana?" A voice said softly from behind her and Scully turned around to face her mother. Scully swallowed with difficulty. "Mom." She said with a small nod. "I thought they'd killed you." Margaret Scully twisted her hands together in front of her. "No, I'm.." She reached out, but changed her mind as she took in Scully's frozen expression. She firmly linked her fingers. "Are you okay honey?" Her voice was full of unshed tears. "I'm fine." Scully fell easily back into her stock response. "Mulder told you?" Maggie said after a long pause. "*You* should have told me. All this time.." She tailed off. "I wanted to. It wasn't easy lying to you and Missy for all these years." "Missy was the same as me." Scully's tone was flat, she felt distanced from this entire conversation. "Yes, she was." Maggie said, averting her eyes from Scully's gaze. "Scully?" Mulder's voice, his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" "No, Mulder. I'm not alright." She turned to face him and the rest of the group. She didn't she the flash of pain which spread across her mothers features as she turned her back on her. Mrs Mulder and Cancerman had moved to one side of the chamber and were arguing quietly. Oddly, it seemed to Mulder and Scully that Cancerman was afraid of her. He certainly appeared to be getting a dressing down from her. Mulder turned away and began examining the chamber. There was very little inside the main chamber itself, but there seemed to be plenty of activity amongst the corridors. There were no people in sight but they could be heard because of the acoustic effect of the labyrinth. "What do you think, Mulder?" Scully asked close to his ear. "I'm not sure." He looked back at his mother and Cancerman. "We'll find out soon." The argument appeared to run out of steam, so Mrs Mulder and Cancerman returned to centre of the chamber and the small group reformed. "You said you'd explain." Mulder said accusingly to Cancerman. "I shall, as soon as the rest of us arrive." "Rest of us?" Scully asked and, as if on cue, a man walked out of one of the tunnels. He had a familiar face, but that was no security to Mulder or Scully. "Mr Mulder, it's nice to see you again." Jeremiah Smith extended his hand and Mulder shook it warily. "Miss Scully, a pleasure." He took her hand and smiled. "I'm sorry I'm late." He told Cancerman, who was getting increasingly agitated. "Where is she?" "She's late too." Cancerman informed him blankly. "There's a surprise." Smith remarked. Cancerman drew a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, his fingers shook slightly. "Shouldn't we be *doing* something?" Maggie asked suddenly. "Yes, it's no use standing around waiting when so much is at stake." Rebecca Mulder agreed. Cancerman drew himself straighter. "Can I remind you all who's in charge here." He said softly but firmly. The two women exchanged an exasperated look, but fell silent. There was a knocking noise from the elevator shaft and the doors opened. *********************** She watched the doors slid open and took in the group waiting for her on the other side. The six of them - Mulder, Scully, Cancerman, Rebecca Mulder, Maggie Scully and Jeremiah Smith - looked lost inside the large chamber. "Happy families!" She said wryly as she stepped out of the elevator and the words echoed around the chamber. "We *are* on a tight schedule Samantha." Cancerman said bitterly. "Then next time instruct your cronies better!" She spat back at him. "If we fail, there wont *be* a next time." Maggie Scully remarked quietly. "If we're in such a hurry then I assume that you've explained the plan to Mulder and Scully, as well as having recovered the flask." Samantha said dryly. "Miss Scully has the flask." Rebecca Mulder pointed out and all eyes turned to Scully. < "What flask?" > Mulder asked. < "Your mother gave me a flask of clear liquid." > Scully explained. < "Vaccine, Dana." > Samantha cut in. < "Vaccine." > "Vaccine?" Scully forgot herself and asked out loud. The other four, not having been privy to the conversation, seemed surprised but recovered quickly. "Yes." Cancerman stated. "For what?" Mulder demanded. "You were correct Fox." Cancerman began. "Today is the beginning of a process which shall lead to the total domination of this planet by extra-terrestrial forces." "They plan to slowly exterminate the human race and take over the planet by..'subtle' means, rather than outright blood shed." Samantha took over the story. "How?" Mulder cut in. "By developing a plant that is toxic only to human beings." "A plant?" Scully asked incredulously. "They plan to take over the world with a plant." "It's not an ordinary plant Miss Scully." Jeremiah Smith spoke softly. "This plant has been propagated in locations all over the world. The first stage of the plan is set." Cancerman continued. "They've been `abducting' people for two purposes." Samantha began. "Firstly to aid the process of the creation of a satisfactory alien- human hybrid and secondly, to test the effects of the plant. The human beings needed to be badly effected and the hybrids had to be immune, as do other animals and plant life. They don't want to kill off the natural life and vegetation. Just the human beings." "That's what they tested on Scully." Mulder interjected. "Her immune system was almost destroyed by it." "By rights, she should have died." Samantha said gently. Scully bit her lip and looked down at the floor. "Why didn't I?" She asked, not looking at anyone. Around her, looks of concern were exchanged. "They didn't know what you were Dana." Samantha spoke up. "Your bloodwork appears exactly as normal, but because your DNA construction is slightly different to a human being it made more difficult for the toxin to kill you." Samantha darted a glance at Cancerman, whose expression was bland but whose eyes warned her not to say too much. Rebecca Mulder made an angry exclamation and Scully looked up at her. "The contents of that flask saved you." She told her. "It's a vaccine to counteract the toxin. You are now immune to the effects of the toxin. That's why the flask is so important. You, Samantha and Jeremiah are the only ones here who are immune to the effects." ************************ 01:34 EST. Scully checked the hypodermic to make sure there were no air bubbles and positioned the needle against Mulder's arm. She looked up and their eyes met. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked. He nodded grimly and she injected the solution. Mulder stood up and flexed his arm, then turned to the silent figure of Cancerman. "How is this toxin administered?" He demanded. "Bee sting." Cancerman said flatly. "But that is the lesser of our problems." "Lesser problem?" Scully demanded. "It will take years before the effects of the toxin are fully felt on the general population." Jeremiah Smith added. "A comprehensive immunisation programme would.." "Oh no!" Maggie Scully interjected. "Not that lie again!" "Can we keep to the subject?" Cancerman asked firmly. Everyone was quiet and gave him their full attention. "In just over fifteen hours, the Freemasons will open a secret chamber under the Great Pyramid in Egypt.." "Freemasons?" Mulder asked. "Masonic organisations led, ultimately, by extra-terrestrials." Samantha said, then added wryly. "Most of them probably don't even know that they are being manipulated!" "..They will open the chamber, believing it to be a library of ancient knowledge," Cancerman continued. "and release the first extra- terrestrial to arrive on this planet from his state of suspended animation." "He's been there for hundreds of thousands of years." Jeremiah Smith informed them. "He taught the native inhabitants and they hailed him as a God." "In fact, he is God." Samantha added. "How can he *be* God?" Scully demanded skeptically. "There is a thread of belief which suggests that all God-myths and thereby religions come from a single misjudged story." Samantha said to her. "This one extra-terrestrial - a shape-shifting entity which came from the sky - arrived on this planet when the human race was in it's infancy." Jeremiah Smith told them. "It appeared immortal because of it's long periods in suspended animation." Samantha added. "It has been waiting all this time for it's co-colonizers to arrive and assist it in the colonization of this planet. The lone EBE helped the human race to develop so that we would possess the necessary technology to aid the colonizers in their aims." Rebecca Mulder augmented. "Now the time of human beings is over, and They feel that they are ready to be eliminated." Samantha concluded. "And this *lone EBE*? It's their leader..?" Mulder asked. "It appears to be important to them that he be awoken before the process can be started." Cancerman said blankly. "He will be awoken at precisely midnight, Egyptian time. At that time, the bees, which I remember showing you Mr Mulder, will be..'released' and the process will have begun." "How do we stop them?" Scully demanded. "We can't stop them from releasing the bees Dana." Maggie Scully remarked softly and Scully turned to stare at her mother in shock. "We have to try!" She exclaimed. Mulder stood at her side with wide- eyes but said nothing. "Mulder? Say something! Tell them that we have to stop this!" "There is nothing that can be done Dana." Cancerman agreed. Scully glared at them all. "We're talking about the extermination of the human race. The ultimate genocide and none of you seem to care!" "I got used to the idea a long time ago Miss Scully." Rebecca Mulder told her on a whisper and Maggie Scully nodded. Jeremiah Smith merely stood expressionlessly. Cancerman drew a puff from a fresh cigarette. Samantha smiled bitterly. Mulder rubbed the bridge of his nose. Scully made a supremely disgusted sound and stormed away from the group. Mulder reached out to her but she shrugged him off and didn't stop until she reached the other side of the chamber. "Why are *we* here?" Mulder asked the group, while still looking after Scully. She'd stopped with her back to them but the acoustics in the chamber would still carry every word to her. Mulder turned back to Cancerman. "Why are *you* here?" "I am a human being Fox, whatever you might have thought of me." He answered flatly. "They weren't planning on giving me the vaccine and I knew that from the start. I didn't believe their lies to me about the power I would have in the new order, so I've been making my own plans. They don't believe that they will have any resistance. They believe that when *God* is woken, the people on this planet will be so compliant that they wont even realise that they're dying!" He jabbed the air angrily with his cigarette. "I needed you, I needed Samantha, I needed Dana and I needed Melissa because you are the only ones capable of fighting them. Now you're three rather than four but with Jeremiah here we have strength." "What do you expect us to do?" Scully called, striding back over to the group. "We need to kill the original alien." Mulder said flatly. "No!" Rebecca Mulder exclaimed. "Fox, you can't..Robert, you can't let him!" She crossed to her son and held onto his arm. "I know how you feel, but it's the only chance Rebecca." Maggie Scully added solemnly. "It's not your child putting himself in danger!" Rebecca exclaimed nastily. "Yes it is." Scully cut in. "If Mulder's going, then I am too." "No one's going." Rebecca Mulder said firmly. "Rebecca, I'm sorry." Cancerman told her quietly. "Fox is right, the first step is to kill the original." "Mulder." Scully said to Cancerman. "What?" He asked. "Not Fox, you call him Mulder." Scully stated. "We're wasting time." Jeremiah Smith pointed out. "It's after two." "There is another important point." Samantha remarked. "We can't just shoot him." "That's right." Cancerman agreed. "The base of his neck must be pierced by the correct tool." "I gave it to Fox." Rebecca Mulder told them. "I don't have it," Mulder began. "When I left.." Scully dug deep in her jeans pocket and pulled out the silver object. She held it under Mulder's nose and his words stopped. "I have it." Scully said into the silence which followed. The members of the group looked around at each other. Scully drew the object up into the air and pushed the button on it's side. Everyone tensed at the sound. The point jumped up and glinted in the artificial light of the chamber. January 1st 2000 02:13 EST. January 1st 2000 15:13 In Egypt *************************************** The End (8a/8): Mulder & Scully's Egyptian Day Out by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ********************************* January 1st 2000 Under the Sphinx Giza, Egypt 15:58 local time The seal on the great door remained closed, as it had for thousands of years, but today it would be opened and would reveal it's truth upon an unsuspecting world. Deep beyond the outer seal, past the less imposing inner seal, far down inside the Earth, a bleeping noise echoed eerily around the metallic structure at the centre of the largest chamber in the complex. Small animals cowered as the sound reverberated through the labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels which shielded the important sleeper whose temporary home this vault was. In the main chamber, lights began to flash on a previously dull and featureless metallic grey panel as the ignition sequence started to release the chemical mixture which would revive the slumbering ancient. The chamber lit with many colours up as the structure continued it's awakening process. Dancing lights struck the walls bringing the painted prophecy inscribed upon them into vivid relief. Within the life giving walls of his sarcophagus, the ancient took his first breath in 2000 years. *************************** Room 97 Nuclear Bunker Appalachian Mountains 03:58 EST. "Scully, I think I should be the one carrying that." Mulder told her, gesturing towards the object she held lightly in her fist. With it's spike retreated within it's casing it appeared harmless, but Scully knew - no, she *hoped* - that it would be enough for their purpose. Mulder's comment got her back up and she looked down at the hand he had extended towards her as if he expected that she would just hand it over to him. "Which is it *this* time Mulder? Are you being arrogant, patronising or protective?" She deliberately returned the weapon to the pocket of her jeans. "Dana.." Mulder began with a smile. "Since when were you so easy with my name." Scully laughed as she interrupted him. "You're not getting around me like that." "Scully I'm serious." He sighed, sounding tired. His bruised face was testament to the strains of the last few days. "These EBE's are strong. I stand more chance.." "Woah, stop right there Mulder." Scully held her hands up in front of her with the palms facing him. "I'm not doubting that you're just as capable as me, but.." "Yes you are." Scully sighed. "Look, it's in *my* pocket and unless you're planning on fighting *me* for it, then that's where it's staying." She finished decisively and looked up at Mulder to find him smiling. "What? What's funny?" "Nothing." He said as he allowed the smile to become wistful. "I was just thinking about how much I'd missed you. I didn't just hurt you with that farce about me being dead. It was hell without you Scully." Scully reached up and kissed his mouth firmly but, as he began to respond, she drew back. "So we're agreed. *I* get to keep it." She said firmly. Mulder grinned - winced as the pain of his bruised facial tissues hit him - and kissed her. Scully wrapped her arms around his neck as they fought valiantly against their height differences. Mulder's hands moved towards her hips and traced the prominent bones gently. His left hand worked it's way forward, found the hard shape of the weapon and groped covertly for the pocket. Scully's right hand left his neck, ran lightly his over shoulder, down his arm and reached his hand before it got into the pocket. Firmly she guided his hand onto her back instead. They never broke the kiss. Mulder laughed into her mouth and wrapped both his arms around her back. Scully shrieked happily as he lifted her into the air. *************************** The Day Before.. December 31st 1999 The Kitchen Margaret Scully's Residence 23:27 EST. "Base of the neck." Maggie said simply into the receiver. There was a tense silence on the line for a few seconds, then there was a deep inhalation of breath and a grim laugh. "Yes Maggie, but do your sons and their families know that?" The voice asked. "Bill and Charles have no part in this." Maggie replied angrily. "You touch my sons and.." "The scars healed quite well didn't they Maggie? Bill Jr was *so* lucky that he wasn't killed." The voice cut in. Maggie felt as if she was swallowing a golf ball. "You b..!" Maggie began. "Still, we let you off lightly. You kept your child with only a few `minor' imperfections. You should be grateful." "Grateful?!?" Maggie demanded incredulously. "He was only a child! He was in hospital for *three months* after that car hit him." "And he would have died if we hadn't intervened." "I'm supposed to thank you..even though it was your men who were driving the car?" ********************************* January 1st 2000 Room 64 Nuclear Bunker 04:40 EST. Maggie Scully woke up with a start and barely managed to restrain herself from shouting out her eldest son's name. The hard bed was torture but it was less torturous than her nightmares. In them she relived that night again and again; the phone call to say Bill Jr was in the hospital, the doctor explaining that he was in critical condition following on from a head wound, seeing Them in the hospital, Robert's promises, trying to contact Bill on his ship but failing repeatedly, Melissa lightly resting her tiny hand on Maggie's swollen stomach as they sat by the bedside for long hours. He had recovered and he had gone on to live a happy life, get married and have children but the scars had never completely faded, not from his body or from his mother's heart. Maggie rolled onto her stomach and tried to force the images out of her head, tried to sleep, but sleep didn't want to come to her. Instead the image of Dana's face in the main chamber earlier on filled her mind. She deserved her daughter's scorn, it was a bad thing that she did. She'd already had a beautiful son but it had been a difficult birth and the doctors had told her afterwards that she would never have any more children. Maggie had always wanted daughters, but she kept her sorrow to herself. She'd been working as Bill Mulder's secretary before Bill Jr's birth and returned there soon after. It was then that they began work on a new project. It was a fun and exciting time. The people she was working with were interesting and intelligent. Workplace friendships crossed over into leisure time as she and Rebecca Mulder became great friends. The group met often outside of work and they stayed up late into the night talking about every subject under the sun. That was how she became acquainted intimately with Robert. The affair wasn't difficult to organise, because Bill was away on his ship so much of the time there were many opportunities for them to be together outside of work. Bill Jr spent most of his early years with a nanny, which he had hated and which Maggie now regretted with all her heart. It wasn't just physical, Maggie spoke to him on subjects she had never spoken to anyone about before. She told him about her wish for little girls. He smiled and told her that he could answer her wishes, then he'd explained parts of the project to her. His story was not the whole truth, by any means, but it was enough for her to piece together with other bits of information in order to see what was really happening. Before she knew it, she was pregnant. They had planned it down to the last detail so that it would seem as if the child was conceived during the time that Bill was last at home. Despite the unusual method of conception, Melissa was Bill's daughter and for a few months Maggie stayed home and attempted to remain faithful to her husband. Robert's charm was too strong for her to hold out forever though. Maggie returned to work once more, leaving both her beloved children with their nanny, and the temptation grew too strong to resist. Dana was not conceived naturally, nor was she William Scully's daughter. How would her daughter look at her if she ever found out that information? Maggie hadn't even disclosed that to Fox, although she had told Rebecca when her helicopter had arrived here. Maggie had known about Rebecca's relationship with Robert - it hadn't seemed important at the time, those years were like a different reality - so Maggie now felt it important to discover whether there was a possibility that Fox and Dana were related. They weren't, in their human DNA at least - who knew about the alien DNA. Why did she leave the project? That was a whole other story.. The alarm clock next to the bed clicked ominously, then began an incessant bleeping. Maggie gratefully gave up all attempts to sleep and stood up. They should have finished loading up their cargo for Egypt by now. It was time to go. ************************** The Great Pyramid Giza, Egypt 22:03 local time The plateau was almost as bright as day, but the pyramids still cast their imposing shadow over the vast multitude gathered there. Someone had organised thousands of chairs to be laid out across the desert plain and each was now occupied. Near the front, heads of state and leaders of nations sat on a special platform. Privileged leaders of people, gathered to witness the ascension of the human race to a higher level of knowledge. The finely patterned robes of the freemasons made the scene appear all the more surreal. It was like something out of a biblical epic. Cecil B. DeMille couldn't have organised it better. Cancerman viewed the entire scene with a jaundiced eye. Why were his fellow human beings *always* such small minded fools? He turned from the glass wall of the heated box to face his superiors. A large television screen occupied an entire wall of the room and They sat, smiling thinly, observing the drama unfolding on the plane before them. Wry comments were swapped as the people milled about far below their lofty position. Cancerman watched them and smiled, his plans turning over and over in his head. *********************** Behind the Sphinx 22:13 Mulder reached out to run his hand over the solid stone and was amazed as his hand disappeared into the rock. Samantha laughed brightly. "A fake wall." Mulder commented wryly. Scully just shook her head disbelievingly. The skeptic had been defeated on many issues in the past few days but she couldn't change her basic character. The sound of the gathering was muted on this side of the site and it was on the edge of the area lit up by the floodlights. One of the gigantic lighting towers loomed directly above them, casting a zig zag pattern over their faces. Mulder carefully felt around the edges of the illusory wall, mapping where it ended and real stone began. The space was exactly a metre square. Mulder gestured to Jeremiah Smith. "After you." He indicated the wall. Smith walked towards it and felt the bottom edge. "It slopes downwards sharply." He told them and sat down on the rim, half of him disappearing. He sent them back what could have been an amused look and swung his legs around. He slid downwards into the wall and disappeared. "Ladies first." Mulder said in Scully's direction. "Gee Thanks." Scully remarked under her breath as she reached down to feel the wall. She pressed her palms to the place where solid stone should have been, but they passed through as if it was not there. Scully sighed and smiled at Samantha. "Good luck." Samantha told her softly. "I'm sorry that I didn't trust you." Scully told her in return. Samantha just touched her arm reassuringly. "See you at the bottom." She told Mulder. Then Scully climbed into the mouth of the shaft and slid out of sight. Mulder clasped his sister's arm and smiled into her eyes. "I'll be there right with you." Samantha told him. "Now and always." Mulder answered firmly. "Get going. They'll be waiting for you." Samantha laughed suddenly. "Can you hear Scully laughing?" She asked him and Mulder laughed with her. "It's a great sound, isn't it?" He replied. "Good luck Sam." "I love you Fox." She said and reached across - they were of a height - and kissed his cheek. He lightly hugged her and kissed her cheek in return. "I love you too." They stepped apart and Mulder slid through the wall. "Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" He screamed as he lost his footing and slid face first down the dark shaft. The steep angle of descent sent him tumbling and bouncing along the rough stone walls. He forced himself into a seating position and continued the sliding descent as though he was on a helter skelter at a fairground. The tunnel veered and careened like toboggan run, swinging him violently from left to right around sharp corners. The air grew stale the further into the catacombs he fell. Sand caught in his mouth and throat, it covered his clothes and matted his hair. Then he wasn't touching any walls, he was flying through the air. He landed in an undignified heap on the hard floor in a pitch black space. His muscles screamed in protest and the bruises he had sustained in his earlier beating now had little baby bruises of their own. Blood trickled from a gash on his arm. He struggled to sit but jumped as sliding noise sounded above him. Something flew past him as he rapidly moved out of it's path. It hit the floor and smashed with a sound of breaking glass. He thought with a sinking heart. Why him? Why was it *always* him? He opened up his jacket and felt around in the inside pocket. His hand closed on the object he sought and he removed it. Flicking the switch, he breathed a relieved sigh as a tiny pin point of light came to life. ************************* The labyrinth Scully scrambled around on the floor searching for her hold-all. The bag had fallen some way away from where she had but it appeared to have survived intact. A pain in her temple caused Scully to raise her hand to it, it came away sticky and Scully realised that she was bleeding despite the fact that she could see absolutely nothing in the blackness. The sound of the zipper on the bag was very loud in the deadness of her location. The torch was the largest object in the bag and was thereby easy to find. She flicked the switch and the shock of light from the Maglite sent Scully's eyesight strange for a couple of seconds. Once she had recovered, she used it to scan the walls and found that she was in a long featureless corridor which was about 15 feet high and 7 feet wide. She could see the black hole from which she had entered, about half way up the wall to the left of her. No wonder hitting the floor had proved quite so painful. She put the torch on the floor and tried to stand up, it was only then that she realised how badly she had hurt her ankle when she'd hit the floor. Hopping slightly, she bent down to grab the torch and the hold-all. Swinging the bag onto her back and holding the torch in her right hand, she used the wall to keep her upright as she set off to find Mulder and Jeremiah Smith. **************************** The Consortium's Viewing Box 22:31 Samantha didn't enter the room. Instead she stood in the doorway and waited for Cancerman to come to her. His glance in her direction was cool and he excused himself as if it were nothing important. Samantha walked out of the room and he followed her. They stopped some distance away. "They made it safely into the tunnels." She told him. "Everything as planned?" He asked flatly. "Not quite, they all got split up on the way down into the catacombs." "Have any of them found the main chamber yet?" Samantha didn't answer for a moment. She appeared contemplative and distant, then she returned her full attention to him and her present location. "Neither Mulder or Scully has, they still haven't found each other. Let's hope that Smith is close." ****************************** Jeremiah Smith followed the light. Ahead of him pulsating lights led the way towards his goal; the ancient. The chamber which he reached was as he had expected. The sides towered 50 feet above him and the chamber was at least 200 feet wide. The walls of the chamber were adorned with intricate carvings that looked almost like photographs. The spaceship stood on stone supports in the centre. The ship gave off a dull bluish metallic shine and coloured lights flashed intermittently from the points of it's triangular construction. At the centre of the triangle was a bulge, like a huge pimple stretched to it's limits and about to burst. The bulge was 50 feet across and 10 feet high. Smith's timing was either very good or terrible because, as he watched, a hatch began to open in the side of the bulge. The figure that emerged was tall and broad, but it's head was oval shaped and it's eyes were huge and slanted black egg shapes. It wore no clothes but had no obvious bodily features and it's skin was scaly and greyish in colour. As it caught sight of Smith it began to morph into a human form. Features melted in; a tall athletic build, disturbing blue eyes and shock of collar-length blond hair. It was still naked but was now fully equipped. "You have a large ego." Jeremiah Smith called out to the EBE. "Leave." The EBE stated flatly. "It's before time." "I can't do that. My name is Jeremiah Smith and I'm going to have to kill you." He informed him dryly. "Foolish human. Don't you know what I am?" The voice boomed around the chamber. "I'm not human. I'm an alien-human hybrid." Jeremiah Smith replied. The alien showed no reaction. "The plan succeeded." It stated. "The plan will fail." A second voice said from behind the alien. It turned slowly towards the sound. From one of the dark tunnels that led into the chamber, Mulder stepped out into the dancing coloured lights. He looked in a bad way, bruised and bloodied, but walked with confidence and carried a knife before him. The alien stepped down from the lip of the spaceship and walked slowly towards Mulder. "That can't kill me." It stated flatly. Mulder's palms were sweating and his grip on the knife wasn't secure. He readjusted his hold fractionally and held it out more threateningly. He knew that the knife would have no effect of the EBE, unless - maybe - it was plunged into the back of it's neck. The alien turned it's head to look back in the direction of Smith, who had walked slowly with it towards Mulder. They now stood in a tighter group to one side of the large chamber. Mere metres separated them from each other. The alien looked back to Mulder, who assumed a more threatening stance and made to lunge towards it. Instead he threw the knife to Smith, who made a stab at the alien's back. It was too fast for him and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him as if he weighed no more than a bag of sugar, and threw him across the chamber. He hit the wall high up and slid to the floor. Mulder barrelled into the alien just as it let of Smith and managed to catch it off balance. It fell sideways but righted itself and turned on Mulder. The momentum of his movement had had Mulder sprawling, eyes-closed, across the floor, but when he opened them the knife was in front of his eyes. He reached out to grab it but was a spilt second too late. The alien picked him up and threw him across the chamber. Smith staggered to his feet, winded but unhurt. He crossed to the knife while the alien was busy with Mulder. He seriously doubted that the knife would affect the alien at all. It needed to be the correct tool. If he broke the alien's skin then exposure to it's blood would surely kill Mulder. The alien, having finished with Mulder, spun back to face Smith once more. "If you are really a hybrid, then you know that can't kill me." It told him. "You've been asleep for a long time. What do you know?" Smith told it bravely, it was a bluff that would buy them a little time at least. For the first time the EBE appeared unsure of itself. Smith took the opportunity to lunge for it, but the alien was an expert at bluffing too. It recovered too quickly for it's apparent confusion and ran at Smith. It clasped it's hands around Smith's neck and those hands locked in a vice-like grip. It continued running, driving Smith backwards until he hit the wall of the chamber. He struggled but it did no good. Then the alien smiled. Smith's hand had locked convulsively around the knife but the alien just removed one hand from his throat - the second maintained more than enough pressure to keep him powerless - and took hold of Smith's wrist. As it pressed, the fingers unlocked and it deftly caught the falling knife. Now it removed the second hand from Smith's throat and moved it instead to his hair. It took a firm hold and dragged him forward, exposing his neck. The alien moved the point of the knife into position. Mulder looked up from his place on the floor. There was too much pain in his spine for him to move. He'd placed too much pressure on his body in the last few days and now it was rebelling. The alien's shadow towered on the chamber wall thanks to the still dancing lights of the spaceships awakening sequence. The knife's shadow stretched and loomed across the ceiling. The lights hit the knife in the alien's hand and sent a blistering flash towards Mulder, temporarily blinding him. From her position crouched behind the spaceship Scully had watched the fight, wincing as Mulder had hit the floor. She didn't want to lose the element of surprise so she had kept hidden until the best possible moment. Now she edged towards the alien's naked and exposed back. She raised the weapon to shoulder level and planned where she would plunge it. She was about to strike when something stopped her. She was aiming too low. She should be aiming at a spot nearer to the height of it's ears, where - in human's at least - the brain met the spinal cord. Which spot was the right one? She told herself. The alien started to lower the knife towards Jeremiah Smith's neck. < "Do it!" > Samantha yelled inside her head. < "Now!" > Mulder yelled simultaneously. Scully brought her arm up and struck the alien. The point disappeared into it's `flesh' to the hilt. Scully let out a rush of air from her lungs, then swung away from the alien. The knife fell out of it's grasp and clattered uselessly on the floor. It let go of Jeremiah Smith and he moved aside quickly. The EBE turned to face Scully with a look of intense pain. It fumbled for the weapon, which was still stuck in it's neck. Scully stood her ground merely a metre away from the alien. "You're the One!" It gasped, pointing towards the wall. Then it fell to it's knees - Scully moved out of it's way - and then fell flat. It was dead. Green liquid sizzled from around the entrance wound of the weapon. **************************** The Main Chamber 23:39 Scully let out a deep breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding. "Mulder!" She exclaimed suddenly and rushed over to him. She fell to her knees beside him and stopped him from sitting up. "Stay there." She ordered firmly. Mulder attempted a smile. "I'm not going anywhere." He said softly and lay back down. Scully removed her shirt and placed it under his head. He gasped in pain as he lay back, but she managed to guide him into a comfortable position. Jeremiah Smith stood over the EBE, watching as it turned green and `decomposed'. His gaze followed the arm down to the finger that it had outstretched before it died. The finger pointed to the wall, to a specific picture near the base of the wall. Smith moved over for a closer look and couldn't stop his eyes from widening as he saw the photographic quality carving. "You know Scully," Mulder began huskily. "That alien reminded me of somebody but I can't work out who." He closed his eyes. Scully smiled. "I'm sure you'll figure it out." She told him. ******************************** Oakley Village - 50 miles from London Hampshire, UK 21:56 GMT The bee hive had been sealed for it's journey from the north of England. Dozens like it had been moved to locations all over the United Kingdom. It was one of thousands which had been strategically positioned in quiet areas all over the planet. Across the globe men and women were dressed in protective suits ready to open the hives and let loose the next plague upon the world. They could be it's first victims. No one had informed them that they would be responsible for a holocaust. ******************************************* The End (8b/8): The X Files by Erica Miszti (Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk) ********************************* January 1st 2000 The Great Pyramid Giza, Egypt 23:56 A silence fell over the vast crowd as an ancient and secret ceremony was played out. Anyone watching it would have laughed - Cancerman had to stifle his laughter - but the participants took it very seriously. They were right to, because - although the ceremony had no real significance to any religion or God or ancient wisdom - the moment deserved a pageant of grandeur to mark it. The chosen man descended towards the outer seal and recited the words some historian had unearthed. They meant nothing. The earth did not shake. Thunder did not crash. There was no lightening blot across the heavens. It was a stick of dynamite that blasted the intricately fashioned Great Seal into smithereens. ********************************* The Inner Seal Under the Great Pyramid 23:56 Jeremiah Smith stood passively in the cool of the tunnel. He looked the part dressed in the robes which the alien had obviously intended to wear for it's grand entrance into the 21st century. Scully stood next to him, straightening the rich golden fabric. "There. *Now* you look like a God." She told him. "Not bad for a drone." He commented flatly. "Have you planned what to say?" Scully asked, with a quirk of her lips. "I'll say what seems right." He told her seriously. "I don't suppose you know how Mulder and I are supposed to get out of here?" "This is the only way out as far as I know." He informed her. "Great!" She murmured, then looked up at him and smiled. "I guess I'd better go check on Mulder. Good luck." She touched his arm, smiled again and began to move away. "Dana," He called, stopping her. "Take a look at the piece of wall the alien pointed at." Scully's brow creased in confusion. Then the floor shook violently. They both stumbled but stayed on their feet. "They've broken through the outer seal." Smith finished quickly. "Go!" **************************** January 2nd 2000 The Great Pyramid 00:00 The inner seal was easier to breach and the crowd held it's breath as the chosen man moved forward. He was ready to enter the promised library of knowledge, the hall of records, the ancient knowledge of Atlantis. He stopped as a man walked through the settling dust towards him. The man was tall and athletic, with disturbing blue eyes and collar-length blond hair. His golden robe sparkled unnaturally in the artificial light from the floodlights. He walked with his palms upturned, outstretched in a gesture of peace. **************************** The Consortium's Viewing Box 00:01 The men watched on the giant television screen as the tiny figure emerged. Wide smiles spread across all of their faces, with the notable exceptions of Cancerman and of Samantha Mulder. The shadowy men rejoiced as their new world was born. **************************** Oakley Village Hampshire, UK 22:01 GMT The bee hive was opened. **************************** The labyrinth 00:02 Scully hurried back through the tunnels that led to the main chamber. She found Mulder once again trying to move from his prone position on the floor. "You needn't bother Mulder, it looks like we wont be leaving for a while." "Why?" He asked, after managing to sit up. Scully sat down on the floor opposite him. "Guess which is the only way out." She answered him sardonically. He groaned. "So we're gonna miss the party." He returned sarcastically. She nodded, then her face froze and she turned around to face the wall. "Scully? What's up?" Mulder asked. Scully stood up and went over to the carvings. "Is this the direction the alien pointed in?" She questioned. "I think so. Why?" Mulder answered, standing up painfully and joining her. Together they crouched to look at the large carved picture. Together their eyes widened. They turned simultaneously to look at each other. The carving was a photographic quality rendering of Scully plunging the spike into the alien's neck. ******************************* The Consortium's Viewing Box 00:04 Samantha whispered into Cancerman's ear and he finally smiled. He gestured to one of the armed guards at the doorway, who spoke into his walkie-talkie, and the room was shortly filled with armed guards. They each stepped up to one of the shadow men and aimed the high calibre rifles at them. The Well Manicured Man stood up - despite the rifle levelled at him - and faced Cancerman. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded. Cancerman pointed to the figure addressing the spell-bound audience. "That is the renegade Jeremiah Smith and he is acting under my control." He stated flatly. The Well Manicured Man smiled patronisingly back at him. "Control?" He asked. "I'm taking control of the project." Cancerman told him. "You cannot control Them." The man warned. "But they will have to deal with me and me alone." Cancerman smoothly countered. "Take them away." He ordered the soldiers. The shadow men were removed to an unknown fate. Cancerman had plans for them. As he reached the door the Well Manicured Man turned and addressed Samantha. "Trust no one." He told her, before he was ushered out. ************************** The main chamber 00:13 Mulder and Scully didn't even notice the time as they scanned the images carved into the walls of the chamber. The past, present and future of the human race on Earth was written here. The images played before them seeming vibrant and alive. A living chronicle of a species. The beginning; the alien landing and changing the race forever with minor genetic alterations. The middle; everything from the stone age, through to the space age, and right into new age. Important historical figures had their places; leaders, visionaries, healers, revolutionaries. The best of men through to the scum of history. All revered in stone on this wall. A photograph album of his children kept by a loving father. But it went further. It foretold the future. A plague. The death of a species. Then the birth of a new species. Pre-ordained. Not a prophecy but a plan. A project. A colony. That wasn't what necessarily scared Scully the most. It was the carving of her and Mulder during their first meeting in his basement office that held that honour. Great figures of history where on this wall - and here *they* were. It was not the only carving of them. The later ones were full of images of a couple - a tall dark man and a small red-haired woman - all from a distance but not likely to be a pure coincidence. "I told you it was rigged from the start, didn't I Scully?" Mulder said trying to lighten the heavy mood which had descended on the chamber. Scully didn't even think of smiling. **************************** The Viewing Room 00:21 Samantha paced back and forth, doubt eating at her. He was up to something. The Cancerman had a plan that he hadn't told her about. She saw all that Mulder and Scully saw in the chamber deep beneath the Great Pyramid, but it didn't correlate with what he had told her he planned to do. He said that he would *save* the human race. Samantha had a deep suspicion that he actually had no such intention. He wanted to save himself and no one else. On the wall, on the giant TV screen behind her, down below on the desert plane, Jeremiah Smith still held the crowd enthralled. He was currently levitating. ****************************** The spaceship The main chamber 00:30 Mulder stepped inside the spaceship and gazed around in awe at the control centre of the craft. The surfaces were featureless and the same shade of dull metallic bluish-greyish. Mulder strode in with childish excitement. Scully followed with less enthusiasm. As they walked through the doorway a blue light lit up on a otherwise empty grey panel. It began to flash rhythmically. Words start to flow - suprisingly in English - across another panel. Systems - Check Engines - Check Life support - Check The list continued and got more specific with each cycle. Mulder traced a hand over the smooth metallic surfaces, under his touch they began to glow with white light. "Mulder, would you come here a second please!?" Scully called out suddenly, horror evident in her voice. Just then the door to the spaceship slammed shut. ******************************** The Viewing Box 00:39 Maggie Scully arrived in the room expecting to find someone there. The room was empty. She looked up at the screen and saw Jeremiah Smith laying hands onto a man in a wheelchair. The man stood up and walked a few seconds later. Maggie had seen that trick before. It was a parlour game to Them. It didn't matter to her. What she wanted to know was what had happened to her daughter and to Mulder. The sound of several pairs of footsteps echoed down the corridor outside and Maggie was struck by the ridiculous idea that she should hide. Somehow the idea carried itself out and she hid behind a screen which had been placed at one end of the room to hide the buffet lunch that had been laid out for the consortium. "The release of the bees went as planned?" Cancerman asked, as he walked into the room. The uniformed man who had travelled with him in the elevator at the bunker back in the US walked in after him. "Exactly as scheduled sir." "And all essential staff have been given the vaccine?" "Yes sir." "Good." Cancerman said flatly. "Location reports?" "Right sir." The man read from his clipboard. "Miss Mulder is currently attempting to recover Agents Mulder and Scully. Their location at this time is assumed to be within the vault. Mrs. Mulder and Mrs. Scully are watching events in the lower viewing box. The men formerly known as the Consortium are under protective custody and on their way to the location near Jerusalem as per your orders." "Fine. Now I want regularly updated reports on their locations from now on. The next stages shall be critical and most go exactly as planned." "Yes sir." He saluted and left. Maggie stepped out from behind the screen. Cancerman had been watching Smith on the screen, but turned at the sound. "What are you doing Robert?" She demanded flatly. "Carrying out my plans. As I always intended to. I hope you wont get in my way Maggie?" "You didn't even try to stop the bees from being released." She said accusingly. "Why would I want to? Power needs a purpose to survive. I get to choose who lives and dies. The ultimate power." "I wont let you. Fox and Dana wont let you." "What can they do? They're under my power now too. If they were a threat then they would never get out of the vault." "You wouldn't dare!" "Wrong. I choose not to. They are important to my creation of a new order of power. Jeremiah Smith is too." "World domination?" Maggie asked incredulously. "That's more for comic book villains than real life, isn't it?" She mocked. "It's a fact." Maggie shook her head disbelievingly and made for the door. "Where are you going?" He demanded. "To talk to Rebecca." She said. "Stop right there." He said firmly. When Maggie turned back to him the first thing she saw was the gun aimed at her. "You wont get a chance to say anything to Rebecca." He said desperately. Maggie's eyes widened. "No!" She exclaimed softly. The silencer deadened the shot and Rebecca would never have known that he had fired it, if she hadn't that instant stepped into the doorway. His panic-stricken eyes met hers over the dead body of Margaret Scully. "Why?" She demanded horrified. "I did it for you. Everything for you. I wanted to give you the world." "For me? You perpetrated this horror for me?" She stared at him disbelievingly. "I despise you. All I ever wanted was my husband and my children to love. You destroyed all that for me." "I love you. I helped you." "Love? You call this love?" "I wanted us to rule the world together." "No. I wont do that." She held her hand out to him. "Give me the gun Robert." His eyes swam with tears, but he handed her the gun. She removed the silencer like an experienced gun user and, to his horror, she placed the gun to her temple. "It's not my hand on the trigger." She told him. "It's yours. I should have died, but you saved me. You're righting that wrong." She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry Fox. I'm sorry Samantha." She pulled the trigger. Cancerman closed his eyes and looked away as the gunshot sounded, but he was standing close enough to be splattered by her blood. Then he cried. ************************** The Great Pyramid 00:41 Samantha was attempting to get back to the location where they had entered the catacombs, but people were milling about freely on the site now. Jeremiah Smith had captivated them and people were repeating his words almost mindlessly. Samantha shut them out for fear of getting sucked into the insanity which was occurring here. She had to fight her way through. *************************** The spaceship 00:41 The ship was glowing blue-white, but Mulder and Scully had given up trying to stop it. "Where do you supposed it's programmed to go?" Scully asked, whilst lounging in one of the surprisingly comfortable control chairs. Not that they *were* in control of anything on board the ship. "Reticula?" Mulder suggested flippantly and Scully shot him a comfortable smile. He was seated in the other chair. "You seem surprisingly cool about this minor crisis Scully." He commented. She shrugged. "It seems I was wrong. I'm big enough to admit it when faced with *this* much evidence." She joked and Mulder grinned. "One way or another we seem to be related to these aliens." "Then maybe killing one of them was *not* a good way to introduce ourselves." Mulder remarked. "If that wall is anything to go by, they already know about us." Lights began flashing wildly on the control panels. Mulder and Scully looked at each other seriously. "This is it." Mulder told her. "I guess so." She replied. The ship began to move from it's stone supports. ***************************** The Viewing Box Cancerman was still crying over Rebecca when the ground began to shake. ***************************** The Great Pyramid Samantha was caught in the crush when the ground started to rock and roll under her feet. People were shrieking and running away from the Pyramids. The giant blocks were wobbling and beginning to fall. Jeremiah Smith advised calm and declared it to be a sign. A good sign naturally. Samantha wasn't so sure. She decided to run. < "This is gonna blow your socks off Sammy." > Mulder's voice said inside her head. < "No shit!"> She replied, whilst she dodged people. < "You better not be anywhere near the pyramids Sam." > Scully informed her. < "Then we have a problem." > She returned sarcastically. < "You better run." > Mulder told her. < "Could you two shut up for a second while I do just that!" > Behind her, large splits began to appear in the ground. Sand slithered it's way into the cracks like water flowing downhill, looking as though all the sand in the desert would be pulled into them. Then the rumbling noise began. The movement of the earth overturned the lighting towers, plunging the site into abrupt darkness. Small fires broke out in places. The ripples in the ground grew stronger. The noise intensified. Then light began to spill up from inside the earth itself. ********************* The Viewing Box Cancerman stood watching through the window as the pyramids themselves crumbled into dust and sank into the earth. Even as they did another object began to ascend. The light grew blinding, but a shape was visible at the centre. A triangular spaceship. ********************* The spaceship Ripping a spaceship out from underground was not easy and was about as pleasant for it's occupants as it was for those on the surface. The ship rocked and shook, but Mulder and Scully clung together through it all and then the ship was free and the ride was smooth. They looked out through the viewscreen which had appeared in front of them. Through the dust it was just possible to make out the desert plateau on which the mighty pyramids and the Sphinx had once stood. It was rubble. People were scrambling for their lives. "Mulder," Scully began in a tired tone. "I think that we just *became* an x file." "You could be right." They exchanged a wary expression, then returned their attention to the viewer. ************************* The Viewing Box Cancerman just *knew* that Mulder and Scully were on that ship. Yet again they had upset his plans and he was sure that they would be back to do it again. He looked down at the bodies that still lay on the floor of the room. He hardened his heart. Now there was just him. ************************* Samantha watched the ship past the swirling dust cloud. < "What an exit." > She told them sardonically. < "If there's any way back.." > Mulder told her. < "Don't hurry on my account. Hurry for the sake of the human race. With CM in charge who knows what'll happen." > Samantha replied. < "Take care of the X Files." > Scully told her and Mulder laughed. < "I don't know how we'll explain this to Skinner." > She joked. < "Lost: One torch. One knife. Two guns. Oh yeah and the site of an ancient monument." > Mulder recounted. < "Good luck, wherever you end up." > Samantha told them sincerely. < "What a turnaround, eh Sammy!" > Were Mulder's last words to his sister. ************************* The spaceship Mulder turned to Scully with a wide smile. "You know, I always fancied the idea of you and me walking off into a picture-book sunset." "I don't know you were a romantic Mulder." "Neither did I Scully." "It's not exactly a sunset." "It's very *us* though." "Yes Mulder, it is." They kissed and the spaceship ascended to the stars. THE END ************************* (hey! - hang on a second: that was way *too* sappy an ending ) Epilogue They were followed by a smaller triangular craft, the occupant of which smiled at the thought of the reception that Mulder and Scully would receive when they got where they were going. The Bounty Hunter smiled, but it didn't really look much like a smile. Then he reverted to his true form; grey scaly skin, oval head, slanted eyes and switched the craft onto auto-pilot so that it could follow Mulder and Scully's ship back to his home. POST SCRIPT: Location: Dallas, Texas Date: Jan 4th 2000 Name: John Adams Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting) Location: Edinburgh, UK Date: March 26th 2000 Name: Anastasia West Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting) Location: Calais, France Date: August 9th 2000 Name: Pierre Sadin Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting) Location: Vancouver, Canada Date: Feb 10th 2001 Name: Andrea Bradstreet Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting) Location: Adelaide, Australia Date: April 18th 2001 Name: Lois Walker Official cause of death: Anaphylactic shock (caused by bee sting) Extract only! - Level Six Classification clearance required SOURCE: CDC report dated: 12/31/16 ************THE END********************* "Not with a whimper, but with a bang." Fox Mulder `Pusher'. Don't be a stranger, write and tell me what you thought of the story. Praise will make me feel all warm and cuddly. Flames will get me angry and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry. I was in a *good* mood when I destroyed the Pyramids and set up the destruction of the human race. Erica ********* "Okay it's not the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory." Fox Mulder Erica.Miszti@premium-mail.co.uk EMMISZTI@aol.com emmisz@falmouth.ac.uk ***Classified Writings*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/fanfic.htm ***The Clones Network*** http://members.aol.com/emmiszti/cnet.htm "I do have this romantic attitude towards the truth, I can't help it." Tony Clark (Between The Lines) "We don't know what we don't know." William Spear (Feng Shui Consultant) "I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe that something resembling it could arrive." George Orwell "The future is inevitable - the form it takes is not." Michael Shallis 'The Silicon Idol' "That is pure science fiction." Dana Scully "We aren't in good old Basingstoke [ah..sweet home town] in good old Hampshire in good old England anymore, Roddy. This is somewhere else." 'Adventureland' by Steve Harris. "[the Cat] placed the icon on the rim of the rock, and turned the handle. And the handle turned. And the rock opened. And inside the rock was Alphabetti spaghetti in tomato sauce." Red Dwarf by Grant Naylor "He was alone with himself and his theory and his dreams." Quantum Leap: 'Prelude' by Ashley McConnell