Intermission
In the normal scheme of things and as time moved on, as it was bound to do, FBI Special Agent
Dana Scully generally found that she had very little time to reflect on events, but sometimes the
urge to speculate on they way things were and the might have beens was irresistible, even to her.
Today was one of those days.
The day had started badly. First the tests wouldn’t yield the answers she and so many others
desperately needed, then she’d been pronounced dead on national television in a manner which
she found more embarrassing than anything else. Well, for her it was embarrassing but for
Mulder and her mother it was much worse than that. She’d already been in contact with her
mother, seeking her reassurance, strength and love instinctively as she had always done in the
past.
Having had a chance to assure her mom of her continued existence, Scully had gone in search of
the other person that mattered. Mulder. As expected he wasn’t in his apartment, she’d hadn’t
really expected him there yet, so she had let herself in and waited, taking comfort from the
familiar locale and even sleeping in the same spot he usually occupied on the couch. It felt like a
pilgrimage to a shrine, like touching base with something important, and it had given her time to
think about some old and some recent history.
Once upon a time everything had been simple. The world had been like a series of colour
pictures her mind, existing as a bright, shiny thing that made sense in it’s own way with each as
yet unsolved aspect merely a new challenge, a puzzle that science would unscramble and
understand given enough time. Her focus then had been easy, she’d merely wanted to contribute
to something more, something greater than herself. Yes, Dana Scully had wanted to save the
world one piece, one person and then, eventually, one case, at a time. Now all she really wanted
to do was save herself, her family and her partner from a reality that she had always wanted to
deny the existence of. To say that Scully was scared was to put it mildly, not that she would ever
admit such a thing to anyone else, especially not to Mulder. He could never know of her fears,
not because she didn’t want him to, but because everything he knew They knew. They. Them.
The greatest enemy. Not the things she didn’t know, not the things she hadn’t believed but
Them, the very thing she should have seen all those years ago when she had set out on the path
which had led her to Quantico, to the Bureau and Mulder and to his fucking-naive X Files’
dreamworld.
Lying to Mulder was the thing she hated the most and she done him the greatest injustice she
could ever have imagined doing. To take his memories of the one event he most wanted from
him was more than cruelty, but it was done to protect the knowledge that he held as a sacred
thing. It was to protect the truth about the existence of extra-terrestrial life. She felt guilty, but he
had agreed to it, just to a minor cover-up all their own to protect the truth from those who would
seek to destroy and abuse the evidence of it to the detriment of every man, woman and child on
the planet.
The sound of a footfall in the corridor had alerted Scully out of her rambling thoughts. It was
probably Mulder, or maybe even Skinner, one of the Lone Gunmen perhaps? Better safe than
sorry though, Scully thought and moved deeper into the shadows to wait and to watch. It wasn’t
keys that jangled in the lock but the door still opened and a shadowy figure crept into the room.
The person didn’t switch on the lights, they just slid the door silently closed behind them and
turned to take stock of the room. Unmoving Scully stood in the cloaking darkness as the person
switched on a low power torch and moved further into the room. With the drapes pulled fast
closed the faint light provided enough illumination for the person to search but not to be seen
from outside. Scully saw though and smiled to herself in the pitch black beyond the torch glow.
You wont find the Silver Pyramid, she thought devilishly, if Mulder doesn’t realise where it is then
you certainly wont. The torch flicked over the persons face and Scully noted that it was a man,
possibly in his early thirties and dressed in a black turtleneck and jeans that would look the height
of fashion if he were out in the streets. In here, searching as he was through Mulder’s desk, there
was only one conclusion to be drawn. He was one of Them, an MIB, a man in black, for want of a
better description. He belonged to the shadowy group that made up the great enemy that Scully
feared.
The MIB moved to the bookcase and began to pull books off the shelves and look behind them.
Another footfall caused Scully’s and the MIB’s ears to prick up, it was now his turn to pause. In a
move that sent a shiver of worry through Scully, the MIB pulled his gun and pointed it towards the
closed door. She already knew that they would not kill Mulder, which meant that he knew that the
person at the door could not be Mulder or he wouldn’t even risk it. So where was Mulder? What
kind of situation had he gotten himself into this time? Maybe he had worked out about the
Pyramid and the keychain? Or maybe her friends had come looking for her through Mulder? It
was no use speculating. It was time for action.
As soundlessly as she could, Scully put her hand into her shoulder holster and drew out her
standard issue weapon, bringing it evenly up to a level with the back of the man’s neck.
“Drop it now or I’ll blow your head off.” She stated softly but firmly. He didn’t jump to obey so she
figured that she had nothing to lose and so she pushed. “Do it.” She ordered, and watched in
relief as he clicked the safety on and threw it away. “Now, on your knees.” She compounded
calmly. He moved to obey.
The door opened and Scully’s concentration moved to momentarily the person entering, but a
sudden movement from the man in front of her had her attention snapping back to him. He
stood up, spun around and tried to grab the gun from her hands. Scully’s reaction was instinctual
rather than neat. Her foot shot out, catching his shin hard and drawing a sharp exclamation from
his lips. He continued his lunge for her gun and she sidestepped, bringing her foot round again
and hooking it around his leg. Her hands grabbed his arms and twisted making his fall worse.
He landed solidly with the wind knocked out of him. His eyes closed as he tried to recover.
When he opened them again, mere split seconds later, the gun was already aimed back at his
head. Scully smiled menacingly down at him and his eyes widened when he saw who had
managed to beat him. The lights flicked on suddenly, half-blinding them both.
“What’s going on here?” Skinner demanded. Scully lifted her head to look squarely at him.
“Scully!” He stated in shock. “You’re alive!”
Scully smiled grimly over at him.
“Just another one of the undead.” She replied, then sobered. “Where’s Mulder?”