This is going to be a several part cross-over involving both ALIAS and THE X-FILES. The lore ofALIASwill be more important than the X-FILES, but I'll explain everything as we go along.
Enjoy!
FBI Headquarters
Washington, DC
0700 h.
When Special Agent Dana Scully arrived at the office the door was locked and the lights inside were off.
This was unusual for two reasons.
One, her partner, Special Agent Fox Mulder, was always at work before her except for when he was in the hospital.
And, two, Mulder wasn't known for his energy conserving and, when Scully had left the office the night before Mulder had still been working tirelessly on his most recent obsession: proving that Dullahan's exist.
Scully flashed back to the previous evening as she unlocked the door.
"What the hell is a Dullahan, Mulder?" Scully asked.
"An Irish fairy, Scully," Mulder replied, barely even blinking anymore, his face lit with excitement as he read yet another report of sightings on the Net.
"Anything more specific?" Scully asked, deciding to hear him out before she started arguing her side of the 'what the hell are you on now, Mulder?' argument. It was easier for her to disprove—or, more commonly, though she hated to admit it most times, prove—his theories once she had actually heard them out.
"They're your basic malevolent entity, Scully," Mulder said, now looking at her instead of the screen, his glasses swiftly removed so he could see her clearly. "The original Headless Horseman, if you will. They ride around the Irish countryside and kill anyone who sees them while they search for the homes of dying people. Now, there aren't many reports in the last decade or so, but recently there have been at least a dozen deaths where the cause was a basin of acidic blood appearing and being thrown in the face of the victim, or being struck in the eye with a human spine and sent into a coma that is so deep that it makes Snow White in her glass coffin look lively."
"As opposed to those other, lively comas," Scully said derisively. "Hey, maybe that's the answer to waking these people from their comas. True love's first kiss. Worked for Snow White, right?" she added sarcastically. "Come on, Mulder. There's gotta be a more logical answer to what happened to those people. A toxin was introduced to their systems or maybe they got in a fight and suffered major brain damage. There are logical explanations for what is going on. You're looking for fairies when there's just science. Hell, there's a civil war going on right now, that could easily explain what has happened."
"How much do you know about Irish fairies?"
"I know that Missy used to read everything on them that she could when we were little," Scully said. "Our grandmother enjoyed telling us stories about magic and myths from Ireland. She'd love you. You'd like her, too, I think. She loves all that crap you devote your life to."
"It's not crap," Mulder pouted.
"Whatever," Scully said, rolling her eyes. "What's this all about, anyway?"
"Galway, Ireland. Reported sightings of Dullahans every few nights for the last four months, all resulting in a death," Mulder said, fishing a file out of the mess on his desk—organized chaos, he called it—and tossed it to Scully without a care in the world.
"What does this have to do with us?" Scully asked.
"A senator's daughter was visiting her aunt and was killed. Skinner already informed me that this is supposed to be our top priority."
"So we're going to Galway?" Scully asked, unable to hide her excitement at the prospect of going to Ireland.
"Not yet. Our bald and fearless AD wants to see if we can crack this from US soil before shelling out the dough to send us to the Emerald Isle," Mulder said. "I've gotta go see a man about a printer. See you tomorrow?" he said, getting up from his desk and heading for the door.
"Yeah," Scully said distractedly as she stuffed the file into her briefcase with several other files that she needed to take home.
She left the office, leaving the lights on but locking the door, knowing that Mulder would be back soon but that he would kill her if she left the door unlocked. And, if there was one thing that she had learned working with Fox Mulder, it was that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get you.
Deciding that she might just be catching the paranoia that surrounded her partner like an itchy wool blanket, Scully held off on the frantic calling to find him that was her first reaction to the lack of Mulder in the office. If he didn't show by ten she would call his cell. He was probably just doing his thing, taking off without her to check out a lead on whatever the hell it was this time around.
After putting together her report for a case they had just closed, transcribing two months of overdue autopsy notes, and returning the phone calls and e-mails she'd received since she left the night before, Scully had nothing left to do except for worry about what had happened to Mulder. With his track record for getting his adorable ass into the tightest of corners against the creepiest and weirdest of foes, Scully was positive that something or someone had done something to Mulder.
Problem was, other than the whole Dullahans thing, they had no cases pending, Violent Crimes didn't have any profiles for him to write, and none of their enemies had been sighted anywhere in the vicinity of DC. Even their dear old Smokey, CGB Spender, has been quiet of late, though not suspiciously. There had been whispers of things he was involved in and, though they never found any solid evidence, they never had before. At least, not that had survived whatever 'cleansing ritual' Smoking Man had put into place in case he got caught.
Kim, Skinner's assistant, called Scully in the middle of her second recap of all the cases that had left people pissed off at Fox Mulder—not a short list by any means—and the slightly mousy but still beautiful girl said that the Assistant Director wanted to see her immediately.
They hadn't pissed anyone off in weeks, not even other agents in the building, and even their current issues with Irish faeries didn't warrant an 'immediately', so, of course, Scully knew something had happened to her partner.
Willing herself not to jump to conclusions, Scully grabbed her cell phone and headed out, locking the office and rushing to the elevator. The car came quickly and was blessedly empty. She may be able to hide her emotions from the world, but sometimes even the Hoover Building's resident Ice Queen had to have time alone to refreeze from time to time. Scully frowned when she realized she had referred to herself as the Ice Queen, a nickname that had always hurt her, especially when she found out that some people she counted as friends had taken to calling her the derisive combination of perfectly innocent words.
After exiting the elevator on the floor that held Skinner's office, Scully stopped to talk to a tech from the SciCrime lab, then she went into the outer area of the Assistant Director's office. Kim looked at her sympathetically as she told the redhead to go right on in. Another bad sign. Even when the X-Files team was in for a major ass kicking they had to wait to see Skinner. Being able to go right in meant that the AD had cleared his schedule, fended off agents and coworkers, had Kim hold his calls, and probably used some kind of bug killer so that their conversation would not be overheard by prying ears.
When she entered the office, the AD was at his desk, flipping through a thick encyclopaedia that Scully recognized as one of Mulder's books on the supernatural and the occult. It was a personal favourite of his, containing the most valid—in his opinion—and detailed descriptions of aliens that had ever been published by a semi-reputable publishing company. Scully remembered that Skinner had borrowed the tome to get better acquainted with the X-Files, as that particular volume had been referenced in more than half of their cases over the last few years.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" Scully said from just inside the door.
"Take a seat, Agent Scully," Skinner said gruffly, looking up but refusing to meet her eyes. Scully swore silently as she sat down in her usual chair, more cognizant than usual of her partner's absence from the chair beside hers. "I called you up here under the assumption that you would be able to tell me where Agent Mulder has gone, but judging by the look on your face I see that is not the case."
"I haven't spoken to Mulder since he left last night to get a new printer for the office," Scully admitted. Usually she refused to admit that she had lost track of her partner, but something about this whole situation felt different. "I haven't called him, yet, though. He may just be following up on a lead or taking some time for himself."
"It is possible," Skinner conceded.
"Is there a specific reason that you wanted to know where Mulder is?" Scully asked tentatively.
Skinner sighed and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "The investigation into Senator Reed's daughter's death has been given a higher priority as on seven this morning. The autopsy results came back this morning and everyone involved is confused."
"Confused?" Scully frowned. Skinner handed her a file and she opened it up. It was the autopsy report for one Lauren Reed. "Lauren Reed. Age: thirty-eight. Height: five foot seven. Weight: 132 lbs. Muscle tissue in good condition prior to death. Internal organs in good health, though liver indicates a history of alcoholism. Cause of death, seven gunshot wounds; one to the left shoulder, one to the right shoulder, three to the chest, one to the right hip, and one to the right arm. No rounds recovered, all shots through-and-through. Dirt under her fingernails indicates she was at a dig site within hours of her death, though she was found in her bed. Lividity in the upper back, shoulders, neck, and head indicates that she was slumped upside down long enough for Rigor to set in before being moved to her bed in her aunt's house. Sir, other than the fact that she was obviously killed elsewhere by someone who really wanted her dead, there is no mystery other than who killed her."
Skinner handed Scully another file. She opened it and groaned. "Lauren Reed; National Security Council liaison to the Los Angeles Joint Task Force Operations Centre. She worked for the NSC with the CIA?" she asked.
"That's not all," Skinner said, handing Scully a third file.
Scully skimmed through the file until she got to the point of the thick memo. "It has been brought to the attention of Director Marcus Dixon by one Agent Michael C. Vaughn that Lauren Reed is a mole within the Agency, her true loyalties lying with a Russia-based terrorist group known as The Covenant. Agent Vaughn came by this information due to the fact that he is married to Reed and found incriminating and irrefutable evidence in their home in Santa Monica. Additional information regarding The Covenant, Agent Michael C. Vaughn, Director Marcus Dixon, Lauren Reed, Agent Sydney A. Bristow, Milo Rambaldi, and Nadia Santos is classified Omega 17 and requires a minimum of level eight clearance."
Scully closed the files and looked up at the Assistant Director. "How is this an X-File? And how did this fall into the FBI's lap when it is clearly not a domestic issue but an international one?"
"Senator Matheson handed these packages to me this morning. Technically neither of us should be reading this material, but he felt that it would be in everyone's best interest that we have this information on hand," Skinner said, getting up and going over to the conference table on the other side of the room. There were several document cases, all clearly labelled with the governmental seal of Omega 17 material. "This box relates to Marcus Dixon," Skinner said, putting his hand on one of the boxes. "This one relates to Nadia Santos. These three contain information on the Covenant. These two are on Michael Vaughn. This is Lauren Reed's box. These eight are filled with information on Milo Rambaldi. And, most impressive of all, Sydney Bristow fills these ten boxes."
"Who is this woman?" Scully asked, looking at the half of the table covered in boxes of files on Sydney Bristow.
"Where to begin," Skinner said breathlessly. "She's got a teaching degree for English Literature from UCLA. She worked for what she was told was a covert ops section of the CIA for seven years before her fiancé was murdered and she found out that she was working for the Alliance of Twelve."
"Wait, is this the same Agent Bristow that managed to get everything the CIA needed to take down the Alliance?" Scully asked. Skinner nodded. "I have a friend that works at Langley. David was heavily involved in the work leading up to the takedown. He couldn't tell me much until it was all over, naturally, but apparently things were stagnant until October of 2001."
Skinner nodded and picked up a file, checking his facts before speaking. "October first, 2001, Sydney Anne Bristow walks into the LA office of the CIA and gives her statement about what she knows about the Los Angeles cell of the Alliance. SD-6. She was assigned a handler, Michael Christopher Vaughn, and less than two years later the Alliance was nothing more than a memory."
"Impressive," Scully said, reaching for one of the boxes on Sydney and pulling it closer to her seat. Something about the woman made Scully want to learn more about her. "She's had quite the life," Scully said softly as she read the official documents on what Sydney Bristow had gone through. "I can't imagine living with the emotions behind all these events. Being a double agent, losing her fiancé, lying to her friends…" she said, her voice trailing off as she was overcome with respect for the woman she had never met and had only read a little about.
"I'm going to Los Angeles," Scully said, closing the file.
"I expected you would want to," Skinner said. "Kim has your ticket and everything you'll need to get some answers. Copies of these files will be waiting for you at the field office. I'll keep looking for Mulder and send him your way when I track him down."
"Thank you sir," Scully said, briskly walking out of the office, stopping only briefly to grab her things from Kimberly before taking the stairs two at a time to get back down to the office so she could gather her belongings and get home in time to pack some clothes before making her flight.
TBC…