A/N: This is my first submission for quite a while... I've missed this site so much! This originally started life as an RP example for a group I planned to join that since fell through. The concept of Utopia still belongs entirely to the admins of the group so I take no credit for that. But I liked this far too much to see it die alone and unread, so here it is, for your reading pleasure :)
"Dana Scully to see Assistant Director Skinner."
"Go on through, he's expecting you."
Nodding in the direction of the secretary that had addressed her, Scully adjusted the lapels on her jacket absent-mindedly and took the few brief steps towards the door of the assistant director's office. Thinking of the urgency she had detected in his voice when he had called made her take a breath before she knocked on the door resolutely, once, twice. Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed open the door and entered.
The office was as intimidating as always. Not because it was particularly imposing in its layout or decoration – Scully attributed the feeling to the fact that every time she found herself in this room, she was either having to defend her work on the X-Files, or cover Mulder's back; neither of which scenario she much desired to repeat again. The early morning light filtered through the blind, casting soft half-shadows around the room. In the far corner, an American flag sporting the maritime trim stood pert like an executioner's axe, waiting to fall upon the necks of any of those that questioned its authority. As always, the air smelt slightly of stale tobacco, lingering there with a certain degree of omnipotence. Scully knew the assistant director did not smoke.
"Agent Scully."
Her blue eyes fell upon the bald forehead of Walter Skinner behind his oaken desk, having just lifted his gaze from the assortment of files that littered it. His eyes looked wide and tired behind his wire-rimmed glasses, and his shoulders slumped forward almost imperceptibly, as though he had been sitting in that same position all through the night.
"Please, have a seat," he invited.
Scully did so, crossing her hands in her lap as she sat across the desk from Skinner, waiting for him to begin. She lined up the usual set of rhetoric in her head, waiting for the moment she would inevitably have to recite them.
Skinner rested back in his chair, as though to look at her more completely. Pen in his hand, he rested his chin on his fingers, as though contemplating her.
As much as she admired the man, she wished he'd cut to the chase.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
Skinner took a sudden breath, as though to begin speaking, but no audible words emerged.
Scully adjusted her position slightly; elbows rested calmly on the armrests either side of her.
Suddenly, Skinner leapt into full swing. "Agent Scully."
Here it comes, she mused. 'I feel that our current line of investigation is not only a legitimate one, but a necessary one'. 'I can assure you that our methods, though unorthodox, are effective'. 'No, I'm not aware of Agent Mulder's current whereabouts...' She rehearsed her usual defence.
"I've received an order. One that I'm not entirely pleased about having to relay to you."
"From whom, sir?"
With a sigh of both exhaustion and reluctance, Skinner rose from his chair. Clearly considering his next words, he perched rather restlessly on the edge of his desk. "Above me. Above the Bureau. I'm not sure of its exact origin."
Seeing he was in no rush to continue, Scully felt her impatience rising. "With all due respect sir, I have a lot of work to see to. When you called, I was actually in the middle of a case, and I really should–"
"They're shutting down the X-Files, Scully," Skinner cut across her, voice raised in exasperation.
"What? Why?" Scully demanded, forehead creased with disbelief. This wasn't the first time she had heard this particular piece of news, but each time it had been delivered to her in the past, it had always followed some near-miss at exposing a rather shocking truth, or some serious scrape that Mulder had somehow stumbled in to. This time, it seemed rather unprovoked.
"I'm not sure. But this time, they're serious. They've given me instructions for your reassignments."
"Has Mulder been informed of this?" Scully questioned. She couldn't imagine that she wouldn't have heard him fuming about it before now, had he been told. This wasn't the sort of thing he was likely to take lying down. The X-Files were his life's work, after all.
"I've already spoken to him. I was told quite specifically to address the two of you separately," Skinner said. "Judging by their choice of new assignments, I'm going to assume that separation is their primary goal here." He picked a file from his desk as he spoke, gesturing with it as though it proved his point, and handed it to her.
Scully looked up at him with a serious gaze as she took the file, as though trying to draw some information from his expression that he was otherwise bound by his position not to divulge. Pursing her lips, she opened the folder with an irritable jerk.
Skinner watched as her crystalline eyes scanned right and left along the page, drinking in the information.
When her head shot back up to look at him, those same eyes were wide with anger. "I'm going where?"
"Utopia," Skinner stated. "It's a top secret project, apparently. The first I've heard of it."
Scully was once again engrossed in reading the file. "It says here that it houses a medical facility."
"I think you'll find that that's the reason they're assigning you to this task. Your expertise is apparently just what they need there."
Scully closed the file, feeling her aggravation at the situation settle to an uncomfortable level. "It's in the middle of nowhere."
Skinner raised a sympathetic eyebrow at her. "I've been informed that while you're there, you're not to have contact with anyone other than myself, when you will make frequent and comprehensive reports of your findings there."
"I can't even talk to my family?"
"Not your family. Not your friends. And Scully?" Skinner leaned in towards her, as she cast her iron-clad stare upon him. His eyes fixed squarely into hers, his tone was uncharacteristically sharp. With the air of a man with a gun to his head, he finalised: "Not Mulder."
25/02/2009