I posted this Feb. 16 but the formatting on Chapter 1
came out wrong and I couldn't find a way to fix just
the one chapter without erasing all eight and
reposting the whole thing. So, here it is as it's
supposed to look.
TITLE: The Port Charles Files
AUTHOR: Kelso (kelso28@excite.com)
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: HC (X-Files/General Hospital crossover)
KEYWORDS: crossover, General Hospital
SPOILERS: Bad Blood
DISTRIBUTION: archive anywhere
FEEDBACK: Please! Let me know that *someone* besides my betas and
me read this. Send to kelso28@excite.com
DISCLAIMER: X-Files/characters owned by Chris Carter, Ten
Thirteen, Fox. GH/characters owned by ABC/Disney.
TIMEFRAME: Takes place in late August of 2000, when GH's Ted
Wilson murder mystery was still unsolved. "Requiem" never happened.
SUMMARY: "General Hospital" crossover. Mulder and Scully
investigate various mysteries in Port Charles, New York.
NOTES: My first GH/XF crossover was called "X-Hospital." After
posting it, I decided to significantly rework it. More than 90%
of this story is new material, but I did revise some dialogue and
a few scenes from the original for inclusion in this piece.
THANKS TO: Julie and Denise for the beta.
The Port Charles Files 1/8
by Kelso
At first, August 28, 2000 seemed like any other day in the X-Files
office. Scully sat at her computer, half-listening to Mulder
rattle on about a multitude of amazing events that had all taken
place in one town. Since he had found the information in a
tabloid called "The Sun," she wasn't putting much faith in his
discoveries. He had been trying to tempt her into reading the
publication since last week, but she remained uninterested.
She typed her password as Mulder read, "'If you're interested in
alien sightings, Port Charles, New York, might be the place to
go. In 1990, Casey, an alien from the planet Lumina, arrived in
town in search of three mysterious crystals that would enable him
to return home. Along the way, he befriended Robin Scorpio,
daughter of former world spies and police heads Robert and Anna
Scorpio. With Robin's help, Casey began to collect the crystals.
The search necessitated a trip to mysterious Spoon Island, where
master villain Cesar Faison lived. Faison, operating under the
pseudonym of P.K. Sinclair, almost succeeded in ruining the
mission. However, the alien prevailed. Though he suffered a near-
death experience, Casey eventually collected each of the crystals
and beamed home.
"'The incredible story continued when, mere days later, a
reporter named Shep Casey -- who bore a stunning resemblance to
Casey the alien -- started to air on local television. He soon
vanished with no official explanation, but we'd bank on the fact
that he, too, zapped back to Lumina.
"'Who knows how many other aliens have surfaced in Port Charles
over the years? Perhaps Robin, who resides in Paris but
occasionally returns to town to see her uncle Mac Scorpio, the
police commissioner, could fill in some of those blanks. But
until that day, be careful. The person sitting next to you on the
bus could be an alien.'" Mulder stopped reading.
Feeling his gaze on her, Scully guiltily looked up from her
computer screen, where she'd been checking Nasdaq for the latest
General Electric quote.
Mulder displayed the paper, open to an article complete with
blurry photographs. "There's also a piece about a giant weather
machine capable of freezing the world. Guess which city was its
first target? Port Charles."
Scully put her computer on standby so she could better concen-
trate on shooting down Mulder's latest flight of fancy. "Tell me,
did this so-called world-freezing machine ever succeed in doing
anything of the sort?"
"It froze Port Charles. For a while," he offered.
"By any chance, did this incident occur in winter?"
Mulder shook his head. "In the summer of 1981. The city was
overwhelmed. The cold would have spread to the rest of the world
except that the evil creator, Mikkos Cassadine, was frozen by
his own machine. And I have more." Mulder flipped to another page
and quoted, "'Mysteries of the Undead! People who were believed
to be dead, but who were really alive.'" A collage of photos
displayed dozens of faces, with the accompanying article expanding
on the identities of those pictured, and the circumstances behind
their presumed deaths. The opposite page featured lists of local
residents who had recovered from ailments such as blindness,
deafness, and paralysis.
"It's a tabloid, Mulder." As far as Scully was concerned, that
statement ended the discussion.
Not so for Mulder. He emphatically indicated the page. "But what
about all of these other incidents? The interrupted weddings? The
multiple abductions? The evil twins and lookalikes? Look at the
'Psychopaths' page. Look at what some of these people have lived
through. It doesn't get any better than this."
"And I take it your point is that you want to go to Port
Charles to investigate these events, neither of which supposedly
occurred more recently than a decade ago? Come on, Mulder, an
alien from the planet Lumina? A giant weather machine capable
of freezing the world? You don't really expect me to believe any
of that nonsense, do you? How can you take a tabloid so
seriously? It's like 'The National Enquirer.' Someone's always
suing that rag."
Mulder faced her down stubbornly. "Port Charles could hold the
keys to the answers I've been searching for for years. I can't
just drop the subject. And it's been pretty slow around here
lately. We haven't had a good X-File in weeks. As soon as Byers
provides me with the background information he promised to dig up,
you'll have to admit this one is worth following up on." He
looked like he was about to go on, but the ringing telephone
stopped him. "Mulder," he answered. "Yes... we'll be right there."
He hung up and turned back to Scully. "Skinner wants to see us.
He has a new assignment waiting."
Their debate interrupted, they walked down the halls of the J.
Edgar Hoover Building on their way to Assistant Director Skinner's
office. Scully envisioned being sent on a stakeout, or perhaps a
cross-country cow exsanguination (depending on how much they had
annoyed Skinner lately). Mulder, on the other hand...
"Scully, are you really that set against going to Port Charles?"
She pulled her mind away from images of desiccated farm animals
to answer. "It's a moot point, isn't it? Skinner already has us
on something."
Mulder gave her a sidelong look as they stepped into Skinner's
outer office. "My 302 landed on his desk in plenty of time for
this to be it."
"You filed one without telling me first? Mulder, what were you--"
She had no chance to finish, as the inner-office door opened and
Skinner poked his head out. "Agents." That word was enough
instruction, and they entered and took their seats in front of
Skinner's desk.
He looked seriously at them. "Agents, I have a new assignment for
you. Last week, I received a 302 in which you requested to go to
Port Charles, New York, to investigate various incidents that,
quite frankly, seemed utterly unrealistic. I was prepared to
reject your request, until I learned some very disturbing
information." Skinner shuffled through a pile of papers and
placed one on top. "I am not at liberty to reveal the details of
what transpired with certain other agents who recently undertook
an investigation in Port Charles. However, what I have learned
leads me to believe that you are needed there. You should
establish contact with Special Agent Hannah Scott, who serves as
a liaison between the Bureau and the Port Charles Police
Department. In fact, I advise you to obtain rooms at Kelly's, the
boarding house in which Agent Scott resides.
"As for the case, officially, you are going to Port Charles to
look into accusations of insider trading made by Edward Quarter-
maine against his grandson, Alan Quartermaine, Jr., more commonly
known as 'A.J.' I know this assignment is far from your area of
expertise, but it does get you to Port Charles. Aside from
conducting this investigation, you may also check into any other
situations that warrant your attention. I'm certain you will find
no shortage of material to investigate.
"One more thing: You should assist the police department with
their search for a missing undercover officer. Otherwise, he
might never be found. Here's some background information you
should find useful. Good luck, agents." Skinner leaned forward,
handed Mulder a manila folder, and waited for him and Scully to
exit.
As they rode the elevator back down to the basement, Mulder
opened the file and began to skim the contents. "Looks like this
stuff is mostly about members of the Quartermaine family. Did I
imagine it, or did Skinner sound concerned for our well-being?
Maybe there's an explanation in here."
The elevator stopped on their floor, and they headed to their
office. Mulder went to shut down his computer as Scully picked up
the phone to make flight reservations. She was able to get seats
on a plane leaving in just over two hours, which would give them
enough time to go home, pack, and get to the airport.
Mulder was still at his computer. "Wait a second, someone just
sent me an e-mail." He clicked on the icon and scanned the
message. "It's from Byers. He sent an attachment with the
information about Port Charles that I asked for. It looks pretty
big."
"Well, there's no time to read it now. We have to hurry if we
want to make our flight."
"I'll print it out and we can read it on the way," Mulder decided.
He hit the print button and waited while the pages slowly
emerged.
***********
Byers had accumulated quite a bit of information, as it turned
out. In fact, it took so long to print that Mulder nearly missed
the flight. As soon as he and Scully took their seats, they
separated Skinner and Byers' papers into two piles and began to
wade through them. Scully ended up mostly with Skinner's
contribution, while Mulder had Byers' share. And although they
both read throughout the flight, they hadn't finished by the time
the plane landed.
Scully shoved the material back inside the file, and they
disembarked. Mulder had been awfully quiet on the plane, she
thought. He'd seemed absorbed in the printouts. Surely if there
had been something important, he would have told her by now. She
decided to test the waters. "I still haven't figured out what
could be bothering Skinner so much. We'll probably find out once
we start looking around town and talking to people. Why don't we
see the police commissioner first?"
"I doubt it will do any good. Byers turned up some very
interesting information on him." Mulder withdrew a folded piece
of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. "Read it and
weep."
With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach (because if Byers
had uncovered it, it was almost certainly true), Scully smoothed
the photocopied sheet and read the opening lines aloud:
"'Commissioner Malcolm 'Mac' Scorpio, a former mercenary who
turned over a new leaf, has gone from blowing up bridges and
sabotaging ships to making Port Charles a safer place to live.
Along the way, he has overcome major misfortunes, including a 1997
kidnapping in which his life was taken over by an evil lookalike.'"
She scanned the remainder of the page, which consisted of a photo
of Scorpio and a timeline of his life. "Somehow, I don't think
the commissioner is going to be of much help."
"His wife is a real piece of work, too," Mulder informed her.
"She's an Aztec princess who's had amnesia twice, had a husband
return from the dead, been falsely convicted of attempted murder
and sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, given birth to one
daughter while under a table in a nightclub, and been kidnapped,
temporarily paralyzed, and stalked by a psychopath and his
identical twin brother. I don't think I left anything out."
"If you did, I'd hate to imagine what." Scully thought briefly.
"All right, obviously the commissioner's appointment is suspect.
But there must be some competent detectives or officers on the
force, right?"
Mulder shook his head. "There is a trail stretching way back into
history of people who have gone up against the Port Charles
Police Department and come out the worse for it. Their top
detective -- who, incidentally, has been dating Agent Scott -- is
most noted for regularly overstepping his authority and nearly
being charged with harassment every few months. Actually, the
entire force seems pretty inept. They have an especially
bad track record when it comes to murder investigations. You can
just about bank on the fact that the first suspect they arrest
will be innocent. And in a shining moment not so long ago, they
attempted to prosecute a case in which the 'victim' was still
alive."
In the middle of giving Mulder her best skeptical look, Scully's
attention was caught by the flight boards. "I had the impression
that Port Charles was a small town. I've never heard of it before,
aside from your tabloid. But look at the size of this airport,
and the flights: Cairo, Barcelona, Rome..."
Mulder looked with her. "What did I tell you? This town is one
huge X-file."
*********
Mulder maneuvered the rental Dodge down the streets of Port
Charles to Scully's directions from the map Skinner had
thoughtfully provided. It didn't take long to reach Kelly's Diner,
and Mulder parked behind the small building. "Ready?"
"Of course." Scully calmly led the way inside.
The diner was nearly deserted, with only a few customers scatter-
ed about and a woman with long, curly blonde hair behind the
counter. Old black-and-white photos decorated the walls; a
jukebox stood to one side. Behind the counter, a stairway on the
far right led to the second story.
The blonde greeted them with a smile. "Why, hello. What can I get
for you?"
Mulder pulled out his badge. "We're Agents Fox Mulder and Dana
Scully with the FBI."
The woman's smile disappeared. "More FBI agents? What did I do to
deserve this? And don't tell me you want to stay here?"
"Are you the proprietor?" Mulder asked.
"I'm the manager. Tammy Carson."
"Two rooms, please." Scully held out a credit card.
Tammy stared at them, then shrugged. "Oh, what the heck. There's
no way you two can be worse than Hannah, right? And I happen
to have a couple of vacancies." She handed them the register,
and accepted the credit card.
"You mean Hannah Scott? Is she around?" asked Scully as she
signed in.
"Not at the moment, but she's sure to turn up soon." Tammy sounded
less than pleased at the prospect. She waited for them to retrieve
their luggage from the car before leading them upstairs to the
empty rooms, which stood side by side. "There you go. Bath's down
the hall." She gave them each a key.
Mulder stopped her before she could leave. "What's the most
noteworthy event that's recently occurred in this building?"
"We had a little scare about a possible outbreak of Dengue Fever
in the diner, but that's about it." Tammy turned away and
hurried downstairs.
"Dengue Fever?" Mulder repeated. "Does that really exist?"
"Yes," Scully replied as she unlocked her door. "It's a
disease spread by mosquitoes that is mainly found in tropical
areas, but cases have been reported in this country."
"That might be the only thing about this town that isn't fake."
Scully ignored his snide observation and pushed open her door to
survey the room from the threshold. Muted, tasteful furnishings
dominated, including a double bed and two beige easy chairs that
flanked a small table by the window. All in all, not bad.
Mulder was waiting. She turned to him. "Where do you want to
start?"
"We could begin with A.J. Quartermaine," Mulder suggested, "but
investigating potential insider trading in a town known for
aliens and criminal masterminds seems pretty prosaic. Why not
look into more interesting matters, such as the police commis-
sioner? Maybe we can get some insight into how he's managed to
keep his job for so long."
"He's only held the position for about four years, and he did
quit once," Scully pointed out.
"And they took him back." Mulder shook his head. "The people in
this town don't know when they have it good. The guy can't even
get kidnapped like a normal person. No, he was held prisoner for
weeks while an exact lookalike took over his life for no easily
apparent purpose. At least the times *we've* been abducted, we
knew why."
Ignoring him, Scully announced, "The commissioner it is, then."
***********
They decided to eat an early supper at Kelly's before leaving.
As Scully popped the last piece of her ham sandwich into her
mouth, she reflected that the meal had tasted better than
satisfactory. Too bad she couldn't say the same for the
atmosphere. The waitress, a brown-haired girl of about 18 who
introduced herself as Elizabeth Webber, provided perfunctory
service before hurrying to a nearby table to talk to a Hispanic
boy a little younger than herself. Without even trying, Scully
had no problem hearing both sides of the conversation.
Elizabeth began, "Juan, I don't know what to do about Lucky. It's
bad enough that we all thought he was dead for almost a year when
he was being held prisoner, but he's been acting so strangely
since he came back. It's like he doesn't want to be around me. I
think something was done to his brain while he was away."
"Yeah, right. We'll have to meet with Nikolas and Emily about
it," Juan replied with a glance at his watch. "Right now, I have
to get ready for my performance tonight. Okay? Bye."
With those words, Juan was gone, leaving Elizabeth to clear his
table and take the dishes into the kitchen.
Scully looked at her partner, who had also shamelessly eaves-
dropped. "Mulder, that girl's story sounds insane. She seems to
be fixated on her boyfriend's mental state. That other boy didn't
even seem like he wanted to listen to her."
"You know what bothers me even more?" Mulder asked rhetorically.
"The fact that we didn't see a single fast-food restaurant while
driving here. Maybe we can bring up that point with Commissioner
Scorpio."
"Speaking of him, we should stop wasting time and pay him a
visit," Scully said.
Mulder dropped a few bills on the table, and they went outside to
their car. As they climbed in, Scully spotted a woman approaching
Kelly's. "Mulder, did you get a good look at that photo of Hannah
Scott that Skinner gave us? Does that look like her to you?"
He glanced in the indicated direction. "The one and only, and
she's alone. Skinner did emphasize that we should establish
contact. You think we should tackle her, rather than go see the
commissioner?"
Scully caught the disappointed edge in his voice. "No, why don't
we split up? I'll talk to Hannah. You can meet the commissioner
and fill me in later, okay?" She got out of the car and entered
the diner as Mulder drove away.
Hannah was seated at the counter, back to the door. Pasting a
bright smile on her face, Scully walked up to her side and
caught the other woman's eye. "Hello, you must be Hannah Scott."
Scully displayed her badge. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully."
Hannah stared at her, her eyes wide. "You're an agent, too? I
never would have guessed. You don't seem the type."
"I assure you, I am." Scully accepted a cup of coffee from
Elizabeth, sat to Hannah's right, and plunged in. "Assistant
Director Walter Skinner suggested that my partner and I look you
up while we're in town on a case."
Hannah furrowed her brow. "This isn't about Sonny, is it? Or
Agent Larkin?"
"You tell me," Scully requested.
"You want to know the whole story? Well, it all began last year
when I was sent undercover to bring down Sonny Corinthos, a
local mobster. I fell in love with him and couldn't bring myself
to do anything that might harm him. My bosses weren't too happy
about that, but I had to protect Sonny. Then I tried to quit.
My contact, Agent Larkin, wouldn't accept my resignation,
though. Then he turned out to be crooked. To top it all off, the
FBI tried to force my father, Roy DiLucca, to bring down Sonny
for them. When he refused, they hauled him off to prison. That
was so unfair. I mean, sure, my dad did try to kill a man, but
that was 20 years ago. He'd paid his dues. What more did they
want from him?
"Then my dad teamed up with Sonny to get us out from under
the FBI's thumb. He broke out of prison and risked his life to
find evidence that Agent Larkin has been accepting bribes from
criminals for years. Larkin kidnapped and almost killed me, but
my dad's a true hero. After he saved my life and captured Larkin,
some agents tried to arrest him, but he stood right up to them
and gave them an ultimatum: Before they could even *look* at the
evidence against Larkin, they had to pardon my dad, grant
amnesty to Sonny, and agree not to charge me with obstruction of
justice. In return, we promised not to tell anyone about Larkin's
criminal activities, because otherwise all the cases he's ever
worked on would be jeopardized. We backed those bullies into a
corner; they *had* to give in. And just to make sure the Bureau
would live up to its end of the bargain, my dad made a tape
recording of the conversation. So Sonny, my dad, and I all started
over with a clean slate, and Larkin got what was coming to him.
Everything worked out for the best!"
As Scully violently choked on her coffee, Hannah thumped her on
the back several times. "I know, when I first heard about the
deal, it almost overwhelmed me, too. I thought Agent Larkin was
going to continue his reign of terror unchecked, but justice
prevailed. He's behind bars where he belongs, and my dad is
safe."
Reaching for a napkin, Scully asked, "But what about you?"
"Me?" Hannah looked puzzled; then her face cleared. "Oh, I
haven't been promoted yet or anything, but it doesn't matter as
long as my dad's all right. And I really feel like my career is
on the upswing again. I think I've found my niche here in Port
Charles."
'I'm not touching this one,' Scully thought as she sought a new
topic of conversation.
Before she could come up with one, Hannah continued. "I forgot to
tell you some big news. Sonny's new girlfriend, Carly, got him in
trouble again. She called in a tip to the police, and we caught
Sonny agreeing to a drug-trafficking deal with another mobster.
Carly said it was all a mistake and Sonny wasn't supposed to be
involved, but we got the whole meeting on tape. It looks like
Sonny's going to prison after all. His amnesty deal with the
Bureau only applies to crimes committed before June 1."
"Don't tell me you were involved," Scully protested.
Hannah nodded. "I was there, and so was Lieutenant Taggert, my
boyfriend. But the commissioner pulled me off the case. He,
was afraid that outside parties would assume I was biased
because of my prior relationship with Sonny. That's so unfair!
But everything else is going great. Even my love life. The only
problem is that A.J. Quartermaine won't stop pestering me. I
just want to be his friend, and he keeps trying to turn it into
something more. Boy, is he screwed up. He's an alcoholic who's
off the wagon, and his dysfunctional family doesn't give him
much support. Still, there's something about him that I'm drawn
to."
Scully cleared her throat. "But what about Sonny? No so long
ago, you were so in love with him, you risked your career, broke
the law, violated ethical standards, lied to your superiors...
need I go on?"
Hannah smiled wistfully. "At the time, I truly thought I was
doing the right thing. But I've gotten over Sonny. A part of
me will always love him, but we weren't meant to be. So, what do
you think I should do about Taggert and A.J.?"
"You really want my advice?" Scully asked.
"Yes, really." Hannah leaned forward.
Scully took a deep breath. "All right, then. In that case, resign
from the FBI, leave town alone, and pursue a career in any area
*except* law enforcement."
Hannah burst into laughter. "I like you a lot, Dana. I can call
you Dana, can't I? You have such a wonderful sense of humor."
In that moment, Scully decided that the one positive aspect of
the situation was that at least Mulder wasn't stuck in the diner
with her. No, *he* was out obtaining valuable information from
the police commissioner. If only she were there instead...
end 1/8
came out wrong and I couldn't find a way to fix just
the one chapter without erasing all eight and
reposting the whole thing. So, here it is as it's
supposed to look.
TITLE: The Port Charles Files
AUTHOR: Kelso (kelso28@excite.com)
RATING: PG
CLASSIFICATION: HC (X-Files/General Hospital crossover)
KEYWORDS: crossover, General Hospital
SPOILERS: Bad Blood
DISTRIBUTION: archive anywhere
FEEDBACK: Please! Let me know that *someone* besides my betas and
me read this. Send to kelso28@excite.com
DISCLAIMER: X-Files/characters owned by Chris Carter, Ten
Thirteen, Fox. GH/characters owned by ABC/Disney.
TIMEFRAME: Takes place in late August of 2000, when GH's Ted
Wilson murder mystery was still unsolved. "Requiem" never happened.
SUMMARY: "General Hospital" crossover. Mulder and Scully
investigate various mysteries in Port Charles, New York.
NOTES: My first GH/XF crossover was called "X-Hospital." After
posting it, I decided to significantly rework it. More than 90%
of this story is new material, but I did revise some dialogue and
a few scenes from the original for inclusion in this piece.
THANKS TO: Julie and Denise for the beta.
The Port Charles Files 1/8
by Kelso
At first, August 28, 2000 seemed like any other day in the X-Files
office. Scully sat at her computer, half-listening to Mulder
rattle on about a multitude of amazing events that had all taken
place in one town. Since he had found the information in a
tabloid called "The Sun," she wasn't putting much faith in his
discoveries. He had been trying to tempt her into reading the
publication since last week, but she remained uninterested.
She typed her password as Mulder read, "'If you're interested in
alien sightings, Port Charles, New York, might be the place to
go. In 1990, Casey, an alien from the planet Lumina, arrived in
town in search of three mysterious crystals that would enable him
to return home. Along the way, he befriended Robin Scorpio,
daughter of former world spies and police heads Robert and Anna
Scorpio. With Robin's help, Casey began to collect the crystals.
The search necessitated a trip to mysterious Spoon Island, where
master villain Cesar Faison lived. Faison, operating under the
pseudonym of P.K. Sinclair, almost succeeded in ruining the
mission. However, the alien prevailed. Though he suffered a near-
death experience, Casey eventually collected each of the crystals
and beamed home.
"'The incredible story continued when, mere days later, a
reporter named Shep Casey -- who bore a stunning resemblance to
Casey the alien -- started to air on local television. He soon
vanished with no official explanation, but we'd bank on the fact
that he, too, zapped back to Lumina.
"'Who knows how many other aliens have surfaced in Port Charles
over the years? Perhaps Robin, who resides in Paris but
occasionally returns to town to see her uncle Mac Scorpio, the
police commissioner, could fill in some of those blanks. But
until that day, be careful. The person sitting next to you on the
bus could be an alien.'" Mulder stopped reading.
Feeling his gaze on her, Scully guiltily looked up from her
computer screen, where she'd been checking Nasdaq for the latest
General Electric quote.
Mulder displayed the paper, open to an article complete with
blurry photographs. "There's also a piece about a giant weather
machine capable of freezing the world. Guess which city was its
first target? Port Charles."
Scully put her computer on standby so she could better concen-
trate on shooting down Mulder's latest flight of fancy. "Tell me,
did this so-called world-freezing machine ever succeed in doing
anything of the sort?"
"It froze Port Charles. For a while," he offered.
"By any chance, did this incident occur in winter?"
Mulder shook his head. "In the summer of 1981. The city was
overwhelmed. The cold would have spread to the rest of the world
except that the evil creator, Mikkos Cassadine, was frozen by
his own machine. And I have more." Mulder flipped to another page
and quoted, "'Mysteries of the Undead! People who were believed
to be dead, but who were really alive.'" A collage of photos
displayed dozens of faces, with the accompanying article expanding
on the identities of those pictured, and the circumstances behind
their presumed deaths. The opposite page featured lists of local
residents who had recovered from ailments such as blindness,
deafness, and paralysis.
"It's a tabloid, Mulder." As far as Scully was concerned, that
statement ended the discussion.
Not so for Mulder. He emphatically indicated the page. "But what
about all of these other incidents? The interrupted weddings? The
multiple abductions? The evil twins and lookalikes? Look at the
'Psychopaths' page. Look at what some of these people have lived
through. It doesn't get any better than this."
"And I take it your point is that you want to go to Port
Charles to investigate these events, neither of which supposedly
occurred more recently than a decade ago? Come on, Mulder, an
alien from the planet Lumina? A giant weather machine capable
of freezing the world? You don't really expect me to believe any
of that nonsense, do you? How can you take a tabloid so
seriously? It's like 'The National Enquirer.' Someone's always
suing that rag."
Mulder faced her down stubbornly. "Port Charles could hold the
keys to the answers I've been searching for for years. I can't
just drop the subject. And it's been pretty slow around here
lately. We haven't had a good X-File in weeks. As soon as Byers
provides me with the background information he promised to dig up,
you'll have to admit this one is worth following up on." He
looked like he was about to go on, but the ringing telephone
stopped him. "Mulder," he answered. "Yes... we'll be right there."
He hung up and turned back to Scully. "Skinner wants to see us.
He has a new assignment waiting."
Their debate interrupted, they walked down the halls of the J.
Edgar Hoover Building on their way to Assistant Director Skinner's
office. Scully envisioned being sent on a stakeout, or perhaps a
cross-country cow exsanguination (depending on how much they had
annoyed Skinner lately). Mulder, on the other hand...
"Scully, are you really that set against going to Port Charles?"
She pulled her mind away from images of desiccated farm animals
to answer. "It's a moot point, isn't it? Skinner already has us
on something."
Mulder gave her a sidelong look as they stepped into Skinner's
outer office. "My 302 landed on his desk in plenty of time for
this to be it."
"You filed one without telling me first? Mulder, what were you--"
She had no chance to finish, as the inner-office door opened and
Skinner poked his head out. "Agents." That word was enough
instruction, and they entered and took their seats in front of
Skinner's desk.
He looked seriously at them. "Agents, I have a new assignment for
you. Last week, I received a 302 in which you requested to go to
Port Charles, New York, to investigate various incidents that,
quite frankly, seemed utterly unrealistic. I was prepared to
reject your request, until I learned some very disturbing
information." Skinner shuffled through a pile of papers and
placed one on top. "I am not at liberty to reveal the details of
what transpired with certain other agents who recently undertook
an investigation in Port Charles. However, what I have learned
leads me to believe that you are needed there. You should
establish contact with Special Agent Hannah Scott, who serves as
a liaison between the Bureau and the Port Charles Police
Department. In fact, I advise you to obtain rooms at Kelly's, the
boarding house in which Agent Scott resides.
"As for the case, officially, you are going to Port Charles to
look into accusations of insider trading made by Edward Quarter-
maine against his grandson, Alan Quartermaine, Jr., more commonly
known as 'A.J.' I know this assignment is far from your area of
expertise, but it does get you to Port Charles. Aside from
conducting this investigation, you may also check into any other
situations that warrant your attention. I'm certain you will find
no shortage of material to investigate.
"One more thing: You should assist the police department with
their search for a missing undercover officer. Otherwise, he
might never be found. Here's some background information you
should find useful. Good luck, agents." Skinner leaned forward,
handed Mulder a manila folder, and waited for him and Scully to
exit.
As they rode the elevator back down to the basement, Mulder
opened the file and began to skim the contents. "Looks like this
stuff is mostly about members of the Quartermaine family. Did I
imagine it, or did Skinner sound concerned for our well-being?
Maybe there's an explanation in here."
The elevator stopped on their floor, and they headed to their
office. Mulder went to shut down his computer as Scully picked up
the phone to make flight reservations. She was able to get seats
on a plane leaving in just over two hours, which would give them
enough time to go home, pack, and get to the airport.
Mulder was still at his computer. "Wait a second, someone just
sent me an e-mail." He clicked on the icon and scanned the
message. "It's from Byers. He sent an attachment with the
information about Port Charles that I asked for. It looks pretty
big."
"Well, there's no time to read it now. We have to hurry if we
want to make our flight."
"I'll print it out and we can read it on the way," Mulder decided.
He hit the print button and waited while the pages slowly
emerged.
***********
Byers had accumulated quite a bit of information, as it turned
out. In fact, it took so long to print that Mulder nearly missed
the flight. As soon as he and Scully took their seats, they
separated Skinner and Byers' papers into two piles and began to
wade through them. Scully ended up mostly with Skinner's
contribution, while Mulder had Byers' share. And although they
both read throughout the flight, they hadn't finished by the time
the plane landed.
Scully shoved the material back inside the file, and they
disembarked. Mulder had been awfully quiet on the plane, she
thought. He'd seemed absorbed in the printouts. Surely if there
had been something important, he would have told her by now. She
decided to test the waters. "I still haven't figured out what
could be bothering Skinner so much. We'll probably find out once
we start looking around town and talking to people. Why don't we
see the police commissioner first?"
"I doubt it will do any good. Byers turned up some very
interesting information on him." Mulder withdrew a folded piece
of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. "Read it and
weep."
With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach (because if Byers
had uncovered it, it was almost certainly true), Scully smoothed
the photocopied sheet and read the opening lines aloud:
"'Commissioner Malcolm 'Mac' Scorpio, a former mercenary who
turned over a new leaf, has gone from blowing up bridges and
sabotaging ships to making Port Charles a safer place to live.
Along the way, he has overcome major misfortunes, including a 1997
kidnapping in which his life was taken over by an evil lookalike.'"
She scanned the remainder of the page, which consisted of a photo
of Scorpio and a timeline of his life. "Somehow, I don't think
the commissioner is going to be of much help."
"His wife is a real piece of work, too," Mulder informed her.
"She's an Aztec princess who's had amnesia twice, had a husband
return from the dead, been falsely convicted of attempted murder
and sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, given birth to one
daughter while under a table in a nightclub, and been kidnapped,
temporarily paralyzed, and stalked by a psychopath and his
identical twin brother. I don't think I left anything out."
"If you did, I'd hate to imagine what." Scully thought briefly.
"All right, obviously the commissioner's appointment is suspect.
But there must be some competent detectives or officers on the
force, right?"
Mulder shook his head. "There is a trail stretching way back into
history of people who have gone up against the Port Charles
Police Department and come out the worse for it. Their top
detective -- who, incidentally, has been dating Agent Scott -- is
most noted for regularly overstepping his authority and nearly
being charged with harassment every few months. Actually, the
entire force seems pretty inept. They have an especially
bad track record when it comes to murder investigations. You can
just about bank on the fact that the first suspect they arrest
will be innocent. And in a shining moment not so long ago, they
attempted to prosecute a case in which the 'victim' was still
alive."
In the middle of giving Mulder her best skeptical look, Scully's
attention was caught by the flight boards. "I had the impression
that Port Charles was a small town. I've never heard of it before,
aside from your tabloid. But look at the size of this airport,
and the flights: Cairo, Barcelona, Rome..."
Mulder looked with her. "What did I tell you? This town is one
huge X-file."
*********
Mulder maneuvered the rental Dodge down the streets of Port
Charles to Scully's directions from the map Skinner had
thoughtfully provided. It didn't take long to reach Kelly's Diner,
and Mulder parked behind the small building. "Ready?"
"Of course." Scully calmly led the way inside.
The diner was nearly deserted, with only a few customers scatter-
ed about and a woman with long, curly blonde hair behind the
counter. Old black-and-white photos decorated the walls; a
jukebox stood to one side. Behind the counter, a stairway on the
far right led to the second story.
The blonde greeted them with a smile. "Why, hello. What can I get
for you?"
Mulder pulled out his badge. "We're Agents Fox Mulder and Dana
Scully with the FBI."
The woman's smile disappeared. "More FBI agents? What did I do to
deserve this? And don't tell me you want to stay here?"
"Are you the proprietor?" Mulder asked.
"I'm the manager. Tammy Carson."
"Two rooms, please." Scully held out a credit card.
Tammy stared at them, then shrugged. "Oh, what the heck. There's
no way you two can be worse than Hannah, right? And I happen
to have a couple of vacancies." She handed them the register,
and accepted the credit card.
"You mean Hannah Scott? Is she around?" asked Scully as she
signed in.
"Not at the moment, but she's sure to turn up soon." Tammy sounded
less than pleased at the prospect. She waited for them to retrieve
their luggage from the car before leading them upstairs to the
empty rooms, which stood side by side. "There you go. Bath's down
the hall." She gave them each a key.
Mulder stopped her before she could leave. "What's the most
noteworthy event that's recently occurred in this building?"
"We had a little scare about a possible outbreak of Dengue Fever
in the diner, but that's about it." Tammy turned away and
hurried downstairs.
"Dengue Fever?" Mulder repeated. "Does that really exist?"
"Yes," Scully replied as she unlocked her door. "It's a
disease spread by mosquitoes that is mainly found in tropical
areas, but cases have been reported in this country."
"That might be the only thing about this town that isn't fake."
Scully ignored his snide observation and pushed open her door to
survey the room from the threshold. Muted, tasteful furnishings
dominated, including a double bed and two beige easy chairs that
flanked a small table by the window. All in all, not bad.
Mulder was waiting. She turned to him. "Where do you want to
start?"
"We could begin with A.J. Quartermaine," Mulder suggested, "but
investigating potential insider trading in a town known for
aliens and criminal masterminds seems pretty prosaic. Why not
look into more interesting matters, such as the police commis-
sioner? Maybe we can get some insight into how he's managed to
keep his job for so long."
"He's only held the position for about four years, and he did
quit once," Scully pointed out.
"And they took him back." Mulder shook his head. "The people in
this town don't know when they have it good. The guy can't even
get kidnapped like a normal person. No, he was held prisoner for
weeks while an exact lookalike took over his life for no easily
apparent purpose. At least the times *we've* been abducted, we
knew why."
Ignoring him, Scully announced, "The commissioner it is, then."
***********
They decided to eat an early supper at Kelly's before leaving.
As Scully popped the last piece of her ham sandwich into her
mouth, she reflected that the meal had tasted better than
satisfactory. Too bad she couldn't say the same for the
atmosphere. The waitress, a brown-haired girl of about 18 who
introduced herself as Elizabeth Webber, provided perfunctory
service before hurrying to a nearby table to talk to a Hispanic
boy a little younger than herself. Without even trying, Scully
had no problem hearing both sides of the conversation.
Elizabeth began, "Juan, I don't know what to do about Lucky. It's
bad enough that we all thought he was dead for almost a year when
he was being held prisoner, but he's been acting so strangely
since he came back. It's like he doesn't want to be around me. I
think something was done to his brain while he was away."
"Yeah, right. We'll have to meet with Nikolas and Emily about
it," Juan replied with a glance at his watch. "Right now, I have
to get ready for my performance tonight. Okay? Bye."
With those words, Juan was gone, leaving Elizabeth to clear his
table and take the dishes into the kitchen.
Scully looked at her partner, who had also shamelessly eaves-
dropped. "Mulder, that girl's story sounds insane. She seems to
be fixated on her boyfriend's mental state. That other boy didn't
even seem like he wanted to listen to her."
"You know what bothers me even more?" Mulder asked rhetorically.
"The fact that we didn't see a single fast-food restaurant while
driving here. Maybe we can bring up that point with Commissioner
Scorpio."
"Speaking of him, we should stop wasting time and pay him a
visit," Scully said.
Mulder dropped a few bills on the table, and they went outside to
their car. As they climbed in, Scully spotted a woman approaching
Kelly's. "Mulder, did you get a good look at that photo of Hannah
Scott that Skinner gave us? Does that look like her to you?"
He glanced in the indicated direction. "The one and only, and
she's alone. Skinner did emphasize that we should establish
contact. You think we should tackle her, rather than go see the
commissioner?"
Scully caught the disappointed edge in his voice. "No, why don't
we split up? I'll talk to Hannah. You can meet the commissioner
and fill me in later, okay?" She got out of the car and entered
the diner as Mulder drove away.
Hannah was seated at the counter, back to the door. Pasting a
bright smile on her face, Scully walked up to her side and
caught the other woman's eye. "Hello, you must be Hannah Scott."
Scully displayed her badge. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully."
Hannah stared at her, her eyes wide. "You're an agent, too? I
never would have guessed. You don't seem the type."
"I assure you, I am." Scully accepted a cup of coffee from
Elizabeth, sat to Hannah's right, and plunged in. "Assistant
Director Walter Skinner suggested that my partner and I look you
up while we're in town on a case."
Hannah furrowed her brow. "This isn't about Sonny, is it? Or
Agent Larkin?"
"You tell me," Scully requested.
"You want to know the whole story? Well, it all began last year
when I was sent undercover to bring down Sonny Corinthos, a
local mobster. I fell in love with him and couldn't bring myself
to do anything that might harm him. My bosses weren't too happy
about that, but I had to protect Sonny. Then I tried to quit.
My contact, Agent Larkin, wouldn't accept my resignation,
though. Then he turned out to be crooked. To top it all off, the
FBI tried to force my father, Roy DiLucca, to bring down Sonny
for them. When he refused, they hauled him off to prison. That
was so unfair. I mean, sure, my dad did try to kill a man, but
that was 20 years ago. He'd paid his dues. What more did they
want from him?
"Then my dad teamed up with Sonny to get us out from under
the FBI's thumb. He broke out of prison and risked his life to
find evidence that Agent Larkin has been accepting bribes from
criminals for years. Larkin kidnapped and almost killed me, but
my dad's a true hero. After he saved my life and captured Larkin,
some agents tried to arrest him, but he stood right up to them
and gave them an ultimatum: Before they could even *look* at the
evidence against Larkin, they had to pardon my dad, grant
amnesty to Sonny, and agree not to charge me with obstruction of
justice. In return, we promised not to tell anyone about Larkin's
criminal activities, because otherwise all the cases he's ever
worked on would be jeopardized. We backed those bullies into a
corner; they *had* to give in. And just to make sure the Bureau
would live up to its end of the bargain, my dad made a tape
recording of the conversation. So Sonny, my dad, and I all started
over with a clean slate, and Larkin got what was coming to him.
Everything worked out for the best!"
As Scully violently choked on her coffee, Hannah thumped her on
the back several times. "I know, when I first heard about the
deal, it almost overwhelmed me, too. I thought Agent Larkin was
going to continue his reign of terror unchecked, but justice
prevailed. He's behind bars where he belongs, and my dad is
safe."
Reaching for a napkin, Scully asked, "But what about you?"
"Me?" Hannah looked puzzled; then her face cleared. "Oh, I
haven't been promoted yet or anything, but it doesn't matter as
long as my dad's all right. And I really feel like my career is
on the upswing again. I think I've found my niche here in Port
Charles."
'I'm not touching this one,' Scully thought as she sought a new
topic of conversation.
Before she could come up with one, Hannah continued. "I forgot to
tell you some big news. Sonny's new girlfriend, Carly, got him in
trouble again. She called in a tip to the police, and we caught
Sonny agreeing to a drug-trafficking deal with another mobster.
Carly said it was all a mistake and Sonny wasn't supposed to be
involved, but we got the whole meeting on tape. It looks like
Sonny's going to prison after all. His amnesty deal with the
Bureau only applies to crimes committed before June 1."
"Don't tell me you were involved," Scully protested.
Hannah nodded. "I was there, and so was Lieutenant Taggert, my
boyfriend. But the commissioner pulled me off the case. He,
was afraid that outside parties would assume I was biased
because of my prior relationship with Sonny. That's so unfair!
But everything else is going great. Even my love life. The only
problem is that A.J. Quartermaine won't stop pestering me. I
just want to be his friend, and he keeps trying to turn it into
something more. Boy, is he screwed up. He's an alcoholic who's
off the wagon, and his dysfunctional family doesn't give him
much support. Still, there's something about him that I'm drawn
to."
Scully cleared her throat. "But what about Sonny? No so long
ago, you were so in love with him, you risked your career, broke
the law, violated ethical standards, lied to your superiors...
need I go on?"
Hannah smiled wistfully. "At the time, I truly thought I was
doing the right thing. But I've gotten over Sonny. A part of
me will always love him, but we weren't meant to be. So, what do
you think I should do about Taggert and A.J.?"
"You really want my advice?" Scully asked.
"Yes, really." Hannah leaned forward.
Scully took a deep breath. "All right, then. In that case, resign
from the FBI, leave town alone, and pursue a career in any area
*except* law enforcement."
Hannah burst into laughter. "I like you a lot, Dana. I can call
you Dana, can't I? You have such a wonderful sense of humor."
In that moment, Scully decided that the one positive aspect of
the situation was that at least Mulder wasn't stuck in the diner
with her. No, *he* was out obtaining valuable information from
the police commissioner. If only she were there instead...
end 1/8