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The water lapped gently at the dock. It was calm, but the presence of two shadowy figures made it seem eerie. One of the figures, puffed lightly on a cigarette, almost as if he was savoring the taste after it being away for so long. The other, stood silently behind him, watching the water come into shore.
"I assume everything is taken care of," replied Cancerman. The other figure came out of the darkness and into the single light illuminating the edge of the dock. She appeared to be no more than twenty years old, and yet on her face was sketched a wisdom only known to few.
"For once, you assume correctly," she replied in turn. "All the evidence has been destroyed, the place wiped of all prints. And gasoline distributed equally throughout the house just to make sure."
"Good," Cancerman said, and silence reigned again as he puffed his cigarette, pondering the recent turn of events.
XXX
In his haste to retrieve Mulder's "gift" last year, he didn't take into consideration the consequences on his own life. All he knew was that with his colleagues gone in a pile of ashes, there was no other way to continue the project. Now, he was facing his own mortality.
"I can help you," was all she said. She had approached him in his apartment, and right away he knew what she was. Only a member—or result—of the project would have knowledge of his whereabouts.
"In exchange for something else, of course."
A deal. He was use to issuing deals with others, not being the recipient of one. "Why should I help you?" he asked.
"Because what I need done will ensure that the last forty years of work wasn't in vane," she replied.
His habit had gained momentum in the past few months. He was at the point where he was lighting new cigarettes with the ones about to be extinguished, almost in a vane attempt to keep the flame going…almost like his life. "And what do I get, in return," he asked.
"Access to the technology that can spare your sorry existence."
Forty years of conspiracies taught him to be wary, but with his life hanging by a thread, it was too tempting.
"Why do you need me?"
She looked at him, contemptuously. "Because I need certain resources, and I'm afraid I wouldn't be as…efficient as you are at these sort of things." She continued, "Plus, I need you to get someone for me."
Awareness dawned on his face. "You need Agent Mulder."
She shook her head, "No…I need Agent Scully."
He couldn't help but hide his shock. "Agent Scully? She's never trusted me."
She snickered at his lack of ability. "Make her want to trust you. You've done it with Agent Mulder for the past seven years."
He couldn't help but smile. Agent Mulder was easy to get close to…he was so eager to follow. Agent Scully, however, had always proven to be more difficult.
"Why would she want to come with me?"
She pulls a small vile out of her pocket. "I'm giving you the bait to lure her in."
He looked at it skeptically. "Is that…?"
She cut off, "It's the chip that saved Agent Scully's life by putting her cancer in remission. This is another prototype of the same technology. I have been working closely with the man who has been designing the programs. Unfortunately, he wants to go public with it, and you and I both know that cannot happen."
He eyed her warily. They both knew all too well that a publication of this technology would raise too many questions about how it became available, and neither one were willing to expose this to the public.
"So what am I to do, then?" he asked between puffs.
She slipped the vile back into her pocket and paced around him. "You have access to Agent Scully's email account, correct?" He had the nerve to look appalled. "That's what I thought. This man, called 'Cobra,' will be contacting her. What you must do is write him back, gain his trust to the point where he's willing to come out of hiding."
"Is that it?" He seemed a little insulted at the simplicity of it all.
"For now," she replied, coldly. "There will be more, but for now, you just do this. And wait."
He looked skeptical again. "Wait."
"Yes," she replied sternly, "until I give you the signal that it's time to move ahead with the plan."
She walked over to him, slowly, and extended her hand. "Do we have a deal?"
Past encounters told him not to trust this person, but something deep down said it would be greater for him if he did. He puffed the last bit of cigarette and let the flame die of its own accord as he grasped her hand firmly and shook it with confidence.
"We have a deal."
XXX
"It's time." That was all she said when she called him. It had been a month since that late night meeting, one month of correspondence between Cobra and 'Agent Scully.' He found it quite easily to be Agent Scully in the responses…making it sound eager and yet paranoid as well about the safety of the information.
His visitor gave him very little information, telling him they had just cured a boy diagnosed with terminal cancer, and that he could find the article in the local newspaper. As instructed, he slid the newspaper under Scully's door, however, they had not intended for Cobra to email Mulder with the same headline.
"You screw up again, and the deal is over," she stated coldly. It was an unexpected hurdle, but luckily turned out to be of no concern. She instructed Cancerman to go to the boy's home and confront Scully there.
"What am I to tell her? She'll know I'm lying."
She couldn't help but laugh. "Tell her the truth. She might actually believe you."
The truth. It appeared as an almost impossible scenario; however, it turned out to be fairly simple. It almost pleased him in a way. Not in a devilish sense like "I fooled them," more of a "She actually trusts me" kind of sense. For a brief time, he almost felt as if he could be trusted. Even after they arrived to the cabin, he had doubts about his ability to deceive Agent Scully any further.
"We have an agreement. You must live up to your end or suffer the consequences." He had already suffered enough, and he was too worried about himself to actually stop this…thing. So he watched as she injected a clear substance into Scully's arm.
"What is that?" he asked.
She withdrew the syringe. "It's something that will make her feel better…and allow her to find something she thought she lost." She slowly pushed the liquid into the vein and withdrew the needle slowly. Scully stirred a little, but never regained consciousness. As the visitor stood up to leave, she caught the look of compassion on Cancerman's face. He made a swift exit and left her to change Agent Scully's clothing, leaving the wire intact.
XXXX
Cancerman stood on the dock and stared out at the water lappping against the shore. Mission accomplished, he couldn't help but feel a little bit melancholy, maybe even a little bit lonely. Although it was brief, he had enjoyed Agent Scully's company. It almost seemed like she made him want to be a better person; however, he knew she would never fully trust him the way she trusted Mulder…the way she loved Mulder.
"I must say, that was a nice speech you gave to her in the car. I think it will be very beneficial in the end."
He kept puffing on the cigarette without any clear reaction to her statement. He knew what she was alluding to, and he couldn't help but feel a little twinge of pain in his chest…and it wasn't from the cigarettes.
"Why did you need me to do this?" he asked.
She sighed heavily. "You can't repent for all the pain and suffering you've caused over the years, but I figured this would give you one last chance to do something right. Even the devil was an angel at one point."
He smirked at the statement. He never really considered himself the devil, but he had done enough in his life that he could be mistaken for him.
He only had one more question. "Why her?"
She shoved the disc into his chest, causing him to grab it quickly as she pulled away. "You have what you want. What do you care."?
She walked away up the pier towards the cabin, never looking back. Cancerman looked longingly out at the water. For a moment, he almost believed he could have everything he ever lost…compassion, trust, understanding, and love. He realized, though, that he would never have it, and said nothing as the disc slipped from his hands into the water.
As he walked up the path towards the car, he looked at the cabin one last time. It was a nice place to take refuge from the reality of what was yet to come. And even though he wasn't the initiator anymore, it gave him great comfort that he was able to help preserve the human race at the end of his life.
He took one last look at the cabin, climbed in the car, rolled down the window to flick out the cigarette onto the ground, lighting the gasoline trail that led into the cabin. He pulled off into the darkness as flames shot up behind him in the rearview mirror.
He never looked back.
End
Notes: Some people weren't too fond of it, but I loved the episode "En Ami." Having a Scully-centric episode, as well as having her interact with a character that she normally doesn't interact with, I felt was really cool. I also felt that Cancerman, as powerful as he is, always takes orders from someone, whether it was the Syndicate, aliens, or some new character that isn't yet identifiable. The nameless woman ties into another story idea I have about time travel, and hopefully that will get developed and you can find out who the mystery woman is.
Again feedback is always welcome.