Author's note: Lets see, I wrote this in 1999, before the ep Millenium aired. I brought back a few old characters, just a fair warning. 'We're living in America, At the end of a millenium...' ~Rent.
Dedication: To Mr. Snook, the best computer teacher ever, especially for letting me pick this assignment. You'll always have a fan-club!
New Years Eve 1999
FBI Headquarters
11:47 PM
The room was filled with agents of all ranks. ADs, SACs, and SAs. The music was blaring, the dance floor was packed. Everyone was excited about the New Year. Not a soul wasn't smiling or laughing. Except for two lone special agents, arguing at a corner table. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully sat tensely, debating why they were even there.
"C'mon Mulder! It's just for fun. Why don't' you just try to have fun for once in your life?"
Scully, you know I'm not big on the social scene. Besides, I've seen so many New Year's they're getting pretty old. There's so much excitement over nothing. And it's not even the millennium!"
Scully sighed deciding to let her partner hold on to his anti-social ways. Meanwhile, she headed out onto the dance floor, not quite sure where she was going, but needing to get away from the complaints and grumbles coming from Mulder's mouth. As she reached the refreshment table her former boss AD Skiner intercepted her. She noticed the small smile lurking at his mouth. Now there's an X-File, Scully thought. Skinner smiling.
"Good evening sir," she said. " How are you tonight?"
"Agent Scully," he greeted her. "I'm surprised to see you without your partner. Is he here tonight?"
"Yes sir," she said. " He's over in the corner, trying to convince anyone he can that this year isn't the millennium, there's still another year. I don't see what the big deal is anyway."
"Well, some feel that the whole reason we even celebrate the millennium is because we're celebrating the beginning of our Earth, the beginning of life. That we should celebrate the start of our superior race."
Scully choked back a laugh. "If Mulder had his way, we'd be celebrating the first claim of alien abductions. Have a nice night, sir."
"Okay everyone, listen up!" the DJ announced. "We have 50 seconds until the New Year! Before the countdown, lets think of what's happening this year. Tonight is the millennium, the start of our history. And tonight we find out what will happen in the millennium. We think we fixed the Y2K problem, but tonight's the night we find out. We don't know what's gonna happen with all these kooks who are afraid the world will end. But for now, lets just concentrate on welcoming the New Year!" The DJ started counting down. "10!"
The crowd counted backward, even Mulder.
"9!8!7!6!5!4!3!2! Happy New Year!"
The room went wild, blowing streamers, hugging each other and singing along to the music. Very few people noticed as a gun exploded and the body of a harsh AD slumped to the floor. Mulder noticed though.
"Someone get the paramedics!" he shouted into the crowd. "Kersh is down!"
January 1, 2000
DC Hospital
2:32 AM
Mulder walked over to Scully who was sitting in the hall of the hospital, conversing softly with a nurse. She nodded as the nurse walked away. Looking up at Mulder she spoke bluntly.
"He's dead."
Mulder's facial expression didn't change at all, but his eyes flashed. Not with sadness, he knew without a doubt he would not miss his spiteful boss. Scully supposed he felt something, but she wasn't sure what.
"Do you know what happened?" he asked. When Scully shook her head no, he told her. "He shot himself. Just lifted up his hand holding his gun and bang. I don't know why," he admitted. "But it was weird."
"Mulder, you're weird. You live for weird. But I think we ought to find out why this happened."
"Why are you in such a hurry to find out what happened?" Mulder asked. " You're usually the one convincing me it was nothing but a suicide. Besides, I say thank heavens. We don't have a boss!"
Scully ignored the half-hearted grin that Mulder offered and gestured towards the TV. "Obviously you haven't been listening to the news. This isn't the only shocking suicide. There's been lots of strange behavior in the last two and a half hours. Already there has been a bank robbery, five murders, maybe three suicides, a shooting at the local 7-11 and so much more. It's freaky."
"Scully, it's the 'millennium.' We knew all this kind of stuff was going to happen. People flipped. Hopefully by tomorrow they'll realize that the world is not gonna end and things will get slightly back to normal."
"As if anything is 'normal' with you," Scully said. But she dropped the subject and walked out the door with her partner.
April 21, 2000
Location unknown
10:13 PM
Alex Krycek entered the room that was usually clouded with smoke. For a second he couldn't place what was wrong, then he realized that CGB wasn't puffing away at his Morleys. He gave him a weird look.
"Good morning…" he greeted his accomplice. "Where's your cigarette?"
CSM just kind of shrugged and pointed to the patch visible below his shirt's sleeve. "I quit," he said, sounding slightly shocked himself.
Krycek dropped his jaw, but remained under control. Weirder things have happened this year, he thought to himself.
May 6, 2000
Location Unknown
8:21 AM
Skinner walked into the building where he was to meet his new colleagues. The room was furnished in a dark brown with a TV that viewed what was going on in the basement of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI. Taking a deep breath, he approached the man standing in the center of the room. The man was familiar, but Skinner couldn't quite place him. Then he realized it was the Cigarette Smoking Man…except he wasn't smoking.
The former CSM pushed back his hair, as if he needed something to do with his hands now that he couldn't puff at his cigarette. "Are you ready for your first orders as a member of the Syndicate?" he asked?
"Yes," Skinner said, leaving his face a blank.
"Kill Marita."
"Been there, done that."
"Oh, I like you," CSM said with a mild grin.
June 21, 2000
Witness Protection Program
4:01 AM
Byers snuck into the silent room, looking for Suzanne Modeski, or __________ as she was now known.
"John!" she said in surprise. " What are you doing here?"
"Bye bitch."
Soon the police were surrounding the house of Susan Modeski. But it was all too late. Byers had already pressed the button that would activate the nanotechnology in her head, which he knew had been installed by Krycek when she had first been kidnapped. As he walked through the quiet woods, he felt a small tear lurking in the corner of his eye. But Byers knew that Suzanne deserved it after betraying him the way she did.
July 5, 2000
11:55 PM
Krycek approached the lone figure that stood by the reflecting pool. He grinned ever so slightly to himself. It was about time that traitorous creep got what he deserved. The only thing Krycek didn't know was why he had waited so long to do something. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Spender's father was Krycek's boss, but that didn't matter anymore.
"Agent Spender," Krycek called out, tightly clutching the cylinder object he held in his hand. "What a surprise finding you here."
Spender laughed to himself; Krycek was a lot less sneakier then the thought. Spender had noticed the had been being trailed. Only questioned that still remained was what Krycek was doing there.
"Hello Krycek," he said. "What brings-"
But before he could finish his thought, Krycek had whipped out a small object and stuffed it into Spender's mouth. Pulling out a lighter, he lit the end of the firecracker. Spender tried to scream, but before he could, he felt an extraordinary pain racing through his mouth before he was blinded by a bright light.
"Wow," Scully said to her partner from their park bench by the reflecting pool. "I wonder who's setting off fireworks this late at night?"
August 15, 2000
FBI Headquarters, X-Files Division
2:05 PM
Scully walked into her office carrying a soda, surprised to find Mulder engrossed in his newspaper. When she had left ten minutes ago, he had been carefully sharpening all of his pencils in boredom.
"What's up?" she said, sitting down in front of her computer.
Mulder leaned forward in his seat and Scully knew she was in for a long story. "Well," he started. "You know how the year 2000 is the 'millennium,' correct?" Scully nodded and he continued. "Well, here's the deal. On New Year's, maybe three seconds after, Kersh kills himself. At the hospital, you yourself say that weird things are going on. At first I just related it to the New Year. Mass hysteria and all that. But soon, I realized something.
He realized something? Scully thought. Now I know we're doomed.
"See, the thing is, none of these deaths, murders, suicides, or robberies have any connection at all. There are no religious ties, different ethnics and beliefs, very few people knew each other."
"And there have been an increasing amount o meteors," Scully cut in. "I know, I know. What's your point?"
"My point," Mulder said. "Is…okay, so I don't know my point. But I've been collecting all the newspaper articles and interviews with people who knew the assassins or whatever and I've come to a conclusion."
Scully shot Mulder one of her Looks. The look told Mulder he had better get his over with quick unless he wanted his partner to take out her gun in frustration.
"I think the New Year, or at least the year leading up to the real millennium is making people act on their impulses. Don't give me that look Scully! I'm serious. Look, I've been checking it our and some witnesses who knew the people said that they have been thinking about it for a long time or were planning it. This one guy, his name is John Smith. For years he had been planning how to rob this bank, the one right down the street. He told his wife all of his ideas but he would never go through with it. He was that kinda guy. But then, New Year's Day, the band money is gone. And his plans were the ones used."
Scully rolled her eyes, but hating what she was saying said, "I know." Ignoring Mulder's shocked look, she continued. "I've been doing some research myself, and as much as I hate to admit it, I've come to the same conclusion.
"Okay," said Mulder hesitantly, seemingly disbelieving Scully's agreement. "But here's the question. How come we haven't been affected?"
"But we have. I mean, its not every day that you punch Colton, or I ditch you."
Mulder smiled at the memory, relishing the strong punch he had to delivered to Tom Colton's smug face. "He deserved it," he said. "Calling you Ice Queen and me Spooky. But you're right. Usually I would've asked you to kick his butt."
"Okay," Scully said. "Now, what do we do about it?"
"Pray it doesn't affect the aliens?"
"Oh, but it does."
Both Mulder and Scully turned at the sound of the new voice. In the doorway they found an older man one they had thought died in a car explosion. And the 'Well Manicured Man' as he had been nicknamed, began his story.
"You are correct, the millennium does begin in the year 2001," he started in his English accent. "We don't know shy and we can't stop it. But it does affect the aliens. The meteor Agent Scully previously mentioned are not meteors, but the two alien races fighting each other. As of now, the game is tied, but we can only hope that the war will continue on elsewhere and leave Earth alone. And, the aliens fighting is the only reason Hell has broken loose among us humans. Because if the aliens can't be happy, they wish no one to be happy."
September 2, 2000
FBI Headquarters
10:02 AM
Special Agent Diana Fowley approached the basement door, knocking slightly. But instead of Mulder opening the door, his partner did instead. Oh great, Fowley thought. Now I have to deal with Thing Two also. Oh well. I'm sure I can get rid of her easily enough. Moving her hand ever so slightly to her holster, Fowley requested to enter the cramped office.
Scully, smiling an evil smile, said sure and opened the door all the way. As Fowley entered the cramped office (even more so, now that there were two desks) Scully sat down.
"So," she said to Mulder's ex 'chickadee.' "What brings you to this part of the building?"
"Actually," said Fowley. "I was looking for Fox. Is he here?"
"No."
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
"No."
Fowley was becoming very nervous. Usually it was easy to get the best of Scully, all she had to do was mention Mulder's name. But now Scully seemed…calm. Like she knew something that would affect Fowley, but Fowley didn't know about it.
"Well, do you mind if I stay here?"
"Yes, I do," said Scully. "See, you're a bitch. And I hate you. So, now you're gonna die. Slowly, painfully, your life will cease to end. And the last thing you're gonna see is my face, grinning."
Quick as a whistle, Scully whipped out her gun, aimed, and fired. The bullet barely grazed Fowley's ear lobe. And while Fowley was in pain, she couldn't help but to laugh. After all, Scully was practically famous for her straight shot, and here she was, not even fatally wounding Fowley.
"Oh, I know what you're thinking," Scully said in response to Fowley's smiling face. You must be thinking I don't really want to kill you. But you're wrong. 'Cause there are some things even the Syndicate don't know about."
Fowley just walked out.
3 days later…
"How's Fowley?" Scully asked her partner cheerfully. Mulder responded with a tad less enthusiasm.
"She's dead. The deteriorating of the face and other skin stopped, but somehow some bacteria got in the flesh-or what was left of it-and it go infected. She died shortly after.
"Was she in much pain?"
"Yeah."
"Good ol' Krycek," Scully murmured to herself.
October 7, 2000
Mulder's Apartment
7:21 PM
Knock knock!
Mulder looked up at the sound of knocks on his door, wondering who could be visiting him. Not Scully, for she was in the same room as him. Slowly he got up, all the while debating if he should bring his gun. He decided against it; a mass murderer wouldn't knock on the door. He opened it door. He should've brought his gun, Scully though.
"Detective White?!" Mulder gaped. "What are you doing here?"
The 'blond' detective shrugged her shoulders, seeming a little confused herself. "I, uh, you know, just came here to talk. See what's going on."
Mulder took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but in doing so, caught a whiff of her perfume. "C'mon in," he beckoned. Just then he remembered his partner. Oops.
Scully shifted noticeably in her seat, but tried to hide it under a stony facade. As Mulder let White in, Scully suffered numerous flashbacks from their stay in Comity, especially one night when all hell had broken loose. For everyone.
Mulder and White sat next to each other on the couch, talking softly between them. Scully strained to hear the words, but to no avail. Mulder looked at his partner apologetically for a second before speaking.
"Scully-"
"Mulder, may I have a little talk with Detective White? Alone?"
Mulder understood that this was not a request but an order and with a shrug left the room.
"So…" Detective White tried to break the stony silence.
"Oh shut-up. What are you doing here White?"
"I, uh, came to see Agent Mulder."
Scully flashed White a cat-who-ate-the-canary-but-now-I'm-the-cat-and-there's-no-more-games-cuz-you-have-absolutley-n
o-right-coming-here-yo-see-Mulder-who-is-MY-man-with-your-dyed-blond-hair smile. But before she
could say this out loud, Mulder re-entered the room.
"Fox-" White started.
"No way blondie, my turn now," Scully said.
Mulder interrupted them both, but not before an eyebrow arch. "There's been another death."
"Oh God." Scully of course.
November 12, 2000
Washington Reflecting Pool
9:34 PM
Mulder and Scully sat at their 'spot' by the reflecting pool, looking out across the water. With the peaceful evening, neither felt too compelled to break the silence and talk about what was on both their minds. Finally Mulder spoke.
"So what are we gonna do about all this?" he asked, gesturing towards the two alien ships looming overhead.. Of course, by now everyone knew they were UFOs and not shooting stars or meteor showers like they had been told before. How long could you hid two quarreling alien races blowing off chunks of the moon-and soon the Earth?
"What can we do?" Scully asked. "Mars won't be habitable until next July, and even then we couldn't hide forever. I guess we just wait till…I don't know. But I have to say this: 'They,' whoever They are, actually did some good for us. I mean, at least the delayed mass hysteria for 11 months. It's more than we could do."
"Yeah," Mulder agreed glumly. "But it's still not to comforting that the world could end anytime from now to 3 years for now. But Scully-"
Scully interrupted her partner in a trembling voice. "Mulder, I think we may be about to find out just how powerful those aliens are. It looks like those ships are about to land."
December 31, 2000
Washington Sewer Systems
11:22 PM
"Ya know Scully," Mulder said. "At one point, I can hardly remember when I said that when the aliens or whatever happened, it was going to be the shit storm of all time. I think I was right. Cuz now the aliens-Purity type I mean-are blowing up Earth. Remember that night by the reflecting pool?" When Scully nodded, he continued. "Well, in my opinion, that's when everything started going to Hell, when the annihilation of China happened. But now it just keeps getting worse. I mean, how weird is it to see Skinner become an alien slave? And I know we've been here for a few days, but we can't hid in the sewer forever. And the millennium is fast approaching, and what if what that old guy said is true, 'shit storm' may be the understatement of the millennium."
"That old guy?" Scully questioned half heartily. "I always knew you weren't scientific, but I thought you knew how to talk." Scully looked at her watch. "Only a half hour until the millennium, and here we are, stuck in a sewer system. After that Flukie, I though I had sworn off sewers."
"After Flukie?" Mulder chuckled. "I can't believe that case. Seems kinda mild after some things, don't ya think? I mean, we had only been together for what, two years?"
"Yeah, but it was the first time they split us up."
Both were quiet for a few minutes, pondering this, wondering what 'being split up' meant to them now, now that they were contemplating their death.
11:59 PM
"One more minute," Scully said.
Mulder looked at his partner with a mix of emotions in his eyes. Scully thought he as about to say something, something important, but just then a loud noise filled the sewer and the ground shook. Mulder and Scully were sent tumbling to the floor, but just as suddenly as the noise started, it stopped.
"Happy New Year," Mulder said dryly.
"Mulder, what's that?"
Mulder looked around their cramped, stinking surroundings until he noticed a substance dripping down the walls. Upon closer inspection they discovered it was the alien book and purity.
"I'm going up." Scully said.
Both advanced toward the grate and poking their heads out, noticed…nothing. NO aliens, no ships, no slaves…just the remainders of what had been the worst alien invasion-and the only alien invasion-Earth had ever seen. Dead, twisted bodies littered the grungy street, while small fires from the rebels torched like devices still burned. And as the surviving humans came out from their hiding spots, they slowly climbed out of the sewers and headed toward the remains of what used to be one of the most powerful cities on Earth.
Notes II- I've been considering writing a sequel...yes? no? DiablaTwin@aol.com