"Scully! Over here!"
"What? You just got done telling me to go back out into the foyer."
"Well, he's in here now. I just saw him go down that second aisle, between those boxes."
Scully jogged towards Mulder…and felt the heel of her right pump snap.
"Seriously! Damn it!" She broke the remaining part of it off, and hobbled her way over to her partner.
The agents started walking, steadily, cautiously, guns at the ready, between a long row of green and white rectangular boxes. "Lazy Daizy Toilet Bowl Cleaner", the sides of the cardboard containers declared.
They came to a T and Mulder indicated, without words, for Scully to go right while he would take the left.
Scully came to the end of her row, started to turn the corner….and ran right into their suspect.
She raised her gun in front of her. "Federal Agent," she cried, "Stay where you are."
At that same moment, Mulder called out, "Scully, I have him cornered."
She was momentarily stunned and for just a split second, took her eyes off of the man.
"Wait…what?" She yelled. "No you don't, he…."
The perp took advantage of Scully's bewilderment to shove past her, knocking her down….which was pretty easy considering the state of her footwear…right into a pile of some unidentifiable goo. In addition, she cracked her head on a shelf, causing her to momentarily lose her vision. When it came back, the suspect was long gone.
"Scully," Mulder yelled again…Where are you?"
She took the offending shoe off and hurled it.
She gathered herself together, got up, and started moving towards Mulder's voice. "Oh what the hell…I can't go around like this," she exclaimed and took off the other shoe and threw it, too. She sided up to Mulder, a hand to her head.
"Where were you, I had him…"
"Mulder, that's not possible. He…he was just in front of me…he knocked me down and I hit my head. At the same time you were claiming he was here."
Mulder grabbed Scully by the shoulder with one hand and checked her head out with the other.
"Crap. Let me see. Are you alright? Is the baby okay? There's quite the cut here…and a nasty bump. That's gonna hurt later. You sure you are okay to go on?"
"Yes, Mulder, I fell on my ass, not my stomach. Thank god. I'm …fine…considering."
"Oh, and ah, Scully… you've got some sort of brown, tarry looking stuff all over your…butt. Hey, there he is. Stop, federal agents…we're armed."
The man halted for a second and looked their way, then took off running. The agents sped after him, following him into an adjacent room.
"Good," Mulder whispered, "there's one small room attached to this one and no other way out. We've got him, Scully. You stay here and guard this door and I'll flush him out."
Mulder cautiously started surveillance of the first room, looking under tables, behind doors and shelves. He saw nothing, so he continued on into the second room. This area was filled with more boxes on shelves, but not very many places to hide…and definitely no way out."
But he wasn't there. He had just…vanished.
Mulder came trotting back towards Scully. "Did you see him? Where did he go? He had to have come by here…there's no way out of that room!"
Scully was a little miffed at what he was insinuating. "Mulder, I've been standing right here! No one has come out of that room…besides you!"
Mulder threw back his head, closed his eyes and let out a long, agonized breath. He rubbed his eyes and walked back out to where they previously were. He turned towards another adjacent hallway.
"Okay. This time you go that way," he said pointing to his left.
Scully was halfway down the row, when Mulder shouted out, "Scully! Duck!"
The agent dropped down to her knees…as best as her very pregnant body would allow…just as shots rang out and bullets whizzed past her head. Two of them hit a cardboard box above her and she was immediately assaulted by a vicious stream of a sickly sweet smelling, green sludge. Thankfully it missed her head and ran down her back; although that was bad enough. She quickly stood and looked at the boxes label again.
"Toilet bowl cleaner! What the hell! Mulder!"
He was at her side before she barely got the words out.
"Help me get this jacket off. Damn it, I don't want that stuff eating my flesh off or something…toilet bowl cleaner, for shit's sake…no pun intended. What were you shooting at anyway? I didn't see anything!"
Mulder helped her get her jacket off and tossed it onto a shelf. He shook his head as he examined the agent's back. "Looks like only a little bit of it actually seeped through the jacket onto your blouse, but Scully, he was standing on the other side of the end box with a gun pointed at your head. I reacted. Would you rather I wouldn't have?"
Scully dropped her head to her chest and moaned. "Okay, this whole thing is starting to give me a headache. What is this guy, another Houdini? Appearing and disappearing and reappearing again. Oh hell! Please don't tell me he's another damn clone and we're being led around by our noses!"
"I don't think so, Scully, I…."
Mulder's phone rings.
"Mulder. Agent Doggett, where are you? I thought you and Agent Reyes were going to back us up here. You're at the old Sisters Hosptial? What are doing there, isn't that place shut down? Benny Holloway's there? You mean thee Benny Holloway, the one Scully and I have been chasing down for the last hour and a half? Who told you he was there? Skinner! Skinner knew we were here chasing him; this is where he supposedly sent all of us. . I don't get it. Yes! He's here somewhere. But...he can't be there, I mean I don't know exactly where he is here at the moment, but I just saw him not five minutes ago and you're all the way on the other side of town. No way he could have gotten there that fast. What do you mean Agent Reyes just shot him in the arm? So, you're saying there's a trail of blood, but now it just ended. What do I think? I'm beginning to think that this guy's got some means of performing teleportation. I think he's looking for something that is either here or in the building where you are…that's why we both have seen him. That's what I'm thinking. What other answer can there be? Yeah, he could be a twin. Or another damn clone, as Scully said. No, I don't think he's one either. There's been no evidence of that. I'm going with the teleportation story. Anyway, if he's hurt, he may have beamed himself to somewhere that he can get help. Yeah, let's just meet back at the office. Scully's having some bad luck and needs to change and I have a pretty big hunch he's not here anymore anyway. Okay, see you then."
Scully sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Alright, Mulder, let's get the hell out of here. I need a shower and some clothes that don't smell like fermented daisies. Who the hell would use this stuff? I don't care if it is for your toilet, it's freakin' awful!"
They started down the hallway towards the exit, and had just reached the end, when Mulder looked down at Scully's feet.
"What did you do with your shoes?"
Scully turned around to answer him, when…rrrriiiiipppppp….
Her pant leg caught on a piece of jagged metal shelving that was sticking out, and ripped it clear across the knee.
"Oh for the love of…..are you serious right now? Mulder, get me the hell out of here…before I have to leave the place buck naked…please!"
Mulder chuckled, picked her up, and carried her the rest of the way out of the building.
"Wait, did you want your shoes and jacket? Should I go back for them?"
"No! Lets' just get going…I beg you!"
They were in the car and well on their way back to the X-files office when Scully suddenly slapped her forehead and moaned.
"Now what is it," Mulder questioned.
"My flashlight...and my gun, Mulder I must have dropped both of them when that asshole pushed me down. We'll have to go back for the gun!"
"Scully, right now we're going with 'you lost it in the line of duty'. Screw the gun. I can go back later and look if need be. I didn't think you should have been there today in the first place, you're supposed to be on maternity leave. I can't believe Skinner let you talk him into it. I can't believe I went along with it! I'm getting you home and then I'll meet up with Doggett and Reyes. There's nothing more you need to do anyway. Doggett, Reyes, and I will catch that bastard one way or another. No more x-files for you until after the baby is born."
She smiled at him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you, Mulder…really. I don't know what happened to my luck today, but damn!"
"Maybe that was god's way of saying, 'Ms. Scully, you're pregnant. Time to give up chasing bad guys for a while, leave that to ole' Spooky."
Scully laughed…that delightful laugh that sent Mulder's heart a thumping.
"Mulder, umm...do you have any plans for later tonight? Maybe we could watch a movie or two. I've got ice cream…and I make a mean bowl of popcorn!"
He reached over and patted her knee. "Sounds great, Scully. I'll bring 'War of the Worlds', I've been meaning to watch that…and a beer for me. And some milk for you…and junior there. Around eight?"
"Eights fine," she answered taking his hand. She smiled, leaned back in the seat, and closed her eyes.
Maybe this day wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all….