Provocation Chapter 1: Searching, a x-files fanfic

Provocation Chapter 1

Based upon characters created by Chris Carter

NC-17 Scully/other, adult themes, explicit sexual material.

From the moment he saw her across the smoke-filled room, he wanted her. Needed her with an intensity that he'd thought dead long before. This was not just the dull throb of hunger or simply the black fire of mindless lust, though both featured heavily in his wanting. This feeling also transcended them creating a connection he could not entirely understand but one he could not deny. He watched her from the shadows, studying her intently. She was small, petite, but perfectly formed with a strength that was unmistakable. Her medium length hair was the warm auburn of banked embers, her skin Celtic pale and touchably smooth. She radiated a restrained fire that intrigued him both sexually and mentally. Her black suit, white blouse and skirt betrayed their workplace appearance but he suspected they were as much front as her restraint. There were untapped levels to her being, he could surmise that just by glancing at her. And he began to formulate in his mind an approach to enter this mysterious woman's world and introduce her slowly to his...

"Oh yeah, Lynette."

The slightly grizzled face of the head barman of the Chances singles club twisted in recognition to the photo that Dana Scully was exhibiting before him as she took her place on one of the many stools placed around the large circular bar. It was of a blonde woman with an open and pleasant face whose expression seemed a guarantee of friendship and loyalty. As she allowed the barman to take an even closer look at the photo, Scully found herself remembering just such friendship and loyalty that had been extended to her during the time she'd returned to the FBI academy at Quantico to teach after the loss of her lover Fox Mulder. The many hours she'd spent with Lynette Marsh welcoming her openess as she'd poured out her heartbreak at losing the company of a man who she had fought to have back in her life and recently her equal heartbreak at being forced to give up the son that belonged to both of them for adoption. Of course there had been elements to both losses she hadn't discussed with Lynette even though she knew the woman was aware of her past involvement in the X Files. Elements that she feared Lynette would not comprehend or even believe. But that hadn't stopped both of them forming a close bond- a bond that had brought Scully here this night to find the reason why her new-found friend had suddenly disappeared. Disappeared without a single trace. With Chances apparently her last port of call.

"She came here a lot, yeah." The barman continued to elaborate. "Plenty of guys hit on her, as you know that's really what this place is all about."

As Scully surpressed an inward sigh at the leery nature of the barman's comment, she put the small photo back into the inside pocket of her suit.

"Did you ever see her leave with any that approached her?" Scully enquired as she felt the smoke and crowded atmosphere of the club beginning to get to her.

The barman paused momentarily as if fighting to untangle a mass of memories in his tired mind.

"No, I can't remember ever seeing her leave with any of them. And there were a lot of guys, I mean a LOT of guys trying their luck. But despite how often she came here, it's weird, she always seemed to brush them off as if..."

Scully noticed his trailing off.

"As if what?"

The barman took another long pause and then continued.

"As if they just weren't that particular guy she was looking for, you know...You know people today...especially in a place like this...they can be very picky at times..."

Her mind fatigued by the cliches the barman was articulating as well as the frustration of not finding out a possible reason for Lynette's disappearance, Scully made to leave but with a strange spontaneity decided to stay sitting at the bar and ordered a cocktail from the barman. Pleased to have aquired a customer as well as an inquiring visitor, the barman soon presented her with the blueish green drink in question which Scully had to ironically smile inside at the name, a Flying Saucer. Mulder, wherever he was, would have loved that.

Mulder.

It had seemed an eternity since any contact from him. As Scully took a sip of the potent liquid in front of her, she pondered on what the lack of any e-mail for several months now might signify. Granted the whole matter of her personal life being so maliciously surveilled in recent time might have been an issue. Shadowy men had even spied on her the night Mulder had first entered her bed and even now the thought of that made her shake with silent anger and shame. It had been a moment no-one else had been meant to share, especially faceless men who studied it with emotionless detachment for a true purpose she still didn't have all the answers to. She had felt like herself and her life had been literally raped by these strangers, these predators.

That was a funny word to be tumbling around her consciousness just this second, Scully realised as she turned slowly around to survey what she deigned to be an atmosphere of predators, all with their own reasons, wants and needs to be satisifed or indulged in. Whether genuine or deceitful, they were all hunting something. And Scully wondered if her missing friend had been the victim of one of them. Just when she believed she'd found someone to truly confide in about her inner pain, she had lost them too. There was no slight on her two colleagues and friends now working in the X Files office. John Doggett and Monica Reyes had been there for her more times than she could count but there was a point Scully would not cross with them. They were both too close to the world that had been her and Mulder's. Way too close. And lately just the thought of that world had caused too much pain in her soul.

As Scully continued to drink, she contemplated her own wants and needs as she beheld the people around her attempting to form attachments, even temporary ones for just one night. She thought of her Georgetown apartment, now so empty without the presence of her child. A bed she barely slept in because of how lost she felt in it on some long and lonely nights. How she missed being touched, kissed and so much more...

She remembered other smoky bars, bars she'd visited in the company of Jack Willis and Ed Jerse. She laughed almost with the same irony she'd felt at the name of the drink she was now rapidly consuming when she remembered her unerring capacity to get involved with complicated and at times dangerous men. The itch of the Ouroboros tattoo she occassionally felt on her lower back was a permanent reminder of the risks she had sometimes taken due to the power of her unsatisified needs, her yearning for more than at times she felt she had. That unmistakable urge at times to give up control of a life she felt at times too routine, a little too ordered. Scully thought of Lynette's outer appearance of control and wondered if her regularly coming to this bar was a similar act of wanting to give it up. Had it cost her too much of a price?

"Interesting choice of drink."

The voice was low, deep but with a roughness that instantly caught Scully's attention. As she turned to face the man now seated beside her, his grey and penetrating eyes were the first things she really noticed. The intensity and depth to them threw her temporaily off balance and she fought to focus, blaming her rapid intake of alcohol for her response. It had been a long time since a man had looked at her in such a way and it unnerved her at the same time she felt a stab of shameful excitement.

"I don't believe I've noticed you here before." The man kept direct eye contact with Scully as he spoke, choosing each word carefully and precisely, as if he was rolling each one around in his mouth for several savoured minutes before releasing them. It was almost strangely hypnotic to Scully.

"My first time here..." Scully tried to form words, annoyed she had been so shaken by his appearance. "I wouldn't normally come to a place like this but I..."

The man slowly held up a strong very masculine hand. Just from a quick observation of it, Scully knew this was a man who kept himself in shape.

"You don't have to justify your reasons for being here. Very few seldom do." The eyes continued to penetrate to the point Scully felt almost naked before him as he continued to wash over her with that voice. "I think you're here looking for something...very eager to find something that is lost."

For a moment, Scully resisted the urge to laugh, despite the hypnotic cadence the voice possessed, the man's last words could almost be interpreted as some cheesey come-on.

Almost...

"I am looking for something specific..." Scully ran a finger nervously up and down the bottom of the cocktail glass. The action was not lost on the man facing her and she chastised herself internally for not being more composed. Like she normally was. "I'm looking for a woman who used to come here on a regular basis..."

The man's face broke out into a long intrigued smile.

"Really?" He motioned to the barman who was standing nearby to refill Scully's now empty glass. "You definitely are adventurous then...I sensed it in you..."

Scully realised how the comment must have sounded in a place such as this and found herself getting angry with herself and him as she reminded herself of the important reason she had visited Chances tonight.

"She was a friend." Scully snapped. "A good friend who nobody has seen for three weeks now. I found out she used to come here and I was trying to find out if she'd been seen with anyone. Anyone who might have a clue to her disappearance...I'm certainly not here looking for...I don't need to..."

The man offered Scully her now refilled glass which she found herself taking off of him despite not wanting another drink. It was an action she'd almost made invisibly.

"We all have needs, things that we are missing in our lives..." His eyes flickered with a temporary shadow. "I think that's your problem. The things you are missing..."

Scully deliberately ignored the double edged innuendo and produced the photo from her pocket handing it over.

"Her name was Lynette Marsh..."

The man perused the photo for several seconds almost as if he was reliving a recent memory. As he slowly returned his gaze to Scully, the smile had left his face to be replaced by a look that was more enigmatic.

"Lynette...I do remember her..."

Scully was almost unaware of the large swig she took of the drink in front of her as she took in what she had just heard.

"She was an interesting lady alright...had some unusual appetites..."

Scully felt a white hot anger rising in her coupled with the warm rush of the cocktail moving through her. Before Scully could make the emotional retort that hovered on her lips, the man returned the photo, holding up his hand once more.

"I'm not meaning to cause any offence...it's just that this place was a stop-off point for her. She liked to frequent another club not too far from here."

Scully leaned across to him, her desperation to discover more about her friend coupled with a fear of what the man was going to disclose to her.

"Another singles bar?"

"Not quite." The man paused for what seemed like an eternity, carefully noting every nuance of Scully's poised body language. Then he began to slowly elaborate. "This club I'm speaking of has a little more of an underground flavour to it...how can I phrase this? The clientele there are a little more uninhibited...a little more willing to find what they're needing, what they're missing..."

Scully found herself almost draining the glass in front of her, her throat had suddenly become dry, her thoughts unsure. There was obvious implication in this man's words, some of it directed at her. But there was also the unspoken information he was offering about Lynette. There was implication there too, an implication that maybe told her more than she wished to know that there were more similarities deep down between her and her friend than she dared to admit. That Lynette's supposed needs had led her down paths Scully had never dared explore...

"How far away is this club?" She placed her empty glass down on the bar making it clear to the approaching barman not to fill it again. "Is there possibly someone there who could tell me where she might be? Did you go to this club with her?"

"I often frequent the club with or without your friend..." The slow smile returned to his lips. "It's a couple of blocks from here and I could take you there right now...I'm sure someone there might be able to help you..."

Was it the haze of the smoky atmosphere coupled with the alcohol she had consumed or did that last sentence contain another deep implication. Scully rose slowly to her feet in an attempt to gain composure, putting aside the troubling thoughts that were filling her consciousness and making it clear the reason she was so anxious to visit the club with this mysterious man.

"Let's not waste any time...Mr...?"

"Carlos."

There was almost a silent aggression to the way the man had spoken his name and for a reason she couldn't fathom, Scully found the simple sentence resounding in her brain in a primal fashion.

"And you are...?"

"Dana. Dana Scully."

As he watched her walk the half-lit street several feet away, he studied her more closely. She was indeed a paradox. An intoxicating one. Businesslike in purpose but masking a vulnerability and tension that he could sense from just a few moments in her company. As her high heels sounded on the roughened sidewalk, the frequency of her urgent footfalls he swore could match the way her heart was beating deep inside. He had carefully noticed how the sexual implication in his words had not gone unnoticed by her, how her throat had tensed when she had taken a large calming gulp from her glass back in the bar. She was holding so much back and his mind watered at just what might lay underneath her surface as he peeled back the layers. Of the places he might convince her to go with him if he read her correctly. It excited him more than anything ever had and he had known vice, he had known true abandon, even perversion in his life. He had been to places that now seemed like tame diversions in contrast to what he felt he could explore with Dana Scully. Thoughts entered his mind as he sought to keep apace with her. Hot tangled limbs in silken bedsheets, candle wax pooling and searing on naked flesh, the splash of rain on skin in a darkened alleyway, the cold feel of steel encircling anticipatory wrists...

The possibilities made him more alive than he'd felt in his entire life. And would make her the same. If only she'd take the steps with him.

The first thing that struck Scully about the mysterious club was the fact it's entrance was almost hidden in the old stonework of a tall and seemingly abandoned building, at least that's what it appeared to be on the outside. If not for the solitary presence of a single African American doorman who seemed to be dressed in the typically conservative style of any nightclub bouncer and a small barely-lit neon sign advertising the club name to his right shoulder, Scully would have walked past this place without a second thought. It was definitely secluded and bore all the hallmarks of being the kind of underground club Carlos' statements had made it sound. For a moment as they approached the entrance Scully regarded her clothing and wondered whether it would be deemed suitable for an alternative venue such as that which Carlos promised. But then she remembered Lynette had visited here too and she couldn't even imagine her missing friend dressing in the way she suspected regular patrons did here. And then there was Carlos, also conservatively dressed in a very expensive looking double-breasted dark suit, tie and matching dark silk trousers. Scully found it strange that such had been her focus on his penetrating gaze it was only now that she was noticing his dress. As they reached the doorman, he seemed to give the two of them only a cursory glance, obviously recognising Carlos.

"Five nights this week...I always knew you were an addictive personality."

The doorman smiled widely as he took more notice of Scully and she found herself unnerved again by the almost leering quality to the man's large black features.

"A new face with you I see..."

"Yes..." Scully became aware of Carlos moving her subtly closer to the entrance. "I'm hoping I can help her find what she's looking for..."

As the main door of the club was slowly opened to reveal a disconcerting darkness beyond, Scully could finally make out the word spelt out in the half-working neon.

Provocation.

As she stepped through the doorway with the man who had promised her answers, Scully had the unmistakable feeling that she was about to not only learn more about Lynette's secret desires but also her own...

He watched her carefully as they navigated the darkness beyond the entrance tracing her outline even in the blackness surrounding them. It was almost as if the inner fire he knew burned inside her kept her alight in his eyes, kept her aflame like a searing red beacon which stung his throat with the choke of primal hunger. He could smell the arousal coursing from her even if she was unsure of it herself or unwilling to accept it yet. It was so potent that it was like tasting her without touching her. He closed his eyes tight savouring the sensation like a pouring wine, filling himself with her but stopping just short of gorging himself with her. That would come soon. It was simply a matter of time.

Scully was aware of the dull throb of vibrant percussive music sounding from the darkness ahead and could make out a single point of bright light in the far distance. As she continued to walk towards it escorted by Carlos who was never far from her, she became aware that the two of them were not alone in the darknened passageway. She could hear the breaths of strangers either side of her, feel the brush of naked limbs lightly touching her.The breathing a mixture of erratic and pained, unmistakable in its urgencies. Recognising what was occurring around her before she had even reached what she assumed was the centre of the club made Scully afraid of what she might behold when she finally made it to the distant light. She tried to regain her composure internally and remind herself why she was here, the importance of her finding Lynette. But she weighed that with the effect this place was already having on her deep inside, almost as if she was confronting something from a long distant dream or possibly fantasy...

As Scully and Carlos entered the main chamber of the club, their eyes were assaulted by a sea of mixed neon pulsating and flashing in time to the now louder music, leaving Scully in particular feeling she was in the middle of a giant strobe light. It lent an eerie stabbing glow to the couples engaged in frenetic dancing on the large circular floor facing them. Only as Scully scrutinised the patrons more closely she could see that dancing was not the only activity they were engaged in. A young blonde was kneeling before an acutely muscular black man in a metallic vest and deepthroating him, his obviously oversized cock struggling to fit all the way between her desperately sucking lips. In the far left corner, a slim brunette was being pounded from behind by a young puerto rican, the woman struggling to keep balanced on her hands and knees atop a series of large leather cushions due to the ferocity of the man's thrusts into her. They were just two of the random sexual acts whose raw carnality was given an added intensity by the flashing light. And Scully suspected there were more going on in the areas of the club she could not see. There was no denying the torrid atmosphere of pure sexual abandonment that permeated Provocation. Walking through the entrance, Scully had tried to prepare herself for the sights of an underground sex club but even she found herself standing shocked by the unrestrained nature of what was unfolding before her.

She became aware of Carlos' closeness as he placed a hand lightly on her shoulder, it giving her a feeling like an electric shock due to her distraction.

"I know it may be hard for you to believe, but your friend really enjoyed herself here." He brought his lips close to Scully's left ear. "There's no judgement here, no limits to expression. I think she felt she could really be the person inside herself here." Carlos brought his tongue within inches of touching her earlobe, his voice so close that Scully felt it bore into her brain. "Anybody can be here, anybody. Even you."

Scully slowly pulled herself away from Carlos' presence and turned to face him.

"I just need to know where she is, nothing else. That's the only reason I'm here." She tried to remain composed, despite how hard she felt her heart impacting against her ribcage, despite how thick she felt her voice had become. There was something truly disturbing by how alien and yet how familiar this place seemed to Scully and she was determined not to betray her confusion to the man who had promised her answers. She returned her attention to the large dance floor, attempting to tune out the fierce copulations punctuating the crowd.

"Did she spend time with anyone in particular here? Did she become...involved in some of the activities going on here?"

"Very involved." Carlos delighted in the succinctness of his answer, moving closer to her once more, savouring her attempt to deal with the hedonistic behaviour assaulting her. "Why don't you wait at the bar down there?" He directed her towards a long rectangular section to the right of the crowd. "There was a man here who she always enjoyed spending time with and he won't be hard to find. I won't leave you alone long..." As he walked away from Scully, he turned and fixed her once more with his penetrating grey eyes. "...Or else you really won't be alone long..."

As Scully watched him disappear into the neon sea, she slowly made her way across to the bar, acutely aware of several men who had stopped dancing or performing with partners to watch her. So naked was their interest that Scully once again felt naked herself as if just the looks they were giving her could tear the clothing from her body. She began to wish she hadn't worn a skirt to Chances realising the glimpse of her stockings was an extra delight for them to behold. But at the same time if she was honest their interest stirred other emotions in her...emotions a little harder to reconcile.

As she reached the bar and ordered another drink purely to have a convenient reason not to have to keep staring at the dance floor, Scully turned the thought of her friend indugling herself around in her mind. It wasn't as if she herself hadn't often enjoyed the idea of rebellion against what was expected of her, what people thought her to be and how they reasoned she would behave in certain situations. From dragging on forbidden cigarettes on her parents porch to deciding to engage in getting a cheap tattoo and a one-night stand, there were times she had definitely left behind what people saw as Dana Katherine Scully to purely be Dana, a totally different animal who liked to experience the thrill of something forbidden, something slightly dangerous.

Had that been why she had bonded so well with Lynette, they had subconsciously realised just how close they were in temperament- even in their darker personal shades?

"Jesus..."

Scully became aware of a large body behind her, dwarfing her with its masculine presence.

"You are the best thing I have seen here all night, Red..."

She became aware of strong hands traversing her thighs and as they rose higher into the confines of her skirt, Scully's fingers tightened around the cocktail glass she was holding. In the partial reflection evident in the frosted glass before her on the far side of the bar, she knew the man touching her was another African American, similar in build and height to the doorman who had let her and Carlos into Provocation. He looked bare chested, evidence of a very toned physique visible even through the distorted view in front of her and she had no way of knowing if the rest of him was equally naked. For a moment the thought made Scully tremble.

"God, I wanna lock down these beautiful thighs..."

The man's hands were now threatening to enter her panties and Scully could not figure out why she hadn't already put a stop to his handling of her. It was something she normally would have done in such a situation without hesitation and with definite assertiveness. But there was something about the thought of a total stranger touching her in such a way that she felt had been locked away in the darkest confines of her mind for a long time. And maybe the whole atmosphere of this decadent place was making her play out this moment to whatever conclusion it might reach.

What the hell is going on with me?

Scully felt the delicate glass she was holding almost shatter when she felt the man's hands running across the contours of her ass and his face now close to the side of hers assail her with his excited breath.

"Do you play backdoor games, Red?" Scully's body jerked as he squeezed hard on her buttocks. "Please God tell me you play backdoor games..."

The arousal evident in his shaky voice was borne out when Scully felt the pressure of his cock hardening through the material of her skirt. The thought that the man must be totally naked behind her and that all that seperated her from penetration by him was the fabric of her skirt and panties made her whole body flush.

When are you going to stop this, Dana? ARE you going to stop it?

She had taken dangerous courses before which had sometimes resulted in her own life being threatened. But what did her life truly entail anymore? No Mulder, no William...running away from a conspiracy that she knew still endangered so many people, so many lives...would it be so wrong to say to hell with it tonight and let this man, this stranger make love to...no, fuck her...

"Tell me, Red..."

The glass shattered.

He watched her through the flashing neon, delighting in the struggle evident in her. A further example of the strength he had detected in her from the first moment he saw her. He knew that she wouldn't take a step without debating the consequences and that thought made him once again ponder the true excitement of her first surrender to him. It would be a decision that had been measured, assessed, analyzed. And that would make the tumbling of her walls so much greater. He watched the stranger's hands touching her and imagined his in their place, marking her, bruising her with his lust, his love.

He felt the heat in her expelling itself just from where he was standing, the liquid centre of her body already partly streaming outwards at the thought of forbidden doors being opened. He would watch for several more moments, measuring, assessing, analyzing. Then he would act. Just like her.