S. BREWER
WASHINGTON, DC
Special agent Dana Scully was walking towards her office. It was normally much easier to drive, but it was a nice day and she thought the fresh air could help. Besides, she would probably need help before the day was over; dealing with Mulder all the time.
But it was a nice day. And she didn't want anything to ruin her suprisingly good mood.
Ahead of her, near the entrance of a shopping mall, a dark-haired young man with a red tee shirt darted out and began hurriedly making his way in Scully's direction. When there was enough room to on the crowded sidewalk, he would run.
Dana thought about it quickly as he darted past her, he could be shoplifting, someone could be after him, or he could have forgotten it's Thursday and he was supposed to be in school. Just out of curiosity she turned around to watch him.
Still making his way around pedestrians, he did not slow down. Scully felt a gust of wind and another young person sped past her, after him. It was a girl with long black hair and a green shirt. "No, wait!"
Okay, Scully thought mildly, a breakup. None of my business. She was about to turn around and head to work, for which she was already late.
One more second, she told herself. Good thing.
BEEEEEP! A horn sounded crankily. The guy was in the middle of the street, and he dodged the white truck in time to miss being hit.
The first time.
BEEEP!
SCREEECH!
THUD.
"JAI!"
Scully's eyes widened and she automatically started dashing towards the scene. All activity was stopped. "I'm a doctor," She felt herself say several times. She reached for her cell phone and hit the second number on speed dial--911.
She kneeled down by the body and checked for the main injury. The car had hit him straight on. "Hello, this is Agent Scully, there's been a car accident-" It went on like that.
The girl was on the other side of him. Staring. Tears seeping out of her eyes. She couldn't have been over seventeen. Him neither, come to think of it. When the ambulance arrived, Scully managed to check for his pulse one last time. So slow. The doors to the vehicle slammed shut and it was off towards the hospital.
But she knew that by the time it took to get to the hospital, it would be too late.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
"What's up, slept in or-" Mulder abruptly ended the remark seeing the blood on his partner's blouse and the condition of her hair. "Uh," Was all he could think of to say.
"It's okay, Mulder, there was a car accident down by the mall," She sighed, "I thought I'd get washed up after checking in." She headed back towards the door. "Oh, and Mulder? Could you stop by the Hospital and check? I mean, I'm pretty sure he's dead by now, but...just curious." She looked away.
"Okay. Who was it?"
"I don't know. Just mention me, and say it was the car accident about two o'clock. And thanks."
"Sure." Mulder smiled as she left the building. He frowned suddenly after she'd left. Never before had he seen her so upset that someone was killed-someone she didn't even know!
He checked out saying that if anyone needed him he'd be at the hospital, because so-and-so got hit by a car and it's part of the case even though it wasn't.
Supprised in how easily he got out of work he tried to remember how he'd worded it, then figured that the lobbyist seeing his partner enter with blood on her shirt must have had something to do with how easy he got out.
Mulder, pulling into an empty parking space, was for once relaxed pulling into the Hospital. The problem wasn't him, wasn't Scully, Wasn't Skinner, Wasn't any relatives. Just some kid who got hit by a car-and probably wasn't alive anymore.
As he entered the front lobby, he was for some reason finding himself experiencing grief for the young man's death.
"Agent Mulder." He held up his badge.
"We know you." Was the light answer.
"There was a car crash? At about two? My partner agent Scully called it in, and I was asked to, um, investigate for her." Mulder replaced the badge and was told as such:
"Uhh...mm. White Caucasian Male, late teens?"
"Yeah."
"Brought in about fifteen minutes ago. He should still be in emergency." He was given instructions and pointed towards the ER.
Mulder found the door. it was open. Only a few doctors inside. "Hey, what happened?"
A young female doctor looked up from the floor. "He took off!" She said, supprised.
"What?" Mulder paused, thinking this over. "I was informed that the kid was near death." Mulder looked back down the hall as if he was going to find someone there. The lady doctor shook her head, disbelief in her eyes.
"He was!"
Mulder left the room. Trotting down the hall, looking for someone with the slightest clue what was going on. Two guards, fighting over something. He approached them.
"FBI! Hey, what's going on here?" He said to them, with a glance back down the hall.
One of the two guards shrugged. "Joe here says they came down this hall. But the cameras would have gotten that!"
"What? They?"
"Boy and a Girl, teenagers," Reported the guards, "They wouldn't be down here in section J. Everything happened two halls over."
The man was about to ask more but a loud crack over the intercom above them proceeded a message. "Containment crew in Section J, repeat Containment. Everyone clear in J, we've had an accident with Malaria. Clear the section, Repeat Clear the section."
A few blinks and the two guards were off. Mulder looked back up at the intercom and then said aloud, "Malaria?"
Just then a hall door swung open and the two escapees flew out. After blinking and sparing a quick glance at the intercom, he was after them. They were headed towards the two swinging doors that were the exits.
They were slow. Just slow enough. Mulder jumped and caught the boy's red shirt. Causing both of them to trip and overbalance and they hit the floor. Hard.
Mulder already was holding his gun. He pressed it up against his prisoner's back and cautioned the girl: "Don't move! Don't get up!"
The 'containment crew' sped around a corner and Mulder shouted to them: "There's no disease, get security in here now!" And they raced off again.
"LET ME GO!!"
"LET HIM GO!!"
The teenager beneath him struggled aimlessly. The girl lay, ready to spring up any second, on her stomach on the floor not three feet away.
The police came filtering in, taking control of the situation. Among them was agent Scully, wearing a different, non-bloody outfit.
"Well a lot has happened since I've been away!" She said helping her partner up, obviously suprised. "I left the kid thinking he was a goner."
"Just how bad was that car accident, Scully?" Mulder questioned, irritated, "Was that the same kid?"
Scully blinked and looked up into his eyes. "Mulder, I watched that very same boy step right out in front of a truck. I was there, I watched him lie there, half dead and bleeding. It is the same person, and so was that girl." She finished, "Mulder, I say we take a break from filing at the office."
"Yeah."
"We should look into this."
*~*~*~*~*
"So what's your name?" Mulder asked him, pacing in circles around the chair.
His eyes closed for a few seconds, pondering. "Jai." He finally replied.
"Jai what?"
"Do you need to know?"
"Yes, I need to know."
"Are other people watching this?"
"...Maybe."
Jai was quiet again.
Well, Mulder thought to himself, interrogations have been better than this. And worse. "What exactly happened in the hospital?" He stopped pacing and faced the kid.
"Not much."
"How'd you heal so quickly?"
"I don't think it would be a good idea to tell you." Jai stood up and squared his shoulders and straightened his posture, wearing a thoughtful yet smug expression. He's almost as tall as me, Mulder thought to himself.
Jai did actually look challenging. He had a mass of unkept black hair and bright green eyes. Bright green. And a sly little smile that said 'Hello, I'm not your friend.'
But the weirdest thing-something hung from around his neck. Like a pendant or a necklace. And it was -slightly- just slightly, glowing green.
He shrugged and looked around the room. "Bye." Jai said.
The room filled up with this glow from the stone. Mulder cried out, kneeled down and covered his eyes from the non pulsing, non blinking, steady, seamless light.
It wasn't hurting.
It wasn't blinding.
But something told him it was powerful.
And dangerous.
When he opened his eyes finally, Dana Scully was squatting beside him. The room was clear. The light was gone. So was the kid.
APARTMENT 48
Mulder yawned. The past two weeks had turned up absolutely nothing about their previous interest, except the accounts of the doctors operating on Jai about what happened. There, too, had been accounts of the weird green light.
But now...it was four o'clock in the morning, and He was entertaining himself by both seeing how long he could stay up and if he could find a cool X file before he dozed off.
Could that kid have been extraterrestrial?
Before him on his computer screen was one single newspaper clipping and two profiles. A boy and girl, but not the ones he was looking for.
They'd been photographing natural footage in northern California, in the middle of the night, when they spotted several bear-sized creatures (that were not bears) crossing the top of a waterfall. Not much else was said in the clipping.
Note to self; look into it tomorrow, Mulder thought.
Z-OSC
ZEREK-OSH STATEMENT CENTER
WASHINGTON, DC
12:00 AM
Eight people sat around an oval shaped table in the center of the room. The windows were shaded, the lights were low.
Standing back behind them were ten huge, oily creatures, with massive blades protruding from their bones at the joints and head. They were dark brown or red, and looked...well, like they were meant for battle.
Also, standing, at the entrance to the room, were four other creatures. They walked cautiously on four feet, and behind them swept two, three or four Tails, all ended in a tuft of hair that matched a mohawk-mane that sprouted down their backs. They looked almost canine, but were nervous.
Can a canine be nervous?
"Amez chak zikaf vabk." Motioned a creature in the back, waving towards a small raised platform set up at the side of the room.
"May your representative demonstrate." Translated one of the people in the chairs.
One of the four footed creatures leapt fluidly onto the stage and straightened himself boldly, then, as if he had been poised perfectly for years stood from four legs to two-without falling or stumbling.
"ZHAN," He politely addressed the people in the chairs, and then (as if he had to be talked into doing so) Gave a half hearted nod to the giant creatures in back.
"Our political business here is not about your Alliance. In peace we are here to discuss with you the relationship, and difference, between ZHAN and the Human race."
"We are the Human race." The speaker was interrupted. Tolerantly he shook out his coat of black-on-black fur and continued.
"If the Human race was here now, this would not be a very calm meeting," the representative argued calmly, "For what reasons has your alliance been kept secret?"
Silence. "If the alliance gets out to the public, disaster will strike. It is our greatest interest that our partnership with extraterres-trials remains confined until Earth is ready for it." The person said, (hinting the fact that they were ready to protect their alliance's secret at all costs.)
"How can you live feeding a lie to your world? We have no control over your choices, but things have beginning to leak."
"What do you mean?" Scowled another person.
"Accidents. Our people are getting harmed. Arrested. By human people that cannot tell us from their own kind." Said the ambassador quietly, as if the slightest notion of repulse or distaste would end his life.
"Our alliance treaty with the Zereks-" The four canine creatures shuddered at the word 'Zereks' "-Said that we have the right to destroy any Oshmarrons found on our Planet. It is your own flaw to be on this planet in the first place." Said yet another person, this time standing and striding towards the creature presenting. Both sides of the room stiffened.
"What is your title?" The person asked.
"Lieutenant Jessuniac." It said in a low voice.
"What are the names of those who have been on Earth?" Demanded another man, standing, shuffling through files.
The four footed creature stopped completely and was quiet. He looked back to the doorway at his company for help. None was found. He dropped back onto four paws and shook his head in denial. "Forgive me." He began backing away. "I thought I would make a difference here before the ZHAN representatives. People on your planet are fearing the worst. They are getting frightened. Strange things are happening, and although it's our fault, you're the ones in control." The small group trailed out the doorway in silence.
The person standing pressed a button on the table. "yes sir?" A voice asked.
"Have the ambassadors...stay here for a while. Explain to them that we will work things out...while they are here."
"Yes, sir."
The man watched as the people and bladed aliens left the room. And he couldn't help thinking why they were here-why the ZHAN national board hadn't had the time to fit in for a meeting with Planet Earth's worst enemy.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"What? Confined on Earth?!"
"Zoe, Clam down."
"They're probably going to take us to the National court, and try us for killing someone."
"Zoe."
"You don't understand! With Zereks on their side, they're holding us in the palms of their hands! They hated your little speech, okay? You've figured that out for sure. So what if they decide to kill us for it?"
"CALM DOWN!"
The female looked into her companion's eyes and sighed. "We're dead meat." She spat and trotted on out of his little room.
He looked around. Not much. A computer, probably a network computer-with passcodes to everything, including the Internet. He thought about installing an extra uplink to his mothership and sending for backup, but the people would figure out what they're doing by then.
He jumped onto the office chair and swiveled about playfully for a moment. "I'll just mess around here for a moment!" He said to himself., "But first, in order to type on this stupid keyboard..." The canine like creature began to glow , then grow...and twist, and re-shape, and finally had become something a little more native...a Human Being. He smiled quietly to himself, pleased with this wonderful power that his people had-to change forms-and after searching the system, managed to find the link and logged on to the Internet. He had to enter a relief password, but he could recite most of the computer hacking books of the universe word-for-word and had no trouble surpassing them.
A screen popped up. The title read "UPD: Universal Positioning Device". He smiled. This was going better than he'd planned! He typed in the title of his mothership with a smile and pressed 'search.'
*~*~*~*~*
Within an hour, he had abandoned the connection with a sigh. No such luck-the security shut down on him when it had recognized the search objective.
He sighed again and just decided to play around with the computer. And this new, cool U-P-D thing.
HEY, ZOE, he called using a power telepathy, WHAT'S A COOL NAME?
VIXEN. SHORT AND SEXY. Was the sleepy answer from the next room, AND I WISH I'D HEAR IT MORE OFTEN, MISTER T-L-C.
He sighed. Vixen? What a dumb name. A girly name. If I type that in, he thought, what kind of stupid girls would I get trying to find my address?
What's a better name? He thought.
How about Fox?
FBI HEADQUARTERS
BASEMENT
"Still nothing?" Mulder complained, "Why can't we get anything on this? I doubt it's some covered-up government experiment, but...what?!"
"Hold on!" Scully was on the Internet. "This says that four days ago, three girls, twelve and older, were found trying to pay for something with foreign money. The article claims 'so foreign that the cashier couldn't even tell where it was from.' And he sent them away."
"Foreign? How foreign?" Mulder took the mouse from Scully and scrolled down. "...Says that the day before yesterday two more people were arrested for drunk driving, but no drugs were found in their system...it was because they couldn't drive a car...and they had approved licenses!" More quiet, more scrolling. The cool new mouse they'd gotten had a scroll ball and it made several thousand 'click' noises as it scrolled. "Here several people claimed to have seen other people, grouped together, who had strangely colored eyes such as purple, magenta, pink and aquamarine. When questioned they hastily replied that they were contacts and that no examination was necessary, then left-but color precision in contacts that good isn't possible yet."
"So?" Scully frowned, "What does eye color have to do with anything?"
"Everything, Scully. That kid...his eyes were bright green. That light was identical to the color. Just think about that." Mulder gave her the 'it's all true so shut up and believe it' look and she turned away.
"This is ridiculous," She paused, then finally said, "But it's better than some other cases we've gotten ourselves into." She turned back to her partner. "So, how do we catch these aliens, Mulder? Have you found some sacred spell or curse?" Her tone was light yet sarcastic.
"Well if a hospital can't hold them,"
~
Over a hundred hit results for the name. He closed his eyes, poked a finger at the screen-opening his eyes, he saw that he had picked out hit #8.
~
"Than I don't know who can."
~
He clicked on it.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
"Mulder."
Hey, what's going on?
"Mulder, can you hear me."
Who's that? Where am I? Why the heck am I on the ground?
"Mulder, you in there? MULDER!"
Ow! Hey, stop it. I've got rights. On some planets, that is.
"MULDER!"
"Uhhh?"
He blinked and looked around. A lady, a lady with a small frame and bright red hair was leaning over him.
"Where am I?" He felt himself say.
"Mulder! You're okay! When you passed out, I had no idea what had happened, you weren't talking, just lying there, staring at the ceiling, and I didn't-"
"Please...Please be quiet." He whispered. He put a hand on the desk for support and was able to get into a sitting position.
I feel different, he thought.
"Mulder?" The lady said to him. He looked at her. He blinked, as if waking up from a dream.
"Who's Mulder?! Where the hell am I?" He jumped to his feet ready for defending himself, or fighting if necessary.
The redhead paused, then cautiously said, "You need to go to a hospital, Mulder."
"No! NO!" Who are you? What am I doing here? Where's the Z-OSC?"
"Mulder, Mulder it's me, Scully, please, sit down, you're totally spaced out, you're going to hurt yourself..."
"WHERE'S THE Z-OSC?!"
Z-OSC
TEN MINUTES LATER
"JAI! JAI! JAI! JAI!"
Mulder's eyes flew open and he sat up straight.
"SCULLY!!!"
He felt himself suddenly half-embraced, half smothered by something...someone...thin, young, very pretty...woah.
The girl stepped back. She had long black hair and a red tube top on. She looked hurt.
"Who's Scully?" She asked, bewildered.
"Where am I?!" He tried to get to his feet but stumbled. The girl helped him up, tears welling in her eyes. Suddenly, he noticed that he was a few inches shorter than he was supposed to be.
And younger.
And...
And what was this feeling? Like he was filled, ready to burst...like he felt every morning after running...so much...
Power.
He had power.
He looked around. No, no!
"Where am I?!!?" He yelled. "SCULLY?!" He whirled to the girl. "Who are you?"
She stepped backwards, now looking like she was just as powerful, just as dangerous as he was. "What'd they do to you?" She said darkly. She paused, then quickly whirled around and dashed out of the room.
Faintly, Mulder found a bathroom. He stumbled on legs that were long and gangly like his own, but not his own...to the mirror.
No.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The girl came back in. "Jai, come with me." She took his arm sturdily. "NO!" He yelled, recoiling, "I'm MULDER!"
"JAI!" She yelled. He backed away from her. "Jai, what did they do. Just tell me, what did they do to you. WHAT?"
"I'm Mulder. Special Agent Fox Mulder, I'm from the Federal Bureau of Investigation!" He was breathing quickly now, every few seconds glancing towards the mirror.
"Come. With. Me." She ordered.
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!" Mulder yelled at her.
She stepped back. Then she leapt at him, stepping and delivering a knock-out kick right under his chin. Mulder reached for his gun...but it wasn't there. Nothing! He fell to the floor and curled up, ready to take whatever was coming at him.
An icy cold feeling at his neck. A quick jab on top of that.
Then blackness devoured his world.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
"Listen, whatever stupid gag this is, whatever weird scenario you're putting me through, just tell me! When I get back we're declaring WAR!"
"Mulder, snap out of it! What's going on?!" Scully craned upwards into her partner's dancing eyes, flickering, so confused...
"YOU TELL ME!" Jai grabbed her arm firmly and spun her around, holding her neck threateningly.
"Just, just tell me." He said, staring forward. Of course, he could never hurt this person. Obviously whoever she was, she was either very important or was a doctor, and if she died at his hands...that would violate the treaty and he'd probably be executed.
Oh, yeah! And it would start a war, too!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Scully had been in a position like this before. "I am as clueless as you are, Mul-" She cut herself off, Mulder obviously didn't think he was himself at the moment, "Just let me go, please, I'm disarming my weapon..." She pulled out the gun and unloaded it, then tossed it across the room. She felt him relax just a little and Mulder's hand left her neck.
She stepped about three feet away and looked back, rubbing her neck. He was standing there, very much confused, looking over his hands like he'd never seen them before. Suddenly he dashed over to where a mirror was hanging on the side of a file cabinet, and looked into it.
"Oh god!" He stated stepping away from the mirror. He covered his face and stood still for a moment, thinking it over.
Scully stepped in. She put a hand on his shoulder, trying to guide him towards the door to their office.
"NO!" He swung at her and she tripped over her high heels, landing on her side on the floor. She looked up at her partner, who once again walked over to the file cabinet and gazed at his reflection.
Slipping out of her shoes and standing up, she guided Mulder in his dazed state down the hall to the men's restrooms. She checked to see if anyone was in there (there wasn't-who goes in the basement, anyway?) took his gun out of its holster at his side and sent him inside. She grasped the door and locked it, then pushed a chair up against the knob just in case.
She sighed of relief and then dashed up the stairs, leaving her shoes, towards the Assistant Director's office.
Z-OSC
Mulder opened his eyes. There was a splitting headache ringing in his ears, but somehow he managed to take in everything around him.
"Lieutenant Jessuniac?" He heard. Were they addressing him?
Like a snap, most of it became clear. Four middle aged men were looking down at him. The girl from before was, too, looking confused. One of the men spoke again: "Lieutenant Jessuniac? Can you hear us?"
"Who, me?" He coughed.
"Okay. He's awake." Someone else said, beyond his view.
"Where am I?" He wanted to yell. But something was different. the power that he had felt before...it wasn't there. His energy was drained, sucked dry.
"Jai's loosing energy!" The girl shouted, "Give the stone back to him!"
"He's become dangerous. There's no telling how he will use it." Was the reply.
"Its disloyal to deny the right of a heartstone!" The girl yelled again.
"Wait! Wait!" Mulder cried out, pushing himself into a sitting position, "My name's not Jai, or, or, Jessu..." Overcome by fatigue he was forced to wait for the energy to return... "My name's Mulder! Fox Mulder!" He choked out.
"GIVE IT BACK TO HIM!" He heard several times. Loud disagreements and finally something being draped around his neck.
The thing...he reached up to touch it. it felt cool in his hands. And the fever, the fatigue, the lifelessness...it all began to drain away.
The girl's face again. "Jai, are you okay?"
Mulder sat up. Stood up. Faced one of the people...no, all of the people there. "What's going on? I'm not, I'm..." He looked around at all the faces. Eleven total. Three younger faces, eight older, wiser ones. "I'm not who you think I am! My name is Fox Mulder, I work for the FBI, I'm, I don't know, I have no idea what's going on!"
The eight older people looked at him curiously. "Is this a trick?"
"Am I supposed to know who you are?!" Mulder yelled.
Two people grabbed him from behind. "HEY!" He yelled. They kicked his legs out from beneath him and dragged him down a short hall to a smaller room--Not minus many curses and bruises along the way. There, he was dropped, and the two people who had carried him there had locked the doors behind themselves.
Mulder looked, frightened, from one face to the other. They advanced on him, but not much. "If you are not Lieutenant Jai Jeo Jessuniac, who are you--or should I say who do you claim to be?"
FBI HEADQUATERS
BASEMENT
Skinner and Agent Chazner quietly removed the chair from the door. They wore bullet proof vests and both carried tranquilizer guns, just in case what Scully had told them was true.
Scully and a dozen other people crowded in the other rooms down the hall, including paramedics (ready to carry anyone away on their little rolly-bed) and the police force. Scully desperately hoped this was some giant gag Mulder had decided to play, and not total Amnesia, like it seemed to be.
Skinner unlocked the door with a slight 'click' and Chazner pushed the bathroom door open. They went in, Chazner first, and searched the stalls one by one. Skinner stuck his head out of the door and shook his head at Scully, confused. Scully was wondering herself when the gun Skinner had been holding was grabbed from him and fired back at him!
The Assistant Director's arm flew up to his neck and he quickly yanked out the needle, but not quick enough. His eyes clouded and he kneeled over.
Mulder jumped out from behind the door, the tranquilizer at hand, and dared a glance into the hall. He could only see three of the many people waiting.
SHEW!
SHEW!
SHEW! Three darts. He jumped into the hall, just in time to catch Scully and four more people aiming at his head.
SHEW!
This one did not come from Mulder's gun.
He blinked in supprise, wavered, dropped the tranquilizer and fell to his knees, then to the floor of the hall. Agent Chazner stepped over his limp body and began helping the paramedics load the sleeping victims onto the carts.
Jai woke up in a white room. Everything was white. White, white, White. He'd always hated that color, basically because whenever he shed coat, you could see every single black fur on the sheets. But, wait...No fur! I'm in human form, he thought brightly.
No.
I can't be, he thought, Where's the power? Where's my stone?
A man walked into the room. He was mostly bald. He was the same man who'd been looking for him, the same one Jai had shot with...whatever it was...that afternoon.
That Afternoon? Last Afternoon? What time was it?
"Agent Mulder?" The man asked.
"No." Jai shook his head weakly. Where was your heartstone when you needed it!? "No, my name's Jai. Lt. Jessuniac. I'm, I've...I'm here as a spokesman to the Z-O. . .S. . .C. . ."
No. they're never going to believe me if I tell them, He thought. But, this could be the way to get the truth out to the public.
"Your name is...lieutenant Jai Jessuniac?"
"Y...yes..."
"Then Who exactly is Fox Mulder?" He was asked. Jai looked around the room...nothing but white. And this guy.
"I don't know, I, I was confined in the Z-OSC and I... and then..." Jai felt near tears. He just stared at the wall.
"Mul, ah, h...Hello." The red-haired lady entered this time, and the other man left. Jai looked up to her face questioningly. Yes, he remembered this lady.
"Where the hell am I?" He asked, somewhat assured by a recognizable face. What am I thinking, he scolded himself, I don't even know her name!
The lady paused, looking back at the door she'd come from. "They're confirming that you've gotten amnesia from something or another. But, For some reason...it's not Amnesia. Amnesia would erase your memory-but you'd still be yourself. It just seems like you're a whole new person. Like, you just switched bodies with someone else." She glanced back at the door as if expecting eavesdroppers.
"I did," Jai snorted, "...M...Mulder, is it? So you really, er, you're getting this? You're actually believing me?" His tone was deep, he looked down at her, thinking.
"I," She paused, looking at his eyes longingly, "I've... I don't want to believe that you're my partner. So...yes, I want to believe. I just don't know if I can."
Jai stretched his back and got off the white bed. He was still wearing the clothes he'd worn earlier. "Just get me a computer. I might be able to straighten this out. Just might." He told her.
Scully paused then nodded and motioned for him to follow. Exiting the room, Jai had to blink at the sudden change of light. At least there was nobody around. They ducked inside the nearest elevator and slowly sank down to the main level. From there, they'd still have to walk down a few flights of stairs without being seen.
They exited the elevator, and managed to get to the staircase. Soon they were safely in their (their?) basement office, luckily not even once seen by anyone.
"Okay. Here's a computer." Scully offered him her laptop, to which he eagerly opened and booted up.
"Primitive." He mumbled.
"What?"
"Oh, uh, nothing." He ran 'Start' and logged onto the Internet. Soooo sloooow, he thought. "Hey, um, do you think those other people out there...do you think they'd believe me, too?" He asked quietly. The connection was finished with a 'beep'.
"Probably not." Scully sighed.
Jai quickly typed in 'ZOSC.ntnal' in the URL space, and in moments the page was loaded. A red and black patterned circle bordering a rounded picture of the American Flag.
"What's-" Scully started.
"Shh. Hold on." Jai shushed. He clicked on 'Enter' and a password screen showed up.
"Okay." He encouraged himself, "err, zpm3, no, that's not... Qz3, oh, yeah... Q2996v9pe08." He typed in the amazingly long series of numbers and letters with a hopeful smile then turned to Scully. "If it works, I can prove who I am, and If it dosn't, we'll have Z-OSC security all over our butts."
"I think it looks...promising," Scully nodded. He pressed the enter key.
"Welcome to the Zerekian-Oshmarron Statement Center!" Jai winced at the amazingly loud voice, and looked for the button to turn the speakers down. Scully stopped him, spinning the computer chair so he was looking straight at her.
"What?" She demanded, "What exactly do you do, anyway?"
Oh, great, he thought, I'd better explain.
"I'm, I'm an. . .ambassador for my...people. We've been treated unfairly by ZHAN and came here two weeks ago to face The People's Z-OSC/ZHAN office in peace, with our opinions. After they finished totally trashing our ideas they forced us to stay on the planet, er, I mean in the building-"
"On the planet?" Scully's eyes bore into his. She was good at doing this to Mulder routinely, and this person was (at least physically) no different.
"I," He paused, paused a long time, "I'm, What you might entitle...err..." Another long pause, he looked upwards and to the side hesitantly. Scully raised her eyebrow and awaited for the Answer.
"Extraterrestrial."
Scully's eyes softened, almost skeptically. Jai looked away and before she could argue continued, "ZHAN is an alliance between Humans, and our enemy, the Zereks-'Zerek-Human Alliance Nation'. We can't fight it because we don't want to run the risk of killing off the Human race, but you don't even know about it!" He looked back at her face. "I have a feeling that, trusting common sense and prediction, your partner is trapped inside my body. And there's no telling what he might accidentally do with the power that he dosn't know he's holding...or what the ZHAN might do to him."
Z-OSC
The Person turned from a small screened laptop computer. The room was dark.
"Someone has used a Process-Hacking code to get into the ZHAN/Z-OSC data system illegally. Something is happening that we don't know about." He turned to face three very nervous Oshmarrons huddled together at the far end of the room. "Whatever it is that is happening, it has got to be based around your lieutenant." He paused, then started up again: "From what we've been able to gather, he claims to be a Human Federal Agent named Fox Mulder. Also, he does not understand the global network systems or Universal languages, and appears to lack all knowledge of the matters at hand."
"We do not know what's happened, sir." The female creature answered shakily, scratching at the floor with a paw nervously and looking down. "We," She paused uneasily, looking at one of her companions, "We thought it was something you had done to him."
The Person blinked and waved at some personnel across the room. "Confine them to their assigned quarters until we've settled this."
"No!" The girl cried out again, "Our Commander has not even been informed of our stay here! We're already almost twenty-four hours overdue!"
"Confine them."
"STOP!" She shouted. "We know as little about this as you do. If we're not confined, we can help. This is after all, a Statement Center. Where we can state and so on? He's one of our own and it's our right to be able to treat him."
The Person blinked again and slowly said, "Very well. But no contact with your authority until this dilemma is solved."
Mulder just wished there was a mirror in the room.
For the brief time he'd looked at himself in the mirror of the bathroom, there was something distinctly familiar about this body...Maybe he'd seen this person-this body--before.
The room was barren, with no windows except a long pane of glass backed by wire, shaded so that he couldn't see the people watching him. That made him uneasy. He was sitting against the far wall, just watching the black glass-so at least they knew that he knew they were there.
The one door opened and he slowly stood up. "Come on out." The person said to him, and he walked over uneasily.
This body was light. Younger than his own body...energetic, smooth. There was, however, a resemblance to his own, but he couldn't put a finger on it.
He couldn't put a finger on anything!
Nervously, Mulder looked around the new room at the same eleven people as before. And they began asking the questions.
*~*~*~*
"We need to go there. They've kicked us off the net." Jai said to Dana Scully under his breath, "Come on. Let's drive."
"Wait, Mul-uh, Jai right? You haven't eaten in about ten hours. Do you feel okay?"
Weeeeel...he thought, "Not really, now that I think about it."
He (cautiously) followed Scully out the door and down the elevator of the headquarters, trying not to be seen (luckily again, the lobbyist hadn't heard of Mulder's strange 'personality swing' and didn't ask) and right out the front door. Security sucks, Jai frowned to himself as they left, Or at least compared to ZHAN security.
They stopped in front of Mulder's car, and stood awkwardly for a moment. "So?" Scully asked.
"So, uh, so what?"
"So, let's go."
Jai dug into his pocket and found...candy wrappers, index cards with addresses, there, the car key. With a cheap little green alien keychain on the end.
Scully sat down in the passenger seat, and looked up at Jai (Mulder?) who was still fingering the keys of the car outside.
"Hello?" Scully murmured. "We need to hurry."
"Uh," Jai hesitated longer, "Uh, I can't drive."
Dana leaned against the dashboard for a moment, sighing and letting it sink in, then crawled over into the driver's seat. Jai sat down in the passenger seat, filled with relief, and handed her the key.
"You can't drive?"
"What, can Mulder drive?"
"This is his car!"
"Well I can't drive."
"Because you're an alien?"
"Not much room for driver's Ed in space, missy."
*~*~*~*
"One small coke, and...what?"
"Super Sized fries."
"and One Super Sized fries, please."
"That comes to four forty-five."
"Super sized fries?" Scully scowled, pulling up to the second window and retrieving Jai's French fries, which he greedily accepted and began devouring.
Hmm, he thought, Tastes the same. He sipped his coke.
"So how do I get to wherever we're going?" Scully pulled back onto the main street.
"Oh, it's over by the cinemas, right across the street basically, but more on the corner. It's big and jet black, and tall too." Jai tried to instruct without a mouth full of fries, and managed to most of the way, but resisting the salty potatoes was difficult. Scully handed him a small bag with the remains of sunflower seeds.
"You like those?"
"Seeds?"
"Mulder likes them. It's almost funny, watching you devour French fries like he eats Sunflower seeds."
Jai popped five more fries into his mouth, hoping to finish the huge box before they got to their destination. He tried some sunflower seeds, too, thinking it was a little weird to eat seeds, but some sort of natural instinct took over and soon the bag was empty.
"You know, Dana, uh, It's Dana right? not Diane or anything?"
"Scully." She said Quickly. "Just 'Scully''s fine."
"Geez, lady, I'm only seventeen!" He scowled. Scully almost swerved off the road, and managed a glance at her partner--and just thought about how Mulder isn't Mulder, but Mulder's Jai, and Jai's seventeen, and Mulder/Jai can't drive a car even though he's seventeen and that Mulder was SEVENTEEN!!!!
"Oh, really?" She got out conversationally.
"Yeah."
*~*~*~*
There was lots of parking at this place. It seemed to vibrate with, you know, that sinking feeling you get when it shows the Death Star in Star Wars? As they walked around to the front entrance, she noticed Jai looking up the big black building and then towards the entrance.
"Don't worry about anything, is the only advice I'll give you. They won't hurt you. So, basically, just don't say anything that'll screw it up. It's all planned out." Jai promised and he led the way inside.
The inside was as great as the outside. A long interior lobby, and several guards, and a lady behind a front desk. Mulder/Jai led her up to that desk, drawing his badge.
"Hello, this is agent Dana Scully, I'm Fox Mulder from the FBI, we need to speak with the head of this organization immediately." He replaced the badge and for a moment...looking at him, Scully could swear it was the exact same person she'd been with days ago.
But something else was happening. They turned around to face about eight guards with big guns. Advancing on them.
"Was this in the plan?" Scully whispered, half cross, half frightened.
"You bet."
The nearest guard brought up the butt of the gun he carried and with it knocked her partner to the ground. She stood back, and was grasped by two or three people behind her. Jai was helped to his feet, still wavering and rubbing the back of his head, and they were escorted towards another set of doors, Jai with a simple smile over his shoulder that told her that this, too, was part of 'the plan'.
Some plan, she thought.
*~*~*~*~*
"Sir." A Person approached another and whispered something quickly. The latter nodded and six or seven people entered, among them Scully...and...Mulder?
Mulder blinked slowly at seeing himself brought into the room, then figured quickly that if he wasn't in his own body, than somebody else must be. "SCULLY!"
The woman gave a quick look at her partner (?) and edged toward Mulder quickly. "Mulder?" She asked wearily.
He headed toward her with an urge, but someone grabbed his arm and stopped him. Great, he thought angrily, knock it off! And with a sudden rage and a power (that he didn't knew he had the strength for?) he turned around and gave a direct kick to the Person holding him-with no difficulty at all. As if it was routine.
Wow, he thought.
He whirled around and stepped up the rest of the way to his partner. "Scully? Please! It's me!"
She bit her lip and looked into his eyes. She saw nothing there, no resemblance whatsoever. Just a frightened teenager, whom she'd seen get hit by a car a while back. "I know, Mulder. It's okay." she cradled his head on her shoulder, hugging him, and gave a backwards look at Jai. "What are we supposed to do?" She asked him.
Looking up, Mulder abandoned Scully and headed hesitantly over to, er, himself. The guards possessing Jai at the moment backed off, and there was an awkward silence.
Fox Mulder was confused. Things like this were natural, normally, oh, a few alien abductions here, people with physic powers over in Nebraska-but now? HIM? What was going on, and...were aliens involved?
Jai felt the same awkwardness, but he had a slight upper hand on the knowledge of what was going on. He stared down those two inches at himself, and flashed a quick smile. Then he whirled on The People in the room.
"What's going on?" He demanded. There was another long silence, and Mulder, too waited for the answer.
"We believe it had something to do with a computer transfigural process," One of the People replied, looking from Jai (Mulder?) To Mulder (Jai?) nervously. "You," He looked at Jai uneasily, "Are you Lt. Jai Jessuniac?"
A short pause, then, "Yeah."
"And this is Agent Fox Mulder,"
"Finally!" Agreed the addressee.
"What was the last thing you were doing, lieutenant?" The Person leaned against the chair of the small round table for support and looked at Jai/Mulder questioningly.
"I was on the Internet. I was using the Universal Positioning Device, and I..."
"The UPD is unfinished. Anything could have happened," Another Person spoke up angrily, his eyes lighting up. "It could have caused the transfiguration."
"And what?" Pressed the Person for further information. Jai looked from him to Mulder (Himself?) to the Person again.
"So I was messing around and I typed in 'Fox!'" He blurted out. One single smothered outburst of laughter and the giggled name 'Vixen!' came from behind him and it was too late before he'd mumbled, "Shut up, Zoe."
"So, so what? Can you change it back?" Mulder demanded of the elderly man speaking to them, "What's happening shouldn't be happening, and we've got to get this worked out straight before anything else."
"But of course," The old man shrugged, "The UPD is not yet perfected, but the progress on it has not proceeded since lt. Jessuniac's Shutdown. Perhaps if Agent Mulder finds him on the UPD the transfiguration will reverse."
"Perhaps?" He heard three times, from Mulder, Scully, and Zoe.
"It's our best shot, right?" Jai shifted weight uneasily and smiled, "I don't know about Mulder but I sort of want my body back."
Z-OSC
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER
"Are you ready, Mulder?" Scully asked via the headphones, to her partner in the other room.
"I'm ready," Mulder swallowed nervously. He figured that it could be a really bad dream, but thought against it. He began logging onto the Internet. "How's Jai?"
"Jai's ready to be transfigured." Mulder nodded and the connection finished. Clicking on the navigator button, he hoped that the UPD would actually pop up, because he wasn't in the mood at all to find it himself.
Luckily, it did.
He produced a card that Jai had scribbled on it his own full title and name. Slowly he began typing it in, half trying not to mistype anything, and half wondering why the heck he was even here in the first place.
What do these people even do, anyway? He wondered, And, come on, what kind of person's title goes 'Lt. Jai Jeo Jessuniac, V-F #5 of the Hardra VI'?
He reminded himself that he was not himself and he clicked 'enter'.
A hit list came up. Only one, as he'd hoped. The thought of being fried to smithereens once the link was clicked raced in--and out--of his mind, and he clicked on it.
~*~*~
"What's happening in there? Shouldn't it have happened by now?" Mulder-uh-Jai complained with a glance at the room's door.
"It might not work," the other People in the room began whispering in terrified hushed tones.
"Aww MAN!" Jai growled out loud, his eyes flashing disappointment, diverting towards the ceiling, "I'm an Alien-turned-Federal Agent for the rest of my LIFE!"
The point was made seconds too early. He keeled over and slumped to the floor.
*~*~*~*~*
"Jai!" The girl cried, stumbling head over heels towards the secluded room, pressing a button that opened the doors. She hurried inside and knelt beside the limp form that had been, moments before, utterly terrified and wondering why it hadn't worked and what the hell he was supposed to do. With some assistance, both unconscious men were laid side-by-side on the floor of the larger room.
"Jai?"
"Mulder?"
It was the Latter that came to first. "YAH!" He exclaimed, bulking, checking to see which body he was in and where Scully was at the same time.
Dana pressed her overexcited partner back onto the floor and waited for him to calm down a bit before letting him stand. Mulder looked down to check, again, that it was his body he was in-and a Dazed Jai still laying on the floor confirmed that.
"Jai?" Peeped the girl again, shaking him slightly, cautiously, to see if he was going to wake up. But he wasn't moving, and his eyes were closed now.
*~*~*~*~*~*
::Did it work? Am I still inside Mulder? Oh, great, what if it didn't work? It took so long...No. The power...my power...I'm back in my body. I've got to be. The power is jolting through me, I can feel it there. Without a mirror I can tell that I'm where I'm supposed to be...::
"Uhh?"
"OH JAI!" He felt himself suffocated and moved to push Zoe away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She apologized.
A hand was reached down to him and he accepted it gratefully. Mulder pulled him upright and they shook hands briefly.
"Uh, sorry if I got you in trouble," Jai winced, looking away for a second, "I think I shot your boss or something."
Mulder looked to Scully for confirmation, and she nodded slightly. A look that read 'ouch' streaked across his face and he looked down at the black-haired kid again. "I doubt your pals will hate you for anything." He returned, and enthusiating this Zoe stepped up and squeezed her boyfriend in the most affectionate way.
"You, uh, ate some French Fries and half a bag of Sunflower Seeds under my empowerment."
"Your girlfriend kicked you."
"Almost injured yours."
"Scully's not my girlfriend. And You kind of slammed one of those guards."
"Your **_partner_** almost caused highway congestion."
"Okay, I can't beat that." Mulder sighed, "I guess I'll just be in trouble when I get back."
Jai nodded. "Nice doing business with you, Spooky." He smiled slyly, using his power reassuringly to peek into Mulder's mind for a nickname. I'm glad this is over, he thought.
THREE WEEKS LATER
ZHAN HEADQUARTERS
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
"What is the total count of Oshmarrons currently located on Earth?" Asked a tall, slender young man looking out the tinted windows at the City.
A few beeps. Then another voice replied, "Only three." The voice piped up, sounding supprised. There was a satisfied sigh from six or seven council members at a table in the background. "Our officials must be doing their job correctly. They're almost all gone." Continued the voice.
"Good." The younger man was quiet for a while. "Where are they located?" There was a pause.
"Our sensors cannot trace," Replied the computer-man. "But I'm picking up, just now, a high-compatible, non organic substance, possibly an Oshmariddian Robot."
"Find the two, and the Robot as well." The man sighed, turning towards his council, "Then we can be sure that every Human being on this planet is exactly what it appears to be-Human."
"You know, I'm beginning to think coming back so fast wasn't such a good idea," He nervously quipped, glancing around while his girlfriend vigorously searched through a rack of sweaters. One thing was for sure: He'd most certainly be more careful around computer programs that weren't complete-even though that was basically what he was an expert on making.
"Who cares? Two days, we're in, we're out, we're gone." She shrugged, holding a blue one up to her front and smiling wickedly. "You got twenty bucks?"
"Yah, I guess." He dug the money out of his pocket, she snatched it and dashed off to pay. He trailed along like a lost puppy, producing a small, square, black pocket-sized computer, and toying with it. The sweater was bagged and she trotted out of the store, behind her aimlessly trailing her boyfriend.
"Yegah!" He squeaked, stopping dead and staring at the small screen.
"Oh, hell!" She groaned impatiently, whirling around, "What is it this time, the planet's about to explode or what?"
But he was gone.
*^*^*^*^*
From one side of the doorway, Mulder nodded and prepared to jump inside. Scully was searching the area with a small surveillance scanner. Oh, how nice of the loyal Taxpayers to donate half their salary for almost-but-not-quite-useful gadgets, she thought, but now wasn't the time.
She looked up, horrified, and shook her head across the doorway; No Mulder! NO! And he lowered his gun. Instead, Scully pocketed the scanner and drew her own gun, then got ready as If someone was coming out of the...
Oh. Mulder got it. He copied her stance and they waited.
Not for long!
*^*^*^*^*
The double glass doors swung outward and he rushed out onto the sidewalk, and before he knew it he was lying face-down with his arm held in an awkward position behind his back. ESP told him that two weapons were aiming directly at his head.
Whoops, he thought.
Mulder and Scully rolled the kid over and looked into his Supprised, Confused, and somewhat frightened eyes. Scully got up and tripped the girl as she bounded out of the building after him.
Only seconds found the two handcuffed and extremely weary-the effects of 'stone-absence'. They felt, rather than saw, themselves shoved into the back seat of a low-to-ground vehicle, and soon afterward pulled out.
The short period in which nothing had happened restored a little of their energy. She decided that it should be saved, in case they had a chance to break free.
He used it to see.
And he saw. He looked upwards, In a questioning way, at the familiar face of Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.
"Sorry, kid," The Agent smiled smugly, "I guess you never thought it would come down to it. Think about that next time you cross Spooky, Lieutenant."
~*~*~*~*~*
The End...
Probably.
D'luv feedback! hardra6@hotmail.com!! Oh yeah, the G-girl an G-guy belong to CHRIS CARTER not me! Annnnd, Zoe and Jai belong to me! The Z-OSC could really be anybody, like you know Cancerman and the Syndicate. the ZHAN is mine tho. If you have any questions email me! Thankyou buhbye!
~*~*~*~*~*