Disclaimer: I do not own The X-Files nor the characters. I make no money off of this. It's just for my own fun.
Author's Note: This fic takes place later in the series, about seasons six/seven, but under no given timeline. It does follow after Fight the Future. That's the only bit of spoilers.
"Just the Scully I was looking for," Mulder said as she entered into the office. "We gotta go."
"Go where?" Scully asked as she followed him from his office.
"We're on a case with Skinner," Mulder explained and turned the corner, heading for the elevator. "We're going to Rhode Island."
Scully planted her hands on her hips. "What's in Rode Island that's big enough to get Skinner involved?"
"An elevator," Mulder answered as he stepped into the one that would take them up.
Frowning, Scully followed him into the elevator, confused and suspicious. Mulder pressed the button and looked over at Scully.
"A man steps into the elevator and pushes the button," Mulder continued on. "He's going to the fifth floor. The elevator opens on the fifth floor, but the man is gone. It's happened to six women and two men. Same elevator, heading to the same floor. And it only happens when the person is alone."
The doors opened and Mulder stepped out, Scully following him. Skinner approached them.
"We've got a crew set up and waiting for us," Skinner told them both. "When we get there, we start."
Skinner headed down the hallway, away from them. Mulder turned back to the elevator and pressed the down button.
"Guess we're leaving now," Mulder commented, eyebrows raised.
"Why is Skinner involved, Mulder?" Scully asked, knowing she was missing something.
The elevator doors slid open.
"One of the disappeared is an FBI agent named Joseph White."
Mulder entered into the elevator and held the door open for Scully. She stepped in and Mulder let the doors close. He pressed the button for the ground floor.
Mulder and Scully followed Skinner down the hallway on the fifth floor of the apartment building. A tall African American man with a strong build approached them.
"Assistant Director Skinner."
The man held out his hand and Skinner enclasped it within his own. They shook hands briefly before Skinner took a step back, showing off Mulder and Scully.
"This is Agent Fox Mulder and Agent Dana Scully," Skinner introduced them.
"I'm Samuel Walt." The man shook hands with Mulder first, then Scully. "I'm running this operation. If you'd follow me."
Walt turned and led the three down the hallway. They turned the corner and came upon the elevator. Two men and a woman were sitting in front of monitors. Each had a headset on as they fiddled with buttons on the machines they were watching.
"Bridges, Clark, and Traber," Walt introduced his team, each giving him their attention. "Mulder, Scully, Skinner."
"What have we got here?" Skinner asked.
The younger, thinner man, Bridges, with brown hair and wire rimmed glasses looked to Skinner. He cleared his throat.
"We've installed a camera into the elevator," Bridges told him. "We were hoping it would show us what's going on inside the elevator."
"It's not going to work without someone in there," Clark, dressed casually with his hat on backwards, cut in. "I told you that. This is getting us nowhere."
"Then, let's put someone in there," Traber, the female with her blonde hair tied up, said.
"That's what I'm talking about," Mulder agreed with a nod.
Skinner shot him a look. "We can't put anyone in there and risk them disappearing."
"But, if we put someone in there, the camera will tell us what happened," Scully replied.
"Exactly." Traber gave Scully a tight smile, which Scully returned.
"We aren't putting anyone in there until we know what's going on," Walt spoke up. "We have to up our game, figure out a way we can find out how this is happening."
"You could put a man in there," Mulder said. "I'll go."
Scully turned to her partner. "Mulder."
She shook her head slightly at him, but Mulder only looked away from her.
"If whatever happened to those others happens to me, at least you'll know how it happened," Mulder justified his reason for volunteering. "Then, you can figure out how to fix it."
"That is a good idea," Clark agreed. "One man makes it happen. That man could be Mulder here."
"I'm not putting my agent in there," Skinner replied.
"I volunteer, Sir," Mulder told his superior. "I think this is our best shot to get one of our own and all of those others back."
Skinner stared at Mulder for a moment, debating, before turning to Walt. "Your call."
"Get him a headset."
Scully walked alongside of Mulder as they headed for the staircase. She was silent, thinking. Mulder was wondering what he was about to encounter.
"I don't know why you're doing this."
"To find the truth, Scully," Mulder said.
"But, at the cost of losing you, Mulder?" she asked.
"I'm surprised you're worried," Mulder replied. "Where's your criticism, Scully? Where are all the little holes you're poking into this theory?"
"I don't know what to think, Mulder," she told him. "The facts seem pretty clear cut. And Skinner thinks this is the real thing. Skinner."
"Yeah," Mulder agreed, seeing where she was coming from.
They stopped at the door to the stairwell. Mulder turned to her and gave her a smile.
"This is my stop."
"I'll see you when you reach the fifth floor."
"If," he corrected.
She nodded. "If."
"Lemme know if the camera really does add ten pounds," he joked.
Mulder went through the door to the staircase and began down the stairs. Scully waited until the door was shut before heading back to the team at the monitors. Skinner was standing with his back against the wall, arms folded over his chest. He glanced at her as she approached.
"He went," Skinner said.
"He went," Scully affirmed.
After a minute, the elevator doors opened on the monitor. Mulder entered and looked up at the camera. He turned back to the panel and hit the button for the fifth floor.
The elevator doors slid closed as Scully drew in a deep breath. Mulder shifted his weight and glanced at the camera again as the elevator began to rise.
"How are you doing in there, Agent Mulder?" Bridges asked into his headset. He looked over to Skinner and Scully. "He said he's just dandy."
"Ask him if he notices anything strange," Walt told Bridges.
Before he could get the question out, the camera began to fizzle. Scully stepped closer to the monitors, her mouth falling open. The camera began to shake.
"Agent Mulder, can you hear me?" Bridges asked. "Can you hear me, Agent Mulder?"
Mulder glanced toward the camera as the elevator suddenly became very bright. The camera fizzled into darkness.
"Talk to him," Walt commanded. "Get him to answer you."
"Agent Mulder," Bridges earnestly spoke into his headset. "Agent Mulder, if you can hear me, please let me know what is going on."
The light at the top of the elevator lit up. Everyone looked expectantly at the doors as they slid open. The elevator was empty. Scully walked towards it.
"Mulder." She shook her head and her voice hardened. "No."
Scully took off down the hallway and turned the corner. Skinner looked at the team before going after her.
"Where are you going?" He called out to her as she headed for the staircase. "Agent Scully!"
She pushed hard against the door to the stairwell and went down the flights of stairs as fast as her feet would take her. Scully could hear Skinner following after her, telling her to stop.
When she reached the ground floor, she ran to the elevator and ducked under the police tape. She ignored the 'do not use' sign on the door and pushed the up button. She could hear the elevator gliding down towards her. The stairwell door burst open and Skinner hurried toward her, slightly winded.
"Do not go in that elevator," he warned her. The elevator doors opened as Skinner gained ground. "That is an order, Agent Scully."
Scully stepped into the elevator. "I'm going after Mulder."
She pressed the button for the fifth floor and the doors slid closed before Skinner could stop her. The elevator started to rise as her breath hitched in her throat.
At the third floor, a buzzing sound started before growing increasingly louder. A flash of blue filled the elevator, the metals walls appearing as if they had electricity coursing through them.
Scully shielded her eyes with her hand as she was blinded by the light. The elevator shifted, sending her falling against the back of the elevator. However, she didn't hit metal, but continued to fall until she landed on hard packed dirt.
Turning onto her side, Scully began to cough, the wind having been knocked out of her. She drew in a few deeps breaths before forcing herself to sit up. Her mouth fell open as she looked at her surroundings, a near replica of Salvador Dalí's "Persistence of Memory."
Scully clambered to her feet as she continued to look around in amazement. She felt miniscule to everything around her. The wall on her left reached up into the sky, beyond what she could see. She backed away from it and saw the face of a melting clock.
Directly in front of her was a beige object that stretched for longer than she could make out. In the distance, she could hear the sound of water gently lobbing against rock. Scully walked towards the beige object, wondering where Mulder was and if she could find him.
"Scully?"
She turned to see Mulder approaching her. She ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him, thankful she wasn't in this alone. Mulder tightened his grip on her before releasing her. Scully observed him.
His hair was tussled and he was missing his headset.
"Looks like we're in Dalí's head, huh?" Mulder smiled at her.
"Yeah," she agreed. "But, how the hell did we get here through an elevator?"
Mulder shrugged. "Don't know the answer to that one. Yet."
"Hey," a voice called out to them.
They both turned in the direction of the sound of the voice. A man they recognized as Agent Joseph White was standing next to the beige object. Mulder and Scully headed toward him.
"Who are you?" White asked them.
"Agents Mulder and Scully," Mulder introduced them. "We're with the FBI."
"We came to find you and the others," Scully added.
"Looks like you've done that," White said. "Now, how're you getting us out of here?"
"The others are with you?" Mulder ignored his question.
"Come on."
White led them toward a flap in the beige object. Scully examined it, deciding that the beige was a possible fabric, a solid mass underneath it. It was either soft rock or hard wood. She couldn't be sure.
Mulder looked in the flap to see a man and six women crouched down together. They were staring at the agents.
"Why are you all crammed in here?" Mulder asked.
"Because it's going to change," the woman closest to the flap spoke. "You don't want to be out there when it does."
White climbed into the small nook, joining the others. Mulder leaned in, observing the area. Scully stood behind him, watching.
Mulder lifted his eyebrows. "Got any room for us?"
"No," the other man answered.
"That's not fair, J.D.," a woman in the back replied. "It's not their fault they're here."
"Actually, I volunteered to get into the elevator and come here," Mulder told them.
"Then, you can stay out there, buddy!" J.D. retorted.
"He came here so we could save all of you," Scully defended Mulder, her voice crisp and solid.
The world began to shake. A few women cried out and the one closest to the door covered her ears. Scully grabbed onto Mulder's arm, balancing herself as she almost fell over.
"It's happening!" J.D. shouted. "It's happening!"
Mulder and Scully turned toward their surroundings as the colors melted away, leaving only a blinding snow white. They shielded their eyes as grey began to fill in. Lots of grey in varying shades. There were sharp angles, smooth lines, objects crossing over objects, figures being contorted. Scully's mouth fell open.
"Guernica," she whispered.
"Oh, shit," Mulder replied as their ears filled with screeching metal and screams.
Figures began to contort as objects came flying towards them. They were sharp objects, lines, jagged pieces of metal, all grey, and dark, and sad. There was no sign of the others. They had managed to stay inside Dalí's work.
"Scully, run!"
Mulder grabbed her hand and held it tightly as he pulled her towards any safe haven he might find. Angry shards began to reign down on them from the light fixture hanging above.
"Mulder!"
Scully yanked him hard, causing him to topple over on her as they both fell to the ground, a particularly large shard just missing Mulder by a mere foot. As quickly as they were down, they were back up again and running, glancing up every few seconds for incoming shards.
"What's happening?" Scully yelled to Mulder over the screams.
"We're in Hell, Scully," he shouted to her as he yanked her around a corner. He glanced back at her. "We're in Hell."
After what seemed like hours, Mulder and Scully were back to the "Persistence of Memory." The surroundings of grey had faded back into the calm. There was no more need to run or dodge. No need to hide or fight. This was peaceful. They were back in peaceful. For now.
Mulder stormed toward the beige object as Scully followed him. They were both completely exhausted, but they couldn't rest yet. He stopped in front of the flap and pulled it back enough to see inside.
"Thanks for the warning," Mulder angrily yelled at them. "We really appreciate being forced to go through that shit when we came here to save you."
"You had to know," White said calmly, not phased by Mulder's anger. "We all went through it."
"I don't see any saving," J.D. piped up.
"And you're not going to," Mulder replied. "We found a way out. We should let you stay here and figure it out on your own."
"You found a way out?" One of the women spoke up.
"Yes," Scully answered. "There's an elevator in Guernica. We stumbled upon it."
"And yet we remained in Guernica, figuring it would bring us back here eventually," Mulder added. "In order to get all of you out of here."
White climbed from the hideout and stood erect, stretching his back.
"You're serious?" he asked.
"Yes." Scully nodded. "We just have to wait for the surroundings to change."
"What if this elevator takes us somewhere worse than this?" the woman nearest the flap said.
Scully shrugged. "It's a risk we'll have to take."
"And you're sure you can find your way back there?" J.D. called out.
Mulder stared at him. "Yes."
"Then, get some rest," White told Mulder and Scully. "You've got some time before it'll happen again. We'll wake you when it starts."
A few of the women climbed out from their hiding spot. J.D. followed next and then the remaining women stepped out.
"Take the hideout to rest," White instructed them. "It's cozy. We're going to get some air and stretch our legs."
White walked off with three of the women following behind him. Mulder held back the flap for Scully to enter. She crawled into the space and Mulder went in after her, the flap covering the opening.
Scully settled down on her side, using her arm as a pillow, and closed her eyes. Mulder turned onto his side, facing her. He smirked.
"That looks comfortable," he said.
"Shut up, Mulder," she replied, devoid of energy. She opened her eyes and looked to him. "You think we could do this?"
"We've gotta try, Scully," Mulder told her.
She nodded, but thinking about going back to that place made her feel sick. It scared her physically, mentally, and emotionally. Her body tensed as she began to worry about going there and she realized she wasn't going to fall back to sleep.
"What are you thinking about?" Mulder asked.
"I can't do it," she whispered, shaking her head, her eyes fixated on the second button on Mulder's shirt.
"Scully..."
Mulder reached out a hand and gently touched her shoulder. She brought her eyes to meet his.
"I don't want to go back there," she confided.
He nodded slightly and drew her into him. He didn't particularly want to go back either, but he knew they had to if they wanted a chance at escaping from this world. Scully felt tears drip from her eyes and Mulder let his hand slide down to her back.
"We'll do it together," Mulder assured her. "We go in together and go out together. You can do it, Scully, and I'll be there beside you."