Scully sensed that Mulder was awake. She couldn't bring herself to open her eyes though, as her body rebelled in pain from the beating it had taken. She could feel herself getting weak. How long had they been down here without food or water?
The dull throbbing in her back and side was difficult to ignore. It hurt her to breathe. What happened to me, she thought to herself. She knew from the pain that a few of her ribs were broken. She kept her eyes closed and tried to relax and breathe lightly without moving her abdomen too much.
Without warning, a very short but clear vision flashed in her mind of being thrown against a wall by a force like no other. The vision came and went so fast, she wasn't quite sure what to think about it. But then another picture burst into her head, and it felt like she was actually reliving the moment. She remembered. And she was truly terrified. She forced her eyes to open and her body to move into a sitting position.
She could not stop her tears this time. "Mulder...I remember."
When Mulder did not look at her or answer her, she became concerned about him. "Mulder?" He was frozen in place and looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
After a moment of heart-wrenching silence, he turned to face her. "They want William, don't they? The Alien Super Soldiers that are holding us here..."
She never heard his voice sound so small, as if he were a little child himself.
"How did you..." Scully was amazed at how he knew all of the sudden.
Mulder shook his head from side to side and gave her a pained look that told her not to ask. "Don't ask me to explain it, Scully...I don't want to believe that it's true..."
Scully angrily wiped away her tears that fell with the back of her hand, but the wetness still remained on her face. She sniffed. "Why now, Mulder? Why do they want him now? They had the chance to take him the moment he was born."
"I think they wanted to watch him first. To see what he is capable of. You have been in danger this whole time, and I didn't see it coming." He wore his guilt like an old tattered oversized coat wet from the rain.
She was too frightened to ask him what he meant by that. Just what was their son capable of? But perhaps she already knew the answer to her own question. She knew that William was different although she never wanted to admit it. He could move objects with his mind. He never once got sick the whole time he was under her care. Was it really true? Was he the perfect human being, created out of the love between a woman who had a conspiracy-made chip implanted in her neck and a man whose DNA had been exposed and cured of the black oil alien virus? And if William is immune to the alien virus or any other disease for that matter, then he really is a threat to the Super Soldiers and their quest for alien hybridization.
Scully rubbed her hand over the back of her neck where her implant was. She had learned to forget that it was there. To remember that it was there all of the time would have driven her insane. It was impossible to know if the chip was a cure for her cancer and her infertility. Couldn't she just believe that her cures were miracles? Mulder had said to never give up on a miracle. Did the chip ever really have a purpose? Does it still? Mulder's voice broke her train of thought.
"Here, I want you to take this." Mulder reached for his left pant leg and pulled out a small shiny silver object from his sock. Scully recognized the object right away. She knew it was the only weapon that was designed to kill the Super Soldiers at the base of their necks. "Do you know how to use it?"
Scully took the weapon from Mulder and pushed the hidden button that quickly released the thin, pointy sword-like tip from its base with a "fffttt" sound.
"I have no doubt that they are coming back to question you further, but this time we will be ready."
Scully was silent as she looked at Mulder for more reassurance. He tried to give it to her. "We will get out of here, Scully. We have to."
"But how?" Scully still wasn't sure they could pull this off.
"There is a secret to this place. We have a chance to help others who have suffered from this conspiracy just as much as we have. We must put an end to it, Scully. Here and now. For the sake of our son. For the sake of the future of all mankind."
Scully reached out for Mulder through the bars and held on to him with all the strength she had left.
