Ch. 11 Inpossibilia
John Johnston had fallen asleep. Drool puddled on his mahogany desk, nightmares circling in the darkness. Soft blinking light and the smooth hum of a computer circled the room. His hand slipped off the bottle of scotch, dropping to his waist. He dreamed of seeing Melody Valope for the last time. As she laughed in his face, yelled,
"You traitor!"
He had no response, simply waited, and waited to die. She disappeared, he came to, waking in his offices and Melody's partner stood in front of him teeth flashing in the darkness. His door opened wide, dead police men slumped at the frame.
"I sent 'em after y'all. You won't get away, he works with impossible things. I read his file."
The burly man said not a word, just shuffled through a bag, coming up with a silver pen like item. He pressed the side revealing a needle, walking closer to Johnston. John knew he was about to die. He sipped the last of his scotch, absently wishing he'd kept a gun in his office. He didn't struggle, figuring it would merely be a longer death at that. The man held the metal prong up sliding it to Johnston's neck. Leaving after it was finished; the man didn't particularly care to watch the bodies form sludge.
-o0o-
Mulder looked at the empty room, arms loose by his sides. He turned heel and began to scour the house. They had to have gone somewhere Melody knew about, which limited things due to her aversion to light. Where… he wondered… and how did she move all those people so quickly? It had to be near the sleep center. Nothing was out there, nothing. He went into Melody's room, desks, floors covered in paper. Finding brochures on the sleep center, on the surrounding area. Maps of the sleep center, lines hashed on paper. Siphoning through papers, he turned to nothing else of interest. He sighed, picking up the map of the center again. The strange lines dashed along the page led in various directions, but finding nothing else remotely interesting he decided to attempt following the lines.
He grabbed the map, leaving the house and entering the car. Driving running back and forth, he was beginning to get tired. The sleep center rose up in the distance, a police car out front. Mulder parked his car, saw a man running out of the building into the fields. He abandoned all thoughts on the map.
"Hey!" he yelled, taking off after the tall man. Corn slapped his face and tugged at his coat as he chased the man in the night. With no light to guide him he only followed the sound of crunching footfalls. He reached a clearing and the man faced him, holding out a silver device.
"Go home. Forget us, this, maybe she'll let you live."
"No. You took my partner I intend to get her back. And then I will put you in prison," there was a bit of glee, a lot of anger in the sentance, his voice low, dangerous.
The man stalked closer and Mulder drew his gun, the man lunged, Mulder tried to fire, discovering his gun didn't work. The burly man laughed.
"Everyone is always so surprised, guns don't work. It's this," he waggled a new device from his pocket, "I built it myself."
Mulder took the opportunity while the man was distracted to hit his wrist with his gun, causing him to drop the pronged object. He picked it up and threw it into the corn fields, where the man would have a difficult time locating it.
"Guess the gun is still good for something," Mulder said.
The man's eyes narrowed, he turned and chased after the device. Mulder looked at the map, attempting to find out where he was. Locating a clearing on the map, he ran off in the direction of the x, somewhat close to his current position.
He found the x, a bunker. Wooden doors in the ground lay at his feet. They were battered, he couldn't have guessed at their original purpose, but decided to head down as quickly as possible to avoid running into the man again.
He took out a flash light, shining it down the hole. Melody was clever, avoiding light and detection. Not using her own home. If she hadn't forgotten to clean her room, Mulder thought , he never would have found the place. He stuck the flash light in his mouth, climbing down the ladder. His feet hit the ground and he let out a small grunt. He turned around, surveying the room, recovering the flashlight and shining it about.
Bodies, in clear cases, surrounded by fluids, some were clothed, others not. Mulder looked through them, searching for his partner, half hoping she was present so he could find her here, half hoping she was somewhere safer.
Scully was in one such container, silver instruments at her side, much like the one the man had held. Thinking of Mulder wondered where Melody was. He lifted the top portion of the container off. Hesitated where the fluid was, but figuring it hadn't dissolved his partner yet, he reached in pulling her out. The viscous solution slid off her face, clothes as he freed her from the container.
He checked to see if she had a pulse, she did. The nose and mouths of every person were up, free of breathing in the solution. He looked at the others, resting in containers, surrounded by dirt walls, dirt floors, he carried Scully up the ladder hoist her body over his shoulder. Set her on the grass outside. He sat next to her, pulling his cell phone, to call local police to the scene, ambulances, anything to rescue the people.
He hung up the phone, sitting down on the earth, next to his fast asleep partner.
"Just like old times, you asleep on duty, me saving the day…"
The man reappeared at that moment, prong in hand, Mulder sprang to his feet, standing in front of his partner. He lunged for Mulder who dodged, the man tripped over Scully, landing on the ground. Mulder picked up his partner, running. The man smacked his head on the door, falling unconscious. Mulder walked as quickly as he could, while retaining his bearings in the corn field. He was wearing thin, carrying his partner, running around all day. He reached the sleep center, steps faltering as he crossed the threshold of the doors.
"Help…" he said to the front desk setting Scully on the floor. "She was put in a coma… needs help…" The front desk lady's eyes widened as she called down a doctor, telling him of the woman's condition.
"You are lucky this is a sleep center sir, and that her condition is relevant. We couldn't help her otherwise."
Doctor's arrived, taking Scully away; Mulder attempted to follow but was blocked. He sat down in one of the chairs but the desk, falling asleep.
-o0o-
Melody reached the bunker, coming across her partner's unconscious form. She dropped her shopping bag on the ground.
"Wake up," she shook him, "You fool wake up! Damn you." She dropped the body as his eyes craned open and up.
"Sorry sir, they got away," he swallowed, he felt like crying, she was going to kill him.
Her eyes flashed darkly, "Got away? They know we are here…." She pondered her options, they were few. She could turn herself in, hope for a lighter sentence. She could run, destroy the evidence. After all, her eyes flicked to the bag she had planned that anyway. Start over; wipe her memories like she did when she had to meet the FBI. She just wouldn't have her partner to bring them back. She remembered her concern when he had talked to Melody Valope. Simply because it was her. She couldn't remember that, as she had her mind wiped. Only recently had the memory resurfaced. This was confusing even to her.
Her memories that weren't hers, the dreams of others, ridding herself of her own memories just to talk not give anything away. Being shocked that someone had met her and she couldn't remember. She could do it again though, and she would.
"Burn it," she growled at the muscular man, "Burn them."
"All of them?" He asked mouth agape.
"All of them." She confirmed, snarl turning into a smile, "Then go. Forget me. Forget everything. It's time to move on. Escape."
"Yes," he said, though he didn't want to.
"Oh, one more thing, could you go in, grab my purse?" she asked smiling sweetly.
"Yes, sir." He opened the doors, crawled down, unsuspecting.
Melody locked the doors from above, grabbing the can on gasoline from her bag on the ground, pouring it over the wooden doors. She flicked a match to life dropping it on the doors. It went up in flames that ate the night air. She turned around and walked away. No loose ends. She started the process of deleting memories. It was time to start over.
-o0o-
Scully was still asleep, was due to wake any time now thanks to the doctor's treatment of flumazenil. Counter agent to what she had been given. She had been transferred to the hospital in town, recovering faster now.
Her eyes opened and seeing the average hospital, chairs in the room windows she knew she was awake. A bird flew by the window, doctors and nurses shuffled by.
Mulder walked in soon after.
"You really need to stop sleeping on the job," he smiled. Scully rolled her eyes,
"Did you find her? The woman, she had brown hair, pointy features… and the man, who attacked me? I can't remember anything else." Scully focused but her memories went fuzzy after the man injected her. The only detail she seemed to know was the woman. She had done this.
"No," he frowned, "she burned everything. We don't even know what killed those people. And more who died in a fire."
"Who was she?" her brow narrowed.
"Melody Valope. Her partner—they recovered his remains in the fire too."
"So what happened, after I was…" she trailed off. Mulder started to tell the story, holding her hand reminding himself she was here, awake.
-o0o-
Northern Ireland
A small white inn sitting atop cliffs of green rocky land. A brusque, red haired older woman runs the inn. The old white door swings open a petite brunette walks up to the front desk.
"Hello, I'd like a room for the night?" She asks politely.
"For who is this reservation?"
"Melody." She doesn't remember anything else, just her name. Doesn't even know how she ended up in Ireland, the accent is American or so she is told. She smiles widely at the woman.
Finis
AN: Thank you for reading, following, and reviewing! Hope you enjoyed the story, I had fun writing it! Final comments, questions, quelms, and demands may be submitted below.