Title: The Answer Is Out There
Disclaimer: I have just three words for you guys and gals out there: THEY'RE
NOT MINE!!!!!!
Ch.8
"Agent Scully, this is only an informal inquiry, but I'd like to remind you that what you do say here will be kept on record. Understand?" Scully nodded to some new and faceless deputy director of Internal Affairs. Deputy Director Henson nodded to a typist to start the tape recorder and begin typing.
"Agent Scully, is it true that both you and your current partner, Agent Fox Mulder, were assigned a special interdepartmental case given to you by Assistant Director Walter Skinner?"
"Yes." Scully didn't fidget, but she couldn't help adjusting and then readjusting the hem of her skirt. The clicking of keys carried across the room as Henson looked over his notes again before asking his next question. Somehow, these inquiries were never different. For some reason, the person leading the questioning could never remember the next few queries without looking at their sheet.
"Agent Scully, once you began your assignment..." Scully tuned out most of the questions, only catching enough to know whether the answer was 'yes' or 'no'. The questions never deviated from those simple right or wrong type. While Henson and his support group went over her information, checking through past proceedings' notes, Scully thought about the real subject at hand, Mulder.
Where was Mulder? Eventually, Deputy Henson was going to come around to that, but first he had to pry and do all sorts of inanities before he could accept any answer she might give. When it came to that, Scully wasn't sure how she was going to answer. No, she didn't know where her partner was, but could she honestly say she had no idea why he had left? Maybe they wouldn't ask.
"So, what you're saying is, Agent Scully, that your partner left you alone sometime while you were asleep, leaving behind his contribution to your assignment, but not any clue as to his present whereabouts?"
"That's correct."
"Do you have any reason to suspect foul play or other circumstances beyond either yours or your partner's control?"
"No, sir."
"That will be all then, Agent Scully. You are dismissed." Scully stood, mumbled thank you and headed for the door, trying to beat Skinner to it. The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with his suspicions, especially since he would know whether or not she was lying.
"Scully..." Too late. Just outside, she spun on her heels at her name. Skinner caught up to her and ushered her aside. "What the hell is going on this time? Scully, I can't keep saving you and your partner. Where is Mulder?" Scully gave her boss every inch of her inner steel with her words.
"I said I don't know. I wasn't lying in there, sir, no matter what you may think to the contrary."
"Damn it, that's not what I meant and you know it. I know you have some idea where he is." Scully bristled at that assumption. It was correct, but she had no desire to give in to his intuition.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't waste my breath on it. Besides, if 'I don't know' is good enough for IA, then it's good enough for you...sir." Scully turned and walked away. There was no reason for her to prolong this pointless conversation.
Not when there was work to be done.
*************************
Ten-thirteen. God, was it ten already? Scully picked up her alarm clock and double-checked the time. Nope, it was correct. Ten-thirteen am, and she was still up. Sighing, she stood up and away from the stack of papers she had next to the computer terminal in Mulder's basement office.
To stay awake, Scully tried to count the days, then the hours that Mulder had been gone. Twenty-two days, ten hours...or was it eleven hours? At that point, she knew it was time for another coffee break. Fortunately, the Starbucks a block away would be open now, and she didn't have to settle for the sludge that had gotten her through the night.
And what a waste of a night's sleep it had been. As part of procedure, Scully was supposed to research Mulder's recent activities in case, although she had vehemently denied it, something 'beyond his control' had kept him from work. That had kept her after-hours into the late evening, but once she started rifling through his stuff, it was hard to stop. There could be answers piled in his messy desk drawer, and she was determined not to miss any of them.
Not to worry, she thought, I didn't. The only items that weren't work-related were a few unlabeled tapes, which she didn't dare put on. Mulder's computer yielded similar nothing, but at about three am, Scully had taken a break to go cruising around cyberspace, checking email accounts, message boards, and whatever else caught her eye and kept it open.
That little sidetrack had cost her about four hours, or so she had thought. It had really been seven hours? Scully picked up her pocket alarm clock and tossed it into her bag. She'd take the day off with a few stolen hours logged, despite the fact she had really just been fooling around. No one really paid her or Mulder any attention, save to take five seconds to call them nuts.
Starbucks, here I come, Scully thought with some relief. As she was about to lock up, the whirring of the computer caught her attention. I know I turned it off, I know I did. Scully walked back into the room grumbling about the curse of technology.
"Wouldn't happen if I knew how to use the damn thing..."
[AND IT'S NICE TO TALK TO YOU TOO, SCULLY]
Scully dropped her bag and sprinted over to the monitor. In bright green letters, the strangely familiar words were awaiting her. As she sat, the words disappeared only to be replaced by a new phrase.
[HAVE YOU MISSED ME?]
"Mulder?"
[GOOD GUESS, BUT NO. WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHERE HE IS, OR WOULD YOU RATHER KEEP GUESSING?]
The sarcasm was so characteristic, Scully had to convince herself that it was not Mulder a few more times. Very few other people had his type of dry wit. A name came to her after a few minute's thought, but she didn't dare say it aloud. That case had been almost a month buried, no matter when the inquiry had been, it was over.
"Neo?"
[HEY THERE, GIVE THE GIRL A PRIZE.]
"What do you want?" Scully might have chuckled, if not for the shock of this strange encounter.
[TODAY'S THE TODAY. SEE YOU IN CHICAGO.]
"I am not in, nor am I going to Chicago." Scully smiled. His arrogance was just that, arrogant, but it was really funny.
[DELTA'S HAVING A SPECIAL. PLUS, THEY NEVER CHECK YOUR BAGS FOR, YOU KNOW, THOSE LITTLE THINGS...LIKE EXPLOSIVES.]
Scully could have done without that reminder of just how dangerously violent Neo and his friends could be. The computer died with one more sentence...this one cryptic enough to hold her eyes fastened to the screen long after her mind told her that the monitor had shut off.
[THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, SCULLY...IN THE REAL WORLD.]
*************************
"What am I doing here?"
"I know what you mean. I'm off to see my boyfriend myself. I just wish I could tell my husband about it." Scully rolled her eyes and bemoaned the horrid trial of coach traveling. Giving her best sympathetic look to the woman beside her, Scully tried to think of something else to pass the three-hour flight.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard fight 101 to Chicago's O'Hare airport, this is your captain speaking. We've got clear skies all the way, and about two hours to go. So, just sit back and relax, and enjoy your flight on Delta." Scully sighed and flipped through the magazine in the pocket of the seat in front of her. While the stewards passed out additional leaflets and headphones, Scully concentrated on an article about computer criminals. Maybe I'll get an insight into what I'm heading for.
"Do you think this is helpful? Do you think that you can or will learn anything about people from a magazine?" The words swirled on the page, ads disappeared as the colorful travel and news portfolio became the exact image of Mulder's computer terminal. Oh God, what the hell is this?
"Congratulations, Agent Scully, I believe you really want to know the truth. Maybe you're not so different from your partner."
"Where is Mulder, Neo?" Scully growled under her breath, saying a quick prayer of thanksgiving that the people all around her were too engrossed in some stupid Bruce Willis movie to hear her.
"He's been trying like mad to get our attention, but it's a two-for-one type of deal. We want both of you."
"Want?"
"Look in your peanuts. The steward should be bringing them around now." The message shook on the page and suddenly the article was back as were the various ads for liquor and the like.
"Peanuts, ma'am?" Scully started at the voice but managed to disguise her panic from the steward.
"Please." A uniform silver packet was dropped into her hand and the same question posed to the other two people to her right. Neither responded, if they heard the question at all. The were too engrossed in watching Bruce Willis save the day with some ludicrously fake martial arts moves. Scully carefully ripped the corner of her packet and tilted its contents out into her hand. A red capsule, again strangely familiar, tumbled around her palm. There was still one lump in the bag, which she squeezed to reveal one blue capsule. Blue capsule...then these were the same pills Neo had slipped her before?
"Correct. Take one of the red ones now." The paper not only had the words written, but it made a nearly inaudible beep to capture her attention.
"I am not taking these."
"Then why are you on this flight, Scully? It's not a question of believing any more. It's a test. I learned this too. You can't go back. Either you do and know, or you don't and you have to live with never knowing. I chose to know, and you've been looking for the answer longer. So, which so you choose?" The hand with the pills shook.
"I need to know."
"Don't tell me. I don't need convincing." Scully nodded and resolutely swallowed the red capsule. It wasn't easy to swallow without...
"Would you like something to drink, ma'am?"
"Try the water." Scully laughed at the sentence in her magazine even as it once again vanished. The steward gave her a funny look, but said nothing.
"Yes, I'll just have some...hard liquor. What have you got?"
*************************
WELCOME TO O'HARE AIRPORT! Scully dragged her steps with all due hesitation. For the nth time since she had gotten on the plane in Washington, Scully wondered what she was doing here. Vaguely glancing over the gate's waiting room, her eyes fell on a man in a regulation black suit holding a card with "SCULLY" written on it.
"Excuse me, do I know you?" Scully asked the man she assumed was a limousine driver. From behind his sunglasses, the man didn't even flinch. He dropped the sign and reached into his coat. The man had only half-finished his movements when Scully realized he was reaching for a gun. The flap of his jacket revealed one of the largest handguns she had ever seen.
"You are to come with me, Ms. Scully." Stupefied, Scully could only shiver and try to back away. Her feet seemed to be mired in concrete. Recognition began to sink in as she continued to stare, alternately fascinated and horrified, at the man who now had her by the arm. She didn't know his name, but this man was definitely, for lack of a better word, familiar. His clothes, the sunglasses, the stern and speechless demeanor were those of Agent Jones only disembodied into this new face.
"Let me go!" Scully tried to free her arm, but this man's grip was not to be shaken.
"You heard the lady." In a moment, Scully was thrown to the ground, receiving a severe bump on her head for the trip. Reeling, Scully looked up to see the man who had held her still standing there. Only something was different. Several...lumps crawled along his body under his skin. Terror was renewed as Scully remembered where last she had seen that effect. The black ooze, the strange alien oil...it had claimed its victims that way, and she had seen a man die of the infection. And she had seen how it could spread so easily between victims.
"Nooooo!!!" Scully inched her way backwards, away from this victim. She halted her move when she saw the cracks moving along his face. Thin lines of a hot whiteness split his reddening face. The expression on his face was defiance, not fear, but perhaps there was some there that she just couldn't see. The light grew too bright to for her to look at. When the brightness dimmed, Scully glanced back.
"Neo?" Sure enough, Neo stood in front of her, looking tired but nonetheless amused. He held out his hand, which she took, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "You do know how to make an entrance, Neo." Sheepishly, Scully looked around, expecting a crowd of onlookers. No one had even paid her a passing glance.
"It's alright, Scully. They can't see you...or me." Not bothering to consider why this was so, Scully tried to recover her dignity.
"Then can we go?" Neo smiled and gestured for her to follow him. They breezed through security and made it out into the parking lot in only five minutes. Once they were within a hundred feet of the black car, parked away from all the others, Scully identified Trinity standing just in front of the door. Neo nodded to her, passing some kind of code between them, to which Trinity responded by pulling out her cell phone. While Trinity finished her call, Neo ushered Scully into the back seat. Before he closed the door, Neo leaned over to talk to her.
"One word of advice, Scully. Don't trust anyone wearing an earpiece." Scully groaned and closed the door herself.
*************************
"Where are we going?" Scully had tired of waiting a long time ago, but by this time, she had lost any patience she might have had. To make matters worse, she had had to sit with a gun pointed at her the entire time. Neo kept a trained eye on her while Trinity drove. Finally, it seemed that Neo, too, had gotten bored with the silence.
"We're picking up a friend." He gave her another smile, something that he did particularly well, in her opinion, but said nothing more. Scully let the issue sit for a while, but boredom would not be swayed.
"Where do we find Mulder?" Neo shook his head, chuckling.
"I knew you were smart, Scully, but damn if you don't make it hard to be mysterious."
"Where has he been? Have you..." Neo cut her off with a look, nothing more.
"Scully, your partner has a determination factor that is not to be believed. But that and five cents still don't buy you a ticket to Zion. We are going to pick him up. It was decided that we'd wait until we had you, too. It would have been too difficult to get to you later."
"You would have been dead." Trinity filled in from Neo's side. Neo nodded gravely.
"No one can help you if you're dead, Scully. Not even me." Scully blinked and sat mute in her seat. After she took her moment to recover, she smiled.
"And I thought you said you had trouble being mysterious."
End of Chapter 8