9:24pm
* * * * * *
You're an extraordinary woman; how do you expect
to lead an ordinary life?-- Louisa May Alcott
* * * * * *
Krycek could hear nothing. After the single chirp of a silencer he
hadn't heard a sound. He pulled out the stiletto weapon from his inside
jacket pocket. He always carried one.
He slowed as he approached the open door, not knowing what to expect.
The bounty hunter's back was to him as Krycek looked in the room. He
couldn't see Mulder anywhere, but he could see Scully clearly. She was
slowly backing away from the bounty hunter.
Krycek met her eyes. She hid her surprise well; there was only the
briefest widening of her eyes. He brought a finger to his lips, then
held up his weapon.
She understood. She looked away from Krycek. "Tell me what you want. Why
are you here?" She asked again, trying to keep the bounty hunter
distracted.
Krycek moved in. The bounty hunter began to speak, "I told you. You
need--", but he broke himself off. He abruptly spun around to face
Krycek and his raised weapon.
Krycek suddenly found himself airborne. He metered across the room and
slammed into the far wall with the sound of a wet sack of potatoes. He
slid to the floor, stunned. Krycek had lost his grip on his weapon and
he watched helplessly as it lazily spun on the floorboards across the
room
The bounty hunter towered above him as Krycek lay on his back. Krycek
tried to use his leverage as best as he could. He raised his legs forced
them down square onto the bounty hunter' kneecaps. It hardly seemed to
phase him.
Instead of bringing him down to the floor, as Krycek hoped, it merely
caused the figure to lose his balance slightly. The bounty hunter
stumbled and leaned forward to help regain his balance.
That was all he did, but that was enough.
Scully had advanced unnoticed and she took advantage of the bounty
hunter's distraction. She'd picked up the fallen weapon and without
hesitation drove it into the neck of her assailant. The force she used
easily brought him to his knees.
The figure grimaced and futilely tried to stop her but was unsuccessful.
She withdrew the stiletto from his neck as the body began to dissolve.
Krycek quickly moved out of the way as the body slammed into the floor.
* * * * * *
9:25pm
"Grab him." These were the first words out of Krycek's mouth when Dagen
finally arrived. Krycek stood rubbing his shoulder, wincing painfully,
and motioned to Mulder lying on the floor. "Could have used your help
you know."
Dagen ignored his comment and walked over to Mulder. Scully was crouched
over him, doing her best to assess his situation. She didn't look up
when Dagen knelt beside her. "We have to get both of you out of here."
"I have my own ride."
"Diana's dead." There was no real response from Scully. She didn't seem
surprised. "This was why she wasn't supposed to get him." it was not a
question, and Dagen didn't respond.
"He needs medical aid first." She said
"We can treat him, but we need to get out of here."
To punctuate Dagen's comment, Krycek chose that moment to yell, "Come
on! Dagen, just grab him so we can get the hell out of here."
"I don't know you, and I certainly don't trust him," she motioned to
Krycek, now standing in the doorway keeping a lookout. "I can't just
blindly follow you."
Dagen felt completely helpless. "If-- there really isn't anything I can
say or do right now to show you that we are here to help you. If there
was..."
Scully met his eyes and he felt as if she were looking deep within him.
"She probably is. She should he displaying some of those abilities by
now." Eyes as sharp as boning knives. Afraid they would see too much,
he avoided looking straight into them.
"I think that there is a way. May I?" She held up her hand. Warily, he
nodded yes.
She reached her hand and cupped his face. Her hand felt ice cold against
his cheek.
-Flash-
What the hell was that? There was a flash of bright light for a second,
but it disappeared. Scully removed her hand and stood up. "Like you
said, we have to get out of here." She held her hand out to Dagen and
helped him stand. Together they grabbed Mulder.
* * * * * *
George Washington Parkway
9:33pm
Scully sat in the back of the car with Dagen; Mulder sat between the
two. She watched as he reached down to the floor of the car and grab a
bag. From it, he pulled a syringe and a vial. Carefully measuring the
dose, he pulled the needle from the vial and turned to Mulder. Lifting
up his sleeve, he injected the substance into his arm.
"This should help counter act the side effects of his exposure." He
briefly looked Scully in the eye, before sliding his gaze away. "He is
hiding something. He isn't telling me everything. But he will not hurt
us."
"What are you hiding?" She asked, point blank.
Dagen lifted his eyes to meet Krycek's in the rearview mirror. When
Krycek nodded slightly, Dagen spoke. "His body is having a type of
hypersensitivity reaction to the exposure. What I have given him will
help his body tolerate it."
"A hypersensitivity reaction to what exactly?"
He hesitated. "To the DNA that you now have within you."
Scully's pale skin became even whiter as the color drained from her
cheeks. "What are you talking about? What do you mean by this?"
"You've been changed, surely you've realized this."
Scully closed her eyes tightly, and asked the question she didn't want
to know the answer to. "What have I been changed into?"
"Something..." Dagen paused, he couldn't seem to find the right words,
"something more than human. I don't...I don't really have a better way
of saying it really. I'm sorry."
Scully took a slow breath before speaking again. "Who did this to me?
Why would they do this?"
Krycek spoke. "The tattered remains of the consortium. A few old men
clinging to the past and trying one last desperate ploy to ensure their
survival."
"And what is this?" She said gesturing to the car around them,
indicating the situation they were in.
He smiled, without humor. "This is our own desperate ploy, of course."
* * * * * *
9:41pm
Scully's arm was in the process of going numb, but she didn't care. She
was gently supported Mulder with one arm, and with her other hand she
lightly brushed the hair from his forehead.
She looked up in surprise when a high pitched chirping sound erupted
from Krycek. She watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out
what was making the noise.
Without a word, he rolled down his window and tossed the device out into
the night.
* * * * * *
Resistance Headquarters
11:46pm
Krycek pulled the car into a compound, isolated from the rest of the
world by a thick forest. The compound was modeled after a military base;
it was well blockaded and heavily armed guards abounded.
Krycek stepped out quickly and barked at one of the guards. "We need
some help here. We have a man injured." Only a second or two passed
before they were met by a group of individuals and a gurney. They began
to take Mulder away, with Dagen following closely, but Scully stopped
them by physically blocking the entrance to the doorway. "I need to stay
with him," she said sharply.
Krycek placed his arm over hers in an attempt to move her out of the
way. Looking down on her, he spoke. "He needs to be treated. The
medication Dagen gave him in the car was only a temporary fix."
Scully tossed his arm off of her, and stared him back. "And I said that
I need to be with him." Krycek didn't flinch, and he didn't move away
from her.
"Look, we have to treat him, please let us through." Dagen pleaded.
Ignoring Krycek, Scully turned to Dagen. He was a good man, although he
felt a great guilt surrounding her. Perhaps she could use that to her
advantage.
"Look, after all I have gone through, after all the choices so
indelicately removed from me, let me have this one. I need to be with
him."
Dagen looked at Krycek, an unsure look on his face. Irritated, Krycek
gave in. "Do what ever the hell you want to do. Take her or don't, I
really don't care. My job is finished." He walked away and left Dagen
speaking nervously to Scully as she nearly dragged him over to the door.
"Don't worry. We have some of the finest doctors here..." The rest was
lost as Krycek rounded a corner.
He opened one of the other entrances with a sweep of his code card
through the scanner. This entrance led directly into the main
headquarters, where the monitoring and the planning took place. That was
where he found Allen.
Allen was in the center of a small group, speaking quietly when he
noticed Krycek's approach. Pyka also noticed and crossed the room to
meet Krycek. Was the damn dog salivating? It seemed like it. When the
dog began to aggressively lick Krycek's only other hand; he resisted the
urge to kick the dog across the room. How he hated that dog. He wished
with a deep passion that Allen would just get rid of the damn animal.
Allen approached and he pulled the dog off of Krycek. "Come on girl, you
know that uncle Krycek doesn't like it when you do that." The dog moved
away reluctantly and sat down next to her master. She looked at Krycek,
hunger in her eyes.
"I wish you had better control of that damn dog. She does that every
time."
"She only does that with you. I guess you could say she has good taste."
Before Krycek could respond, Allen glanced at his watch and said,
"You're finally back."
"This didn't go as well as we had planned. Mulder's with us. He's
injured. Even unconscious his presence is already interfering. She
insists on staying with him."
"Perhaps it will be for the best."
"*Perhaps*?" Krycek asked, incredulous. "I think that we should be far
beyond the *perhaps* stage. Everything should be certain by now."
"Are we treating him?"
"Yes."
"Then he will be fine by morning. We would have given her that much time
to adjust anyway. Nothing's delayed."
"I don't think that you understand what I'm saying."
"I don't?" Allen raised his eyebrows.
Krycek had the feeling that Allen was mocking him. "No you don't. You
seem to underestimate the control he exerts over her. If he doesn't want
her to do what we need her to do..."
"I think you underestimate both of them. They are both intelligent
people. Once we tell them what they need to know, they'll make the right
decision."
* * * * * *
March 7, 1999
Operating Room
12:12am
Scully felt like an animal trapped in a too tight cage. The urge to pace
restlessly was strong, but she stilled the impulse. If she moved she
would lose sight of Mulder, and she didn't intend losing sight of him
ever again.
She waited in the anteroom outside the operating room and peered
through the small window. Well, perhaps operating room was a misnomer.
An operation wasn't being conducted, but 'what' was being conducted was
still unclear. Dagen was inside the room, supervising what ever was
happening. He had told her to wait here (as if she would leave) and that
someone would be by soon enough to answer some of her questions.
So much had happen in such a short amount of time, her head reeled with
the idea of it all. She looked at the clock on the wall. 12:12. When
had all this started? Was it only four hours ago? It hardly seemed as if
enough time had gone by, yet it also felt like it had been eons ago when
Diana awakened her.
Diana. She was dead; Scully felt her loss. Who would have imagined that
just a few short weeks ago? "I guess that just shows how much has
changed within these few hours." She didn't let herself dwell on the
potential grief that Diana's passing could bring. Instead, she felt an
overwhelming need for information. Why was she here? What had been done
to her? Why? What was happening to Mulder?
And, the question most pressing on her mind: What had happened to her?
"Hell if I know." She spoke into the empty room.
But she was lying to herself. She did know, at least she had an inkling.
She had admitted it to herself, and Diana, earlier; hell she even had
consciously used it to read Dagen to find out if he could be trusted.
Physical contact afforded mind reading abilities, without it, simply
empathic ones. And if she chose, she could sense nothing. She was
learning quickly how it was done and how to control it.
'It' being the mind reading of course.
She hated that term. It just felt so false and pretentious somehow. If
Mulder was awake now he would offer up many other words as
substitutions. Clairvoyant, psychic, telepathic abilities, precognizant,
extrasensory perception... she was sure that he could go on forever.
Scully smiled. He would love this. Finally a case where she couldn't
disprove him, no matter how much she wished she could. Her smile faded.
How she wished this could go back to how they were before...
Distracted by her own thoughts, Scully did not see nor feel the other
person's entrance into the small room. Before she knew what was
happening, Scully found herself enveloped in two strong arms. Scully had
hardly gotten a chance to see the woman's face, but she could tell by
her thoughts who it was. "thank god she is ok...so worried...looks
better than i thought... how is she handling it... better than it did, I
think... I hope this will all work... please god, let all of this
work...she's such a wonderful women..."
Out loud, Cassandra said, "Oh, it's so good to see you. I was worried
about you when you hadn't arrived as expected."
"Scully gently pealed away from her. "You knew I was coming? How?"
"It was part of the plan. When we discovered what was happening to you,
we knew we had to act."
Scully was far too startled to really read Cassandra when they had
hugged, and now that physical contact was broken, she could only feel
Cassandra's excitement and clear pleasure at Scully's presence. Scully
briefly considered grabbing her hand, but dismissed it quickly. It
seemed like too much of a violation. The other times...well, Diana had
initiated the first time, and with Dagen it had been an emergency, and
with Mulder... well, that had been an accident.
The thought of Mulder turned Scully's attention away from Cassandra, and
back to the window. "Can you tell me how he is? Can you find out for
me?"
Cassandra stepped up to the window to gain a better look. "I wouldn't
worry about him. They'll take good care of him. They're highly trained
and are familiar with his condition. Also..." She hesitated, moved away
from the window and turned to look at Scully. "They have healers here
that can do what science can not."
"What do you mean by that?"
"They have abilities. They can help the body use its own resources to
fight the illness or heal the injury. Although... I don't think that
Mulder will need much outside help."
Scully felt... 'something' from that statement. She didn't have a word
for it, it was so fleeting, but it had been there. Something more that
what it seemed. "What do you mean by that?"
Cassandra didn't seem to hear her. Concern filled her voice as she asked
the next question. "How are you?"
"Do you know what they did to me?" Scully had a feeling that she did.
"They did the same thing to you that they did to me." Bitterness filled
Cassandra's voice.
"Can you tell me why? What purpose does it serve?"
"It served their own selfish purposes." Cassandra spat out the words
distastefully. But the emotion lasted only for a moment. A smile
appeared on her lips with her next words. "But that isn't important now.
The why isn't important because you will not be used for those
purposes."
"What do you mean *used*? I'm not going to let myself be *used* by
anyone."
She just smiled at Scully's alarm. "You misunderstand. No one will force
you to do anything that you don't want to do. You will not have to do
anything against your will. But I think, once you learn, and come to
accept the truth, you'll understand the role that you must come to
play."
"My role?" Scully asked carefully.
"Why yes." Cassandra's voice was completely sincere as she spoke the
next words. "You represent the future. The future of mankind, as well as
its savior."
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
You're an extraordinary woman; how do you expect
to lead an ordinary life?-- Louisa May Alcott
* * * * * *
Krycek could hear nothing. After the single chirp of a silencer he
hadn't heard a sound. He pulled out the stiletto weapon from his inside
jacket pocket. He always carried one.
He slowed as he approached the open door, not knowing what to expect.
The bounty hunter's back was to him as Krycek looked in the room. He
couldn't see Mulder anywhere, but he could see Scully clearly. She was
slowly backing away from the bounty hunter.
Krycek met her eyes. She hid her surprise well; there was only the
briefest widening of her eyes. He brought a finger to his lips, then
held up his weapon.
She understood. She looked away from Krycek. "Tell me what you want. Why
are you here?" She asked again, trying to keep the bounty hunter
distracted.
Krycek moved in. The bounty hunter began to speak, "I told you. You
need--", but he broke himself off. He abruptly spun around to face
Krycek and his raised weapon.
Krycek suddenly found himself airborne. He metered across the room and
slammed into the far wall with the sound of a wet sack of potatoes. He
slid to the floor, stunned. Krycek had lost his grip on his weapon and
he watched helplessly as it lazily spun on the floorboards across the
room
The bounty hunter towered above him as Krycek lay on his back. Krycek
tried to use his leverage as best as he could. He raised his legs forced
them down square onto the bounty hunter' kneecaps. It hardly seemed to
phase him.
Instead of bringing him down to the floor, as Krycek hoped, it merely
caused the figure to lose his balance slightly. The bounty hunter
stumbled and leaned forward to help regain his balance.
That was all he did, but that was enough.
Scully had advanced unnoticed and she took advantage of the bounty
hunter's distraction. She'd picked up the fallen weapon and without
hesitation drove it into the neck of her assailant. The force she used
easily brought him to his knees.
The figure grimaced and futilely tried to stop her but was unsuccessful.
She withdrew the stiletto from his neck as the body began to dissolve.
Krycek quickly moved out of the way as the body slammed into the floor.
* * * * * *
9:25pm
"Grab him." These were the first words out of Krycek's mouth when Dagen
finally arrived. Krycek stood rubbing his shoulder, wincing painfully,
and motioned to Mulder lying on the floor. "Could have used your help
you know."
Dagen ignored his comment and walked over to Mulder. Scully was crouched
over him, doing her best to assess his situation. She didn't look up
when Dagen knelt beside her. "We have to get both of you out of here."
"I have my own ride."
"Diana's dead." There was no real response from Scully. She didn't seem
surprised. "This was why she wasn't supposed to get him." it was not a
question, and Dagen didn't respond.
"He needs medical aid first." She said
"We can treat him, but we need to get out of here."
To punctuate Dagen's comment, Krycek chose that moment to yell, "Come
on! Dagen, just grab him so we can get the hell out of here."
"I don't know you, and I certainly don't trust him," she motioned to
Krycek, now standing in the doorway keeping a lookout. "I can't just
blindly follow you."
Dagen felt completely helpless. "If-- there really isn't anything I can
say or do right now to show you that we are here to help you. If there
was..."
Scully met his eyes and he felt as if she were looking deep within him.
"She probably is. She should he displaying some of those abilities by
now." Eyes as sharp as boning knives. Afraid they would see too much,
he avoided looking straight into them.
"I think that there is a way. May I?" She held up her hand. Warily, he
nodded yes.
She reached her hand and cupped his face. Her hand felt ice cold against
his cheek.
-Flash-
What the hell was that? There was a flash of bright light for a second,
but it disappeared. Scully removed her hand and stood up. "Like you
said, we have to get out of here." She held her hand out to Dagen and
helped him stand. Together they grabbed Mulder.
* * * * * *
George Washington Parkway
9:33pm
Scully sat in the back of the car with Dagen; Mulder sat between the
two. She watched as he reached down to the floor of the car and grab a
bag. From it, he pulled a syringe and a vial. Carefully measuring the
dose, he pulled the needle from the vial and turned to Mulder. Lifting
up his sleeve, he injected the substance into his arm.
"This should help counter act the side effects of his exposure." He
briefly looked Scully in the eye, before sliding his gaze away. "He is
hiding something. He isn't telling me everything. But he will not hurt
us."
"What are you hiding?" She asked, point blank.
Dagen lifted his eyes to meet Krycek's in the rearview mirror. When
Krycek nodded slightly, Dagen spoke. "His body is having a type of
hypersensitivity reaction to the exposure. What I have given him will
help his body tolerate it."
"A hypersensitivity reaction to what exactly?"
He hesitated. "To the DNA that you now have within you."
Scully's pale skin became even whiter as the color drained from her
cheeks. "What are you talking about? What do you mean by this?"
"You've been changed, surely you've realized this."
Scully closed her eyes tightly, and asked the question she didn't want
to know the answer to. "What have I been changed into?"
"Something..." Dagen paused, he couldn't seem to find the right words,
"something more than human. I don't...I don't really have a better way
of saying it really. I'm sorry."
Scully took a slow breath before speaking again. "Who did this to me?
Why would they do this?"
Krycek spoke. "The tattered remains of the consortium. A few old men
clinging to the past and trying one last desperate ploy to ensure their
survival."
"And what is this?" She said gesturing to the car around them,
indicating the situation they were in.
He smiled, without humor. "This is our own desperate ploy, of course."
* * * * * *
9:41pm
Scully's arm was in the process of going numb, but she didn't care. She
was gently supported Mulder with one arm, and with her other hand she
lightly brushed the hair from his forehead.
She looked up in surprise when a high pitched chirping sound erupted
from Krycek. She watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out
what was making the noise.
Without a word, he rolled down his window and tossed the device out into
the night.
* * * * * *
Resistance Headquarters
11:46pm
Krycek pulled the car into a compound, isolated from the rest of the
world by a thick forest. The compound was modeled after a military base;
it was well blockaded and heavily armed guards abounded.
Krycek stepped out quickly and barked at one of the guards. "We need
some help here. We have a man injured." Only a second or two passed
before they were met by a group of individuals and a gurney. They began
to take Mulder away, with Dagen following closely, but Scully stopped
them by physically blocking the entrance to the doorway. "I need to stay
with him," she said sharply.
Krycek placed his arm over hers in an attempt to move her out of the
way. Looking down on her, he spoke. "He needs to be treated. The
medication Dagen gave him in the car was only a temporary fix."
Scully tossed his arm off of her, and stared him back. "And I said that
I need to be with him." Krycek didn't flinch, and he didn't move away
from her.
"Look, we have to treat him, please let us through." Dagen pleaded.
Ignoring Krycek, Scully turned to Dagen. He was a good man, although he
felt a great guilt surrounding her. Perhaps she could use that to her
advantage.
"Look, after all I have gone through, after all the choices so
indelicately removed from me, let me have this one. I need to be with
him."
Dagen looked at Krycek, an unsure look on his face. Irritated, Krycek
gave in. "Do what ever the hell you want to do. Take her or don't, I
really don't care. My job is finished." He walked away and left Dagen
speaking nervously to Scully as she nearly dragged him over to the door.
"Don't worry. We have some of the finest doctors here..." The rest was
lost as Krycek rounded a corner.
He opened one of the other entrances with a sweep of his code card
through the scanner. This entrance led directly into the main
headquarters, where the monitoring and the planning took place. That was
where he found Allen.
Allen was in the center of a small group, speaking quietly when he
noticed Krycek's approach. Pyka also noticed and crossed the room to
meet Krycek. Was the damn dog salivating? It seemed like it. When the
dog began to aggressively lick Krycek's only other hand; he resisted the
urge to kick the dog across the room. How he hated that dog. He wished
with a deep passion that Allen would just get rid of the damn animal.
Allen approached and he pulled the dog off of Krycek. "Come on girl, you
know that uncle Krycek doesn't like it when you do that." The dog moved
away reluctantly and sat down next to her master. She looked at Krycek,
hunger in her eyes.
"I wish you had better control of that damn dog. She does that every
time."
"She only does that with you. I guess you could say she has good taste."
Before Krycek could respond, Allen glanced at his watch and said,
"You're finally back."
"This didn't go as well as we had planned. Mulder's with us. He's
injured. Even unconscious his presence is already interfering. She
insists on staying with him."
"Perhaps it will be for the best."
"*Perhaps*?" Krycek asked, incredulous. "I think that we should be far
beyond the *perhaps* stage. Everything should be certain by now."
"Are we treating him?"
"Yes."
"Then he will be fine by morning. We would have given her that much time
to adjust anyway. Nothing's delayed."
"I don't think that you understand what I'm saying."
"I don't?" Allen raised his eyebrows.
Krycek had the feeling that Allen was mocking him. "No you don't. You
seem to underestimate the control he exerts over her. If he doesn't want
her to do what we need her to do..."
"I think you underestimate both of them. They are both intelligent
people. Once we tell them what they need to know, they'll make the right
decision."
* * * * * *
March 7, 1999
Operating Room
12:12am
Scully felt like an animal trapped in a too tight cage. The urge to pace
restlessly was strong, but she stilled the impulse. If she moved she
would lose sight of Mulder, and she didn't intend losing sight of him
ever again.
She waited in the anteroom outside the operating room and peered
through the small window. Well, perhaps operating room was a misnomer.
An operation wasn't being conducted, but 'what' was being conducted was
still unclear. Dagen was inside the room, supervising what ever was
happening. He had told her to wait here (as if she would leave) and that
someone would be by soon enough to answer some of her questions.
So much had happen in such a short amount of time, her head reeled with
the idea of it all. She looked at the clock on the wall. 12:12. When
had all this started? Was it only four hours ago? It hardly seemed as if
enough time had gone by, yet it also felt like it had been eons ago when
Diana awakened her.
Diana. She was dead; Scully felt her loss. Who would have imagined that
just a few short weeks ago? "I guess that just shows how much has
changed within these few hours." She didn't let herself dwell on the
potential grief that Diana's passing could bring. Instead, she felt an
overwhelming need for information. Why was she here? What had been done
to her? Why? What was happening to Mulder?
And, the question most pressing on her mind: What had happened to her?
"Hell if I know." She spoke into the empty room.
But she was lying to herself. She did know, at least she had an inkling.
She had admitted it to herself, and Diana, earlier; hell she even had
consciously used it to read Dagen to find out if he could be trusted.
Physical contact afforded mind reading abilities, without it, simply
empathic ones. And if she chose, she could sense nothing. She was
learning quickly how it was done and how to control it.
'It' being the mind reading of course.
She hated that term. It just felt so false and pretentious somehow. If
Mulder was awake now he would offer up many other words as
substitutions. Clairvoyant, psychic, telepathic abilities, precognizant,
extrasensory perception... she was sure that he could go on forever.
Scully smiled. He would love this. Finally a case where she couldn't
disprove him, no matter how much she wished she could. Her smile faded.
How she wished this could go back to how they were before...
Distracted by her own thoughts, Scully did not see nor feel the other
person's entrance into the small room. Before she knew what was
happening, Scully found herself enveloped in two strong arms. Scully had
hardly gotten a chance to see the woman's face, but she could tell by
her thoughts who it was. "thank god she is ok...so worried...looks
better than i thought... how is she handling it... better than it did, I
think... I hope this will all work... please god, let all of this
work...she's such a wonderful women..."
Out loud, Cassandra said, "Oh, it's so good to see you. I was worried
about you when you hadn't arrived as expected."
"Scully gently pealed away from her. "You knew I was coming? How?"
"It was part of the plan. When we discovered what was happening to you,
we knew we had to act."
Scully was far too startled to really read Cassandra when they had
hugged, and now that physical contact was broken, she could only feel
Cassandra's excitement and clear pleasure at Scully's presence. Scully
briefly considered grabbing her hand, but dismissed it quickly. It
seemed like too much of a violation. The other times...well, Diana had
initiated the first time, and with Dagen it had been an emergency, and
with Mulder... well, that had been an accident.
The thought of Mulder turned Scully's attention away from Cassandra, and
back to the window. "Can you tell me how he is? Can you find out for
me?"
Cassandra stepped up to the window to gain a better look. "I wouldn't
worry about him. They'll take good care of him. They're highly trained
and are familiar with his condition. Also..." She hesitated, moved away
from the window and turned to look at Scully. "They have healers here
that can do what science can not."
"What do you mean by that?"
"They have abilities. They can help the body use its own resources to
fight the illness or heal the injury. Although... I don't think that
Mulder will need much outside help."
Scully felt... 'something' from that statement. She didn't have a word
for it, it was so fleeting, but it had been there. Something more that
what it seemed. "What do you mean by that?"
Cassandra didn't seem to hear her. Concern filled her voice as she asked
the next question. "How are you?"
"Do you know what they did to me?" Scully had a feeling that she did.
"They did the same thing to you that they did to me." Bitterness filled
Cassandra's voice.
"Can you tell me why? What purpose does it serve?"
"It served their own selfish purposes." Cassandra spat out the words
distastefully. But the emotion lasted only for a moment. A smile
appeared on her lips with her next words. "But that isn't important now.
The why isn't important because you will not be used for those
purposes."
"What do you mean *used*? I'm not going to let myself be *used* by
anyone."
She just smiled at Scully's alarm. "You misunderstand. No one will force
you to do anything that you don't want to do. You will not have to do
anything against your will. But I think, once you learn, and come to
accept the truth, you'll understand the role that you must come to
play."
"My role?" Scully asked carefully.
"Why yes." Cassandra's voice was completely sincere as she spoke the
next words. "You represent the future. The future of mankind, as well as
its savior."
* * * * * *