AN: Set mid-season 2 X-Files, mid-season 4 Buffy. Yeah, work with me here :P
Disclaimer: Chris Carter and Joss Whedon's - between them they own everything
Archive: Want, take, have. Just lemme know where it's going
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"Mulder..?"
There was a muffled grunt from somewhere within the basement office but, with only the thin light from the corridor outside to provide any illumination, there was no way to see where the response had come from.
Hundreds of terrible scenarios flashed through her mind, taking an effort of will to quash before paranoia had her reaching for her gun. Anger at herself for the moment of panic, however justified it might be under the current circumstances, found Dana frowning as she spoke again, this time with a note of impatience creeping into her louder tone.
"Mulder?"
Questing fingers found the switch, flooding the room with the harsh strip lighting she had come to know and loathe in the years they had worked the X-Files cases.
Her partner starred at her over his monitor, blinking red-rimmed eyes to adjust to the brightness. He swallowed a couple of times, running a hand along a stubbled jaw as he looked around, blearily oblivious to her small exhalation of relieved breath.
"Morning..?"
"Yes Mulder, morning. Six thirty in the, if you want complete accuracy. When you said we had to get here early, I assumed it meant you'd actually have left."
His smile was still sleepy, and completely unrepentant, as he stood and stretched then attempted to smooth the unearned bed-hair with his fingers.
"If I did that, you wouldn't get the chance to scowl at me, and you know it makes your mornings. C'mon, I'll buy you breakfast on the way to the airport."
"Airport?! Mulder, I am not stepping a foot outside this office unless you tell me what all this is about. Starting with the words 'This is an officially approved assignment from AD Skinner'" She crossed her arms and set her expression in the stubborn lines that she was rapidly becoming notorious for.
He lounged in the doorway, reaching into his rumpled jacket to bring an equally rumpled piece of paper that was once a pristine 302 from the inner pocket. "This is an officially approved assignment from AD Skinner, who must be under the influence of people who like us for once. That or they've run out of sewers. Sand, sea, sun ... southern California."
Treacherous muscles gave her mouth a grudging smile, unable to stay set in the face of the light-hearted enthusiasm he so rarely displayed any more, or in the face of the chance to escape the dull grey cold of the New York winter. But even as she started to follow, she felt there was a certain need to bring him down to earth a little, preferably before he had them chasing surfboard monsters, or satanic tanning lotion.
"I haven't packed for an extended assignment, and there is no way I'm going to sit next to you on a plane for five hours unless you shower first. What time does boarding start?"
"Eight thirty."
She kept response calm and measured, just about able to sound as though she wasn't considering strangling him with his own tie. "Then why am I here at six-thirty Mulder?"
"I thought it would take at least an hour to convince you this was a good idea, and then you'd have to go pack and I really need a shower..." His reasonable tone trailed away to be replaced by a slightly bemused one as he noted the way her fingers moved in short grasping motions and her gaze appeared fixed on his forehead. "Scully, are you attempting to kill me with your mind?"
"Yes Mulder. If you see a light, go towards it. Why couldn't you have told me this on the phone last night?"
"Because I'm far more persuasive and charming in person? And ... I'm going towards the light."
She watched him beat a hasty retreat into the corridor then followed, pausing to flip the switch and send the basement back into darkness once more before closing the door behind her.
The report read like most of those she'd gone through as she'd acquainted herself with the X-Files; rife with unproven theories, conflicting witness statements and poorly recorded autopsies. On the other hand, she hadn't seen a file so thick with incident reports since the collection dealing with Tooms. While that had been a range of information collected over decades, this spanned only three years, and had been officially closed before Mulder had managed to re-open it once more.
"So, what do you think?"
He'd remained admirably silent as she'd read, occupying himself with reading up on the little tourist booklet for the small town. But once she had flipped over the last page and leaned back in the uncomfortable plane seat, she found the bright and quietly amused eyes fixed on her with interest.
"Well, it certainly sounds like a conspiracy theorist's holy grail. But, honestly, a Principle eaten by wild dogs? Deputy Mayor stabbed in the heart with a sharp wooden object? High mortality rate for the under twenties, with corresponding sightings after death? If this hasn't been debunked, why was the file closed in the first place?"
Mulder's grin sharpened as he took the papers back. "Well, that's all a part of the mystery." Fingers waves before her face in an imitation of camp fire spooky, she gently batted them away. "There have never been any FBI investigations, but there was one interesting population demographic report made just before the case was closed down officially. The town has a university, an airport, all the signs of a major city, but it has a constant population in the thirty thousands region - with a birth and death rate far above that of neighbouring towns. What do you imagine could keep a population that small Scully, evolutionarily speaking?"
"Any number of perfectly normal things." Her response was automatic, but already knowing which particular option Mulder would be focussing on and speaking it before he could with a resigned sigh. "One of which would be an indigenous predator higher in the food chain."
Mulder nodded as he flipped through the file, musing aloud "About a year and a half ago the High School blew up. Not burned down, blew up. Forensics found traces of large amounts of black power explosives, and this was at the same time as the Mayor went missing and there were reports of the man eating snake that suddenly disappeared. If people are trying to keep this under wraps down there, they aren't doing it with the usual efficiency."
"Okay, say that there is a basis for some of the files, why was it suddenly re-opened?"
"Two days ago a bright flash was seen in the sky, followed by a minor earthquake with it's epicentre only a short distance from the town."
"An earthquake in California, I can see why you'd find that unusual." Scully leaned out into the aisle, trying to flag down a stewardess as Mulder went on, ignoring her sarcasm.
"When the local police force investigated, they found what they had thought to be minor seismic activity was actually the result of a meteor impact. The furrow of it's landing was over a hundred metres in length but ... " His voiced dropped in volume to an intense whisper as he tried to impress upon the sceptic the importance of his next words "... but the object that landed wasn't even a blip on local radar, nor has it been located."
His tone became careless again as he held his cup over her to be filled once more. "The size of the impact point should have decimated the entire area for miles, instead it was less than two metres in circumference, indicating a controlled landing."
The way he spoke, as if reading from an internal article, bought dark suspicion to the fore. "You got this from them, didn't you?"
For the first time Mulder looked sheepish, shifting in his seat a little. Sometimes she found it endearing that a man who's all consuming quest for the truth was such an appalling liar, but that was when they weren't involved.
"They? I don't know who..."
"Frohike, Langley, Byers. The three stooges sent this your way, didn't they?"
"It might have been mentioned in passing ..."
"Mulder..."
He held his hands up a little, shaking his head. "Okay, I know we don't always get the most reliable information from them, but doesn't this intrigue you even a little bit?"
"Okay, yes, a little."
Mulder took his minor victory with a grin and resumed reading his pamphlet. Scully flipped the small leaflet around to read the title aloud. "Welcome to Sunnydale?"
Disclaimer: Chris Carter and Joss Whedon's - between them they own everything
Archive: Want, take, have. Just lemme know where it's going
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Mulder..?"
There was a muffled grunt from somewhere within the basement office but, with only the thin light from the corridor outside to provide any illumination, there was no way to see where the response had come from.
Hundreds of terrible scenarios flashed through her mind, taking an effort of will to quash before paranoia had her reaching for her gun. Anger at herself for the moment of panic, however justified it might be under the current circumstances, found Dana frowning as she spoke again, this time with a note of impatience creeping into her louder tone.
"Mulder?"
Questing fingers found the switch, flooding the room with the harsh strip lighting she had come to know and loathe in the years they had worked the X-Files cases.
Her partner starred at her over his monitor, blinking red-rimmed eyes to adjust to the brightness. He swallowed a couple of times, running a hand along a stubbled jaw as he looked around, blearily oblivious to her small exhalation of relieved breath.
"Morning..?"
"Yes Mulder, morning. Six thirty in the, if you want complete accuracy. When you said we had to get here early, I assumed it meant you'd actually have left."
His smile was still sleepy, and completely unrepentant, as he stood and stretched then attempted to smooth the unearned bed-hair with his fingers.
"If I did that, you wouldn't get the chance to scowl at me, and you know it makes your mornings. C'mon, I'll buy you breakfast on the way to the airport."
"Airport?! Mulder, I am not stepping a foot outside this office unless you tell me what all this is about. Starting with the words 'This is an officially approved assignment from AD Skinner'" She crossed her arms and set her expression in the stubborn lines that she was rapidly becoming notorious for.
He lounged in the doorway, reaching into his rumpled jacket to bring an equally rumpled piece of paper that was once a pristine 302 from the inner pocket. "This is an officially approved assignment from AD Skinner, who must be under the influence of people who like us for once. That or they've run out of sewers. Sand, sea, sun ... southern California."
Treacherous muscles gave her mouth a grudging smile, unable to stay set in the face of the light-hearted enthusiasm he so rarely displayed any more, or in the face of the chance to escape the dull grey cold of the New York winter. But even as she started to follow, she felt there was a certain need to bring him down to earth a little, preferably before he had them chasing surfboard monsters, or satanic tanning lotion.
"I haven't packed for an extended assignment, and there is no way I'm going to sit next to you on a plane for five hours unless you shower first. What time does boarding start?"
"Eight thirty."
She kept response calm and measured, just about able to sound as though she wasn't considering strangling him with his own tie. "Then why am I here at six-thirty Mulder?"
"I thought it would take at least an hour to convince you this was a good idea, and then you'd have to go pack and I really need a shower..." His reasonable tone trailed away to be replaced by a slightly bemused one as he noted the way her fingers moved in short grasping motions and her gaze appeared fixed on his forehead. "Scully, are you attempting to kill me with your mind?"
"Yes Mulder. If you see a light, go towards it. Why couldn't you have told me this on the phone last night?"
"Because I'm far more persuasive and charming in person? And ... I'm going towards the light."
She watched him beat a hasty retreat into the corridor then followed, pausing to flip the switch and send the basement back into darkness once more before closing the door behind her.
The report read like most of those she'd gone through as she'd acquainted herself with the X-Files; rife with unproven theories, conflicting witness statements and poorly recorded autopsies. On the other hand, she hadn't seen a file so thick with incident reports since the collection dealing with Tooms. While that had been a range of information collected over decades, this spanned only three years, and had been officially closed before Mulder had managed to re-open it once more.
"So, what do you think?"
He'd remained admirably silent as she'd read, occupying himself with reading up on the little tourist booklet for the small town. But once she had flipped over the last page and leaned back in the uncomfortable plane seat, she found the bright and quietly amused eyes fixed on her with interest.
"Well, it certainly sounds like a conspiracy theorist's holy grail. But, honestly, a Principle eaten by wild dogs? Deputy Mayor stabbed in the heart with a sharp wooden object? High mortality rate for the under twenties, with corresponding sightings after death? If this hasn't been debunked, why was the file closed in the first place?"
Mulder's grin sharpened as he took the papers back. "Well, that's all a part of the mystery." Fingers waves before her face in an imitation of camp fire spooky, she gently batted them away. "There have never been any FBI investigations, but there was one interesting population demographic report made just before the case was closed down officially. The town has a university, an airport, all the signs of a major city, but it has a constant population in the thirty thousands region - with a birth and death rate far above that of neighbouring towns. What do you imagine could keep a population that small Scully, evolutionarily speaking?"
"Any number of perfectly normal things." Her response was automatic, but already knowing which particular option Mulder would be focussing on and speaking it before he could with a resigned sigh. "One of which would be an indigenous predator higher in the food chain."
Mulder nodded as he flipped through the file, musing aloud "About a year and a half ago the High School blew up. Not burned down, blew up. Forensics found traces of large amounts of black power explosives, and this was at the same time as the Mayor went missing and there were reports of the man eating snake that suddenly disappeared. If people are trying to keep this under wraps down there, they aren't doing it with the usual efficiency."
"Okay, say that there is a basis for some of the files, why was it suddenly re-opened?"
"Two days ago a bright flash was seen in the sky, followed by a minor earthquake with it's epicentre only a short distance from the town."
"An earthquake in California, I can see why you'd find that unusual." Scully leaned out into the aisle, trying to flag down a stewardess as Mulder went on, ignoring her sarcasm.
"When the local police force investigated, they found what they had thought to be minor seismic activity was actually the result of a meteor impact. The furrow of it's landing was over a hundred metres in length but ... " His voiced dropped in volume to an intense whisper as he tried to impress upon the sceptic the importance of his next words "... but the object that landed wasn't even a blip on local radar, nor has it been located."
His tone became careless again as he held his cup over her to be filled once more. "The size of the impact point should have decimated the entire area for miles, instead it was less than two metres in circumference, indicating a controlled landing."
The way he spoke, as if reading from an internal article, bought dark suspicion to the fore. "You got this from them, didn't you?"
For the first time Mulder looked sheepish, shifting in his seat a little. Sometimes she found it endearing that a man who's all consuming quest for the truth was such an appalling liar, but that was when they weren't involved.
"They? I don't know who..."
"Frohike, Langley, Byers. The three stooges sent this your way, didn't they?"
"It might have been mentioned in passing ..."
"Mulder..."
He held his hands up a little, shaking his head. "Okay, I know we don't always get the most reliable information from them, but doesn't this intrigue you even a little bit?"
"Okay, yes, a little."
Mulder took his minor victory with a grin and resumed reading his pamphlet. Scully flipped the small leaflet around to read the title aloud. "Welcome to Sunnydale?"