Disclaimer: Same as before. *Sigh*
Half an hour later she was home, uploading her photos to her laptop and enlargening each file. Once they were printed out, she settled on her bed and read diligently. It was some time before Scully, or anyone else, realized she was home. Scully knocked on the door and entered.
"Anything?"
Federico looked up.
"No....except......"
"What?"
"I photographed each page of interest I found. I've enlargened them to size on the screen, and printed them out. Now, I'm missing.....4 pages."
"Maybe they didn't load, or there's an error you made while enlargening."
"No. It's not that. I didn't pay to much attention when I photographed the pages, but under one account of Roswell, I do recall going from page 4 to page 8."
"Maybe they were out of order?"
Federico conducted a search of her files.
"No. they're not. They've been taken. Odd."
"Who's account were they? Maybe we can contact he or she."
"Um.....It's a C.G.B. Spender."
Scully looked at her. Then she flipped the laptop to face her and stared wildly.
"What? Scully! Please! You're scaring me!"
"C.G.B. Spender is Cigarette Smoking Man."
"Pardon?"
"The conspirorator with the aliens."
"Yes. Of course, Skinner told me all about him......Wait. Oh, I get it. HE'S C.G.B. Spender."
Scully nodded.
"Guess we won't be contacting him, eh?"
"Eh."
Federico sighed. There was no way to solve this problem. They were pretty much at a stand still. Where could they go from here?
Scully jumped up. "Hey! It's believed they're headquarters are in NY, right?"
Federico thought a second, then nodded.
Scully sighed then landed on the bed again. "Nevermind. We could never get in. Smoking Man knows who we are. Ah, well."
Federico frowned. "He doesn't know me."
Scully looked at her.
"He doesn't. He doesn't know I'm working with you, or that I'm with the FBI, he's probably never even heard of me! I can go in!"
"How?"
"I could tell them you've got information he'll need. You know what he knows. You think I'm on your side, but I'll work for the aliens to save my skin. That's it...."
Scully shook her head. "Too risky. Besides, they'll catch on."
"Maybe not.....You can be my eyes and ears....or visa versa....whatever. The Gunmen....think they'd mind rigging an audio and visual camera inside a pen?"
"We could ask...."
"Great. I'd like to meet them anyhow."
"That can be arranged." Scully said, stifling a laugh. If only she knew.
"Great."
"I'll call them.....but they are in Washington....."
"Darn."
"But we may be needing their help anyway...."
Federico leaped out of her skin as she turned to face Mulder who was standing in their doorway.
"Mulder! Don't sneak up on us like that!"
"My apologies. But I couldn't help use your computer....We may be able to access military and FBI information seen only by high personnel with the help of a little hacking."
"And how do we accomplish that?"
"Lone Gunmen. They can take a flight up and give us some of their hacking insight."
"I don't think I can accommodate three more people...."
"No problem. I'll book a room at a hotel somewhere around here. Charge it to the Beauro."
Scully smirked. The next evaluation of the X-Files would be mighty interesting once they spend all this money.
"If you think that's best...." Federico began, but Mulder had already headed out of the room to make a call.
Federico turned her attention back to her computer screen. Maybe if she was able to get into that headquarters thing, they'd have something to go on. At the moment all they had were a couple of military files that meant near to nothing without a way of gathering more information. Research and spying seemed to be the key to this investigation, and if they wanted to be done with this by Christmas, they'd have to get a move on. Not that they had a deadline, but they all silently agreed to finish before the holidays. If that was humanly possible.
Scully had been searching around on Federico's computer for the screens that monitored area 51. After some time, she came across them, and looked intently for a good hour. She zoomed in on frames, 'rewound", replayed, paused, froze, saved, fast forwarded to present, typed yup a series of observations. Maddening as it was when at 7 that night she turned up with nothing, she had to admit she was having fun. This was perhaps her first case where she got to stay at a partner's home, have home-cooked meals each night, free of charge. She and Mulder did plan on giving something towards groceries, but other than that, they had no bills. It was like a vacation mixed in with a little bit of homework. She could go for this type of assignment more often. She should give herself a pat on the back for coming up with such and ingenious idea and she would have to thank Skinner for sending a partner who had a family that liked to cook to work with. This would really prove fun. She lay back on Federico's bed to savor the moment, but got a rude shock when she had to jump up because her "pillow" was hissing at her.
At about 8:00 that evening, after the family and 2 guests had finished dinner, Mulder mentioned quietly to Federico and Scully that the Gunmen would be here within two days time, with a pen that video-ed both in front and back.
"What do you need it for, anyway, Federico?"
"I plan on sneaking into the conspirorators headquarters, under the premise that I am working with you, but that I really will feed the conspirators our "information" to save my own hide when it comes time for colonization."
Mulder was a little surprised. "Good plan, but not only will they catch on the minute you say hello, but you're putting yourself at risk here. I really don't know about this."
"I know it's a risk that does come with this career. But you guys will be monitoring my through that pen. It will be over my ear, and no ones gonna suspect anything, as long as this little guy is made properly, you hear? .....Excuse the pun." Federico smiled slightly.
Mulder glanced at Scully. He couldn't quite read her.
Scully wasn't too pleased with this idea. She didn't want to let Federico put herself in danger....but it would forward the case. Even if she doesn't like the idea and is dreadfully worried, she decided to let Federico do what was necessary. That is, provided its okay with Mulder.
Mulder was unsure of Scully's thoughts. "Scully?"
"I don't like the idea," she sighed. "But if this is what Federico feels she needs to do, it's okay with me, as long as you're alright with the idea."
Federico turned her head to face Mulder. He hated when this final step of decision making was laid on him. Not that it was very often, but all the same he didn't like it. A special agent's safety always comes first. As Federico's partner, he and Scully had a certain duty to watch out for Federico, as Federico did for them.
"It's Federico's decision." he admitted.
"It's settled then isn't it." She said victoriously. She was obviously very pleased with herself.
"Hey! It's snowing!" Mrs. Federico and Mr. Federico ran to the door, soon followed by 3 FBI agents. Backing away to let the trio from D.C. see the sight, Mr. & Mrs. Federico retreated into the house after sometime. Federico followed in suit, and soon emerged with Mrs. Sivbodi.
"We've got choir practice till nine. We'll be home then!" She said, closing the door.
Scully walked back into the house, followed by Mulder. The rest of the family had gone to the computer room or upstairs.
"It must be nice, coming home most of the time to home-cooked meals."
"Getting sentimental, Scully?"
Scully gave a slight smile. "She still has a home life. A good deal of her investigations bring her to NYC. With her family. Skinner mentioned he sometimes wonders if she rigs those cases to be purposely put on her desk."
Mulder got off the couch, and took a look at the pictures on the wall. He laughed at some of the ones form when Federico was 5 and 6, and frowned as he flipped through the photo album, in which anything taken of Federico was of her pouring over a textbook.
"Didn't she have life in college?" he asked out loud. Scully peeked at the picture he was looking at.
"I guess that doctored of hers took more than the average....."
"Doctared?"Mulder asked, shoving the book back in its place.
"Yeah. She went to graduate school and got her masters in chemistry, and her doctored in molecular biology. Then she even took 2 years worth of med school in 12 months."
"Umm....Wow?" Mulder said, shocked out of his wits. "That could explain all that textbook studying."
Scully nodded. She glanced up at the time. "Wow. Quarter to nine. I think I'm gonna take a walk up to the church and meet her to walk home."
Mulder picked up their coats. "I'll tag along."
They headed up the block, trudging through the snow, somewhat amazed at this little place in New York. Evidently, New Yorkers were given a bad wrap, for everyone she had come in contact with had been more than hospitable. Well, almost everyone. There was that airport officer......
SCully opened the Church door, and she and Mulder took their seats in a pew. The choir was evidently preparing for Christmas. The mixed-match of high school soprano girls, women altos, and male tenors/bases sang a beautiful harmony of the Ukrainian Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells." She picked up the pamphlet about the choir. Apparently there was also a choristers program for the grade school kids who always preformed with the "adult choir" of equal quality.
The music director, Mr.Carmona, dismissed his choir. Scully and Mulder gave a round of applause and walked over.
"Hi ya', guys! How long've'you been here?....oh! Mr. Carmona, these are my partners, Special Agent Mulder and Special Agent Scully."
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry, I've got to run. I'm afraid my wife is waiting in the car *Rolls eyes*. Nice meeting you. Good bye." He smiled.
Federico picked up her coat and threw it on. "My grandmother's riding home with her friend Mrs.Gugen. I figured I'd walk awhile to enjoy the snow."
They walked out the door after Federico had lighted two candles, and began walking home.
"I love the snow."
Scully gave a weak smile as she was thinking. "My father was in the military. We tended to move around, and we actually spent a nice amount of time in the Southwest, so only some of my childhood and adolescence had snow."
"I was always around snow." Mulder said, forgetting that you were supposed to walk BEHIND the ladies and not in FRONT of them. "My sister, Samantha, and I used to clobber each other. My parents would stand in the window while we threw snowballs at them. I almost broke the window one time with a snowball that, unbeknownst to me, had ice in it." He said kicking some twig. There was moment of silence. Mulder was thinking about Samantha, but for once he was happy as he thought of how she never quite let him live that instance down.
Scully needed to break the silence. She took a handful of snow from a bush and looked at it. She packed into a neat ball, throwing the ball and catching it again several times, while smiling mischievously at Federico. She thought a second. Then she drew back, and fired the ball at Mulder point blank.
"HEY!" He said, spinning around. He pulled ran to a car and threw on back at Scully. Federico aimed for Mulder, who ducked behind the car, just as the snowball hit it. The alarm went off, and the trio ran like the dickens.
Panting back at the house, Federico was still laughing. "You don't seem like the type to initiate a snowball fight."
"First time for everything." SCully said, dishing out Christmas cookies.
The next morning at breakfast, Mr. Federico's father entered the dining room. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL! A SNOWBALL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!"
Mulder jumped up, nearly upsetting his plate of scrambled eggs. "I ACCEPT! I'LL SEE YOU AT 13 HUNDRED HOURS, SOLDIER!"
AT 1:00, the trio was building a fort. Federico was making "ammunition," while Scully worked on the fort, and Mulder was cursing why he had to get stuck with these two.
"Sheesh! I haven't been in a snow ball fight since the twelfth break, so give me a break!" Federico shouted.
"NEITHER HAVE I!!!!!" screamed Scully.
"But all you have to do is pack snow, and you two can't even do that. SCULLY! DON'T!----------" Mulder said, too late. He stared at Scully who was lying in a heap on top of their collapsed fort. "You leaned on a weak spot."
"You never said we couldn't lean."
"But it's common sense to not lean on a spot the has peek-holes in it. Because those spots are WEAK!" He said, helping her up. Then he banished her to making ammunition with Federico while he fixed the fort, for the fourth time.
Finally, it was time for the declaration of war. All that was necessary was for Mulder and Mr. Federico to scream "WAR" and then the snowballs commenced. It went back and forth, the ruthless fighting. The FBI team eventually ran out of snowballs, and Federico reduced to using pieces of their fort for ammunition, much to Mulder's disapproval. While charging at his opponents fort, getting as close in proximity as he was allowed before launching his "secret weapon," his cell phone rang. He turned his back on the offender's fort, and answered his phone.
"MULDER!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" screamed Scully. Mulder jumped over and hid behind the fort. Several minutes later he ended the call.
"That was Frohike. They're at the air port and I promised them a ride."
Federico and Scully looked at each other.
"Should we stay, or ask for a rain cheque?" Federico asked a traumatized Scully.
"A rain cheque." she answered without hesitation.
Mulder put his key in the ignition, and cranked up the heat.
"Federico? You'll have to direct me. I don't exactly know how to get to LaGuardia." He admitted.
Half way into the ride, the CD player blazed "Run, Run Rudolph!" by Chuck Berry.
"Mulder. You play this every year. You know I hate it. Please....." Scully pleaded. But Mulder ignored her, and went on singing his favorite Christmas song, and dancing. He even went so far as to zig-zag the car in time to the music down a one way street! Scully reached to turn it off, but found herself slapped by Federico.
"Not you too....." She muttered horrified.
At the airport, Federico looked around, trying to guess which were the Lone Gunmen while they stood at the gate, with signs. From left to right, Mulder carried "Frohike," Scully "Langly," and Federico "Byers," all of them wearing deadpan expressions, which made quite a sight. Federico assumed they'd all be in suits, considering they were to be computer experts, and at least one of them worked for the government. Needless to say, she was quite shocked when she actually saw them.
Mulder spotted them first. "FROHIKE! LANGLY! BYERS! OVER HERE!"
Federico concentrated hard on not letting her eyebrows fly at the site of the Gunmen. And she thought she and her partners were a crazy match!
"Mulder. It's good to see you." Byers said cordially. "Scully," he nodded, "And....Federico? We were told there was another agent on the assignment. Pleasure to meet you."
Federico smiled, and reasoned with "Likewise." At least she was half correct since Byers was wearing a suit, even if he was the only one.
Mulder suddenly caught himself and jolted to introductions. "Eh, Frohike, Langly. This is Agent Federico. Federico. Frohike and Langly."
Federico stifled a laugh. "Nice to meet you."
Scully felt hysterics rising in her. She knew exactly what Federico was thinking.
So did Mulder, and to keep any mishaps from happening, he addressed a new topic. "Eh, why don't we get you set up in your hotel rooms? I booked a boarding house for you in Flushing. They needed someone to take the rooms, and with it being charged to the Beuaro, you're all taken care of. Eh, the car's this way."
It was a tight fit in the car. Mulder and Byers sat up front, while Langly, Frohike, Scully and Federico were pushed in the back. It was obvious Scully was in mortal agony. She was sitting next to Frohike.
"Oh. Federico." Langly said, fidgeting, causing groans in the car. "I have that pen thing. Though what you using it for, I don't know....." He said, reaching over Frohike and Scully to hand the pen to Federico. Then he rummaged through his baggage, and pulled out a lap top, bringing up the screen that related to the pen, and causing less room than ever in the car."
Federico admired the handiwork. "It's perfect. Thanks."
"What are you using it for?" Byers asked.
"Gonna sneak into the conspirators headquarters," Federico responded, matter-of-a-factly.
"What?" Byers was evidently surprised.
"Yeah. I'm gonna pretend that I have info. as to what Mulder and Scully know. That they think I'm working for them, but that I'll really conspire with the aliens to save my skin. I'm hopin' I'll be left in the room long enough to steal a couple of files."
"How about all the files?" Frohike said sarcastically.
"That's risky." Byers said flatly.
"Yeah. I know. But we're at a standstill. Sides you'll be monitoring. The pen films in front of me and behind me. See?" She said, putting the pen behind her ear causally." They'll never suspect a thing. And we'll have information before they know what hit them."
Langly grunted. "Or they'll have you before you know what hit you."
Federico paused. "We did take that into account. But I feel this is necessary if this case is to continue to progress."
Mulder gave a short, dry laugh. "Continue to progress? I ask you what we've found out at all!"
Federico gave a slight roll of her eyes, then began to stare out the window, until Run Run Rudolph came back on. Then everyone but Scully was having a good item.
When they reached the boarding house, they helped the Gunmen settle in, while they fought over who gets the bed near the window. Or, to rephrase that, while Frohike and Langly fought over it. Byers didn't care either way. He settled for the bed in between. Yup. They were stuck sharing a single room with 3 beds.
Once it was settled (and, yes, Langly, won.), they began to prepare for the daring plan.
"So, I'll take the train. You'll monitor everyone around me. I'll get info. and kinda wing it. Then I'll leave."
Frohike thought a minute. "Good."
"Good luck, Soldier." Federico and Mulder saluted each other.
Federico was near quaking as she stepped onto the 7 train at the L up the boulevard. She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Sure, it was good in theory. Yeah, she could get good information. Provided everything goes smoothly. Maybe the train would get stuck somewhere, and she wouldn't be able to get to the headquarters. Yeah. That was it. She heard a buzzing in her ear. Langly was turning on the little audio device, so that she could hear them. It was a little earing like machine, completely hidden by masses of hair anyway.
The Doors opened. She stepped outside, and climbed the stairs. She was on 34th street. "Where to...." She said as if to herself, although it was meant for the crew back at the boarding house.
"Just up the block." Came Langly's voice.
"Right...." Federico barely breathed. She braced herself, then using her best acting skills, she stepped inside the building, rode the elevator and stopped outside the door.
"Here goes nothing." She rang the bell. Nothing. Could she have missed them?
Smoking man opened. She heard loud grunts from her backup crew in her ear, as she smiled pleasantly.
"Pleasure to meet you sir. You may not know me. Allow me to introduce myself. Jacinta Federico. I have information important to you."
"You have the wrong place." Smoking man said closing the door. Federico stuck her foot inside.
"I know I have the right place," she paused, then emphasized her next words, "Mr. Spender."
Smoking man paused, then opened the door for her to enter. The Backup team cheered.
Federico smiled pleasantly at each conspirorator in turn.
"Have a seat." Said that English guy. "I'll call him Fred" she decided.
"I have information" She said again. "I'm supposed to be helping Mulder and Scully. But I would rather help you, and save my own hides for colonization."
"Your acting skills are wonderful," Mulder hissed in her ear, "But a little too convincing for my tastes."
Smoking Man eyed her, as did Fred.
"You still have your gun?" Langly asked, reassuringly. (Note: Sarcasm)
"And why should we believe you?"
"What have you got to loose for not believing me? Assuming I was on Mulder and Scully's side-"
"And when you assume, you make an-"
"MULDER!" Scully rang in her ear.
"-I'd wind up leading you to them anyway, you can kill us all off."
"Federico. You're a nice girl, but I'm having second thoughts on trusting you." Mulder said, but she could hear he was smiling.
The conspiraoators departed to talk, then returned half an hour later.
"Right. What do you know?"
"Not much yet." Federico lied, completely unconvincingly.
"Tell them we know about.....we know their latest interactions." Scully pleaded.
She quickly added, "Except that they know about your latest dealings with the invading aliens."
"Federico. Your digging your grave here.....And Scully's helping you." Byers said, but suddenly he changed his voice. "I don't believe it," he said as a wave of panic and fear spread across the room of now mumbling conspirators. Even smoking man looked uncomfortable.
"How?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. I found it in their files."
"Where are they?"
"Chicago." Federico said, maintaining her voice.
Smoking man nodded. "As long as their off track."
"Not in Chicago." Mulder wrote that down, thinking out loud.
"Here are the keys to the apartment. Come in any time necessary. We won't be here between 8 at night and 9 the next day. But you can come any time after that."
"Thank you. I'll contact you when I have more information."
Federico got up, and processed calmly to the subway. Then to the boarding house, then to the room. Then everyone was screaming, Federico panting, Byers scolding, Frohike making comments about two-timing rats, Langly about the ingenious of his techniqual abilities, Mulder about what to do for extra protection now, and Scully muttering encouraging things.
"I feel woozy." Federico said in a lull, then ran to the bathroom where a toilet bowl was flushed.
"Frohike? Do you have air-freshener?" Mulder asked watching the bathroom, but was reprimanded by a slap from Scully.
Scully, Federico, and Mulder took a taxi home (they couldn't afford to be seen on the subway while in "Chicago."). For the better part of the trip, they were silent. After all, now that she was lying her way through this, she would not only have access to information, but she would also be a target once her cover was blown. They had to make sure it wasn't. Ever......
Federico was in better spirits at dinner. She was pretending that nothing ever happened. She's given the conspirorators a P.O. box number rather than her home address to ensure her and her family's safety. Now she just had to act normal.
The agents never let on to what they had just accomplished. All they said when they went back to the Gunmen's room that night was that they had some FBI business.
Federico waited impatiently as Frohike undid all the locks they had secured on the door. She rolled her eyes once she was in, and counted a total of 12 locks while she set up her equipment. She was going back to the headquarters. If she was caught, she'd simply say that they never said whether they meant she could come after 8 or nine.
Federico smiled, took a deep breath, saluted her crew, then left for the subway. She rode the 20 minute ride, "reading a newspaper" (Langly said its very boring to watch the inside of a train car for 20 minutes, and could she please get some reading material.). A clicking sound went through her ear as Byers turned on the audio equipment. Then she received the first order of the night.
"Turn the page? I'm done with that article." Langly said impatiently.
"No can do.." said Federico. "This is my stop." She got off the train and frowned at the 34th street sign. She walked up the steps, entered the building, took the elevator and whipped out her key.
It was pitch black inside the room, but she couldn't turn any lights on. First, she went through each room, each closet, everything, and made sure no one was there. Then, she hunted down security cameras in every place imaginable, including looking for any bugs. Two hours later she prepared for the real work. She put on a pair of gloves, and took out a tiny flashlight.
"Where do we go first?" She asked the crew.
"Start with "A" work to "Z"."
"Mulder! That'll take all night! They must have hundred of files here! Thousands even!" Federico harshly coughed into the night.
"Then start with the most conspicuous cabinet. 'R.' " He said.
Federico opened the cabinet, and quickly read off the titles. She opened the next r cabinet and skimmed through that too.
"Roswell, 1944." She said victoriously.
She opened the case files. She was silent for sometime.
"You guys seeing what I'm seeing?" She said at last, almost giddy.
The crew looked at the screen, but all they saw was a wall.
"No." sighed Byers.
Federico frowned, and adjusted the pen over her ear. "Now?"
"Better. Much. Wait. What am I looking at, Federico?" Scully commented.
On the computer screen they could see Federico pointing to a specific section.
" ' The events and resulting consultations resulted in a mutual agreement with the aliens. In exchange for our help in their process of colonization, they promised us we and our families would be safe. The records were stored in our newly founded headquarters, and preparations went underway immediately. Colonization was imminent.' " Scully read off aloud
"Now the author...."Federico said again, adjusting the pen.
"C.G.B. Spender. " Mulder acknowledged, evidently intrigued.
Federico nodded. Scully (who was looking at the 'nodding' computer screen) felt she was gonna be sick.
"Federico! Stop moving your head so much!"
"Sorry." She mumbled apologetically. She pocketed the folder, then moved on to the next folder....and the next....then the other one.....and.....
"Why don't we try the 'C' cabinet?" she finally asked.
" C?" asked Mulder.
"Yeah. For colonization."
Everyone but Scully burst out laughing, but Federico rummaged through the c- section anyway. "Eat your heart out, Mulder." she declared.
"What's that?"
"Look. It's all about colonization..Just one problem......It's encoded."
"Cool! I love it when that happens!" Frohike burst out.
Federico pocketed that folder, too. Then she moved on through all the 'R', 'C', 'A' (for aliens), and 'E' for extraterrestrial folders.
"Nothing." She sighed at 12.
"Why don't you head back?" Langly said. For the past two hours he was the only one still awake.
"Sounds good." Federico said simply, then turned to leave. She locked the door behind her, put on her hat and left the building after swiping the lobby's security camera by telling the guard it was part of an investigation, and she headed for the train.
"You shouldn't have lied to the guard. He's onto you." Langly said. Federico needed to keep him talking to keep him from sleeping. She still needed somebody to monitor her till she, Mulder, and Scully were home.
"I did not lie! It was only half a lie!" She muttered into the newspaper. She wondered what the people around her thought her IQ was a she spoke to the front page (with a picture of George Bush on it) for half an hour.
"You lied." Langly insisted.
"I would never lie. I unwillingly engage in a campaign of misinformation." Federico quoted Mulder.
"Who gave you a right to quote that line?"
"I did."
"Who died and made you Queen of the World?"
"Queen of the Universe, lowly subject!"
"Shut-up. It wasn't a very good comeback anyway."
"Like yours was any better!" She nearly screamed at Bush.
"Mine was loads better!"
"Oh, yeah. 'Who died and made you queen of the world?' " Federico mocked, doing a squeaky voice that could have shattered glass.
"Shut-up."
"That the best you can do? Tongue-tied are we?" A man passed by and gave her a queer look.
"Did you see that Langly????" she said once the man passed her.
"Yeah."
"See what problems you cause me?"
"Problems! If I were talking to a picture of George Bush, I'd have certain problems too!"
"If you were here right now, I'd slug ya'."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause.
"Wanna coffee? I'm gonna stop at Dunkin Donuts." She went inside and stopped at the counter.
"Hazelnut for me.....oh, Scully woke up, she wants a French Vanilla....wait....scratch that.....she's asleep again....no,no, wait....MAN! She's talkin' in her sleep!"
"LANGLY!!!!!!!!!"
The sweet Indian women behind the camera jumped about ten feet back..
"One Hazelnut."
"One Hazelnut and one French Vanilla, please." She told the lady.
"I told you Scully was asleep!"
"That French Vanilla's for me, Dodo-brain."
The Indian women gave her a questioning look.
"Not, you, ma'am...." she "turned" back to Langly. "Anything else?"
"Eh.....2 vanilla filings....."
"2?"
"Yeah. Frohike's up. *Thinks back to Scully incident* At least, I'm pretty sure he is. Frohike?" Langly called in the distance.
"And two-What was it Langly?-Two vanilla creams.....and 2...ah, heck. give me 2 vanilla creams, 2 boston creams, 2 pink frosting.....2 Bavarian....two of those chocolate do-dads....two glazed....oooo...what's that?....and eh.....two uh.....ah darn it.....two of those "Christmas" donuts." She gave the lady her money and walked outside.
"WOOOEEE!!!! Did you see how much that cost?"
"Hey! I didn't tell you to get a dozen donuts and 2 coffees!"
"Not saying you did. Although you never did tell me if Frohike was asleep."
"I meant to tell ya. He was."
"LANGLY!"
Federico wandered up the stairs and banged on the door of the Gunmen apartment. Langly didn't hesitate to open it. Federico promised to rip his head off if he didn't snap to it. She got crabby when she was tired.
"Mornin'." She said dully as she walked past Langly and dropped the files lamely on his desk.
"The second files for you to decode. Knock yourself out. I'll be by in the mornin'." She said, shaking Scully (On the floor) and Mulder (Asleep at the window sill) awake.
The next morning, Federico didn't wake up until 12. She barely climbed downstairs, where Mr.Svibodi had prepared two fried eggs with bacon, hash browns and toast. She got her coffee, and greeted her fellow agents. She smiled.
"I'm afraid I don't remember. How'd it go last night?" Mulder asked between bites.
"Good." Federico barely said. "Got some files.......Only the two you were there for. Then I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, and a feud with Langly, found out that Scully and Frohike Talk In their sleep, and conked out."
"I do not talk in my sleep."
"How were things at your end?" Federico asked, completely ignoring indignant Scully.
"Nothing interesting." Mulder admitted flatly. "I told the Gunmen we'd be by this afternoon, as long as somebody gets up."
"Hey. YOU two slept while I....well......read files in a dangerous location for hours."
Mulder rolled his eyes. It wasn't that dangerous, he lied to himself.
Federico dressed quickly, and the three rode back to the gunmen's apartment in silence. (Two of the three were sleeping.)
Federico pounded on the door. Inside, two very sleepy gunmen tossed over and barely opened their eyes. The third was currently busy. To say the least.
Federico pounded again. Finally Langly managed to get over to the door.
After cursing the locks, Federico meandered to the computer. Scully plopped herself down. "Whatchya' got?" she asked drowsily.
"Not much." Byers admitted, sitting up in bed. "Pardon our appearance. Frohike and I were up late last night meddling with that file."
"What we do have," Frohike said from within the covers, "is just going to enrage, upset, ruin, and depress you."
Mulder paused to think. "Sounds like it's in my line of work."
Scully frowned, then turned her attention to the computer screen. "What's that?"
"That," Byers said jumping up, "is our decoder. Has every documented language in it. Unfortunately. Well, our findings haven't been productive."
"What he means to say," Frohike muffled from within the bed, "Is that we found nothing. There is no language to match that code."
Mulder nodded, then walked to the window, where he stared wistfully out it. "No language." He repeated questioningly.
"That's right." Byers said.
Mulder nodded again. Then he crashed his head against the wall unit really hard.
"MULDER!" Scully sat him down in a chair. "Your gonna give yourself a concussion!"
Federico sat at the computer. "You know, I've made my own poor-man's languages before."
Mulder listened from his chair, where he sat applying a cold compress to his forehead.
"Yeah.....Look. You match up all the letters of the alphabet with another letter. Then you write out what you wanna say regularly, and then you match each letter up. For example, if "A" was "V", "C" was "L" and "T" was "K", then "CAT" would be spelt, and pronounced, "LVT".....what if that's what's going on here?"
"But we have no way of knowing what their combinations are." Mulder muttered.
"There are 26 letters.....that's a possible 26 letters for each letter......What's 26 X 26?"
Federico pulled up the computer's calculator. "676."
"Well....think you can program those combinations into the file?" Scully asked.
"It'll take time. Maybe a week." Byers said.
"A week?"
"Yeah. This is a govt. decoder we're not supposed to even have access to. We'll have to find out the code for the decoder first. Then find out what code they use for programming."
"IS it worth it?" Federico asked.
Scully paused. Mulder jumped on it. "Yes. Get to work. What else was in that other file?"
Frohike shrugged under his sheets. "Fluff." He muttered.
Still holding the washcloth to his head (he'd managed to give himself a lump approximately the size of New Jersey), Mulder strode over to the desk and picked up the folder. He began reading the files.
"I'm telling you its fluff, Mulder." Frohike repeated.
"How do you even know he's gone over to read the files?" Federico demanded.
"Cause I'm good at knowing people's footsteps, and I heard him walk over their to the desk and pick up the folder." HE made a crude gesture under the sheets to his ear. "Good hearing." If they could have seen him, they'd have seen him smile.
"Can you hear him read, too?" Federico asked facetiously.
Frohike glared, though his face being covered, it didn't have much of an effect. It was doubtful anyone even noticed it.
"I don't know if this is just fluff, guys." Mulder said quietly to his files.
Scully got that concerned look over her face. "What do you mean?"
"I think you need to read in between the lines on this one." He nodded.
"What?"
"They mention something....well, here, read this."
" 'They were transported to the base code-named the Apple. At a laboratory, experiments on the dead were done, although the survivors disapproved. The survivors finally forbade us to continue, but our efforts had given us the answers we had wanted. In December, across the way from a large tree, residents of the area became suspicious when they noticed body-sacks being cremated. We assured them it was just old material, but the damage was done. Once the bodies were burned, and the aliens had assumed human identities, our experimental files were transferred to a base in Empire, in the State department of the Building. However-' " Scully was cut off by Mulder.
"That's all. Do you see anything?"
"No." She said flatly.
"NO!? Look! The base code-named 'Apple'? THE BIG APPLE!!!!!" He shouted waving his arms like mad. "NEW YORK! December plus BIG TREE!? Rockefeller! The files went to base EMPIRE in the STATE department in the BUILDING!!!!! The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!"
Federico was curled up in a little mass on her chair. Mulder, she decided, was quite scary when excited.
"Mulder? You're paranoid."
"Something besides the bleeding obvious, Sculls."
Scully cringed. He made the fatal "Sculls" mistake again.
"It's Scull-EE. Scull-EEEE. And where do you? Where?" She turned around exasperated to her best-her only- audience. "I don't believe him. I don't-" She ran from the room.
"Gotta go. You work on that decoder. Good luck!" Then she added sarcastically as she closed the door, "Don't forget to lock the door!"
"HARHAR!" came Frohike's muffled laugh as Federico tumbled down the stairs to catch up.
"Mulder! Wait! Mulder!" Scully caught him just barely by the shoulder. "Where do you think your going?" Federico panted at her side.
"To the Empire State Building." HE remarked.
Scully rolled her eyes and sighed. "Mulder. You're not going to get in." She whined. "I mean. It's broad day light. You'll be stopped. You'll get us all killed."
Mulder sighed. "You're right, Sculls." He paused.
"Scullee. ScullEE." She muttered.
"Your right." He repeated, but headed for his car anyway.
"Mulder! M-Mulder!" The two women chased after him.
"Where ARE you going!? I thought we agreed that your plan was illogical!"
"Oh, I never said that!" Mulder laughed, jumping into the car, and turning the ignition on. The two women, scrambled to get inside.
"Then where the heck do you THINK your GOING!?!?"
"We agreed it was risky. As for where I'm going." He paused briefly, to turn on "Run, Run Rudolph" to add insult to injury. "Well. *Shrugs* I'm goin' to the State Department!" He stepped on the pedal (putting the pedal to the metal! harhar!) and they went skidding towards Manhattan, singing "Run, Run Rudolph" ALL the way.
"You know, If these aliens oversaw A.I. They'd be wise on something."
"What's that?" frowned Federico.
"New York City is off-limits. Its MAN-hattan." HE smiled.
"MULDER!!"
Half an hour later she was home, uploading her photos to her laptop and enlargening each file. Once they were printed out, she settled on her bed and read diligently. It was some time before Scully, or anyone else, realized she was home. Scully knocked on the door and entered.
"Anything?"
Federico looked up.
"No....except......"
"What?"
"I photographed each page of interest I found. I've enlargened them to size on the screen, and printed them out. Now, I'm missing.....4 pages."
"Maybe they didn't load, or there's an error you made while enlargening."
"No. It's not that. I didn't pay to much attention when I photographed the pages, but under one account of Roswell, I do recall going from page 4 to page 8."
"Maybe they were out of order?"
Federico conducted a search of her files.
"No. they're not. They've been taken. Odd."
"Who's account were they? Maybe we can contact he or she."
"Um.....It's a C.G.B. Spender."
Scully looked at her. Then she flipped the laptop to face her and stared wildly.
"What? Scully! Please! You're scaring me!"
"C.G.B. Spender is Cigarette Smoking Man."
"Pardon?"
"The conspirorator with the aliens."
"Yes. Of course, Skinner told me all about him......Wait. Oh, I get it. HE'S C.G.B. Spender."
Scully nodded.
"Guess we won't be contacting him, eh?"
"Eh."
Federico sighed. There was no way to solve this problem. They were pretty much at a stand still. Where could they go from here?
Scully jumped up. "Hey! It's believed they're headquarters are in NY, right?"
Federico thought a second, then nodded.
Scully sighed then landed on the bed again. "Nevermind. We could never get in. Smoking Man knows who we are. Ah, well."
Federico frowned. "He doesn't know me."
Scully looked at her.
"He doesn't. He doesn't know I'm working with you, or that I'm with the FBI, he's probably never even heard of me! I can go in!"
"How?"
"I could tell them you've got information he'll need. You know what he knows. You think I'm on your side, but I'll work for the aliens to save my skin. That's it...."
Scully shook her head. "Too risky. Besides, they'll catch on."
"Maybe not.....You can be my eyes and ears....or visa versa....whatever. The Gunmen....think they'd mind rigging an audio and visual camera inside a pen?"
"We could ask...."
"Great. I'd like to meet them anyhow."
"That can be arranged." Scully said, stifling a laugh. If only she knew.
"Great."
"I'll call them.....but they are in Washington....."
"Darn."
"But we may be needing their help anyway...."
Federico leaped out of her skin as she turned to face Mulder who was standing in their doorway.
"Mulder! Don't sneak up on us like that!"
"My apologies. But I couldn't help use your computer....We may be able to access military and FBI information seen only by high personnel with the help of a little hacking."
"And how do we accomplish that?"
"Lone Gunmen. They can take a flight up and give us some of their hacking insight."
"I don't think I can accommodate three more people...."
"No problem. I'll book a room at a hotel somewhere around here. Charge it to the Beauro."
Scully smirked. The next evaluation of the X-Files would be mighty interesting once they spend all this money.
"If you think that's best...." Federico began, but Mulder had already headed out of the room to make a call.
Federico turned her attention back to her computer screen. Maybe if she was able to get into that headquarters thing, they'd have something to go on. At the moment all they had were a couple of military files that meant near to nothing without a way of gathering more information. Research and spying seemed to be the key to this investigation, and if they wanted to be done with this by Christmas, they'd have to get a move on. Not that they had a deadline, but they all silently agreed to finish before the holidays. If that was humanly possible.
Scully had been searching around on Federico's computer for the screens that monitored area 51. After some time, she came across them, and looked intently for a good hour. She zoomed in on frames, 'rewound", replayed, paused, froze, saved, fast forwarded to present, typed yup a series of observations. Maddening as it was when at 7 that night she turned up with nothing, she had to admit she was having fun. This was perhaps her first case where she got to stay at a partner's home, have home-cooked meals each night, free of charge. She and Mulder did plan on giving something towards groceries, but other than that, they had no bills. It was like a vacation mixed in with a little bit of homework. She could go for this type of assignment more often. She should give herself a pat on the back for coming up with such and ingenious idea and she would have to thank Skinner for sending a partner who had a family that liked to cook to work with. This would really prove fun. She lay back on Federico's bed to savor the moment, but got a rude shock when she had to jump up because her "pillow" was hissing at her.
At about 8:00 that evening, after the family and 2 guests had finished dinner, Mulder mentioned quietly to Federico and Scully that the Gunmen would be here within two days time, with a pen that video-ed both in front and back.
"What do you need it for, anyway, Federico?"
"I plan on sneaking into the conspirorators headquarters, under the premise that I am working with you, but that I really will feed the conspirators our "information" to save my own hide when it comes time for colonization."
Mulder was a little surprised. "Good plan, but not only will they catch on the minute you say hello, but you're putting yourself at risk here. I really don't know about this."
"I know it's a risk that does come with this career. But you guys will be monitoring my through that pen. It will be over my ear, and no ones gonna suspect anything, as long as this little guy is made properly, you hear? .....Excuse the pun." Federico smiled slightly.
Mulder glanced at Scully. He couldn't quite read her.
Scully wasn't too pleased with this idea. She didn't want to let Federico put herself in danger....but it would forward the case. Even if she doesn't like the idea and is dreadfully worried, she decided to let Federico do what was necessary. That is, provided its okay with Mulder.
Mulder was unsure of Scully's thoughts. "Scully?"
"I don't like the idea," she sighed. "But if this is what Federico feels she needs to do, it's okay with me, as long as you're alright with the idea."
Federico turned her head to face Mulder. He hated when this final step of decision making was laid on him. Not that it was very often, but all the same he didn't like it. A special agent's safety always comes first. As Federico's partner, he and Scully had a certain duty to watch out for Federico, as Federico did for them.
"It's Federico's decision." he admitted.
"It's settled then isn't it." She said victoriously. She was obviously very pleased with herself.
"Hey! It's snowing!" Mrs. Federico and Mr. Federico ran to the door, soon followed by 3 FBI agents. Backing away to let the trio from D.C. see the sight, Mr. & Mrs. Federico retreated into the house after sometime. Federico followed in suit, and soon emerged with Mrs. Sivbodi.
"We've got choir practice till nine. We'll be home then!" She said, closing the door.
Scully walked back into the house, followed by Mulder. The rest of the family had gone to the computer room or upstairs.
"It must be nice, coming home most of the time to home-cooked meals."
"Getting sentimental, Scully?"
Scully gave a slight smile. "She still has a home life. A good deal of her investigations bring her to NYC. With her family. Skinner mentioned he sometimes wonders if she rigs those cases to be purposely put on her desk."
Mulder got off the couch, and took a look at the pictures on the wall. He laughed at some of the ones form when Federico was 5 and 6, and frowned as he flipped through the photo album, in which anything taken of Federico was of her pouring over a textbook.
"Didn't she have life in college?" he asked out loud. Scully peeked at the picture he was looking at.
"I guess that doctored of hers took more than the average....."
"Doctared?"Mulder asked, shoving the book back in its place.
"Yeah. She went to graduate school and got her masters in chemistry, and her doctored in molecular biology. Then she even took 2 years worth of med school in 12 months."
"Umm....Wow?" Mulder said, shocked out of his wits. "That could explain all that textbook studying."
Scully nodded. She glanced up at the time. "Wow. Quarter to nine. I think I'm gonna take a walk up to the church and meet her to walk home."
Mulder picked up their coats. "I'll tag along."
They headed up the block, trudging through the snow, somewhat amazed at this little place in New York. Evidently, New Yorkers were given a bad wrap, for everyone she had come in contact with had been more than hospitable. Well, almost everyone. There was that airport officer......
SCully opened the Church door, and she and Mulder took their seats in a pew. The choir was evidently preparing for Christmas. The mixed-match of high school soprano girls, women altos, and male tenors/bases sang a beautiful harmony of the Ukrainian Christmas carol, "Carol of the Bells." She picked up the pamphlet about the choir. Apparently there was also a choristers program for the grade school kids who always preformed with the "adult choir" of equal quality.
The music director, Mr.Carmona, dismissed his choir. Scully and Mulder gave a round of applause and walked over.
"Hi ya', guys! How long've'you been here?....oh! Mr. Carmona, these are my partners, Special Agent Mulder and Special Agent Scully."
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry, I've got to run. I'm afraid my wife is waiting in the car *Rolls eyes*. Nice meeting you. Good bye." He smiled.
Federico picked up her coat and threw it on. "My grandmother's riding home with her friend Mrs.Gugen. I figured I'd walk awhile to enjoy the snow."
They walked out the door after Federico had lighted two candles, and began walking home.
"I love the snow."
Scully gave a weak smile as she was thinking. "My father was in the military. We tended to move around, and we actually spent a nice amount of time in the Southwest, so only some of my childhood and adolescence had snow."
"I was always around snow." Mulder said, forgetting that you were supposed to walk BEHIND the ladies and not in FRONT of them. "My sister, Samantha, and I used to clobber each other. My parents would stand in the window while we threw snowballs at them. I almost broke the window one time with a snowball that, unbeknownst to me, had ice in it." He said kicking some twig. There was moment of silence. Mulder was thinking about Samantha, but for once he was happy as he thought of how she never quite let him live that instance down.
Scully needed to break the silence. She took a handful of snow from a bush and looked at it. She packed into a neat ball, throwing the ball and catching it again several times, while smiling mischievously at Federico. She thought a second. Then she drew back, and fired the ball at Mulder point blank.
"HEY!" He said, spinning around. He pulled ran to a car and threw on back at Scully. Federico aimed for Mulder, who ducked behind the car, just as the snowball hit it. The alarm went off, and the trio ran like the dickens.
Panting back at the house, Federico was still laughing. "You don't seem like the type to initiate a snowball fight."
"First time for everything." SCully said, dishing out Christmas cookies.
The next morning at breakfast, Mr. Federico's father entered the dining room. "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL! A SNOWBALL FIGHT TO THE DEATH!"
Mulder jumped up, nearly upsetting his plate of scrambled eggs. "I ACCEPT! I'LL SEE YOU AT 13 HUNDRED HOURS, SOLDIER!"
AT 1:00, the trio was building a fort. Federico was making "ammunition," while Scully worked on the fort, and Mulder was cursing why he had to get stuck with these two.
"Sheesh! I haven't been in a snow ball fight since the twelfth break, so give me a break!" Federico shouted.
"NEITHER HAVE I!!!!!" screamed Scully.
"But all you have to do is pack snow, and you two can't even do that. SCULLY! DON'T!----------" Mulder said, too late. He stared at Scully who was lying in a heap on top of their collapsed fort. "You leaned on a weak spot."
"You never said we couldn't lean."
"But it's common sense to not lean on a spot the has peek-holes in it. Because those spots are WEAK!" He said, helping her up. Then he banished her to making ammunition with Federico while he fixed the fort, for the fourth time.
Finally, it was time for the declaration of war. All that was necessary was for Mulder and Mr. Federico to scream "WAR" and then the snowballs commenced. It went back and forth, the ruthless fighting. The FBI team eventually ran out of snowballs, and Federico reduced to using pieces of their fort for ammunition, much to Mulder's disapproval. While charging at his opponents fort, getting as close in proximity as he was allowed before launching his "secret weapon," his cell phone rang. He turned his back on the offender's fort, and answered his phone.
"MULDER!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" screamed Scully. Mulder jumped over and hid behind the fort. Several minutes later he ended the call.
"That was Frohike. They're at the air port and I promised them a ride."
Federico and Scully looked at each other.
"Should we stay, or ask for a rain cheque?" Federico asked a traumatized Scully.
"A rain cheque." she answered without hesitation.
Mulder put his key in the ignition, and cranked up the heat.
"Federico? You'll have to direct me. I don't exactly know how to get to LaGuardia." He admitted.
Half way into the ride, the CD player blazed "Run, Run Rudolph!" by Chuck Berry.
"Mulder. You play this every year. You know I hate it. Please....." Scully pleaded. But Mulder ignored her, and went on singing his favorite Christmas song, and dancing. He even went so far as to zig-zag the car in time to the music down a one way street! Scully reached to turn it off, but found herself slapped by Federico.
"Not you too....." She muttered horrified.
At the airport, Federico looked around, trying to guess which were the Lone Gunmen while they stood at the gate, with signs. From left to right, Mulder carried "Frohike," Scully "Langly," and Federico "Byers," all of them wearing deadpan expressions, which made quite a sight. Federico assumed they'd all be in suits, considering they were to be computer experts, and at least one of them worked for the government. Needless to say, she was quite shocked when she actually saw them.
Mulder spotted them first. "FROHIKE! LANGLY! BYERS! OVER HERE!"
Federico concentrated hard on not letting her eyebrows fly at the site of the Gunmen. And she thought she and her partners were a crazy match!
"Mulder. It's good to see you." Byers said cordially. "Scully," he nodded, "And....Federico? We were told there was another agent on the assignment. Pleasure to meet you."
Federico smiled, and reasoned with "Likewise." At least she was half correct since Byers was wearing a suit, even if he was the only one.
Mulder suddenly caught himself and jolted to introductions. "Eh, Frohike, Langly. This is Agent Federico. Federico. Frohike and Langly."
Federico stifled a laugh. "Nice to meet you."
Scully felt hysterics rising in her. She knew exactly what Federico was thinking.
So did Mulder, and to keep any mishaps from happening, he addressed a new topic. "Eh, why don't we get you set up in your hotel rooms? I booked a boarding house for you in Flushing. They needed someone to take the rooms, and with it being charged to the Beuaro, you're all taken care of. Eh, the car's this way."
It was a tight fit in the car. Mulder and Byers sat up front, while Langly, Frohike, Scully and Federico were pushed in the back. It was obvious Scully was in mortal agony. She was sitting next to Frohike.
"Oh. Federico." Langly said, fidgeting, causing groans in the car. "I have that pen thing. Though what you using it for, I don't know....." He said, reaching over Frohike and Scully to hand the pen to Federico. Then he rummaged through his baggage, and pulled out a lap top, bringing up the screen that related to the pen, and causing less room than ever in the car."
Federico admired the handiwork. "It's perfect. Thanks."
"What are you using it for?" Byers asked.
"Gonna sneak into the conspirators headquarters," Federico responded, matter-of-a-factly.
"What?" Byers was evidently surprised.
"Yeah. I'm gonna pretend that I have info. as to what Mulder and Scully know. That they think I'm working for them, but that I'll really conspire with the aliens to save my skin. I'm hopin' I'll be left in the room long enough to steal a couple of files."
"How about all the files?" Frohike said sarcastically.
"That's risky." Byers said flatly.
"Yeah. I know. But we're at a standstill. Sides you'll be monitoring. The pen films in front of me and behind me. See?" She said, putting the pen behind her ear causally." They'll never suspect a thing. And we'll have information before they know what hit them."
Langly grunted. "Or they'll have you before you know what hit you."
Federico paused. "We did take that into account. But I feel this is necessary if this case is to continue to progress."
Mulder gave a short, dry laugh. "Continue to progress? I ask you what we've found out at all!"
Federico gave a slight roll of her eyes, then began to stare out the window, until Run Run Rudolph came back on. Then everyone but Scully was having a good item.
When they reached the boarding house, they helped the Gunmen settle in, while they fought over who gets the bed near the window. Or, to rephrase that, while Frohike and Langly fought over it. Byers didn't care either way. He settled for the bed in between. Yup. They were stuck sharing a single room with 3 beds.
Once it was settled (and, yes, Langly, won.), they began to prepare for the daring plan.
"So, I'll take the train. You'll monitor everyone around me. I'll get info. and kinda wing it. Then I'll leave."
Frohike thought a minute. "Good."
"Good luck, Soldier." Federico and Mulder saluted each other.
Federico was near quaking as she stepped onto the 7 train at the L up the boulevard. She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Sure, it was good in theory. Yeah, she could get good information. Provided everything goes smoothly. Maybe the train would get stuck somewhere, and she wouldn't be able to get to the headquarters. Yeah. That was it. She heard a buzzing in her ear. Langly was turning on the little audio device, so that she could hear them. It was a little earing like machine, completely hidden by masses of hair anyway.
The Doors opened. She stepped outside, and climbed the stairs. She was on 34th street. "Where to...." She said as if to herself, although it was meant for the crew back at the boarding house.
"Just up the block." Came Langly's voice.
"Right...." Federico barely breathed. She braced herself, then using her best acting skills, she stepped inside the building, rode the elevator and stopped outside the door.
"Here goes nothing." She rang the bell. Nothing. Could she have missed them?
Smoking man opened. She heard loud grunts from her backup crew in her ear, as she smiled pleasantly.
"Pleasure to meet you sir. You may not know me. Allow me to introduce myself. Jacinta Federico. I have information important to you."
"You have the wrong place." Smoking man said closing the door. Federico stuck her foot inside.
"I know I have the right place," she paused, then emphasized her next words, "Mr. Spender."
Smoking man paused, then opened the door for her to enter. The Backup team cheered.
Federico smiled pleasantly at each conspirorator in turn.
"Have a seat." Said that English guy. "I'll call him Fred" she decided.
"I have information" She said again. "I'm supposed to be helping Mulder and Scully. But I would rather help you, and save my own hides for colonization."
"Your acting skills are wonderful," Mulder hissed in her ear, "But a little too convincing for my tastes."
Smoking Man eyed her, as did Fred.
"You still have your gun?" Langly asked, reassuringly. (Note: Sarcasm)
"And why should we believe you?"
"What have you got to loose for not believing me? Assuming I was on Mulder and Scully's side-"
"And when you assume, you make an-"
"MULDER!" Scully rang in her ear.
"-I'd wind up leading you to them anyway, you can kill us all off."
"Federico. You're a nice girl, but I'm having second thoughts on trusting you." Mulder said, but she could hear he was smiling.
The conspiraoators departed to talk, then returned half an hour later.
"Right. What do you know?"
"Not much yet." Federico lied, completely unconvincingly.
"Tell them we know about.....we know their latest interactions." Scully pleaded.
She quickly added, "Except that they know about your latest dealings with the invading aliens."
"Federico. Your digging your grave here.....And Scully's helping you." Byers said, but suddenly he changed his voice. "I don't believe it," he said as a wave of panic and fear spread across the room of now mumbling conspirators. Even smoking man looked uncomfortable.
"How?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. I found it in their files."
"Where are they?"
"Chicago." Federico said, maintaining her voice.
Smoking man nodded. "As long as their off track."
"Not in Chicago." Mulder wrote that down, thinking out loud.
"Here are the keys to the apartment. Come in any time necessary. We won't be here between 8 at night and 9 the next day. But you can come any time after that."
"Thank you. I'll contact you when I have more information."
Federico got up, and processed calmly to the subway. Then to the boarding house, then to the room. Then everyone was screaming, Federico panting, Byers scolding, Frohike making comments about two-timing rats, Langly about the ingenious of his techniqual abilities, Mulder about what to do for extra protection now, and Scully muttering encouraging things.
"I feel woozy." Federico said in a lull, then ran to the bathroom where a toilet bowl was flushed.
"Frohike? Do you have air-freshener?" Mulder asked watching the bathroom, but was reprimanded by a slap from Scully.
Scully, Federico, and Mulder took a taxi home (they couldn't afford to be seen on the subway while in "Chicago."). For the better part of the trip, they were silent. After all, now that she was lying her way through this, she would not only have access to information, but she would also be a target once her cover was blown. They had to make sure it wasn't. Ever......
Federico was in better spirits at dinner. She was pretending that nothing ever happened. She's given the conspirorators a P.O. box number rather than her home address to ensure her and her family's safety. Now she just had to act normal.
The agents never let on to what they had just accomplished. All they said when they went back to the Gunmen's room that night was that they had some FBI business.
Federico waited impatiently as Frohike undid all the locks they had secured on the door. She rolled her eyes once she was in, and counted a total of 12 locks while she set up her equipment. She was going back to the headquarters. If she was caught, she'd simply say that they never said whether they meant she could come after 8 or nine.
Federico smiled, took a deep breath, saluted her crew, then left for the subway. She rode the 20 minute ride, "reading a newspaper" (Langly said its very boring to watch the inside of a train car for 20 minutes, and could she please get some reading material.). A clicking sound went through her ear as Byers turned on the audio equipment. Then she received the first order of the night.
"Turn the page? I'm done with that article." Langly said impatiently.
"No can do.." said Federico. "This is my stop." She got off the train and frowned at the 34th street sign. She walked up the steps, entered the building, took the elevator and whipped out her key.
It was pitch black inside the room, but she couldn't turn any lights on. First, she went through each room, each closet, everything, and made sure no one was there. Then, she hunted down security cameras in every place imaginable, including looking for any bugs. Two hours later she prepared for the real work. She put on a pair of gloves, and took out a tiny flashlight.
"Where do we go first?" She asked the crew.
"Start with "A" work to "Z"."
"Mulder! That'll take all night! They must have hundred of files here! Thousands even!" Federico harshly coughed into the night.
"Then start with the most conspicuous cabinet. 'R.' " He said.
Federico opened the cabinet, and quickly read off the titles. She opened the next r cabinet and skimmed through that too.
"Roswell, 1944." She said victoriously.
She opened the case files. She was silent for sometime.
"You guys seeing what I'm seeing?" She said at last, almost giddy.
The crew looked at the screen, but all they saw was a wall.
"No." sighed Byers.
Federico frowned, and adjusted the pen over her ear. "Now?"
"Better. Much. Wait. What am I looking at, Federico?" Scully commented.
On the computer screen they could see Federico pointing to a specific section.
" ' The events and resulting consultations resulted in a mutual agreement with the aliens. In exchange for our help in their process of colonization, they promised us we and our families would be safe. The records were stored in our newly founded headquarters, and preparations went underway immediately. Colonization was imminent.' " Scully read off aloud
"Now the author...."Federico said again, adjusting the pen.
"C.G.B. Spender. " Mulder acknowledged, evidently intrigued.
Federico nodded. Scully (who was looking at the 'nodding' computer screen) felt she was gonna be sick.
"Federico! Stop moving your head so much!"
"Sorry." She mumbled apologetically. She pocketed the folder, then moved on to the next folder....and the next....then the other one.....and.....
"Why don't we try the 'C' cabinet?" she finally asked.
" C?" asked Mulder.
"Yeah. For colonization."
Everyone but Scully burst out laughing, but Federico rummaged through the c- section anyway. "Eat your heart out, Mulder." she declared.
"What's that?"
"Look. It's all about colonization..Just one problem......It's encoded."
"Cool! I love it when that happens!" Frohike burst out.
Federico pocketed that folder, too. Then she moved on through all the 'R', 'C', 'A' (for aliens), and 'E' for extraterrestrial folders.
"Nothing." She sighed at 12.
"Why don't you head back?" Langly said. For the past two hours he was the only one still awake.
"Sounds good." Federico said simply, then turned to leave. She locked the door behind her, put on her hat and left the building after swiping the lobby's security camera by telling the guard it was part of an investigation, and she headed for the train.
"You shouldn't have lied to the guard. He's onto you." Langly said. Federico needed to keep him talking to keep him from sleeping. She still needed somebody to monitor her till she, Mulder, and Scully were home.
"I did not lie! It was only half a lie!" She muttered into the newspaper. She wondered what the people around her thought her IQ was a she spoke to the front page (with a picture of George Bush on it) for half an hour.
"You lied." Langly insisted.
"I would never lie. I unwillingly engage in a campaign of misinformation." Federico quoted Mulder.
"Who gave you a right to quote that line?"
"I did."
"Who died and made you Queen of the World?"
"Queen of the Universe, lowly subject!"
"Shut-up. It wasn't a very good comeback anyway."
"Like yours was any better!" She nearly screamed at Bush.
"Mine was loads better!"
"Oh, yeah. 'Who died and made you queen of the world?' " Federico mocked, doing a squeaky voice that could have shattered glass.
"Shut-up."
"That the best you can do? Tongue-tied are we?" A man passed by and gave her a queer look.
"Did you see that Langly????" she said once the man passed her.
"Yeah."
"See what problems you cause me?"
"Problems! If I were talking to a picture of George Bush, I'd have certain problems too!"
"If you were here right now, I'd slug ya'."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
There was a pause.
"Wanna coffee? I'm gonna stop at Dunkin Donuts." She went inside and stopped at the counter.
"Hazelnut for me.....oh, Scully woke up, she wants a French Vanilla....wait....scratch that.....she's asleep again....no,no, wait....MAN! She's talkin' in her sleep!"
"LANGLY!!!!!!!!!"
The sweet Indian women behind the camera jumped about ten feet back..
"One Hazelnut."
"One Hazelnut and one French Vanilla, please." She told the lady.
"I told you Scully was asleep!"
"That French Vanilla's for me, Dodo-brain."
The Indian women gave her a questioning look.
"Not, you, ma'am...." she "turned" back to Langly. "Anything else?"
"Eh.....2 vanilla filings....."
"2?"
"Yeah. Frohike's up. *Thinks back to Scully incident* At least, I'm pretty sure he is. Frohike?" Langly called in the distance.
"And two-What was it Langly?-Two vanilla creams.....and 2...ah, heck. give me 2 vanilla creams, 2 boston creams, 2 pink frosting.....2 Bavarian....two of those chocolate do-dads....two glazed....oooo...what's that?....and eh.....two uh.....ah darn it.....two of those "Christmas" donuts." She gave the lady her money and walked outside.
"WOOOEEE!!!! Did you see how much that cost?"
"Hey! I didn't tell you to get a dozen donuts and 2 coffees!"
"Not saying you did. Although you never did tell me if Frohike was asleep."
"I meant to tell ya. He was."
"LANGLY!"
Federico wandered up the stairs and banged on the door of the Gunmen apartment. Langly didn't hesitate to open it. Federico promised to rip his head off if he didn't snap to it. She got crabby when she was tired.
"Mornin'." She said dully as she walked past Langly and dropped the files lamely on his desk.
"The second files for you to decode. Knock yourself out. I'll be by in the mornin'." She said, shaking Scully (On the floor) and Mulder (Asleep at the window sill) awake.
The next morning, Federico didn't wake up until 12. She barely climbed downstairs, where Mr.Svibodi had prepared two fried eggs with bacon, hash browns and toast. She got her coffee, and greeted her fellow agents. She smiled.
"I'm afraid I don't remember. How'd it go last night?" Mulder asked between bites.
"Good." Federico barely said. "Got some files.......Only the two you were there for. Then I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, and a feud with Langly, found out that Scully and Frohike Talk In their sleep, and conked out."
"I do not talk in my sleep."
"How were things at your end?" Federico asked, completely ignoring indignant Scully.
"Nothing interesting." Mulder admitted flatly. "I told the Gunmen we'd be by this afternoon, as long as somebody gets up."
"Hey. YOU two slept while I....well......read files in a dangerous location for hours."
Mulder rolled his eyes. It wasn't that dangerous, he lied to himself.
Federico dressed quickly, and the three rode back to the gunmen's apartment in silence. (Two of the three were sleeping.)
Federico pounded on the door. Inside, two very sleepy gunmen tossed over and barely opened their eyes. The third was currently busy. To say the least.
Federico pounded again. Finally Langly managed to get over to the door.
After cursing the locks, Federico meandered to the computer. Scully plopped herself down. "Whatchya' got?" she asked drowsily.
"Not much." Byers admitted, sitting up in bed. "Pardon our appearance. Frohike and I were up late last night meddling with that file."
"What we do have," Frohike said from within the covers, "is just going to enrage, upset, ruin, and depress you."
Mulder paused to think. "Sounds like it's in my line of work."
Scully frowned, then turned her attention to the computer screen. "What's that?"
"That," Byers said jumping up, "is our decoder. Has every documented language in it. Unfortunately. Well, our findings haven't been productive."
"What he means to say," Frohike muffled from within the bed, "Is that we found nothing. There is no language to match that code."
Mulder nodded, then walked to the window, where he stared wistfully out it. "No language." He repeated questioningly.
"That's right." Byers said.
Mulder nodded again. Then he crashed his head against the wall unit really hard.
"MULDER!" Scully sat him down in a chair. "Your gonna give yourself a concussion!"
Federico sat at the computer. "You know, I've made my own poor-man's languages before."
Mulder listened from his chair, where he sat applying a cold compress to his forehead.
"Yeah.....Look. You match up all the letters of the alphabet with another letter. Then you write out what you wanna say regularly, and then you match each letter up. For example, if "A" was "V", "C" was "L" and "T" was "K", then "CAT" would be spelt, and pronounced, "LVT".....what if that's what's going on here?"
"But we have no way of knowing what their combinations are." Mulder muttered.
"There are 26 letters.....that's a possible 26 letters for each letter......What's 26 X 26?"
Federico pulled up the computer's calculator. "676."
"Well....think you can program those combinations into the file?" Scully asked.
"It'll take time. Maybe a week." Byers said.
"A week?"
"Yeah. This is a govt. decoder we're not supposed to even have access to. We'll have to find out the code for the decoder first. Then find out what code they use for programming."
"IS it worth it?" Federico asked.
Scully paused. Mulder jumped on it. "Yes. Get to work. What else was in that other file?"
Frohike shrugged under his sheets. "Fluff." He muttered.
Still holding the washcloth to his head (he'd managed to give himself a lump approximately the size of New Jersey), Mulder strode over to the desk and picked up the folder. He began reading the files.
"I'm telling you its fluff, Mulder." Frohike repeated.
"How do you even know he's gone over to read the files?" Federico demanded.
"Cause I'm good at knowing people's footsteps, and I heard him walk over their to the desk and pick up the folder." HE made a crude gesture under the sheets to his ear. "Good hearing." If they could have seen him, they'd have seen him smile.
"Can you hear him read, too?" Federico asked facetiously.
Frohike glared, though his face being covered, it didn't have much of an effect. It was doubtful anyone even noticed it.
"I don't know if this is just fluff, guys." Mulder said quietly to his files.
Scully got that concerned look over her face. "What do you mean?"
"I think you need to read in between the lines on this one." He nodded.
"What?"
"They mention something....well, here, read this."
" 'They were transported to the base code-named the Apple. At a laboratory, experiments on the dead were done, although the survivors disapproved. The survivors finally forbade us to continue, but our efforts had given us the answers we had wanted. In December, across the way from a large tree, residents of the area became suspicious when they noticed body-sacks being cremated. We assured them it was just old material, but the damage was done. Once the bodies were burned, and the aliens had assumed human identities, our experimental files were transferred to a base in Empire, in the State department of the Building. However-' " Scully was cut off by Mulder.
"That's all. Do you see anything?"
"No." She said flatly.
"NO!? Look! The base code-named 'Apple'? THE BIG APPLE!!!!!" He shouted waving his arms like mad. "NEW YORK! December plus BIG TREE!? Rockefeller! The files went to base EMPIRE in the STATE department in the BUILDING!!!!! The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!"
Federico was curled up in a little mass on her chair. Mulder, she decided, was quite scary when excited.
"Mulder? You're paranoid."
"Something besides the bleeding obvious, Sculls."
Scully cringed. He made the fatal "Sculls" mistake again.
"It's Scull-EE. Scull-EEEE. And where do you? Where?" She turned around exasperated to her best-her only- audience. "I don't believe him. I don't-" She ran from the room.
"Gotta go. You work on that decoder. Good luck!" Then she added sarcastically as she closed the door, "Don't forget to lock the door!"
"HARHAR!" came Frohike's muffled laugh as Federico tumbled down the stairs to catch up.
"Mulder! Wait! Mulder!" Scully caught him just barely by the shoulder. "Where do you think your going?" Federico panted at her side.
"To the Empire State Building." HE remarked.
Scully rolled her eyes and sighed. "Mulder. You're not going to get in." She whined. "I mean. It's broad day light. You'll be stopped. You'll get us all killed."
Mulder sighed. "You're right, Sculls." He paused.
"Scullee. ScullEE." She muttered.
"Your right." He repeated, but headed for his car anyway.
"Mulder! M-Mulder!" The two women chased after him.
"Where ARE you going!? I thought we agreed that your plan was illogical!"
"Oh, I never said that!" Mulder laughed, jumping into the car, and turning the ignition on. The two women, scrambled to get inside.
"Then where the heck do you THINK your GOING!?!?"
"We agreed it was risky. As for where I'm going." He paused briefly, to turn on "Run, Run Rudolph" to add insult to injury. "Well. *Shrugs* I'm goin' to the State Department!" He stepped on the pedal (putting the pedal to the metal! harhar!) and they went skidding towards Manhattan, singing "Run, Run Rudolph" ALL the way.
"You know, If these aliens oversaw A.I. They'd be wise on something."
"What's that?" frowned Federico.
"New York City is off-limits. Its MAN-hattan." HE smiled.
"MULDER!!"