Disclaimer: Sheesh. All of the above. I DO NOT OWN. Whoever does, does.
Blah. And that's it.
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Federico splashed her face with cold water several times, then sat down heavily in a little red chair in a corner by the window. She wasn't sure what to do at the moment. Her cover had become as useless as any document they'd found. Byers brought in a little plate of cold cuts, and the Gunmen and she ate a quick meal. Afterwards, Federico continued to stare out the window, hoping everything'd turn out right and that they'd taken her seriously. LAngly was flopped back on his bed reading some newspaper. Byers sat by door, reading some novel, and Frohike was working on decoding that file, in between pacing the floor and hitting the monitor at random.
Almost two hours earlier, Mulder and Scully were left alone digging through files. Federico had just left, and they now had nearly twice the amount of work to do. Scully for one was having no luck. She poured over files, while giving medical insight to different descriptions Mulder found. All in all, it was pretty cut and dry. There was nothing of interest in that office.
Mulder felt pretty much the same way. Aside from occasionally finding a large word that neither of them knew what it meant and then getting to look it up in the dictionary, there was nothing to help them, nothing to hint at anything. Heck, at this point he'd settle for an encrypted message. That'd how desperate he was.
Scully stood against a filing cabinet, her papers balanced on its top, reading only half aware of the words that flew past her eyes. She finally turned a page to find a description, and rough sketches of several organs, none of which registered in her mental-medical database.
"Mulder." She said barely turning around, still reading. "Look at this."
"Okay....I see a bunch of kidney-shaped things, and a description that reads nothing but medical gobbledygook. What am I looking at? Scully?"
"You're looking at what would appear to be alien anatomy."
"That's a laugh Scull-" He almost said 'Sculls'. "Scully. Particularly coming from YOU."
"I'm serious. None of these organs....or....or descriptions meet anything that remotely has to do with human physiology."
"Animal?"
"I doubt it. They would have organs, and muscle tissue relatively similar to our own....These...descriptions....these....autopsies....there is no mention of muscle tissue whatsoever." She sounded vaguely surprised.
She flipped over the file again. There wasn't even a title to identify it. She pocketed it quietly, and thought for a little while.
"It mentioned the Pentagon again." She mentioned about five minutes later. She hadn't moved, and Mulder was bent over several files that had more to do with hoof-and-mouth disease than anything else alien.
Mulder looked up. He didn't say anything, but his simple gesture in itself was a question. Scully walked slowly over to the desk Mulder was hunched over. She was frowning.
"Several times they mentioned the Level 4 clearance, in the same sentence as cells. You...." She paused, barely wanting to remember the trying time. "You once went in their filing room. You found....the chip, that put my cancer in remission."
"That we think put your cancer into remission. That's right."
"Could there have been....storage for tissue....or....cellular matter....." It was more like a statement than a question.
"YEah. Yeah. I don't see why not. Why?"
"This here mentions something again about the experiments run on it..." She shook her head. "The aliens I mean. Apparently, an autopsy wasn't the only process preformed. Judging by the way the scooch around the topic of cellular composition, I'd say they kept cells....or...."
"Bodies."
Scully raised her eyebrows.
"I saw bodies. I don't know if I ever told you. A whole room. Of, alien bodies."
Scully straightened up. "Could there have been that many victims of the crash?"
"It's possible. But if we're gonna sneak into the Pentagon, we're gonna be needing a lot more work. We don't have a way to get in. I mean, we'd even need Level 4 clearance cards and the assumed Identity of the Department of Defense officer."
Scully leaned backwards. Well. That didn't sound too difficult. With the Lone Gunmen's help.
"I wonder how Federico's doing?"
Federico barely walked into her house that evening. She'd been saw shaken from the realization of her cover being blown, she'd stared out the window for nearly an hour. She could only hope Mulder and Scully had been more successful than her. She was greeted by Scully at her front door.
"We're locked out." Mulder nearly shouted down the block.
"You're folks are gone, and we don't have the keys." Scully hurriedly explained, getting up from the stoop as Federico opened the door.
"What's wrong?" Scully asked, toppling over on Mrs. Svibodi's couch.
"My cover's gone."
"What?"
"They have me on film. Breaking in. I put on an act. and their gonna meet with me day after tomorrow. I don' know what to say."
Scully was silent, while Mulder pet Gwendy for sometime. He was never too fond of cats, but Gwendy was friendly to him, so he at least needed to repay the gift.
"Well. Um. Maybe they will take your story as truth. After all, your supposed to believe in the lie." Mulder said.
Federico grunted. "How was your search?"
"Okay. We found this document." Scully handed Federico a document out of her bag, and Federico read it quickly.
"This doesn't make sense. This isn't human physiology. Or animal. I have a degree in Zoology and this is no animal."
"I know. And look at the way they avoid mentioning cells. It leads me to suspect their purposely hiding something. I think they took samples of alien cells, and according to Mulder, entire bodies, to the Pentagon filing/storage room."
"But in order to get in, we're gonna need a Level 4 clearance card, and the pass of someone who works their."
Federico nodded. She got up and walked into the kitchen, breaking into an Enteman's marshmallow cake. She took a serving about 6 times the size of the proper portion, and she relished in its goodness, trying to forget this entire scenario. She smiled as she put her dish away, and returned to the living room.
"I was hoping to go back to night."
"To the empire State Building?"
"No. Actually, Scully, I was thinking more like the =e headquarters."
"You've gotta be off your rocker." Mulder said. Actually, she was. She had literally fallen of her rocking chair as Mulder pushed passed her and the coffee table.
She gave him an amused look.
"Shut-up."
"I know it's crazy. But....its could be helpful."
"No. Not for us, but rather yourself, don't go."
Federico eyed Scully. She needed to check something. She had an idea. Something that could help them gain access to the headquarters once her cover was completely gone.
"I know."
Scully assumed that meant it was settled. And she dropped the subject.
Frohike on the other hand, was tapping mindlessly at the computer. Another message reading "Not applicable" appeared. And another. And another. And another. Then, finally, something clicked in the computer's mechanism., The letter "e" was actually the representative of "A." A little progress was made. The broadest smile ever known to Frohike was across his face. All who saw it were stunned. Byers was scared. Langly didn't know he could smile.
"What are you doing now, Doo-hike?"
"Frohike."
"Whatever."
"A has officially registered as e."
Langly was so deep in his writing for the next LONEGUNMEN edition he barely remembered the encrypted file.
"Sounds great, Frohike."
Byers rolled his, and shot over like a jet to see the progress on the computer."
"Then let's register all the a's in this little bit of literature as e's."
Frohike typed in several commands. Every a became an e.
Frohike studied the screen, then proceeded to type what commands he knew to decode the letter "b."
Error. Not applicable. Not applicable, Error. Would you like to spell check? Error. Run Scan disk. File done. Not applicable. Not applicable. Invalid command. Invalid command. Not applicable. Not Applicable. Not applicable. Not Applicable.
At about 11:00 that night, there was a light knock at the door. Frohike was over-joyed at the distraction, thrilled that he needn't gaze at the uncooperative screen any longer.
He unlocked the door. 12 times. In stepped Federico. With a hesitant look on her face. She seemed to barely notice him. He had to finally call her attention back with the word "Picard."
"Where?" She suddenly snapped.
"Had to see if you were alive."
Federico laughed. "Well that's one way to do it. You really had my hoped up there."
"Trekkie?" Langly asked amused from his perch.
"Die-heart!" She proclaimed, giving the "Live-Long-And-Prosper" sign. "Actually. Just for Star Trek: The Next Generation."
LAngly was very happy. Out of the 3 Trekkie-Lone Gunmen, he was the trekkie- est of them all. Then Byers. Frohike was floating somewhere between.
"Ever seen Inner-Light?"
"Seen 'em all. Have 'em all on tape, including movies."
"Nice! I personally like Worf."
Federico shook her head. "Data."
"Troi." Frohike smiled. Federico ignored him.
"What brings you here so late?" Byers asked, ignoring the Star Trek talk.
"Right. Eh. I wanna sneak into the headquarters again."
"Files?"
"Not quite this time. I more or less wanna plant a bug."
Langly leaned over into his night-stand draw, and pulled out a handy-dandy little guy about the size of a pencil point.
"Have a whole collection of them"
"I'll keep that in mind." She said, catching a purse full.
"Where's Mulder and Scully?" Byers asked handing Federico her equipment.
"Thanks. Eh....Mulder and Scully who?" She gave a weak smile, then relented. "They don't actually know that I'm going. They think it's a little too risky and have in effect forbidden me from going."
"I think that's a wise precaution." Byers commented, almost to himself.
"And you're going against the wishes?" Chimed in Langly.
"That's right. I think it'd be helpful to take what may very well be my last opportunity to plant a bug in the headquarters. If we can do that, we can still perhaps monitor the conspirarators after my cover is blown. Not that I hope it will be. But I of course have no guarantees."
"Comes with the FBI badge."
"S'pose you COULD say that Byers."
Federico attached the equipment quickly, and Frohike switched on the speakers.
"How's that?" He asked. The act of hearing his voice both inside her ear and in front of her made Federico a little dizzy.
"Fine." She lied.
She felt like she was gonna collapse in a little nauseous heap on the floor.
Byers sat up. "We only need one person to monitor this. You two catch some sleep." He half-expected a protest.
There was a silence. "Okay." Frohike shrugged. "Night."
Byers was horrified at their inconsideration.
"I'll be back in a few hours."
Half way there she began to wonder what would become of this case should she be completely discovered. This may very well also be her last opportunity to snoop. P'raps she could take advantage of that? She couldn't think straight at the moment. The gunmen were arguing, and the audio devices picked up every word. It made her feel a little woozy, much like trying to walk across a tight-rope in 100 degree heat with a fever and a sore throat. That was a pretty darn-good analogy she decided. She was better at analogies than she thought. Now if only she had been that good in school. That would have been helpful. But nnnnooooooooo, it couldn't work out that way because that'd be just too darn-perfect!
SVISH! Door open. Time to jump out. I don't wanna go. Maybe I can miss my stop. Naw, that's not a very good idea, you know that, you should have more sense than that.
Federico jumped off the train, just in time to miss the closing doors. She was quite grateful her shoes didn't get caught.
She marched proudly up 34th Street.
Okay. Last time I will break into this place. Right. Okay. And breathe. WOO! I meant to trip! Shut yaw' mouth, hooligan! Teens these days. My friends and I never laughed when someone tripped down 34th Street and nearly killed themselves. You just don't do that.
Right. THIS is THE building. Okay. Trying to act natural. Hello, Mr. Doorman-sir. Lovely weather we're having. Yes, I'm just here to sneak into a government conspiracy's headquarters. That's right. Ta-ta. Boy, am I stupid when I'm nervous. MEANT TO DO THAT! Darn stair....tripping me like that.....
The key jingled in the lock. For sometime now Byers had been silent. She silently prayed he hadn't fallen asleep too. She slipped inside, gun in hand, and took a look around. No one. She took out the bugs, and pretended to look around on desks, cabinets, pictures, while really slipping the bugs into place. She had to be discreet as she didn't know where THEIR cameras were.
She hesitated sometime later. She was done, but those filing cabinets were still available. It could be her last chance to take a peak. Her last chance. She swallowed and walked up to it.
"Federico! What are you doing?"
"AH, so you ARE awake!" She hissed at Byers into the night.
"I've been awake. What are you- Federico that's not why you went there- Federico, please-if for nothing else for the sake of my sanity-people have gone made because of sleep deprivation-should you decide to keep up this act I could be one of those people too-Federico!"
Federico completely blocked him out. She pulled through the cabinets, ripping through whole files at a time. Nothing. Most things were birth certificates.
"Why Birth certificates?" Byers asked.
"Beats me. Maybe there's a conspiracy among all the old ladies who refuse to give their age."
With nothing accomplished besides bugging the room, Federico left promptly. She had given Byers her equipment, gotten home, and slipped into be in no time at all- and not even once was she noticed. The next day went fair enough. True to her word to the conspirorators, they put up her grandparents' Christmas tree (Though they had yet to put the one up for the upstairs apartment) and decorated the front of the house with multi-colored lights.
"For indoor and outdoor use only. What other place is there?"
"Shut-up and put the lights up Mulder."
"WEll, answer me, Scully. There is no other place besides outside and inside!"
"Maybe the meant to put internally. You know, your organs."
"Uh-uh. That's indoor use."
The lights-both indoors and outdoors- were flicked on at a quarter to 6, and hot chocolate was on the table with an assortment of Christmas cookies before 7. The family and 2 FBI agents watched old movies till 12, when the federal agents went up stairs to bed.
Federico woke up to the light shining through her window.
She rolled over, and nearly fell off the bed onto the floor, where Scully slept on the air-mattress. She caught herself just in time, but not before making a series of "OOUCH! OUCH! OH! NO!" sounds.
"Morning?" Scully asked, not opening her eyes.
"Yup. What are your plans?"
"Sneaking back to the Empire building....Mulder's a-comming. You coming? eh?" she asked only half-awake.
"I've gotta go today to the conspirorators."
"Spiff. What time?"
"It's.......10:20."
"No, what time do you go?"
"Eh....any time, really. After breakfast."
"What is for breakfast?" Mulder smiled happily at the prospect of hot French toast, as he poked his head in the door on his way back from the bathroom.
"Unknown. But how's French toast sound?"
"Oh, fine." Mulder said, walking into the living room. He didn't stop to think until he was long out of sight. "Yessss."
Knock. Knock.
"Who wants to get that?"
"Not I."
Pause.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Fine. I'LL get it."
Cigarette Smoking Man opened up the door.
A small look of surprise spread across his face.
"G'day. I think we agreed today I'd come to meet you?"
He raised his head. "Eh. Yes." He stepped aside.
"G'day." Federico smiled at the conspirorators. They weren't as "friendly" as usual, if you could even call it that.
"Have a seat." Fred said pleasantly. He looked slightly disappointed.
"Thank you." She said, a little uneasy.
"Any news? About Agents Scully and/or Mulder?"
Federico hesitated. "Not much. As far as I know there still in Chicago."
"Where?"
"Don't know."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Why?"
"Because you know there in Chicago in the first place."
"That's all it said in the papers."
"What papers?"
"I only read their mission and location from some papers I saw in their office."
"What were you doing there?"
"Spying."
The conversation came too a halt. Federico was exhausted just from the little bout.
"Why?"
" 'Cause I have nothing better to do with my life."
She smiled.
"I thought we were here to talk. I didn't know I'd be on trial."
Dead-pan faces stared back at her.
"Well? Do I get one call to use to phone my lawyer?" She only was half- joking.
There was an eerie silence. All the assembled members stared at her. She took the opportunity to return the relentless, scrutinizing stared. Intently.
"So," she said slightly annoyed, leaning back in her chair, smiling, and breaking the silence, "Tell me about colonization........There a date set yet."
"January sometime."
"This January?"
"Ms. Federico. It would seem that you were doing all the interrogating lately, wouldn't it?"
"Tit-for-tat. Eh?"
"That's all you've ever done was interrogate. You've not provided one detail of hard evidence."
" 'Cause I have none. Just like you've supplied me with no hard evidence." Cigarette Smoking man was really beginning to get on her nerves.
"Tit-for-tat." He raised his eyebrows in a smirk. He took a breath. "Eh?"
"Now you've the idea."
Silence.
"Ms. Federico. I think it is time that you do supply us with hard evidence. Of, course you may have already. Play it boys."
Click went the VCR. On went Federico walking around the room two nights before.
"Care to explain?"
"Explain what? You appear to have someone that's onto you. Tall. Feminine. Long hair. You already asked me to identify her. Unfortunately she's no where in the FBI, CIA, UN, or NY P.D. databases."
"What were you doing here, Federico?"
Pause.
"Ham it up, girl." Came a suggestion from the Lone Gunmen.
"Pardon?"
"I said, Ham it up, Girl."
Not you!
"What were you doing here?"
Byers stepped into the picture. "You're cornered. Say what you want, it makes no difference."
Thanks.
"Looking' for my grandmother."
"In our filing cabinets?"
"Yeah. She can make herself fit into anything. Can change shape. Like a bounty hunter."
Woo, did I just say that?
"I think I have a right to fair trial, boys. But I see no lawyer, not judge, no jury. And if you dare say you're the judge and the jury, I'll go into spasms from laughter. I wasn't here. I don't think I need to make myself clearer. I have a clone. I'm a twin, and that woman was a long-lost sister. Whoever it was it wasn't me!" Her voice echoed in the motionless room. "And I won't be insulted. I risked my position at the FBI meeting with you. And you dare to question me. It's no skin off my nose, as I can take my business elsewhere, So Good day." She gave a dramatic bow, and removed herself form the room.
She slammed the door for the effect.
Half way up the stairs at the Lone Gunmen's place, she paused and shook her head.
Aloud she muttered, "I feel like I'm in a bad Italian film."
Mulder and Scully had arrived at the Empire State Building not too long after Federico arrived at the Lone Gunmen's to drop off her equipment before heading off to the headquarters. They didn't quite know what they were looking for, but they needed to find something. Hours later, Mulder received a text-message on his cell phone. "It's Federico."
Federico had slammed the door, and stomped off. The Gunmen's computer froze and they had to re-boot. Cigarette smoking Man turned to the rest of the crew and smiled. "Nice performance." Federico had just left, and the silence in the room that she had left behind her left a powerful effect. "Do we still have Alex's number?"
Federico unlocked the door to her house, and stepped inside. She was greeted happily by her two kitties, and she was calmed a little by their warm purring. She still couldn't believe what had just happened. It had all been going so well, it was too good to be true. She soon fell asleep on the couch.
When she woke up, she recalled the events. She really didn't want to, but the memories came all the same. She could have cried. She would have too, but she could have sworn she saw movement. She couldn't reach for her gun., and besides, it was empty. It'd be too obvious to whoever was there. Instead she pulled out her cell to "play" a "Game." Instead she sent a text- message to Mulder.
Someone in house. Come quick. Can't approach. Gun not loaded. Use key. Proceed as if nothing happened. Together we'll approach the kitchen. Make it snappy.
Snappy wasn't the word. And it wasn't a snappy amount of time between the time she sent the message came and the time Mulder and Scully arrived. It was almost an hour and a half before she heard the key in her door. She was relieved when she saw Mulder and Scully walk in.
"Hey, guys." She croaked.
"Hi."
"You....eh....wanna make soup?"
Great thinking, Mulder thought.
"Eh. Sure?" Scully asked.
They all pulled out their guns, even though Federico's wasn't loaded, and jumped in front of the dining room oddly. They could barely make out someone's shadow.
"Come out with your hands where we can see them!" Scully shouted. "We're Federal Agents and we're armed."
"Don't shoot."
"Hands where we can see them!"
The man stepped forward.
"What are you doing here, you-"
"Mulder." Federico warned.
"Sid down." He muttered.
"Why you here?"
He remained silent. Or at least until Mulder took the safety-lock off his gun.
"The Smoking Man and his cronies sent me."
"Why?"
Hesitation. That seemed to be a running theme.
"Find the stolen documents. Kill her." He nodded at Federico. She swallowed.
"Protect what she knows. What you all know now."
"Why didn't you just kill her?"
" In case I needed to ask her questions. But she saw me when I came in, and I didn't want her to shoot first."
Federico kept quite about her gun not being loaded.
"Well. Now what should we do with Ratboy, Scully?"
Federico splashed her face with cold water several times, then sat down heavily in a little red chair in a corner by the window. She wasn't sure what to do at the moment. Her cover had become as useless as any document they'd found. Byers brought in a little plate of cold cuts, and the Gunmen and she ate a quick meal. Afterwards, Federico continued to stare out the window, hoping everything'd turn out right and that they'd taken her seriously. LAngly was flopped back on his bed reading some newspaper. Byers sat by door, reading some novel, and Frohike was working on decoding that file, in between pacing the floor and hitting the monitor at random.
Almost two hours earlier, Mulder and Scully were left alone digging through files. Federico had just left, and they now had nearly twice the amount of work to do. Scully for one was having no luck. She poured over files, while giving medical insight to different descriptions Mulder found. All in all, it was pretty cut and dry. There was nothing of interest in that office.
Mulder felt pretty much the same way. Aside from occasionally finding a large word that neither of them knew what it meant and then getting to look it up in the dictionary, there was nothing to help them, nothing to hint at anything. Heck, at this point he'd settle for an encrypted message. That'd how desperate he was.
Scully stood against a filing cabinet, her papers balanced on its top, reading only half aware of the words that flew past her eyes. She finally turned a page to find a description, and rough sketches of several organs, none of which registered in her mental-medical database.
"Mulder." She said barely turning around, still reading. "Look at this."
"Okay....I see a bunch of kidney-shaped things, and a description that reads nothing but medical gobbledygook. What am I looking at? Scully?"
"You're looking at what would appear to be alien anatomy."
"That's a laugh Scull-" He almost said 'Sculls'. "Scully. Particularly coming from YOU."
"I'm serious. None of these organs....or....or descriptions meet anything that remotely has to do with human physiology."
"Animal?"
"I doubt it. They would have organs, and muscle tissue relatively similar to our own....These...descriptions....these....autopsies....there is no mention of muscle tissue whatsoever." She sounded vaguely surprised.
She flipped over the file again. There wasn't even a title to identify it. She pocketed it quietly, and thought for a little while.
"It mentioned the Pentagon again." She mentioned about five minutes later. She hadn't moved, and Mulder was bent over several files that had more to do with hoof-and-mouth disease than anything else alien.
Mulder looked up. He didn't say anything, but his simple gesture in itself was a question. Scully walked slowly over to the desk Mulder was hunched over. She was frowning.
"Several times they mentioned the Level 4 clearance, in the same sentence as cells. You...." She paused, barely wanting to remember the trying time. "You once went in their filing room. You found....the chip, that put my cancer in remission."
"That we think put your cancer into remission. That's right."
"Could there have been....storage for tissue....or....cellular matter....." It was more like a statement than a question.
"YEah. Yeah. I don't see why not. Why?"
"This here mentions something again about the experiments run on it..." She shook her head. "The aliens I mean. Apparently, an autopsy wasn't the only process preformed. Judging by the way the scooch around the topic of cellular composition, I'd say they kept cells....or...."
"Bodies."
Scully raised her eyebrows.
"I saw bodies. I don't know if I ever told you. A whole room. Of, alien bodies."
Scully straightened up. "Could there have been that many victims of the crash?"
"It's possible. But if we're gonna sneak into the Pentagon, we're gonna be needing a lot more work. We don't have a way to get in. I mean, we'd even need Level 4 clearance cards and the assumed Identity of the Department of Defense officer."
Scully leaned backwards. Well. That didn't sound too difficult. With the Lone Gunmen's help.
"I wonder how Federico's doing?"
Federico barely walked into her house that evening. She'd been saw shaken from the realization of her cover being blown, she'd stared out the window for nearly an hour. She could only hope Mulder and Scully had been more successful than her. She was greeted by Scully at her front door.
"We're locked out." Mulder nearly shouted down the block.
"You're folks are gone, and we don't have the keys." Scully hurriedly explained, getting up from the stoop as Federico opened the door.
"What's wrong?" Scully asked, toppling over on Mrs. Svibodi's couch.
"My cover's gone."
"What?"
"They have me on film. Breaking in. I put on an act. and their gonna meet with me day after tomorrow. I don' know what to say."
Scully was silent, while Mulder pet Gwendy for sometime. He was never too fond of cats, but Gwendy was friendly to him, so he at least needed to repay the gift.
"Well. Um. Maybe they will take your story as truth. After all, your supposed to believe in the lie." Mulder said.
Federico grunted. "How was your search?"
"Okay. We found this document." Scully handed Federico a document out of her bag, and Federico read it quickly.
"This doesn't make sense. This isn't human physiology. Or animal. I have a degree in Zoology and this is no animal."
"I know. And look at the way they avoid mentioning cells. It leads me to suspect their purposely hiding something. I think they took samples of alien cells, and according to Mulder, entire bodies, to the Pentagon filing/storage room."
"But in order to get in, we're gonna need a Level 4 clearance card, and the pass of someone who works their."
Federico nodded. She got up and walked into the kitchen, breaking into an Enteman's marshmallow cake. She took a serving about 6 times the size of the proper portion, and she relished in its goodness, trying to forget this entire scenario. She smiled as she put her dish away, and returned to the living room.
"I was hoping to go back to night."
"To the empire State Building?"
"No. Actually, Scully, I was thinking more like the =e headquarters."
"You've gotta be off your rocker." Mulder said. Actually, she was. She had literally fallen of her rocking chair as Mulder pushed passed her and the coffee table.
She gave him an amused look.
"Shut-up."
"I know it's crazy. But....its could be helpful."
"No. Not for us, but rather yourself, don't go."
Federico eyed Scully. She needed to check something. She had an idea. Something that could help them gain access to the headquarters once her cover was completely gone.
"I know."
Scully assumed that meant it was settled. And she dropped the subject.
Frohike on the other hand, was tapping mindlessly at the computer. Another message reading "Not applicable" appeared. And another. And another. And another. Then, finally, something clicked in the computer's mechanism., The letter "e" was actually the representative of "A." A little progress was made. The broadest smile ever known to Frohike was across his face. All who saw it were stunned. Byers was scared. Langly didn't know he could smile.
"What are you doing now, Doo-hike?"
"Frohike."
"Whatever."
"A has officially registered as e."
Langly was so deep in his writing for the next LONEGUNMEN edition he barely remembered the encrypted file.
"Sounds great, Frohike."
Byers rolled his, and shot over like a jet to see the progress on the computer."
"Then let's register all the a's in this little bit of literature as e's."
Frohike typed in several commands. Every a became an e.
Frohike studied the screen, then proceeded to type what commands he knew to decode the letter "b."
Error. Not applicable. Not applicable, Error. Would you like to spell check? Error. Run Scan disk. File done. Not applicable. Not applicable. Invalid command. Invalid command. Not applicable. Not Applicable. Not applicable. Not Applicable.
At about 11:00 that night, there was a light knock at the door. Frohike was over-joyed at the distraction, thrilled that he needn't gaze at the uncooperative screen any longer.
He unlocked the door. 12 times. In stepped Federico. With a hesitant look on her face. She seemed to barely notice him. He had to finally call her attention back with the word "Picard."
"Where?" She suddenly snapped.
"Had to see if you were alive."
Federico laughed. "Well that's one way to do it. You really had my hoped up there."
"Trekkie?" Langly asked amused from his perch.
"Die-heart!" She proclaimed, giving the "Live-Long-And-Prosper" sign. "Actually. Just for Star Trek: The Next Generation."
LAngly was very happy. Out of the 3 Trekkie-Lone Gunmen, he was the trekkie- est of them all. Then Byers. Frohike was floating somewhere between.
"Ever seen Inner-Light?"
"Seen 'em all. Have 'em all on tape, including movies."
"Nice! I personally like Worf."
Federico shook her head. "Data."
"Troi." Frohike smiled. Federico ignored him.
"What brings you here so late?" Byers asked, ignoring the Star Trek talk.
"Right. Eh. I wanna sneak into the headquarters again."
"Files?"
"Not quite this time. I more or less wanna plant a bug."
Langly leaned over into his night-stand draw, and pulled out a handy-dandy little guy about the size of a pencil point.
"Have a whole collection of them"
"I'll keep that in mind." She said, catching a purse full.
"Where's Mulder and Scully?" Byers asked handing Federico her equipment.
"Thanks. Eh....Mulder and Scully who?" She gave a weak smile, then relented. "They don't actually know that I'm going. They think it's a little too risky and have in effect forbidden me from going."
"I think that's a wise precaution." Byers commented, almost to himself.
"And you're going against the wishes?" Chimed in Langly.
"That's right. I think it'd be helpful to take what may very well be my last opportunity to plant a bug in the headquarters. If we can do that, we can still perhaps monitor the conspirarators after my cover is blown. Not that I hope it will be. But I of course have no guarantees."
"Comes with the FBI badge."
"S'pose you COULD say that Byers."
Federico attached the equipment quickly, and Frohike switched on the speakers.
"How's that?" He asked. The act of hearing his voice both inside her ear and in front of her made Federico a little dizzy.
"Fine." She lied.
She felt like she was gonna collapse in a little nauseous heap on the floor.
Byers sat up. "We only need one person to monitor this. You two catch some sleep." He half-expected a protest.
There was a silence. "Okay." Frohike shrugged. "Night."
Byers was horrified at their inconsideration.
"I'll be back in a few hours."
Half way there she began to wonder what would become of this case should she be completely discovered. This may very well also be her last opportunity to snoop. P'raps she could take advantage of that? She couldn't think straight at the moment. The gunmen were arguing, and the audio devices picked up every word. It made her feel a little woozy, much like trying to walk across a tight-rope in 100 degree heat with a fever and a sore throat. That was a pretty darn-good analogy she decided. She was better at analogies than she thought. Now if only she had been that good in school. That would have been helpful. But nnnnooooooooo, it couldn't work out that way because that'd be just too darn-perfect!
SVISH! Door open. Time to jump out. I don't wanna go. Maybe I can miss my stop. Naw, that's not a very good idea, you know that, you should have more sense than that.
Federico jumped off the train, just in time to miss the closing doors. She was quite grateful her shoes didn't get caught.
She marched proudly up 34th Street.
Okay. Last time I will break into this place. Right. Okay. And breathe. WOO! I meant to trip! Shut yaw' mouth, hooligan! Teens these days. My friends and I never laughed when someone tripped down 34th Street and nearly killed themselves. You just don't do that.
Right. THIS is THE building. Okay. Trying to act natural. Hello, Mr. Doorman-sir. Lovely weather we're having. Yes, I'm just here to sneak into a government conspiracy's headquarters. That's right. Ta-ta. Boy, am I stupid when I'm nervous. MEANT TO DO THAT! Darn stair....tripping me like that.....
The key jingled in the lock. For sometime now Byers had been silent. She silently prayed he hadn't fallen asleep too. She slipped inside, gun in hand, and took a look around. No one. She took out the bugs, and pretended to look around on desks, cabinets, pictures, while really slipping the bugs into place. She had to be discreet as she didn't know where THEIR cameras were.
She hesitated sometime later. She was done, but those filing cabinets were still available. It could be her last chance to take a peak. Her last chance. She swallowed and walked up to it.
"Federico! What are you doing?"
"AH, so you ARE awake!" She hissed at Byers into the night.
"I've been awake. What are you- Federico that's not why you went there- Federico, please-if for nothing else for the sake of my sanity-people have gone made because of sleep deprivation-should you decide to keep up this act I could be one of those people too-Federico!"
Federico completely blocked him out. She pulled through the cabinets, ripping through whole files at a time. Nothing. Most things were birth certificates.
"Why Birth certificates?" Byers asked.
"Beats me. Maybe there's a conspiracy among all the old ladies who refuse to give their age."
With nothing accomplished besides bugging the room, Federico left promptly. She had given Byers her equipment, gotten home, and slipped into be in no time at all- and not even once was she noticed. The next day went fair enough. True to her word to the conspirorators, they put up her grandparents' Christmas tree (Though they had yet to put the one up for the upstairs apartment) and decorated the front of the house with multi-colored lights.
"For indoor and outdoor use only. What other place is there?"
"Shut-up and put the lights up Mulder."
"WEll, answer me, Scully. There is no other place besides outside and inside!"
"Maybe the meant to put internally. You know, your organs."
"Uh-uh. That's indoor use."
The lights-both indoors and outdoors- were flicked on at a quarter to 6, and hot chocolate was on the table with an assortment of Christmas cookies before 7. The family and 2 FBI agents watched old movies till 12, when the federal agents went up stairs to bed.
Federico woke up to the light shining through her window.
She rolled over, and nearly fell off the bed onto the floor, where Scully slept on the air-mattress. She caught herself just in time, but not before making a series of "OOUCH! OUCH! OH! NO!" sounds.
"Morning?" Scully asked, not opening her eyes.
"Yup. What are your plans?"
"Sneaking back to the Empire building....Mulder's a-comming. You coming? eh?" she asked only half-awake.
"I've gotta go today to the conspirorators."
"Spiff. What time?"
"It's.......10:20."
"No, what time do you go?"
"Eh....any time, really. After breakfast."
"What is for breakfast?" Mulder smiled happily at the prospect of hot French toast, as he poked his head in the door on his way back from the bathroom.
"Unknown. But how's French toast sound?"
"Oh, fine." Mulder said, walking into the living room. He didn't stop to think until he was long out of sight. "Yessss."
Knock. Knock.
"Who wants to get that?"
"Not I."
Pause.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Fine. I'LL get it."
Cigarette Smoking Man opened up the door.
A small look of surprise spread across his face.
"G'day. I think we agreed today I'd come to meet you?"
He raised his head. "Eh. Yes." He stepped aside.
"G'day." Federico smiled at the conspirorators. They weren't as "friendly" as usual, if you could even call it that.
"Have a seat." Fred said pleasantly. He looked slightly disappointed.
"Thank you." She said, a little uneasy.
"Any news? About Agents Scully and/or Mulder?"
Federico hesitated. "Not much. As far as I know there still in Chicago."
"Where?"
"Don't know."
"I find that hard to believe."
"Why?"
"Because you know there in Chicago in the first place."
"That's all it said in the papers."
"What papers?"
"I only read their mission and location from some papers I saw in their office."
"What were you doing there?"
"Spying."
The conversation came too a halt. Federico was exhausted just from the little bout.
"Why?"
" 'Cause I have nothing better to do with my life."
She smiled.
"I thought we were here to talk. I didn't know I'd be on trial."
Dead-pan faces stared back at her.
"Well? Do I get one call to use to phone my lawyer?" She only was half- joking.
There was an eerie silence. All the assembled members stared at her. She took the opportunity to return the relentless, scrutinizing stared. Intently.
"So," she said slightly annoyed, leaning back in her chair, smiling, and breaking the silence, "Tell me about colonization........There a date set yet."
"January sometime."
"This January?"
"Ms. Federico. It would seem that you were doing all the interrogating lately, wouldn't it?"
"Tit-for-tat. Eh?"
"That's all you've ever done was interrogate. You've not provided one detail of hard evidence."
" 'Cause I have none. Just like you've supplied me with no hard evidence." Cigarette Smoking man was really beginning to get on her nerves.
"Tit-for-tat." He raised his eyebrows in a smirk. He took a breath. "Eh?"
"Now you've the idea."
Silence.
"Ms. Federico. I think it is time that you do supply us with hard evidence. Of, course you may have already. Play it boys."
Click went the VCR. On went Federico walking around the room two nights before.
"Care to explain?"
"Explain what? You appear to have someone that's onto you. Tall. Feminine. Long hair. You already asked me to identify her. Unfortunately she's no where in the FBI, CIA, UN, or NY P.D. databases."
"What were you doing here, Federico?"
Pause.
"Ham it up, girl." Came a suggestion from the Lone Gunmen.
"Pardon?"
"I said, Ham it up, Girl."
Not you!
"What were you doing here?"
Byers stepped into the picture. "You're cornered. Say what you want, it makes no difference."
Thanks.
"Looking' for my grandmother."
"In our filing cabinets?"
"Yeah. She can make herself fit into anything. Can change shape. Like a bounty hunter."
Woo, did I just say that?
"I think I have a right to fair trial, boys. But I see no lawyer, not judge, no jury. And if you dare say you're the judge and the jury, I'll go into spasms from laughter. I wasn't here. I don't think I need to make myself clearer. I have a clone. I'm a twin, and that woman was a long-lost sister. Whoever it was it wasn't me!" Her voice echoed in the motionless room. "And I won't be insulted. I risked my position at the FBI meeting with you. And you dare to question me. It's no skin off my nose, as I can take my business elsewhere, So Good day." She gave a dramatic bow, and removed herself form the room.
She slammed the door for the effect.
Half way up the stairs at the Lone Gunmen's place, she paused and shook her head.
Aloud she muttered, "I feel like I'm in a bad Italian film."
Mulder and Scully had arrived at the Empire State Building not too long after Federico arrived at the Lone Gunmen's to drop off her equipment before heading off to the headquarters. They didn't quite know what they were looking for, but they needed to find something. Hours later, Mulder received a text-message on his cell phone. "It's Federico."
Federico had slammed the door, and stomped off. The Gunmen's computer froze and they had to re-boot. Cigarette smoking Man turned to the rest of the crew and smiled. "Nice performance." Federico had just left, and the silence in the room that she had left behind her left a powerful effect. "Do we still have Alex's number?"
Federico unlocked the door to her house, and stepped inside. She was greeted happily by her two kitties, and she was calmed a little by their warm purring. She still couldn't believe what had just happened. It had all been going so well, it was too good to be true. She soon fell asleep on the couch.
When she woke up, she recalled the events. She really didn't want to, but the memories came all the same. She could have cried. She would have too, but she could have sworn she saw movement. She couldn't reach for her gun., and besides, it was empty. It'd be too obvious to whoever was there. Instead she pulled out her cell to "play" a "Game." Instead she sent a text- message to Mulder.
Someone in house. Come quick. Can't approach. Gun not loaded. Use key. Proceed as if nothing happened. Together we'll approach the kitchen. Make it snappy.
Snappy wasn't the word. And it wasn't a snappy amount of time between the time she sent the message came and the time Mulder and Scully arrived. It was almost an hour and a half before she heard the key in her door. She was relieved when she saw Mulder and Scully walk in.
"Hey, guys." She croaked.
"Hi."
"You....eh....wanna make soup?"
Great thinking, Mulder thought.
"Eh. Sure?" Scully asked.
They all pulled out their guns, even though Federico's wasn't loaded, and jumped in front of the dining room oddly. They could barely make out someone's shadow.
"Come out with your hands where we can see them!" Scully shouted. "We're Federal Agents and we're armed."
"Don't shoot."
"Hands where we can see them!"
The man stepped forward.
"What are you doing here, you-"
"Mulder." Federico warned.
"Sid down." He muttered.
"Why you here?"
He remained silent. Or at least until Mulder took the safety-lock off his gun.
"The Smoking Man and his cronies sent me."
"Why?"
Hesitation. That seemed to be a running theme.
"Find the stolen documents. Kill her." He nodded at Federico. She swallowed.
"Protect what she knows. What you all know now."
"Why didn't you just kill her?"
" In case I needed to ask her questions. But she saw me when I came in, and I didn't want her to shoot first."
Federico kept quite about her gun not being loaded.
"Well. Now what should we do with Ratboy, Scully?"