Deceiving Appearances
Chapter Four - Get it Together
Author - Nicole
Disclaimer - Mulder and Scully don't belong to me. Maddie does, feel free
to borrow her, just let me know first.
I'm so sorry about the long wait for this one. I'm on vacation right now and I'm busier than I am in school. How ironic? Anyway, I had a review e- mailed to me from a friend saying "Nicole, this would never, ever happen. You're going Mary-Sue on us!" Normally that might have offended me given Mary-Sue isn't my style. But, I started this story in 7th grade (wow that seems so long ago) and I stumbled upon it and thought it was cute. Excuse my nostalgia and don't continue if you're into only insanely realistic stories. But when were the X-files ever insanely realistic? Ha, here you go. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Maddie tried to scream but couldn't. She was in a state of shock, she felt someone strong carrying her tiny frame with little effort, all the while keeping one hand over her mouth. He clamped her jaw so she couldn't bite. She knew how to protect herself if in the case of abduction but the harder she tried to free herself the tighter the man held her. He moved his thumb underneath her nose, she couldn't breath she tried to move her head. Terror took over her body, she felt as if her lungs were going to explode. 'This is how I'm going to die, on my fist case.' She felt the desperate urge to get free, she was completely unable to move 'They'll never find me, I don't even know where I am.' She then noticed her hand was partially free, he was holding her arm so she couldn't swing but she could get her bracelets off, to leave a clue. Dizzy spells began to overcome her but she managed to get two bracelets off a small black one with plastic spikes and a little gold bracelet with MLD monogrammed on it, a gift her Mother gave her when she got into college. 'Please help me get through this Raysi' she mentally pleaded before everything became dark.
She came to in a musty basement. She looked around she was alone, she felt for her gun, gone. Her cell phone was also gone. She unzipped a pocket on the inside of her pant leg, her badge was still there.
"Thank god" she sighed "What is going on here?" She gasped as she looked around, the basement was full of pictures of people her age dressed the same way she did, with hair colors and various piercings. Each picture had a red slash through it. She continued to search the room, she came across a picture of her. It was taken the day she walked to the mall.
"I never walked by this house though," she said out loud.
"You didn't have too, I've been keeping an eye on you ever since you came along" The deep voice startled Maddie she turned on her heels and walked over to him.
"Who are you? Why did you take me? Why did you take them?" She wasn't ready to blow her cover yet.
"I can't tell you who I am. I took you all because I like a peaceful neighborhood. You devil children obviously don't know how to keep a neighborhood reputable" This man was far from sane. Maddie gently cut him off.
"I'm sorry if I've disturbed you sir, I try to respect all of my neighbors."
"No you didn't"
"What did I do wrong?" She questioned in the gentlest tone possible.
The man took a small black bag out of his pocket. He placed two items on the table a piece of already chewed gum and a crumpled up receipt. Maddie stared blankly at the items. 'What is he getting at?' She thought back for a minute, she had spit out a piece of gum
"That receipt must have fallen out of my bag or something. I'm sorry"
"You see, you littered. You left your trash in my neighborhood." He was so soft spoken; it irked Maddie. "And for that I must get rid of you, like the other different ones" He lifted a gun out of his jacket. Maddie looked at it, it was her FBI issue gun. 'He should know who he's messing with first' she swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
"This is not 'Thunder on Sycamore Street,' you can't remove people from a neighborhood because they're different. Oh and by the way, FBI! Put the gun down!" She flashed her badge in hope that he'd back down.
"Oh, that little badge won't do you much. I have your gun Miss. Soleil." He smiled wryly. 'Wonderful, I get to deal with this by myself' She thought.
She raised her voice "Read the badge you illiterate bastard! Its Madison." The large man then lunged at her throwing her to the ground. She screamed in a mix of shock and pain.
"Alright, Madison. Stop yelling and maybe I will spare you." He was still eerily calm.
"I'm not afraid of you. My partners will find you and arrest you. I assure you of that" She kept in mind not to call him any more names. She stopped to nurse a throbbing pain in her arm. Her arm and been sliced open by a knife on the ground.
"Oh but how? I have your little cell phone." He threw it on the ground, it broke into a million pieces. His strength was uncanny. He bent down to pick up the broken pieces. Maddie looked down at the knife 'This is my chance.' She crouched down and grabbed it as swiftly as possible. She went for his leg. His hand grabbed the blade. It sliced him but he showed no pain.
"Now Madison, that wasn't being a respectful neighbor was it?" Maddie backed up against a wall unsure of his next move.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Mulder and Scully ran fast. Mulder wasn't going to take the chance of losing a partner. He wasn't sure where to go. 'My instincts are my only hope this time.' He checked behind him, Scully was panting, he stopped to let her catch her breath.
"Mulder, She could be up any of these streets or in a car long gone. We don't know!" She said in between breaths.
"She isn't going to be found if we don't keep looking" He grabbed her arm and lead her up a street. They didn't know the neighborhood all that well and seemed to be turning on every street corner. Scully was unsure of Mulder's lead but decided to keep running 'He is right 98 percent of the time, weather I like to believe it or not' They starting running up a small incline. Rain was coming down, this made running that much harder. Mulder pressed on though and Scully followed, then she noticed something familiar in a puddle she had dodged.
"Mulder! Look at this." She picked up the bracelet and ran to catch up to him. 'She was here, he was right. Once again' She smiled at him. "It's the bracelet she wore to the restaurant earlier."
"She's a smart girl, there's another one right here. It has her initials engraved. She knew she had to leave something"
They continued to walk up the street keeping a brisk pace. Mulder kept his eyes on the ground scanning for any more hints. Scully glanced at him, his face was stricken with concern. 'He barely knows this girl and he cares so much. Its amazing' She wanted to say something but now wasn't the time. Maddie's life was at stake. She looked around for more hints. Mulder looked at her while she was studying the ground. 'We're going to find her. We have to, I'm done with these cases going wrong. It's not fair to Scully, she's seen too much.' The thought was interrupted by a loud screech. They both became very alert.
"It came from that house" Mulder whispered and they ran towards the house. They quietly walked around the house. They heard Maddie yelling and something break.
"We have to get in there, they're in the basement" Mulder noticed the storm cellar wasn't locked from the outside. He put his gun in his holster and tried to open it. "It's locked"
"I'll go try to get in the front door" Scully began to walk as Mulder began looking through the basement windows.
"No need, I'm getting in there now, he's holding a gun up to her." He began to carefully pry open a window, just enough to get his gun in.
"Mulder be careful, if you don't hit him right. He'll shoot her and you"
"Sir! Put the gun down!" He yelled. The man looked up and shot at the window, which Mulder had luckily gotten out of the way of.
"I'll get him later, first you freak" He held the gun up and someone pushed him. He still shot before hitting the ground. Maddie felt a shooting pain in the left side of her collarbone. She watched Scully handcuff the man and saw Mulder ran over to her.
"What happened?" She noticed the blood on her shirt. "Am I going to die?"
"No Maddie, you be fine. The paramedics will be here any minute."
"There's pictures of all the kids he took. He's obsessive he got me because I spat out some gum on the ground" She laughed painfully "Kind of pathetic isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is"
"Go find out why he did this" He nodded and walked over to the man. Scully knelt next to Maddie and tried to control the blood pouring from her chest.
Mulder approached the man who was now sitting against a wall with caution. "Sir, I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI. Care to tell me your name and why you're killing off every 'freak' in the neighborhood?"
"Mitchell Herman. They make the neighborhood look bad. Just like you" he emphasized his remark by spitting in Mulder's face. 'This man is obviously mentally unstable' Mulder wiped his face and decided to put his degree in psychology to work.
"Mr. Herman, if you could tell me where you left the bodies of the other children are we could make sure the neighborhood never looks bad again"
"You'll have to give me a little more than that, Agent"
"Alright, if you tell me, I'll close any store that sells those clothes you don't approve of"
"They're buried, under the porch."
The paramedics pulled up, followed by the police. They put the Mitchell into cruiser and Maddie in the ambulance. Mulder and Scully followed her by car to the hospital.
"Nice save Scully, had you not pushed her she would've died"
"Well if you hadn't of yelled it wouldn't had held his attention long enough for me to get there"
"Well you spotting the bracelet assisted immensely in us finding the house"
Scully smiled "We make a good team" She reached over and held his hand.
"Yeah, we do"
They arrived at St. John's Hospital shortly after. They found Maddie in a private room watching TV.
"Before I was an agent they never put me in my own room" she smiled "Hi guys, um, thanks for saving me"
Mulder replied "Thanks for finding our kidnapper"
"What are your injuries Maddie?" Scully questioned
"Nothing as severe as I thought. The bullet did break my collarbone but its not like I've never done that before. Luckily it stopped before hitting my rotator cuff so there's only some minor muscle damage which will be fine in a few weeks. I'll be good as new within three weeks."
"You're very lucky"
"I know. And this may sound like the Morphine talking but I think my sister saved me. Really, Right before I passed out when Herman tried to suffocate me I asked Raysi to help me and she did"
Mulder smiled at her innocence, "Yeah, you have a guardian angel"
Maddie yawned, "Thanks for everything guys but I'm really tired. You should both get some sleep too."
"Alright Maddie, we'll be back tomorrow morning." Scully smiled at her and they walked out of the room. Mulder gently closed the door as Maddie fell asleep.
"That was sweet Mulder. You're usually not the religious type"
"Well Scully, she just got shot I'm not going to push my theories on her" He smiled
"Well what do you say? We go back tonight and begin the investigation tomorrow?"
"I'm not going back to that neighborhood. There's a Days Inn down the street, how's that sound?"
"Great. Anything sounds better than Arcadia's clone." They walked out of the hospital taking solace in the temporary calm of the situation.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Well there you go, chapter four. I hope I still have some readers left since the little hiatus I took in between chapters. Please leave me some reviews. They'll motivate me to write chapter five.
-Nikka
I'm so sorry about the long wait for this one. I'm on vacation right now and I'm busier than I am in school. How ironic? Anyway, I had a review e- mailed to me from a friend saying "Nicole, this would never, ever happen. You're going Mary-Sue on us!" Normally that might have offended me given Mary-Sue isn't my style. But, I started this story in 7th grade (wow that seems so long ago) and I stumbled upon it and thought it was cute. Excuse my nostalgia and don't continue if you're into only insanely realistic stories. But when were the X-files ever insanely realistic? Ha, here you go. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Maddie tried to scream but couldn't. She was in a state of shock, she felt someone strong carrying her tiny frame with little effort, all the while keeping one hand over her mouth. He clamped her jaw so she couldn't bite. She knew how to protect herself if in the case of abduction but the harder she tried to free herself the tighter the man held her. He moved his thumb underneath her nose, she couldn't breath she tried to move her head. Terror took over her body, she felt as if her lungs were going to explode. 'This is how I'm going to die, on my fist case.' She felt the desperate urge to get free, she was completely unable to move 'They'll never find me, I don't even know where I am.' She then noticed her hand was partially free, he was holding her arm so she couldn't swing but she could get her bracelets off, to leave a clue. Dizzy spells began to overcome her but she managed to get two bracelets off a small black one with plastic spikes and a little gold bracelet with MLD monogrammed on it, a gift her Mother gave her when she got into college. 'Please help me get through this Raysi' she mentally pleaded before everything became dark.
She came to in a musty basement. She looked around she was alone, she felt for her gun, gone. Her cell phone was also gone. She unzipped a pocket on the inside of her pant leg, her badge was still there.
"Thank god" she sighed "What is going on here?" She gasped as she looked around, the basement was full of pictures of people her age dressed the same way she did, with hair colors and various piercings. Each picture had a red slash through it. She continued to search the room, she came across a picture of her. It was taken the day she walked to the mall.
"I never walked by this house though," she said out loud.
"You didn't have too, I've been keeping an eye on you ever since you came along" The deep voice startled Maddie she turned on her heels and walked over to him.
"Who are you? Why did you take me? Why did you take them?" She wasn't ready to blow her cover yet.
"I can't tell you who I am. I took you all because I like a peaceful neighborhood. You devil children obviously don't know how to keep a neighborhood reputable" This man was far from sane. Maddie gently cut him off.
"I'm sorry if I've disturbed you sir, I try to respect all of my neighbors."
"No you didn't"
"What did I do wrong?" She questioned in the gentlest tone possible.
The man took a small black bag out of his pocket. He placed two items on the table a piece of already chewed gum and a crumpled up receipt. Maddie stared blankly at the items. 'What is he getting at?' She thought back for a minute, she had spit out a piece of gum
"That receipt must have fallen out of my bag or something. I'm sorry"
"You see, you littered. You left your trash in my neighborhood." He was so soft spoken; it irked Maddie. "And for that I must get rid of you, like the other different ones" He lifted a gun out of his jacket. Maddie looked at it, it was her FBI issue gun. 'He should know who he's messing with first' she swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
"This is not 'Thunder on Sycamore Street,' you can't remove people from a neighborhood because they're different. Oh and by the way, FBI! Put the gun down!" She flashed her badge in hope that he'd back down.
"Oh, that little badge won't do you much. I have your gun Miss. Soleil." He smiled wryly. 'Wonderful, I get to deal with this by myself' She thought.
She raised her voice "Read the badge you illiterate bastard! Its Madison." The large man then lunged at her throwing her to the ground. She screamed in a mix of shock and pain.
"Alright, Madison. Stop yelling and maybe I will spare you." He was still eerily calm.
"I'm not afraid of you. My partners will find you and arrest you. I assure you of that" She kept in mind not to call him any more names. She stopped to nurse a throbbing pain in her arm. Her arm and been sliced open by a knife on the ground.
"Oh but how? I have your little cell phone." He threw it on the ground, it broke into a million pieces. His strength was uncanny. He bent down to pick up the broken pieces. Maddie looked down at the knife 'This is my chance.' She crouched down and grabbed it as swiftly as possible. She went for his leg. His hand grabbed the blade. It sliced him but he showed no pain.
"Now Madison, that wasn't being a respectful neighbor was it?" Maddie backed up against a wall unsure of his next move.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Mulder and Scully ran fast. Mulder wasn't going to take the chance of losing a partner. He wasn't sure where to go. 'My instincts are my only hope this time.' He checked behind him, Scully was panting, he stopped to let her catch her breath.
"Mulder, She could be up any of these streets or in a car long gone. We don't know!" She said in between breaths.
"She isn't going to be found if we don't keep looking" He grabbed her arm and lead her up a street. They didn't know the neighborhood all that well and seemed to be turning on every street corner. Scully was unsure of Mulder's lead but decided to keep running 'He is right 98 percent of the time, weather I like to believe it or not' They starting running up a small incline. Rain was coming down, this made running that much harder. Mulder pressed on though and Scully followed, then she noticed something familiar in a puddle she had dodged.
"Mulder! Look at this." She picked up the bracelet and ran to catch up to him. 'She was here, he was right. Once again' She smiled at him. "It's the bracelet she wore to the restaurant earlier."
"She's a smart girl, there's another one right here. It has her initials engraved. She knew she had to leave something"
They continued to walk up the street keeping a brisk pace. Mulder kept his eyes on the ground scanning for any more hints. Scully glanced at him, his face was stricken with concern. 'He barely knows this girl and he cares so much. Its amazing' She wanted to say something but now wasn't the time. Maddie's life was at stake. She looked around for more hints. Mulder looked at her while she was studying the ground. 'We're going to find her. We have to, I'm done with these cases going wrong. It's not fair to Scully, she's seen too much.' The thought was interrupted by a loud screech. They both became very alert.
"It came from that house" Mulder whispered and they ran towards the house. They quietly walked around the house. They heard Maddie yelling and something break.
"We have to get in there, they're in the basement" Mulder noticed the storm cellar wasn't locked from the outside. He put his gun in his holster and tried to open it. "It's locked"
"I'll go try to get in the front door" Scully began to walk as Mulder began looking through the basement windows.
"No need, I'm getting in there now, he's holding a gun up to her." He began to carefully pry open a window, just enough to get his gun in.
"Mulder be careful, if you don't hit him right. He'll shoot her and you"
"Sir! Put the gun down!" He yelled. The man looked up and shot at the window, which Mulder had luckily gotten out of the way of.
"I'll get him later, first you freak" He held the gun up and someone pushed him. He still shot before hitting the ground. Maddie felt a shooting pain in the left side of her collarbone. She watched Scully handcuff the man and saw Mulder ran over to her.
"What happened?" She noticed the blood on her shirt. "Am I going to die?"
"No Maddie, you be fine. The paramedics will be here any minute."
"There's pictures of all the kids he took. He's obsessive he got me because I spat out some gum on the ground" She laughed painfully "Kind of pathetic isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is"
"Go find out why he did this" He nodded and walked over to the man. Scully knelt next to Maddie and tried to control the blood pouring from her chest.
Mulder approached the man who was now sitting against a wall with caution. "Sir, I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI. Care to tell me your name and why you're killing off every 'freak' in the neighborhood?"
"Mitchell Herman. They make the neighborhood look bad. Just like you" he emphasized his remark by spitting in Mulder's face. 'This man is obviously mentally unstable' Mulder wiped his face and decided to put his degree in psychology to work.
"Mr. Herman, if you could tell me where you left the bodies of the other children are we could make sure the neighborhood never looks bad again"
"You'll have to give me a little more than that, Agent"
"Alright, if you tell me, I'll close any store that sells those clothes you don't approve of"
"They're buried, under the porch."
The paramedics pulled up, followed by the police. They put the Mitchell into cruiser and Maddie in the ambulance. Mulder and Scully followed her by car to the hospital.
"Nice save Scully, had you not pushed her she would've died"
"Well if you hadn't of yelled it wouldn't had held his attention long enough for me to get there"
"Well you spotting the bracelet assisted immensely in us finding the house"
Scully smiled "We make a good team" She reached over and held his hand.
"Yeah, we do"
They arrived at St. John's Hospital shortly after. They found Maddie in a private room watching TV.
"Before I was an agent they never put me in my own room" she smiled "Hi guys, um, thanks for saving me"
Mulder replied "Thanks for finding our kidnapper"
"What are your injuries Maddie?" Scully questioned
"Nothing as severe as I thought. The bullet did break my collarbone but its not like I've never done that before. Luckily it stopped before hitting my rotator cuff so there's only some minor muscle damage which will be fine in a few weeks. I'll be good as new within three weeks."
"You're very lucky"
"I know. And this may sound like the Morphine talking but I think my sister saved me. Really, Right before I passed out when Herman tried to suffocate me I asked Raysi to help me and she did"
Mulder smiled at her innocence, "Yeah, you have a guardian angel"
Maddie yawned, "Thanks for everything guys but I'm really tired. You should both get some sleep too."
"Alright Maddie, we'll be back tomorrow morning." Scully smiled at her and they walked out of the room. Mulder gently closed the door as Maddie fell asleep.
"That was sweet Mulder. You're usually not the religious type"
"Well Scully, she just got shot I'm not going to push my theories on her" He smiled
"Well what do you say? We go back tonight and begin the investigation tomorrow?"
"I'm not going back to that neighborhood. There's a Days Inn down the street, how's that sound?"
"Great. Anything sounds better than Arcadia's clone." They walked out of the hospital taking solace in the temporary calm of the situation.
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Well there you go, chapter four. I hope I still have some readers left since the little hiatus I took in between chapters. Please leave me some reviews. They'll motivate me to write chapter five.
-Nikka