Author's Notes: As I said before, this is AU, so the LONE GUNMEN ARE STILL ALIVE! (Throws a party) Okay, now on to the story.
"She never was and never will be.
You don't know how you betrayed me.
And somehow you've got everybody fooled…"
Evanescence, Everybody's Fool from Fallen
Chapter 21: Being Useful, Love is Weakness, Hello Ridder, and More Talking
There was an agonizing silence settling over the car Mulder was driving in. Jason sat in the passenger's seat, breathing deeply, trying to think of anything but his involvement in the case. He was not looking forward to Ridder discovering he was spilling his guts on years of government research. It would happen eventually, he knew that, but he doubted whether Ridder even knew if he was missing yet.
"Where are we going?" He asked. Mulder watched the road.
"To see some old friends." He replied, changing lanes as they moved out of the populated district of Washington and into the residential sector, finding their selves surrounded by high apartment buildings that loomed over Jason. They reminded him how deep he was in this and how fast he was continuing to sink. He wanted to run away now, break free from the corporate chains that were holding him in place and disappear with Darcy. He knew the chances of that happening were slim. Ridder kept tighter tabs on Darcy that Jason could even imagine. His levels of control exceeded the Syndicate's.
Mulder pulled into the parking lot of a rather old set of apartments, coming to a stop in the first available spot. Jason found the building one of the cheapest in town, something he'd find teenagers living in just before and during University because they couldn't afford anything better. He got out of the car when Mulder did, following the agent across the pavement to the front door feeling nauseas with each step.
The sun was just up over the horizon, shining out like a beacon and giving him some kind of optimism. It was a small shred of optimism though, seeing as how nothing ever went his way. Darcy, the only girl he ever loved, was a contract killer with an agenda that matched her employer. If Ridder said, "Jump," she'd ask, "How high?" If he said, "Kill your self," she'd ask, "How?" If he told her to murder off any men she'd had sex with, she'd come looking for him without complaint. She was his and yet it was only in body. Her mind belonged to Ridder whether he liked it or not.
"What do you want me to do?" Jason had to ask as they got into the freight elevator and Mulder pulled down the gate.
"I brought her cell phone here when Agent Doggett called me." Mulder said, pressing the button for the fourth floor. "Unfortunately someone from your department cut off all contact for the time being. I want to know where those numbers go."
"I won't be much help. Only Ridder would know where those numbers really go. You're going to need to trace them over the phone grid in Washington and that could take hours."
"Which is why we're here." Mulder replied. "I have some friends working on the numbers on the grid right now, but you've got some inside view on where they go. I need a list of names."
"Okay." Jason said with a nod. Mulder found it odd that someone this close to the conspiracy was so compliant, but up until that point his information had not steered them wrong, and he had also saved the life of the super soldier they were trying to hold as proof. Mulder couldn't think of a better way to get the phone numbers they had found in her cell phone.
The elevator opened on the fourth floor and Jason was shocked. The whole hallway was cluttered with computer junk, old hard drives and motherboards lying idly all over the place. Wires shot out from out directions and places Jason didn't even think wires could exist. Boxes and boxes of old magazines with scantly clad women on the covers were stacked outside the doors, and the name MULDER was scrawled on the side. Mulder coughed nervously, saying nothing, but walked by and knocked on the first door to the left.
"Byers? Langly? Frohike?" Jason looked inside anxiously, finding the apartments in much the same shape as the hallways. Metal book cases were on every wall with cardboard boxes with splitting sides occupying the shelves. He found himself in a technician's dream, the whole room filled with computer magazines and odd machines that did every chore imaginable. Magazines lay scattered on the counter, each one from the 1970's or 60's with the letters PC on every cover. On the counters in the far distances of the apartment there were stacks of newspapers.
Jason nearly had a heart attack.
"You took me to the Lone Gunmen?" He asked, cocking a brow.
"Where did you think you were going?" The shortest one asked. He looked frog-like with a wide mouth and large eyes that were dilated by the thick Coke bottle glasses he was wearing. Jason was in shock.
His whole division was selling stuff to the Lone Gunmen. It was the most popular topic with Ridder to discuss what would be put into the public next, and most of it was bullshit the Men in Black created for kicks. They would subscribe by giving the addresses of the government's Safe Houses and read them while laughing their asses off doing something trivial that they tried to fill their lives with. Jason could hardly believe Mulder had taken him here.
"Jason this is Frohike…" He pointed to the shortest one. "Langly…" The blonde in the background had hair the exceeded Darcy's, curled at the bottom and hanging limply around his shoulders. "And Byers." The tall, bearded gentleman appeared from the small kitchen in the back, looking at Jason. "This is Jason. He's going to be helping out with the Cell Phone numbers."
"Don't tell me you brought us a rookie." Langly said, doubting Jason greatly by his boyish appearance. Jason took some offence to the tone in his voice.
"I'm not a rookie."
"Sure." Frohike said sarcastically. "You've probably never even seen a computer."
"Down, Frohike." Mulder said jokingly. "I would not insult the grand mastery of hackers by bringing a rookie. Jason is a technician with the government."
"That doesn't change anything, Mulder." Langly replied. "I've seen techs with the CIA that can't even crack their own system."
"Actually the CIA system is based on grid levels, which makes it increasingly harder to crack with each year." Jason said as if trying to prove himself. "They add on a new layer every time their system is redone. Anyone can find that difficult."
"I'll give him credit for knowing something." Frohike added. "In a few years maybe we'll let him touch the keyboard."
Mulder was enjoying their little insult spew on Jason's behalf. Jason decided to end it.
"Of course all the real goods are on the FBI's website. If you can hack that system you're deemed a genius."
"Alright he has ruined his career as a hacker." Langly said. "The FBI system takes five minutes on a bad day. You can see every system by just typing three passwords and avoiding all detection, which you can do with an encryption box."
"Well than I'm sure you know all about the system labeled LL6Y." Jason said. He was getting odd looks from around the room, signaling that he was either insane or hallucinating. "LL6Y? The compulsive list of Undercover Agents in the world at any given moment? You have seen it, haven't you?"
The three exchanged a confused look, questioning whether or not they had in fact found such a system on their recent hacks of the FBI database. They looked back at Jason.
"But I suppose you weren't expecting a rookie hacker to know about that, were you?" He asked with a coy smirk on his face. Frohike shrugged.
"Alright Mulder, he passed the test."
Jason smiled.
"But I never said he could touch anything."
There was the hot sun and nothing more. That was all there was in her days as Jason's lover, and after that there was the chill of Ridder's office and the sound of a gunshot. But her life at that moment was the hot sun and the breeze that blew softly over her bare shoulders, bringing with it the smells of cinnamon and the tastes of smoking meats. She closed her eyes and could see the markets of Morocco, the children with their hands in their mother's, her unconditional love for them frightening.
It was blind to her, foreign and untouchable. It was terrifying to think of such unstable ground. Love was having your eyes covered and walking through a thunderstorm…
Love was weakness.
She curled closer to him, watching him sleep, his face relaxed and free of any of the day's pains and tribulations. She could see him in the mirror, watching her put on her make up, watching her try and cover up her tears and her sadness with dark colours to match her mood. He was so good to her, and what did she do? She scorned his feelings and his sacrifices. It never occurred to her that he could be gone one day. To her he was the only thing that continued and persisted. Male whores came and went in blurs of passion, but he remained, the only constant that stood still in a life that kept revolving.
He had not awoken when she came back into the room. The sun was up by then, filling their room with unnaturally white illumination. She dropped her bloodied gloves in the sink and sank onto the bed next to him, watching him vividly, memorizing him. Her hands were folded under her cheek as she lay there and dreamed about all that they had been through together.
"We cannot do this." She had once told him. He looked hurt at the words but the emotion was wasted on one who didn't understand pain. How could she? Pain was her ally. It told her she was alive. It gave her strength. Pain was useful to her.
But he was human, and she constantly forgot that.
"Ridder will find out." She told him, once again scorning his feelings for her with the tone of her voice. "And when he does he will have me kill you."
"I would rather die than…"
"Than what? Sleep with me? Fuck me? Love me?" She was curt with him because she had to be. He still looked like she was taking shots at him with a gun.
There was silence. She turned from him, looking out and into the welcoming darkness of the night.
"Besides…" She said, still not facing him. "I will fuck other men besides you. And the jealousy will drive you mad."
She stared at him on the bed, remembering that night vividly and accurately. Every drop of rain was catalogued in her memory, hidden away from the 'breed'. She couldn't believe he risked everything for her taste, for her touch, for her smell, for her love…
She stared at him on the bed, remembering that night vividly and accurately. Every drop of rain was catalogued in her memory, hidden away from the 'breed'. She couldn't believe he risked everything for her taste, for her touch, for her smell, for her love…
Love? You don't love him Darcy. You love the idea of him, but you are incapable of love. Look at you. The blood of thousands has brushed against your hands. You are invincible, but you are irrevocably alone.
Love is weakness…She recited in her mind.
But so is loneliness.
Darcy could not explain her infatuation with Agent Doggett, if that was even what it really was. She was never one for emotional relationships with men. They were her toys if anything. They were hers to play with and do away with as she pleased, and if they were incapable of pleasing her she killed them faster, and that was all.
Ridder was the first man in her life. He controlled her and she loved him for it. She needed the reassurance of control in her life.
This was how she would later describe her relationship with John Doggett, although she would never admit it to anyone but herself. John Doggett locked her away and held her at gunpoint. She hated loving him. She loved hating him. It was a cruel and vicious circle.
The scientists in Implantation searched the 'breed' for malfunctions, finding them completely in tact. They couldn't determine what was wrong with them.
Doctor Evan Admiral grabbed the phone and hit Ridder's extension. David picked up the phone and said nothing, waiting for an update.
"We've done all the scans we can do in this lab and we've found nothing wrong with the 'breed'."
"What about the state of her brain?" Ridder asked, knowing it could account for 'breed' malfunctions.
"We've just done both an MRI and a CAT scan and came up with only a mild increase in cerebral output. It's not significant enough to account for the changes you reported though. She should still be pretty docile with readings like this." Ridder was quiet while listening to Admiral. He breathed deeply.
"I'll be down in a minute to talk to her about it. Wake her up for me." Evan hung up the phone and turned around.
Implantation was on Level 6, 400 meters under the ground of Washington DC. It was the only level no one but Ridder and the doctors were able to access with their keycards. He moved quickly to the glass door, peering in through the windows.
The examination table was empty, something he found quite odd since the IV was still hung above it from when they had brought Darcy down. He grabbed his keycard and slid it through the lock, pressing in the 4-digit access code.
His access was denied. The door was jammed.
He tried again, finding that once more, the lock was jammed from the inside. Ridder hit the locking mechanism before looking back up.
Darcy walked out from around the large machines inside, a scalpel held menacingly in her fingers as blood moved down her front and over her arms. The white hospital gown was stained with blood and pieces of gore.
"Hello Ridder." She said. He glared. "Miss me?"
Monica grabbed the file from Scully with her good arm, the other bandaged up by the paramedics who had been by the house. The red haired agent looked painfully at the past, the face of her illegitimate daughter smiling up from her birthday cake.
"This answers one thing:" Monica said. "What Brad was supposed to get for his friend D.R."
"I've run a trace around Washington for those initials." Scully began as Skinner came up to them, the three inside the Doggett living room. "It's going to take a while to narrow the search."
"You two." He said, pointing at them. "I need you to come with me now. There are some things you have to know about Brad Follmer that I can't tell you in this house."
OOOO!!! R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R! Well actually since you've most likely already done one R you can just do the other and I'll be satisfied.