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"Damn it!" Mulder cursed as they ran into an empty room. "If we hurry, we can still catch them!" Scully said as she led the way to their car, they jumped in just in time to see another vehicle roaring out of the hotel parking lot. "I'm not the only one, you know. There are others like me, many others. None of you will be able to extinguish all of us in your lifetimes." Candace said to Cigarette Smoking Man, who sat in the front passenger seat. "I think that you underestimate our recourses, young lady." He replied coldly. "That's not what you're thoughts tell me." She replied with the same brand of coldness, he sharply turned to face her & pointed a gun to her head. "I could kill you right now." He hissed. "But you won't because you need me to find someone else like me… Gibson Praise." She replied. Candace smiled to herself as Mulder's thought's filtered into her head. 'I'm coming for you; I won't let what happened to Gibson Praise happen to you.' She knew he would make good on his promise because she could see the areas of his mind & soul that even he had forgotten about, in retrospect, she knew him better then he knew himself.
Mulder took his frustration out on the steering wheel, even the car's horn seemed to protest as he blasted loudly in response to his beatings, but he was too upset to care, in all the chaos, he had lost sight of the car that had Candace. He had let her down, just like he let Gibson down, twice now he hadn't been there when he was needed most. "Mulder, calm down before you hurt yourself." Scully said as she gingerly put a hand on his shoulder. "I let them down, Scully, first Gibson, now Candace, I let them both down." He said as he collapsed against her. Scully quickly overcame her momentary surprise & embraced him; she was suddenly flushed with the feeling of delight that he was choosing to lean on her for comfort & support, he was choosing her as his source of strength. 'Mulder.' a voice floated into his mind, though not one of the speaking varieties. 'Don't think, just listen. The place where they are keeping me is about thirty miles ahead of you to the east, the road will dead end into a fork, take a left & go until you can't go anymore, & you can't miss it.' "Mulder… where are we going?" She said as he threw the gearshift into reverse & did a wild one-eighty in the lose gravel of the soft shoulder. "To find Candace, I know where she is." Scully didn't even bother to ask how.
Candace squinted up against the harsh overhead light at the one of Cigarette Smoking Man's large henchmen. "You can keep me tied up in this chair until the sun begins to die & engulfs the earth & I still wouldn't be able to tell you where Gibson Praise is!" She said frustratingly, the agent cruelly backhanded her, blood spurted from her mouth. "Gibson has the same abilities that I do, unlike normal people, he can feel me trying to probe his mind, he's blocking me, & his power is remarkably strong." She said as she wiped her dribbling blood on her shoulder. Of course, what she had really done was send a telekinetic warning to Gibson about these men, leaving these poor souls in her company none the wiser. "Sir, there's been a security breach!" One of the other agents said as he ran in. "Take care of it! I don't need to remind you what will happen if you don't." Smoking man said sinisterly as he snuffed out his cigarette with his toe.
"I know that this is a futile suggestion, but don't you think that we should have called for backup?" Scully said as they ran cautiously down a dank, moldy hallway. "I don't think so; I've had bad experiences with backup lately." Mulder replied humorously, despite their situation as footsteps were coming their way. "Any ideas?" Scully said as she looked for an outlet but there was none." Just one." Mulder replied as he pulled off the vent cover of the air conditioning duct & hoisted her up before clamoring in after her. They dared not breathe as they watched the sizable group of men below, dressed in full riot gear & armed with AK-47's disperse in several directions. "How do you suggest we handle that kind of firepower if we were to come up against it?" Scully said as they crawled through the dusty shaft as quietly as possible. "I don't plan to come up against it… if I can help it." He replied as he stopped at a vent to check their location. "There she is!" He whispered excitedly. "Okay, what's your plan to rescue her without becoming captives ourselves?" Scully asked. "I don't have one." He said as he kicked the vent open & dropped down; Scully put her hand to her forehead & reluctantly followed. "Hey there, cutie, I knew you'd come. I never lost faith in you." Candace said with a wink. "Hey, you can thank me when we're safely out of here." Mulder replied as he worked to untie her. "Leaving so soon, Mr. Mulder?" Cigarette Smoking man said quietly as he stood at the door with his army. "Yes, & I think we'll take the side door." He said as he hoisted Candace & Scully into the vent. "Kill them." Smoking man said calmly as he lit a cigarette, the men suddenly fell to their knees, clutching their heads in agony. "Let's go." Mulder said as he nudged them along.
"What was that you did to those men?" Scully asked as they arrived at the bus station. "I call it the brain scrambler, it was forbidden at the facility, but I taught it to myself anyway, I just had a feeling it might come in handy." She said. "How long does it affect them?" Mulder asked. "As long as I want it to & just think I can do that to anyone that gives me any crap." She said with a dubious wink. "Candace, I think that you're going to be all right, but I have one question before you go…" "Why we were able to communicate telepathically? It all has something to do with what happened to you a few years ago concerning a certain piece of strange material, a piece of an ancient spaceship if I'm not mistaken. You're encounter with the material of that craft forever altered your brain waves & function, in other words, you might become like me… if you live long enough, that is." She said with a wink as she gave them both a quick hug. "Are you okay?" Scully asked Mulder as they walked to their car. "Yeah, but we'll always be able to keep in touch." He said, grinning as he patted himself on the head. "Scully I want to finish the conversation we started back at the hotel, I want to you to know that I love you, more then I can ever express." He said "You don't have to express it, Mulder, just knowing how you feel is enough for me." Scully said as she placed her hand over his.