Chapter 6

"What the hell kind of operation are you running?"

They'd had to buzz Cat and Alex in, but frankly Barry was beginning to think that their security would've been as effective against them as it had been against the fake Jay Garrick. The idea that the maximum level of security would stop the woman who'd called Putin 'warmed over Stalin' to his face seemed ridiculous.

"You told me you had a plan for this," It was entirely clear who Cat was focusing her venom on. Then everyone realized whose plan this was. "I didn't help get the X-Files reopened so that Supergirl would end up in a body bag."

"I'm sorry," Mulder said quickly. "I know how the Syndicate operates, but I didn't think they'd be crazy enough to hire the Joker!"

All of Cat Grant's rage disappeared in an instant. She whirled to Alex. "Did you know about this?" she demanded.

Alex looked as stunned as Grant to hear this. "All they told me was that she'd been exposed to red kryptonite. I didn't even think that smiling psychopath knew about it, much less how to get some."

Barry looked at her. "I think the Syndicate was more than happy to provide him with whatever he needed."

Alex looked a little unsettled now. "Waller and Lillian Luthor may be sociopaths, but you'd think, given all their experiences, they'd know better to send an undeniable lunatic to work for them."

"They say great minds think alike; unfortunately, so do unbalanced ones." Cat Grant said grimly. "Like the crime bosses who hired him in the first place, they must've thought they could've controlled him somehow."

"That's what's been messing with my head," Mulder admitted. "The Syndicate, however, contorted they may be. They've got rules. The Joker doesn't have any."

"Mulder, whatever you're thinking, do not try to get inside that freak's head," Oliver told them. "That's just a black hole you'll never get out of him."

"Trained minds have gone nuts just trying," Diggle said knowingly.

"Believe me, I know all too well that if you try looking hard enough to the abyss, it could ruin you," Mulder said. "Bill Patterson, who taught me everything I knew, got so deep into his last profile that he ended his days screaming at rubber walls."

"The problem is, the Joker isn't just insane, he's smart insane," Cat Grant told them. "I read the stories about when he first showed up in Gotham. He went around claiming he was an anarchist and an agent of chaos. Its bullshit. He has plans so elaborate Al Qaeda would be impressed at their intricacy. "

The bulb went off in Barry's head at last. "He baited us so that Supergirl would grab him," he said.

"Well, that part's obvious now," Alex said sarcastically. "But why'd he set her off in the first place?"

Mulder grimaced. "He wanted her to attack Barry and cause chaos," he said dully. "Ever since Scully and I've been in the public eye, we've had the public on our side. It's dangerous to attack us directly. So they attacked us by going after our biggest ally. And since they couldn't physically hurt her…"

"They turned her in to a loose cannon," Oliver said.

And now, all the goodwill we've managed to build up in the last few weeks has been completely undone. "Felicity realized. "They couldn't have done a better job wrecking our image if Cadmus had filmed the thing and put her in their next viral upload."

"Where do you think they got the kryptonite? Craig's List?" Alex said dully. "My sister's going to be really pissed when she wakes up."

"Tell her I'm pissed enough for all of us," Cat Grant said. "I don't think I've given this shadow government enough credit until now."

"What else did they do?" Oliver asked.

"The last year I've staked my company's reputation on Supergirl, then on Mulder and Scully," Cat Grant reminded them. "In addition to damaging all of you, they've now put a major dent in my reputation."

"I figured it was going to cost you staying loyal to us," Scully said. "How much damage will this do to you now?"

"More than I'm willing to admit publicly," Cat allowed. "When I took the approach of not rushing to judgment on what happened a few hours ago, those fine sharks on my board smelled blood. They don't want my head on a pike yet, but if things don't improve markedly soon, there's a chance I may get a very substantial golden parachute before they turn me into an emeritus."

Mulder actually sat down on one of the chairs. "So now I'm taking down media moguls in my quest for the truth."

Cat raised an eyebrow in a very familiar fashion. "Has he always carried the world on his shoulders?" she asked Scully.

"No, but he's pretty good at self-flagellation," Scully told them.

Cat Grant walked over to him. "Oh, if we had only met a few years before we did," she said softly.

"You'd probably be a joke writer for Kimmel," Mulder pointed out.

"Yes, but he would be number one in the Nielsen ratings," Cat turned serious. "You may not be wearing a mask or can fly, but trust me when I tell you, you've got the whole superhero complex down flat."

"Catherine as skilled as you are, you're bashing your head against a stone wall," Scully told her. "I made some version of this speech a hundred times over our years at the Bureau. His hearing is great except when it comes to the fact that he's responsible for everybody on the planet."

"Hey, you didn't have a death vision where that was true," Mulder told them, only half in jest.

The people in the room had heard and seen a lot, but this involved a lot of staring. "I was experimented on with the alien virus, rubbings of an ancient artifact amplified my brain so I could hear everybody's thoughts, I ended up comatose, yada yada, the Cancer Man drilled a hole in my head and I had a major vision that showed be living a normal life in the suburbs and dying as the world ended. You know, typical Friday."

They all took this in. "Its official, Oliver," Diggle said. "The world was already weird long before you returned from the island."

"You go on those kinds of hallucinatory quests often?" Cat just sounded curious.

"Every year or so," Mulder told her. "It tells you a lot that they never made much sense even to me."

"No wonder you had a complex," Cat turned around. "As for the present crisis, do we at least know why the Joker was set on you in the first place? Besides the current problem."

"We think so." Caitlin walked up. "Incidentally, despite the circumstances, it's an honor to meet you. I'm Dr. Caitlin Snow."

Cat shook her hand. "Despite my many accomplishments, I'm still not particularly science literate. Can you dumb it down who got her Merit Scholarship in Journalism?"

Caitlin smiled for the first time since coming back from her mother's. "I have a hard time believing you couldn't follow anything, but we'll do the best we can."

Back and forth, Caitlin and Mulder explained the research that the Syndicate seemed to be after in the first place: Mulder explaining the compound's original use; Caitlin what it might be used for now.

"I'm not sure what's weirder," Cat Grant said when they were finished. "That it was supposed to be used for time travel or that's not why the Syndicate wants it."

"That brings up an interesting point," Scully asked. "Did the Syndicate know its original purpose?"

"If they had people inside the Bureau back then, they must've," Oliver pointed out. ""What it comes down to is whether or not Ianelli is on their team."

"And that's the question we need to answer," Mulder said. He turned to Caitlin's mother. "They clearly knew you were working with Henderson Labs. Was there any record there of where you got your original research?"

Tannhauser shook her head. "You think that they might've come there to get that information after…" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"That is the approach they've been known to take," Scully reluctantly admitted.

"The missing piece is Ianelli," Barry said. "We need to find out where exactly she is before our new evil overlords do."

Cisco looked at Felicity. "Care to do some more hacking?"

"After our last experience turned out so well," Felicity shook her head. "That's a joke for the uninitiated. Every time we do this kind of work, something goes ball-up."

"It does seem to be a trend," Caitlin looked at her mother. "What's the last contact information you have with her?"

"You sure? This goes wrong, it may end up killing her," Tannhauser told them.

"It may also save her life," Mulder reminded her.

Caitlin's mother acquiesced and took out her phone. "Last known contact information. Bear it mind, it was over a week ago. She could be in Vladivostok by now."

"It's never stopped us before," Caitlin said.

Barry looked at the clock. "We'd better see how Kara's doing," he told Alex. "When we get a location, we're going to need her help to get there first."

"Little brusque there. Am I starting to rub off on you?" Oliver asked, only partially in jest.

Barry paused. "Actually, maybe I'd better talk to her first," he said, starting to look a little flushed.

"Why would you want to do that?" Alex sounded a little pissed.

"Because when Joker used red kryptonite, it kind of make her talk as blue as her cape," Cisco said slowly.

This was new to Alex. "You mean…" she started.

"Yes." Barry said.

"So before she attacked you, she…"

"Attacked me." Barry said. "And I'm not looking forward to telling Iris about how hurt I was in the battle."

Everybody looked at Barry. "Um, you haven't told her yet?" Diggle asked slowly.

"I'd already gotten torn apart by one woman. I was taking a break before Round 2." Barry actually sounded a little more heated than usual.

Mulder stepped forward. "I'm probably the last person in this room qualified to give relationship advice, but don't fuck around. It will do more harm than good."

"Mulder, we weren't together," Scully started.

Now Mulder raised an eyebrow in an all too familiar way. "Phoebe Green. Diana. Hell, I met a cute entomologist and you packed your bags in the middle of the night and drove to Massachusetts. I'm more than willing to admit it cut both ways, but don't deny it bothered you."

Scully grudgingly nodded. "Your fight was all over the web. It's hard to think she doesn't know at least part of it."

"It's the first part I'm worried about," Barry admitted. "Why did I think my life was going to get easier when she knew I was the Flash?"

"As I recall, that didn't go well either," Cisco reminded him. "We'll get her and Joe over here."

Barry seemed smaller than he had in awhile. "Tell them to take their time."

Kara slowly opened her eyes. She had only the vaguest of memories of what had happened before she had passed out, and she was really hoping that she had hallucinated that part.

That she saw Barry was there and the expression on his face. If she'd had the strength, she'd have gotten out of there, walls or no walls.

"I don't know how to apologize for what I did," she said slowly.

"Somehow I don't think Hallmark makes a card for: 'You made a pass at a metahuman.' Barry said in a lot weaker tone then she'd known him to use before.

"I would like to give us both an out and say that the red kryptonite just made me act out in a way I didn't really believe," Kara said slowly.

"And I would be totally okay with that." Barry paused. "But that's not true, is it?"

Kara put her head in her hands in a very un-Supergirl like way. "There aren't a lot of people who know what its like to be us," she said slowly.

"Most of mine are in this lab," Barry acknowledged. "Doesn't your cousin understand?"

"He does," Kara acknowledged, "and he can be supportive. But it's easy for him. He found his soulmate on this planet. Alex grew up with me and she has a good idea of what I'm going through, but she had issues on her own. Jonn has an idea of what its like, but he's had literally thousands of years to adjust to it. Most of the ones who do understand what it's like are trying to kill me."

Barry looked at her. "I love Iris. I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't love her. There are only two other women in my entire life who I've ever had an easy rapport with as her. One is Felicity, and she's always been Oliver's soulmate, even when both of them were denying it."

He took a long deep breath. "I've spent the last two years fighting off metahumans, time travelers, and all kinds of bizarre creatures. But in all that time, I've never met anyone like you. It was easy to think of it as a one-off when I went back home. But after… after my father was murdered, Iris reached out to me in a way she never had before. And I ran to the ends of the earth rather than turn to her for love. Iris has always been my endgame, even when I wasn't hers. What does that say about me?"

"We may be in the same business, Barry, and we do have a lot of common, but we don't really know each other at all," Kara said.

"You know Oliver a bit better," Barry pointed out. "Kryptonite to your head, if he'd been in that same situation, do you think you'd have reacted the exact same way?"

Kara didn't hesitate. "Not a chance. Granted if I had, he'd be dead, and we wouldn't be talking about it."

"That's not what I mean."

"We're in the middle of a crisis," Kara tried to deflect again.

"There's always going to be a crisis."

"Why are you pushing this so hard?" Kara finally snapped.

"Because I felt it too!" There it was. Barry wished he could take it back, but he didn't regret saying it either.

"So what do we do now?"

Barry didn't have an answer for that either. Nor did he have any idea about what he was going to say when Iris found out about this. The thing was his feelings about Iris hadn't changed either. He doubted that would make anybody feel better.

As was the case so many times when awkward situations like this came up, fate – or rather the intercom – intervened. "What is it?" Barry asked.

"This is either the worst time for us to interrupt or the best," Cisco said awkwardly.

"I think it's both," Barry admitted. "You got a location on Ianelli?"

"To quote our new friends from the Bureau: Do you doubt our kung fu?" Barry was puzzled. "I guess that's how hackers talked in the nineties. It just sounds like a bad movie to me."

Mulder could tell that their two super-enhanced friends have resolved nothing over the last twenty minutes. The tension between them wasn't quite as palpable as it had been every time he and Scully had a disagreement, but it was close. Oliver was doing his level best to ignore it, and for now everyone else was following his lead.

Mulder was not an expert on relationships – that may have been the only phenomena he and Scully weren't qualified to elucidate on – but even he could tell that pretending this problem wasn't there wasn't going to help anybody, least of all Barry and Kara. This kind of trouble could end up being problematic in people who didn't have superpowers, and now in the middle of a major operation, it could have consequences that he couldn't begin to foresee. But he also knew from past experience that trying to force the issue would cause these strong-willed people to dig in even harder.

"I'm guessing we're just supposed to pretend we didn't hear the Flash and Supergirl having an emotional breakdown?" Scully said in a low voice.

Mulder did what he did so often in the past: he walked over to Scully and put his hand at the small of her back. "You want to pretend we're qualified to give relationship advice here?" he said softly.

"I'd think we were the most qualified people," Scully countered.

"Scully, there was a pool going on in the Bureau for years as to when we'd finally wise up," Mulder reminded her. "Need I remind you that Tom Colton won it?"

"And then only because he made a joke bet," Scully gritted her teeth.

"Say what you will about that invertebrate, he was right," Mulder countered. "He bet that it would only happen when one of us was dead and buried. Admittedly, he didn't have the foresight to add 'and then that person will come back from the dead', but we got to give him credit where it's due."

Scully lowered his voice. "It should've been obvious that it had happened before that."

"There was a pool on who the father was too, remember?" Mulder countered. "The point is we operated in the blind in this field for years. The people we investigated picked it up in a few hours and we kept ignoring it."

"It was almost a running gag at one point," Scully admitted. "But don't you think the next generation should be able to benefit from our mistakes?"

"You do know that some of us have really good hearing," Oliver said in a stage whisper.

Neither of them even blinked at this. "So I'm guessing you're going to ignore the elephant and try and concentrate on the operation?" Mulder said smoothly. "Because all of us know, if there's an expert at keeping perfect emotional control during the most stressful of scenarios, it's you."

Oliver was better at keeping his poker face than Buster Keaton, but Felicity and Diggle knew him well enough to know that Mulder couldn't have hit him more clearly if he had shot him between the eyes.

"Based on the satellite readout, Lisa Ianelli was last seen in the regional section of Osaka," Felicity knew better than to poke either of these particular bears.

"How recent is the last reading?" Barry asked.

"She checked into a hotel less than an hour ago," Caitlin told them. "How long she'll be there is a matter of some debate. We've done some work on her back trail, and she's been on the move for the last week. She barely stays at any single location for more than a night, and then she moves on."

"She knows someone is after her, even if she doesn't know who," Mulder reasoned.

"Well, she's not going to be inclined to listen to anybody who happens to show up at her doorstep, even if it they are a superhero instead of the Syndicate," Oliver pointed out.

A horrible thought occurred to Mulder and Scully simultaneously. "No, but there is someone she will listen too, even if she doubts their motives," Mulder said slowly.

"You're not talking about my mother, are you?" Caitlin asked. "Because she's been through enough for one day."

"Actually, he was talking about us," Scully said sadly. "We're the ones who have a history with her, remember? And we're working for the FBI again. It wouldn't be out of the question for us to track her down to try and figure out what the hell she's doing and who's she working for."

"Plus, given the expansion of government resources over the past fifteen years, she wouldn't have much cause to question how we found her so quickly," Mulder reminded them. "Man, I never thought I'd have a reason to be grateful for the NSA."

For a moment, Mulder and Scully had managed to fully divert everybody's attention from the mini-romantic drama that had been unfolding. Kara actually looked more alert than she had since regaining consciousness. "You do know that this will be very dangerous?"

"Have you forgotten what work in the X-Files required?" Mulder sounded mock indignant. "It will be extremely dangerous, and probably involve one or both us getting injured, if not abducted for a brief time. And that's assuming that you don't drop us when you're getting us to Japan."

Now Scully looked alarmed. "Mulder, you're not serious."

"We've got to get there before Ianelli decides to move again, remember?" Mulder pointed out. "Besides, I know getting flown or superspeed to a far away destination has been on your bucket list for at least the last five years."

"So was whitewater rafting the Zambezi!" Scully actually seemed unnerved for the first time that any of the people from the various superhero teams had seen her. "It's something I wanted to do before I died, not that might actually kill me!"

"It's not that dangerous." Barry was clearly more engaged as well. "I've done it with practically everybody here and nobody's had any ill effects."

"Speak for yourself," Diggle said strongly. "Every time you've done it to me, my motion sickness goes up to eleven…hundred."

"Not exactly the message we want to try and send out," Oliver said in a low tone, though admittedly he'd had issues with it as well.

Scully shook her head. "You'd think being abducted by aliens would actually make you reluctant to travel the same way."

"Somehow, I think it'll be safer this time," Mulder countered. "Besides, what are the odds?"

"We were in a department that investigated the impossible! You know what the odds are!" Scully shook her head even harder. "But what the hell. You'd just do it anyway. And someone's got to be there when it goes wrong."

'The fall'll probably kill you!' Mulder said in a not-bad Paul Newman impersonation. He turned to Kara. "Can you carry both of us?"

"I'm Supergirl, remember?" Kara actually sounded indignant.

"Right, forget I asked. What I meant to say was are you feeling back in condition to carry us?"

"To Osaka?" Kara thought for a moment. "I think I can manage it. Just don't ask for door-to-door service. You sure you're up for this?"

"As long as you don't take me to a steel bed, where pincers hold my cheeks open and the tissue in my soft pallet drilled, then no problem," Mulder said briskly. He knew everybody was looking at him, because he added. "That wasn't on my bucket list, but it was checked off anyway."

Cisco looked at him. "What's the health insurance like at the Bureau?"

"Not nearly good enough," Scully told them. "But it never did cover acts of extraterrestrial."

"Maybe that's the real reason the Syndicate was formed. But enough witty banter." Mulder looked at Felicity. "How long would you need to hook us up?"

OSAKA, JAPAN

3:54 A.M.

Scully shook her head. "If I ever complain about flying coach again, remind me of this experience."

Mulder shrugged. "Still beat flying TWA."

Kara was beginning to wonder if she would be this cynical about the paranormal was she was as old as Mulder and Scully. Then again, they had been doing longer than she'd been alive. They were entitled to a certain amount of jadedness.

"You guys got the hookup?" Mulder said in the earpiece.

"Reading you both loud and clear. Give us another minute to position the satellites," Felicity said. "And I know you guys may have seen everything, but that's your reaction to flying with Supergirl?"

"You get dragged through the sewer by a giant Flukeman or chase after a Chupacabra across a migrant camp and then have to file an expense report justifying your dry cleaning, and then we can talk," Mulder said quietly.

"We are never going to win the bragging contests with them, are we," Diggle said ruefully.

"Not when they had to do everything they did when the Internet was a figment in Al Gore's mind," Cat Grant told them. "If I'm reading this right with my old woman eyes, Ianelli is staying at the Blue Water Hotel about three blocks from you. Paradoxically, it's the building with the yellow flashing stars on it."

"You slumming with the tech nerds now?" Scully said with a trace of humor.

"You have your bucket list, I have mine." Cat replied. "And considering my resources and experiences, mine are, shall we say, a little more humdrum. Besides, the last year I've been on the other side of most of these."

"No offense, Miss Grant," Caitlin said reluctantly, "but these things do have a tendency to go horribly wrong no matter who's running them."

Cat gave one of those smiles she rarely did. A more real one than the one her audiences had come to know over the years. "Then I'll feel a little less guilty if I muck it up."

"Hang back, and stay in plain clothes," Mulder instructed Kara. "We don't need to spook Ianelli any more than she already is. No offense."

"None taken," Kara allowed. "I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Which you'd have a better chance of spotting before we would anyway," Scully reminded her. "And you'd have a better chance of stopping."

"Fair enough." Kara paused. "And if I can't stop it?"

"Then we're doomed anyway," Mulder said almost cheerfully. "In which case don't bother warning us. So much has happened in my life I would almost like death to come at me by surprise."

"If the record is right, that's what will happen anyway," Scully sounded just as playful for a change.

"What are you talking about?" Kara said puzzled.

"Oh, just something that Clyde Bruckman said…"

"…that we will never, never repeat!" Mulder actually sounded eager to get them out down the hall.

"I always said your porn obsession would be the death of you," Scully said cheerfully.

"And we have a fugitive mad scientist to find," Mulder practically started running to the door.

"Actually, I'd like to hear about this," Cat said.

"So would I," Diggle and Cisco said almost simultaneously.

"This is because I made Supergirl fly us here, isn't it?" Mulder said in a woeful voice.

"Actually, it's because you said she'd hardly feel a thing carrying me here," Scully said cheerfully.

"I'm not sure we can help you."

"Don't you understand what the letters on this badge mean?" Mulder said exasperated.

"Yes," the clerk said patiently. "And if we were in America, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But unless you have either a warrant or an extradition pass from our embassy, we are under no obligation to help you."

"Ten million people in this city; we get the one person who happened to watch every episode of Law and Order," Mulder said.

"It's not like our badges ever did us much good when we were in America," Scully reminded him.

"Mr. Tamaguchi," Mulder tried again. "Don't think of it as helping us. Think of it as helping her. We're not the only ones looking for Dr. Ianelli. There are dangerous people out there who won't even think once about killing her or anyone who tries to get in their way."

"And that's the polite approach," Scully told them. "The simpler one is, they already know where she is, will blow up this hotel in the middle of the night, and blame it on the Taliban."

This actually got Tamaguchi's attention. "May I see that picture again?" he asked in a humble tone.

Mulder showed him the picture on the phone. He studied it. "She asked for reservations for the night. Paid cash instead of using a credit card. Flinched when I asked her for identification."

"Which room?" Scully asked.

"704."

Mulder looked at them. "We'll need a keycard. Once you give it to us, turn the lights out and lock every door in this place. Don't open it to anybody who tries to come in until we call you and say we have her."

"Go to your office and lock the door after we got on the elevator," Scully added. "Until then, no one enters, no one leaves."

Tamaguchi nodded and handed them the card. "Is this woman dangerous?"

"Only for what's in her mind." Mulder said.

"Do you always have to leave people wondering what you're talking about?" Scully asked as they went towards Ianelli's room.

"I thought you'd realized by now it was part of my mystique," Mulder said calmly.

"You don't think it's a little dangerous telling them that much?" Oliver said into his earpiece.

"I thought they deserved to know before it happens."

This was said so matter-of-factly Scully almost stopped dead in her tracks. The people at STAR Labs weren't sure they'd heard right. "What are you saying?" Cisco asked.

"As someone who has been investigating the paranormal before most of you were learning how to walk, there's something you should know. Something I honestly thought would be crystal clear to you, if for no other reason than you've been doing this job for awhile yourselves." Mulder sounded darker than he had in awhile. "Most of the people who we get involved with – and I'm not just talking about the rare few who ally with us, but basically anyone who spends more than a few minutes dealing with us, they die. Usually at the hands of whatever we're investigating. Usually because they don't believe what we're telling them, but even when they do. It can be short; it can be painful, but its happened more times than I can count. So often that I've really forgotten the faces of all of them by now."

Mulder had been forthright with everybody he'd talked with so far, and by this point they'd all read at least some of the files. And it wasn't as if they hadn't all lost at least one person who'd been important to them during their own quests. But to hear him say so casually about the body count that was associated with what they did was shocking even to Oliver, who really did think he'd seen in all in the five years he'd been away from Star City. "Things are different now," Barry started.

"Actually they're not," Mulder sounded positively vituperative at this point. "Oh, I grant you more people believe and some of those that do have super powers or are very skilled at defending themselves. That changes nothing. Make no mistake. We are up against a group that has been conspiring for decades with a species that has already succeeded in their task in planet after planet. We're approaching a stream of blood, which will lead to a river, which will in turn lead to an ocean. I thought for a long time that I was trying to get the truth out there so that the world could know. After doing as long as I have, a much larger part of me simply wants to people to know what happens before it hits them. They deserve that much if nothing more."

This did not sound like the Mulder who'd been speaking to them even this morning. "Then why are you doing this at all, if everything's so bleak?" Barry demanded.

"I've wanted to give up," Mulder said as he started walking again. "Thought about a lot when I was on the run." Then he looked at Scully. "Maybe sometimes you just need someone to believe in you. To give you hope. Right now, I'm holding on to one thing. The date was set, and then it changed."

That was actually more puzzling than a lot of what Mulder had said before. Cisco was about to ask what Mulder was talking about when Kara, who had been quiet ever since Mulder and Scully had gone into the hotel, spoke up.

"I know you told me not to tell you if there was a problem, but I think you're going to want to hear this," Kara said with a tone of warning.

"Ah, the enemy has finally caught up with us," Mulder said. "And what monsters have they sent to try and stop us?"

"Well, that's the part I'm still kind of having a problem with," Kara said carefully. "And bear in mind who the messenger is."

"What are you talking about?" Scully asked.

"I think I have an idea," Cat Grant said slowly. A Lincoln town car was right in front of the building, and two people had just gotten out of it.

Two very familiar people.

"To paraphrase the great philosopher Pogo," Cat Grant said. "We have met the enemy, and they are you."