ACT FOUR
ACT FOUR - PART ONE
Scene 1 - Unknown Place
Moans and groans. Inhaling, exhaling. Wince and frown.
Mulder was restrained in his movements, fastened to a cold-like-stone long chair and unable to move his limbs and head for inches. Regaining a state of semi-consciousness after having been knocked out in the alley, he was restlessly struggling, instinctively pushing and pulling, forcing his trained body to overcome his chains. As if his last experience with the bad Russian guys of Purlieu Services had left hope and pluckiness in his muscles that were now acting by themselves.
Grinning under physical pain, eyes closed, his mind was meanwhile spiraling into limbo. Unable to settle, travelling through time and place. Restlessly coming back to the most nightmarish place imprinted on his brain cells, the Alien spaceship. Circling around remnants of utter pain and desperation, accompanied by lyrics dancing on a loop in his brain -'all the blood that I will bleed, I don't know where I belong, I don't know where I went wrong.'
Tears and howls. Huffing, puffing. Distress and agony.
Then, through the maelstrom of his confusing and painful sensations emerged a point of focus, inexorably attracting his attention and making his thoughts converge to it.
Scully.
The image of Scully waiting on the porch of their house.
'Love we need it now, Let's hope for some, Cause oh, we're bleeding out,' was now looping in his mind.
He managed to cut and run from the dark Alien ship and to come back home.
To anchor his thoughts to their shared home.
To Scully.
Scene 2 - Inside and Outside the Four Seasons Fitness Club
When Mulder had begun to tail the few suspicious men in the corridors of the gym club, Scully had immediately sensed a pang in her stomach.
Something important was happening. Or, rather, something dangerous was likely to happen to Mulder.
Scully hadn't been surprised to be warned this way and she hadn't wasted her precious time and rational mind to figure out the hows and the whys.
With time, she and Mulder had learned to be confident that parts of their brains -their hearts and souls, would rectify Mulder- would connect when needed. Neither of them believed they had psychic abilities, yet both were convinced they were able to sync their minds and feelings, especially in tense and crucial situations. Not that they had ever wanted to find any kind of explanation for what they were used to experiencing. It was just there between them, for decades, and if they had to put words on it, that would simply be trust and love.
Scully had been upset that she hadn't made any eye contact with Mulder before his disappearance from the exercise room. However, and despite the sense of emergency she had felt through her skin, Scully had acted cautiously and quietly. Taking time to reach Leyla and explain the situation, she had then discreetly left the room and tracked Mulder's path -forced to suddenly act in total contrast with her previous attitude.
This is how she had landed in a dark alley behind the building of the fitness club.
It was dark, smelling bad and trash dirty.
And, as much as she could say with her flashlight app, there was no sign of Mulder. No way to track him from his cell phone either -she had lost his signal when she had left the exercise room.
Another sudden sharp pain in her belly made her wince and flinch for a few seconds.
"MULDER!" she impulsively cried out loud into the darkness, realizing afterwhile that it was a foolish thing to do.
She inwardly swore at herself, and focused on her surroundings. There must be clues to find.
"Agent Scully!" a voice emerged a few meters from her. "Dana! Over there!"
On these words, a man stepped out from what seemed to be a cranny in the wall opposite Scully.
Scully picked up her gun, faced the man, and cried: "Don't move! Hands up!"
Spotlighting the head of the man who was obedient, she recognized the smiling shy face under a red cap displaying the 'MMGA' lettering.
"Tom?" Scully asked, lowering her gun. "Is that you?"
Scene 3 - Unknown Place
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
The yells suddenly invaded Mulder's peaceful place on the porch, catching him off guard as he was tightly cuddling Scully and whispering sweet words in her ear. His real body had even succeeded to completely relax, giving up any idea of freeing itself by its own will.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
Mulder opened his eyes with a jolt.
Desolation and agony immediately hit his whole body, making him choke then gasp for air. Punched by a freezing cold licking his skin and a sharp pain stabbing his limbs and back, he realized in a flash that he was completely naked, tightly fastened to a cold-like-stone long kind of seat -more a metallic skeleton than a sofa. And, surrounded by darkness.
Persuaded that he was once again in the damn Alien ship, he panicked.
"SCULLAAAY! SCULLAAAY!" he shouted as loud as he could, launching into hell his own magical incantation. The one that would have the power to save and free him from this nightmare.
"Freaking out like a sissy chick, Mister Fox Mulder?" asked a low voice emerging from the darkness and the chanting.
At least it was no Aliens, thought Mulder, released he wasn't doomed once more.
"Mister Brian T. Riddle, the Brain Eater, I presume?" he managed to say, retrieving some clarity in his head.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
In the background, the chanting was punctuating the dark scene. At that moment, Mulder became aware of the locution hymned by many male voices.
"Tom?" Mulder questioned. "Tom Riddle? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
Sniping pop quips was helping him recover his mind and appease his anxiety; and, he hoped, buy time to be saved and to keep his brain in one piece.
"Spooky Funny Mulder… Living up to your reputation!" the voice answered.
"What's yours, creepy Tom?"
"I thought you were more clever. So, you didn't figure it out? The meaning of TOM? It's not my middle name."
"An acronym? Trump's Our Master?"
"The President is just a diverting puppet, a means for our greater purpose. The advent of the True Over Men."
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
"You mean, the old concept of Über Mensch? You're lacking originality… What are you rebooting? Nietzsche? Superman?" Mulder said, stunned by such stupidity.
And he added, with all the scorn he could put in his words:
"I can tell you that once I encountered an Ubermenscher Tulpa. It was all garbage. Literally. Like you and your Toms are."
"Wow! Mister Mulder... It will be a great pleasure for me to play along with your smart brain. And to turn it into true garbage."
The devious man was standing behind the chair, hidden from Mulder's sight -an invisible malignant threat inches from his head. Mulder was aware that he had to act subtle against the psychopath and his minions. He hoped that Skinner, Holly and Leyla were already on his tracks.
And there was the question of Scully. Was she safe and looking for him, or captive close by?
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
"I thought only women were your guinea pigs," Mulder continued.
"Indeed. But... I can't stand a man like you, sneaking into my business. A man who represents the actual degeneration of true manhood. You need to be eradicated!"
"I'm not sure I understand the second part of your animosity toward me. Look, I'm all naked. I can't hide my true virility to you."
"I admit I'm envious of your impressive physique, Mister Mulder. You've taken good care of your body. But are you aware of your reputation as a pseudo man? Your flaws as a male are all located in your brain. You're softhearted. You're a whimperer. Spoiled by a lost sister. You're a nothing without your female partner at the Bureau. It's Agent Scully who has all the balls in the team. You have let her dominate you from the beginning. This woman is your weakness. Shame on you in the name of Great Manhood."
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
And, after a few seconds, the psychopath added fiercely in Mulder's ears: "She must be neutralized too, this nasty little bitch!"
"Where's Scully? What have you done to her? I swear that if you ever touch her I'll rip off your balls, fucking bastard! So you'd weep for your bollocks in a Trumpy Fucking Bear!" Mulder vociferated angrily.
Then, completely losing his nerves, he fiercely shouted: "SCULLAAY! SCULLAAY!"
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
"Ah, ah! That's exactly what I intended to do before taking care of your degenerate mind, Mister Mulder."
And, after a dramatic pause, the mad voice screamed, making the words reverberate against the walls hidden by the darkness then sneak under Mulder's bare skin:
"GET RID OF YOUR USELESS BALLS!"
ACT FOUR - PART TWO
Scene 1 - Unknown Place
Scully was following Tom Colton through a dedalus of tunnels and ladders, sinking into unknown dark underground territories of Washington D.C.
The two of them were tracked and tailed by the backup Leyla was leading, albeit far behind.
Scully hadn't wanted to wait for the reinforcements, the pain in her gut telling her she had to hurry.
Mulder needed her. Now.
She had followed Agent Colton without a shadow of a doubt, an act of faith and rationalism based on what Tom had confessed to her in a few words.
They were now reaching a discreet aperture in a wall, an opening to a tenebrous den revealing voices and shadowy figures.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!' was the hymn floating through the gloom.
"Mulder might be there," whispered Tom Colton to Scully. His voice and body were slightly shaking under the madness and wickedness exuded by the room ahead of them.
Scully stepped across the narrow breach, leaving Colton flattened against the wall, not wanting to be seen.
"Don't we wait for Leyla?" he muttered, so softly that Scully guessed his words rather than heard them.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
Scully sshed him with a left-handed gesture, her right hand already raising her gun. She was concentrating on the two other voices she could perceive over the chanting ones. As much as she could say, these extra voices were coming from an alcove further in the rear room. She stood on tiptoe, but her sight was unhappily hidden by the shadowy figures forming a rampart between her and the place where Mulder might -should- be.
Surprisingly, nobody seemed to control or watch the entrance she and Tom had arrived from. Wasn't that suspicious?
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
Scully was pondering her course of action when she began to distinguish Mulder's voice. She distinctly heard the words 'fucking bastard', making her heart stop for a second.
He was there. He was alive. He was still himself.
"SCULLAAY! SCULLAAY!"
Her heart jerked in her chest as Mulder's incantation fully hit her senses.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
Scully turned around to check on Colton. He had regained assurance and was quietly backing her up, gun in hand. She nodded to him and resumed her silent walk into the dim room, hearing the second voice pronounce words she couldn't discriminate.
Then, a loud and angry expletive.
"GET RID OF YOUR USELESS BALLS!"
This specific threat perfectly reached her ears. What was this battle of swear words? What was happening?
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
As she was getting closer to the rampart of bodies showing her their backs, she realized they must be in a state of trance, only chanting their hypnotic hymn and not reacting to what might occur in front of them -nor behind.
"NOOO! FUCKING NUTS!" Mulder screamed.
Then, the sound of a rope ripping through the thick air wrapping the freakish decor, the thump of crushed flesh, followed by a desperate "AAARGHHH!" and a concomitant stabbing pain in Scully's low belly.
'TOM! TOM! TOM!'
That was too much to bear. Too much to think rationally.
Scully bumped into the chanting puppets and rushed across them towards the faint lightened alcove.
In the blink of an eye, she took in the situation.
Mulder fastened to a chair. A mad man about to flagellate Mulder's naked body with an end-knotted rope.
Then, all happened in a matter of seconds -or even of milliseconds.
Scully firing into the mad man's shoulder. A bunch of red hatters diving onto her. Screams. Gun shots.
And, over the whole chaos, two visceral melded calls:
"MULDERRR!" and "SCULLAAAYY!"
Scene 2 - Unknown Place
Despite his odd attire, Skinner was emanating an aura of authority and steadiness amidst the chaos surrounding him. He was supervising and directing the disparate crew -FBI Agents, cops, paramedics- who were cleaning the whole mess resulting from their charge against the macho cultists.
Nobody seemed surprised to receive instructions from a man standing in briefs, wearing a T-shirt and sneakers. They had more urgent things to do than speculating on how the Assistant Director of the FBI had ended up without pants.
Skinner was fairly satisfied about the outcome of the operation. It could have culminated in a fiasco and a lot more casualties. Hopefully, the three agents who were in the first line -Mulder, Scully and Colton- were suffering low injuries, and those of the second and third line were unscathed. The only seriously wounded were a few members of the cultists, and there had been one fatality.
Skinner would have obviously preferred to capture Brian T. Riddle alive so they could close the case decently, then unfold and investigate all the ramifications of Riddle's criminal association. They would now have to only deal with his feeble pawns, hoping there would be enough matter to extract from them that would bring peace and justice to their victims.
It remained to shed light on the precise circumstances that had led to Riddle's death, but Skinner had no doubt that it had been an unavoidable casualty. Colton was maybe a bad shooter -he didn't intend to kill- but he had prevented Riddle from opening fire on Mulder. All had happened quickly after Scully's shot, forcing Colton to react instinctively. Scully was overpowered by a few minions when Colton had sneaked out from the dark, then spotted Riddle picking up a gun from his waist, pointing it at Mulder and apparently willing to angrily pull the trigger.
A fight had ensued for a few minutes -Colton being neutralized by the fully awakened chanting puppets, Scully struggling fiercely- when Skinner, Leyla and Holly had arrived, promptly followed by the cops that had been called as backups. All but a few criminals had then surrendered rather quietly, while some stubborn opponents had attempted to prove their true maleness -stupidly assaulting the armed cops then being injured by gunshots.
Skinner peeked at Colton. The unexpected agent was under the supervision of Leyla, taking care of him with the help of the paramedics. He was suffering bruises but was essentially shocked by the events. Standing close to them, Skinner could hear Leyla's words of comfort and worry. She was both proud of him and angry that he had been such a fool to act as he had; telling him he didn't need to prove his value or his manliness to her by taking such risks.
Leaving them some privacy, Skinner turned around and stepped away for a few meters.
He then glanced at his other couple of agents who had withdrawn from the now crowded room and settled down in a corner of the alcove. They were inhabiting their own bubble of intimacy, Scully having shooed away the paramedics when she had been assured of Mulder's relatively good state. She would take charge of him -of both of them actually, as she had also been contused in the melee. From his point of view, Skinner couldn't distinguish one body from the other, Mulder and Scully tightly embracing and their limbs so intermingled. A bit earlier, when he had wanted to formally check on them after the retreat of the paramedics, these two were already buried in each other's body, weeping and whispering in unison.
Skinner sighed and wondered in what state he would retrieve the coat and the sweatpants he had taken off and put on Mulder, as soon as he had untied him from the chair.
"Walter?" a voice said behind Skinner.
"Yeah," Skinner replied, turning around to watch Holly coming closer.
"Here, your bag with your clothes."
"Thanks, Holly."
Skinner wasn't unfortunate, after all.
Someone was taking care of him as well.
Scene 3 - Unremarkable House
Mulder and Scully were lying down on the sofa of the unremarkable house, both wrapped under a wide warm blanket, feet on the coffee table.
They were in a state of half-snooze due to the late hour, but they still weren't ready to surrender to their tiredness. They hadn't even established how they would spend the night -on the couch or in the bed, together or separately. What was certain was that Scully wouldn't leave Mulder alone and that Mulder wouldn't let her go. Certainly, they would stay in their present status quo, falling asleep side by side on the couch, Scully's head resting on Mulder's shoulder, Mulder holding her hand -and who knew in what position they would wake up in the morning.
When they had come back home -noteworthily still Mulder's home and not yet their shared one, but who cares at this late hour?- they had cleaned themselves, changed, and Scully had provided the medical attention for both of them.
Relieved that he had avoided vital damage on his most sensitive parts -he was even able to do the stairs up and down without help- Mulder had concocted some refreshments while Scully had called Skinner for an up-to-date information about the case.
This is how, after lightly drinking and eating, they were resting on the couch, under a wide warm blanket, feet on the coffee table.
"Really," Mulder said after a long quiet moment on the couch, "I would have never imagined Leyla marrying Colton."
"They are not married, they just live together."
"And they have two little kids together."
"Yeah... Hopefully, the kids were with their grandparents for the day."
"It's a small world, though."
"Indeed."
"So, Leyla didn't have any suspicion about Tom?"
"Apparently none. When Tom had been haphazardly approached by two of the Riddle's men, he had made connections with Leyla's investigation. He nevertheless kept it secret from her, in order to infiltrate the group as much as he could. He's a relatively newbie in the Headquarters, and he and Leyla are very discreet about their personal lives. No one knew about their relationship but a few. He really helped us on this one and saved the day."
"He's not the same Tom Colton we knew."
"People can change and redeem themselves."
For a little while, they let their mind wander about the perpetual question of good and bad.
"I'm sure Colton became a better guy because of Leyla," Mulder said.
"Women make men get better?"
"It happens, Scully, it happens. It's the power of true love, Scully. "
Then, they let their thoughts get lost in the eternal mysteries of love.
"Scully, do you think we'd be able to find out how Riddle was brainwashing women?" Mulder said at last.
"Don't know, Mulder. There was so little evidence in the place we ended up. But Riddle was shot in the chest, his brain is intact even if dead. I'd be able to perform some scientific procedures on it."
"Don't waste your time slicing and dicing the rest of his body. It isn't worth it. This man was weak in his right arm, not like Le Chiffre."
"I'm so glad that we live in the real world and not in a Bond movie," Scully said.
Then, with a slight raspy voice and squeezing Mulder's hand, she added:
"Fox... I cannot imagine what damage you would have suffered down there if it were the case."
"Me neither, obviously."
It was too terrible to think of what might have happened, so Mulder resumed their views about the task ahead to close the case.
"Riddle's dead, but we still have quite a bunch of pawns to question. Though, I think they won't be much of help. They seemed to be seriously brainwashed and dull, these MMGA guys."
"Sure… Do you think we'll find some answers? For us?"
"Tonight, I won't bet on that… We'll see."
"These MMGA guys, were they really connected to the POTUS?"
"We'll have to find out… There are strange similarities, though…"
They were about to speculate about the political aspects of the case when Mulder thought better.
"You know, Scully... I think I'll buy us two caps with nicely embroidered red MOLGA letters on it."
"MOLGA? Why? What does that mean?"
"Ah… Well…"
Mulder exhaled a long heavy breath, pondering what could be said.
He had launched his words as a mere pun, though, thinking of it, he had actually opened his heart and launched its deep expectations in the air. He could now seize the occasion and really commit them to the discussion they should have about their relationship.
However, as often, it seemed the wrong place, the wrong timing.
They were both tired, both shaken, both confused after this long and emotional day. They would have to settle down, to retrieve some normality, and to find the right moment amidst their weird lives to do so -the occasion you could never foresee but that just felt right when it was about to happen.
So, before letting it go for the night and before giving in to sleep, he took Scully's head in his hands and locked her eyes. He instantly sensed that he could anchor his heart to their blue shades for the whole night to come, the way he had anchored his thoughts to her body on the porch.
Yet, first, he had to sow seeds in these beautiful eyes, so they could take root in her soul.
"Dana... I'll keep you guessing on that one," he whispered. "You have to find your way leading to the MOLGA path, then choose to take a leap of faith and to step forward."
And, after a beat, "When you're ready, you'll tell me."
What Mulder held back was his determination to stand at the entrance of the MOLGA path, waiting for Scully's choice, as long as needed.
What he didn't say was that he believed in her.
That he believed in them.
That he believed in the slogan hidden in the acronym MOLGA, hoping it would be theirs for the rest of their life:
'Make Our Love Great Again.'
NOTES:
Some notes, now you have reached the end.
1) I fantasize that what Scully whispers in Mulder's ear in NLF during the Church scene is: "I'm ready to take the MOLGA path with you.".
2) Here the prompt I had received from Laia:
"Women in their early 40s are being targeted by a serial killer/kidnapper. FBI suspects it's an inside job (Maybe an agent or professor in Quantico). Paranormal or plain human-evil. Mulder as a profiler.
Scully "undercover" as a younger woman, using herself as bait to get close"
and
"Extra points for including known female agents (Leyla, Holly...). Banter, flirty, humor, cute grown-up Mulder. Preferably S11 pre-Plus One (I love UST but make it RST or another era if it fits better)"
I wish I have fulfilled the prompt in a satisfactory manner.
I know I didn't explore and develop the "profiler" aspects for Mulder. It was a choice for my story.
3) I also know that I didn't emphasize on the Case File and investigation aspects. I really wanted to write an emotional MSR centered fic.