Chapter 1

THREE WEEKS LATER

"You missed the turn-off."

"Agent Sawyer, there are rules about certain deference due to a superior agent." Mulder said, only half in jest.

"Agent Mulder is right." Scully paused. "You did miss the turn-off, by the way."

"I'm following an alternate route," Mulder said quickly.

Maggie Sawyer could tell even from the back seat that Scully's eyebrow was arched. "Which one?"

"The North Star."

"It's ten a.m." Scully reminded him. "We wouldn't be in this trouble if you'd just have the GPS working."

"You remember our past experience with artificial intelligence, don't you?"

"It's Alexa, not Invisigoth."

"I've got enough problems with human women telling me what to do. I'm not having a computer do the same thing."

"As I recall, Mulder, you never let anybody tell you what to do."

Maggie Sawyer was having a hard time not bursting into laughter. She'd only been acting police liaison to the X-Files for about a month, but it had taken her less than twenty-four hours to really love the back and forth between Mulder and Scully. Kara Danvers was right about them being soulmates even though they were complete opposites in just about everything. These were two people whose bickering was just that of a married couple; it was probably the kind of thing that got them down the aisle in the first place.

She had waited all of five minutes after getting the offer from Mulder and Scully to sign up with them. Considering they'd spent their entire life searching for aliens, she was a little shocked that the two of them had very little practical experience with them. (Then again, when the aliens in question are just trying to kill you, maybe you didn't want to get to know them better.) This was a dream assignment for her, and she'd been more than happy to lay out what she knew about the players in National City were. They didn't have any connection to the conspiracy that they'd spent their lives chasing, but Mulder was glad to have it anyway.

They had spent their first month on the job acclimating themselves with the Bureau's new operations and fielding countless offers from just about every government asking them for help trying to handle on this conspiracy. Mulder's had handled each and every one of these calls personally, but each time with the same reaction: go fuck yourself.

After nearly a week of this, Maggie asked the obvious question.

"'I'm shocked, shocked to hear that there is gambling going on in this establishment'", Mulder said bluntly. "There are only two reasons why the government wants to get on top of this. One, a major conspiracy has gotten past the agencies that are supposed to be running the intelligence community. They are trying to cover their asses and make it appear like they're on top of this. They don't actually want to solve the problem; they just want to make it look like they're solving the problem so they can bury it when the heat dies down."

Maggie figured there was a fair amount of truth to this; the police bureaucracy couldn't be that different from federal law enforcement. "And the other reason?" she asked.

"There are people within these agencies that have known exactly what was going on for half a century at least," Mulder reminded her. "They can't kill me and Scully outright, there's too much light on us, thanks to Cat Grant. So what they're going to try to do is deceive, inveigle and obfuscate until all the information that might trace back to the people in the shadows is gone for good."

"So if you're not going to take any help, how do you expect to stop them?" Maggie asked.

"Mulder never asks for help. This has always been his crusade," Scully said.

"Oh, I'm going to ask for help. But I have no intention for it to be government help. Besides, I think Scully and I are getting a bit long in the tooth to be jumping onto trains and getting into flying saucers."

"That was always your thing," Scully reminded him.

"Is that the only reason you recruited me?" Maggie asked.

"We're going to need to pass the torch to a new generation," Mulder said in his best JFK impersonation. "More importantly, we need to make sure that the people who help us don't have a problem breaking the rules, are too visible to openly go after, and can handle themselves in a fight. That's what the next step is."

Which was why they were en route to Star City. If Mulder could find the right turn-off.

"I'm still not sure why we're going to Star City in the first place," Maggie told him. "If you really wanted a big name that would definitely be on our side, why not go to Metropolis first?"

"I thought about it, and believe me Kara said she'd be willing to make the introduction," Mulder said. "I just think that from a purely PR standpoint, we should hold off."

"Since when do you care about PR, Mulder?" Scully asked.

"Superman is going to be a big get, but think about it. To try and stop an alien invasion, I've already recruited one alien, who despite having an entire government agency on her side, has a fair amount of enemies from without and within," Mulder told her. "Now Superman is everything she is and more. And not only has he got more people trying to take him out, he's got a goddamn billionaire who's declared him Public Enemy number one."

"Lex Luthor is considered a villain by half the world," Maggie reminded him.

"And until they found out what he was doing, there were people in both parties who wanted to make him President," Mulder reminded them. "We're already facing a battle from within our government. As soon as Superman becomes our ally, they'll have a public face to go against us."

"And that's why were about to recruit the Green Arrow instead," Maggie said doubtfully.

"I've done my research, Maggie," Mulder replied. "From everything I know over the last few years, the Green Arrow is the linchpin of every other vigilante, metahumans, and just some cranks in a costume that's emerged over the past four years. If I can convince him and his people that this is a cause worth fighting for, I'll get them all. And then, we might actually stand more than a snowball's chance in hell of winning."

"And just surprising him in his office is going to win him over?" Even Scully seemed to have his doubts. "Please tell me you're not going to wave his secret identity in his face."

"There's no scenario where doing that wins him over," Mulder agreed. "Even doing it this way is probably a hard sell. I'm hoping that if I treat him respect, he'll at least be willing to hear me out."

"Well at least you have a plan." Scully said. "In the old days, you would fly by the seat of your pants."

"Improvising isn't going to impress him. Any of them. I have to act as reasonable, sane and logical as I can while explaining the impossible. I'm just lucky that these are the kind of people who'll listen before they throw me out."

"And why exactly do I not going to witness this show in person?" Maggie asked.

"You've already seen the file we gave you," Mulder reminded her.

"I have. How sure are you that this is what you think it is?"

"Not sure enough." Mulder paused. "Or maybe I'm just hoping like hell I'm wrong."

"So you want me to find out if you are." Maggie paused. "How much do you want me to tell them?"

"That's why I'm sending you in the first place. I need you to take the temperature of the Star City police on the supernatural. We know that Oliver Queen and his inner circle are up on the paranormal; we need to know just how willing the rank and file are able to believe in it."

"And if they do?"

"Tell them to run," Scully said bluntly. "Because if they're not prepared for this fight, people are going to die. A lot of them."

STAR CITY MAYOR'S OFFICE

Oliver Queen had never liked being taken by surprise. Mildly ironic, when you considered what he did at night to criminals, and very much so when you considered how often it had happened to him since he had returned to Star City. So to say that he and the rest of Team Arrow were not happy when Agent Fox Mulder had called him less than twenty minutes earlier and asked if he and Agent Scully could pay him a visit would've been like saying Supergirl had a mild problem with kryptonite.

"May I ask what the nature of this visit involves?" Oliver said in his Mayor tone.

"Well, we're in Star City investigating a series of murders that have occurred in the past seventy-two hours," Mulder told them. "There's a possibility that there's a connection to a case that's in one of our files from our first stint at the Bureau."

Oliver looked at Felicity, who silently pulled up the police files.

"In any case, we thought it would be in your interest to know about this so you can be fully briefed."

"Well, I'm glad to here this. I just wasn't aware this was typical Bureau procedure."

"I'll be honest with you, your Honor. It wouldn't normally be. My entire first stint at the Bureau, any time a politician got involved with one of our case, it was usually to tell us that they would cooperate fully as long as we left quickly and didn't do anything that might may a future run for office a problem."

Despite himself, Oliver felt a smile cross his face.

"But I've seen some of the problems Star City has had to deal with in the last few years, and I thought since your relatively new to the office, any help you could get from law enforcement might be welcome." Pause. "And besides that, there are a few things that we have to discuss with you and your colleagues that are going to interest you."

And there was the stick. "What exactly are they?"

"I'd rather not say over the phone. "

"You don't trust me?"

"I didn't believe in a secure phone line before Edward Snowden fled to Russia."

Smart man, considering the first thing Oliver told Felicity to do was tap his and Scully's phones the minute they were in the building

"Ollie, I'll support you, but are you sure this is the smart play?" Thea asked.

"These people tried to warn us about unmarked helicopters, they wouldn't hitch a ride in one," Felicity pointed out.

"For better or worse, they work for the federal government, "Oliver reminded them. "Until we know exactly what they want in Star City – and I don't believe it's just to investigate some recent homicides – we have to consider them hostiles."

That became a lot harder to do just a couple of minutes after Mulder and Scully came into his office.

"We're sorry to intrude, Mr. Mayor," Scully said quietly. "I realize this is a demanding job, and the last thing you want to do is talk to a couple of feds."

"Demanding? Hell," Mulder said. "Being Mayor of this city is even more dangerous than being governor of Illinois. At least there, you only end up in prison if something goes wrong."

"I didn't exactly get this job by acclimation," Oliver reminded them.

"You got 45% of the vote after you withdrew from the race," Mulder replied. "Half the Democrats in Congress would kill for that kind of support. But honestly, politics isn't what we came to discuss."

"Then what did you come to discuss?" Oliver said. "I've kept abreast of what's going on in the Star City PD, but I'm not sure what kinds of suspicious death you're talking about."

Mulder and Scully exchanged the kind of glance Oliver was pretty sure that he and Felicity had done the same way countless times over the past four years. Mulder reached into his trench and removed a manila folder.

"Last Tuesday, a man named Samuel Thorne was found in one of the lesser heroin dens in your city. Not a very significant man or even a significant criminal. Couple of busts for selling Vertigo a few years back, no convictions. Not the kind of man you'd notice when he was alive or miss when he's dead." Mulder took out the photo. "Except very few people die this way."

Oliver put on a mask of the average billionaire-mayor shocked at seeing a gory picture. In this case, however, he didn't have to fake that much. "Where's his head?"

"It was found roughly ten feet away from his body." Scully told them. "Preliminary forensics would indicate that no blade was used to sever the head from the neck."

"Someone punched his head off his body?" A very nasty feeling began to run through Oliver.

"That's what it seems like." Scully told him. "I assume your department just figured it was some gang beef gone wrong."

"If they did, I'm going to make sure they're fired," Oliver said sincerely. "Slade Wilson killed my mother. If there's even a hint that someone is using that kind of serum again…"

"You'd have due cause for panic," Mulder admitted. "But that alone is not what drew us to this case. We connected this to the murder of a John Doe in National City found a week ago. No ID on the body, and it's not looking like there will be. Someone put their hand through his chest hard enough to penetrate it."

A lot of possibilities were running through Oliver's head, none of them good. "Is it possible someone is using the mirakuru?"

"I think it says a lot for the kind of work that we do that was our second thought," Scully said slowly. "We did find traces of an unknown substance on the body. And while there were some traces of chemicals that were found in the serum that nearly brought Star City to the brink two years ago, most of them weren't from there."

Oliver was a little perplexed – not a condition he liked. "From what?"

Scully looked at Mulder. "From Earth, Mister Mayor," Mulder said bluntly.

Even knowing what Mulder and Scully had been investigating on the national news, it was still another thing to hear it from the horse's mouth. He pressed a buzzer on his desk.

Mulder and Scully got up. "What are you doing?"

"This is usually the part where people laugh at us, tell us we're crazy, and tell us to get the hell out of their office," Mulder told him. "We were going to save you the trouble."

"I don't find this remotely funny, and given everything that happened in this city alone the past four years, I think you may be among the sanest people I've talked to in awhile," Oliver said slowly. "And I wasn't going to throw you out; I was going to bring more people in."

John and Felicity walked into the office. "This is John Diggle, my head of security, and Felicity Smoak, my um…"

"You don't need to bother with her," Scully said. "Felicity's your person."

Felicity gave a small smile. "I didn't think you watched Grey's Anatomy."

"As someone who worked at a lot of hospitals, I can assure there isn't nearly as much sex going on there," Scully replied with a small smile. "But I did have a lot more time to kill the last few years then I wanted."

"They've been a huge help to me ever since I returned to civilization," Oliver said. "They're family in all but name. Given what the two of you have been through, you probably understand that better than most."

"More than you can imagine," Mulder said. "Or maybe you can."

"So tell us, Agent Mulder," John asked bluntly. "Where exactly in the X-Files does this threat come in?"

Scully took a deep breath, and for the first time since she'd come in, her iron control slipped a little. "Actually, Mr. Diggle, it's not exactly in the files."

STAR CITY PD HEADQUARTERS

1:12 P.M.

Maggie had heard some bad things about the Star City PD over the year. She knew that while there were many individual officers and detectives who were beyond reproach – she hoped she'd get to meet the Deputy Mayor sooner rather than later – that there had been a lot of problems with the department. Originally considered corrupt and mishandled from the top down, there had been a huge amount of problems with recruitment over the past couple of years. Commander Lance had done his damnedest to ebb the tide in his year and a half in charge, but dealing with crises within, and battles with alcoholism, its reputation was so muddled that even officers in Gotham City said that Star City was a hellhole.

She just hoped she could find some of the good apples in the bunch.

"You're Agent Sawyer?"

Maggie looked up. A tall woman with brown hair and mixed descent about her age walked towards her.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to being called an agent," Maggie said.

"I understand. I just transferred here myself. Detective Drake."

"Voluntarily?" Maggie raised an eyebrow.

"I was recruited." There was more she clearly wasn't saying, but Maggie knew better than to press. "I just came back from a long stint in undercover."

"I'm guessing you know why I'm here."

"My lieutenant got a call from his captain who got a call from the Deputy who got a call from the Mayor. You know what they say about fecal gravity."

"That's mildly ironic." Maggie said. "The whole reason I showed up here in the first place was so that local law enforcement's feathers wouldn't be ruffled."

"I'm guessing your superiors don't play well with others." Drake said carefully.

"Detective Drake, this is going to be a tricky relationship under the best of circumstances. Let's try to have as few lies as possible between us."

Something shifted. Drake actually smiled. "Fair enough. Even deep undercover, I know who Mulder and Scully are, what they did in the Bureau during the 1990s, and what they're up to now. I also know that there's been a lot of strange shit going on not just in Star City, but all over the world the last few years. "She lowered her voice. "And even after everything that's happened the last few years, there are still enough assholes in the chain of command who want to pretend that they can carry on business as usual."

"So how are they handling the murder of Samuel Thorne?" Maggie asked.

"They're not. They gave it a cursory examination, assumed that it was a drug deal gone bad, and went back on to investigated murders of people that pay their salaries."

Maggie raised an eyebrow. "And the fact that Thorne's head was basically torn from his body?"

"PCP freaks."

Maggie wanted to laugh. "You're shitting me? They did the Buffy excuse?"

"You'd think given everything that's happened the past few years, they'd have something better than a WB show as an argument." Drake shook her head. "But I'm guessing Mulder and Scully have a more logical explanation."

Maggie's expression must have said multitudes. "What's your opinion?"

"Well, the obvious explanation is some kind of metahuman did it, but they've mainly call Central City home. I was going to put in a call to Star Labs, but if the Bureau is going to claim jurisdiction, I'm more than willing to wait and see what they find."

"The whole reason I'm here isn't to get into a jurisdictional pissing contest," Maggie told her. "They did think it was some kind of metahuman first, but apparently there's a connection between this and a murder in National City a few weeks ago."

"So, they think its aliens." It said a lot about the world they now lived in that Detective Drake was willing to just accept this as a matter of course.

"Mulder and Scully didn't spend their time in the Bureau just investigating extraterrestrials and government conspiracies," Maggie said slowly. "A lot of their work varied from what we would call metahumans to the downright supernatural. But from what I understand, what drew them into this case was something that's outside their purview."

"How?"

"Mulder was terminated by the FBI in April of 2001. A few weeks later, Scully left. The murder here and in National City, from what I understand, it mainly fell under the auspices of the two remaining agents who worked in the Bureau the last year the X-Files were open." Maggie hesitated. "Something that they were very reluctant to discuss with me even when they reopened the file."

Drake looked at her. "Was it something personal to them?"

"Half the stuff in the files affected them personally," Maggie told her. "From what I understand, this case was an emotional wound that even after fifteen years hasn't even begun to scab over, let alone heal."

Drake considered this. "The coffee around this place sucks," she said, almost randomly. "You want to get a cup around the corner, away from prying ears?"

Maggie gave a small smile. "This your way of managing interdepartmental relations, Detective?"

"There are some stories that should never be told in a police department," the detective said sincerely. "And from now on, call me Dinah."

XXXX

When Scully had gotten the analysis back of the chemicals found at National City, she had found herself going back to what had been one of the darkest times in her life. She honestly didn't recognize the woman she'd been back then. It had taken so much of her energy to even go through the motions of investigating X-Files that year when she had to act as if her heart hadn't been ripped out of her chest. She'd honestly felt worse than she had the three months that Mulder had been dead and buried.

What was the worst part? Mulder gone from her life, communicating only from a spare email every few weeks; being a single mother to a child that was becoming less of a miracle and more of an X-File itself, or the whole thing ending in her surrendering William to strangers in an action she had regretted five minutes after saying goodbye? She hadn't been the woman who'd worked the X-Files for eight years. That woman would've fought for her child over everything. She tried to channel her as she and Mulder had related the story of the supersoldiers to Oliver Queen and his friends.

"That's a hell of a story," Oliver said quietly when the two of them were finished. "I can understand why you went to such lengths to keep it out of the files."

"It's more than that," Mulder said, gripping Scully's hand. "Neither of us was ever certain just where, or even if this fit into the conspiracy we'd spent the last decade investigating. We'd investigated case involving government experimentation to create a 'superior solder' more than once in our careers."

"And as you're well aware, we're all too familiar with one such experiment," John said quietly. "So how exactly do these murders fit into it?"

"It's something of a Chinese menu," Mulder said. "We think that someone has been taking bits and pieces from all of these experiments over the decades, and may have come up with a new formula."

"Paging Dr. Frankenstein," Felicity said quietly. "You have a candidate in mind for this someone?"

Scully swallowed. "We talked with our new colleagues in the DEO," she said. "Are you familiar with Project Cadmus?"

"They broke the Internet right before you did; I'd say we are," Felicity said. "But according to their own mission statement, they're anti-alien. "

"They're also not shy when it comes to using alien technology against them," Mulder replied. "When the body surfaced in National City, we made the assumption that this was some kind of test case, and that they were going to roll out the operation somewhere else."

"And our city won the lottery," Oliver said to himself.

"Well, they weren't going to do it in Central City or Metropolis, for obvious reasons. Considering everything your city has gone through the last few years, they figured it would be less equipped to handle it." Mulder said quietly.

Felicity and John exchanged a glance so quick that almost anybody would've missed it. Scully knew that look. These people were assuredly on Team Arrow.

"How dangerous were these supersoldiers?" Diggle asked.

"We shot them point blank in the chest, hit them with cars, pushed them off roofs, and knocked them into a garbage compactor." Mulder told them. "It kind of irked me that I was sentenced to death for killing one of them, which I've gladly gone to jail for if I could've done it. There was some kind of scientific weakness, but I'm not sure I want to get close enough to see if it still works. My days of running through junkyards are behind me."

Oliver was all too aware of just how hard it had been to take out Slade Wilson and Brother Blood's army. The idea of another one coming to his city was pretty horrifying. "Star City's been through way too much the last few years," he said quietly. "I'm not sure if we can handle another invasion from supernatural forces."

"Right now, we're not sure it's that," Scully tried to assure them. "All the evidence seems to indicate there's only one of them so far."

"Yeah, until they get a hold of a centrifuge," Diggle muttered to himself.

"Is there a way to stop them?" Oliver asked.

"Since we don't even know who this person is yet, we can't even tell your police department who to be worried about," Mulder admitted. "The best we can do is give you information on the known suspects we have to your department, have them run facial recognition, and hope like hell they get a match."

"And if they do?" Oliver asked.

"Tell them not to approach under any circumstances," Scully said seriously. "These things are Terminators in all but name. Any non-human who goes up against them is going to get killed, and very painfully. We are to be notified immediately if your department spots them, and they are to pull back and maintain a distance."

Mulder knew that Oliver Queen would give these orders to his department. So he chose his next words very carefully. "Where exactly is your Deputy Mayor?"

That seemed to be a non sequiteur. "He's on vacation right now. Why?"

"I understand he has a working relationship with the caped vigilante known as the Green Arrow."

Oliver had been so caught up in Mulder and Scully's story and the new threat that he'd forgotten the initial threat anybody in the federal government might pose to him. It was time to start the chess game proper. "They know each other pretty well."

"So you're in a position to pass on a message to him?" Mulder's face didn't give anything away either.

"That depends. What is the message?"

"I may have been out of action for the last decade, but we haven't lived with our heads under a rock either," Mulder said quietly. "We've seen the news coming out of Star City, and we know that it's probably at best a fraction of what really goes on here. We know this city – maybe the country – owes the Green Arrow it will probably never adequately repay."

That was not the kind of message that Oliver had been expecting, to say the least. "That's not what you want to pass on, is it?"

"This is not like any threat he and his team have ever faced. This situation won't be solved with good aim. He's going to need help, and from what I understand, he doesn't play well with others."

Scully had never been as good at reading lips as Mulder was, but she could tell Felicity had mouthed something. It seemed to have begun with the word 'Understatement."

"So you want me to pass on: "approach with caution?"

"I know as well anyone you can't tell the Arrow what to do." Mulder replied. He changed his tone. "I don't know if he's as open-minded to help as Supergirl was, and even that was dealing with a threat she was equipped to handle. I guess what I'm asking is if you know a way to arrange a meeting."

Oliver took a long pause. "I can't guarantee he'll listen, but I'll pass on your request."

"That's the best we can hope for," Mulder got to his feet. "We'll be staying at the Westerfield Motel for the next few days. And you have our cells."

"You'll have the full cooperation of the Star City PD," Oliver said. "For whatever you think it's worth."

"It's worth a lot." Mulder hesitated. "Mr. Diggle, can I have a moment of your time?"

John's face gave nothing away. "What's this about?"

Mulder actually looked awkward for the first time. "I'd appreciate it if we could speak alone."

"Um, what exactly is this about?" Felicity asked.

"Unfortunately, this conversation requires someone with Homeland level security clearance." Mulder looked at Oliver. "And of course, no one besides John has ever worked for the government, right?"

Well played. Oliver did have code word clearance, but there was no way he could explain how without revealing his secrets. Mulder clearly knew that. " I only wish I did," Oliver said, trying to hide his admiration. "There's a private room here."

ARROW

John Diggle was only nominally surprised that Mulder had pulled him aside. Given the fact that he had worked for A.R.G.U.S. and the military, he'd expected some kind of questioning about the conspiracy.

That was not, however, the subject Mulder started with. "You're married to Director Michaels?"

John was nonplussed. "Of course."

"And you worked with her for a long time before you finally got up the nerve to ask her to marry you."

Now John was confused. "It did take a lot of work."

"Couldn't have been easy. Working with the love of your life and not being able to act on it for so long."

"I imagine you have experience with that," John said slowly.

Mulder actually smiled for the first time since they'd met. "I have been told that I believe in things a little too easily. It took a lot of convincing for me to realize that Scully was the one for me, and that she actually was willing to join me on this."

"You've known each other for twenty years and you still call each other by your last names?" John couldn't help himself.

"They're our terms of endearment," Mulder said. "Besides, I really hate it when anyone calls me Fox. But I've strayed from the point. Your wife became the Director of A.R.G.U.S upon the shooting of Amanda Waller."

John still wasn't sure where this was going. "Someone had to pick up the pieces when she died."

"So you're confident that Amanda Waller is dead?"

Now John was really confused. "Agent Mulder, Lyla and I were in the room when it happened. We attended her funeral. The woman is dead."

"Were you aware that in January of this year a Congressional investigation into Amanda Waller was underway? Apparently the corruption of how she ran her agency had become so rancid that even the Senate couldn't ignore any longer?"

An uneasy feeling was seeping into John. Lyla had been appraised of the investigation, and had begun cleaning house because of it. That being said… "The woman was shot at point blank range."

"Mr. Diggle, while I was running the X-Files, there was a certain individual who did everything in his power to make my life miserable. He was shot point blank, was dying of brain cancer, and was thrown down a flight of stairs. I actually left a building he was in seconds before a group of helicopters blew it to smithereens." Mulder paused. "We're now holding him in a Supermax prison after locating him last week."

Mulder walked up to him, and pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. "I know the second you see what's on this flash drive, you will share it with all of your friends even though it's been labeled top secret. I never gave a damn about keeping secrets my first stint in the Bureau, and I've yet to see a reason why I should change my stance now. "

John took the flash drive gingerly, like it was a snake that would strike. "You do know this is impossible."

"And how many impossible things have happened to you and your friends since Oliver resurfaced?" Mulder pointed out. "You're talking to a man who makes his living dealing with the impossible. And if there's one thing I learned long ago, you can't kill the Devil unless he wants to die."

ARROW HEADQUARTERS

They'd watched the footage four times already, but it had become their own personal Zapruder film.

"This has been verified," Thea said numbly.

"I checked every clock twice," Felicity said nearly as numbly. " That's on top of the FBI's and A.R.G.U.S own verification. How did he say he got this?"

"We weren't revealing our sources; I don't think we had a right to ask for his," John pointed out.

"We should've known better," Felicity mumbled.

"How?" Oliver asked.

"She got shot in the heart," Felicity reminded them. "As we all are painfully aware, Amanda Waller never had one."

That was as good an explanation for the footage they were seeing.

The footage was of a former X-Files agent Monica Reyes, a woman who Mulder and Scully had considered an ally, but who in the interim between the X-Files closing and reopening had apparently betrayed them. They had been trying to find footage of her ever since. They had no idea what they were going to find.

Because in footage from a security camera outside an airplane hangar dated three weeks ago was Monica Reyes having a meeting with a group of suits. And one of them very clearly was the former director of A.R.G.U.S.

Very much alive.