Realisation

'Agent Scully, I see you've gained great strength.' Krycheck sneered in a low tone. He said something in Russian which summoned four other Russian soldiers to his side. Scully frowned with anger and fury and she slowly got to her feet. She turned in shock as she heard Mulder cry out in surprise as a soldier grabbed him from behind and pointed a gun at his head. Scully looked at her partner's eyes and tried to remain confident for him. He looked better and less in pain, but he looked angry and terrified.

'Mulder, I'm sure you'll understand our security measures.' Krycheck said angrily and Mulder struggled to get free angrily. Scully felt tears swell in her eyes as she saw Mulder fight to get free.

'Mulder don't! It's all right.' She said, her voice wavering. Scully turned back to Krycheck and frowned angrily.

'It was you all along. It was always you.' She said angrily and clenched her new muscles with fury. Krycheck nodded.

'Of course, we are starting a new project here. You are our first test subject of many.' He said with a slight smile. Scully felt anger burn inside of her. 'I see we were successful.'

'Leave Mulder alone! Take me now that I'm your test subject.' She said with emotion. Krycheck laughed.

'We want to get rid of both of you.' He said and then walked towards her slowly.

'I'm pretty strong right now so I wouldn't come any closer.' She shouted, clenching her fist. Krycheck laughed again.

'You've got five men with guns around you. If you try anything you're going to get killed!' He said confidently. Scully frowned with anger and glared at Krycheck. She scanned around the room and planned her attack. She was ready.

'You've got that very wrong.' She said in a low voice and then suddenly she ran towards him and jumped out of the way of a bullet which flew behind her and then kicked him hard in the face into unconsciousness and grabbed his gun. The guards stared at her with fear as she pointed the gun at them all and took deep breaths. Her eyes were mad with fury and strength and Mulder looked at her with great surprise and shock. Scully smiled and swung her gun around at all of the men and felt her power over them. She clicked the gun into place.

'Don't try anything, let us go!' She shouted. 'Drop him!' She shouted to the man holding Mulder and he hesitated. Scully glared at him and shook her head. 'DROP HI…' She started, but her sentence was stopped to Mulder's horror, as Scully was shot from behind by the leader soldier who entered the large room behind her and out of her sight.

'SCULLY!' He shouted as the man holding him held him tighter and then all the men dropped their guns. Scully lay face down on the floor as blood seeped from her back. Mulder felt his heart break as he saw her, dead.

A.D. Skinner looked at his small clock at the side of his desk and saw the second hand tick away aimlessly. He tried to take his mind off Scully and Mulder, but of course he was worried about where they were. He had no idea as they had not told him where they were going. He had just found their apartments empty after they didn't answer their phones. He reached for his phone and sighed heavily thinking about phoning Mrs Scully, but he was stopping short by realising that he didn't want to worry her. Skinner moved his chair to the right and stood up and walked over to the other side of his office and paced anxiously. They had been gone nearly a week now. Although they were pissing him off and getting him into trouble, he couldn't help being worried for his friends. Skinner sighed and walked towards his desk again and grabbed his jacket in one quick move. He slipped it onto his shoulders and walked out of the office, excusing himself with his secretary and making his way to the car park to go to Mulder's apartment to look for clues.

Mulder stared at Scully's body and couldn't breathe. He he struggled angrily with the guard who held him back. He couldn't believe it. He was in complete shock. He felt fury and hurt roll inside him and he fought back.

'YOU BASTARD!' He shouted across the room at the Russian guard who stood over Scully and looked down her at suspiciously. Mulder felt his body shaking as the Russian guard looked up to the guard holding Mulder and they exchanged glances and spoke in Russian, then turned back to Scully again. Mulder frowned in confusion as the men seemed to be waiting for something. Mulder feared the worse.

'So what are you going to do wait to see if she's dead or not? She's dead! YOU KILLED HER!' He shouted at the top of his voice and then faltered into a sob and his body crumbled in shock and realisation. 'Kill me, kill me now.' He mumbled sadly under his breath and waited for the gun to go off, however Mulder was surprised to find that nothing happened and that the guard was letting go of him slowly. Mulder frowned in confusion and pulled away from the guard and looked back to him and saw that his eyes were focused on where Scully was lying and Mulder frowned in confusion as his heart seemed to catch in his throat. He followed the guard's eyes and realised that the guard was stepping away from him with single slow steps. Mulder turned and then his gaze fell on the floor where Scully was… but she was moving.

Mulder blinked and opened his eyes wide with shock as Scully seemed to be getting to her feet, and regaining her strength. Mulder felt his legs turn to jelly as he wondered if he was dreaming. He saw the main guard take steps backwards also however he had a proud smile on his face. Mulder swallowed hard and saw Scully; yes it was definitely happening now. She unfolded her body by standing up straight and then turned her head round to meet Mulder's gaze. He was speechless. Her eyes were piercing and her hair was roughed up and blocking one of her eyes. Mulder took a step towards her in relief and felt himself break into a smile. Scully stood still and motionless and glared at him. Mulder felt a chill run through his body as something was different, it wasn't right. The guard started to laugh happily and Scully's eyes, to Mulder's horror, started to glow bright green, similar to the mysterious toxic green substance. Mulder lost his feeling of happiness and was hit by the feeling of being sick as she glared at him. She was different, and she looked evil… it wasn't a nice feeling. Mulder backed away from her and blinked shocked tears away from his eyes as Scully started to walk towards him.

'Scu.. Scully?' He said with fear, and backed away quicker, however the guard behind him pushed him forward towards her again and Mulder couldn't stop himself as he fell into her. He cried out in annoyance and Scully grabbed him and to his horror she pulled back his arms into an uncomfortable position. Mulder cried out and opened his eyes wide with shock.

'SCULLY! It's me! You don't know what's happening! STOP you're breaking my arms!' He shouted desperately as she stretched his arms back so that he felt like his bones were about to break. Mulder cried out in pain and gritted his teeth. 'SCULLY! IT'S MULDER!' He shouted but it didn't help, she broke his left arm and then threw him face down to the floor with magnificent force. Mulder cried out in agony on impact and passed out momentarily in helpless pain.

Skinner stormed through the familiar corridor of Mulder's apartment building until he reached Mulder's door. He scrambled for his key which he had found in Mulder's desk drawer. He knew he was being impolite but he was worried sick about them. Something was very wrong. Skinner turned the key and pushed the door open quickly and with force. He entered the familiar apartment and memories came flashing back to him to the times when Mulder had held him at gunpoint and when Scully had tried to get him to help her or tried to see if he was the person to trust. Skinner sighed and moved towards Mulder's desk and caught sight of the goldfish which were opening their mouths to the top of the water tank with hunger. Skinner frowned and got out the fish food and poured a healthy amount into the top of the tank as he watched the fish gulp the food down gratefully. He turned back to the desk and rummaged through pictures of UFOs and letters from various people. He sighed heavily as he found useless information and familiar information which couldn't be too important. Skinner let out a useless laugh and closed his eyes. Who was he kidding? He had no idea what Mulder had gone to look for. He needed help.

Skinner turned on Mulder's computer and found himself with a name and password query. Skinner searched his mind for something Mulder would use as a password. He tried 'ALIEN', but it didn't work. Skinner rubbed his brow and tried, 'UFO' but that didn't work either. He leant back in the desk chair and sighed. He bit his lower lip and tried 'SCULLY' which didn't work again, and then tried his final attempt, 'SAMANTHA' and when he was giving up hope, to his surprise he saw that the computer accepted it. Skinner sighed with relief and took a guilty look around him to see if anyone was watching him. He felt awful prying into Mulder's personal life like this, but he couldn't help it. He found his email and scanned all of the most recent ones carefully to try and find information until he came to the second to last one which was titled, 'Interesting' from an unknown sender.

Skinner opened the email and scanned through it, and with relief he managed to find coordinates. Skinner read them and frowned and blinked. These coordinates were somewhere in Russia. Skinner shook his head and sighed. Mulder's gone to Russia? It explained why he couldn't find either of them around. Skinner pressed print and stood up angrily but also with worry. He turned to Mulder's phone on his desk and dialled the FBI number and requested a team to get ready.

'Yes… this is an emergency. We have two agents who are probably in great danger.' He said with force to the field officer. He turned to see the email fall from the printer and he leant over to pick it up. 'Here are the coordinates….'

Scully felt herself gaining power, gaining strength that she never before knew was even possible to a human. She looked down with confusion at Mulder who lay before her, she remembered hitting him, and hurting him. Her stomach tightened up in fear and confusion however her face was displaying a very different message, it was displaying... happiness. Scully felt herself scream from inside of her body and closed her eyes with confusion. She felt some sort of instinct take over her, and it was angry and frightening but she couldn't help it. She didn't understand. Scully looked over to the Russian who was smiling madly at her. Scully took a step towards him and opened her mouth to speak but found that she couldn't find any words. Scully gasped as she looked down at her hands and saw that they were turning… green.

'My dear, you are the first successful experiment… you are just… magnificent.' The Russian man gushed, his eyes twinkling with love and adoration for the successful invention. Scully tried to speak again but nothing happened. She was stuck inside her body, screaming out inside her head to Mulder and the Russian to stop and help her but she didn't look that way.

She felt her muscles tense up and her hands clenched into fists. She couldn't believe this, why did it always happen to her? She had nearly been turned into an alien before and now this a… mutant. Scully sighed and took a step closer to the Russian as her glared at her with great adoration. She tried to tell her body to attack him, but the grasp over her was getting stronger. She didn't have much time.

'You are in process of transformation; we took an alien source from the government and decided to test people with it.' The Russian said, taking a seat now on one of the large industrial machines in the large warehouse. Scully frowned inside and her thoughts turned on. 'The government… the smoking man…' She thought with hatred. She raised her eyes to the Russian again with great hatred.

'I see that you know who I am talking about. Of course, you and MULDER were the obvious test subjects... to get rid of you ultimately.' The Russian said with a smile. Scully felt her heart break in two and tried desperately to attack the Russian, but she just couldn't

'But don't forget, I am your master and your creator and I will get paid in due course for what I have achieved.' The Russian man said standing up and dropping his gun. Scully looked at it for a second. He neared her and looked at her with love and excitement. Scully felt herself warm to him and admire him as a father. She felt the urge to bow down to him but then reminded herself that she wasn't a mutant but she was Dana Scully she needed to get out of there now. Scully's fading conscience screamed at her inside her head.

'I.. I don't know what I'm doing…' She said, her voice lower than usual and stronger in tone. The Russian let out a small laugh and Scully heard a grunt from behind her. 'Mulder!!' She thought inside her head.

'You will, you will. It'll only take a matter of time until you change completely. We'll put you back in that room and apply more chemicals to your body and then… you'll be changed forever.' The Russian said happily and reached out to caress her cheek. Suddenly Scully flinched and images of the past few hours of her life flashed behind her eyes and she gasped in memory as she remembered a man touching her and she was fighting against him. She felt tears sting her eyes and the Russian man looked at her with confusion. Scully felt a sickening feeling in her stomach and her conscience screamed out to her, 'Yes! Yes you were raped Dana! You were raped by these men!'

Whether it was in sheer shock or because she was not herself, her reaction was not as great as it should have been. Scully turned around to see Mulder reaching out to her and trying to get up. She felt her heart beat strongly and felt herself move towards him. The Russian started to shout out angrily and she sensed the soldiers bringing up their guns and advancing towards her from other rooms and angles. Scully felt a hot tear roll down her face as she accepted the memory. Mulder frowned up at her with concern and confusion as she easily pulled him up into a standing position and held his hand. Mulder looked into her eyes sadly.

'Scully… are you…'

'Mulder, don't. Let's talk about this later, right now I need to sa-' She started, but was interrupted by her strong instincts as she felt a man near her and reach for her shoulder from behind. Scully spun round with great strength and speed and to Mulder's amazement she grabbed the solider's arm and with one smooth movement she flipped him over and he crashed to the floor on his back in a cry of pain. Scully gritted her teeth and looked over to see the leader soldier run for the control on the machine containing the green chemical. Scully frowned with anger as he scrambled nervously now and seemed to watch in slow motion as he reached for the switch and turned it on.

'NO!' Mulder shouted out desperately but it was too late. The room filled with the strong hum of the churning of the liquid and the green light got brighter. Scully ran for the soliders coming towards her and hit them with punches to their chins and chests at record speed and agility. She felt her blood pumping through her body strongly and felt the rush of having great strength. She kicked another solider that came towards her from behind and flipped him over to the floor too. Scully spun around to check for more attackers and found that there were no more. She stood in the middle of the scattered bodies and caught her breath. Feeling a sensation of even more strength come over her, her eyes went up to the liquid which was starting to boil inside the chamber. Scully heard Mulder groan in pain and collapse behind her. She turned quickly and ran towards him and caught his fall and held his body close to hers. Mulder looked up at her with wide eyes.

'What do I look like…' Scully said with a small smirk. Mulder let out a small laugh.

'Like you're turning into the female Hulk.' He said weakly. Scully frowned as his comment hurt her feelings. Mulder reached up his hand and touched her cheek. 'But you're still as beautiful as ever…' He said softly, and Scully gasped in surprise at his comment. She felt her heart call out to him, and they stayed there for a moment, however it was broken by the sound of a gun clicking into place behind them. Scully raised her eyebrows and laid Mulder down slowly so he could get some rest from the piercing sound that she knew hurt so much to new listeners. He let out deep breaths in agony. Scully turned slowly to face her creator, her abuser and her enemy. She glared at him.

'Your machine isn't working. I feel like myself. I don't feel like I'm under your control.' She said confidently. The soldier was mad now, and his eyes danced with fury as he raised his gun to Scully's temple.

'Yes, you are the first failure my dear.' He said, his voice full of rage. Scully frowned with fury.

'You don't scare me.' She said threateningly. The solider frowned.

'I'm going to have to dispose of you, right… now…' He said.

'YOU BASTARD!' Mulder shouted angrily from behind him. Scully blinked an angry tear away.

'Try me.' She said in a low voice, confidence burning inside her body. 'You shot me once and it didn't do anything to me.' She took a step towards him.

'Scully!' Mulder cried out in fear.

The solider sighed and shook his head.

'There's something that WILL kill you…' He said in a low voice. 'Something that isn't… normal.' He raised his gun and fired it into Scully's chest.

Scully felt the bullet enter her and she gasped in shock. How was this happening? She hadn't been effected before. She felt the soaring pain of the bullet and tried to take breaths but they were staggering. Scully frowned in confusion and reached down the bullet hole and groaned in pain as she reached into her flesh and pulled the bullet out of her. She stared at the it in surprise trying to figure out what made it so powerful.

'Idiolatic solution has an antidote Agent Scully. We made it just in case the project failed… for a moment like this. From the moment that bullet hit you, you've started to become more human again. You'll never survive two gun shots.' The soldier sneered and lowered his gun. Scully frowned and felt her eyes fill with confused tears as she felt her body soar with pain as it suddenly flowed through her, getting worse by the second. Moving the bullet between her fingertips she felt a liquid substance come out of it. He shot me with the antidote…

She heard Mulder's cries from behind her and started to topple over and she lost her footing. Swaggering from side to side and her vision swaying, she started to taste blood in her mouth. She knew from her doctor's instinct that this wasn't good. She frowned in confusion as took her last step and fell to the ground.

'FREEZE!'

The Russian gasped and held his gun up as he heard the loud American voice from behind him. He frowned in confusion.

'DROP IT!'

With one look at Mulder who was now cowering over Scully desperately and was holding her hand the soldier dropped his gun to the floor, his work here was done.

'TURN IT OFF SHUT IT DOWN NOW!' The American ordered and then the solider heard the rustle of feet which told him that the man wasn't alone. But he didn't care now, he had done what he had come for.

The machine was shut down by the Americans and he fell to the floor to his knees as they came up behind him and grabbed his hands, and handcuffed him.

'Agent Danes, American CIA secret service. You are under arrest.' The American said gruffly and then turned him round to face him. The Russian knew that it was over now.

The CIA agents ran towards Mulder and Scully as Agent Danes had caught the Russian. Mulder looked up at them with tearful and sad eyes as he held Scully's hand.

'Agent Mulder? Agent Scully?' One Agent said eagerly. Mulder nodded.

'She's had a lot of abuse, she's been raped… and… and has been experimented on..' Mulder said desperately as the agents gathered around Scully and got out emergency medical equipment. Scully groaned with pain and her eyes flickered. One of the agents got out an oxygen mask and put it over her head to help her breathing.

'Agent Mulder? I'm Agent Lucef and I'm a medic. What's happened to her?' He asked in confusion after putting on the mask as he saw that her skin was abnormally pale and that her body structure was larger that it should be. Mulder shook his head and sighed.

'I… I think they did experiments on her. It increased her body strength. She's losing it though, she's losing her strength and that's what's killing her… this—' Mulder paused to try and gather himself, '----this whole place needs to be investigated!' Mulder shouted shakily to the other agents. Agent Danes came towards him and Mulder saw the Russian being taken away by other agents.

'Agent Mulder, we will investigate, this whole place will be cut off after we're out of here but our primary concern is getting everyone here out safely. So lets go… all right?' He said to Mulder and put a hand on his shoulder as he saw how distressed he was. Mulder winced suddenly in pain as he felt his broken arm suddenly throb at him angrily.

'You're injured?' Agent Lucef said, frowning with confusion. Mulder grimaced in pain and let out a small laugh.

'She broke my arm… I totally forgot… I didn't feel a thing until now…' Mulder said in a low voice, and Agent Lucef didn't answer him, he just took Mulder aside and another medic helped him. The medics helped Scully up onto the stretcher and Mulder got his arm treated quickly, it was wrapped up in a sling fast.

'Who sent you? How did you know we were here?' Mulder asked while walking alongside the stretcher and keeping firm hold of Scully's hand with his right arm. They started to exit the building together.

'Mr Skinner, FBI. I assume you know him?' Danes called from the front of the group of agents and opened a door. Mulder sighed a breath of relief.

'Yeah we know him.' He said calmly and looked down at Scully sadly. He saw her chest rise and fall in sharp movements and squeezed her hand to reassure her, if she could still feel him. They moved into the open air and the sharp cold breeze caught them by surprise. Mulder bared his face against the wind and walked onto the carrier plane with the other agents and was relieved to finally be safe again, and out of danger. He stayed by Scully's side as medics worked on her quickly.

'Let's hope that this extra strength she's got helps her stay alive. Even though its running out she's still quite a lot stronger than you or me.' Lucef said to Mulder patting him on the shoulder. 'I tell ya, on mortal standards she would be dead by now.' He said in disbelief and turned back to Scully in wonder at the insane experimentation. Mulder looked up at him with relieved eyes and held Scully's hand to his lips and kissed it in concern and hope. He closed his eyes and did something that he never did; taking Scully's influence… he prayed for her.