Act III – Once in a Blue Moon
Mulder grabbed Scully's hand and yanked her back the way they came. The two agents sheared off down a side corridor and there was a small closet. He pulled it open and shoved Scully inside barely closing the door on both of them before one of the men came around the corner. The guard came back jiggled the closet door, but Mulder had managed to lock it. It got so quiet that Mulder was sure the man was listening at the door to see if they made any noise, but after a few minutes, he gave up and went pounding down the corridor. They waited a little longer, then came out to an empty hallway.
"That was close, Scully. I need to get you off the ship and then I'll go back for the others." He started to pull her hand again, but she snatched it away.
"I'm not budging from this spot until you tell me why you quit your job, gave up all your things and left. What could have possibly been that bad that you would leave me without even saying goodbye?" She crossed her arms, waiting patiently for his answer.
Mulder stopped and looked at his beautiful partner. It was clear she was hurt, but so was he. If he wasn't good enough that she had to go out and find someone else, what did that say about him? "Scully, I…I know that you and David are getting serious and he is your chance for a sane life. No more fluke monsters or government conspiracies. You can have the white picket fence, 2 dogs and a house in the suburbs. You will never have any of that if you stay with me and I realized that if I was a true friend, I would let you go. So I did."
"There are so many things wrong with that statement, but this…" She waved her arms around. "Is not letting me go. There is a woman on here that looks exactly like me. Is that why you came here—for *her*? Do you realize you could have easily died trying this stunt? You are my best friend and I care very deeply for you and losing you would have killed me."
Mulder looked at the floor. "It is beginning to look like this was a mistake, but discussing this, in the open while we are chased by Nazis and the ship is going to disappear in less than 2 hours is the wrong move. Let's get you out of here and then I'll save Skinner and the guys."
"You are coming with us." Scully crossed her arms.
"We'll see. Let's go." The agents went down a few corridors and then quietly to an upper deck. They found a room with a balcony that had a perfect view of the ballroom. "Wait, let's take a look."
Mulder peeked over the railing and saw that the worm had turned. Apparently, the British soldiers lost control of their Nazi prisoners and the Germans were back in charge. There were several dead sailors and a few more dead civilians than were there before. Scully gasped and put a hand over her mouth as she saw Skinner and the Lone Gunmen frog marched into the room. Her eyes got large as the Nazi JB Spender and the little toad Jeffery emerged. JB Spender had the ever present cigarette dangling from his lips. They couldn't hear what was being said, but when Nazi Spender hauled off and struck Skinner across the face, that reverberation was heard clearly.
Mulder turned to Scully. "We have to get them out of there. They are going to kill them."
"How? There are about 12 soldiers and they all look like they have guns."
"Then we need to find weapons."
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Skinner and the Gunmen started back and saw Mulder and Scully take the other hallway. The Nazis were closing in on the group so he told everyone to split up. Skinner started for some stairs, but a bullet came whizzing past his ear and a command was yelled. Even though the soldier spoke in German, Skinner got the point and stopped where he was. The man reached him, pointed a gun in his back and walked him to the hallway where he saw the other soldier had captured the Lone Gunmen. The sad looking men were completely out of their element.
The Assistant Director of the FBI was beginning to regret this whole trip. Those rogue agents of his were going to be the death of him yet. This entire mess existed just because those two waited too long to do the horizontal mambo. Sure it was against regulations, but when did *that* start bothering them? A blind man could see how much they were attracted to each other. Seven years? They waited seven years? He would have exploded especially since he wouldn't mind sharing Scully's bed, himself.
Most of the blame he puts at Mulder's feet. Scully would never make the first move, especially after that Diana Fowley fiasco. Anyway, there were a few other cases down through the years that Skinner read between the lines of the report and found Mulder had more than a 'passing' interest in a few women on a case. That would put a proud woman like Scully into lock-down mode. When (if) they get out of this, he is going to pop Mulder on the back of his head and sit him down for a man to man talk.
The group was dragged into the ballroom that they were originally trying to avoid. Skinner scanned the room and breathed a sigh of relief that Mulder and Scully were conspicuously absent. However, there was someone else here that made him want to believe that aliens did exist. CancerMan, JB Spender's lookalike, walked out from behind the bar in—of course—a Nazi uniform. Why not?
"Wer bist du?" He waited for a few seconds. "Gib mir eine antwort!"
Skinner spoke, "I don't speak German," and a weasel appeared. If JB Spender was here, Jeffery Spender wouldn't be far behind. Unfortunately, since the vermin seemed to speak English, Skinner guessed he would have to deal with him.
"He asked you 'Who you are' and then demanded that you 'Answer him'." Nazi Jeffery was just as sniveling as the other one.
"My name is Walter and I'm looking for my two associates, Mulder and Dana. They came aboard this ship and all we want to do is leave. I have zero interest in what you are doing here."
Jeffery translated and JB Spender replied to the younger Nazi then the weasel faced Skinner. "He wants to know why you look like his captain."
"I think his captain looks like *me*." When Jeffery translated, JB Spender struck Skinner smartly across the face. The crack reverberated in the room. Skinner had always heard that Nazis didn't have a sense of humor—they were right. CancerMan spoke again and it was translated.
"He doesn't' believe you and thinks that you are spies with those other two Americans." Jeffery raised his gun. "He asked me to shoot you."
Skinner glanced at the Lone Gunmen who looked terrified. This was not going well.
"Halt!" A familiar voice boomed and Skinner's twin strode into the scene. The A.D. was never happier to see himself. "Sturmbannführer Richter, wir haben die spione nicht verhört." Then, he switched to English and focused on Jeffery. "You know I am excellent at interrogations and I want to know why this man is trying to impersonate me. These others might know something too." Claude Graber got into Skinner's face. "I can't wait to see how strong you are."
Nazi Jeffery relayed to JB Spender, obviously known as Richter on this ship. Richter nodded. He said something to Graber and Jeffery then left the room.
The weasel smiled arrogantly. "Hauptsturmführer Graber, because our leader doesn't speak English, Sturmbannführer Richter has ordered me to accompany you while you conduct your interrogation. I'll be interested to see you at work also. I've heard…stories."
Claude Graber tried not to look annoyed, but failed. "Dietrich, you are not hearty enough to handle the results of my work. I am not surprised that your benefactor ordered you to do this to toughen you up, but do not forget I am your superior and I will not tolerate your interference." Jeffery/Dietrich's smile faded.
Graber spoke rapidly in German to several SS officers standing around. The Americans were grabbed, shoved and dragged out of the ballroom.
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Mulder had seen enough. Things were going from bad to worse. He tried to rise, but there was the cold butt of a gun to the back of his head. Scully was staring behind him warily.
"Mr. Mulder," the familiar voice said, but since the real Scully was in front of him—it must be Mary Buckley. "You and your friends are causing a lot of trouble. Now Claude may be compromised if he tries to protect them. I assure you that he is quite ruthless and his primary mission is not to get discovered. He *will* hurt your friends and enjoy it. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pull this trigger and let Claude do what he wants to your people?"
He swallowed heavily. "Because…you're one of the good guys, Mary. You would have killed all of us already if you weren't." Mulder felt the hesitation and then the barrel was lifted from his head.
"Both of you, come with me. I have a plan to get your friends back and get rid of the Nazis as well." Mary strode out of the room. "Hurry, before they find us!"
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Scully was genuinely baffled. Her lookalike was a spy working for the United States government in 1939. Mulder risked his life to get back to *her* and that rubbed the wrong way. Now, she was supposed to trust this…woman with not only her fate, but the fate of her friends? Biding time, she waited until they had reached a room that seemed safe, then, she spoke her piece.
"Miss Buckley, you have me at a disadvantage. I realize that Mulder has explained things from a clinical perspective, but I don't know why he felt your presence was worth the trouble of coming back here. What do you mean to him?"
"Nothing." Mary faced her. "This whole thing is something we *both* don't understand. Your, Mr. Mulder knows practically nothing about me and I know nothing about him. I think the only connection is that I resemble…YOU." Mary rushed around and pulled out several weapons from drawers and handed them to Mulder. "My suggestion is to find out why your friend felt that you weren't enough."
Scully stared at Mulder who looked at the floor. When Mulder's brow crinkled, she followed it to a scrap of blue fabric that was torn. Ripped undergarments were nearby. Whatever happened here was violent. "Who did this to you?" Scully held up the shredded dress.
Mary Buckley stopped. "That's not your concern." She took the fabric from Scully. "If you want your people back, you must follow my instructions." Mary paused until she was sure she had their attention. "The Nazis want a certain scientist and they have already taken him—again. We are going to make an exchange. It is important that the captured scientist doesn't fall into German hands and equally important that this ship doesn't get scuttled by a German U-boat. To do that, we must fool the Nazis into thinking that the information I have is more valuable than the scientist and it would be prudent to let the ship continue on."
"Assuming we can do that, how will you escape the Germans?" Mulder watched Mary carefully.
"I will find a way." The doppelganger didn't look at them. "Here is the plan. I will state that I have secret information, but won't give it up unless the scientist is released. I will likely be taken for interrogation which should be where your friends are and when I tell Claude the information, he will help all of you escape."
"He will have to torture you." Scully looked at the torn dress, but Mary ignored her.
"Claude will then support my suggestion that scuttling a British ship with several Americans on it will only cause more angst in the West and they should get me back to Germany immediately. The Queen Anne will continue her voyage, damaged, with casualties, but mostly intact. Your friends will be allowed to leave then. Agreed?"
"Once they find out you know nothing they will kill you." Mulder was grim.
Mary faced him. "I *will* know something. You two are going to help me with that. If you want them to live, we need to get your friends away from Graber and Dietrich as soon as possible. Captain Graber is not a man to be underestimated. He is a Nazi, with cruelty in his heart, just like the rest of his kind. His family remembers WWI well and was burned by it. He believes Hitler is a threat to the future of the fatherland and agreed to help the Allied cause to defeat him. However, Claude *will* torture your friends, especially if Dietrich is watching him and not think twice about it. We had better move."
Scully thought back to that dress on the floor and understood that somehow Mary was involved with Claude. However, if that Nazi was the beast that she described, Mary was trapped and it was understandable that there was no real way out for her. The dress was completely shredded—it took a lot of determination (and strength) to do that.
The good news is that the OSS agent was resourceful. She had 3 handguns and a stash of ammo. The three of them weren't enough to take down a dozen Nazis, but they didn't need to. All they needed was the right story and Mulder was able to provide it.