ALLEGIANCE
by
Lacadiva
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television series, The X-Files are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission.
Summary: After Mulder and Scully are wounded in a bloody ambush, Scully awakens to find herself in a world
where The Day has come and gone, and a choice must be made between duty and Mulder.
Note: I wrote this story several years ago and archived it at Gossamer. Recently unearthed it and thought I'd put it up at . Don't know if people read X-Files stories much anymore, but I cut my teeth as a fanfic writer on this story and a couple other XF stories. On with the show.
Chapter 2
3rd and Western Avenue
Los Angeles, California
9:53 pm
She could hear sirens, not very loud at first, but growing louder. Someone was shouting, running. "Agents down!"
she could hear, but could not figure out what they were talking about. She saw someone laying next to her. He
was doubled over in a fetal position, a strangled sound coming from him. Mulder. It was Mulder! He was calling
her. A wet, scarlet hand reached out to her, grabbing her own hand. She wasn't sure, but it sounded like he was
crying. She strained to clear her vision.
"Mulder!"
She felt her lips move, but didn't hear anything come out. She tried to rise - she wanted to help him. And
then the pain hit her. Her face contorted, teeth grinding.
"Mulder!"
She heard herself call him that time. And then it was as if someone had covered her face with a dark
warm blanket.
I'm not dead yet-I'm not dead yet…I'm not dead yet….
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The first face she saw was Walter Skinner's.
"Feeling better?"
"I think so. What happened?"
"You passed out on my bar. I brought you back here to the storeroom. Wouldn't want anyone to think there's
something wrong with my stock."
Scully sat up on the broken, mildewed couch and look around. Nothing but dark shadows and old kegs. "Where's
Mulder?"
"Right here," came a familiar voice out of the shadows.
Mulder stepped into the meager light of the storeroom.
"I'll leave you two to talk," Skinner said, standing and backing out of the room. "I'm right outside the door if you
need me."
The moment Skinner disappeared, Mulder scooped Scully into his arms. He held her so tight she could barely
breathe. Scully didn't mind. She dug her fingers into his back.
Finally, she pulled away. "Mulder, what's happening? What's real? I'm losing my mind! One minute I believe I'm
who I am and then the next - Am I crazy, Mulder?"
"Sssshhhh." Mulder stroked her auburn hair. "No, you're not crazy. It was the same with me. I was here and I knew who I was and what I was, but I kept having these strong memories. Stronger than memories. Flashbacks. I could feel it, I was a part of it. But the Fox Mulder I could have sworn I was by their accounts never existed. Which of course -"
"- made you all the more suspicious."
"Exactly. The more I dug into this memory, the more I uncovered. They messed with our minds, Scully."
"The Colonizers?" Scully sat back down, letting the realization seep in. How much tinkering with her brain had
they done? What was she forgetting? What was fact and what was fiction? Were her memories of Mulder real, or simply manufactured data, created by the Colonizers? Her head began to pound.
"How do we know what we know, Mulder? How do we know if it's real? If any of THIS is real?"
"I don't' know, Scully. But I'm pretty certain name is Fox William Mulder. I was an agent for the FBI. So were you.
And somehow they did something to us to make us forget. They abducted us, maybe kept us drugged until after The Day."
"Colonization?"
"Yes. But then came the question of what to do with us."
"Why didn't they just kill us?"
"I asked myself that, too. Somebody wanted us alive. Somebody obviously thought we were useful to The
Project."
"Your father," she said as she rose on shaky legs and attempted a few steps. "Maybe his connection to the
Consortium long ago ensured your safety."
"I considered that. But they had him killed, remember? He couldn't have been that important to the equation."
"But apparently you are," said Scully, "and me, too. If what you're saying is true, then somewhere along the line,
somebody screwed up. If our minds were played around with, if these memories were never supposed to resurface again, then somebody obviously fell asleep at the controls. I don't remember everything, Mulder, but I remember enough. I…oh…"
Scully teetered again, dizziness threatening to send her to the floor. Mulder caught her and eased her back down on the couch.
"It was the same with me at first," he said. "When the memories of the past are strongest, the nausea would come, and the dizziness. I figure it's probably a fail-safe built into whatever we were programmed with. The more vivid the memory, the harder it is to remain conscious. You actively avoid recalling your past."
"I think I'm going to be sick, Mulder."
Scully put her head between her knees and breathed deeply. Mulder gently rubbed her back, occasionally running his finger though her hair. Eventually the nausea dissipated, and Scully sat up, looking slightly green, but still beautiful.
"Is it true, Mulder?" she asked in a quivering voice she barely recognized. "Is it true that I had over two hundred
innocent people murdered? That I signed their death warrants?"
"No, you didn't. The person they turned you into - Sub-commander Scully - she's responsible for that."
"She is me, Mulder, the same person."
"No, not the same person. That Scully was brutal, selfish, ambitious and vain."
"You really know how to sweet talk a girl, don't you?"
Mulder laughed. "You are Dana Scully, my partner, and my friend."
"What about you? What has the new you done?"
"You don't want to know."
"Tell me."
"No, Dana."
"Please. How much worse can it be, Mulder?"
Mulder cleared his throat, looked away. "I…I can't."
He tried to rise, but Scully wouldn't let him. She took his hand and held it to her cheek.
"Tell me."
"I will," he said, taking her hand and gently planting a kiss in her palm. "Someday. Right now, though, we have to get you back to the base."
"Why? I've got rank. No one seems to question my comings and goings."
"True, but no one is as powerful as the Colonizers, or their pet rats."
Scully saw a darkness in his eyes, a smoldering anger that gave her pause. "Mulder, there's more you're not telling
me."
"Scully, you're involved."
"In what?"
"Not 'in what'. 'With whom.'"
"Go on."
"Krycek."
"Krycek? Alex Krycek?"
"You're married to him."
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She didn't believe it, not a first. Didn't want to believe it. The Krycek she believed she remembered was a horrible
excuse for a Homo sapien. A traitor, a liar, a murderer. In this reality, he had to be the worst monster. Why would
she be yoked with a man like Krycek?
Pendrell's eyes darted from the road to Scully every few moments. Scully wanted to pick his brain for information,
but she wasn't sure how far she could go, or how far she could trust him. She decided to start simple, and let him
offer the information.
"So, it appears my husband is missing in action."
Pendrell didn't bite at first. She saw a darkness overtake his expression, just as it did with Mulder upon the mention of Alex Krycek.
"I believe he's due back tomorrow."
"I can see," said Scully, "that you're not one of his biggest fans."
"I meant no disrespect, Sub-commander. Commander Krycek is a considered a hero. He single-handedly saved
the Project from the hands of the Resistance."
"That's my Krycek."
Pendrell pulled over to the side of the road and turned to Scully. "Sub-commander, may I speak freely?"
"Please."
"Commander Krycek may be the best thing that ever happened to the Project, but he's the worse thing that ever
happened to you. How can you let him treat you the way he does?"
"Isn't that a bit overwrought? You said it yourself. He's a war hero. Wouldn't do to divorce a war hero."
"But he doesn't love you. Right now he's probably -"
"Probably what?"
Pendrell took a deep breath.
"I order you to finish what you were saying."
"He has women."
"You don't think I know that?"
"I wouldn't think you'd stand for it."
Scully smiled. "I don't."
"Then it's true. You and Doctor Mulder -"
"Doctor Mulder is my friend."
"You should choose your friends more carefully. People say Doctor Mulder is a mole for the Resistance."
A mole? Of course he is, she thought. Would he be Mulder if he wasn't making waves or making enemies?
Would he stand still and allow the atrocities of the Colonizers to be perpetrated on mankind without striking
back in some way?
"And what do you say?" she asked.
Pendrell stared at her for a long moment, as if she should have known the answer to that question. Finally, he said, "I say people should keep their mouths shut." Pendrell pulled back onto the road and continued driving in silence.
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Pendrell dropped Scully off in front of her quarters. He would not even wait for Scully to get inside before he
pulled off into the darkness. Scully shrugged, determined to find a way to make it up to him later.
She entered the dark quarters and instantly felt that odd familiar-yet-strange sensation she'd been feeling earlier.
She knew where to find the light switch, and reached out for it. Before she flicked it up, though, it occurred to her
that she was not alone.
Light filled the cramped room, revealing its drab, used furniture and lack of style. It also illuminated the man
standing by the window, his uniform tunic opened, revealing a pale but muscular frame, a glass of amber liquid in his true hand, the hand of his prosthetic limb covered by a black leather glove.
"Krycek!"
"What kind of greeting is that for a man who's been away for three weeks, risking his life and limb for the Project?"
He extended his arm in an invitation to embrace.
Scully couldn't move. Couldn't possibly allow him to touch her or come near her. She couldn't fake it, not even if it
meant her life. She hated him in her previous life, she was sure. No matter how scattered her memory she was certain beyond a doubt. So why would she feel any differently about him in this life?
"Some things never change," Krycek said with a scowl and took a gulp.
"You weren't due back until tomorrow," she said, walking over to the couch. She sat and decided to busy herself by removing her boots. This action seemed natural, almost practiced. She imagined this being a precursor to her
evening ritual.
"Here, let me help you."
Krycek put his drink down and knelt before her. He took her by the ankle. With one hand he deftly pulled off one
boot, then the other.
"I heard about your little ambush. You look none the worse for wear." He propped her left foot against his torso
and began to massage it.
"Stop that."
"Ssshhhh." Krycek kept rubbing. "How's this?"
"What do you want, Krycek?"
"Only to please my beautiful, powerful wife."
Scully tried to pull her foot away, but Krycek held on to her tighter.
"Come on, there was a time-"
"I honestly don't remember it."
"I know it's been a while, but I've been busy."
"With whom?"
"Are you implying that I'd cheat on you?"
"Yes."
Krycek let go of her foot and stood, retrieving his drink.
"Well, what would you expect, seeing as I'm married to the Ice Princess of Company C."
Scully grabbed her boots and headed for the bedroom. Krycek quickly jumped in front of her and stood before the
doorway. Liquor spilled from his glass against the wall. He angrily threw the glass across the floor.
"Dana, please."
"Out of my way, Krycek."
"Dana! Look, we got off on the wrong foot. You didn't want to marry me, I didn't want to marry you, but it doesn't
matter what we want. You know the drill. They say jump and we asking how high."
"It doesn't mean I have to like it."
"I know. But if you could just-." He ran a hand tenderly down her arm.
"If you could just give me a chance. I know I could make you happy."
"You can start by getting out of my way."
"It's HIM, isn't it?"
Scully's heart leapt into her throat.
Krycek grabbed Scully's arm and pinned it behind her back, then pulled her close. She could feel the heat of his breath, smell the scotch.
"Let me go, Krycek!"
"It's HIM, that MULDER idiot isn't it. You want to know what I heard about Mulder? I heard he's the mole
everybody's looking for. You know what that means? It means if you're caught fraternizing with a mole, you might
as well be one yourself. The Colonizers have no mercy when it comes to the Resistance. You know that as well as
I do."
"Krycek, you're paranoid. Let me go."
"You stay away from him."
"If he's the mole, why haven't you turned him in?"
Krycek gave her a shove, then ambled back over to the liquor cabinet to pour him a fresh one. "Just stay away from him. He's tainted. He's trouble. It's just a matter of time. Besides, we have important work to do, you and I.
Word just came down from the grand pooba. We have to have a baby."
"What?"
"A baby. You know, they're small and smelly and keep you up all night. They grow up to disappoint you and if you're lucky you'll die before they can try to kill you." Krycek quickly downed the liquor and let out a satisfied growl, then poured another.
"It's impossible."
"That depends on your point of view." Krycek wander back over by Scully, but kept his distance. "There's only
one point of view that matters, however. The Colonizers'. They want you to conceive. I don't know about you, pretty lady, but I'm happy to comply."
"Why? Aren't they through experimenting with us?"
"Why don't you ask them. I can't think of any reason this world needs any little red-headed Uber-Scullys running
around, but then again, it ain't my plan."
"Well, they've pretty much ruined any chance of that. I can't conceive."
Krycek reached into his pocket and pulled a tiny vial. He held it up to the dim light.
"What's that?" asked Scully.
"An implant that can reverse your 'barren' condition."
"I will not submit to that."
"I'm sorry, did I give you the impression you had a choice?"
Scully backed away, heading for the door. Krycek was on her in a second, whipping her around the face him. Scully automatically reached for his face and dug fingers into his eyes. Krycek screamed and pushed Scully against the wall. Then he hauled back with his prosthetic arm and swung at Scully.
She heard muffled crack and instantly the world went dark.
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"AGENT SCULLY! AGENT SCULLY! Can you hear me?"
The ground was cold under her. Gravel was biting into the back of her head. The world above her, what little was in focus, was spinning. Faces - all strangers - were over her, close, all with panicked expressions. All seemed to be talking all at once, but she could barely hear them. They kept calling her name. Asking her questions. Then
someone started pulling at her clothes. Cutting them away. What was happening? Where was Mulder?
"We got a pulse! We need an airway! Get her on the gurney! On three-one, two, three-"
The world became dark and terribly silent again.
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Scully woke up in Blevin's office again. This time he sat across the room, writing at his desk. She tried to sit up, but
she could not. She was weak, and groggy, but not enough to keep her flat on the table. And then she realized she was in restraints.
"What is this about-" Her speech was slurred.
Blevins rose and came to the examining table. "Please, Sub-commander Scully, you must calm down."
"No!" she said, pulling against the restraints that held her wrist firmly to the table.
"You did it, didn't you! You put that thing- THAT IMPLANT - in my body! Why?"
"Please, calm yourself, or I'll have to sedate you."
"No! I'm calm," she said, lowering her head back to the table, letting her voice become softer and lower. "I'm calm. Doctor Blevins, please, I implore you, tell me what that thing was, what it's supposed to do."
"It won't hurt you, I can assure you."
"It doesn't belong there. You have to remove it. Please."
"I can't, Sub-commander Scully. I have my orders. Now, you must rest, or I will have to sedate you."
"Excuse me, Doctor Blevins," came a voice from across the room. Krycek's. "May I speak to my wife in private?"
Blevins nodded and left. She could hear Krycek as he crossed the room. He appeared over her like a shadow.
Scully could think of nothing but ways to kill this man, and how to prolong his agony in doing it.
"Feeling better, darling?" he asked with a nasty grin. "I'm sorry I had to resort to brutality, but your cooperation was essential to my survival. And yours. Is there much pain?"
"Why would I think for a moment you would care?"
"I don't. But having you suffer won't make this process work any better. I'd get this over with right now, while
you're in no position to fight me. But you might be surprised to know that even I have my limits. There's only
so far I will go. I still harbor the belief that we can do this and be friends. The Doctor, however, says no physical
contact for at least three days. So I'll just have to dream about it, till then." He knelt down to kiss Scully. She spat
in his face.
Krycek merely smiled, and wiped his face on Scully's gown. "Well, so much for being friends. Have it your way
Scully. Bring him in."
Scully didn't know to whom he was referring until a guard entered the room, pushing Pendrell ahead of him.
Pendrell's face was swollen and bruised, his eyes blackened, his lip split and bleeding. He held his side,
barely able to breathe.
"We got our mole."
"Pendrell?"
"No!" he chided Scully, then to Pendrell, "Tell her. I want her to hear it from you. And don't leave anything out."
Pendrell looked at Scully with deeply apologetic eyes. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out at first. The guard nudged him with the business end of his automatic weapon.
"Mulder was arrested this morning. He's in Prison Block D, awaiting execution."
Scully felt her heart racing, could feel her blood surging, pounding in her ears.
"Go on," teased Krycek. Pendrell looked at him with defiant eyes, refusing to speak. Pendrell would not. "Then
I'll finish the story. Fox Mulder was charged with sedition. He's being interrogated as we speak. I'm missing the party."
Scully felt her resolve wither into a prayer for death. For Mulder, and for herself.
"What do you want, Krycek? What do you want to let Mulder and Pendrell go?"
"What? No mention of yourself? My little sacrificial lamb. Wait. It gets better. Tell her the other thing, Pendrell. Go on."
Pendrell's lips drew tightly as he looked down, ashamed, embarrassed.
"TELL HER!"
"I love you, Sub-commander. I always have." Pride found its way back into his voice along with the courage to look Scully in the eyes. "And I always will."
"Ain't that sweet?" sang Krycek. "What do you think about that, wife? As your husband, I think I should be a little
jealous, don't you?"
Krycek pulled out his service weapon and aimed it at Pendrell's head.
"NO!"
Panic twisted Pendrell's face. "MULDER'S NOT THE MOLE IT'S -"
The sound of gunfire left Scully's ears ringing. Her eyes were shut so tightly she thought she would have to pry
them open.
I would die for you, Pendril had said.
"KRYCEK! NO." She was surprised by how weak her own voice sounded, despite the fury she felt. She pulled
against the bindings around her wrists, feeling them cut into her skin.
Krycek gestured to the guard to get rid of the body. The bulky guard dragged Pendrell's bleeding corpse away,
leaving a long red streak on the off-white floor.
"I just saved your life, Mrs. Krycek, and you don't even realize it. As usual, Alex Krycek is cast as the bad guy.
You'll understand someday, when your memory returns. You see, that little bullet wound of your seems to have
erased a few interesting details from your hard drive, but you'd be surprised the kinds of thing you reveal when you're under the influence of Doc Blevin's drugs. You told me things that…well, let's just say you know more than you think you know. And you'd be sharing a cell with your beloved Mulder if that information got out. I just snuffed the only person who knew the truth. Other than me of course. But I promise you, no one will ever know. That is, if you promise never to be a bad girl again."
"He said Mulder's not the moke, that he's innocent!"
"None of us are innocent, my sweet Dana. All our hands are tainted with the blood of others. It's just a matter of
playing the game, and who has the most toys. Right now, I have Mulder. I know he's not the mole, but what the hell, I can dangle him like a carrot in front of you the rest of your life. So it comes to this: You play the role of the sweet, loving, obedient wife for me, and I'll keep Mulder alive."
"Krycek, I will do whatever you say, say whatever you want, if you let Mulder go."
"He means that much to you? I believe I AM jealous now. But I'm in a merciful mood. And even though I know you won't believe it, Mrs. Krycek, I do feel something for you.
Maybe I can do something to save him from the executioner's block, for you."
"You'll let him go?"
"That's not what I said. He'll stay in prison until I'm positive you're a team player, and you're not playing both
sides of the field. Step on a crack, I'll break Mulder's back. Step on the line, I'll personally snap his spine."
"I'll play your game."
"I knew you were smart. Who knows, you might wake up one morning and decide I'm not half bad."
"Don't count on it."
"As a sort of-baby shower gift-I suppose I could lobby to have Mulder placed in a re-education camp. Death or
re-ed. Hard to say which is worse, know what I mean? But some camps are worse than others. There's one in Arizona that's been called Club Med compared to places I've seen. I can have him sent there on a two-year plan. He won't be the same man coming out as going in, but he'll always be Mulder to me."
Krycek moved closer, so that Scully could feel his hot breath against her ear. "Maybe I can make this a little
easier for you, Dana. Tell you a little something about your precious Mulder you should know, before you make plans for your future."
Krycek took a file from Blevin's desk and dropped it on Scully's midsection. "He's not the little savior-dude he
makes out to be." He unsnapped both wrist restraints, then the ankle restraints.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Sit up, see for yourself."
Scully thought she would pass out as she fought to sit up. Once up, however, the room stopped spinning. She saw the name on the file. SCULLY, MARGARET A. Next to the name was a red stamp - CLOSED.
"My mother… What are you doing with this?"
"Open it, " Krycek said. As she did, Krycek continued.
"Poor thing. She was half out of her mind. She didn't take too well to re-ed. So it was the recommendation of the
chief psychological officer responsible for her re-ed that Margaret Scully be put out of her misery. Death by lethal
injection. I heard they go pretty quickly, but not completely painlessly."
Scully felt a lump the size of a fist in her throat. Her ears began to ring. She saw the signature at the bottom of the
page. FW Mulder. Fox Mulder. Mulder had administered the injection himself.
"This is a lie," she said through clenched teeth.
"I wish it were, Scully. But it isn't. You could ask him, if you want."
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Cellblock D smelled of death. Many times the tortured prisoners awaiting execution expired during their wait.
Many times they found ways to take their own lives, put themselves out of their misery, thus saving the Project time and money in carrying out execution orders.
Dana Scully walked the corridor to cell D42-1013. What she found made her shudder.
Mulder lay on the floor huddled in a fetal position. Dried blood was encrusted around his lips and nose. His hands
were bruised, as if smashed during a rather arduous torture session. His feet were bare, and red-raw on the bottom.
"Mulder?"
He stirred. Swollen eyes looked up and found Scully's face. He tried to speak, but his voice was raw, no doubt
from screaming.
"Did you sign the execution order for my mother?"
Mulder said nothing, could not say anything, but began to tremble.
"Did you kill her? I have to know."
Mulder looked away, ashamed, afraid. He nodded once; just the slight tilt of the head.
Scully turned and walked away, boot heels echoing down the cold concrete corridor.
END CHAPTER 2
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