Disclaimer: I do not own the X Files
Note: For some reason I am struggling to figure out where to go next right now. So weird but no fear I am not giving up! I still have many ideas I just need to get in the right place to move on from here. Any ideas or critiques would be great! It's not the best chapter but I hope you enjoy it!
Undercover
The first thing the agents did in the morning after getting ready was heading over to see the Lone Gunmen.
Sleep had come easy for both of them as it had since they had started sleeping together. Both had been haunted by nightmares for years.
Scully had nightmares of running to save her sister in time and always getting there late. Sometimes she would imagine herself lying in a hospital bed surrounded by Mulder and her family slowly and painfully dying. Occasionally a different group would surround the hospital bed. The Smoking Man would be next to her leering down, next to him would be Diana smiling and taking notes, the others were aliens that watched without expression.
Mulder's nightmares were almost always about Scully. The worst one was him not getting there in time to stop Padgett's invisible henchmen from removing Scully's heart. He would sit there covered in blood crying over her lifeless form. If they were not about Scully they were about his sister. The dreams of Samantha had lessened since he discovered her fate. Now he would even have happy dreams of her in the starlight.
Scully, though, was his protector. She saved him from these nightmares and if he found himself waking in the night he would only need to reach out for her or listen for her breathing to know everything was all right.
He looked over at her for a moment as they reached a stoplight. She was looking out her window deep in thought till she sensed him looking at her.
"What?" She asked.
"Just taking in the view." Mulder said suggestively.
Scully softly hit his arm and pointed ahead, "Lights green casanova."
Before he turned his eyes back to the road he was rewarded with a stunning smile from his partner.
The Lone Gunmen were on top of things, as usual. When the agents arrived they began to explain their findings.
"It looks like your victim may not have been as air headed as she first seems." Langley started.
"You said she was stuffin' the muffin' with her boss right?" Frohike said indelicately, "Well it looks like that was not simply for pleasure."
He moved the laptop to show them what appeared to be a log. Each entry was dated and held information about people in her department.
"Holy crap." Mulder said softly.
"She was undercover with internal affairs…" Scully said once again feeling the pang in her heart for the woman.
"Well this just made everything a million times more complicated. Do you think Skinner would know about this?"
"Probably not. But Kersh might have and he took us off the case."
"Maybe they don't want to know if it was someone on the inside. That would look pretty bad. Especially if she were killed while investigating her co-workers and boss."
"We also found encrypted emails from a guy named Frank Maxwell." Byers showed them.
Mulder and Scully turned to each other and then to the computer. After reading some of the correspondents they knew where they needed to go.
They thanked the Gunmen and moved quickly to the car as Scully dialed the number for Maxwell.
"Nothing." She said as she put in another number.
She wanted to call Skinner to see if he knew about Traci Wells.
"Skinner." The curt voice came across Scully's phone.
"Sir, Mulder and I have found some very interesting information regarding the Traci Wells case and we wanted to know if-"
"Agent were you not told to leave the case alone?"
"Yes sir but we could tell they were hiding something. They know something that will embarrasses the Bureau and they don't want it to get out."
"It doesn't matter either way. You and Agent Mulder were taken off the case."
"Sir! We can't leave this alone! A fellow agent died!"
She heard him sigh a sigh that was saved especially for his two most frustrating agents, "Listen, I don't know a lot about this but I know that you could be on dangerous ground. Do what you need to do but don't call me about it."
"Sir!" She was met with a dial tone, "He hung up."
"He seem to know anything?" Mulder asked.
"No I think he is as in the dark as we are, which is bad news for us. He doesn't want to get involved."
"Surprise, surprise."
"If he can have deniability then we can keep searching."
They pulled up to the house of Frank Maxwell for the second time in two days. After ringing the doorbell a few times and knocking they upholstered their guns. Mulder nodded to Scully who nodded back right before he kicked down the door.
The house was oddly quiet.
They held their guns at their sides protectively as they searched each room. They found nothing until they entered the kitchen. There on the floor lay the woman who had answered the door for them the day before.
She was in the same condition as Agent Wells was when she was found but it appeared that the housekeeper suffered even worse damage.
"Dammit." Mulder said as he hit his fist on the counter.
Scully crouched down next to the body to feel for a pulse out of habit even thought she knew it was pointless.
"We need to find Maxwell." She whispered.
They began to move toward the stairs when they heard a commotion from the backyard. They ran toward the backyard and into a guesthouse in the back.
The door to the shed was wide open. Mulder peered in and saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind a shelf.
"It's clear." He sighed.
They moved quickly to the form of Frank Maxwell who was in the same shape but looked to be alive, barely.
His face was nearly gone and the only sign that he was alive was the slight movements in his arms and legs. Next to his arm was a stack of books that appeared to be knocked down by a stray movement in his arm, which had caused the noise.
Scully jumped on her cellphone to call for an ambulance and Mulder leaned down next to Maxwell to see if he could get any response.
"Ambulance is on its way." Scully said.
"I don't think it will do any good."
"Apparently Mrs. Maxwell is out of town till the end of the week. We have tried her a few times but her sister said she is at some sort of spa and might not have access to phones." Scully informed her partner who was currently checking the vents. "Are you finding anything?" She asked.
"Yeah. I put the grate on the floor next to me." He responded without looking up from his examination.
Scully slapped on some gloves and bent down to take a look at the body on the floor. By the time the paramedics arrived Frank Maxwell was dead and the agents had already began their study of the home. Scully crouched down next to the body that looked grimly familiar. The odd thing was that both Frank Maxwell and his housekeeper had wounds that were even more gruesome upon first sight. Scully pulled up his pant leg and shirt sleeve to see if his arms or legs were affected but both seemed fine as was the same with the housekeeper. It looked like the only part of the body affected by the acid this time was the face but she would not know for sure until she preformed an autopsy.
"Ah hah!" Mulder shouted from across the room. He was checking out the third vent.
"Did you find something?" Scully asked as she walked toward him.
"Yep. One second." His arm stretched out in the vent all the way and he finally pulled his arm out and showed Scully the glob of green goop that he had gathered from inside of the vent. Scully pulled out a napkin and an evidence bag and collected the evidence.
"How much is in there?" She asked.
Mulder shined the flashlight in the vent, "There is a small spot of it. I got most of it. Have they found any of the cosmetics here that were found in Traci Wells' room?"
"Not that I have heard, they know to be looking."
A woman from the coroner's office came up to them, "Can we remove the bodies?"
"Yes we are done with them here." Scully was about to continue with instructions when a sharp voice broke through the room.
"Agents. I specifically remember taking you off the case yet here you are." Kersh said as he approached them.
"Oh, this is related to that case? Huh. We just thought this looked like an X File what a weird coincidence…" Mulder said sarcastically feigning innocence.
Kersh ignored Mulder and continued on, "This is no longer your case. You are dismissed." He pointed toward the door and the agents decided to leave without any more argument.
"One more thing: Agent Scully don't even think about going near those bodies. If I find out the two of you tried to insert yourselves you will be buried in paperwork for the next two months." Kersh added.
Scully rolled her eyes as she turned back around, "We are goanna find a way to see those bodies right?" She asked Mulder quietly as they neared the car.
"Why Agent Scully I can't believe you would ever suggest such a thing. I have a mind to tell the Deputy Director!" Mulder said mockingly with a wink. Scully smirked and they started on their way back to the basement office to hatch a plan about how to proceed.