THE X-FILES
“THE X-QUEST” or “THE REAL ADVENTURES OF FOX MULDER”
By Alien Girl
Classification: Adventure / Humor / Crossover: X-F/The Real Adventures of
Jonny Quest
Rating: G
Spoilers: A few from “Kill switch”
Archive Info: Anywhere, anyway, anyhow!
Disclaimer: Here we go with everybody’s favorite part of the story...the
disclaimer. Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013 Productions and the Fox
Network, and I’m not making any money off of them, which explains why I’m
broke. Jonny Quest and all his pals belong to Doug Widley, Hanna-Barbera
and Cartoon Network, so I’m not making moolah off of them, either. There,
you happy?!!
Summary: Mulder and Scully have to fight a computerized version of the
black oil virus in Questworld.
Author’s Note: If any of you people out there are as whacked as I am and
have watched “The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest” enough times to know
exactly how many private jets they’ve destroyed, you may have noticed a
small little detail...Jonny Quest and X-Files ARE VERY SIMILAR!!! In
fact, it is evident in some cases that Jonny Quest *stole* some X-F
plots!! They both contain Anasazi Indians for aliens and black
helicopters, they both have things on the Jersey Devil and the Golem in
Prague and switching bodies, and they both have really old guys with
health problems for villains! (Check out my top ten list on how the two
shows are in league with each other...) So, being the brilliant, and
modest, genius that I am, I decided to write a crossover as if the two
met each other. The story doesn’t start out with M&S, but they’ll get
there, so don’t fret.
On with the show!
------------------------------------------------
The X-Quest ...or... The Real Adventures of Fox Mulder
By Alien Girl
“Virtual Chess!”
“Flight Simulation”
“Virtual Chess!!”
“Flight Simulation!!”
“*Virtual Chess*!!!”
“*Flight Simulation*!!!”
Hadji watched his two friends with a look that could have made
hyenas yawn. Jonny and Jessie were both struggling for control of the
keyboard...and both somewhat lacking in anything to say to the other
except the virtual reality game they wanted to play. Jessie gave Jonny a
cold stare.
“You *always* want to do the flight simulation program; I’m sick of it!”
“Yeah, because you always lose!!”
“I do not...”
“You do too! Admit it, you just don’t wanna fly ‘cause you know I’ll
smear ya.”
“Brave words from Mr. Let’s-try-and-land-the-plane-upside-down. Well, *I*
think you don’t wanna play ‘cause you know you’ll get fried by the dragon
queen!”
“We’ll see who gets fried in a minute...”
“If you two want an amusing sport, I suggest you try taping yourselves in
an argument and watching for half an hour,” Hadji growled disgustedly.
“Admit it...you’ll *never* agree on anything!”
“Alright, Hadj,” Jonny crossed his arms and slouched back in a chair.
“*You* pick out a game.”
“Alright, I will,” he replied, turning to the keyboard.
“You shouldn’t have said that. He’ll pick ‘Meditation Simulation 2000' or
something like that,” Jessie giggled.
Hadji pretended not to hear. He typed away patiently, accessing corners
and looking around old files scattered throughout the Questworld database
that even he didn’t know existed. He stopped suddenly.
“What?”
“I haven’t seen *this* before,” Hadji remarked surprisedly. “A file
marked ‘Time Travel Adventure Sim 3'. Sounds like your kind of thing.”
“Are you sure it’s a game and not a program?”
“I’m sure. You want to try it?”
“*Anything* but airplanes...” Jessie groaned.
Hadji double-clicked and typed out a few commands, and the file opened,
displaying a large, colorful landscape on the video screen that covered
one wall.
“Cool.”
Then the screen began to flicker. A small warning siren sounded from the
main computer, accompanied by Iris’s feminine voice...
“Warning...virus detected in system...warning...”
Jonny slapped a hand against his brow. “Aw, man, not again...”
“Let me guess: another computer virus that Surd implanted?” Jessie
muttered angrily.
“I don’t know...no, I don’t think so. I’m running our Anti-virus program
now...” Hadji replied, trying not to let on how worried he actually was.
The screen continued to fizz, and, if anything, it was getting worse.
“It’s not working,” Hadji suddenly cried. “The Anti-virus program didn’t
stop it!”
The three teens stared in shock at the video wall. The screen was filling
over with a black fizz, like moving, slimy oil...
“What the heck *is* that?” Jessie said.
Jonny wasted no time. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, we’ve got to
stop it before it destroys the entire system!” he grabbed up a headpiece
and headed for the metal chairs in the center of the lighthouse computer
room. “Come on!”
Jessie stared at the now-black screen worriedly. “I...don’t think it’s a
good idea...”
“Whatever,” Jonny attached the headpiece to his ear. “I’m going in.”
Hadji decided that he’d better not argue. There was no *telling* what an
unknown virus could do to Questworld if it was not stopped quickly. He
typed rapidly away at the keys and called out verbal commands:
“Questworld: log on. Subject: Jonny Quest.
Countdown...5...4...3...2...1...”
The headpiece switched on, lights on the computer flickered, and Jonny
was instantly thrown into virtual reality.
He landed hard, but quickly regained his balance. In the
Three-dimensional world, he saw a flat blue sky, a flat, grey ground, and
tall grey towers that resembled computer memory chips sticking out of the
ground all over the place. But he saw something else that definitely
scared him...
“What the!...” Jonny cried.
“What is it?” Jessie said anxiously.
Jonny watched, horrified, as a seething, oozing puddle of black oil
spread out all across the virtual reality world, growing, expanding,
moving, eating away the memory chips like acid and messing up the wiring.
The black puddle was coming in his direction.
“What *is* that stuff?” he remarked disgustedly.
“It looks like...some sort of virtual form of an organic virus.”
“This is too strange for school, Hadj,” Jonny replied, backing away from
the approaching puddle. “Can’t you give me any weapons, shields,
something to fight it with?”
“...What’s going on?” a voice called from the door. Jessie and Hadji
looked up from the computer screen as Dr. Quest and Race entered the
lighthouse. “We heard that there was a fault in the system.”
“*Fault* is hardly the world,” Jessie cried. “There’s some weird virus
attacking the system. Out Anti-virus program couldn’t stop it. Jonny’s in
Questworld now, trying to take a look.”
“I’m taking a *look* all right,” Jonny called from virtual reality.
“Look, Hadj, can’t I get some weapons now? This stuff is kind of getting
*closer*, here...”
Dr. Quest stared at the video wall. His eyes narrowed. “Why is the screen
black?”
“It’s the virus,” Hadji answered, still typing. “It’s taken over a tenth
of the system already. Jonny said it looked like moving black oil or
something.”
“Moving black oil?!” Dr. Quest cried suddenly.
“Hadji, sometime this *week* would be nice...”
“Log Jonny out of there, *now*!” Dr. Quest shouted. Not waiting for an
answer, he shoved Hadji out of the way and typed away at the keyboard.
The computer instantly ceased humming and the headpiece switched off,
throwing Jonny back into reality.
He tore the headpiece off. “What happened?”
“Yeah,” Race grunted, “what’s going on?”
“I’ve seen this thing before, or have just heard of it,” Dr. Quest
replied worriedly, staring at the black screen. “This black oil...could
be a virtual form of an organic virus.”
“You mean this is an *actual* virus?”
“It could be. And from what I’ve heard, this black oil is extremely
deadly. Jonny, you could have been killed.”
Jonny shrugged absently.
“No Anti-virus program or virtual weaponry of ours can stop this thing.
For the organic black oil virus, there is supposed to be only a weak
vaccine available, and only a few people know of it.”
“Ooh, this is not good...” Hadji muttered.
Race stared at the black screen, at the three teens, and at Dr. Quest.
“Then how do we stop this thing?”
“We need to find someone who knows enough about the virus to come and try
develop a virtual vaccine for it.”
“Who?”
“I think I know two people who can help...”
“...Mulder, would you *please* get your feet off my desk and onto the
floor where they belong?”
Mulder looked up from his newspaper with one eyebrow cocked. He glanced
at Scully, then at his feet, which were propped right up on top of her
tiny excuse for a desk.
“My feet have been on your desk for the last 20 minutes. Why are you
asking me to take them off now?”
Scully groaned. Mulder was in one of his “moods” again. “What does that
matter, just kindly put your feet on the floor!”
“But how come you didn’t tell me to take them off earlier?”
“Because I figured you could take them off yourself without me having to
tell you 20 minutes later, okay?”
Mulder brought his shoes to the floor with a thud that echoed all around
the basement office. Scully sighed overdramaticlly. Things had been slow
in the bureau for the past couple of days, if that was ever possible. And
there really wasn’t much for either of them to do...except annoy each
other.
“Scully,” Mulder asked suddenly, “If my...I mean, *our*...office was in
the attic instead of the basement, what would you think?”
Scully looked up at him with a deadpan expression. “Mulder, now I *know*
you’re bored.”
“Well, what *would* you think?”
“The building doesn’t *have* an attic.”
“But what if it did?”
“Next you’ll be asking what I would wish for if you were a genie.”
“What *would* you wish for?”
“I dream of my own desk,” Scully glowered.
“I think it would feel weird to ride the elevator up instead of down to
work. It would feel like we were upside down or the elevator was broken
or the cable would snap any minute...”
RING-RING. RING-RING.
Mulder picked up the phone with one hand, put the other behind his head,
and proceeded to replace his feet on top of Scully’s desk. “Y’ello.”
Scully watched with raised eyebrows and a slight scowl as Mulder listened
to the person on the other end.
“Uh, huh...who? Wait, run that by me again....huh....I see....really?...
Um....uh, huh. ....Yeah, she’s here. Uh....okay, hold on,” He thrust the
phone in her direction. “You’re wanted by a Dr. Benton Quest.”
“Yeah, and George of the Jungle sent you a fax last week,” She replied
sarcastically.
“No, Scully, I’m serious,” He said. “That’s what he said. Just take it.”
“Coincidence or something...” Scully mumbled under her breath. She took
the phone and leaned back in her chair casually. “Yes?”
“Is this Special Agent Dana Scully?” The voice came from the other end.
“Uh...yeah...” She said slowly. “Who am I speaking to?”
“This is Dr. Benton Quest. I specialize in computer technology and
private investigations of paranormal occurrences.”
“Oh, really.”
“You see, I have a slight problem. We have a computer system with special
programming at our house, and a virus has been found in it that we are
unable to destroy.”
“Uh...Dr. Quest, I’m a doctor, not a repairman.”
“So am I. But I understand that you and your partner have experience
concerning the type of virus we are dealing with. I’m hoping you and your
partner could come down soon and give us advice on what to do.”
Mulder smiled slyly and cracked a sunflower seed between his teeth.
“I...guess so. But I’m not really sure we’ll be able to help you in this
matter.”
“We’ll see. I think it will work out.”
“Can you give us an address?”
“Yeah. Our house in on a peninsula in Eastern Maine. Go up Pennsylvania
northwest and turn left on a dirt road. You’ll see a large house and a
lighthouse by a cliff. You can’t miss it.”
“Uh...sure. Thanks.”
“No, thank you. I really appreciate this. We’ll see you then.”
Scully hung up the phone and shoved Mulder’s feet off the desk absently.
She stared at her partner with a confused look.
“How the heck did he know your phone number?”
“You invited two *FBI agents* to get rid of the virus?!” Jessie exclaimed
after recovering from her shock.
“That’s it,” Jonny rolled his eyes skywards and collapsed onto the sofa,
flailing his arms about overdramatically. “Thaaaat’s it. We’re doomed.”
“Kids, relax,” Race grunted irritably. “Benton knows what he’s doin’.” He
stopped, and turned to Dr. Quest. “By the way, what exactly *are* you
doing?...”
Bandit jumped onto the couch next to Jonny and licked his hand, demanding
to be petted. “Yeah, I thought the FBI freaks were the ones *behind* that
whole conspiracy. They were the ones who nearly pumped us full of lead
when we got involved in that thing with your friend Alice Starseeker.”
Jonny said, puzzled.
“I know, Jonny, but those weren’t FBI, remember? They were from a
different organization.”
“I *still* think this is a bad idea,” Jessie grumbled.
“I’ve read up on these two,” Dr. Quest insisted. “Very promising. Don’t
worry, I promise you I know what I’m doing.”
“...Said the falcon as it flew into the tiger’s cave,” Hadji muttered
under his breath.
“You know, Mulder, I think you could take a hint from these people.”
Mulder glanced out the front windshield of the car, then back at Scully,
then back outside. “What exactly are you implying?”
“That maybe you should try sprucing up your apartment a bit.”
“What, you want me to get a mansion, a three-car garage and a lighthouse
for my apartment?”
“You can start with a bedroom, for one thing.”
Mulder stared at the approaching house with his lower jaw hanging slack.
The car turned up the dirt road to the enormous mansion and accompanying
lighthouse that rested on the upcoming cliff. The house was...*huge*,
complete with gardens and statues, finely decorated exterior, and even
some real high-tech security systems. Apparently, Mulder was trying
rather hard not to be impressed.
He drove the car into a large driveway in front of the garages and
stopped it. Mulder and Scully stepped out of the car and gazed around at
the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean behind the mansion.
ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF! ARF!
Mulder jumped, then groaned at the sound of barking.
“They have a dog...terrific...”
Scully looked towards the front entrance with slight amusement as a small
bulldog came tearing down the driveway towards them, barking as loud as
he could. Mulder backed away uneasily as the dog stopped in front of him,
tongue hanging, tail wagging.
“Bandit, c’mere!”
The bulldog had a large black spot over his eyes that resembled a
bandit’s mask, hence the name. Bandit barked happily and ran back to
where Mulder and Scully’s hosts were waiting.
Mulder took stock of the group: there was a young teenage boy, possibly
around 14 or 15, with intense blond hair. A girl around his age, kinda
lanky, with hair even redder than Scully’s. And yet another teen, perhaps
a year younger, who looked Indian, and had a turban on his head. A man in
his 40's or 50's with broad shoulders and graying hair and beard. And
finally, another man in his 40's, with a shock of white hair and a build
that reminded Mulder or a wrestling champion. The two agents started
towards the larger group.
“Hi, I’m Agent Dana Scully, this is Agent Fox Mulder,” Scully introduced
them when they came up. Mulder couldn’t help but notice how the redhead
girl mouthed ‘Fox?’ to the blond boy and giggled.
“I understand you called us because you thought we could fix a problem
with your computer?” Scully queried.
“Yes, here, allow me to introduce ourselves,” the bearded man said. “I’m
Dr. Benton Quest. This is my friend, Race Bannon,” he motioned to the man
with the white hair...and the small scowl. “His daughter, Jessie Bannon,”
The redhead girl smiled. “Hadji,” He pointed to the teen with the turban.
“And my son, Jonny.” The blond teen grinned.
“We’re pleased to meet you all,” Scully said before Mulder could open his
mouth to speak. The bulldog barked at Mulder.
“And Bandit,” Jonny added, picking up the drooling dog.
“Yeah,” Mulder gave a forced grin.
Hadji looked at Mulder and Jonny. They were both wearing the same outfit:
a black shirt, belt and blue jeans. And Scully and Jessie both had almost
the exact same bright red hair. It was all he could do to keep from
laughing aloud.
“Won’t you come in,” Dr. Quest gestured towards the front door. “Then
we’ll talk business.”
Mulder and Scully followed Jonny, Jessie, Hadji, Race and Dr. Quest into
the house, with Mulder taking care to avoid Bandit barking at his heels
and attempting to jump up and lick him.
A moment later, the entire group was sitting in large, comfy sofas with
large glasses of lemonade. Mulder felt completely insignificant as to the
“luxury” of his apartment compared to the lavish decorations that covered
the mansion. He was staring out the window at the gorgeous cliffs and
ocean when Bandit suddenly launched a surprise attack on him, covering
his face in wet, sticky slobber.
“Ohh...ugh!” Mulder tried not to show his obvious disgust as he wiped
saliva from his cheek, only to have it be replaced by twice as much from
another of Bandit’s wet licks.
“He likes you,” Jessie chuckled.
“Yeah. I noticed.”
“Nice place you got here,” Scully remarked, gesturing about at the
mansion. “Now...about your computer problem.”
“Yeah,” Mulder added, “why did you call us?”
Race gave Dr. Quest a look that seemed to say; “yeah...why *did* you call
them?”
“I understand you and your partner have had experience dealing with a
particular form of a hanta virus,” Dr. Quest began.
Mulder and Scully exchanged glances. “If you could *call* it that...”
“Yes. We have access to FBI personnel files, so this is how we know about
this. We think that a virtual form of the virus you experienced has
invaded our system and is destroying certain files.”
“Why?” asked Mulder.
“I don’t know,” Dr. Quest admitted.
“Is that why you wanted our help?”
“Actually,” He continued,” it’s because we were hoping you would help us
get rid of it.”
“How do you expect us to do that?”
“Agent Scully, you caught the virus yourself once, didn’t you?”
Scully appeared surprised.
“The things you’ll find in a personnel file...” Mulder remarked with a
sigh.
“And you, Agent Mulder, gave her a vaccine for it.”
“Uhh...yeah, I did.”
“So?” Scully queried.
“We’re hoping that with your knowledge of the virus and it’s vaccine that
you will be able to destroy it.”
“Doctor, as I said before, hardly either of us knows a thing about
electronics and programming...”
“Actually, this involves a bit more physical activity.”
“Killing a virus? Physical activity?” Mulder asked with raised eyebrows.
“You’re gonna put them in Questworld?” Jonny said suddenly. “And have
them stop the virus from within? Cool!”
“I’m afraid to ask...”
“Come on,” Dr. Quest stood and started towards the door. “We’ll go down
to the lighthouse and explain fully what you need to do.”
Mulder and Scully followed the group out the door, both with uneasy looks
on their faces. The seven walked out the back door of the mansion and
started up towards the lighthouse that rested right on the edge of the
cliff. During that time, Mulder and Scully seemed to separate. Mulder
found himself walking next to Jonny, and Scully next to Jessie.
“So...do you think he’s cute?” Jessie asked suddenly.
Scully stared back at her with surprise. “Do I think *what*?”
“Do you think your partner’s cute.”
“I, uhh....”
“I think he’s cute. You guys should go out.”
“Uhh...”
“I know this really good seafood restaurant in downtown Rockport that we
go to sometimes that’s *really* good for dates...”
“Uhh...”
Mulder, meanwhile, soon found himself in a conversation with Jonny.
“Do you believe in UFOs and aliens?” Mulder asked quietly, hoping that no
one would overhear and think he was crazy...
“Course I do. The former vice president was an alien. Really screwed up
the secretary of defense. All the Anasazi Indians are aliens, too. Oh
yeah, so is Bigfoot.”
“Bigfoot?”
“Yeah. He broke into our garage and tried to steal the car’s engine while
Race was hitting him over the head with a two-by-four...”
“You know, you should *really* meet my partner...”
“Yeah, she’s hot.”
“You’re not the only one that thinks so...”
“So, you travel a lot, being an FBI agent and all?”
“Oh, yeah. You have *no* idea...”
“Bet you haven’t been as many places as *I’ve* been.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“Wanna bet?”
“Alright, it you can mention *one* place you’ve been that I haven’t, I’ll
give you a dollar.”
“You’re on. Okay, um...New Mexico?”
“Yup.”
“Er...Hong Kong?”
“Yep.”
“Russia?”
“Definitely.”
“Alaska?”
“There was a werewolf up there.”
“Bermuda?”
“I’m waiting...”
Mulder was becoming desperate. “Antarctica?!!”
“I went to the north pole, but not the south...”
“Ha! You *haven’t* been to Antarctica! Give me a dollar!!”
“Ever visited India, Africa, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, Siberia or Easter
Island?”
“Keep your stupid dollar.”
Jonny couldn’t resist a low snicker. At least this FBI dork had a bit of
a sense of humor.
Mulder looked up as a large, well-built lighthouse loomed above them. The
sound of the Atlantic Ocean booming against the cliffs below them echoed
up as they reached the entrance to the enormous lighthouse. Dr. Quest
punched on a keypad code and pushed the door open, then led them inside.
Mulder and Scully stopped and stared awestruck at the sight that lay
before them. The inside of the lighthouse was lined wall to wall, floor
to ceiling, with screens, switches, wires, drives and all manner of
electrical equipment. A huge video screen dominated one wall. In the
center of the room were three metallic, space age-looking chairs. A
desktop computer rested on a large table near the video wall and three
chairs. Besides the equipment, which all appeared to be in perfect
working order, the lighthouse, like the rest of the mansion, was nicely
furnished and uniquely decorated.
“Welcome to the lighthouse,” Jonny announced with a big grin.
For a few moments, neither of the two agents could speak. Then Scully
finally uttered, “What’s all this for?”
“This is our main computer system,” Dr. Quest explained. “It’s a virtual
reality system. It connects all our files, documents and programs to a
virtual reality realm. It comes in extremely handy when killing bugs,
testing new products, researching classified topics-“
”And playing games!” Jonny added.
“This virus has taken over almost all of the system already. All of our
Anti-virus programs have failed, and Jonny hasn’t been able to stop it
from the virtual reality approach.”
“How come?” Scully asked. “From what you’ve told me, this virtual reality
program or whatever should give you an easy shortcut to killing the
virus.”
“It does. But we can’t destroy it because we don’t know enough about it.
We don’t know anything about a cure or a vaccine or how it moves or
whatever.”
“And *that*,” Hadji concluded,” is where you come in.”
“With your experience,” Dr. Quest motioned towards the chairs. “You
should be able to destroy the virus using our Questworld program.”
“You mean...” Mulder said hesitantly, “You’re going to put *us* into
virtual reality?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, it’s not too difficult to-“
”Ohhh, no,” Mulder interrupted suddenly, a nervous look plastered to his
face. “*Not* me. No.”
“Why not?”
Mulder walked behind Scully as if he were trying to hide behind her.
“Absolutely no way. You are *not* going to hook *me* up to any computer,
not while I’ve still got two fists to fight it off with!!”
Jessie gave Scully a look that seemed to say, “What’s *his* problem?!”
“He’s had a...um...*bad* experience with a virtual reality computer
program before...” Scully told Jessie quietly.
“Wha’d, you think I’d let that...that *artificial intelligence* zap my
head full of a million gigabytes and inject me with green tree sap and
*amputate* my arms again?!! *NO* way am I goin’ near that thing!!” Mulder
wailed miserably.
“Agent Mulder, it’s *not* artificial intelligence. It doesn’t have a mind
of it’s own. We control Questworld completely from right here,” Hadji
explained, motioning to the desktop computer.
“Mulder, I think it will be alright,” Scully told him. “I think we should
give it a try.”
“Whose side are you on, anyway?!!”
“Mulder...I don’t think this is an artificial-intelligence-virus-reality
that wants to kill you, okay? Besides, I personally want to find out why
this black oil computer virus is attacking their system, anyway. There
must be a logical reason behind it.”
“She *is* hot,” Jonny whispered to Jessie.
Mulder glanced at Scully, at the Quest Team, and at the three metallic
chairs in the center of the room. He gulped.
“Oh......I guess there’s no use arguing. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Alright!” Jonny whooped. “Come on...you guys are gonna *love* this!!
“I’m thrilled...” Mulder mumbled to himself. He and Scully approached the
chairs in the middle of the lighthouse cautiously. Hadji and Dr. Quest
got ready at the desktop computer. Race, as usual, stood behind the two
with his arms crossed and his face set in a slight scowl.
“What do we need to do?” Scully asked.
“You just sit in those and put these on,” Jessie answered, handing them
both a headpiece. Mulder turned it over in his hand, examining it
carefully. “you stick it on your right ear,” Jessie explained at seeing
Mulder’s confused expression.
“Then what?”
“Sit back and relax. We’ll do the rest.”
“Relax...yeah, I’m sure,” Mulder groaned. The two agents reluctantly
seated themselves in the chairs and fit the headpieces on their ears.
Jessie and Jonny went to join Hadji, Race and Dr. Quest by the computer.
“Is everything ready?”
“Yeah...Questworld systems are still operative except for a few weapons.
The virus is making its way through documented files right now.”
“Okay,” Hadji announced. “Questworld: Log on. Subjects: Fox Mulder and
Dana Scully. Countdown...5...4...3...2...1...going hot...”
Mulder and Scully gripped the seats handrails tightly as the computer
started humming, the headpieces switched on and an electric force field
formed around them in the center of the lighthouse. There was a brilliant
flash of light, then suddenly...
“00F!!!”
Mulder felt as if he had just fallen through a mile-long hole in less
than a second. Although he was standing upright, he felt like he was
lying on the ground; he was so dizzy. He blinked confusedly and gazed
about at his surroundings.
It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. The world was
three-dimensional...but then again, it *wasn’t*. Everything was metallic,
shiny, more digital than realistic-looking. Nothing like the virtual
reality he had encountered before.
“Oh, *sick*!! Where’s my coat?!”
Mulder turned to Scully, who was behind him, and almost burst out
laughing. They were both in some sort of black, metallic body suits
instead of their normal clothes. And Scully...
“Scully, did anyone ever tell you that you look great in digital?”
“Oh, shut *up*. You don’t look so hot yourself.”
Both Mulder and Scully, instead of looking realistic and normal, appeared
digital and almost metallic.
The place they were in was filled with high, pointed towers, a shiny
metal floor and a sky above that rumbled with storm clouds. Other
miscellaneous...objects littered the landscape around them.
“Nice place you got here, Quest,” Mulder called.
“Thought you’d like it,” Jonny answered.
“So...where are we?”
“One of our files...it’s on the US government’s agricultural plans in
Minnesota or something.”
“You have government files in your system?” Scully said, surprised.
“You name it, we got it.”
“So...where’s the virus?”
Mulder stopped Scully. “Uh, Scully, don’t look now, but...”
The two agents turned around. Scully let out a long, low groan. Moving
towards them was an enormous, slimy puddle of black oil. The virus was
eating away the towers and objects like deadly acid that couldn’t be
stopped. Mulder and Scully backed away from the approaching puddle
wearily.
“So...what are we supposed to do now?”
“Do you see the virus?”
“Yeah...”
“So stop it.”
“But *how*?!”
“What do you mean *how*?”
The black puddle oozed closer.
“I thought you used the vaccine for the organic virus before!”
“I did,” Mulder cried, “but it was given to me by a guy I didn’t even
know! I don’t know what the vaccine is or how it works or why it works!!”
There was a long pause as the black oil moved closer.
“Oh, this is not good...”
“Yeah, you’re telling *us*...” Mulder snorted.
“*Now* what?” Jessie asked Dr. Quest worriedly.
“I’m...not sure...”
“Hey! Is there any way for us to try and get around this stuff? There
isn’t much room to run...” Scully called.
“I’ve got just the thing,” Hadji answered. He typed out a few commands to
the computer, which unfortunately began to show signs of fizzing out
again.
Instantly, two large hovercrafts materialized out of nowhere right under
Mulder and Scully’s feet. And, luckily, just before the black oil reached
them.
“Hey, cool!” Mulder said.
“This is getting stranger and stranger by the minute...” Scully moaned.
The hovercrafts hummed with electricity and leveled themselves out over
the flowing black oil. Mulder gripped the bars that steered the
hovercraft and motioned to Scully. “Come on! Let’s try and get ahead of
it. Maybe we can block it and then isolate it or something.”
“Nothing like a trip through cyberspace on a hovercraft tackling the good
ol’ B.O.V. to start your day,” Scully sighed sarcastically.
The hovercrafts hummed and took off ahead of the black oil; Mulder and
Scully barely hanging on for dear life. Scully, however, got the hang of
the vehicle much quicker than Mulder did, and soon zoomed ahead of him.
“Hey, you think you could slow down for an amateur, here?” Mulder called
ahead.
“Hurry up, slowpoke!”
Jessie choked back a snort of laughter.
Scully looked up ahead. “Uh, oh, Mulder. We’d better think of something
fast. I think this is the end of the line.”
The hovercrafts ground to a stop as a huge wall that seemed to stretch up
into the storm clouds above loomed over them. “I think we reached the end
of the file,” Mulder commented.
Scully glanced behind. “Then we’re out of room to run. That black oil is
coming closer!”
And indeed, the oozing puddle of black substance was only a little ways
away, and easily catching up. There was nothing nearby for them to try
and block it with.
“Hold on, we’re sending you into the next file,” Hadji called, typing
rapidly. “That should buy you some time to stop the virus.”
A hole suddenly appeared in the wall before Mulder and Scully, glowing
like a time warp on the SCI-FI channel shows and shooting out sparks of
electricity. Mulder and Scully exchanged nervous glances, then zoomed
into the tunnel in the wall. The hole closed behind them just before the
black oil had a chance to follow them inside.
“You guys are going to have to hurry,” Hadji said. “Our security systems
can only keep the virus out for so long.”
“As usual, the pressure builds on us,” Mulder groaned. The tunnel flashed
white and blue on the edges and wound in out of lots of perfectly
nauseating twists and curves. The two hovercrafts sped forward until the
tunnel exit came into view, a black spot at the end of the blue light...
The tunnel closed behind them as Mulder and Scully stopped the
hovercrafts. Mulder got off his slowly, and began to walk around, gazing
up in awe at their surroundings.
“What is it?” Scully asked slowly.
“Say...I recognize this place,” Mulder replied, his voice filled with
fascination. “I’ve been here before.”
“What?” Scully said, surprised.
The agents were standing in a digital version of an enormous warehouse,
with rows and rows of metal shelves that stretched all the way up to the
ceiling, each shelf filled with boxes and more boxes. The shelves and
boxes seemed to stretch on forever, on into the darkness ahead of them.
“What *is* this place?” Scully gestured about at the rows and rows of
boxes.
“This is where I found it, Scully...the chip. The chip in your neck. This
is where I found the cure for your cancer...”
“The *what*?”
“The *how*?”
“The cure for *what*?!” Several voices sounded from the real world.
“It’s a long story,” Scully sighed, “and I don’t think we have time to
tell it right now.”
“Dr. Quest,” Mulder called, “what file is this? Where did you get it?”
“Hold on, I’m checking...” Hadji answered. It was silent for a moment as
he typed. “This is government file #SYCK101321. File on warehouse in the
sub-basement of the Pentagon.”
“Where did you get it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you *mean*, you don’t know?!”
“Well...we received some updated files to replace some old ones from the
government via email just a few days ago. Maybe this file got kinda
accidently stuck in with the others.”
“That’s it!” Mulder cried suddenly.
“What’s it?”
“Yeah, what’s it?”
“I know why this virus is here! I know why it broke into your system!!”
“Why?” several voices came at once.
“It came to destroy *this* file... This file talks about the warehouse
beneath the Pentagon, it contains all the evidence, and the chips
and....all the evidence! The government must have planted the virus in
your computer to destroy possible evidence!”
“...So the government wants to destroy our Questworld system *just* to
destroy one file?”
“Sounds like the government to me...” Race grumbled angrily.
“Mulder...” Scully started with a moan.
“I’m *sure* this is what I think it is, Scully. You *have* to believe me
on this one.”
“Mulder, it’s not that...” Scully was shaking his shoulder and pointing
to the floor. “Look.”
“Oh, no...”
The black oil virus had made its way through the security system, and was
even now beginning to make its way towards the boxes...and towards Mulder
and Scully.
“To coin a phrase, ‘this is not good’...” Mulder moaned.
“What are we going to do?” Scully cried, backing away wearily.
“There’s gotta be something in here,” Mulder replied, heading down the
rows and rows of boxes. “Something in here that we can use to stop the
virus.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It would only make sense,” Mulder said, still running through the
aisles. “They kept the cure for your cancer in here because they wanted
to keep it a secret. So the vaccine for the black oil virus must be in
here, also. We just have to find it.”
Dr. Quest sighed. “I think I know now why you quit working for the
government, Race...”
“No, it’s because they added those stupid-looking shades to the uniform.”
“Whatever.”
“Come on, Scully, help me,” Mulder shouted.
“Mulder, at this rate, we’ll *never* find it, even if it is here at all.
It won’t take long for that black oil to catch up to us.”
Mulder stopped at the realization of the truth at Scully’s comment. He
glanced about at the digital warehouse nervously, searching for anything
that could help them. There was nothing but rows and rows of endless
boxes, all looking exactly the same...
“we have a problem,” Hadji called from reality. “Our drives that connects
transports from files to file has shut down. we can’t boot it back up.
You’re stuck in file #SYCK101321.”
“Man, I wish I had some sunflower seeds...” Mulder groaned.
“Sunflower seeds?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Too late. I already did.”
“You’re funny, Jonny,” Jessie snorted sarcastically.
“I know.”
Mulder and Scully glanced back. The black oil was edging even closer.
They exchanged nervous glances.
“Well, *you’re* the scientist, Scully. Any suggestions?”
“As a matter of fact...I do.”
“Really.”
“Yeah, here, follow me this way,” Scully led him around a row of boxes so
that they were ahead and right in front of the approaching oil. “We need
to find something we can use to fight it off with. Something cold. Ice
blocks or freezing water or liquid nitrogen or-“
HISSSSSSSSSSS....
“Mulder....what was that?”
GRRRSSSSSSSSS....
The two agents turned around slowly. Standing behind them was the black
oil virus...that is, the *mutated* version. Complete with claws and
scales and huge, unblinking eyes and jaws loaded down with railroad-spike
teeth, black saliva dripping from between. The thing looked just as ugly
in virtual-reality as it did in reality. It snarled again and took a step
forwards.
“RUN!!!”
Mulder and Scully instinctively dodged as the thing pounced, screeching,
and landed against a shelf of boxes. It growled at having missed, and
stood up to spring again.
Scully was surprised at how easy it was to spring back up and run after
hitting the floor. But she didn’t have time to think about it right now.
She and Mulder split up and began running in opposite directions. The
virus snarled and started after her with two giant leaps.
Scully ran like a madman, but the mutated virus was easily catching up to
her. The monster slammed against a shelf, sending boxes flying, and
spilling what looked like dozens of hand grenades on the floor.
‘What the heck’, Scully thought. She dodged the recovering virus by
springing to one side; then she rolled along the ground, snatched up one
of the hand grenades, pulled the pin and threw it. The virus stopped and
sniffed at the metal object that came to rest at its feet. Scully picked
herself up and ran, expecting to hear the sound of an explosion behind
her at any second...
Instead she heard what sounded like a room of glass shattering. She
turned around and watched in shock as the mutant virus was instantly
enveloped in an explosion of ice, freezing it right in its tracks. She
stopped and stared at the ice statue in shock.
“Oh, so *that’s* where my leftover Russian ice detonators went!” Dr.
Quest said suddenly.
“SCULLY!!!” Mulder’s voice sounded from nearby. “GET THESE THINGS OFFA
ME!!!!”
Scully picked up as many ice detonators as she could carry and sprinted
in the direction of Mulder’s voice, her eyes searching the narrow aisles
between the shelves.
He ran straight into her, knocking her head over heels and sending them
both sprawling flat on the floor.
“Would you watch where you’re -“ Scully stopped mid-sentence as she
watched *three* mutated virus monsters come clawing their way towards
them.
“The black oil must be mutating into these news monsters!” Scully said.
“But why?”
“Who cares *why*?!” Jonny shouted, waving his arms excitedly. “Just get
the heck outta there!!”
“Good point.”
The mutated viruses stopped in front of them; black, oily goo dripping
from their teeth and claws. Three pairs of dark, unblinking eyes stared
at the two agents hungrily. The monsters growled three digital growls.
Scully wasted no time. She picked up two of the detonators in one hand,
pulled the pins in one grab and threw them both. She grabbed Mulder by
the shoulders and tried to drag him out of the way of the resulting
explosion, or as well as she could considering the slipperiness of his
body suit and his extensive weight.
Two identical explosions rang through their ears as the ice burst forth
from the detonators and froze the monsters in their tracks. They had not
just picked themselves up when Mulder and Scully heard the sounds of more
growling from monster virus particles. “Come on, we can fight these
things off with more of those detonators!” Scully cried, picking them up
off the floor.
The monsters came in from all sides all at once. Mulder and Scully
instantly began throwing ice detonators, one after the other, causing one
explosion after another. The monsters grew wary of the ice, as they
seemed to fear the cold, but they kept coming.
“Hey, cool, hit them again!!” Jonny kept shouting from reality. “Dang, I
wish it was me in there!!”
“So do I!” Mulder cried.
The viruses kept coming, and Mulder and Scully kept throwing detonators,
until finally...
“We’re out of detonators!”
WHOOP. WHOOP. WHOOP. WHOOP.
Mulder covered his ears as an earsplitting siren suddenly rang out above
the clamor. “What on earth is that?!!”
“Uh oh.”
“What do you *mean*, ‘uh-oh’??”
“I don’t know,” Hadji cried, typing away at the computer worriedly. “A
self-destruct was just triggered!!”
“By *what*?!!”
“I don’t know!”
WHOOP. WHOOP. WHOOP. WHOOP.
“I think we gotta get outta here,” Scully concluded. The sounds of more
viruses echoed amidst the sirens that rang out of nowhere. “The virus
will be destroyed along with the file. That’ll be the end of it.”
“But what about the file?!” Mulder wailed. “What about all of our
evidence!? This is our chance-“
”Hurry up!” Jonny called. “There’s no time!”
“Is that an echo I hear?” Mulder said mockingly.
“Shut up. Just shut up.”
Almost instantly, the familiar hovercrafts materialized beneath Mulder
and Scully’s feet, humming with electricity. They leveled up and zoomed
through the aisles of boxes and boxes to the very end of the warehouse,
the sirens screaming in their ears. Black oil monsters were all over the
place, now unable to escape the warehouse since they weren’t in liquid
form. As they reached the end of the warehouse, another tunnel portal
appeared, melting the wall away to reveal an exit into the next part of
Questworld. The two agents zoomed into the exit tunnel as the sirens
suddenly ceased...
KABOOM.
The sound of an immense explosion echoed on their backs; the feel of the
heat blew into the tunnel after them as the warehouse behind them
disappeared behind a wall of flames. Mulder and Scully barely managed to
get out of the tunnel as the eruption continued to sound from the other
file. They landed hard in the Questworld main database, a room made
entirely of computer memory and drives.
“Alright! You guys did it!! There’s not a trace of the virus left in the
entire system!” Hadji literary leaped out of his seat with excitement.
“We did what?” Scully said groggily, still recovering from their getaway.
“You destroyed the virus!!”
“We did?”
“Hurry up and pull them out!”
“What’d we do?”
“Questworld...log off.”
“Log wha-woahhh!!!”
Mulder and Scully were thrown back into reality with a bump. The
headpieces switched off and the computer ceased humming. They sat there
in the chairs, unable to get themselves to stand up, until Race helped
them out of the chairs.
“Ohh....what a ride,” Mulder groaned dizzily.
“This is great!” Dr. Quest exclaimed, his voice charged with enthusiasm.
“At first I didn’t think you guys could do it, but you did it! The virus
is gone for good. All of our systems are back on line. You destroyed it
completely.”
“Yeah...along with a roomful of evidence,” Mulder sighed with regret.
Jessie looked at Scully. “I take it this happens often.”
“Bingo.”
“But what triggered that self destruct?” Mulder asked. “Everything was
going smoothly until that popped up.”
“I don’t know. It could just be the computer’s reaction to the
development of the virus. It could have just been the file’s hidden time
bomb waiting to go off. It could have been you throwing ice bombs and
hitting something.”
“By the way, you got any more of those?” Mulder requested. “I figure we
can plant one in Spender’s desk.”
“You wish,” Scully smiled.
“Well, I guess we fixed your computer for you, Dr. Quest,” Mulder sighed.
“No problem, really. Just nearly got us killed, that’s all. Just nearly
blew us to pieces, but it’s no big deal, really...”
“My thanks to you, Agents Mulder and Scully,” Dr. Quest replied. “You’ve
been a great help to us. If there’s anything we can do for you...”
Bandit, who had been sitting on the desk, suddenly jumped off and onto
Mulder, and began barking and licking his face happily.
“Aw, no, not again...hey! Get offa me...you want to help us, you can get
this slobbering saliva machine off me...hey, stoppit!....”
--------------------------------------------------
THE END
Author’s Note: I admit, I got bored with it after a while, but it’s
finally done! So....wadja think? Confusing, I know, you kinda hafta know
a bit about Jonny Quest before plunging into this, but big deal! I NEED
FEEDBACK!! GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE!!! (Tis the season to be greedy....) Send
all feedback fluff to , and I *will* reply! Really!
Flamers can go feed a Malikudda!!
Down with rats! (That includes Krycek, Spender and Bill.)
(
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