Disclaimer: "The X-Files" is copyright Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Television. I'm not makin' money off this, so don't sue me! ------------------------- A Perfect World (1/2) "Her name is Abigail Riley. I'm sure you've heard of her," the dark-suited man told the other one. "Ah yes, the very lovely, very deadly Miss Riley. By all means, call her in. This is perfect for her," the other man said, taking a deep drag from his cigarette. Abigail was called to the room. She looked directly at the man smoking the cigarette. "Yes sir?" Her voice was calm despite her fear. This man... older, rather small, constantly smoking... was an unlikely looking source of fear, yet everyone who came in contact with him left feeling as though they had been in the presence of someone very powerful. "Miss Riley, we have an assignment for you," the first man said. Abigail's eyes flicked from one man to the other. "I will do my job to the best of my ability," she said steadily. The smoking man said, "I've heard that your ability is remarkable. This job is certainly worthy of your skills." "Thank you, sir. I appreciate your confidence." "Your marks, Miss Riley." A folder was slid across the shiny black table. "Special Agent Dana Scully and Special Agent Fox Mulder. They've gotten just a bit too close to you for comfort. We don't want them to find out about our little weapon, now do we?" he said as she leafed through the papers. "You will find all the information you need; photos, addresses, phone numbers. We will contact you. Do you understand, Miss Riley?" She looked up at the two men. "Yes, I understand. Thank you." The first man nodded and Abigail quickly left the small, dark room. --------- Abigail Riley was not the type of woman one would expect to be an assassin, a fact most people around her viewed as an asset. She was pretty, with kind, dark eyes and short dark hair. She smiled easily and laughed a lot - or at least she used to, before becoming an assasin. However pleasant she might appear to be Abigail had the potential to be a truly remarkable killer. She was virtually untraceable, as she didn't use a weapon as one would expect. She was one of the United States government's most vital... and secret... weapons. Abigail was well aware that this job was a test. She and Fox Mulder had been friends for years before going their separate ways after he graduated college. She had stayed on at Oxford; he had gone off to join the FBI. But the two had kept in touch even after that... until Abigail got involved with the group she currently worked for. With a deep sigh Abigail retrieved her camera from the back seat of her car. She would observe each agent for a few days in order to get to know their routines. She knew how paranoid Fox could be, so following him would not be easy. <Nor,> she thought, <will killing him.> --------- "Scully, these murders date back to last year! There has to be something to it," Fox Mulder said to his partner, Dana Scully. The two were sitting in Mulder's office discussing their latest case at about the same time Abigail was receiving her orders to kill them. "It's odd, Mulder, I'll admit that, but I don't think it's paranormal." He sighed in exasperation. "These men were electrocuted, right?" "Yes, they were," she said calmly. "But you said the bodies were completely unmarked. It's like they were electrocuted from *within*." "You mean like spontaneous electrocution? That's not possible." "Then how would you explain it?" he challenged. "I don't know, but I'm not ready to say the murderer is a man from outer space." "Scully, I think you blaming something on men from outer space should be a sign of the Apocalypse. You know, the moon turns to blood, three days of darkness and Scully starts blaming everything on aliens." She ignored his teasing. "Mulder, for once can you look for a rational explanation? There's one there if you would just look for it." He sighed and stood up. "I'm tired of looking tonight. I'm going home." "That's the most rational thing you've said since this case began." She grabbed her coat. "Goodnight, Mulder." "Night, Scully." ----------- Abigail lifted her camera and began clicking one picture after another. She had been trailing the two agents for over a week; more pictures certainly weren't necessary, but she was stalling. The last thing she wanted to do was kill her friend and his partner, but her choices were rather limited. "Tomorrow," she whispered to herself as she packed up her camera. <In this business,> she thought, <there's no such word as 'friend'.> Early the next morning Abigail stood before Mulder's door, about to enter and commit the crime she had become infamous for. She paced back and forth, her tread light and nearly soundless. Her mind was racing. She knelt and slipped a piece of paper under the door and hurried away. I've done it now, she thought. That bit of paper is my death sentence. ----------- A few hours later when Mulder was leaving for work he noticed the envelope. The note inside was written hurriedly, conveying a sense of dire urgency. "Fox, Be at the Washington Monument tonight at 2300. Tell NO ONE; not even Scully. 911!! Abby" Abby... Riley?!? He hadn't heard from her in over a year, then suddenly this strange note. Something was going on, and he had every intention of finding out what. Nothing was going to keep him away from the Monument that night. Before he left, though, he made sure to burn the letter and wash the ashes down the sink. <No sense taking any chances,> he thought. -------- 2300 Abigail paced around in front the monument, scanning the Mall for any sign of Mulder. Where was he? He wasn't one prone to lateness. Just as she began to panic, she spotted his tall form coming toward her. He stood there for a moment looking down at her before saying, "I got your letter. What's wrong?" She glanced around again. "We can't talk here, Fox. Come on." They went several zigzagging blocks before they came to a small church. Abby led him inside. "Pray, Fox," she said, kneeling down. He knelt next to her. "Abby, what's going on?" His tone was serious. She hesitated for a moment. "Do you remember the last time we talked?" "Of course I do. You told me you'd just gotten a job offer over here, but you wouldn't tell me what it was. I haven't heard from you since then until this morning." He glanced over at her, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. "I kill people, Fox." She stared intently at her hands folded before her. "The men I work for wanted me to kill you and Scully." Finally Abby looked up at him. "I couldn't do it. I came to your apartment this morning to kill you, but instead I gave you that note." "Abby-" he began. "No, don't say anything, let me finish." Her gaze drifted to the giant crucifix in the front of the church. "They'll send others after you. They'll send someone who won't be your friend, someone who will only want to see you dead. Then they'll send someone after me." Her tone was resigned. "I won't let them kill you, Abby." She smiled. "That's noble, Fox, but you don't have any say in the matter. It's over for me. I knew it would happen sometime, I just didn't realize it would be this soon... and that I'd be the one to cause it." "I won't let it happen!" he whispered fiercely. "You can stay with me for a few days until we can work something out for you. Abby, I know you make it a policy to never listen to what I have to say, but listen now. I can help you. I know people who have influence -" "No one has influence over these people! The sooner you realize that the better off you'll be," she said sharply. There was a long silence. "You would really help me?" she whispered. "You helped me didn't you?" She took a deep breath. "Alright... but only for a few days. I don't want to put you in any unnecessary danger." Abby glanced around the empty church once more. "You leave first. Go back to your apartment; I'll be along shortly." Mulder nodded and silently left the church. --------------- Standing at Mulder's door, Abby could sense he wasn't alone. She listened carefully with her mind. <He's called Scully,> she thought. <That was probably a stupid idea, but it's too late now.> With a deep breath, she knocked gently. "Come in," Mulder said upon opening the door. "Abby, this is my partner, Dana Scully. Scully, this is Abby Riley." "Nice to meet you, Agent Scully. I was afraid I wouldn't get the chance." She held out her hand and the agent shook it without a word. There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Mulder finally said, "Are you going to tell us how you got involved with these people?" Abby looked up at him, startled. She turned her back to the agents and stared out the window in an attempt to collect her thoughts. "It was about a year ago," she said softly. "They... heard of me through some program I was in at Oxford. When they approached me I thought it was wonderful. A steady job, good pay." She turned around to face them. "I didn't know they were hiring me as a killer." "Why didn't you leave when you found out why they wanted you?" Scully asked. Abby smiled. "You don't leave these people, Agent Scully." She looked up at Mulder. "They're the ones who killed Tommy, you know. They told me they would kill one member of my family a week until I agreed to do as they said. What choice did I have?" Scully looked from Abby to Mulder and back again. "Is someone planning on telling me who Tommy is?" she asked. "Tommy was my twin brother. They knew how close we were. They knew how to get to me." She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "These men... they take what they want. They wanted me, so I was taken." "Why did they want us?" Mulder asked. She looked at him, stunned that he didn't know. "They're afraid of you, don't you know that? Both of you are too damn smart and too good to be safe. They've been planning this for a long time. You're nuisances, the both of you. You've stepped on the wrong toes one time too many. "Besides all of that, you were getting too close to me. Those murders you've been investigating? They're mine. I killed every one of those people. Don't think I'm boasting; it sure as hell isn't something I'm proud of. I'm their prized weapon, and they aren't going to let you two change that. "They made a mistake, though. They thought they had me tight enough under their control to give me this assignment. They thought I would go along like all their other little drones and kill my marks as I've always done before. I'm no one's drone, Fox. I'll see every one of those men dead before I'm anyone's drone." Her dark eyes were full of anger and hurt. "You killed those men?" Scully asked skeptically. "How?" Abby looked carefully at both agents. "Do you trust me?" she asked carefully. "Yes," Mulder said instantly. "Scully?" "Yes, I trust you." Abby could tell she was lying, but there wasn't much to be done about it. "Alright then. I'm going to leave, and I want one of you to lock the door behind me, and I mean all the locks. "Fox, after the door is locked, sit down here. When you see me, scream as loudly as you can, no matter what I do." She turned to the other agent. "Don't worry, Scully, I'm not going to hurt either of you. How about you just stand over there where you can see and watch? This won't take long." Abby left the apartment, and Scully carefully locked the door and went to stand in the opposite doorway. After a moment, the deadbolt began to turn. All the locks were undoing themselves! Mulder and Scully looked at each other, both wide-eyed. Abby entered the room. As soon as Mulder saw her, he opened his mouth. "Shhhh," she whispered. As she had instructed, he kept trying to scream anyway. No sound came from him at all... not even a whimper. Abby glided across the floor to him and put one finger on each temple. "You're dead," she said softly. She turned and left the apartment, the locks fixing themselves again once the door was closed. Mulder jumped up from the chair and opened the door again to find Abby standing in the hall. "You see now? That's why you never found any evidence." She brushed past him. "Oh, you can talk now. I guess I should've warned you about that part. It can be a bit disconcerting, to say the least." "You expect us to believe you killed people that way?" Scully asked. Abby looked back at Mulder. "Is she always this skeptical?" "Always," he said. Abby's hand shot out and a glass on Mulder's coffee table shattered. "What else do you wish to see, Agent Scully? A light show? Or perhaps you want me to levitate something." Abby sighed. "Alright fine," she said, "don't believe me. That doesn't change the fact that they will try to kill you. I didn't get the job done, but someone else will. They won't mess up twice." "Okay, for the sake of argument, let's say you did kill those people. Doesn't that make you one of their 'drones' as you put it?" Scully asked. "You make an excellent point, Agent Scully. I guess the order to kill the two of you... I don't know, woke me up or something. Before I could always detach myself, put my brain on auto pilot. That wasn't possible with this assignment." "Do you think they'll come tonight?" Mulder asked. Abby shook her head. "I doubt it. That isn't really their style. They'll drag this out for a bit. The devil, after all, loves his sport." "In that case I'm going home," Scully said. "If anything happens, I'll call you." "Goodnight, Agent Scully. Be careful." "I'll do my best," she said. "Bye, Scully." "Goodnight, Mulder." Scully put on her coat and left. "Do you trust her, Fox?" Abby asked once she was gone. "Completely," he answered without hesitation. "Good. She's one of the few you *can* trust." "Are you?" he said softly. She looked up at him. "I could've killed several times by now, you know that." "That's not what I asked you, Abigail." His use of her full name caught her attention. He had always, for as long as she had known him, called her Abby. He was the only person to do so besides her brother. "Yes, Fox, you can trust me, I promise you that." He looked into her eyes for a moment before nodding. "I was just making sure." She smiled. "Go to bed, Fox. It's been a long day." "I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight." He turned to go, but stopped at the doorway. "Hey, Abby?" "Yeah Fox?" "It's good to see you again," he said with a smile. She grinned. "You too. Goodnight." Once he was gone, she took off her t-shirt and bra, completely lost in though. "Hey, ya know what?" Mulder suddenly said, strolling back into the room. She whirled around, her face bright red. "Oh!" she cried, grabbing her shirt off the couch. "Shit! I'm sorry! I... I mean.... Umm... I should've..." "Fox, it's okay. You've seen me more naked than this before," she said with a mischievous wink. He chuckled. "Believe me, I remember." He came closer and whispered, "You haven't changed much." Abby laughed out right. "I should hope to hell not! All the physicals they made me take for work... I'm in better shape than I've ever been!" There was an awkward pause. "Did you come in here just to catch me half naked, or did you have another purpose?" "Oh, yeah... that. I was just thinking that I'm so unused to sleeping in the bed that I thought you might want it and I'll take the couch." "The couch? Why? I don't want to deprive you of your bed." "The couch is my bed, Abby." She smiled. "Of course... we lived together for two years. How could I forget your loathing of beds?" "I like beds for some things," he said huskily, surprising her. Not quite able to stand the intensity of his eyes, Abby looked away. "That I wouldn't know about," she said quietly. Without looking up at him again, she went hastily into the bedroom. ---------- "I thought you didn't like being called 'Fox," Scully said first thing upon seeing Mulder the next morning. "Well good morning to you too, Scully. Normally I don't, but she doesn't like to be called 'Abby' either. She says it makes her sound too young, but I think she looks like an Abby. It's a trade off," he told her. Scully cocked an eyebrow at him. "Would it help if I told you I think you're making a big mistake trusting her?" Mulder looked steadily at his partner for a moment, recognizing the skeptical look on her face. "Scully, I know this woman. If she says she's trying to help us, then she's trying to help us." "It's just not like you to trust someone so completely. Are you sure you're not letting old feelings cloud your judgement?" He made an exasperated face at her. "Our friendship was never like that! It was completely platonic." "Whatever you say, Mulder," she said mildly. There was a long, busy silence before Scully said, "So what exactly is the story between you two?" Mulder looked at her in surprise. "We shared an apartment for a while. She was one of my best friends at Oxford, and I was more than glad to have her." He paused, remembering. "She was always there for me, Scully. That's why I trust her so much now. I know she wouldn't betray me... or you either, for that matter. It's not in her nature." "But it is in her nature to kill for money?" Scully asked in that tone of voice she used when she was asking a question simply to make a point. "She told you the story behind that," he said, ignoring the tone. "You know the type of people she works for. They've tried to kill us before... you know they don't take 'no' for an answer." "Alright, Mulder," Scully said softly. "I trust you and you trust her... so I guess I trust her too. It's against my better judgement, but I'm willing to go out on a limb for you." End 1/2