New Breed, part 2
Genie VB
"Mulder. Hey."
Mulder opened his eyes to a gorgeous woman looking
down
at him and it was Scully.
He sat up, too quickly he learned, when the room and
her
began spinning around him. She placed those caring
hands flat on his chest, and pushed him back down. He
felt
thick mattress beneath him, bright lights overhead so
kept
his eyes closed.
"Where am I?"
"Better question: Where are _we_?"
Now he opened them. He'd assumed hospital. When have
you
ever felt a comfy mattress in one of those? He saw
rough,
concrete and metal walls, metal floor, small metal
table...
Big metal door, flush against the wall. No handle or
grip
of anykind.
"It's locked." She told him.
Sitting up a bit more slowly, he checked out the rest
of their
room. About twenty feet by twenty feet though one
corner
was partitioned off with a tiny connecting door.
Toilet?
He looked back at Scully. She looked tired. A tad
guarded.
Poised.
It was an expression of hers with which he'd become so
familiar, that ready to run, leap, fight, or escape
face and
it all depended on what happened next.
"What the hell is going on? Are you okay?"
Scully helped him swing his legs to the floor. He was
shakey.
His throat hurt. Everything in the room seemed very
sharp
and defined yet out of focus too..."Have I been-?"
"I think so. And, yes, I'm okay."
Scully sat beside him. Told him in simple sentences,
wasting
no time bringing him up to date on recent events as far
as she
understood them. Her voice was matter-of-fact but
smaller.
She was frightened.
"They were waiting for me that night you dropped me
off. They
kept telling me I would not be harmed and they said
that you
were their second "pick-up" and that you would be
joining me
soon. I must have been drugged because I woke up here.
I'm
certain they've done the same to you. There are no
clocks in here,
Mulder, but I estimate I've been down here at least two
days prior
to your arrival."
"And where is "here"?"
"I can't tell you _where_ we are, but I can tell you
where we _are_.
We're about ten thousand feet beneath the surface of
the earth
in an enormous man-made complex they've created."
""They've". As in Smokey and his boys."
"Yes. Krycek among them."
Mulder felt a tenderness developing in his groin. As
soreness, as
if someone had given his jewels a good pinch. Whatever
pain
killers they've given him, they were wearing off. "You
said
you were here for two days alone, what happened to me
in the
meantime?"
"I think they've done something to you, Mulder.
Something to both of
us. Myself, I'm not sure, but with you I can guess."
Mulder swallowed, the soreness suddenly haven taken on
so much
more signifigance. Some terrifying meaning that left
him weak
with fear. "What the hell do they want with us?"
With a groan the metal door opened, swinging in on
them.
Both looked into the relative dimness of the hallway
beyond
and to the persons standing there. A very fat man and
two
meat-packed thumb-busters.
_The_ Fat Man. The man Scully had described to him once
during
his ill-fated train journey.
That Well-Fed fucker who looked like he ate kittens for
breakfast.
"You're here," (the pudgy prick began), "..because
certain parties
argued for your preservation and that you might
contribute to
the Work."
Scully looked at him with bearely disguised disgust.
"And what "work"
is that?"
"The most important series of steps since it all began,
now that the
invasion has begun."
Mulder didn't bother to hide his disgust, either in his
voice or on
his face. "Invasion?" He didn't believe him. You're
free to believe in
the aliens existance, Mulder, but just don't trust this
tub of lard.
"Of course. Did you think they could be delayed
indefinately? Someone
will be along shortly." His tone was one of dismissal
and he turned to
leave.
"Wait!" Mulder stood up. It was hard to do. The
anesthetic and whatever
it is they'd done to his nether region was making him
feel quite ill.
"What the hell did you do to us?! I demand an answer
you-"
"You are in a position to demand nothing, Agent
Mulder." The Fat Man
said over his shoulder, waddling his retreat down the
hall as a thick
associate swung the door shut with a clang.
From the other side, the locked was turned.
***
It may have been minutes or hours in between visitors
but when that
metal door swung wide again, Mulder was waiting to
launch himself at
whatever or whoever stepped through. What entered,
though, was not
a solid form, but a gaseous substance that toppeled him
to his knees in
a second, leaving him coughing and with cooked noddles
for limbs.
"It's an instant anesthetic." Krycek explained
pleasantly. "It'll wear
off
in a minute."
Scully herself, now behind the door, had inhaled less
of it but choked
and staggered to the bed, landing on her butt beside
it.
Krycek came in all the way and leaned against the
table, his right arm
arrogantly crossed over him. His left, stiff and
unmoving against his
side.
"That was stupid, Mulder." He informed him. "Where do
you think you're
going to go? This place is underneath a mountain.
_Underneath_ it. Only
the Elders know the way in and out. Beyond the Complex,
there's miles
of tunnels and dead-ends. The whole structure is
completely
self-contained
with enough food, water and air to last two hundred
years. The three
routes to the surface need a DNA-Scannd I.D. and twenty
digit code just
to get passed the first security measure. See, we
figured, once we came
down here for good, there wasn't much point in having
any quick exits
because,...well,..there'd be no where up there left to
exit to that
isn't
going
to be over-run by your favorite and mine: Greys...."
Mulder concentrated on breathing and indulged in a
little fantasy of
tearing off Krycek's other arm, while he listened to
the bastard's
lengthly speech. Krycek was talking freely and openly
and occassionally
even smirking down at his two captives. There was no
doubt about it,
Alex was enjoying himself.
"...Those security measures work both ways. There isn't
a door in this
whole place that's less than six inches thick of
tempered steel. Yeah,
Little green men, Mulder. Little green men with an army
of millons
and the technological power to wipe every living thing
off this planet
if they wanted to. We bargained for a while but...well,
humans aren't
the only creatures that know how to lie. so this,..."
he gestured with
his
one movable limb, "..was our last resort
contigency..."
"Shut up Krycek." Mulder ground out, still somewhat
breathlessly from
the
gas.
"What?"
"I said," looking at him as if he were an imbicile,
"Shut. Up."
Mulder could see the color deepen in the younger man's
face. Young
face,
but old, wisened eyes. Wisened by frightening things.
Krycek walked the two steps over to where Mulder was
lying on his side,
trying to will some feeling back in his arms and legs
and where Scully
was sitting, pale and lethargic.
Mulder readied himslef for a boot in the face but
instead, Krycek just
crouched down and talked some more. Mulder had to admit
it, Krycek
knew how to keep his cool.
"You'd better listen to me, Mulder, because I'm your
savior and I'm
letting
you in on the scriptures here..."
Mulder sniffed the sausage on the man's breath and
heard the dead
seriousness of his tone and the words that carried it.
His mouth was
not
a foot from Mulder's right ear. His green like a cat's
eyes shone with
knowledge of terrors in the night. Like that night.
Again the Devil kisses me and explains Truth.
"...we are the only ones who are going to live through
this. You, me,
Scully
and about two hundred and fifty others, all down here,
all the
brightest,
the strongest, the elite of humanity. Those who would
do
anything...anything..
to assure the survival of our race. Why do you think
you're here,
Mulder?
You're smart but you're not that smart. You're here
because you're a
fighter.
Because, once you've figured something out, you'll die
to uncover the
truth
of
it. You'll expose anyone to bring corruption to light.
And Scully's
here
because
if it weren't for her, you'd have been dead meat by now
a dozen times
over,
so she's here because she's good for you. Am I getting
through to you?"
Mulder listened. His head wanted to believe. His heart
hated and hated
and
wanted to kill Alex and his lies.
"Do you get it? You're here because two of us argued
for your
preservation.
Just two. The future could always use another
female..."
Scully looked sharply at him.
"...and this next phase of the Work is the only way to
preserve
anything of
the human race."
"What's that suppose to mean?"
Krycek smiled a little, but it was a mixture of
sadness, bitterness and
regret.
There was nothing at all triumphant in it. "It means
offspring, Mulder.
Kids.
Children. A race of human-hybrids that can one day
return to the
surface and
either intergrate into whatever alien society has been
created up
there, or
figure
out a way to exterminate those bug-eyed
mother-fuckers."
Mulder's groin burned. It was listening too. "What the
hell did you do
to
us?"
He was terrified of the answer. Krycek was going to
confirm his terror.
He
knew it.
Scully inhaled sharply as the implications of Krycek's
monologue sunk
in.
And in.
And in.
"We were going to do it while you were still topside
but you went on a
drunk
instead of showing up at the Doc's." At Mulder's
expression of
disbelief.
"Yeah,
we owned him too. Your going on a drunk threw a wrench
in the works for
a
few hours but it's just as well. The aliens bumped
their little
invasion
forward a
few years and there really is no time to waste."
Mulder sucked air, a whole lung full. "I asked you what
you did to
us!?"
Krycek straightened and returned to his position by the
table. Mulder
struggled into a seated position and moved closer to
Scully. She had
said nothing during this whole thing. Her head was down
and she
stared at the floor like it was all moving over her and
around her but
not
touching her. Reality in its present state seeming to
have no meaning
to
her and her no need of reality. "Scully?" Mulder
whispered but Krycek
kept talking.
"We knocked out your sperm. You and that nobody Gerard
hadn't
discovered
it yet, but your sperm were dead and your ability to
create more. Now
it
isn't. You're "fixed" though not in the manner that
word might imply."
Mulder wanted to heave. "You've done something to it."
Krycek just stared back.
"Alien sperm?" At Krycek's "keep guessing" face, "
_Hybrid_ sperm.
My,..my.."
"Your unmentionables, yeah. Genetically altered to
produce Hy's and
nothing
but Hy's."
Mulder looked at Scully. She flicked her eyes to Mulder
once, in
sympathy
for him, but returned them to the floor in front of
her.
Mulder swallowed, whispered to Krycek. "And Scully?"
Krycek looked almost remourseful. "Her ova are all
there. No nucleus.
Empty shells, ready for the Hy's. Hy's have their own
complete genetic
code, all the necessary chromosones, so no egg nucleus
is needed."
Mulder watched Scully's face as Krycek delivered the
news that she was
now nothing more than a physical host for monsters. She
had her eyes
closed and was shaking. Trembling like the last leaf on
the last
branch,
dead center of a raging storm.
Mulder launched himself at Krycek. "YOU RAPING
FUCK!!!!!"
****
****
Krycek easily blocked Mulder's attack. With his one
useable arm he grabbed Mulder's nearest one, which
had been reaching for his throat, twisted it behind
his
back, allowing Mulder's own momentum to land him
chest down on the cold metal of the table.
That cold was nothing to the cold of Krycek's body
holding him there. He could feel his tendons straining
in the shoulder of his twisted arm and the hardness of
Krycek's artificial one pressing painfully down on his
other still rubbery limb.
He could feel the breath on his neck and the words
next
arriving in his ear. Even his breath was cold.
But the words were ice daggers in his soul.
"I saved your life, Mulder. It'd be pretty stupid if
you toseed
it away now, wouldn't it? What would Scully do, huh?
Would
you like us to pair her off with someone else?"
Mulder cried out when Krycek twisted tighter to send
his
point home. "You listen. You listen real well because I
won't
be back and I won't be making anymore sweet talk to
the
Elders about your pathetic ass. You have an opportunity
here,
you and Scully, to see the human race live through
this. Your
offspring. Your children will have life someday beyond
this
fucking tincan buried in the rocks. Do you think we all
have
that privilege? Huh? Do you think we all have the same
destiny? Do you? Mine was written for me years before
we
ever met. I'm going to let you up, now, and if you try
anything,
I mean if you do anything but be thankful and polite,
I'm
going to end you. And Scully will be reassigned. I'm
going
to assume you know what that means."
Krycek let Mulder up.
Mulder pushed himself to an approximation of a
standing
position, glaring such hate at Krycek, even Krycek
found it
hard to believe.
"You still think I'm lying. You still think this is
just a hoax, some
elaborate illusion created just for you. The world
revolves
around you, doesn't it, Mulder? Your the common
denominator
to every conspiracy ever hatched, aren't you?" Krycek
gestured
toward his head. "How do make room in there for that
kind of ego?"
Krycek turned to leave. Knocked on the door twice. Loud
thumps
with his fist.
Turned to speak as he waited for the gurad to let him
out. "Think
about it for a while if you have to, Mulder. You got
nothing but
time now. Years, decades of it. Nothing but time."
"What does that mean?" Scully asked it. In a tiny,
frail, girl-child
voice. Krycek looked down at her.
Pretty. Petite. Smart. Thrown in with people and things
that had
scarred her for life. Now the Final thing. He wondered
if she had
become a bit "touched".
"It means that you, Mulder, or even me, we're never
going to
leave here. Ever. That's what it means."
The guard opened for Krycek.
Krycek left and didn't look back.
**
He didn't really want to witness the breakdown of these
two.
He respected them. wished it had gone better. Wished
she hadn't
looked so devestated. Wished Mulder hadn't looked at
him with
such undying hatred and loathing. Wished for a lot of
things.
God damn that smoking prick for making him deliver the
news
of the New World to them.
God damn him, and himself, to this Hell forever.
**
THREE WEEKS POST CAPTURE.
"I say we try and get out. Escape." Mulder said.
He was attempting once again to spark some kind of
reaction from Scully. Fish for some kind of response
out of her other than that terribly long, drawn out
sigh.
Or her at best one or two word answeres that came
irregular intervals. Little firecrackers that fizzled
out
just before igniting the powder, that's how she spoke
to him.
She was thin. Ate almost none of the food - and it was
pretty
good food - offered to them three times a day.
Occassionally
he skipped a meal here and there so, due to the
inactivity
of their days and nights, he wouldn't put on around his
middle.
Push-ups, stretching,..there really wasn't much else to
do in
such a confined space. He'd tried running in place but
that
had only seemed to irritate her so he'd given it up.
There just wasn't anything to do. Even their laundry
was
picked up twice weekly and delivered back to them
clean and folded.
Their jailers knew litle of the human need for work,
for action and mental stimulation it seemed. For him,
being forced into neutral was like having a cage around
his
mind. Pretty soon he knew he'd been pacing and then
beating at the bars to get out.
Scully seeemd to be handling it better. Well, handling
the teeth grinding silence and bordom anyway.
Two days ago she'd stopped talking to him altogether.
Another sigh. As if the oxygen in the room was too
thin. Or
just her brain reminding her that to live, one must
breathe.
That was the thing he was most afraid of, that she was
"handling it" because she no longer cared to.
Mulder tried again. "I don't believe Krycek."
Scully was resting on the bed, flat on her back, her
hand moving
in tiny little circles over her stomach, sometimes
stilling. Then
it would start again. Tiny little movements that seemed
to mean
something to her. He wished she would let him touch
her. Not
sexually, but just be near her. Comfort her, if she
would allow him.
But instead he stayed across the room occupying one of
the
two upright chairs at their one table.
He was frightened for her. Mulder rubbed his face hard
with
both hands. It was getting harder and harder to
maintain
his hold on rationality. Harder and harder to reason.
There was
so much empty time to fill with nothing to do but
think.
*
You called it a "priviledge", Krycek.
Do you even know what that word means? It means honor.
Did you consider it a priviledge when they hacked your
arm
off, Krycek, you fucker? Did that feel like an
_honor_?
Was it an honor to shoot my father in the head, you
scum-shit?
Did you get off watching me cry over him as he bled all
over my
hands and the bathroom floor?
You were still there, I know that now. I fucking do! I
was just too
sick from your little cocktail served via somebody's
plumbing
cleverness to have done anything about it. Too
consumned with
grief to think anything, other than
Daddy-daddy-daddy-daddy-daddy...
Did you masturbate when you knew they were going to
take Scully
away? Is that how you celebrated?
You and your pals?
Just abduct her you cock-suckers. Just abduct her and
drug
her into a coma for three months, let her get fat and
unhealthy
lying on a slab, rip off her ova, stick some fucking
chip in her
neck, then send her home to die.
But don't stop there. Give her cancer. Let her waste
away
before her own eyes and those of her family. And her
partner,
me, (punish me too), arrange a cure but make the
"cure" _another_
chip. And who knows what this one does, maybe it was
working it's
dirty magic right now.
Then give her a child. And, even better, take that
child back.
Kill it.
Is that how you define honor and privilege?
We are "priviledged" to be here. You see, coming from
you,
I know what that means. It has unique meaning in your
fucked-up universe. And so there is nothing in it that
could
possible contain anything untainted by you.
Because you're _that_ dirty.
*
"Scully-"
"I'm ovulating." Scully deadpanned.
Mulder stopped. Swallowed. He knew she'd had her
period
about two weeks ago. Hard not to notice the tell-tale
odor
of it in their tiny living quarters. Men had a nose for
it anyway.
"We don't have to listen to them, Scully. They could be
lying.
There might be nothing going on above ground, this
could be
an elaborate method of-"
"Of what, Mulder? Of giving me back my eggs? Dead
eggs?
Nothing in them that's me or that's human? So they can
spy
on us? they've been doing that for years, they didn't
need
to lock us here for that."
"No, but there may be more to this than we understand.
We
don't know anything because we're _in_ here." Mulder
spoke fast and furious, he wanted to keep her talking.
"Mulder, I know one thing they didn't lie about."
"What?"
"They did give me back my eggs, or someones. A woman
knows when's she's ovulating and I haven't done so for
years."
"So what do you want to do? Stay here? Play by their
rules?"
"What if they're telling the truth?"
Mulder couldn't believe his ears. "What?"
Scully sat up. "I've been lying here, resting.
Thinking.
For days. I can't see any reason why they would want
us down here together other than the one that was
explained to us."
She looked at him with such comprehension, such
empathy for how he was feeling, he felt open and
exposed to her. Scully was seeing into his raw
and violated soul. "And for what they did to you. If
this was just an expirament, if we were just two
among thousands, they could have abducted us, Mulder,
they could have done it a long time ago. They didn't
even need our consent or knowledge. All they would
have needed to do was steal my eggs and your sperm
and test-tube the rest."
"Scully. _Don't_ believe them."
Scully laughed. One of irony. "Mulder, do you think
aliens
are going to invade the planet,...someday?...based on
what you know, what you've seen? Do you believe at
least
they exist?"
"Yes."
"I don't." She shook her head at what she saw as the
ridiculousness of it all, the whole thing. "I don't. I
didn't."
"But now..."
He gestured around the compartment that had served
as their "home" for almost a month. She was amazed
they hadn't ended up hating each other. She and
Mulder,
beyond an occassional all night consultation in either
her or his hotel room during a case, had never spent
any
significant time together outside of work. Almost
none.
She realised he had been trying very hard not to upset
her and loved him for it. She'd been withdrawn and
cool.
But she'd needed to figure it out. And herself. And
what had
happened and the situation as it stood.
And themselves too.
"Now, I'm not sure. But I know one thing. I am
ovulating.
And if they've told the truth about these eggs inside
me,
then why should they be lying about what they did to
you
and what's going on? I really can't find a reason. If
you
can, tell me."
"What if I can't except say that I'm playing a hunch?
Do
you want to stay and do their bidding? Jump in the
sack,
make babies and see what comes out?"
She looked like she was going to cry and he mentally
kicked himself. "We may have no other choice."
"What are you talking about?"
"We've been here three weeks, how long do you think
they're
going to wait on us to...to...do what they want us to?
I'd
rather it be you, Mulder."
That floored him. They just might make good on the
threat
to separate them and with Scully in some other guys
"nest", maybe someone only to happy to oblige and just
maybe only too willing to be as rough as necessary to
get
Scully to as well.
With that Smoking fuck watching from the balcony.
***
"I know there's something I should say to
that, something nice, but this situation is
just too bizzare, even for me. I don't know
what to say."
Scully's "I'd rather it be you." hadn't fluffed
Mulder's feathers much. In fact, he was feeling
rather like the compensation prize on The
Price Is Right - canned chicken with a ribbon.
"So what do we do?" Scully asked him.
"We get the hell out of here."
"How?"
"I-"
The door lock turned loudly and both retreated to
the opposite side of the room. Whatever escape
plan they might eventually hash out together, neither
wanted being gassed as any part of it.
It was Krycek.
Arrogant and fanning his tail. Rooster-Boy in all his
controlling glory and cock-a-doodle-doo.
After the door clanged shut and was locked behind him,
he stood and stared at them for a few seconds then
spoke. "Tonight."
Mulder "hrmmphed". "How many times didja' have to
write that speech down, Krycek?"
"Shut-up, Mulder. My coming here a second time wasn't
my idea."
"Ours neither." Mulder felt like playing off him. He
felt like
pissing Krycek royally off. Sometimes you could learn
things
that way, getting someone mad, like which elevator went
up
for instance.
Krycek was clearly in no mood.
"You stupid idiot." He said. "You're stupid, both of
you.
Tonight, YOU," he pointed to Mulder, "will fuck HER",
pointing to Scully, "tonight or they will split you up
for good. Tomorrow morning, first thing. And someone
else'll be fathering Scully Junior."
"You fucking shut your mouth!" Krycek's gutter terms
for doing to - no - _with_ Scully something he'd
dreamed
about for a long time made Mulder angry enough to kill
him.
"Afraid it might be me, Mulder? I am on the back-up
plan."
Scully grabbed Mulder's arm when she felt him tense
up,
ready to charge full throttle.
Krycek could see he'd gotten to him in just the right
spot
in just the right proportion. "Or did Daddy beat the
balls
out of you? Too many whippings? Huh? Or was it
something
_else_? Did daddy fuck you, Mulder, so bad that now
you
can't get it up for anyone, even Scully?"
Mulder just managed to restrain himself, seeing the
tiny
spray gun hugged in Krycek's right palm, but just
barely.
His limbs trembled with rage.
So he was as suprised as Krycek when it was Scully
who was suddenly flying across the room and attatching
to him like an angry alley cat, ripping and tearing at
him, balling up her fist and punching him in the face
again and again.
Mulder just stared for a few seconds in total shock.
She'd
actually gotten on top of Krycek and was pummelling
his
face and upper body with all the pent up energy of
three
weeks in a cage.
Scully had a hard fist. He knew.
Krycek had been taken so unexpectedly, he'd lost his
grip
on his little aerosol can and it went rolling across
the floor.
Mulder grabbed it and tucked it down the front of his
pants. Let
the one-armed big-mouth show his own balls. Let Krycek
show
his guts and frisk him there.
It was over as quickly as it had begun. Scully had
tired and was
crawlling off Krycek who then struggled to his feet.
The fight had lasted thirty seconds tops, yet Mulder
was astonished
at the devestation to Krycek's pretty face. Astonished
and delighted:
Bloody nose, split lip, shiner already on it's way to a
deep purple.
Mulder laughed, quietly and not for long. Krycek heard
it
- but that was okay - it was meant for him.
The only disappointing thing about the whole cockeyed
scene
was they couldn't end the story on a happier note: the
door
was still closed and locked.
"Don't you two get that I'm trying to help you!?"
Krycek spit
a gob of blood and saliva on the floor between them.
"You
will die, Mulder. They'll fucking slice your throat
without a
second thought or even a first one. We're the only
ones
who've kept you alive this far!"
Scully was sore after her impulsive rumble but she
didn't give
a damn. All that shit about Mulder and his dad....just
did it for
her. She'd suddenly wanted Kycek dead, right then. Not
someday
put in jail or punished within the Law, but dead, dead,
dead on
the floor. Dead under her hands and by her hands so she
could
look down, nudge his corpse with her foot and know for
a fact the
goddamn two-faced prick wasn't gonna be picking on
anything
except a harp from then on.
A red harp and with only one arm.
In Hell.
(
(
geocities.com/txfssgfic)