Title: Conundrum
Author: Chad
E-mail: Chad_Skywalker@webtv.net
Feedback: Always welcome
Date: September 9th, 2001
Archive: Yes, please
Status: WIP
Series/Sequel: This story is a sequel to "Dangerous
Undercurrents"
Rating: PG
Category: M/O
Fandom: XF
Spoilers: Set after "Existence"
Disclaimers: All familiar characters belong to CC,
1013 and Fox TV; any others were conceived in my
warped imagination. Azathoth and the Great Old Ones
are creations of HP Lovecraft and are now the property
of Arkham House. No infringement intended.

Beta thanks: Bertina

Chapter 12: Something Beneath The Skin

With a light chime, the elevator doors opened on
Mulder's floor. Dana looked worriedly down the hallway
as a crowd had gathered outside Apartment 42. Making
her way through the gawping onlookers, she ducked
inside the splintered door. Her nostrils stung as she
caught a whiff of a heavy, etherlike odor.

Stepping over door fragments, Dana froze in her
tracks. "What happened?" she asked softly.

Mulder, rumpled and unshaven, was sitting on the
floor, looking like a little boy lost, his eyes red
from crying. Skinner stood beside an open window,
allowing the sweet, burning vapor to dissipate. He
turned at the sound of Scully's voice.

"They've got what they wanted," he announced. "We have
to go after them."

He headed for the smashed front door, and in his best
authoritative AD growl, waved the little crowd on.
While prying eyes scurried away, Walter realized he
was alone. Then he turned. "Mulder?"

But Mulder remained still, too shocked to speak. His
heart beat hollowly inside his chest. Jamie had been
wrenched away from him once again. When he'd woken and
found him gone, he thought first to grab every piece
of furniture and smash it to fragments. He wanted to
curse until his throat was raw. Instead, he cried, the
whole wall of emotion broke loose.

"It's all my fault," he declared through gritted
teeth.

"What are you talking about?" Scully wondered, still
very much in the dark.

A look of sickened despair settled over Mulder's face.
"I don't think I can do this," he said, his voice full
of sadness. "I can't keep living this fantasy that
Jamie will be back in my life, safe and sound."

Walter marched back toward him, unable to believe what
he was hearing. "Come on," he protested. "You can't
think like that."

"He's going to die," Mulder's voice cracked, "and it's
all my fault!"

Dana looked between her two friends, trying
desperately to understand. Kneeling before Mulder, she
gently asked, "Where is Jamie? What happened here?"

Walter sighed heavily and began to explain. "We were
knocked out and the goons who run Avatar took him and
Krycek."

"Avatar?" She'd heard of the genetic research
facility, even read about their controversial
experiments, but what did that have to do with all
this? Dana blinked. "I don't understand."

"It's really not that complicated, Scully." Mulder
smirked wryly. "I let everyone down. It's all my
fault."

"Is that what you think?" Walter interrupted. Hands on
hips, he stood glowering down at him.

"Yes." Mulder was not in the mood. "I've lost
everything I ever believed in. All those years I
blocked out what happened and still I never stopped
loving him. I know I could have done something better,
but I didn't."

Walter exchanged a concerned look with Dana. The guilt
inside of Mulder was eating him alive. "Ever heard of
guilt? That's all it is."

"I have nothing else to lose," Mulder said to himself.
Mulder clasped his hands together tightly, and he
suddenly became very quiet. His mind filled with
memories. The story of falling in love with Jamie,
stretched out before him in a swirling, infinite
kaleidoscope of colors.

- Jamie, barely nineteen, mystical and idealistic,
arriving in Oxford and slamming right into him AND
THOSE EYES what am I doing? touring the university
looking at the stars AND I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT
HIM and you've gotta trust someone but he is the
chosen one I'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU and I promise
nothing's going to happen to you I promise to you I
promise to you I promise I promise -

Cocking his head to the side, Walter had decided that
Mulder had just plain given up. A man he'd witnessed
shout to the heavens and go to the ends of the earth
just to seek out the truth. Well, Walter Skinner was
not about to let Mulder give up. Gripping him by the
collar, he hauled Mulder to his feet. Scully gasped.

"You're wrong," Walter told him, staring him straight
in the eye. "You'll lose him forever unless you don't
get up, get out there and fight!"

Before him, Mulder appeared enraged, undone. Walter
remained unaware of the turmoil raging inside him.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Walter demanded. "Or
should I ask, what are you prepared to do?"

"Anything," Mulder answered.

Dana instantly noticed a familiar light shining in his
eyes.

With renewed determination Mulder pushed himself away
to breathe fresh air from the open window. Shaken from
his guilt and doubt, all Mulder could think of was
holding Jamie in his arms again. Whatever it would
take to get Jamie back, he would do. Now he was
prepared for anything at all, whether the challenge
was physical, emotional, intellectual, or all three.

He had a promise to keep...

Skinner and Scully watched Mulder stride across the
room, stopping before a metal trunk. Opening it with a
key, he rummaged through the video cassettes inside,
and from the bottom he produced an intricately carved
mahogany box -- the naga box.

Dana searched for an eerie whispering sound which
seemed to be -- no, it couldn't be! -- coming from
within the box.

Mulder turned with pursed lips. "Come on," he told
them, "we've gotta get going!"

"Going? Where are we going?" asked a puzzled Dana,
well used to his depressed one minute, then
drop-everything-and-let's-go approach.

He tucked the strange box under one arm. "I'll explain
on the way," he replied, hurrying toward the door.

Dana held out a restraining hand. "No, Mulder, you'll
explain now."

With an unstoppable, driving force Mulder quickly
explained. "Years ago, one of the Great Old Ones..."

Walter exhaled while Mulder continued to relate the
extraordinary story to Scully. The look on her face
mirrored his own when he'd learnt the horrible truth
behind Jamie's miraculous return.

Mulder choked on his next words, a pained statement on
his face. "Jamie... Jamie was born to host the
essence. Azathoth became trapped, but eighteen years
later he escaped. Now Jamie is in the hands of Avatar
and the creature inside is killing him."

She shook her head and ran a hand across her brow.
"I'm losing the plot," she admitted.

"Maybe there is no plot," Walter gruffly replied.

"So," Dana began slowly, "what you're basically
telling me is that Jamie is possessed and a genetic
corporation kidnapped him?"

While Scully processed this, Walter decided to ask a
question pressing on his mind. "Mulder, not that I'm
complaining that we're still breathing, but why didn't
Avatar just kill us?"

"Because," he said, indicating the box. "I have
something they need."

Dana added carefully, "and the people who run Avatar
want to gain control through an anicent religion?" She
frowned. What the hell was it with Mulder? Even his
old boyfriend was a walking X-File!

"Yes," Mulder nodded, anxious to be on the move. "The
last thing Professor Wickham did before he died was
entrust the box to me."

"Why didn't he simply destroy it?" Walter wondered
aloud.

"Good question," Mulder admitted. "Destroying the box
would leave the essence in existence. I think we need
it to expose and destroy Azathoth."

Putting the pieces together, Dana said, "Now, the part
about Krycek joining then defecting from a cult, I can
believe, but Jamie..."

"What?" Mulder blurted out, defensively.

Scully sighed. "Does the word 'unbelievable' mean
anything to you?"

"You yourself detected a strain on Jamie's heart. It's
Azathoth toxic essence and Jamie doesn't have much
time left!"

"Mulder, that's..."

"Impossible?" He finished for her. "After everything
we've seen and done, you tell me what's impossible..."
Taking a deep breath, he squeezed her shoulder and
looked deep into her eyes. "Scully, I need you to help
save Jamie."

Dana exhaled. She glanced up at Walter, who nodded, as
if making up her mind for the both of them.

"All right," she agreed. "What are we going to do?"

Mulder's grin just about split off his face. "First of
all we're going to need a little help."

* * * * *

Avatar Research Facility
San Francisco, California

A pair of glass doors swished open to admit
casket-like trolleys bearing the sleeping bodies of
Alex Krycek and Jamie Grayson. Waiting on the party's
arrival was the imposing figure of Gordon Stratton. He
gave Richard a scathing look. The bumbling fool had
failed in their secret pact to assassinate the
traitorous Krycek.

"Why did you bring Krycek here?" Stratton questioned,
unable to hide the resentment in his voice.

"His life still has some value," Blair replied. "You
know we must number thirteen."

Stratton seemed taken aback. "But he is a traitor to
Azathoth." He stared down at him. "He should be
killed. The blade of our great god thirts for blood."

"Patience. Before the night ends, there will be blood
in abundance, that I promise."

"We of the brethren bow to your command."

"Then see to it that Krycek is given secure
accommodation, then bring the Chosen One to the
facility."

Matthew Blair wondered what his father would think if
he were still alive? The supreme moment. He had every
confidence that Fox Mulder would deliver the naga box
into his hands. Jamie was Mulder's one great weakness.
According to his FBI file, the man was reknowned for
his obssesion to never give up. He gazed down at
Jamie's sleeping form. To think that the key to his
dreams lay within.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked Gordon
fervently.

Gordon said nothing; instead he looked into Blair's
wide staring eyes.

"What is it?" Matthew asked, disturbed.

"Nothing," he said thoughtfully. "Nothing at all."

"Then do as I ordered," his hissed, icily.  
With a slight nod, Gordon Stratton took the lead. The
High Priest, the CEO of Avatar, his lover with whom
he'd planned this moment was growing increasingly
distant. Exactly what was Matthew up to?

Blair watched the trolley with its precious cargo
disappear round a corner. His dark eyes burned with
manic fervour.

"The entire Earth is mine!" he whispered to himself.

* * * * *

Murmured voices and a strange sound, like bubbles
bursting through water, invaded Jamie's senses.
Slightly opening one eye, he found himself sitting up
in a cushioned chair. He appeared to be in a
futuristic hospital, like something out of Flash
Gordon. The noise of powerful machinery hummed nearby.

He turned his head and saw transparent panels and
cubicles filled with a dark, gaslike substance. Men
wearing white coats were scattered about. Mulder...
where was Mulder? What had they done to him? Please 
let him be alright...

There was no sign of Alex Krycek either. They'd both
been given several injections. Jamie vaguely
remembered the sound of a jet taking off and waking in
the back of a van. Alex had tried to punch, kick and
struggle against their captors -- but the odds were
against him. Then they were both placed in strange,
silvery tube-like caskets before oblivion took hold
once more.

Jamie's mouth felt dry as the Sahara, and his head
seemed to be filled with cotton. However, the
adminstered drug seemed to have repressed Azathoth.
Jamie could still feel the cancerous presence within
his mind, but the struggle for control had momentarily
ceased. Experimentally, he flexed the fingers of his
right hand. Feeling slowly returned, accompanied by
sharp pins and needles which only served to hone his
senses. Jamie could now hear voices approaching.

One, deep and cultured, said, "Get him ready."

Professor Bowman eyed the pale young man with a
careful eye. "The subject looks very weak."

"Never mind that," Matthew Blair told him. "Remember
who is funding your research, Professor."

Bowman did not need reminding. He'd been made a
laughing stock in the scientific community with his
theories of human cloning. That is until Matthew
Blair's proposal to join his team at Avatar. The first
initial tests had proved successful. He'd even been
given a very willing Russian guinea-pig; first
reconstructing the man's amputated arm, then creating
an unstable clone.

"I want this experiment to proceed!" ordered an
impatient Blair.

Jamie's eyes blinked fully open. "What's happening?"
he demanded, angrily.

The two men were leering at him like ghouls. There was
something so evil about the younger man's face that it
made Jamie's blood run cold.

"I'm glad you're awake." Blair smiled. "I want you to
understand why you've been brought here."

"Where is here?" he asked, trying to sit up.

"Here is where the ancient power of the Old Ones will
be focused. I have been searching for you for so
long." Blair swept his hands grandly. "Tonight you
will be the guest of honor at a ceremony..."

"What, again?!" Jamie sarcastically retorted.

Professor Bowman nodded and a shortish, balding man
with ratlike features approached. Before him, Dr.
Lennoxx pushed a trolley, atop which were an array of
gleaming surgical instruments.

Jamie felt a shudder move down the length of his back.
"What do you think you're doing?"

"Through you I will conjure and control supreme
power."

Jamie's eyes widened in alarm. "You know, don't you?
You know what it is..."

"Yes, there's something wonderful inside you screaming
for release." Blair watched Jamie's eyes feverishly
dance around the rom. It was moments like this that he
treasured. "Oh, are you looking for Fox Mulder? Don't
worry, he'll be here soon enough to help in the final
preparations."

Tensing, Jamie gripped the chair. "He'll never help
you!"

"On the contrary, he will come," he said,
patronizingly. "He won't leave you behind again. If he
wants to see you alive one more time, he will deliver
the key to Azathoth's prison."

Jamie bit his lip as the man with the ratlike face
approached with a scalpel. He had to get out of here.
Get away and find Mulder. It was now or never. "It's
no good," he gasped. "I can't breathe."

Dr. Lennoxx looked to Blair and the professor, then
yelped sharply as Jamie swung the metal tray he'd
grabbed from the trolley full-tilt against the man's
wrist. Lennoxx dropped the scalpel. Jamie suddenly
collapsed. Blair roughly pushed him back into the
chair.

"Do not resist, Chosen One," he boomed threateningly.
"Why do you insist on fighting the inevitable?"

"I've had enough of this!" Jamie cried, trying to
control the wave of dizziness. Instead, he felt hands
all over him. "Let me go!"

Blair tutted and shook his head. "After all the
trouble I've gone to? I don't think so."

"And you think this thing will help you?" Jamie
scoffed. "It's evil!"

"No, it's powerful!"

"It will use you!"

"You're wrong, I will use it," Blair told him,
relishing each word. "Your body is weak, worn out. I
will be the Deliverer!"

Blair laughed and waved a hand over Jamie's body. "I
know that a Chosen One alone carries within him a
particular genetic code," he paused for dramatic
effect. "Cursed or shall I say blessed to host
Azathoth's essence."

"Then what do you want?"

Blair leaned in close and gave him a feral smile.
"You, Jamie. All I want right now is just a little
tissue sample. DNA."

Jamie's green eyes filled with a fearful realization.
"You're mad!"

"You will make me a god!"

"Leave me alone!" Jamie desperately tried to free his
arms, but they were pinned to the chair. A swab
cleaned his exposed skin and Dr. Lennoxx came forward
once more with the scalpel...

* * * * *