Mulder burrowed a little deeper into the warmth near him and tried
to float back under into sleep. He so rarely felt relaxed and at
peace, and he wanted to go back there. Besides, it had been a long
time since that voice had greeted him as he woke up, so it had to be
a dream. Alex had long ago been replaced by Krycek, betrayer and
murderer. Having Alex back would make it a very nice dream, and
maybe if he stayed under long enough Alex would start doing the
other things his partner used to do to wake him up.
"Wakey-wakey."
The hand that had been stroking his hair slid down to his cheek,
then slapped him hard. Shocked awake, Mulder jerked away and
hit his head on the nearby wall. "What?"
Krycek smirked at him. "Get up. We're here."
Wherever the hell "here" was. Mulder remembered leaving work
for the evening, then nothing. He currently seemed to be on a very
small plane. //What the hell did he do to me? At least it looks like
it's still night out. I just hope it's the same night.//
Krycek stood and stretched. "We've just landed at a small airport
in Pennsylvania somewhere between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
You won't find out anything if you stay on the plane. Besides, two
thugs are waiting outside to drag you out. Trying to take me
hostage won't help you much because they don't really like me
either."
Mulder decided to play along. Krycek could be helpful on
occasion. "Does anyone like you?" He stood. "It's so hard to find
good help."
It took an effort to calm himself. The very sight of Krycek tended
to inspire an almost homicidal rage, but he could get far more from
his former partner by seeming reasonable and compliant. He could
always fly off the handle later.
"It's a shame I can't just kill them. Come with me."
The two thugs waited outside next to a beat-up Ford Escort. One
opened the door for Krycek but gave him such a look that Mulder
figured the gunman would put a knife in the other man's back as
soon as the opportunity arose. Krycek just grinned. The other
thug grabbed Mulder by the arm and deposited him in the front
passenger seat.
"They want status reports, Krycek, and they won't take excuses."
"They'll get what they want. And if they don't, that would make
you very happy, wouldn't it?"
The thug just smiled. "Have a nice trip."
As they drove away, Mulder felt all his questions trying to break
loose in a flood but, thinking that would only amuse Krycek, he
decided to ration them out, choosing the right time and place for
each. But when Krycek stopped the car at the side of the road only
two miles later, Mulder had to ask, "What are you—"
Krycek took a small machine out of his jacket pocket and said,
"Come out here." It soon became apparent that Krycek was
searching for bugs. By the time he was done ten minutes later, he
had five bugs in his hand. He threw them down in front of a front
tire and ran them over, then backed over them, then ran over them
again as they drove away.
"What the hell is going on?" Mulder asked.
"They had a very stupid plan. They wanted me to kidnap you, take
you to a certain location, and let you escape. At that point, you'd
see what they wanted you to see and make the conclusions they
wanted you to make. They don't have a hell of a lot of regard for
your intelligence, I guess." His hand tightened on the wheel. "I
don't have any patience for stupidity. It's not my responsibility to
make impossible plans work. So I'll take you there and let you see
what they want you to. As far as I'm concerned, that'll mean I did
my job."
Whenever Krycek became excessively helpful, Mulder got
nervous. That didn't mean he couldn't take advantage of Krycek's
talkative mood, though. "Is it still Friday?"
"Yeah, you weren't out that long. It's 9 o'clock."
"Where are we going?"
"A Carbondale mineshaft. Carbondale is on top of ground riddled
with them, and only old wooden beams are keeping it from
collapsing in. Occasionally a sinkhole would open and swallow a
house whole." Krycek smiled. "That would be interesting to see."
Mulder had to look away. Memories of long-ago stakeouts
surfaced unwillingly anyway. Back then they'd had odd, rambling
conversations to pass the time, and Alex had shown a knowledge
of bizarre facts that had almost rivaled his own.
"Carbondale was also the location for a UFO sighting November 9,
1974."
"Really." Krycek's voice sounded cold, amused, and challenging
all at once.
It was thought that an intact UFO had landed in a silt pond next to
Carbondale's Russell Park. Other eyewitnesses had said they saw
a light flying through the sky, but 3 teenage boys had followed it to
its landing and seen something glowing under the water.
Eyewitnesses had claimed the light had actually moved when the
local authorities had shot at it. The official story was that it was a
submerged lit lantern, which had been hauled up the next afternoon
in front of witnesses.
Many believed that people working for the government had
covertly removed and transported it out of town under the cover of
night with the aid of the local authorities, who'd helped cover it up.
Some thought that the omission of the Carbondale sighting from
the current run of UFO revelations only assisted in making and
clinching claims of the event's importance.
"Is what we're going to see related to that sighting?" //Damn
Krycek for knowing how to hook me.//
"Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I'm just their chauffeur and
errand boy."
Mulder took note of how dead and carefully drained of emotion
Krycek's voice sounded. Neither of them said anything else for a
while until Krycek asked, "What do they have you doing now?"
"What?"
"I know they gave the X-Files to Spender and your old squeeze, so
what are you working on now? I heard you were checking out shit
for a while."
"I was investigating possible terrorist activity."
"Only if the terrorists were cows."
Mulder sighed. "I'm doing background checks now."
Krycek smirked. "Are you getting nostalgic for your wire tap days
yet?"
"They want to break me. I won't let them."
"Good for you." It didn't sound as sarcastic as it could have. "By
the way, I took your cell phone. You won't be calling Scully.
She's too damned good at finding you."
Eventually they started to drive through the town itself. Mulder
frowned at the sight of ancient Mom `n' Pop stores uneasily
coexisting with franchises that looked exactly the same here as
they did everywhere else. To Mulder's surprise, Krycek said, "It's
called `progress,' Mulder. Live with it."
//I didn't say anything. How did he—// "It's destroying the
character of the town. The country is being homogenized by
franchise clones into one bright, crappy, neon eyesore, and we're
taking them overseas too."
"'Character' is what narrow-minded snobs who've lived in one
place all their lives and are stupidly proud of that fact talk about.
People aren't bound to one place anymore, and it's comforting to
have something familiar. Then they can branch out into the area's
unique artifacts." Krycek glanced over. "You should know. It's
not like you stayed in New England."
"But people don't do that. They eat shitty fast food instead of
seeing what else is out there."
"Then people are stupid and deserve what they get."
//So simple.// "Something important is getting lost."
"Then maybe it wasn't that important after all. Welcome to
globalization. Things change, Mulder.
Mulder got lost in echoes of the past again, old discussions in a
more innocent time. He was also remembering why he usually hit
Krycek and kept their conversations brief and confined to business.
Listening to his former partner talk about mundane things, just like
old times, hurt too much.
Krycek the rat bastard was so much easier to deal with than
Krycek-who-used-to-be-Alex.
"Yeah, things change." //But, sometimes, not enough.//
Krycek gave him a thoughtful look and went quiet again. They
drove through town for a while, then Krycek turned them onto a
rough dirt road. Mulder braced himself against the bumps, but still
kept hitting his shoulder against the door. He was starting to find
the silence as uncomfortable as the discussions, but he was afraid
to break it, afraid of what he'd say. //Afraid of what Ale— Krycek
would say.//
Finally they could drive no further, and Krycek stopped the car.
"We have to walk from here. You'll have to hold the flashlight,
because I want to be able to go for my gun. You can find it on the
backseat."
Fortunately, Mulder managed to stop his original stupid question,
"You're expecting trouble?" from passing his lips. Instead he
asked, "Why don't we do this by day?"
"We're on a timetable. Come on." Krycek put a smaller flashlight
in his jacket pocket and started to walk, never once looking behind.
He must have been using the moonlight.
//Arrogant bastard.// Mulder had realized during the ride that he
still had his gun, and Krycek had to be aware of it. He could easily
put a bullet in that proud back right now.
Instead, Mulder picked up the large flashlight, so like the one he
usually used, turned it on, and followed.
Mulder had always enjoyed hiking, but that had been on carefully
prepared paths, with only enough wildness left to them to satisfy
hikers' idea of nature without providing the usual accompanying
difficulties. This steep hill with its holes and loose stones quickly
showed him the stupidity of wandering the wilds in a suit and dress
shoes. His ankles kept turning as he slid or stepped wrong. His
trench coat occasionally caught on some brush.
By contrast, Krycek moved cleanly, softly, and gracefully ahead of
him. The loss of an arm should have skewed his balance, but he
had apparently compensated. His Timberline lumberjack boots
//Expensive; his masters must pay, or at least dress, him well//
handled the terrain much better than Mulder's shoes.
Mulder tried not to think of the things Krycek did for their pay. He
especially tried not to think that sexual favors were involved, but
he couldn't get the dirty images out of his mind. //You're not
having enough trouble walking, you idiot?//
Eventually he fell into a kind of trance, into the rhythm of each
step following the last and the pleasant exertion of muscles
working as they should. He felt almost companionable with
Krycek. The brisk night air seared his nose and throat, but it was a
good burn that reminded him he was alive. He felt a sudden odd
urge to howl at the sickle moon but stifled it.
They reached the chain link fence too soon. Krycek nodded his
head at the sledgehammer lying nearby. "See, they were expecting
you."
"Can't you just pick the lock?"
"Can you? You're the one who's supposed to be breaking in all by
himself."
Mulder sighed, picked up the sledgehammer, and swung. The lock
broke on the second try.
The mineshaft entrance had been boarded over, but it took only a
little effort to pry them away. As Mulder started to walk in, he
noticed that Krycek didn't follow. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not supposed to go in."
"When has that ever stopped you from doing anything?"
"I'm sure they've done everything short of putting up signs to tell
you where they want you to go. They want you to find the
whatever it is. You'll be fine. I'll be guarding the entrance."
"This is a trap, isn't it?"
"No."
"Then go in with me."
"I can't, but that doesn't make it a trap." Krycek obviously didn't
intend to get any closer, and nothing would change his mind.
As usual, curiosity overcame Mulder's prudence, what little of it
he had. He cast one last look over his shoulder, then walked in. In
the light of his flashlight, the walls gleamed with bits of shiny
black. The farther down he went—and he could tell he was
descending—the more he saw the occasional wooden beam, as
Krycek had mentioned, propping up the ceiling. He tried not to let
that scare him. He also tried not to think of giant beasts that had
never seen the light of day gnawing through the earth, a stupid
fancy that only made his heart pound despite its ridiculousness.
He wandered through an abandoned coal mine shut up for who
knew how long, but the air didn't smell as stale as it should have.
It felt as if something circulated fresh oxygen in. All
outbranchings of the tunnel had been closed up. He was being led.
As he walked for what seemed like ages, he occasionally looked
back to see if Krycek had followed. Every time, he was
disappointed. //Not "disappointed." Surprised, maybe.//
Then he came to an area that had metal cabinets lining the walls all
the way up to the ceiling. //Much better than those old wooden
beams.// When he pushed one of the buttons, a long drawer
popped out to reveal a large cylinder shrouded in a rime of ice. He
scratched the frost away and revealed the large gray head of the
container's occupant. A few more pushed buttons revealed the
same thing.
//So why do they want me to see a facility that holds gray aliens in
suspended animation?//
Alex wondered if Mulder had found the site yet but refused to let
himself think about the agent wandering through those tunnels so
far underground. It was stupid and weak, but he'd started to suffer
from claustrophobia after his stay in the silo. He still did what he
needed to do, but if he had a choice, he wouldn't open himself to
the physical phobic reactions that plagued him. No matter how
stupid he told himself he was being, his heart would still start to
speed up, the panic would try to strangle him, and it would get
harder to breathe. No matter what his conscious mind said, some
part of him expected to be closed away and crushed... Keeping
Mulder company in one of those fragile subterranean shafts didn't
constitute his idea of necessary exposure.
It was better off this way anyway. He never should have let
Mulder sleep against his shoulder, but he hadn't been able to help
himself. Most people looked slack, empty, when drugged, but
Mulder looked sweet, angelic, at peace, as if drugs helped him
attain some higher state of being. He didn't even drool. Alex had
wanted to—
Never mind what he'd wanted to do; he'd successfully resisted all
of his urges. But then they'd actually talked a few times in the
car, as if they were just two people who knew one another pretty
well, as if the last few years hadn't happened.
Wanting to fuck Mulder blind was understandable. Still feeling
affection for him... that was dangerous.
Alex suddenly realized that he was being surrounded. These
people knew the area well enough to close in almost silently on
him.
He had only one place he could go.
Taking a deep breath, he ran into the mineshaft.
Mulder was wondering what lesson he should learn from all this
and wondering if he could find something he could carry out as
evidence when he heard someone running toward him. He drew
his gun and slipped behind a cabinet for cover, but he thought it
would probably be Krycek. Someone out to kill him would try to
slip in quieter.
The run had turned Krycek's voice huskier. "We have company
coming. Lots of them. We could never gun them all down, so we
have to run."
Mulder tried not to notice the accelerated rise and fall of Krycek's
chest. "I guess talking to them is out of the question. Is there
another way out?"
"I don't know. I wasn't supposed to be in here, remember?"
Mulder and Krycek both turned as they heard the footsteps, the
pace steadily increasing. They started to run. They heard the
bullets fly, singing at them, from behind and kept on going. They
were soon in a more mundane part of the mine, well away from the
cabinets. Mulder desperately searched for a place to go to ground
and hide so they wouldn't be taken down when they eventually
became too tired to run but saw nothing he could use. They kept
on going, with their pursuers firing right behind them.
Then Mulder heard a sharp crack followed by a low, deep rumble.
He turned and watched as an ancient beam snapped from getting
hit by a few too many bullets. When another beam buckled under
the increased pressure, the roof started to cave in. And Krycek
stared, eyes wide, mouth open, frozen. Mulder could swear he
saw his former partner's heart pounding.
Mulder grabbed Krycek's wrist and started to pull. "Come on!"
Krycek snapped out of whatever trance he'd fallen into and started
to move. Fortunately, they had been far enough ahead of it that
they didn't get crushed, though the force of the collapse threw
them forward. They hit the ground and rolled until a wall stopped
them.
Once the ringing in his head started to subside, Mulder slowly got
up. Krycek already stood and grinned like a maniac. He stared at
the jumbled ruins of a house, chunks of lawn and flowerbeds, a
swingset, and three trees. And, above it all, the night sky, which
seemed to be the most beautiful thing Krycek had ever seen.
"Wonder if we could climb out?" Krycek asked.
"There could be people in there!"
"They're dead now."
"They might not be. We have to get them help."
Mulder doubted he'd be able to dig them out, but maybe Krycek
had taken his cell phone along, and they could call for help. He
mustered his best puppy dog look but was also prepared to wrestle
Krycek to the ground to claim his phone. His former partner
sighed, then handed it over willingly.
"Do you even know what the address is, asshole?"
"Sure. It's written on a plaque on the door." Which was eight feet
away from its frame.
Mulder called 911 and gave them the information about a sinkhole
without mentioning gunmen or aliens. //In most towns, authorities
would think I was prank calling if I said anything about a house
being swallowed up.//
Krycek was all but bouncing as he waited. It was kind of cute.
//Remember the way he dismissed the people in the house. But he
gave me the phone...//
Mulder was suddenly certain there was something behind him. He
saw a bright light—
"That was a total fuck-up."
"It seems our Alex has talent for taking the most simple plans and
making them into fiascoes."
"'Simple'? The plan was flawed."
Alex squinted against the light and tried to fight against the weight
that dragged at his body. He managed to turn his head in what
would appear to be a random way to anyone watching until he saw
Mulder, who appeared to be completely out of it, lying on a nearby
table. The blinding brilliance rendered the other people in the
room into silhouettes.
"Who were those people?"
"We don't know; the landslide buried them completely."
"Another thing we'll have to cover-up. Fortunately, it was late at
night with no witnesses, and no one in the house survived."
"What now?"
"Not even our allies can be selective enough to erase only the
memories we want excised. They'll have to remove most of the
last few hours from Mulder's mind. It's a shame, but I can't see
any other way."
//After I went to all that trouble? Like hell!// Alex tried to regain
control of his body, but it felt dead.
"After all the editing they've already done on him, it'll be easy."
"And Krycek?"
"Similar. Once they've been processed, they won't remember a
thing, and they'll be too distracted to want to remember."
"If we do this right, we may even take some advantages from this.
A renewed bond between Mulder and our operative could be
useful." The shadow leaned in closer. "But you won't remember
any of this, Krycek."
Shit. //Leave me al—//
Alex woke up feeling wonderful without knowing why. He also
had no clue where the hell he and Mulder were, although they had
obviously been moved out of the mine. //Irony. This started by
me knocking him out and dragging him elsewhere. I guess
someone liked the idea.// They sat in what looked like a fairly
generic airport, but a large number of the people walking by wore
leis... //Can't be... but wouldn't that be a kick?// Alex still had his
gun, and a longer than strictly necessary search of Mulder's
sleeping body revealed that the agent had his as well.
Attempts to wonder who'd put them here kept getting drowned out
by the cleanest, purest high Alex had ever experienced. //This isn't
the usual cheating-death high. This is one hundred times better.//
He felt like he could beat the world one-handed. //Well...//
It was wrong, unnatural. No one made you feel good unless they
wanted something.
Alex tried to come down a bit. He studied the vision of his worst
fears of his claustrophobia coming true and almost crushing him.
Although he could still feel the terror inside him somewhere, it was
as if it had been trapped under glass, unable to threaten him at all.
//I got out just fine, and that was one hell of a thing to see.// He
flung the sight of Mulder, looking miserable and betrayed, into his
mind's eye. //But I can still win him over again. He wants me so
badly.// Mulder had his head resting against Alex's shoulder and
murmured contentedly, looking utterly relaxed. //He doesn't look
miserable right now.// His head felt so damned heavy, but Alex
didn't shift him. Every movement created an answering tremor in
Alex's cock, and Mulder seemed to be in a similar condition.
Alex watched the passersby drift past until he saw someone he
thought he could ask questions of. He wanted someone friendly
looking, but not too friendly since he didn't want to hear anyone's
life story. Someone who looked organized and knowledgeable.
The one he chose also suggested a number of good qualities for
looking approachable but wary and not wearing a lei.
"Excuse me, miss? Could you help me?" //Damn. Having a
surreal time; wish I were here. Don't giggle, Alex.
//There are people wearing leis...//
The young woman turned, smiled, and stopped. She had a suitcase
and bag neatly fastened to a small, wheeled dolly. "Yes?"
"My friend and I have been traveling forever. We've had so
damned many stopovers that we don't know what airport we're in
or even what the day is anymore."
"You're at Honolulu International Airport." She looked at her
watch. "At 7 o'clock on Saturday morning. Anything else?"
"No, that's great. Thanks."
"Have a good day," she said as she walked away.
If more people were that helpful, he wouldn't have to kill so many.
Alex started to grin even wider. He couldn't help himself.
Hawaii?
Mulder slowly woke up and pulled away. He had a beautiful,
elated smile, as if he floated on the world's best high too. Then he
came fully awake with a jolt and asked, "Where the hell are we?"
"Honolulu."
"Hono— Hawaii, Honolulu? Shit."
"It could be worse. We could be dead or strapped to a vivisection
table."
"We left with nothing."
"We got a one-way trip to Hawaii."
Mulder pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't get any evidence,
and this... teleportation or whatever it was will make it hard for
anyone to believe anything I say."
"But you're used to that." Alex put his head on Mulder's shoulder
and rubbed his spiky hair into an unprotected neck.
Mulder shook his head in a very odd way and asked, "What the
hell was I talking about?" His confusion soon turned back into his
earlier euphoria. He all but glowed.
"I don't know." There had been something, but it slipped
through Alex's fingers like wisps of smoke, leaving only a faint
cloudiness behind. The harder he tried to grab it, the faster it fled.
He just knew he had Mulder here and in a good, accommodating
mood.
"It must not have been that important."
"We're alive and in a tropical paradise. It would be a sin to go
right back."
"Sin, hunh?"
"Besides, you're an FBI agent. I'm not letting you go home until
you investigate me." //This is a bad idea. He's not himself, and
he'll hate himself for this later. You're not yourself. There will
be angst, and you hate angst. In addition to accusations, denials,
and protests. This can't last. Do the sensible thing.//
Then Mulder decided the question by closing his eyes and leaning
in a little to let his own head rest atop Alex's, before starting to rub
a bit. "Really. And what would that entail?" His voice had
dropped to a low purr.
Sense disappeared. "We just got free of aliens."
"Aliens?"
//I'm sure we did... didn't we?// "We have to check one another
for implants. Inside and out." He started to investigate the elegant
curve of Mulder's neck with his lips while his hand went to the
bulge in his former partner's pants. "As many times as it takes."
"Not in public," Mulder muttered.
"Too embarrassed?"
"Afraid they'd try to stop us."
Alex's cock leapt at the sound of Mulder's voice and the words it
said. The rest of him didn't waste any time either. //This can't
last, but now would be just fine...// Once they finally located a
men's room, Alex all but flung Mulder into a stall. //I'm glad it's
so damned early. It might ruin his mood if I had to shoot some
witnesses to get us privacy.// He ached for this man, and he
needed release. Now.
//Then again, with how responsive he is right now, maybe he
wouldn't care. Maybe it would only heighten his lust. It's making
me harder just thinking about it.//
While Mulder made sure there weren't any implants on Alex's
teeth, his hands also checked their flies for the same. Alex's hand
slid over his ass and down, kneading and pressing, teasing.
Mulder's hands roamed over the flesh beneath them like an
invading army. Their movements were rough and frenzied, but
that was how they both wanted it. This time.
"We don't have anything for—" Mulder gasped.
"I do." //Thank God I always come prepared.// "Fuck me, Mulder.
It's been so long."
They only wasted a little time on preparation—Alex didn't think he
could be any more prepared—before Mulder slid in and started to
move, thrusting hard. It was like being fucked by a hurricane, but
he still shouted for more, still wanted more. He was alive and free
and being reamed by someone he'd never thought he'd even have
the chance to touch again. Mulder's long fingers stroked his cock
just the way he wanted //He remembered...//, while succulent lips
and sharp teeth left their marks on his neck. He came hard with a
deep, strangled moan, and felt Mulder convulse behind him.
"I don't think that was thorough enough," Mulder finally said, his
voice husky, as he pulled out.
Alex turned to face him. //He wants more. It looks like he
needs more. Good.// "I don't think the light in here is good
enough. I think we need some sun." //Some sun, some sand, some
drinks, the two of us losing ourselves in one another over and
over...//
Sooner or later, Mulder would return to his senses, and it would all
be over. Alex would grab what he could get.
"I didn't find anything this time."
Alex tongued Mulder's ear. "Then we do this as many times as it
takes. We have to."
Mulder shuddered and became almost boneless in Alex's arms.
"As many times as it takes," Mulder agreed.
THE END
Those Old, Familiar Places
by Viridian5
"C'mon, Mulder, time to wake up."
