A Few Good Men, by Scifinerdgrl (3/3)

CHAPTER 15

Three geeky men poked their heads into a quiet hospital room. 
Scully beamed when she saw them.  "Hi guys," she said.  "How did
you know I'd be here?"

"A woman called us..." Byers started.

"From this room," Langley continued.

"And told us you were here," Frohike finished.

"It wasn't me," Scully answered.  "But whoever it was, I'm glad
she did.  What else did she say?"

"Just that you needed our help," Langley said, reaching for her
hand.  She let him take it, then winced as Frohike approached to
take her other hand.

"Guys, I'm okay," Scully assured them.  "I took a little beating
earlier, but I'm fine now.  It's William you should worry about."

All three faces blanched simultaneously.  "What happened?" Byers
asked breathily.  "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Scully said, tears welling up in her eyes. 
"Someone posing as my mother drove off with him.  She was a
shape-sh---"

"Oh, sh---" Langley said through clenched teeth.

"Don't worry, we'll find him," said Frohike soothingly as he
stroked her hand.

She pulled her hands free from theirs and clasped them together. 
"I got a call," she started, then told them the whole story. 
When she was finished, she sighed deeply and said, "What do you
think?"

"I think it sounds like there were a lot of phone calls involved
here..." Langley offered.  He leaned to one side and let his
backpack fall gently to the floor.  Pulling out a laptop
computer, he asked thoughtfully, "Your cellphone is missing?  For
how long?"

Scully sniffled and thought for a moment.  "A day, maybe two..." 
She gasped as she came to a sudden realization.  "I think I left
it in Democrat Hot Springs."  

"What phone numbers are programmed into it?" Frohike asked,
trying in vain to reach for Scully's hand.

"My home number, Mulder's home, his cell, A.D. Skinner, my
mother..." she listed.

"If I can hack into your provider's closest node, then check on
recently dialed numbers..." Langley said more to himself than to
anyone in the room.   Frohike and Byers looked over his shoulder
as he pounded madly at his keyboard.

After a few minutes, Langley shouted out, "Yes!" and turned the
computer to face Scully.  "Those numbers?" he asked.

Scully nodded.  "And the timing is right...  My mother, then
Skinner..."  She looked up in horror as she had a terrifying
thought.  "If my mother wasn't really my mother, then was it
really Mulder in my apartment?"

There's one way to find out, Frohike said, pulling his cellphone
from his jeans pocket and handing it to Scully.  She took it
gingerly, wiped the earpiece on her sheets, and started dialing.

CHAPTER 16

At the Pentagon, Deputy Director Kersh looked on as two
attendants loaded a corpse into an unmarked van and slammed each
of it's the double doors.  He heard a faint ring sounding from
the inside of the van, and banged on the door.  One of the
attendants opened it, holding a loudly ringing cellphone.  Kersh
recognized it at once as FBI-issue equipment and held out his
hand for it. "Hello?" he answered.

"Mulder, it's me," Scully's voice sounded in the phone.  "I need
your help."

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, Agent Scully, but
Agent Mulder will be unable to help you," Kersh said coldly. 
"He's on his way to the morgue."

"Can you get him a message?" Scully asked frantically.

"Not where he's going," Kersh said, then he hit "end" and put the
phone in his pocket.

Scully laid back on her hospital bed, her face knotted in
confusion.  She hit "end" on Frohike's phone then dialed
Skinner's cell number.

"Skinner here," she heard after several rings.

"Sir, have you seen Agent Mulder?" Scully asked.

Skinner held the phone to his chest then looked to Agent Doggett. 
"Have you seen Agent Mulder tonight?"  Doggett pursed his lips
and shook his head.  After putting his phone to his ear again
Skinner answered, "No, why?"

"Kersh answered Mulder's cellphone and told me he's on his way to
the morgue...  He was looking for you when he left the house..." 
Scully stopped mid-phrase and dropped the cellphone.

"What's wrong?" Byers asked, approaching Scully's bed.  In answer
her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears.   "No..." Byers
said soothingly, taking her hand.  "I'm sure it's not what you
think..."  Scully tried to grin through her tears, then took a
deep breath and picked up her phone.

"I'm not sure what's happening," she said to Skinner.

"Agent Scully, I'm in an ambulance with your mother," Skinner
said.  "Where are you?  Can you meet us at...?"  He mouthed to
Doggett 'Where are we going?'  Doggett mouthed back 'Washington
General'  Skinner continued, "Washington General?  in about..."
he looked at his watch, then out the rear window of the
ambulance.  "In about five minutes?"

"I'm there now, sir," Scully answered.  "Wait -- are you sure
it's my mother?"

"We found her at her house, unconscious and gagged, but she's
coming around,"  Skinner looked appraisingly at the slightly
older woman.  "Want to talk to her?"

He handed the phone to Maggie, and Scully said, "If you're my
mother, what did you give me for Christmas when I was ten?"

"A Barbie Doll," Maggie said, "with a hot pink convertible and a
Ken doll to keep her company."

Scully sighed.  "And when I was twelve?"

"A delicate cross, that you always wear," Maggie said.

"And what did I *really* want," Scully demanded.

"The Hotel California.  Any other questions," Maggie asked.

"No, I guess not," Scully said softly.  "Are you okay, Mom?"

"I'm in good hands," Maggie assured her.  "I'll see you soon,
honey."

"Mom!" Scully shouted.  "Don't hang up!"

"What?" Maggie asked, her eyes on Skinner's.

"William's been kidnapped... by someone who looked like you. 
Tell A.D. Skinner they were on their way toward Silver Spring on
..."

Maggie handed the phone to Skinner, who said, "Hello?"

Scully repeated her information, making her best guess about the
direction her mother's car was taking.  "What's the license
number?" Skinner asked, reaching for a pen.

"I don't remember," Scully said.

"Maggie?  How are you feeling?" Skinner asked.  "We need you to
look for your car."

"If this is about William..." Maggie answered immediately.

"We'll find him, Agent Scully," Skinner said soothingly.  "I'll
call you on your cell when---"

"No!" Scully shouted.  "Whoever has William has my cellphone. 
Call me at the hospital," she demanded.

"Okay---" Skinner started.

"Wait!" Frohike interrupted, grabbing the phone from Scully. 
"Langley's onto something."

"I've located your cellphone!  It's in Bethesda, just east of a
Metro stop."  He looked up in a panic.  "National Institutes of
Health."


CHAPTER 17

Doggett turned to the ambulance driver and said, "FBI business. 
Turn right at the first..."  But before he could finish, the
attendant in the rear grabbed Doggett from behind, cutting off
his air at the neck.  As the agent struggled in his seat, Skinner
leapt onto the attendant's back and tried in vain to pull him
down.  Despite Skinner's size, the attendant easily threw him
backwards onto the floor of the ambulance.

Skinner landed with a loud thud and rolled to his side.  Maggie
Scully ripped off her restraints and stooped to help him up. 
"Stay back, Mrs. Scully," Skinner warned.  "You don't know what
you're dealing with here."

He ransacked the cabinets, looking for something that could be a
weapon, until he felt a delicate feminine hand on his arm.  A
second hand placed defibulator paddles in his hand, then patted
it encouragingly.  "Mrs. Scully..." Skinner started, but when he
turned around he saw a familiar dark-haired military nurse
smiling at him.  "This will work, Walt," she whispered.

Encouraged, he grabbed the paddles and placed them on either side
of the man's head.  He could feel the surge of electricity pass
through the paddles as the attendant started to shudder.  A
second surge made the man release his grip on Doggett's neck and
turn menacingly toward Skinner. The dark-haired woman threw open
the back doors, and as Skinner struggled with the man, he managed
to work his way closer to the doors.

Doggett, catching his breath, looked carefully at the driver, who
had hunched forward as if to guard the steering wheel.  The hair
on his own neck bristled as Doggett saw a familiar lump at the
back of the driver's neck.  Doggett grabbed for the steering
wheel, and the driver reacted by putting his hand out and
squeezing Doggett's neck with super-human strength. 
Instinctively, Doggett grabbed the driver's arm and struggled to
pull free.  Maggie heard his gasps and rushed forward, pushing
against the arm with her own strength, but Doggett's face had
turned bright red, and his tongue was thrust forward as the pair
lost their battle against the extraordinary man.

As the driver easily handled the struggling pair, he increased
speed, finding easy access on the late-night streets, when
suddenly the headlights flashed on the image of a young boy,
standing motionless in the street.  The driver swerved, throwing
Skinner and the attendant in the back against the back doors. 
Skinner maneuvered himself behind his opponent and kicked him out
the doors, then hopped to his feet and moved to the front to help
Doggett.

Suddenly, the boy appeared again in the ambulance's headlights,
and again, the driver swerved.  "What the---" the driver yelled
as he regained control.

Skinner grabbed the defibulator paddles and slapped them against
the man's head, then glanced backward and saw the dark-haired
nurse nodding.  The driver shook his head side-to-side trying to
shake the paddles and let go of Doggett's throat.  As Doggett
gasped for air, the driver shook the paddles from his head and
gunned the accelerator.  Doggett watched in horror as the
ambulance sped through the streets of D.C.  He tried to grab the
steering wheel, but the driver slammed him against the passenger
door, knocking what little wind he'd regained, out of him.

As Doggett caught his breath the boy appeared in the headlights
again, and Doggett screamed "LUKE!!!"  The driver hit the
accelerator, speeding toward the boy.  With superhuman strength,
Doggett pulled on the driver's arm, forcing the vehicle off the
road.  They jumped the curb and crashed into a dense planting of
shrubs fronting a dark brick townhouse.  Seeing his opportunity,
Skinner pulled out the defibulator paddles and immediately felt
the shuddering of the driver's convulsions.  The driver grabbed
the door handle and leapt out, running several feet before
collapsing in the middle of the road, his body still convulsing.

CHAPTER 18

Agent Reyes waited at the appointed corner but after several
minutes with no sign of John Doggett, she decided to follow her
nose -- literally.  Smoke from the fire wafted toward her, and
she could see the rapidly diminishing glow in the sky to her
South.  As she opened her car door, her cellphone rang.

"Monica Reyes," she answered automatically.

"Hi Monica, it's John Doggett."

She sighed.  "John, where are you?"

"Long story, Monica, but I need you to meet me at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda.  Know where that is?"

"Uh... no," she said cautiously, eyeing the shadows around her. 
"I'll find it," she promised, then disconnected the phone and put
it into her pocket.  Drawing her weapon, she yelled.  "Stop.  I'm
a federal agent!"

A tall figure approaching from the shadows called out, "So am I! 
At least I was."

Reyes kept her gun pointed at the silhouetted man as it took a
few more steps toward her.  "Put your hands up! Over there," she
gestured toward a street lamp with her gun.  "Go into the light."

"That's very funny, actually," the figure said, still
approaching.

"I mean it!" Reyes' stone-cold expression didn't waver as she
sighted over the barrel of her gun.  "There," she waved the gun
forcefully.  "NOW!"

"Okay, okay," the figure laughed, as he sauntered into the pool
of light.

"Agent Mulder?" she asked tentatively.  "Did John Doggett send
you here too?"

"No, Fate did," he answered.  "Is that your car?" he asked.  She
nodded a "yes," and he ordered, "Let's go then."

Reyes opened the passenger door then stood holding it as he
climbed in.  "Do you mind telling me what's going on?" she
demanded.

"I'll explain on the way," he said, then when she didn't move he
added, "Get in!  There isn't much time!"

She slammed the door and ran around to her side.  "Do you know
the way to the National Institutes of Health?" she asked after
starting the engine.

"That way," Mulder nodded.

"Which way?" Reyes asked, but Mulder interrupted her angrily.

"Over there... GO!" he shouted.

She peeled out of the parking lot and followed his orders.  After
merging onto a highway she turned to him and asked, "NOW can you
tell me what this is about?"

"Do you believe that the dead care about the living?" Mulder
asked cryptically.

"In some cultures ancestor worship is a basic tenet of..." Reyes
began academically.

"Yes, Asia especially," Mulder finished.  "And in Christianity
there's a belief that the dead will rise at the end-times..."

"You're not saying this is the end-times, are you?"

"What if both beliefs are partly true?" Mulder suggested.  "What
if the dead watch over their descendants and friends, and that
during times of crisis, or the end-times if you will, they return
to help them?"

Reyes chewed her lower lip as she thought about his idea.  "I
suppose anything is possible.  Of course you have a reputation
for being willing to believe anything..."

"And of being right," he pointed out.

"Even if what you say is true, what does that have to do with
us?"  Reyes asked as she checked her rearview mirror.  She
changed lanes then continued, "I was called out on an explosion
case, not a sighting."

Mulder smirked and pulled a few sunflower seeds from his coat
pocket.  He tossed them around in the palm of his hand then put
one in his mouth.  "Agent Doggett should know by now that no
X-Files case is what it appears at first."

"This is an X-File?"

"The X-File to end all X-Files," Mulder nodded.  "And what if
ancestors are the source of visions, of ESP, of remote viewing? 
What if they have the power to plant images in the minds of those
they have a connection to?  And what if I told you I'd seen such
a vision?"

Reyes rolled her eyes and quipped, "And people think *my* ideas
were goofy."

"But you believe me.  I can tell," Mulder said smugly.

"Yes," she sighed.  "I don't know why, but I believe you.  I
believe it's possible anyway."

"Here's another thought," he said, his eyes on the road, his
voice so distant that Reyes wondered if he was still talking to
her.  "What if they're all...  all the dead of all time... What
if they're gathering to help save humanity, using all their
powers as weapons in this great war?"

"You mean now?  They're gathering now?" she asked.  "What war? 
And why now of all times?"

He snapped to at the sound of her voice.  "Maybe they've done it
other times too.  Who knows? But the dead are with the living
now."  He looked at her significantly, "You know it's true."

CHAPTER 19

The National Institutes of Health complex included dozens of
brick buildings surrounded by lush landscaping.  "Where now?"
Doggett asked frantically?  "He could be anywhere!"

Skinner switched off the engine, then scanned the campus, looking
for lights.  He sighed in frustration.  "He may not even be
above-ground."

Doggett pulled his phone from his pocket and hit a pre-programmed
number.  "Monica?  We're there.  What's your E.T.A.?"

Skinner ground his teeth, studying the terrain as he
half-listened to Doggett's end of the conversation.

"Agent Mulder's with her," Doggett announced as he returned the
phone to his pocket.  "He says we should meet them at the Metro
entrance and he'll show us where to go."

Skinner pulled the van to a stop near the Metro and looked around
warily.  "I don't like this, Agent Doggett.  It's too open."

"Well, nobody knows who we are, why we're here, or where this
ambulance was supposed to be, so I say hiding in plain sight
might be the best plan," Doggett assessed.  "But just in case..."
He drew his gun and opened his door.

As Doggett patrolled the area, Skinner turned in his seat.  "Are
you okay, Mrs. Scully?" he asked.  "We could find someplace for
you to wait while we..."

"Oh no you don't!" she said angrily.  "Don't just dump me when my
grandson needs me!"

Skinner closed his eyes and sighed.  "I didn't mean..."

"I know what you meant," she snapped.  "But I feel fine, and if I
can help, I will.  I'm not letting anything happen to that baby!"

Her resolve brought a smile to Skinner's face.  "I understand,
but that baby needs his grandmom too," he said compassionately. 
"I don't want to let anything happen to you."

Maggie blushed and looked into his soft brown eyes.  "Now I know
why my daughter trusts you," she appraised.

"Just doing my job, ma'am," he blushed.

Doggett opened the door and slid effortlessly into the
passenger's seat.  "All clear," he said.  "Monica said they'd be
here in a few minutes, depending on traffic.  We should be fine
here."  

Skinner and Maggie Scully smiled at each other, leaving Doggett
to say, "What?  What'd I say?"


CHAPTER 20

When Mulder and Reyes arrived at the National Institutes of
Health campus, all seemed quiet.  They pulled up behind the
ambulance.  Skinner walked up to the car and leaned over the
driver's door.  Reyes rolled down her window and asked, "So now
what?  There must be thirty or forty buildings here.  How do we
know where..."

"I know," Mulder said.  "I've seen it."

Reyes looked at him skeptically.  "In a vision?" she queried.

Skinner rolled his eyes.  "Mulder, if you don't have something
better than that to go on..."

"Do *you* have something better?" Mulder interrupted.  Skinner
and Reyes sighed in unison.  "I didn't think so," Mulder said
smugly.  "We're going to go to a building marked 'Recombinant
DNA' and it's guarded, but only by two armed guards.  I think we
can distract them."

"How?" Reyes asked.

"What soldier can resist a damsel in distress?" Mulder winked.

A few minutes later their plan was in place.  Maggie, who
insisted on helping, waited in the ambulance, ready to sound the
siren if any authorities arrived.

Monica and John stood in the shadows of a stand of trees across
from the building.  "Ready?" Doggett asked.

Reyes mussed her hair, ripped the collar of her blouse, and
smeared her lipstick.  "How do I look? she asked.

"Terrible!" Doggett laughed.  "It's perfect."

Reyes ran screaming toward the guards, shouting "Help!  Help! 
There's a man... over there... he attacked me!"

One of the guards ran toward her and took her elbow.  She
resisted his attempts to pull her toward the building, instead
feigning a labored pant as if too winded to go on.  "He's...
still... there.... I think..." she nodded to where John's hiding
place.

When he saw the guard's head moving in his direction, Doggett ran
through the shadows, drawing fire from the guard at the gate. 
Reyes screamed a girlish scream and held onto "her" guard's arm. 
"Don't leave me!" she pleaded.  "He's coming back for me."

The guard nodded to his partner, who reluctantly left his post
and ran toward Doggett's shadow.  Reyes pulled 'her' guard's
attention toward herself as Mulder and Skinner entered
unchallenged into the building.

Inside, they found a long hallway lined with identical doors
marked with biohazard warnings.  Each door sported a round
porthole-like window, through which Mulder and Skinner could see
typical laboratory equipment.  Behind them they heard the sounds
of dozens of voice, each quietly whispering a name.  Skinner
turned around, guns drawn, but saw nothing.  "Keep it down!"
Mulder whispered to the empty hall.

As they continued down the hall they saw a few rooms lined with
cribs, each equipped with electronic monitors and IV stands. 
"The last one on the right," Mulder whispered.

Skinner shot Mulder a puzzled look, but he *had* been right so
far this night, so he went along.  Through the window of the last
room, Skinner could see three babies in hospital cribs, each
attached to an IV tube with pinkish fluid in the sac above.  A
pink-faced, gray-haired woman in a nurse's uniform took a sac
with the same pinkish fluid and attached a hose from it to a
machine that separated it into several small tubes.  She took one
tube and held it to the light, then noticed the two men peering
through the window.  She ran toward the door, but stopped
mid-stride, her face white with fright.

Mulder pushed open the door, and the two men walked in
purposefully.  "Ma'am," Skinner said.  "We're with the FBI..."

"I don't care who you're with," the woman said in a trembling
voice.  "You don't belong here."  She backed toward a desk and
felt frantically under its keyboard tray.

"Never mind about the alarm," Mulder said.  "The guards are
busy."  He walked to one crib then gently stroked the nearly
hairless head of the occupant.  "William," he whispered.  He
turned to the nurse and said, "Take these tubes out of him. 
NOW!"

"Why?" the woman objected, her body backing her swivel chair into
a cabinet.  "Why should I listen to you?"

Before Mulder could answer, the woman went silent, looking up
with wide eyes and a trembling lower lip.  "But how..." she
asked, then stared intently at one point in space.  "I
understand," she said in a monotone.  "I'll do it."

She rose and went to a cotton ball jar, then pulled some out and
started removing tubing from the babies.  Skinner looked from her
to Mulder, puzzled by their silence and the woman's sudden change
of heart.  When the babies were free from their tubing and their
wounds cleanly dressed, the three each took one and started for
the door.  When they reached the front door they could hear
voices behind them again, and Mulder turned around.  "Okay, boys. 
Now is the time.  Go for it!"

The voices turned louder, angrier, and raucous, as tubing, beds,
vials and all the medical accoutrements of the place flew in all
directions, smashing with intensity.  Doggett and Reyes arrived
at the front door in time to see and hear the commotion.

"Don't you see it?" Reyes asked Doggett.

Mulder interjected, "It's our ancestors.  Taking back our
destiny."

"All's I see is stuff flying around," Doggett insisted.  "And
we'd better get outta here before something hits someone."

They arrived at the ambulance in time to see the guards rushing
toward the building.  "They're supersoldiers," Doggett assessed. 
"I shot 'em both.  They shouldn't be standing."

And as the two guards entered the building, it exploded, sending
fire and debris in all directions.

Skinner handed a baby to Maggie Scully and said, "Let's get the
hell outta here."  He assumed the driver's seat, and Maggie
Scully sat in the passenger side.  

Reyes, the nurse, Mulder, and Doggett ran to Reyes' car, then
sped away behind the ambulance.

EPILOGUE
Washington General Hospital

The next morning Dana Scully held her son, William, contentedly
as Agent Reyes recounted the story of his rescue.  "All three
babies were born to mothers who had been abducted and were
diagnosed as barren," Reyes explained.  "The nurse didn't know
the extent of the research at NIH, but she received this
information in a vision."

Scully's eyebrows raised in habitual skepticism.  "Like the
visions Mulder told me about before he left?"

"I know, it sounds strange," Reyes added.  "But Mulder's visions
were accurate, and this woman seemed to have the same kind of
experience.  How else do you explain it?"

"I don't know," Scully said resignedly.  "But go on.  I need
answers, even if they're strange answers."

"Well, William and the other two babies are considered the first
of the successful cases of hybridized super soldiers.  And this
lab, or whatever it was, was set up to clone these babies.  To
make more of them, or at least to use their DNA in future
experiments."

Instinctively, Scully held William closer to her.  "And was that
the only lab doing this?  Or are there more somewhere else?"

Reyes shook her head.  "Who knows?  But I can tell you this. 
William and the other children like him have someone watching
over them.  They'll be okay."

"Like guardian angels?" Scully asked hopefully.

"Something like that," Reyes smiled.  "All these babies have
their Agent Mulders watching out for them."

The two women were startled to see first a hand, then an arm,
then a complete Agent Mulder leaning over William.  He kissed the
top of the baby's head, then brushed his lips against Scully's
cheek.  "I'll always watch out for you.  Both of you."

And with that, his image disappeared.

*****************************

Vietnam Memorial Wall

A large hand spread over the names of two dozen marines etched
one after the other in honor of their simultaneous sacrifice. 
The hand trembled slightly as it reached the name Hank Shelby. 
Skinner let his hand drop, and his head followed, bending in
silent sighs that might have been prayers in a man whose faith
had not been so badly shattered.  He reached into his pocket and
removed a small piece of ribbon attached to a medal.  He'd saved
their lives, and for what? he wondered.  He stuffed the Bronze
Star into the crack between the dark granite slabs and patted it. 
'This is yours,' he silently addressed his platoon.

He walked to the bench opposite the wall and sat, his shoulders
drooping with the weight of his grief.  'They're not gone,' he
thought. 'Not while someone remembers them.'  He looked up at
their names and saw the reflections of dozens of marines in the
charcoal-colored stone.  He looked behind him and saw only Agent
Doggett, walking over the grassy hill, the Washington Monument at
his back.

"They told me I'd find you here, Sir," Doggett said.  "I hope you
don't mind."

"Have a seat, Agent Doggett," Skinner growled.

The two men sat in silence for a moment, then Doggett cleared his
throat and said, "I thought you might want to know.  Those two
babies had been reported missing.  They've been reunited with
their parents."

"That's good," Skinner answered mechanically.

"And," Doggett swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing. 
"Agent Mulder's body has been positively identified.  That
couldn't have been him with us at the Institutes of Health."

"You expect me to be surprised?" Skinner turned and looked at
Doggett.  "Nothing surprises me anymore, Agent Doggett.  Almost
nothing," he added sadly, then turned to look once again at the
names on the wall.  "I hope they didn't die for nothing," he said
softly, more to himself than to Doggett.

"This is a part of my life I wish I could forget.  I'm sure you
understand."

"Yes, sir, I do," Doggett said respectfully.  "It was a different
war.  A different time, but..."

"There's only one war, Agent Doggett," Skinner interrupted.  "The
struggle to keep humanity from becoming something else.  That war
will never end."

Suddenly, several soldiers appeared before them, wearing uniforms
from several services and wars.  Among them Skinner recognized
Hank and Nurse Stowe.  Hank put his hand on Skinner's shoulder
and said, "A few good men were left behind.  As long as they let
us help them, our deaths were not in vain."

The soldiers saluted then disappeared into a haze.