Title: Orpheus
Author: B.J.
Spoilers: Tunguska/Terma, mild A Christmas Carol/Emily, and
the Cancerarc
Timeline note: This takes place after the movie, but prior
to the events of Two Fathers/One Son
Classification: X (There are hints of Angst here and there,
but they aren't really the focus. Still, if you like
happy, smiley stories, this isn't one of them.)
Keywords: Mulder/Scully friendship (With apologies to all
of my 'shipper friends)
Rating: PG, for some violence and conspiracy-related
darkness. Nothing really objectionable, but I wouldn't let
my little sister read it.
Disclaimer: (To the tune of "Over the River and Through the
Woods)


 Between the rating and author's notes
 The disclaimer we see
 It's just a way
 For me to say
 They don't belong to me

 Mulder, Scully and all the rest
 Are owned by Carter and Fox
 I just wanted to borrow them
 So don't sue off my socks

Archive: Gossamer's taken care of, all others, please ask
me first

Summary: Mulder and Scully are called to investigate the
disappearance of a group of gifted teenagers, only to
discover an element of the Consortium's "research" of which
even they had been unaware.

Author's Notes: This is, if not my first fanfic, definitely
my first post, as well as my first stab at a straight
conspiracy story. The inspiration came from a couple of
different ideas that had been floating around -- perhaps
most importantly that in order to destroy the X-files, the
Consortium must rob Mulder and Scully not only of the files
themselves, but of their faith in them. I also wanted to
see Scully confront Cancerman, which, if you ask me, is
long over due.

Huge thanks to Lauren, who provided endless encouragement
and enthusiasm through the entire process.

 ~*~*~* *

Cloudlake, Minnesota
December 15, 1998

She had seen those eyes before. Kelsey Winston stood
shivering in the middle of an abandoned lot that until they
had all been cut down and sold a few weeks before, had
housed Christmas trees. Now it was filled not with bright
smelling foliage, but with confused teenagers, their breath
forming a multitude of small white clouds against the night
sky. She stared across the lot, seeing not the
congregation of her friends, but cold, black eyes that
reminded her far too much of the eyes of the snake that her
brother insisted on keeping as a pet - eyes which she found
staring back at her.

Across the room, a pair of eyes locked with hers. Deep
brown eyes, wholly unlike the black ones that she struggled
to recall ten years away. Two pencils scribbled furiously.
Two sets of small feet began to swing back and forth in
anticipation.

"Finished!" Miss Brown, can I use the computer?" Both
slammed down pencils and raised their hands in near-perfect
unison.

Miss Brown chuckled, softly as she began copying the
solutions for the assignment onto the blackboard. Never in
her teaching career had she met two second grade girls so
determined to outdo each other in everything. "Go ahead,
both of you. You may share the computer until it's time
for you to go to the GATE room."

"So, what do you want to play?" After a brief scuffle over
who got to sit in the chair directly on front of the
keyboard, the two girls had settled in quickly, wanting to
make the most out of their time.

Kelsey had won the coveted seat by virtue of being a little
bit taller and thus a little bit faster. She pulled the
front disk out of the classroom box. "Math Rangers, what
else?"

Jennifer - her sometimes-best friend and sometimes-best
enemy - watched eagerly as Kelsey slipped the disk into the
drive and waited for the program to load. "Do you think
we'll make it to level five?" Halfway through, she dropped
her voice to a whisper after catching a disapproving glance
from her teacher.

"I heard that there was a girl in third who beat the entire
thing yesterday." Kelsey whispered back as the menu popped
up on screen. "Of course we'll make it."

Before she could press the enter key to begin the first
round, the door had swung open. Kelsey twisted around
half-heartedly in her seat, expecting to see the principal,
or maybe a parent carrying a forgotten lunch. The visitor
was neither. He wore a long black coat, buttoned even
inside the warm classroom. Between his thin, dead lips
dangled a cigarette. The man smiled, which somehow made
him seem even more frightening. "Good morning, Katya." He
said to Miss Brown. "If I might see you out in the hall
for a minute?"

"Of course," Miss Brown answered, nearly dropping her
chalk. She followed the man out into the hall. Inside, an
anxious silence filled the room, instead of the flurry of
whispers that usually accompanied the teacher leaving. And
no matter how hard they stared at the door, no one could
quite make out what Miss Brown and the strange man were
saying.

They walked back in, Miss Brown looking artificially
cheerful. "Thank you all for being so quiet while I was
outside. Mr. . . . Smith is an old friend of my father's."
The man swept a cold gaze around the room, his eyes landing
on the computer screen. "Math Rangers, I see. Good. Keep
up the excellent work, Katya."

He nodded briefly to Miss Brown, then turned that
terrifying smile back on the room. Perhaps it was only
Kelsey's imagination, but he seemed to be looking her right
in the eye. And his eyes were as cold and black as. . ."

Her reverie was broken by a murmur from all over the lot.
Someone - she thought that she recognized April's long
golden hair, but she couldn't be sure, grabbed her arm.
"Look!" Kelsey looked upward. Those horrid eyes and
everything else were wiped out by the blinding flash
overhead . . .

~*~*~*

Cloudlake City High School
December 16

"Repiten, Clase!" Senora Drake's too-cheerful-for-first-
period voice rang out. "Los pajaros son gigantes."

"Los pajaros son gigantes." The class droned obediently.

"Los pajaros gigantes son azules." Said Sra. Drake.

"Los pajaros gigantes son . . ." The class stopped
abruptly as the intercom crackled on, except for a few of
the slower students who finished the sentence before they
realized that everyone else had stopped.

"Jennifer Chase, please report to the principal's office
immediately." The secretary announced. "Thank you."

Jennifer looked up from her desk at Sra. Drake, who nodded,
as the class began to whisper. Jennifer stumbled out of
her chair, picked up her backpack, and left the classroom.
Arriving at the office, she walked into the reception area
and was immediately waved in by the principal's secretary.

Inside the office, Mr. Jenkins, the principal, sat at his
desk, flanked by police officers. He tried to muster a
pleasant smile. "Please sit down."

Jennifer sat, quaking. Se had thought at first that there
might have been good news - perhaps a college admission.
Or, at worst, that she was in trouble for skipping physics
to hand around the drama room. While she had arrived five
minutes before the end of class with a note, the physics
teacher had not been pleased. But whatever it was that
she'd been called in for, it was serious.

"Now, Jennifer," Mr. Jenkins began, "When was the last time
you spoke with Kelsey Winston?"

Jennifer's eyes widened with fear. "Last night, about five
o'clock. Is she okay?"

"I'm afraid she's missing." Mr. Jenkins said gently. "As
are several other students from Cleveland High." The tears
that had amassed in Jennifer's eyes when she'd heard Kelsey
was missing chose that moment to escape down her cheek.

"Officers Collins and Greenwood would like to ask you a few
questions. Then you're free to go home. I've spoken with
your mother, and she's had you excused from classes for the
rest of the day." Jennifer nodded, sniffling. "I'm very
sorry." Said Mr. Jenkins.

 ~*~*~* *

Washington, D.C.
December 17

"Weird." Was Frohike's only comment when he saw the story
on Byers' computer screen.

"Yeah," chimed in Langely. "A whole bunch of smart kids
disappearing doesn't happen every day.

"Exactly," commented Byers, smugly. "Which is why we
should call Mulder. He needs to know about this.

"Aw, how come he gets all the fun?" Complained Langely,
absently spinning himself around in his chair.

"I definitely think that we should call Agent Scully
instead." Frohike added, then struggled for an excuse as
the rest of the Lone Gunman staff turned to smirk at him.

"This could be a delicate situation. We, um, could use an
objective point of view."

"Well, this is all a moot point, since they're both in the
middle of nowhere on some official wild goose chase."
Langely pointed out.

"When can we expect them back?" Byers asked, nervously.

"Who knows?" Langely answered. "Could be five minutes.
Could be months. Could be never."

"Never?" The prospect of never seeing Agent Scully again
startled Frohike. "Maybe we should risk calling him."

"On his cell phone?" Langely asked incredulously.

"With the FBI, the CIA, and who knows who else listening
in?" Added Byers.

"So what do we do? Sit by the phone and wait for him to
call us?" Frohike asked, beginning to drum his fingers on
the top of the monitor out of sheer nervousness.

The ringing phone answered for the other two." Langely
reached over and tapped on the speakerphone. "Lone
Gunman?"

"Langely, it's Mulder. I was wondering if you'd heard
about those missing high school kids out in Minnesota."

"Just the official word. Twenty-seven missing, all between
the ages of fifteen and nineteen." Byers reported.

"That's about what I've got. Listen, I'm gonna fly back
into Washington tonight and leave for Minnesota tomorrow
morning. And in case you're wondering, Frohike, I don't
know where Scully is. She took off this morning. Said
she'd meet me back at the office.

"Is she all right?" Langely asked, concerned.

"Yeah, she's fine. I think it was her nephew's birthday or
something."

"We'll let you know if anything else turns up." Byers
assured him.

"Okay. Oh, and see if there's any way to get Vikings
tickets for this weekend. We, um, missed the game last
time we were out there.

 ~*~*~*

"Why do I get the feeling that these aren't slides of
you're vacation to the Grand Canyon?" Agent Scully asked
her projector-wielding partner.

"Pretty spooky, Scully." Mulder smirked. "Actually," he
began clicking through the first slides in rapid
succession. "They're photographs of a group of high school
students who vanished two days ago in Cloudlake, Minnesota.
The victims all attended Cleveland High School, except for
three who were recent graduates. They don't seem to have
anything else in common except that they were all enrolled
in the district Gifted and Talented Education program in
elementary school.

"So? Mulder, this is probably just a case of a few
disgruntled students deciding to take their Christmas
vacation a little early. It's nothing, Mulder, just
another chance for the powers that be to humiliate us."

"But you haven't heard the really weird part yet, Scully.
About a week before the disappearance, all of them began
complaining of headaches, lethargy, and general malaise.
And since these twenty-seven disappeared on Wednesday
night, nineteen different students at Cloudlake City High
across town reported the same symptoms."

"And these nineteen were also GATE students."

"Yes."

Well, then, Mulder, your "weird" symptoms are completely
explainable, normal even. With the onset of flu season,
combined with the amount of pressure that the average
gifted high school student is under, it would be highly
unusual for them not to feel run down. It's called
'senior-it is' a feeling of lethargy and lack of motivation
that strikes during the last year of high school. I almost
flunked economics because of it.

"You, Scully?" Mulder was looking at her in mocking
disbelief.

"Well, I didn't actually fail." Scully felt unreasonably
guilty - as if she were explaining the D+ on her report
card to her father all over again. "I did a lot of last
minute extra credit. Besides, I have trouble believing
that you never almost failed a class, Mulder."

"Just one." Her partner answered, looking not the least
bit ashamed.

"Which was?"

"Government."

Scully sighed, knowing that whether or not it was true, he
was toying with her. "No matter what I say, we're still
going, aren't we."

"You sure you're not gifted and talented, Scully?"
 ~*~*~* *
"Mrs. Winston? I'm Fox Mulder, this is my partner Dana
Scully. We're with the FBI. Can we ask you a few
questions?"

"Certainly. Come on in." Mrs. Winston opened up the door
and let the two half-frozen agents into the house. It was
unusually cold and gray out, even for Minnesota in
December. "Can I get you something? Coffee, tea?" She
asked, once they were settled on the living room couch.

"Coffee's fine, thank you." Mulder answered.

"And for you, Miss Scully?"

"Coffee sounds good. Thank you." As Mrs. Winston went
into the kitchen to get the coffees, Scully looked around
at the living room. The fireplace mantle was covered with
pictures of a dark haired teenager, with strikingly clear,
bright blue-green eyes, in various school activities - in a
cheerleading uniform, posed with the volleyball team and a
rather sizeable trophy, n a suit at some kind of awards
ceremony. She walked over to the mantle for a closer look.

"That's my daughter, Kelsey." Mrs. Winston looked over
Scully' s shoulder at the photographs with a proud smile
tinged with sadness. "Is that what you came to ask me
about?"

"Yes. Please sit down, Mrs. Winston." Scully returned to
the couch. "When was the last time you saw your daughter
before she disappeared?" Scully hated to use the word
"disappeared". Not only because of the harshness, but
because of its unspoken connotations of a sudden,
unexplainable event. She disliked events without
explanations.

"The night before," Mrs. Winston answered. Both agents
knew that the woman had replayed this last meeting over and
over in her mind during the last three days. "It was a
Wednesday," she continued, "so she had a rehearsal for the
all-school play. She said that she'd find a ride home with
a friend, so I just dropped her off at the school." Mulder
abruptly stood and walked out of the room, returning with a
wad of tissue in his hand, which he handed to Mrs. Winston,
silently. She looked grateful. "I didn't worry that she
was late - I thought that maybe the rehearsal had run
overtime or that they had stopped off for a cup of coffee
on the way home, but then it just got later and later. . ."
her voice trailed off.

"Do you know the name of the friend Kelsey went home with?"
Scully asked, gently.

Mrs. Winston sniffed and tried to collect herself. "It was
probably, um, April Greenwood. She lives close by."

"And she is also missing?"

"Yes. Most of Kelsey's friends are. I almost hope that
they've run off on some kind of road trip, but they're not
like that. These are good kids, Miss Scully." Out of the
corner of her eye, Scully saw Mulder stand up and head
toward the door, signifying an end to the interview.

She stood in order to follow him. "Thank you, Mrs.
Winston. We'll let you know as soon as we turn up
anything."


"What do you think, Scully?" Mulder asked, once thy were
settled into the car.

"I think, from Mrs. Winston's description, that there's
certainly cause for concern. If there's been a kidnapping,
then the perpetrator may have followed them from the
school. And if this really was some kind of mass runaway,
then it may have been the rendezvous point."

"See if you can get a copy of the cast list for the play
Kelsey was rehearsing." Mulder suggested.

"It's Saturday, Mulder. The school office wouldn't be
open." She pointed out.

"Well, then maybe we can track down the printer who's
making up the programs. Which, in a town this size,
shouldn't be too difficult."

"Assuming that there are programs and that the school isn't
printing themselves."

"Do you have to make everything so complicated, Scully?"
 ~*~*~* *

"Cloudlake Print & Copy" Scully read of the sign on the
unadorned brick one-story building as Mulder abruptly made
a U-turn to park in front of it. They both climbed out of
the car and walked up to the front door. Mulder swung the
door open.

Inside the room was a single counter, with an older man
sitting behind it, absorbed in reading a newspaper.

"Excuse me." Said Mulder.

The man looked up, startled.

"Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI. We're looking for
a cast list for the Cleveland High School play, and we were
wondering if maybe you were printing the programs.

The man nodded. "This about those missing kids?"

"Yes." Said Scully.

"I thought so. My granddaughter, Jennifer, she's a friend
of some of 'em. I been worried about her.

"Why' s that?" Scully asked, wondering if this had
anything to do with the so-called "mysterious symptoms."

"She ain't been herself ever since they disappeared.
Sleeps all the time, can barely make it through school.
Tried a doctor and a shrink, but they both say nothing's
wrong with her."

"Could we talk to her?" Mulder asked.

"She's not here today, they're at a volleyball tournament
in Jefferson. I s'pose you could talk to her tomorrow
after church."

"What time would that be?" Scully dug a notepad and pen
out of the pocket of her trench coat.

"Bout one o'clock. The address is 243 Pine Grove."

"Thank you very much, Mr . . ." Scully fumbled, trying to
remember if they'd even asked the man's last name.

"Davis. Bob Davis. Glad to help you, young lady. Oh, you
wanted those programs. Just a minute, I'll get you one out
of the back shop." The man disappeared through a curtained
door into the back of the building." He returned a minute
later with a glossy booklet in his hand. "Here 'tis. If
you need anything else, you be sure to let me know." He
handed the book to Scully, despite Mulder' s outstretched
hand.

"Thank you." Said Mulder. Mr. Davis nodded, then settled
himself back on the stool and returned to his newspaper.
Mulder turned to Scully. "C'mon, young lady. We'd better
get you home afore it gits dark." He grinned down at her
and opened the door.


Once back in the car, Scully began leafing through the
program. "I found the cast list, Mulder. Where's the
sheet with all the victim's names?"

"Glove compartment." Mulder reached back and threw one arm
across the seat, keeping his eyes on the road.

Scully opened the glove compartment and pulled out the
wrinkled sheet of paper stuffed therein. Mulder glanced at
her as she silently went back and forth between the list
and the program, searching for names on one that recurred
on the other. "Eleven missing from the cast and one from
the stage crew." She announced, finally. "All right,
Mulder, out with it." Scully ordered.

"Out with what?" Mulder turned to look at his partner,
puzzled, and nearly ran into a car that was backing out of
the driveway of a small blue house. He swerved at the last
moment, then pulled over to the side of the road and
stopped the engine.

"What do you think is going on here? You obviously dragged
us out here for more than a high school joy ride."

"I don't know, Scully. That's why we're here. Five years
ago, I might have called it a simple mass abduction, but I
think it goes deeper than that."

"Mulder? How are we going to explain this to A. D.
Kirsch? It sounds to me like you think this is an X-file."

"It's not an X-file until something unexplainable happens.
Hence the 'X'." Mulder explained, patronizingly. "Right
now, all we have is a group of missing high school kids.
If there's nothing more than that, fine. But if there
is . . ."

"If there is, Scully interrupted, "You're the one
explaining the expense account."

"Deal."
 ~*~*~* *

"I don't know what happened to them." Jennifer answered
Agent Scully's question groggily. She'd settled down for a
nap right after church, counting herself fortunate that she
hadn't fallen asleep during the sermon. No sooner had she
drifted off, however, than her mother had woken her up
because two agents from the FBI wanted to ask her some
questions.

"Did you speak to any of the missing students before they
disappeared?" Mulder asked, shifting uncomfortably in the
narrow chair he'd been given.

Jennifer mulled over the question for some time, trying to
recall. While she thought, she absently reached up to rub
the back of her neck. "I talked to Kelsey - she's my best
friend - about five o'clock that day. We were going to a
movie yesterday. Aside from that, no."

"How was the tournament, asked Mulder, lightly, trying to
make the girl feel more comfortable.

Jennifer made a face at the memory. "Terrible. We got
eliminated in the first round. Coach said that we all
looked like we were sleepwalking on the court."

"How are you feeling?" asked Scully, abruptly. Despite her
mistrust of Mulder's "mysterious symptoms", she couldn't
help noticing that the girl looked pale, and that deep
purple bags had formed under her eyes. And even if there
were no paranormal cause, the same symptoms had been
precursors to the disappearance they were investigating.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired." Her neck was
beginning to itch. She wondered if she should mention it
to Agent Scully, then thought the better of it and just
rubbed harder.

"Have you been having trouble concentrating?" Mulder
probed.

"I guess so. I mean, with Kelsey and everybody missing . .
."

"Is something wrong with your neck?" Scully asked. "I'm a
doctor."

"It's nothing. Just an old scar."

"Scar from what?" inquired Mulder.

"Some test that they gave me when I was, like, three months
old. It had something to do with radiation from a factory
that we used to have nearby. The scar itches sometimes."

"Mind if I take a look?" It was more of a command than a
question. A farfetched suspicion had entered Scully's
mind, and she wanted to get it out as soon as possible.
Walking behind Jennifer, she pushed the girl's hair off to
the side to get a good look. "Mulder," she said, shakily.
"I think you should take a look at this."

Mulder came and looked at what Scully was pointing to - a
half-inch-long scar on the base of Jennifer's neck, almost
too small and too faded to be noticeable. Mulder looked up
at his partner to see why she found this so significant.
Mutely, she turned around and pulled down the collar of her
jacket to reveal an identical, though newer, scar.

"Is something wrong?" Jennifer asked, suddenly terrified.

"No." Scully lied reassuringly, looking quickly at Mulder.
"You're right. I'm sure it's nothing. If you're sure that
you don't know anything else about what happened, we'll let
you go."


"Mulder, we have to drop the case." Scully announced as
soon as the door of the house had shut behind them.

"Drop the case? Why?" Mulder was dismayed.

"Because, Mulder, this is obviously an X-file. And if you
and I are ever going to be able to resume our
investigations into the X-files, then we have to prove to
Assistant Director Kirsch that we're not insubordinate
renegades."

"All right then, we'll be polite renegades." Seeing that
Scully was in no mood for a joke, Mulder sobered his tone.
"But that doesn't' change the fact that we have a huge
opportunity here, Scully. You know that they wouldn't have
given us this assignment if they thought that it was
remotely connected to the X-files. This could be our
chance to prove that what we do is worth re-instating."

"By violating a direct order not to get involved in this
kind of case?" Scully demanded, skeptically.

Mulder turned to stare directly at his protesting partner.
"Is something the matter. Scully, I mean . . . I mean I
thought that ever since they took us off the X-files that
we've had an understanding that the work is too important
to give up on, especially now?"

"Mulder, I just think that we should let this one be." She
said, so simply and honestly that it startled him into
seeing through her guise of professionalism, just for a
moment.

"Scully, if something about this case bothers you, you can
tell me." Seeing the look of hesitation on Scully's face,
he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "Look,
Scully," he began awkwardly, "I can see how this might be
hard for you. But what if whoever gave you your cancer
also gives it to Jennifer? Or all these kids. If it makes
you that uncomfortable, I'll take you back to the hotel and
finish the investigation by myself.

Scully managed a half-smile and tried to lighten her tone.
"No. You're right, let's just get this wrapped up as
quickly as possible. Maybe if we don't run our expenses
up, A.D. Kirsch won't notice how weird our report is going
to sound."

"You're sure about this." Mulder studied her face
intently, looking for signs of prevarication.

"Yeah." Scully reached up and quickly squeezed the hand
that still rested lightly on her shoulder. "I'm sure."

"Agent Mulder? Agent Scully?" Jennifer threw to door open
to address the two agents standing on the porch. "Kelsey's
mom just called. They found some of them. In a car wreak
out near the lake."
 ~*~*~* *

The accident site wasn't hard to find. The area was
relatively swarming with police cars - at least three or
four - which formed a sort of blockade in front of the
distorted framework of what had once been a blue seven-
passenger van, now a twisted metal monstrosity smashed into
a large pine tree. Mulder and Scully got out of their car,
trying to ignore the pouring rain, and approached the first
available police officer, a petite blond woman whose face
was red - whether from the cold or from tears it was
impossible to tell.

"Excuse me," Mulder pulled his badge out of the pocket of
his trench coat. "I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI. This is
Agent Scully. What happened here?"

"Officer Greenwood," the policewoman introduced herself
before answering. "We got a call about fifteen minutes
ago. Seems that the car just came out of nowhere and
smashed itself into the tree. By the time the paramedics
got here," she struggled to keep her voice steady, "there
had already been two fatalities. They took the survivors
to the hospital."

"Can we take a look at the bodies?" Mulder asked, already
beginning to walk toward the all-too-familiar black bags
that were lying on the muddy ground beside the road.

"Sure, I guess. I didn't realize that this was an FBI
matter." The somewhat dazed officer replied. "Then again,
we've never had something like this happen before. These
were good kids."

Mulder reached the first body and unzipped the bag,
fighting to keep a stoic face. The victim was a girl of
about seventeen, wearing an old-fashioned green dress,
which, along with her blond hair, was smeared blood from a
large cut on her forehead.

"That's April Greenwood, the driver," came the officer's
voice from behind his right shoulder. "They were, um, on
their way home from dress rehearsal. Her mother - my
sister-in-law - made this costume." She quietly informed
him. "April's my namesake."

"I'm sorry." Mulder knelt beside the body, oblivious to
the havoc that the mud was wreaking on the knees of his
pants. He turned the body over, then called his partner
over. "Hey Scully. I think you should take a look at
this."

She came and squatted down next to him, flinching at the
sight of such a young victim lying there surrounded by mud.
Mulder pointed to the small, nearly imperceptible scar on
the back of the girl's neck. "How much you want to bet
that there's one on the other victims, too?"

They silently checked the other body, a young Asian man.
He, too, had the tell-tale scar. Mulder stood and turned
to the officer, who was zipping up April's body bag.
"Where were the survivors taken?"

"County General," she answered, fighting back the tears
that had renewed themselves at the sight of her niece's
corpse.

"Who was the other casualty?" asked Scully.

"David Cheng." Officer Greenwood smiled, sadly. "He and
April were friends since kindergarten. There were always
rumors that they were together - now I guess they are, in a
weird sort of way."

"We'll need an autopsy on the two victims." Mulder said,
half under his breath, to Scully. "And we should also try
to get in to see the others as soon as they're well enough
to answer questions. After pulling the zipper tightly
shut, he straightened up and pulled a business card and
pencil out of his pocket. Scribbling down his cell phone
number on the card, he handed to Officer Greenwood. "Thank
you, Officer. If you find anything unusual, could you call
and let me know?"

"Of course," She answered, numbly.


As she began to walk back to the car, Scully turned looked
back at Officer Greenwood, offering her silent empathy.
She got a wan smile in return. Officer Greenwood
understood.

 ~*~*~* *

"December nineteenth, nineteen ninety eight, three forty-
seven p.m. Begin autopsy on April Marie Greenwood.
Caucasian female, age seventeen." Scully dictated into her
tape recorder as she stood over the body in the county
morgue. "Preliminary visual analysis indicates a
laceration on the forehead, approximately sixteen
centimeters long and seven centimeters wide. There is
pronounced bruising to the two upper quadrants of the
abdominal area, suggesting some sort of blunt trauma. The
bruising is consistent with being thrown into the steering
wheel of a vehicle travelling at a high speed. Preliminary
testing shows no trace of alcohol or narcotics on the
victim's blood, although trace amounts of a foreign
substance were found, the nature of which has yet to be
determined.

"Instead of beginning with the traditional Y-incision,"
Scully turned the body over. "I will begin by re-opening a
small scar on the base of the victim's neck, which I
believe is the insertion point of a metal implant." As she
spoke, Scully made the incision and reached in with her
forceps, removing a tiny metal disc. "The implant, which
is approximately one centimeter in diameter, appears to be
similar to the implant removed from this agent three years
ago. A corresponding implant was also found during the
autopsy of the first victim, one David Cheng, earlier this
morning. What the significance of this finding may be, or
what bearing it may have had on the two deaths, I cannot
say at this time. I will now proceed with standard autopsy
procedures." Turning April' s body back over, she prepared
to begin the autopsy in earnest when her trench coat,
thrown over a chair at the back of the room, began ringing.
She pulled her cell phone out of the pocket and answered,
"Scully?"

"Scully, it's me." Said Mulder, on the other end of the
line. "I'm at the hospital, and I think you should come
down here. Kelsey Winston, the girl whose mother we spoke
to, just regained consciousness."

"If you don't' mind, Mulder, I'd like to stay here and
finish the last autopsy."
"
Have you found anything yet?"
"
There was an unidentified substance in the victim's blood,
and I removed what appears to be a metal implant form the
base of her neck. I'll know more when the lab results come
back."

"All right. Why don't you meet me back at the hotel then.
I'll talk to her."
 ~*~*~* *
"Agent Mulder? You can come in now." The nurse - a plump
silver-haired woman who might have passed for Mrs. Claus
and whose name tag read "Mollie" opened the door and
beckoned Mulder inside. Once he was settled into a cramped
black chair underneath the television set, she slipped into
the background, obviously intent on staying and protecting
Kelsey from any unforeseen danger.

"Kelsey? I'm Agent Mulder. I'm with the FBI and I need to
ask you a few questions about the accident." Mulder said,
as gently as possible.

"I don't remember much." Kelsey said apologetically,
pushing a strand of hair away from her blue-green eyes.

"That's okay. Just tell me everything that you do remember
from the time you left rehearsal Wednesday night."

"Um, we all got in the van and April started to drive Bobby
- Robert Mendoza - home. But about halfwaay there, she
swerved and pulled off the road into this abandoned lot."
Kelsey looked down at her bandaged hands, trying to
remember. "We all got out of the car, and a lot of kids
from school were there. Then these two cars pulled up,
black cars. Some men got out - older, in dark suits. One
of them was smoking a cigarette." Seeing the alarm on
Mulder's face she stopped. Almost involuntarily, Mollie
came forward as if to put a stop to the interview, but
Kelsey shook her head.

"Go ahead." Mulder urged, trying to keep the proper
expression of neutral interest on his face."

"There were lights overhead, then . . ." She shook her
head, eyes closed. "The next thing I remember, I was
here." Her face changed from confusion to panic as she
forced herself to remember. "Where is everyone?"

Mulder hesitated, not wanting to upset the girl, yet
knowing that she'd have to be told, eventually. "They only
found the seven of you in April's car. You, Robert
Mendoza, Erika Craven . . ."

"Erika?" Kelsey interrupted. "She didn't leave with us.
She doesn't even go to C.H.S. anymore. She graduated last
year."

"You're sure about that?" Mulder asked, intrigued and
puzzled.

"Of course I'm sure. You can ask her. Are they all in the
hospital, too?"

Mulder felt a surge of relief when he heard his cell phone
begin to ring. "Excuse me. " He hastily grabbed the
phone and ducked out into the hall. "Mulder."

"Mulder, it's me." Said Scully. "I'm at the morgue. Look
I know I said I'd meet you at the hotel, but there's
something here that I think you should take a look at."

"I'll be right there." Said Mulder.
 ~*~*~* * *

"I called you as soon as I found it, Mulder." Scully
pulled off her gloves as they stood in front of the
illuminated board over which several X-rays of the human
skull were clipped.

"Found what? What am I looking at?" Mulder looked up at
the X-rays Scully was pointing to.

"I ordered a complete set of X-rays of April Greenwood' s
skull, since there was the possibility of a fracture.
That's when I found this." She pointed to an X-ray that
gave a clear view of the skull.

"It's a naso-pharyangeal mass. The lab's doing a biopsy on
some of the tissue right now, as well as a similar mass I
found when I went back and had a matching X-ray taken of
David Cheng's skull."

"Scully," said Mulder, realizing what that meant, not only
to the case, but to his partner.

In addition." She continued resolutely, "the unknown
substance that was found in the blood of both victims
appears to be a modified form of the virus that I was
infected with earlier this year. And although I have no
specific evidence to support the conclusion, I believe that
it's connected to the implants that I removed from the
victims.

"What, what about Jennifer Chase, and the other kids? The
ones who weren't abducted?"

"I'd have to run tests and possibly take a look at their
recent medical histories, but the probability exists that
they are at risk as well."

Mulder nodded. "Okay. Why don't you check that out. I'm
going to take these implants back to D.C. and see what I
can find out." He turned and headed for the door, pausing
to pick up the small specimen bottles, which contained the
two implants, from the instrument tray.

"Mulder." Scully called after him. Sticking the bottles
in his pocket, Mulder came back. Scully looked up at him,
troubled. "Mulder, what if we're being set up? The men who
did this; you know more than anyone what they're capable
of. I find it hard to believe that there was some kind of
oversight, that we were given this case because no one knew
that it would turn out to be an X-file."

"But what if it isn't a set-up, Scully? What if, what if
someone's looking out for us, someone who believes in the
work? We can't give up this investigation just because we
don't know who signed the order."

"Mulder, they've already taken the X-files away from us."
He was surprised by the passion and intensity of her words.
They seemed far more like him than Scully. "You know the
risk if we continue to pursue this line of investigation.
I don't want to see what we have left end any more than you
do."

"I know you don't, he answered, softly. "That's why this
is so important, Scully. Even if we don't have the X-
files, we still have to find the truth. And if that means
exposing the kind of men who would give a seventeen year
old girl brain cancer, than that's one more reason to keep
pursing this."

Scully sighed. "Mulder . . . be careful."

He nodded and left. Scully began pulling down the X-rays,
pausing when she caught sight of the familiar white mass.
 ~*~*~* *

"Kel?" Jennifer whispered. "You awake?" She stood at her
friend's bedside, awkwardly holding a bunch of daisies and
a beanie Sugar Plum Fairy Eeyore. Kelsey's eyes were
closed, and Jennifer briefly considered leaving and coming
back some other time.

"Jenny?" Kelsey sat up. "Yeah, I'm awake. How are you
doing?"

"Aren't I supposed to be asking you that?" Jennifer pulled
up a chair, flinching at the harsh metal-on-tile sound it
made as it dragged across the floor.

Kelsey smiled. "Probably." She took the flowers Jennifer
held out and stuck them in the vase on the nightstand, then
sat the Eeyore down on the blanket next to her and began
playing with his ears. "He's cute, thanks."

"Are they going to let you out before Christmas?"

"I thought so, but the doctors just came down and said that
they've ordered some more tests. I don't know." She
looked up at her friend carefully, soberly. "Did you
hear?"

"Yeah, I heard." Jennifer didn't have to ask what it was
that she might have heard about. "Did you know that the
FBI was here?"

Kelsey nodded. "They came earlier today to ask about the
accident."

"They came to my house too - before they found you. It was
weird. You know that scar from the radiation test that
they gave us when we were little?"

"Yeah. I have one, too."

"Well, it was itching, and one of the FBI agents asked to
see it -- she said that she was a doctor. When I showed it
to them, they got all quiet and left."

"Weird."

"Kel, your nose." Jennifer looked slightly frightened at
the trickle of blood that had begun to inch its way down
her friend's face.

Kelsey grabbed a tissue out of the box on the night stand.
"Ew. Great. Now they'll probably want to keep me here
longer." With her free hand, Kelsey reached up and hit the
call button for the nurses' station. Jennifer looked at
her inquiringly. "I'b supposed to let sobeone do if
addythig changes." She explained through the tissue. "I
thik dis couts."
 ~*~*~* *
Washington D.C.
6:30 a.m. EST

"Mulder, I think we've got something interesting here. You
said that these chips were placed in the victim's necks
shortly after birth?" Byers looked up from the high-
powered microscope that he'd been using to examine the
implant.

"Yeah, when they were about three months old." Mulder
answered, absently flipping through the latest issue of the
Lone Gunman.

Well from the wear on this circuitry, I'd say that they
were only in use for about ten of those years."

"I don't understand. I thought that these chips recorded
the individual's brain patterns from the moment of
implantation until they were removed." Mulder grabbed the
microscope away from Byers and peered through the lens.

"So what turned 'em on?" Asked Langely, who had been
leaning back in a chair, listening to the discussion.

"My best guess?" answered Byers. "They were activated by
a specific brain pattern or neuro-chemical level, probably
in reaction to a controlled stimulus."

"What kind of stimulus?" Mulder looked up.

"Hard to say without knowing how many kids are running
around with chips in their necks and who among them carries
and active implant?"

"Could it be linked to intelligence? Mulder asked. "All
of the missing students were described as . . ." He was
cut off by an insistent knocking at the door.

Langely unfolded himself from his chair and peered through
the peephole in the door, which he promptly opened to let
Scully in.

The bang of the door shutting awakened Frohike, who had
been dozing in a chair at the back of the room. Seeing the
apparently appearing-out-of-nowhere Agent Scully, he sat up
hurriedly and slicked down his fringe of hair. "Agent
Scully. To what do we owe this unannounced visit?"

"I need to talk to Mulder." She said.

"Okay," agreed Langely, complacently.

Scully saw that they had missed her meaning. "Alone." She
added. The three members of the Lone Gunman staff all left
as discreetly as possible, Frohike nearly tripping on a
chair as he scuttled out of the room backwards.

Once she was tolerably certain that they were alone, Scully
dropped into a chair, wearily. "I got a call from the
hospital. Kelsey Winston had reported a nosebleed, so I
ordered an M.R.I. and a set of X-rays. She, also, had what
appeared to be a metallic implant in her neck and a naso-
phayrangeal mass. The other three survivors did as well.
I didn't bother waiting for the biopsy results."

"Scully, what is it exactly you're telling me?" Asked
Mulder, not because he didn't understand, but because he
wanted to be absolutely certain of what his partner was
saying.

"I don't know, Mulder. I don't understand. From
everything we've seen I have every reason to believe that
the growth of these tumors was somehow linked to the
removal of the implant. But what we're seeing here would
seem to contradict that."

"Maybe it isn't linked specifically to the growth of the
implant, then. Maybe what we're seeing here isn't your
garden variety abduction, Scully. Maybe it's the
conclusion of an experiment that began nearly twenty years
ago."

"I don't understand."

"Byers says that the two implants that you recovered had
been in use for ten years or so, despite the fact that,
according to Jennifer Chase, they were placed shortly after
the subjects were born, seventeen or eighteen years ago. I
think that they were activated selectively, in only the
most intelligent children, and that it's possible that the
effects we're seeing now are actually a result of their
de-activation.

I had a copy of the blood work from the two autopsies faxed
over here. From the alterations made to the virus, I'd say
it was possibly an attempt to alter both the subject's
brain patterns and bio-chemistry to reject contamination by
the alien life form that has been infecting people both
here and in Russia. The infection seems most likely to be
prelude to the kind of colonization effort that I described
in my last official report on the X-files. Both
governments have been trying to develop a vaccine, but it
looks as if our government has also been trying to induce
genetic methods of resistance. The link to the
intelligence of the victims may be some kind of
preventative eugenics, an attempt to insure that in the
event of colonization, the most promising youth survive the
takeover."

"Then why take actions that would lead these same youths to
their deaths?"

"I don't think the intent is to kill them, Scully. I think
it's a side effect of deactivating the implants.

"Mulder, there's no way to prove any of this."

"I know. If we had the X-files. . ."

"But we don't, Mulder. How are we supposed to stop this
when every resource we have to do so has been taken away?"

"Come on, Scully. Don't tell me you've gotten soft. We'll
run this just like any other criminal investigation. I'd
think that that skeptical little mind of yours would be
loving this.

"I just keep thinking of all these kids' mothers." She
admitted hoarsely. "Mulder, there's something I haven't
told you. There was. . .there was another accident - a
head-on collision between two cars full of missing kids.
Fourteen total - no survivors."

There was a moment of near-total silence, interrupted only
by the various whirrings and clickings of the equipment set
up around the room. They both remembered another child who
had once been lost to these experiments.

"Mulder," Byers burst in, breaking the tension of the
moment. "I think I know how the implants were activated.
I can't believe that I never thought of this before."

"What is it?" Asked Mulder, still looking at Scully.

"I started thinking about what you said - about the
activation being linked to intelligence. What if the
trigger mechanism isn't based on an internal indicator,
such as brain patterns which vary from individual to
individual, but on something that can be controlled and
repeated for every subject - say a particular pattern of
lights, or sounds, or both."

"So you're saying that the trigger was what, some kind of
broadcast? Like TV or radio?" Scully asked skeptically,
having pieced together a reasonably coherent version of
Mulder and Byers' hypothesis.

Byers shook his head. "Not selective enough. I'm guessing
that that there would have somehow been various obstacles
to pass before the trigger pattern was arrived at."

"Like a video game." Said Mulder, off-handedly. Then he
paused, considering the idea. "It makes sense, actually.
If the trigger was part of, say, the final level, then it
would be reasonably certain that only a few of the most
intelligent would ever encounter it, thus controlling which
implants were activated."

"But then how would they be sure that every child who had
an implant had access to the game? This was ten years ago,
Mulder. Not every family would have owned a computer, or
even a video game system. There would have been no way to
insure that all, or even most, of the children were
exposed." Scully objected, mildly surprised at herself for
going along with them this far.

"Unless they were exposed outside the home." Langely had
followed Byers out of the back room and stood leaning on a
file cabinet, listening.

"The school." Said Mulder.

"What, we're talking about some kind of school computer
game? Like The Oregon Trail?" Scully asked, overwhelmed.

"Probably something educational, provided free to the
school by Guess Who." Frohike emerged from the other room
to put his two cents in.

"Which would have had different levels or versions, to
insure that only the truly gifted were exposed. We're
talking what, 1988, '89? Could've been any one of a number
of them - Typing Teaser, Math Rangers, Reading Rumble. . ."
proclaimed Langely. I read an article about them once - or
maybe I wrote it."

"Come on, Scully. We have to get back there, before
whatever evidence may exist is destroyed." Mulder grabbed
his coat off the chair, then pulled the slide out of the
microscope, shook the chip into its bottle, and put both
bottles into his pocket.

"Mulder, what about the last seven kids, the ones who
haven't been recovered yet?" She demanded, remembering
exactly why they had gone to Minnesota in the first place."

"When we get to Minnesota, contact Officer Greenwood. Tell
her to have every available officer patrolling the streets.
If the patterns we're seeing hold true, they're be a car
accident. Maybe that can be prevented if the police are
alerted to stop any vehicle which seems to be moving
erratically."

 ~*~*~*
Cloudlake, Minnesota
1:30 p.m.

"That's odd." Scully pulled her cell phone away from her
ear and folded it shut.

"What's odd?" Asked Mulder, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I can't get through to the police station. The line's
busy." Scully opened up the phone and re-dialed.

The grey sedan that they'd rented at the airport turned
around the corner. Scully, waiting for the phone to
connect her to the police station, did not see the blue
Mustang that was headed for them until she heard Mulder
yell. He swerved, running them up onto the curb before
stopping. The other car swerved as well, eventually
slamming into a stop sign.

Mulder and Scully rushed out of their car and ran to the
other vehicle. Mulder pried the door open. Inside, five
teenagers were sprawled, all unconscious. Scully reached
into the passenger seat to check for a pulse on the first
victim. She drew in her breath sharply when she saw the
face. "Mulder!"

He came up beside her and looked into the car. "It's her,
Scully. Jennifer Chase, the girl we talked to. But she
wasn't missing, we just. . . " his tone faded from
confusion to discouraged understanding. "Scully, we're too
late."

She looked up at him, almost afraid to ask what he meant.
"Mulder, this could just be a coincidence. . ." she began
lamely, neither believing the words, nor expecting him to.

Mulder shook his head. "They must have taken them last
night. That's probably why you couldn't get through to the
police station."

Scully turned and half-ran back to their car. "I'll call
911."

Mulder nodded. "When the ambulance arrives, follow it to
the hospital and see what you can find out there. I'll
wait for the police."
 ~*~*~*

Scully ran up to the hospital admissions desk, pulling her
badge from her coat pocket. "Dana Scully, FBI." She gasped
to the startled nurses. "I need information about the
victims of an automobile accident that occurred about
fifteen minutes ago."

"Another one?" Mollie asked, stunned. "But the other
children are still in emergency, how could there have been
. . ." Scully did not stay to listen to the rest. She
strode rapidly down the hall, trying to sort out her
thoughts, so distracted that she bumped into the trench-
coated figure who had just emerged from Kelsey's room.

"Excuse me." Scully murmured absently, then looked up into
the stranger's yes. They were not as strange as she would
have hoped, only cold and black. "What are you doing
here?" She demanded, fiercely, not caring if anyone heard."

The man pulled a cigarette from the pack of Morleys in his
pocket and placed it between his lips, but did not light
it. "I might ask you the same question, Agent Scully.
I've just been visiting a young friend of mine. I believe
you know Miss Winston?"

"Do you give all your friends cancer, or just a privileged
few?" Scully pulled her gun out of its holster, being
careful not to let it be seen by anyone but the Smoking
Man.

His eyes flickered down to the gun, but his voice remained
quiet and calm as he returned his reptilian stare to her
face. "You mistake me, Agent Scully. I must admit that
I'm rather disappointed. I thought that you were less
inclined to jump to erroneous conclusions than your
partner."

"Tell me what you're doing here," Scully repeated through
clenched teeth. "Because if you don't. . ."

"You'll shoot me, I suppose." He cut her off with a
maddeningly amused smile. "Your threats are nothing new to
me, Agent Scully. I suppose you don't realize that if you
kill me, you also kill Mulder." Pulling a lighter out of
his pocket, he added. "It was good talking to you, Agent
Scully. I must say that you look far better than the last
time I saw you. Funny how we seem to keep meeting in
hospitals."

He turned from her and headed down the hall. Scully
prepared to give chase, but realized that her first concern
was the well-being of his "friend". She raced back to the
desk. "A man just left Kelsey Winston's room. I have
reason to believe that he may have come with the intention
to harm or possibly kill her and the other accident
victims. Run a full set of tests on Kelsey's condition and
let no one but hospital personnel in to see the other
victims until the results come back. Do I make myself
clear?"

She walked out the front door, dialing her cell phone while
en route to the car. "Mulder, it's me." She said when he
picked up. "I'm leaving the hospital now. There's been an
unexpected development. I can't discuss it over the phone.

"I'm at the police station." Mulder looked around from the
mass of parents in the foyer of the station. He had pulled
up a chair in front of Officer Greenwood's desk. "Nineteen
more missing last night, Scully. The same nineteen who
reported the odd symptoms after the first disappearance -
including Jennifer chase and the other four who turned up
in the car with her this afternoon. There was also another
accident this morning, but I haven't been able to find out
whether the victims were from the first or second
disappearance. But we were right, Scully. And with the
evidence from the autopsies and the testimony. . . Scully?"
He became alarmed as one man broke himself off from the
tangle and left the building, passing the coat rack where
Mulder's trench coat hung. Just then, an officer passed by
the desk, cutting off his view. "Scully, I 'm going to
have to call you back."

 ~*~*~* *

Mulder hadn't expected to hear from his partner until he
called her back. He had expected her terse words even
less. "Mulder, they're pulling us off the case. The last
seven kids were all killed in the accident this morning.
Meet me at the airport."

 ~*~*~* * *
FBI Headquarters
December 23, 1998

The newspaper dropped onto Scully's lap as she reached to
unbuckle her seat belt. She looked up to find a disgusted
Mulder standing in front of her.

"You were right, Scully." He said, morosely. "We were set
up."

Scully looked down at the paper. "Alcohol, Narcotics
Blamed in the Death of Cloudlake Teens. Police Crack Down
on Underground Club." She looked up, confused. "Mulder, I
don't understand. None of the tox screens showed any trace
of alcohol or other drugs. And what about the implants?
Or the tumors?

"Keep reading." Mulder pointed to a paragraph about one-
third of the way down the column. "The first of the
survivors - Kelsey Winston and Robert Mendoza - were
released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. They are
both reportedly in excellent condition." Scully read out
loud.

"I called the hospital. Kelsey Winston showed no sign of
cancer the day she was released. And the nurse who was
attending her suffered a stroke last night and is
completely paralyzed."

"Mulder." His partner looked up at him, horrified.

"The implants are gone, Scully, stolen from my coat at the
police station. As for the tumors you found during the
autopsies, the story's on page fifteen. 'Factory Radiation
Linked to High Cancer Rates Among Cloudlake Youth." Mulder
quoted the headline.

She set the paper aside and got out of the car. "Mulder,"
she began, compassionately.

"I should have seen this coming, Scully. You tried to tell
me that it was just another chance to get our faces rubbed
in it. I should have listened."

"Listen to yourself, Mulder." Scully protested. "This is
exactly what they want from you. Mulder I think that we
were set up, not so much as to humiliate us, but to try to
separate us from the X-files emotionally, as well as
officially. Don't give in to it."

He reached around her and shut the car door. "So we go
back and report to the Assistant Director that we found
nothing."

"We tell the Assistant Director the truth. That while the
exact cause is unknown, our assignment has been fulfilled
in that the victims have all been located.

"How does this help us get the X-files back?"

"Maybe it doesn't Mulder. But at least we can still do
what it was that we both joined the Bureau to do - to
pursue the truth in whatever form; paranormal or otherwise:
it may take." She checked to see how Mulder was taking
his.

"How, Scully? Without the X-files . . ." He argued.

Scully gently cut him off. "Mulder, the truth cant' be
contained in a specimen bottle, or an autopsy report, or
even the X-files. And if they can't contain it, then they
can't take it away from you. Not breaking her gaze at him,
Scully opened the car door and pulled her briefcase out of
the back seat.

"Scully, I. . . " Mulder felt compelled to say something,
but clearly had no idea what.

Scully finally broke eye contact, looking down into the
case and pulling out a file folder, then turned away to
shut the car door. Carefully looking at the folder instead
of meeting his eye, she handed it to him. "Mulder, I don't
think this proves anything, but I kept it anyway." Mulder
accepted the folder and opened it. Inside was a sheet of
X-ray film, depicting a skull with a familiar white mass
behind the nose. Across the top of the film was printed,
in tiny, neat capitals, "Winston."

 ~*~*~* * *

"Winston," she printed in tiny, neat capitals across the
top of the page. "Jeremy" 01/03/99." Katrina Brown -
whose friends called her Katya - smiled at the boy who was
unquestionably the brightest mind in her second-grade
class. "Of course you may play on the computer, Jeremy.
There's a new game if you're interested - Math Rangers
2000. You know, your sister used to play Math Rangers when
she was in my class."

Jeremy settled himself into the computer chair, happy not
to have to share his computer time with Michael, for once.
He played happily until the class dismissed, reaching up
occasionally to scratch a spot on his neck that was
suddenly unbearably itchy. When the bell rang, he stayed
in the chair for just a few minutes, finishing the last
level. When he was done, he grabbed his backpack out from
under the desk and left, pausing by his teacher's desk on
the way out.

"Thanks Miss Brown, the new game is neat. See you
tomorrow."

"Activated." Wrote Miss Brown, neatly, in her notebook,
next to his name and the date. She looked up and smiled
into the pair of innocent blue-green eyes in front of her.
She had seen those eyes before.

The End