Title: Life Is a Masquerade 
Author: Anne Elliott
Rating: G (No violence, no "language," no sex, no relationship development)
Classification: S
 Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television
 program "The X Files" are the creations and property of Chris
 Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have
 been used without permission. No copyright infringement is
 intended.

 Summary: The mask makes the man.

 Apology Section: I'm sorry this is so late in coming. My free time this week
 has been devoted to a non-fiction character named Oakes.
 
 * * * * *
 
 The agent looked himself up and down in the mirror. "Perfect," he murmured.
 "Just perfect." Nobody would recognize him tonight - that was for sure.
 Unless "Spooky" Mulder was there, of course. He was the one man in the
Bureau who might actually see through the situation.
 
 Oh, well. There was no use worrying about it in advance. Mulder and his
 partner skipped as many of the official functions as they thought they could
 get away with, anyway. Colton pulled on an overcoat and hat and headed
 downstairs.
 
 On the way to the Masquerade Party, Colton considered strategies for dealing
 with Mulder, should he show up. Most people avoided Mulder on general
 principles, of course, so Colton could always try that route. His appearance
 would be against him tonight, though. If anyone wanted to get a good look at
 him, it would be the X-Files agent.
 
 It was almost foreordained that if Mulder was there, Scully would be, too.
 Colton could hit on Scully and let Mulder react to that angle. That might
work.

 If Scully wasn't there for some reason, maybe Colton could try out a few of
 his worst Little Green Men jokes. "What do Martian children eat for
breakfast?  Green eggs and ham. What is the Martian's favorite Earth tree? 
The evergreen. What . . . ." Colton noticed to his surprise that he had arrived
already.
 
 He was a big hit. From the time he walked in the door, people were
 congratulating him on his costume. It was far and away the most realistic
one there. Even the notoriously hard-to-impress AD Skinner stopped by to
 compliment him on the way the green veins in his hands actually seemed to
 pulse with blood.
 
 The Bureau had sprung for a lavish buffet and Colton enjoyed himself
 thoroughly. His pointed teeth and flamboyant eating style attracted quite a
 bit of attention. Even on a night like this it was unusual to see a tall
 green alien scoffing shrimp with such abandon. The agent could hear admiring
 whispers speculating about the costume designers who had managed to make
 such a realistic costume functional as well as fearsome.
 
 To Colton's dismay, Mulder and Scully had chosen this evening to make one
 of their rare social appearances. The agent observed with disfavor that
Mulder made an extremely handsome Rhett Butler. Colton rather suspected 
the two characters even shared a taste in exit lines. Scully, however, was not
exactly from the Vivian Leigh mold and, while the costume was gorgeous, 
Colton thought snidely that she looked more like Scarlet O'Hair than Scarlett
 O'Hara. The other male agents present did not seem to share this evaluation,
 however, and she was getting rather more attention than Mulder appeared to
 like. At least it served to keep the X-Files agent otherwise occupied,
though Colton could feel his speculative gaze on and off during the course of 
the evening.
 
 All too soon midnight, the traditional unmasking time, approached. Colton
 made his careful way to the storage closet he had scouted out several days
 before. There he retrieved his stash of clothes, as well as the bundle he
had dropped off at the beginning of the evening. It had been a dangerous 
but invigorating escapade. Too bad it had to end so early.
 
 Changing quickly, Colton made a mental note to take an extra dose of
 pigmentation pills in the morning. Long experience had made him adept at
 inserting the dental appliance that converted his own beautiful incisors
into the humans' flat, ugly chompers. He smoothed the mask over his features 
with care, being careful to keep his claws fully retracted to avoid tearing the
 delicate material. Last of all he donned his gloves. The entire process had
 taken less than five minutes.
 
 He exited his closet without incident, then almost ran down Agent Pendrell
as he rounded the first corner. "Hey, did you see that green alien come this
 way? He's been awarded first prize in the costume contest and they want him
 out front." Colton shook his head, secretly amused. "Say, why aren't you in
 costume anyway?"
 
 "I am in costume. I'm really a big green alien disguised as an FBI agent."
 
 Pendrell eyed Colton uneasily. "Ha, ha. Very funny. Well, if you do happen
to see that guy, send him out front. They're waiting for him." He turned
quickly and headed back up the corridor.
 
 Colton shook his head. Mulder was right. The truth really was out there -
but these stupid humans wouldn't recognize it if it bit them. And the sooner 
the better from his point of view.
 
 
 The End